 |
| Syncretized Egyptian gods, Osiris and Re coming together as Osiris-Re. Supported by Egyptian deities Nephthys and Isis. Tomb of Nefertari, Valley of the Queens. |
syn·cre·tism Noun /ˈsiNGkrəˌtizəm/It is evident that Egyptian practiced some considerable amount of syncretism. Two or more Egyptian gods were often syncretized to be one mixed deity, that usually happens by linking two names and/or two characters of two similar or different gods to come together as one holy being. The Egyptian ancient history is full of examples, Amun-Ra is probably the most popular name to mention, besides Amun-Khepri and Atum-Khepri.
- The amalgamation or attempted amalgamation of different religions, cultures, or schools of thought
- The merging of different inflectional varieties of a word during the development of a language
While Ra-Horakhty combines two aspects of the same Egyptian deity, Ra, Amun-Re combines two completely different deities, Amun which represents the most powerful invisible power in ancient Egypt and Ra which represent the most visible might of the ancient land, the sun. That confirms the fact that ancient Egyptians didn't persecute between all their deities, on the contrary, all of those ancient deities were believed to have existed along each other in harmony. But needlesst o say, there are some less compatible deities in ancient Egypt, with whom syncretism was never practiced, such as Amun and Aten.
Syncretism wasn't always combining two gods, it combined sometimes
up to three, four and five deities, such as Harmachis-Khepri-Ra-Atum, which mixed together several gods to form one of the most mysterious ancient Egyptian gods. And also forming the consummate funerary deity out of Sokar, Ptah and Osiris.
up to three, four and five deities, such as Harmachis-Khepri-Ra-Atum, which mixed together several gods to form one of the most mysterious ancient Egyptian gods. And also forming the consummate funerary deity out of Sokar, Ptah and Osiris.
Syncretism also occured between foreign, such as Asiatic and Greek on the one hand, and Egyptian gods, such as As the Asiatic-Egyptian deity Anat-Hathor, where Hathor came together with the Asiatic god. Also Serapis, which is the combination of Apis, Osiris, Zeus and Helios.
The reason behind syncretism of ancient Egyptian gods is unknown, specially gods that have different natures, some Egyptologists believe that this is not a strange act, since usually the combination occurs between non-conflicting deities, but still it is beyond our understanding why Egyptians had to do this, instead of worshipping their deities independently.
However, some believe that this is a normal step towards the rise of monotheism in Egypt, which doesn't have any evidence to support or deny.
Do you have any idea or a certain philosophy that explains this ancient Egyptian act?
