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Egyptian cosmology, ancient

DOI
10.4324/9780415249126-N094-1
DOI: 10.4324/9780415249126-N094-1
Version: v1,  Published online: 1998
Retrieved March 29, 2024, from https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/egyptian-cosmology-ancient/v-1

Article Summary

Ancient Egypt has left us no systematic philosophy in the modern sense. However, there is abundant evidence that the Egyptians were concerned with all the usual problems of existence. The answers to these questions were mostly expressed through the use of myth, or commentary upon myth. Though complex and polytheistic, Egyptian religion provided a subtle means of commentary upon a range of theological, ethical and psychological questions. The range and quality of Egyptian technical achievements presupposes a degree of theoretical knowledge, some of which has survived and some of which can be reconstructed, either from Egyptian texts themselves, or from commentaries in the classical authors. Until recently much of the latter has been dismissed as inaccurate, but modern scholars are increasingly inclined to agree with the high value which Greek commentators placed on Egyptian thinking.

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Citing this article:
Ray, John D.. Egyptian cosmology, ancient, 1998, doi:10.4324/9780415249126-N094-1. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Taylor and Francis, https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/egyptian-cosmology-ancient/v-1.
Copyright © 1998-2024 Routledge.

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