Environment and Religion in Ancient and Coptic Egypt: Sensing the Cosmos through the Eyes of the Divine: Proceedings of the 1st Egyptological ... 1-3 February 2017

Environment and Religion in Ancient and Coptic Egypt: Sensing the Cosmos through the Eyes of the Divine presents the proceedings of a conference held in Athens between 1st-3rd February 2017. The Hellenic Institute of Egyptology, in close collaboration with the Writing & Scripts Centre of Bibliotheca Alexandrina and the University of Alexandria, organized the conference concerning the ancient Egyptian religion, Coptic Christianity and Environment. Thus, the endeavour was to sense the Cosmos, through a virtual Einfahlung, as a manifestation of the Divine and the manifestationsof the Divine in the environmental, cosmic and societal spheres. Egyptians were particularly pious and they considered their surroundings and the Universe itself as a creation and a direct immanence of the Divine, being also convinced that they were congenital parts of the Cosmos and adoring their divinities, who were also personifications of environmental and/or cosmic aspects and forces. There are many examples (epigraphic, textual, monumental, & c.) corroborating these relations and that ancient Egyptian piety was rooted on the bi-faceted texture of the ancient Egyptian religion, containing a solar and an astral component: the former was related to Rec, while the latter was related to Osiris. The conference took place with participations of a pleiade of Egyptologists, archaeologists, archaeoastronomers, theologians, historians and other scholars from more than 15 countries all over the world. In this unique volume are published most of the contributions of the delegates who sent their papers for peer-reviewing, enriching the bibliographic resources with original and interesting articles. This publication of more than 580 pages containing 34 fresh and original papers (plus 2 abstracts) on the ancient Egyptian religion, Environment and the Cosmos, fruitfully connects many interdisciplinary approaches and Egyptology, archaeology, archaeoastronomy, geography, botany, zoology, ornithology, theology and history.

Table of Contents

Co–Organizers and Sponsors

Blessing by His Eminence the Archbishop of Sinai Mgr DAMIANOS

Foreword by H.E. the Ambassador of Egypt in Athens Mr Farīd MONĪB

Dedicatory Page, Theme, Honorary Organizing Committee, LOC and SOC

Programme of the Conference

Authors and Affiliations

Foreword by H.E. the Former Minister of Hellas Mr Andreas ZAÏMIS

Introduction by the Principal Editor Prof. Dr Dr Alicia MARAVELIA

Introduction by the Co–Editor Dr Nadine GUILHOU

PAPERS

Rania M. cABDELWAHED: Reflections on the Tree imA / iAm in Ancient Egypt

Dalia ABU STET: New Insights into the Significance of Exotic Plants & Animals in Ancient Egypt

Dalia ABU STET: The Use & Significance of Jasper in Ancient Egyptian Art

Bernard ARQUIER: Nūt et les Astérismes dans les Textes et le Décor du Double Sarcophage de Mésehty

Mohammed AZZAZY: Pollen Flora from Archaic & Old Kingdom Egyptian Tombs

Nils BILLING: You are not Alone: The Conceptual Background of Nūt as the Eternal Abode in Text & Iconography

Themis G. DALLAS: On the Orientations of Coptic Churches in Egypt

Alexandra DIEZ DE OLIVEIRA: The Many Faces of God Bacal in Ancient Egypt: Metaphors & Syncretisms

Ola ᾿EL-CABOUDY: Mice as Protectors in the Books of the Netherworld

Wafaa ᾿EL-GHANNAM: Water–Lifting Devices in Hellenistic Egypt: A Manifestation of the Influence of the Nile

Azza EZZAT: The Zenet–Game (?) & its Association with Garden Pools in Ancient Egypt: A Case Study

Angus GRAHAM: The Interconnected Theban Landscape and Waterscape of Amūn–Rēc

Nadine GUILHOU: Une Lecture Calendérique de la Tombe de Nakht (TT 52)

Mona HAGGAG: The Ouroboros in Helleno–Egyptian Amulets

Aml MAHRAN: The Oar: Religious and Everyday Life Usage in Ancient Egypt

Ahmed MANSOUR: The Minerals as Divine Epithets: Notes on the Use of Lapis Lazuli in Divine Epithets

Ahmed MANSOUR: Reflections on the Veneration of Dead Ancestor Kings in Sinai

Alicia MARAVELIA & Mosalam SHALTOUT: The Influence of the Solar Acti