Book of the Heavenly Cow
Encyclopedia
Amarna Period
The Amarna Period was an era of Egyptian history during the latter half of the Eighteenth Dynasty when the royal residence of the pharaoh and his queen was shifted to Akhetaten in what is now modern-day Amarna...
and, in part, describes the reasons for the imperfect state of the world in terms of humankind's rebellion against the supreme sun god Ra
Ra
Ra is the ancient Egyptian sun god. By the Fifth Dynasty he had become a major deity in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the mid-day sun...
. Divine punishment was inflicted through the goddess Hathor
Hathor
Hathor , is an Ancient Egyptian goddess who personified the principles of love, beauty, music, motherhood and joy. She was one of the most important and popular deities throughout the history of Ancient Egypt...
with the survivors suffering through separation from Ra
Ra
Ra is the ancient Egyptian sun god. By the Fifth Dynasty he had become a major deity in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the mid-day sun...
who now resided in the sky on the back of Nut
Nut (goddess)
In the Ennead of Egyptian mythology, Nut was the goddess of the sky.-Goddess of the sky:...
the heavenly cow. With this "fall", suffering and death came into the world along with a fracture in the original unity of creation. The supreme god now changes into many heavenly bodies, creates the "Fields of Paradise" for the blessed dead, perhaps appoints Geb
Geb
Geb was the Egyptian god of the Earth and a member of the Ennead of Heliopolis. It was believed in ancient Egypt that Geb's laughter was earthquakes and that he allowed crops to grow. The name was pronounced as such from the Greek period onward,...
as his heir, hands over the rule of humankind to Osiris
Osiris
Osiris is an Egyptian god, usually identified as the god of the afterlife, the underworld and the dead. He is classically depicted as a green-skinned man with a pharaoh's beard, partially mummy-wrapped at the legs, wearing a distinctive crown with two large ostrich feathers at either side, and...
(Thoth
Thoth
Thoth was considered one of the more important deities of the Egyptian pantheon. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a baboon, animals sacred to him. His feminine counterpart was Seshat...
ruling the night sky as his deputy) with Shu
Shu
Shu may refer to:*Shū ** , Japanese Kanji.*Shu * 蜀 , an abbreviation of Sichuan province of the People's Republic of China, as well as the following historical regimes that have existed in this region:...
and the Heh gods now supporting the sky goddess Nut
Nut (goddess)
In the Ennead of Egyptian mythology, Nut was the goddess of the sky.-Goddess of the sky:...
. Though the text is recorded in the New Kingdom
New Kingdom
The New Kingdom of Egypt, also referred to as the Egyptian Empire is the period in ancient Egyptian history between the 16th century BC and the 11th century BC, covering the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of Egypt....
period it is written in Middle Egyptian
Middle Egyptian
Middle Egyptian is the typical form of Egyptian written from 2000 BCE to 1300 BCE .Although evolving into Late Egyptian from the 14th century, Middle Egyptian remained in use as literary standard language until the 4th century AD. As such, it is the classical variant of Egyptian that historically...
and may have been written during the Middle Kingdom
Middle Kingdom of Egypt
The Middle Kingdom of Egypt is the period in the history of ancient Egypt stretching from the establishment of the Eleventh Dynasty to the end of the Fourteenth Dynasty, between 2055 BC and 1650 BC, although some writers include the Thirteenth and Fourteenth dynasties in the Second Intermediate...
period.
Description
The book appears in complete form on the walls of chambers in the tombs of Seti I, Ramesses II, and Ramesses III, and a portion appears in a niche in the tomb of Ramesses VI. Its earliest known appearance, in a truncated form, is on the burial shrines of Tutankhamun.The text includes three illustrations, including a large image of the "Cow of Heaven" (the goddess Nut
Nut (goddess)
In the Ennead of Egyptian mythology, Nut was the goddess of the sky.-Goddess of the sky:...
, personification of the sky) supported by Shu
Shu (Egyptian deity)
In Egyptian mythology, Shu is one of the primordial gods, a personification of air, one of the Ennead of Heliopolis. He was created by Atum, his father and Iusaaset, his mother in the city of Heliopolis. With his sister, Tefnut , he was the father of Nut and Geb...
along other gods and the king
Pharaoh
Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...
.
Origins
The book may have originated from the Pyramid TextsPyramid Texts
The Pyramid Texts are a collection of ancient Egyptian religious texts from the time of the Old Kingdom. The pyramid texts are possibly the oldest known religious texts in the world. Written in Old Egyptian, the pyramid texts were carved on the walls and sarcophagi of the pyramids at Saqqara during...
dawn myth accounts but by the New Kingdom
New Kingdom
The New Kingdom of Egypt, also referred to as the Egyptian Empire is the period in ancient Egyptian history between the 16th century BC and the 11th century BC, covering the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of Egypt....
the idea was developed to explain death and suffering in an imperfect creation. The work has been viewed as a form of theodicy
Theodicy
Theodicy is a theological and philosophical study which attempts to prove God's intrinsic or foundational nature of omnibenevolence , omniscience , and omnipotence . Theodicy is usually concerned with the God of the Abrahamic religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, due to the relevant...
and a magical text to ensure the King's ascent into heaven. It has also been viewed as thematically similar to more developed accounts of the destruction of mankind in the Mesopotamian and biblical stories of the flood.The reign of Akhenaten
Akhenaten
Akhenaten also spelled Echnaton,Ikhnaton,and Khuenaten;meaning "living spirit of Aten") known before the fifth year of his reign as Amenhotep IV , was a Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt who ruled for 17 years and died perhaps in 1336 BC or 1334 BC...
, the pharaoh who had attempted to bring about a break in the existent religious traditions, may be the inspiration for the work.
Content
The text is divided in half by the image of the cow and her supporters. There are no other firm breaks in the text, but scholars who have analyzed it suggest a loose division into four sections. The first section describes the "Destruction of Mankind", in which humans plot against Ra. After consulting with the other gods, he decides to send the goddess HathorHathor
Hathor , is an Ancient Egyptian goddess who personified the principles of love, beauty, music, motherhood and joy. She was one of the most important and popular deities throughout the history of Ancient Egypt...
, as the violent Eye of Ra, to slaughter the rebels, bringing death into the world. Ra saves the rest of humanity by putting out beer dyed to resemble blood, which Hathor drinks, becoming intoxicated. The remaining sections deal with Ra's withdrawal into the sky, his organization of the underworld
Duat
In Egyptian mythology, Duat is the underworld. The Duat is a vast area under the Earth, connected with Nun, the waters of the primordial abyss. The Duat is the realm of the god Osiris and the residence of other gods and supernatural beings...
for the dead to dwell in, and with the theology surrounding the ba, or soul.
Publication
In 1876, Edouard NavilleÉdouard Naville
Captaine Henri Édouard Naville was a Swiss egyptologist.He was born in Geneva. He studied in London, Paris and Berlin ....
published English and French translations of the version of the Book of the Heavenly Cow from Seti I's tomb, followed by the version from the tomb of Ramesses III in 1885. Heinrich Brugsch published the first German-language edition in 1881. Other translations were produced by Charles Maystre in 1941, Alexandre Piankoff in 1955, and Erik Hornung in 1983 and 1991.