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[[File: Ra_Barque.jpg|300px|thumbnail|left|The Sun-God Re Riding in a Solar Boat]]__NOTOC__
The idea of a god, or gods, imbued with a definite personality is concept that many premodern peoples employed in their religions and myths. Of course, the Greeks are among the best known in this regard, as they gave their deities frailties and foibles along with their immense powers. Some of the Greek gods and goddesses also had senses of humor, along with have some very negative emotions and personality traits, including pettiness, greed, and vindictiveness. The deities of numerous other premodern people, from the Norse to the Assyrians, and from the Japanese to the Aryans, all had myths that depicted their gods and goddesses with very clear personalities and traits that were very human. The deities of the ancient Egyptians, though, are generally thought of as lacking any feelings and clearly separated from humans in terms of their mental dispositions; but an examination of one particular Egyptian myth shows that this was not always the case.
All of the Egyptian gods and goddesses had their own superhuman abilities. Some, such as Thoth, possessed superior knowledge and intellect, while Isis knew the secrets of magic. Other gods were credited for their creative abilities and many of the deities could be syncretically combined to incorporate multiple powerful attributes into one figure. For instance, Re was often combined with Amun, the New Kingdom warrior god, to create Amun-Re. In what is perhaps a peculiar or unique element of ancient Egyptian theology and myth, the powerful aspects of a deity could exist simultaneously with their weaknesses. Re could age, become enfeebled, and even die, but he was reborn daily and would ride a mystical solar barge. <ref> Hornung, p. 155</ref> The multi-faceted, complex attributes of the Egyptian deities were often not as apparent in the daily rituals of the religion, but they were on display in the culture’s few narrative myths.
As Egyptologist Jan Assman has discussed, the ancient Egyptian <i>concept</i> of a particular deity, which he termed “icon,” was more important to the Egyptians than any narrative in which the god appeared. He noted that Egyptian myths combined the idea of icons and stories in a way where there was really little distinction, unlike the Greeks. The fact that the icon of a god was paramount essentially fixed it in a static position, which prevented the development of a traditional myth cycle. <ref> Assman, Jan. <i> The Search for God in Ancient Egypt.</refi> Translated by David Lorton. (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 2001), p. 112</ref> With that said, <i>The Destruction of Mankind</i> is one of the more effective Egyptian myths in terms of demonstrating the nature of several icons.
===<i>The Destruction of Mankind</i>===
[[File: Sekhmet_louvre.jpg|300px|thumbnail|left|Statue of the Goddess Sekhmet in the Louvre, Paris]]
The myth <i>The Destruction of Mankind</i> is known from inscriptions from New Kingdom nobles’ tombs. It is actually part of a longer myth known as <i> The Myth of the Heavenly Cow</i> and although it is in many ways indictive of the emergence of narrative myths in the New Kingdom, it was probably originally composed during the Middle Kingdom. <ref> Lichtheim, Miriam, ed. <i> Ancient Egyptian Literature.</i> Volume 1I1: The New Kingdom (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2006), p. 197</ref>
The personalities of some of the Egyptian pantheon’s most important deities is revealed at the beginning of the myth. The enfeebled Re is somewhat of a cantankerous old man who grows tired of humanity for plotting against the gods.
===References===
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[[Category: MythologyMyths and Gods]] [[Category: Ancient Egyptian Mythology]] [[Category:Wikis]]
