ANCIENT EGYPTIAN COSMOGONIES (2400-700 BCE): AS A WORK OF THE GODS, THE STATE IS THE GUARDIAN OF “LIFE, ORDER AND JUSTICE”

Year 2024, Volume: 15 Issue: 2, 151 - 169, 31.07.2024

İzzet Çıvgın

Abstract

The four cosmogonies (Heliopolis/Iunu, Memphis/Ineb-hec, Hermopolis/Khemenu, Thebes/Waset) that shaped Ancient
Egyptian civilization assigned the Ancient Egyptian state the role of “preserving the life-order-routine that began with creation”. The
article focuses on the question of how early cosmogonies grounded the Egyptian understanding of politics, while also examining
political-religious records that include the term Maat-order-justice, and aims to understand how these two groups of texts link lifesubsistence-
order-routine with the state. The first conclusion of the study is that the pantheistic Heliopolitan cosmogony assigns the
state, which it regards as a supra-historical phenomenon, the task of protecting the work of the creator (preserving the order against
the chaos). In the Memphite cosmogony, the creator initiates life on earth with a creative order. Although this narrative, which has a
stronger metaphysical-mystical aspect, bases creation on the will of the creator instead of natural forces, it preserves the function of the
state and the Maat-order-justice concept. The Hermopolitan cosmogony, which is pantheistic like the first one, emphasizes the
sun's rising-setting-rising (the cycle of life and death), blesses the eternal routine - endless repetition, and assigns the task of
maintaining the routine to the state. The Theban cosmogony, which is very different from the other three narratives, abandons the
pantheistic discourse and presents a transcendent-personaluniversal creator. The Creator, who desires his will to be known and
his commands to be obeyed, demands not “wise” but “pious” human beings. In this cosmogony, the phenomenon of justice, which
is the most prominent among the contents of the term Maat, loses its value, while Maat's meaning of truth (divine will) takes the first place.

Keywords

Ancient Egyptian cosmogonies, Functions of the State, Ma, Order, Justice

ESKİ MISIR KOZMOGONİLERİ (MÖ 2400-700): TANRILARIN ESERİ OLAN DEVLET, YARATILIŞ İLE BAŞLAYAN “YAŞAM, DÜZEN, ADALET”İN KORUYUCUSUDUR

Abstract

Makalede dört Eski Mısır kozmogonisinin (Heliopolis/İunu, Memfis/İneb-hec, Hermopolis/Khemenu, Teb/Waset) ana hatları tanıtılacak ve bu yaratılış anlatılarının Mısır Krallığı’na biçtikleri “Yaratılış ile başlayan Yaşam, Düzen ve Rutini koruma” rolü aktarılacaktır. Dört anlatının ikisi açık bir tümtanrıcı anlayışa sahiptirler ve bunlarda tanrısallık olarak sunulan unsurlar aslında doğa güçleridir. Bu ikisinde ilksel varlıklardan biri olarak sunulan Yaratıcı, Dünyayı ve Yaşamı kendini dışlaştırarak (kendinden) var ederken, Memfis anlatısı Yaratılışı yaratıcı buyruk (yaratıcı söz) ile başlatarak onlardan farklılaşır. Asıl büyük ayrışma ise, Teb anlatısındaki Yaratıcı Tanrı’nın modern dinlerdeki aşkın, kişisel ve evrensel tanrıya benzemesidir. Bu değişim, Yaratılış-sonrasındaki Düzeni korumakla yükümlü kılınan devletin artık bu aşkın tanrı ile birlikte tanımlanmasını gerektirmiştir. Bütün kozmogonilerde değişmeyen ise, devletin tarihin belli bir anında ortaya çıkmış tarihi-toplumsal bir olgu olarak görülmeyişi, Yaratılış-sonrasında Yaşamın (Nil ile gelen bereketin) sürmesi için ilk andan itibaren devlete ihtiyaç duyulduğunun altının kalın çizgilerle çizilmesidir. Yaşamın koruyucusu-sürdürücüsü olan tarih-üstü Devlet yoksa Düzen de yoktur; Düzenin karşıtı Yaşamın Rutinini bozan Kaostur, istikrarın-uyumun-bereketin yeryüzünü (Aşağı ve Yukarı Mısır’ı) terk etmesidir.

Keywords

Eski Mısır kozmogonileri, Devletin işlevi, Maat, Düzen, Adalet

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