Hello
everyone –
Next
Monday, August 29th, is New Year’s Day in the Coptic (ancient
Egyptian) calendar! To commemorate this auspicious occasion, I’d like to share
with you a poem about the genius of ancient Egypt and an article that I wrote a
few years ago about the first known scientist in recorded history – he was, of
course, an Egyptian!
Hermes
Trismegistus was a legendary Egyptian sage from hoary antiquity. The
celestial globe and the caduceus signify his mastery of astronomy and medicine,
respectively. (Image Credit: Public Domain)
“Egypt”
(1882)
By
Gerald Massey (1828-1907)
Egypt!
How I have dwelt with you in dreams,
So
long, so intimately, that it seems
As
if you had borne me; though I could not know
It
was so many thousand years ago!
And
in my gropings darkly underground
The
long-lost memory at last is found
Of
motherhood – you mother of us all!
And
to my fellowmen I must recall
The
memory too; that common motherhood
May
help to make the common brotherhood.
Egypt!
It lies there in the far-off past,
Opening
with depths profound and growths as vast
As
the great valley of Yosemite;
The
birthplace out of darkness into day;
The
shaping matrix of the human mind;
The
cradle and the nursery of our kind.
This
was the land created from the flood,
The
land of Atum, made of the red mud,
Where
Num sat in his Teba throned on high,
And
saw the deluge once a year go by,
Each
brimming with the blessing that it brought,
And
by that waterway, in Egypt’s thought,
The
gods descended; but they never hurled
The
deluge that should desolate the world.
There
the vast hewers of the early time
Built,
as if that way they would surely climb
The
heavens, and left their labors without name –
Colossal
as their carelessness of fame –
Sole
likeness of themselves – that heavenward
Forever
look with statuesque regard,
As
if some vision of the eternal grown
Petrific,
was forever fixed in stone!
They
watched the moon re-orb, the stars go round,
And
drew the circle; thought’s primordial bound.
The
heavens looked into them with living eyes
To
kindle starry thoughts in other skies,
For
us reflected in the image-scroll,
That
night by night the stars for aye unroll.
The
royal heads of language bow them down
To
lay in Egypt’s lap each borrowed crown.
The
glory of Greece was but the afterglow
Of
her forgotten greatness lying low;
Her
hieroglyphics buried dark as night,
Or
coal deposits filled with future light,
Are
mines of meaning; by their light we see
Through
many an overshadowing mystery.
The
nursing Nile is living Egypt still,
And
as her lowlands with its freshness fill,
And
heave with double-breasted bounteousness,
So
doth the old hidden source of mind yet bless
The
nations; secretly she brought to birth,
And
Egypt still enriches all the earth.
February
2013 Leadership Reflection:
Leaders
and Innovators: Past and Future
Everything in humankind’s present is connected to something in our collective
past. We wouldn’t be cooking with microwave ovens, using word-processing
software, or watching DVDs on our big-screen TVs without a long line of
inventors and innovators behind us, with each generation of innovators building
on the discoveries of their predecessors. Innovators, of course, are leaders
extraordinaire – people who step out in front of the crowd and say, “We can do
this task more efficiently if we can do it differently. Here’s how!”
We can be leaders and innovators now, right here on campus, and we can also
support those leaders and innovators of the rising generation through our daily
professional work. On busy, hectic days, however, we might sometimes wonder if
our efforts to help students navigate through the academic system will pay off
eventually. Of course, the answer is most certainly YES! We can never know who
the next world-changing innovative leader will be – perhaps a student that you
met only yesterday will become a great leader in her or his field of study
someday, and you will have had the privilege to help this person out!
Exercising leadership in our everyday environment here at the University of
Illinois can be a very exciting enterprise if we look at it in this way. J
Here is a story that I wrote for the ACES James Scholars five years ago, which
illustrates how innovative leaders can rise from obscure beginnings to great
heights of positive influence that can send ripple effects into the future for
millennia to come. It also teaches us to value people for who they truly are –
and who they may yet become.
Meet
Dr. Imhotep: History’s First Polymath
Adapted
& Condensed from Cursus Honorum (Course of Honors) VIII: 9 (May/June
2008)
According to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary (http://www.merriam-webster.com/),
a polymath is a person of encyclopedic learning, and the first polymath in
recorded history is Imhotep (fl. 27th century BCE), an Egyptian scientist who
was greatly revered both during and after his lifetime. Born a commoner, he
rose through the ranks of Egyptian society through his profound learning in
many fields of study until he was appointed grand vizier (prime minister) to
Pharaoh Djoser, the best-known king of Egypt’s Third Dynasty. Djoser
commissioned Imhotep to build a splendid royal tomb, and what resulted was the
first Egyptian pyramid – the Step Pyramid at Saqqara. It was the largest
building of its time and served as a prototype for all subsequent pyramid
construction throughout Egypt’s long history.
Imhotep was not only an innovative architect; he also served as High Priest of
Heliopolis, a chief city of the realm. A major aspect of his priestly
occupation was the practice of medicine, which included herbal remedies as well
as highly advanced surgical techniques. Imhotep recorded his vast knowledge of
the surgical arts in a treatise preserved on the Edwin Smith Papyrus,
thus preserving his knowledge for future generations.
Imhotep’s dedication to the healing arts led to a profound reverence for his
memory among the Egyptian populace. Within a few centuries of his death, he
became the first mortal added to the Egyptian pantheon, and he served as the
prototype for the Greek demigod Asclepius – who, like Imhotep, was regarded as
a divine patron of medical science. As Asclepius, Imhotep also appeared in the
Hermetic literature of late antiquity, which preserved Egyptian traditions
about the origin of the cosmos and humankind’s place within it. In these
treatises, Imhotep is a dialogue partner of Hermes Trismegistus (the Greek
version of the Egyptian deity Thoth), a legendary alchemist, physician, and
astronomer who transmitted his knowledge to Asclepius/Imhotep for the benefit
of human beings.
Imhotep, history’s first known polymath, is a superb role model for today’s
budding young scholars. Unwilling to lock himself up in an ivory tower or to
hoard knowledge solely for its own sake, he freely shared his wisdom with
others so that their lives could be enriched through architecture, education,
government, medicine, and science. Imhotep also reminds us that no matter what
field of study we may choose to specialize in, it is important to acquire a
good working knowledge of several subjects so that we can wear many hats
throughout our lifetime and be as useful as possible to our society. As long as
we read his books and follow his example, Imhotep will live on in human memory
as our history continues to unfold – even though his tomb remains undiscovered
to this very day!
“[Humankind]
will pursue the inmost secrets of Nature even into the heights and will study
the motions of the sky. Nor is this enough; when nothing yet remains to be
known than the farthest boundary of Earth, they will seek even there the last
extremities of Night.”
à Hermes
Trismegistus to Asclepius, from a Dialogue Preserved in Heart of the
Cosmos (Hermetic Tractate, Early 1st Millennium CE)
Webliography
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imhotep à This is a fact-filled biographical sketch of Imhotep compiled by the editors of Wikipedia.
- http://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/woe/index.htm à The Wisdom of the Egyptians by Brian Brown (1923) provides a nontechnical overview of Egyptian mythology and philosophy, including the Hermetic tradition.
- http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/imhotep.htm à Here is an illustrated, edutaining essay about Imhotep and his legacy from the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism.
Until
next time –
Rob :)
