Reading Diary A: Ancient Egyptian Myths and Stories

This week I was really excited to read some of the story options that are available for the Middle East/India UnTextbook. I chose Ancient Egyptian Myths and Stories for my first reading unit because it looked really interesting, and unlike Greek mythology, I know absolutely nothing about Egyptian mythology. So, I figured I would go ahead and dive in and see what it was all about.

The story of The Secret Name of Ra was one of my favorites from this unit because of it left a sort of cliffhanger (if you will). The entire story is setup with the knowledge that nobody know what Ra's "secret" name is other than the god himself. Although the story tells us that Isis eventually learned of his name and saved him, like she said she would do, the audience reading the story still never learns of his name. It was frustrating to read the story and not learn of what the name was; however, I think it is a really interesting writing tactic to use because it keeps the reader intrigued all the way to the end because you want to find out what exactly it is that the god is hiding.

One of the stories I found to be truly the most entertaining and (honestly really weird) was Ra and Hathor. I couldn't believe that the goddess that is supposed to represent joy, femininity, and love was portrayed as a bloodthirsty warrior. Although Ra is able to trick her into returning to her kind and loving self, she definitely spends a fair share of the story massacring hundreds of people. There is so much irony in the fact that the "goddess of joy" enjoys killing, even if it is only for a short period of time. I think Ra's decision to use a red colored beer to trick Hathor into thinking it was blood was not only very clever because he knew she would become drunk, and he would be able to lead her back into her loving personality.

(Depiction of Hathor wearing headdress [half sun dial, half cow])