#WingedWordsWeekly: 2024/08/28 -- Ancient Egyptian New Year's Eve!

 

WINGED WORDS WEEKLY

Compiled & Edited by Rob Chappell (@RHCLambengolmo)

Editorial Associate: Sabrina Saelind

Editorial Assistant: Jessica Breckinridge

Vol. 3, No. 42: Week of August 28, 2024

 

 

August Theme: Ancient Wisdom

Episode #4: Ancient Egyptian New Year!

 

Editor’s Note

                During the month of August, our blogging theme has been “Ancient Wisdom” – the continuing quest to learn from the past so that we can build a better future for the entire human family (and the planet Earth as a whole). This week, we conclude with a celebration of the legacy of ancient Egypt, focusing specifically on Imhotep and the Hermetic tradition – along with a fascinating piece on the origins of tea cultivation, which began in China during Imhotep’s lifetime, in the 27^th century BCE.

 

“Egypt: The Gift of the Nile”

A Prose Poem by Roxy Callahan, Staff Writer

                The Nile floods every year to water wide green fields where crops grow to feed the land. The land's produce satisfies many mouths: farmers, pharaoh, & all between.

                The Nile’s waters travel far & wide, flowing to far-away places. Egypt’s fields & cities come alive: the river’s nourishment keeps men & beasts strong & healthy.

                The Nile provides life for all its people, both rich & poor & everyone between. The waters come, bringing both joy & prosperity for all the months of the year.

                All hail to the land that the river made mighty! To the pharaohs that ruled with wisdom, strength, & fairness!

                Let us give honor & praise to the builders! The farmers, priests, & artisans! Let us give love & thanks for the beauty that they created with their own two hands & their hearts.

                Let us bow down to the glory & majesty of Memphis! Of Thebes, land of the gods! Let us give our devotion to the holy temples of Heliopolis! The great pyramids of Giza!

                Let us bow down, adoring & singing, to the pharaohs who came after the gods! All hail to Akhenaten, Lord of Truth & Light! All hail to Nefertiti, the living incarnation of the goddess Maat!

                All hail to Rameses the Great! Who ruled for 66 years in the glory of the New Kingdom! All hail to Seti I, who defeated the sea people & their hordes! All hail to Hatshepsut, the woman pharaoh, who ruled as king of Upper & Lower Egypt!

                All hail to Mentuhotep II, who raised up the nation after the First Dark Age! All hail to Thutmose III, who crushed the armies of the Hittites! All hail to Horemheb, the great general who avenged his master Rameses’s death & buried him with honor!

                All hail to Tutankhamun, the boy king who began the 18th Dynasty! All hail to Amenhotep III, who built a city on the west bank of the Nile! All hail to Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia who conquered Egypt & became its Pharaoh!

                All hail to the pharaohs, priests, artisans, & builders! The scribes who recorded their deeds on papyrus scrolls! Let us praise the god Amun, lord of the Two Lands, who made all of this possible!

 

“Imhotep: The World’s First Polymath”

By Rob Chappell, M.A.

Adapted & Condensed from Cursus Honorum VIII: 9 (May/June 2008)

                According to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, 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, which became Djoser’s final resting place. It was the largest building on Earth at that time and served as a prototype for all subsequent pyramid construction throughout Egypt’s long history.

                Imhotep was not only a capable administrator and 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 contained 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 to be added to the Egyptian pantheon as a demigod, 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 esoteric traditions about the origin of the cosmos and humankind’s place within it. In these treatises, Imhotep (as Asclepius) 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 his disciples for the benefit of human beings.

                Imhotep, history’s first known polymath, is a superb role model for today’s young scientists. Unwilling to lock himself up in an ivory tower or to hoard knowledge solely for himself, he freely shared his wisdom with others so that their lives could be enriched through architecture, education, medicine, science, and statecraft. Imhotep’s example also serves to remind 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!

 

The Greek and Roman constellation Ophiuchus (above) was based on the legendary Greek physician Asclepius (fl. ca. 1250 BCE), who in turn was based on the ancient Egyptian physician Imhotep (fl. ca. 2700 BCE). Ophiuchus is depicted holding a serpent (the constellation Serpens, a symbol of healing, like the caduceus) in this illustration from Urania's Mirror, a set of constellation cards published in London ca. 1825 by Sidney Hall. (Image Credit: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

 

“Apocatastasis: Universal Restoration – A Sample of Hermetic Teaching”

Part IX of a Treatise on Initiations for Asclepius

Excerpted from the Virgin of the World (Translated into English by Edward Maitland and Anna Kingsford in 1885)

                Hermes Trismegistus: When all these things shall be accomplished, O Asclepius, then the Lord and Father, the sovereign God who rules the wide world, beholding the evil ways and actions of men, will arrest these misfortunes by the exercise of his divine will and goodness. And, in order to put an end to error and to the general corruption, he will drown the world with a deluge or consume it by fire, or destroy it by wars and epidemics, and thereafter He will restore to it its primitive beauty; so that once more it shall appear worthy of admiration and worship, and again a chorus of praise and of blessing shall celebrate him who has created and redeemed so beautiful a work. This rebirth of the world, this restoration of all good things, this holy and sacred rehabilita-tion of Nature will take place when the time shall come which is ap-pointed by the divine and ever-eternal will of God, without beginning and always the same.

                Asclepius: Indeed, Trismegistus, the nature of God is will reflected; that is, absolute goodness and wisdom.

                Hermes: O Asclepius, will is the result of reflection, and to will is itself an act of willing. For he who is the fullness of all things and who possesses all that he will, wills nothing by caprice. But everything he wills is good, and he has all that he wills; all that is good he thinks and wills. Such is God, and the world is the image of his righteousness.

                Asclepius: Is the world then good, O Trismegistus?

                Hermes: Yes, the world is good, Asclepius, as I will inform thee. Even as God accords to all beings and to all orders in the world benefits of diverse kinds, such as thought, soul, and life, so likewise the world itself divides and distributes good things among mortals, changing sea-sons, the fruits of the earth, birth, increase, maturity, and other similar gifts. And thus God is above the summit of heaven, yet everywhere present and beholding all things. For beyond the heavens is a sphere without stars, transcending all corporeal things.

 

“Hermes Trismegistus”

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

 

Still through Egypt’s desert places

Flows the lordly Nile,

From its banks the great stone faces

Gaze with patient smile.

Still the pyramids imperious

Pierce the cloudless skies,

And the Sphinx stares with mysterious,

Solemn, stony eyes.

 

But where are the old Egyptian

Demi-gods and kings?

Nothing left but an inscription

Graven on stones and rings.

Where are Helios and Hephaestus,

Gods of eldest eld?

Where is Hermes Trismegistus,

Who their secrets held?

 

Where are now the many hundred

Thousand books he wrote?

By the Thaumaturgists plundered,

Lost in lands remote;

In oblivion sunk forever,

As when o’er the land

Blows a storm-wind, in the river

Sinks the scattered sand.

 

Something unsubstantial, ghostly,

Seems this Theurgist,

In deep meditation mostly

Wrapped, as in a mist.

Vague, phantasmal, and unreal

To our thought he seems,

Walking in a world ideal,

In a land of dreams.

 

Was he one, or many, merging

Name and fame in one,

Like a stream, to which, converging

Many streamlets run?

Till, with gathered power proceeding,

Ampler sweep it takes,

Downward the sweet waters leading

From unnumbered lakes.

 

By the Nile I see him wandering,

Pausing now and then,

On the mystic union pondering

Between gods and men;

Half believing, wholly feeling,

With supreme delight,

How the gods, themselves concealing,

Lift men to their height.

 

Or in Thebes, the hundred-gated,

In the thoroughfare

Breathing, as if consecrated,

A diviner air;

And amid discordant noises,

In the jostling throng,

Hearing far, celestial voices

Of Olympian song.

 

Who shall call his dreams fallacious?

Who has searched or sought

All the unexplored and spacious

Universe of thought?

Who, in his own skill confiding,

Shall with rule and line

Mark the border-land dividing

Human and divine?

 

Trismegistus! Three times greatest!

How thy name sublime

Has descended to this latest

Progeny of time!

Happy they whose written pages

Perish with their lives,

If amid the crumbling ages

Still their name survives!

 

Thine, O priest of Egypt, lately

Found I in the vast,

Weed-encumbered somber, stately,

Grave-yard of the Past;

And a presence moved before me

On that gloomy shore,

As a waft of wind, that o’er me

Breathed, and was no more.

 

“The Legend of the Yellow Emperor and the Origin of Tea in China”

By Megan Varro, Staff Writer

                The story of the Yellow Emperor and the origin of tea in China is a tale steeped in legend and myth. The Yellow Emperor, also known as the Yanhuang, is a legendary figure in Chinese mythology and the founder of Chinese civilization. According to legend, the Yellow Emperor lived over 5,000 years ago and was the first ruler of China, guiding his people towards the cultivation of tea and other important aspects of Chinese culture.

                The Yellow Emperor's association with tea is said to have occurred after he tasted the leaves of the Camellia sinensis bush while out on a journey. According to legend, the emperor was traveling through a remote region in southern China when he stumbled upon the tea plant. Out of curiosity, he tasted the leaves of the bush and was amazed by their flavor and freshness. From that moment on, the emperor became a promoter and consumer of tea, and it spread throughout the land.

                After experiencing the wonderful flavor and rejuvenating properties of tea, the Yellow Emperor saw its potential as more than just a beverage. He recognized the herb's medicinal properties and its ability to promote longevity and vitality. He believed that it was a gift from the gods and that its consumption could help his people live longer, healthier lives.

                The story of the Yellow Emperor and tea has become iconic in Chinese culture. The emperor is often depicted in art and literature as a symbol of wisdom, power, and benevolence, holding a steaming cup of tea and dispensing advice. Some stories even say that the emperor created the first tea ceremony, which later spread throughout the land and evolved into a social tradition for leisure and business.

                The legend of the Yellow Emperor and tea has also been passed down through generations through stories, songs, and oral tradition. It has become a cherished part of Chinese cultural heritage and is often told to children as a way of teaching them the importance of tea in society and the role of the emperor in its discovery and promotion.

                The legend of the Yellow Emperor and tea has also inspired various artworks and literary works in China throughout history. Paintings, sculptures, and ceramics have been created to depict the emperor and his interaction with the tea plant, while poets and writers have written songs and stories about the event, further cementing it into Chinese cultural consciousness.

                Although the story of the Yellow Emperor and tea is a legend, it still holds significant cultural and historic value in China. Tea is still a vital part of Chinese culture and daily life, and the story of its origin continues to be told and passed down through generations. Many tea ceremonies and traditions still exist today, which echo the cultural legacy of the Yellow Emperor's discovery and promotion of the beverage.

                The legend of the Yellow Emperor and tea is a fascinating one, blending mythology, history, and culture. It's a story that has stood the test of time and continues to inspire people all over the world. The importance of tea in Chinese culture cannot be overstated, and the influence of the Yellow Emperor's discovery of the tea plant on global culture is undeniable. Tea is a drink, a medicine, and a cultural symbol, all thanks to the Yellow Emperor's curious taste for the leaves of the Camellia sinensis bush.

 

Camelia sinensis plant, with cross-section of the flower (at lower left) and seeds (at lower right). Source: Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medicinal Plants (Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

 

Weekly Words of Wisdom

By Viviana Rivera, Staff Writer

                Ancient Egypt was a civilization steeped in wisdom and mystery. The Egyptians believed that life, death, and rebirth were intertwined, and their art and architecture reflect this deep understanding. Take, for example, the intricate carvings and hieroglyphs found in their temples and tombs. These symbols depicted the journey of the soul and the importance of living a moral life. Let us delve deeper into the wisdom of the ancient Egyptians and uncover the secrets of their culture.

                Editor’s Note: For readers desiring an introduction to all things Egyptological, the Editor highly recommends The Wisdom of the Egyptians (1923) by Brian Brown, which is in the public domain and widely available to read on the Internet for free.

 

Stoic Proverb of the Week

Contributed by Amy Kendrick, Staff Writer

                Here's a quote from Epictetus: "As the Egyptian gods are represented painted with various colors, and variegated, so are the philosophers of that country." This quote implies that the Egyptian philosophers had diverse teachings, just as the Egyptian gods are depicted in colorful and varied ways. It suggests that there is no single, overarching doctrine of Egyptian philosophy, but rather a multitude of perspectives and approaches. This is similar to the diversity of thought among the Stoics themselves. Just as the Egyptian gods were depicted in a variety of ways to represent different aspects of the divine, the Stoic philosophers had differing opinions on many topics.

                I firmly believe that the key to unity in diversity is open-mindedness, empathy, and respect for differing perspectives. As the Stoic Epictetus once said, "It's not what happens to you, but how you react that matters." This idea can help us overcome prejudices and seek common ground despite our differences. :)