Divine Privilege In Ancient Egypt

To you, what is divine privilege, rebirth, eternal protection and eternal life? To us, these ideas may seem abstract. But to the Ancient Egyptians, the cultural impact of these abstract ideas lead to the idea of symbolism. From the Scarab Ring Collection, the statue of the gods Nephthys, Horus, and Isis, and the Ceremonial Ankh ,we see that divine privilege came in the form of an Ankh, eternal protection came in the form of the gods Nephthys, Horus, and Isis, and rebirth in the form of a Scarab. This was true for both the elite and the commoners of Ancient Egypt. And from these artifacts, we are demonstrated the idea that Egyptian symbolism is concerned with divine privilege and eternal life, eternal protection, and rebirth as demonstrated

This Amulet, depicting the gods Nephthys, Horus, and Isis dates back to 664 BCE, to the Late Period. This type of amulet was found in Egypt, but is was only ever found in an area called Saite. It is made out of Faience, and is 4 cm in height. The idea of eternal protection stems from the three gods pictured here, Nephthys, Horus and Isis, who make up the Origin Triad. The story is that Horus, the body in the center was trying to be killed by his uncle, Seth. This was because after he would die, Seth would be passed down the title of “King of the Gods”. But Horus was saved by Isis, his mother, and Nephthys, his aunt. Because these three were such skilled magicians, they represented the idea that a strong enough magic could last after life, and into the afterlife. Their magic was thought to create eternal protection. and so they became the symbol of eternal protection. This demonstrates to us the the idea of Egyptians symbolism concerning eternal protection because the only way for Egyptians to survive the cycle of life, with it’s dangers and twists, and to also complete your purpose of life was to always have protection. In normal life, Egyptians were not safe. They could be killed. Whether thru hunger, disease, overworking, heat stroke, and other causes, Egyptians were always

This Ankh is from the New Kingdom, from the year 1400 BCE. It is from Upper Egypt, specifically Thebes, Valley of the Kings, Tomb of Thutmose IV (KV 43). It was found by the Davis/Carter excavations in 1903. It is made out of Faience, and the dimensions of this artifact are 21 cm (8 1/4 in) x 11.1 cm (4 3/8 in) x 2 cm (13/16 in). The Ankh is an Ancient Egyptian that was considered the greatest of honors. In tombs, and writings, only Pharaohs and gods could be depicted with the Ankh. No ordinary man could wield the Ankh, as it could kill him. The Ankh itself represented the idea of divine privilege, the idea of being favored by the gods, and eternal life, a favor that could only be granted by the gods. Anybody that wielded the Ankh had superiority over all others. They were thought to be “favored by the gods”, and had a destiny that normal men could never reach. They could go into the street, and tell somebody to kill themselves. And the person would have to, as the Ankh gave the orderer power over him. The Ankh represented eternal life, as all those who wielded it, mostly gods, had eternal life. The Egyptians could not understand the idea of divine privilege, the idea that people were born better than others, because of the choices of the gods. And they could not understand