Questions and Answers

Lesson Three Questions And Answers

Why were some of the Pharoah's were left off the lists of kings?

Maat is a concept of the fundamental order of the universe, without which all of creation would perish. It is characterized by concepts of truth and a respect for and adherence to a divine order believed to be set forth at the time of the world's creation.

The primary duty of the pharaoh was to uphold this order by maintaining the law and administering justice. To reflect this, many pharaohs took the title "Beloved of Maat," emphasizing their focus on justice and truth.

In the Book of the Dead, scenes and text show the hearts of the dead being weighed against the single Shu feather, symbolically representing the concept of Ma'at, in the Hall of Two Truths.

So when Pharaohs such as Hatshepsut, Akenaten, Tutankhamun, etc were thought of as not upholding Maat, they were left of the King Lists. It is based on symapthetic magic, all hieroglyphs were magically activated, so things were didn't uphold Maat were not depicted, from the belief that such events would take place.

The name was also very symbolic and meaningful to the Ancient Egyptian, to remove the names, they not only condemned the deceasded to be forgotten in this world, but also in the afterlife.

Why did these particular pharoah's seem to disconnect themselves from Ma'at knowing as they must have how important it was?

A good question and a very complex one to answer, we can speculate as to the reasons that these Pharaohs choose to do what they did, but probably we will never know.

I think in the case of Akenaten who was orignally called Amenhotep (Beloved of Amun), he was simply trying to bring the power back to the Pharaoh. The cult of Amun was very strong at the time and over-shadowing the importance of the Pharaoh.

The change of name to Akenaten, which means Living image of Aten, shows a considerable shift in ideology. Maybe he had a divine vision, we will never know I guess.

Is the Palermo Stone the same as the Rosetta Stone?

No the Rosetta Stone. (now in the British Museum - originally found by the French and later handed over to the British as war booty after the battle of the Nile), is a Ptolemaic era stele and decree from the time of Ptolemy V. It was the stone which Champoliion used to crack the code of the hieroglyphs. It has inscribed in hieroglyphs, demotic and classical Greek.

The Palermo Stone is an Old Kingdom stela of black basalt. It details the reigns of the first Egyptian kings through the middle of the fifth dynasty. There are several parts, the largest fragment in Palermo, Sicily, a couple of pieces in Cairo and another at the UCL, in London.

Snippets

Proyet
Emergence (pronounced proyet), the second season which lasted from October 21st to February 21st.