Week 5 Reading Diary: Egyptian Myth and Legend

This week, I am reading from the Ancient Egypt unit which pulls stories from Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie. 

The first story was really intriguing to me because it tells the story of Creation as told by the Ancient Egyptians. Due to my Christian upbringing, I had never explored other creation stories. I really enjoyed the Egyptian's take though. I thought it was interesting how each being created was a ruler of one specific element of the Earth. I also liked how the Earth came from a "waste of water" because it really felt like a rebirth story. The water was waste and the Earth came up out of it. 

I was very intrigued by Ra in the story called The Secret Name of Ra. I am very curious why the Egyptians chose to describe him as an older being that had moisture dripping from his mouth as he spake. This is very different from the Christian ideas of God in that God in the Bible does not age. I like how Isis overpowered Ra and stopped at nothing to get the power she wanted. To me, this aligns with how women in today's society will stop at nothing to get the power or position they desire. In my storytelling, I would like to create a strong female character that is more cunning than her male counterpart. 

Ra, the ancient Egyptian sun god.
Photo by: Jeff Dahl (2007)

I really enjoyed the story of Osiris because of the peaceful way he chose to rule Egypt. I also liked how Isis and Osiris put on a very united front and ruled Egypt together. They seemed to be an ancient power couple. In my future writings, I would like to include a relationship like theirs. 

The Journey of Isis made me sad because of the intensity of Isis's grief. I can't imagine how it would feel to lose my husband and search for his body only for it to be thrown out again once I found it. I liked how the story gave the powerful goddess a very human side that was very relatable. I always think of goddesses as these powerful beings that are not affected by emotions the same way that humans are. However, this story showed me differently. 

The goddess Isis. Photo by: Jeff Dahl (2007)

I'm confused why the youth was taken into the water, never to be seen again by the crocodile in The Wax Crocodile. I guess it was just the fact that the youth was supposed to be following the Pharaoh rather than sneaking off to visit his lover? If I were the woman, I would be extremely upset that I was having to suffer for my lover's mistakes. Maybe a storytelling idea could be to rewrite this story with a different ending to characterize the woman as more triumphant.