Buch, Englisch, Band 175, 198 Seiten, Format (B × H): 165 mm x 244 mm, Gewicht: 590 g
Buch, Englisch, Band 175, 198 Seiten, Format (B × H): 165 mm x 244 mm, Gewicht: 590 g
Reihe: Orientalia Lovaniensia Analect
ISBN: 978-90-429-2040-8
Verlag: PEETERS PUB
In the Egyptian context, what we term magic and demon,
drawing on our own cultural heritage, are not seen as negative aspects of
cultural practice and conceptualisation. Similarly, the Egyptian
equivalents do not carry the pejorative connotations borne by the modern
terms and their Greek antecedents; magic and demons can be forces for good
as well as evil. Indeed, the practice of magic and the conceptualisation
of personified demonic agents are central to the Egyptian understanding of
the workings of the world from the very continuation of the cosmos itself
down to the vicissitudes of existence faced by individuals. In particular,
the broader practice of magic and articulation of the involvement of
demonic agency form one of the crucial links in Ancient Egypt between
individual existence on the human level and the level of nature or the
cosmos, the realm of the gods. Unlike, though, the explicit recognition of
the term demon in the ancient Greek language and religion, as the intermediary
between god and mortals, the majority of the demonic names in the Egyptian
literature do not possess an apparent ontological essence, or a clearly
defined denotation. Their characteristics and role depended momentously on
the verbal and performative ritual environment they were part of. The
relation between the name of a demon and its cosmic-natural
personification is not contradictory as it may seem, but it is closely
interwoven in a well established ritual framework of words and actions.
This
multi-authored volume of 10 essays comprises an up-to-date authorized
account of many aspects of ancient Egyptian demonology, including the
multiple persona of the demonic or name vs. identity in the Egyptian
formation of the demonic, nightmares and underworld demons, dream rituals
and magic, categories of demonic entities and the vague distinction
between the divine and the demonic in Egyptian cosmology and ritual, the
theological and demonic aspects of Egyptian magic, and demons as
reflections of human society. Contributors include Paul John Frandsen,
Hedvig Gyory, Joachim Friedrich Quack, Yvan Koenig, Panagiotis Kousoulis,
Alan Lloyd, Robert Ritner, Alessandro Roccati, Kasia Szpakowska and
Penelope Wilson.
