Although it’s a bit worn, as will I be when I’m 3,000 years old, the art on the Shrine of Taharqa is aesthetically impressive. The meaning behind it gives pause for thought too. This section is from the west wall of the shrine and shows the king - on the right - making an offering to the ram-headed Amun-Re.
There is much to understand and to interpret in Egyptian sacred art, but what I want to concentrate upon is the small figure in Taharqa’s left hand. She is the goddess Ma’at.
Ma’at represents cosmic order, or justice, and is symbolically offered to Amun-Re by the king, along with other symbols. Above Amun-Re’s head is the serpent of chaos, constantly trying to dominate creation, and Amun-Re is the self-created creator. The task of all Pharonic kings is to organize things so as to maintain order – they did pretty well considering how much longer Egypt lasted than most empires.
You’ll recollect that the Bible in several places, but especially at the start of John’s Gospel, explains that Christ has revealed God from ‘the beginning’. Whilst living and working in Egypt I often wondered about the relationship between religion and civilization. I spent a lot of time immersed in thought in front of ancient works of art. When I met the concept of Ma’at and began to realise that balance and justice had been the central features of humanity seeking God for many thousands of years, I began to grasp what “In the beginning was The Word, and the Word was God” really means.
The Ancient Egyptians sustained a civilization for thousands of years and were able to push forward human understanding in areas such as; maths, poetry, philosophy and engineering. The success and direction of their quest was their religion, there was no Egypt apart from their faith. When the faith became pragmatic, the civilization fell.
The faith was always organized around a small female ethos called Ma’at. The mighty King [or Queen] Pharoah has to satisfy her values in order that the creator would continue creating. The search for justice resisted the serpent Apopis, god of chaos, to allow that.
The shrine in the photo above is in the Ashmolean.
If you want to look into art and Egyptian religion further, start with Ani’s Book of The Dead, where’s there’s a splendid image of Ma’at at work. In her headband she sports a feather, if your ‘heart’ weighs more than her feather you are guilty of injustice and Ammit eats your heart!
John Cartwright
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