Colossal pyramids, imposing temples, golden treasures, enigmatic hieroglyphs, powerful pharaohs, strange gods, and mysterious mummies are features of Ancient Egyptian culture that have fascinated people over the millennia. The Bible refers to its gods, rulers, and pyramids. Neighboring cultures in the ancient Near East and Mediterranean wrote about its god-like kings and its seemingly endless supply of gold. The Greeks and Romans describe aspects of Egypt's culture and history. As the 19th century began, the Napoleonic campaign in Egypt highlighted the wonders of this ancient land, and public interest soared. Not long after, Champollion deciphered Egypt's hieroglyphs and paved the way for other scholars to reveal that Egyptian texts dealt with medicine, dentistry, veterinary practices, mathematics, literature, and accounting, and many other topics. Then, early in the 20th century, Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun and its fabulous contents. Exhibitions of this treasure a few decades later resulted in the world's first blockbuster, and its revival in the 21st century has kept interest alive. Join Dr. David Silverman, Professor of Egyptology at Penn, Curator in Charge of the Egyptian Section of the Penn Museum, and curator of the Tutankhamun exhibitions on a guided tour of the mysteries and wonders of this ancient land. He has developed this online course and set it in the galleries of the world famous Penn Museum. He uses many original Egyptian artifacts to illustrate his lectures as he guides students as they make their own discovery of this fascinating culture. This course focused on five key areas in the study of Ancient Egypt: 1) Principles of Egyptian Art, 2) The Basics of the Language of Ancient Egypt: Hieroglyphs, 3) Egyptian Magic, 4) Akhenaten, Tutankhamun, and the Religion of the Aten, and 5) The Burial of Tutankhamun and the Search for his Tomb. This course is intended to accompany, and ideally to follow, Introduction to Ancient Egypt (also available on Coursera).
Magic: Part 5
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From the course by University of Pennsylvania
Wonders of Ancient Egypt
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From the lesson
Egyptian Magic
Meet the Instructors
David P. SilvermanEckley Brinton Coxe, Jr. Professor of Egyptology
Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations
Certain types of action not necessarily ritualize could also bring about magical changes.
For example, representations of foreigners,
especially those the Egyptians considered enemies,
were traditionally shown in compromised situations to ensure that
their status of being conquered and the power and the strength of the king would endure.
There are several examples of this that we can find.
One of them is in our collection in the upper Egyptian gallery.
In addition to these examples of magic in Egypt,
we find also the use of amulets.
It was very widespread and because these items could come in
a variety of sizes and were formed from many different materials,
all levels of society could possess them and benefit from their magic.
They take the form of charms and were made of wood,
clay, stone, founts, ivory and other materials.
They can be in the form of humans,
animals, and plants or parts thereof.
They can be implements, devices,
deities, hieroglyphs, all sorts of things.
They also can be worn during life or in the afterlife.
Some are used for magical purposes,
some for medical purposes,
such as the one we call the Wadjet Eye.
This last objects brings us back to the connection again between magic and medicine,
and this is underscored also with a fairly common implement called a cippus.
Prominent on these items are figures of the god Horus as a child.
He's standing on crocodiles and in his hand,
he clutches other dangerous creatures,
all of whom are under his power.
In addition, once water was poured over the figure and the spell was recited,
the individual could then receive the healing powers of the liquid
and be protected specifically against the poison of a scorpion.
These types of protection were part of
the Egyptian medicine and magic from the very earliest times.
A good example is the early dynastic vessel that is
composed basically of two giant hieroglyphs.
When read, these signs would ensure that Dhaka,
that is the life force of the deceased which was signified by the upraised arms,
would live and live is signified by the ankh sign,
and this was done through the water that was flowing through it.
The power of the written word is also evident in the practice of deliberately
damaging hieroglyphs that depicted potentially dangerous creatures.
For example, snakes, birds,
and sometimes even humans.
Another magical item is the shabti figure.
The deceased took such statuettes into the tomb from the Middle Kingdom on.
Originally, they functioned as a substitute for the body.
They first occurred only as a single figure.
Later, they came in all sorts of material,
clay, wood, stone, founts,
and it was then understood that in the afterlife,
this statuette would magically come to life and
perform the forced labor that was required of the deceased.
On its surface, a spell described what was to be
done and the names of the deceased appeared as well.
Both males and females as well as royalty could use them.
Numerous shabtis accompanied the deceased in the burial chamber, and eventually,
the ideal number was 365,
one for each day of the year in the Egyptian calendar.
Occasionally, several foremen were
included to ensure that the appropriate jobs were being done correctly.
Tutankhamen had the largest number of them and also the largest shabti figure,
he had four hundred and thirteen.
The variety of material and the ability to create them also through
molds made it possible to mass produce such small figures.
Making the shabtis also available to most levels of society.
The magical properties of figurines also can be
seen in an episode of a Middle Kingdom story.
It tells us that the husband of an unfaithful wife who was a magician,
plots his rival's demise.
He crafts a crocodile of wax and then tosses it into the river.
At that point, it magically turned into a crocodile and ate the unsuspecting lover.
In Egypt, there seems to have been a very close connection between magicians,
certain priests, and even physicians.
In fact, the title of those performing
Heka magic is the same for the priests reading the funerary texts.
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