Like many ancient peoples, the Egyptians told stories about how all things first began in order to help explain the world about them. In the following, very-simplified creation myth, we first meet the god, Ra and his children.
In the beginning the earth was completely covered by water. Then a mound or hill appeared out of the water. This was called the First Place. From it grew a lovely blue lotus flower. From its golden center sprang the god Ra, the First Light, and so came the dawn of the first day. Night fell when the lotus closed and sank back under the water.
Ra felt alone and wanted to create a world, so he gave birth to Shu (god of the air) and Tefnut (goddess of moisture). Their offspring were Geb (the earth-god) and Nut (the sky-goddess). Geb lay down on the water’s surface and later in the spring seeds were planted in his body. Geb and Nut fell in love with each other and clung tightly together. Ra needed room for things to be created like trees and mountains and demanded that Shu separate his children by crawling between them and standing up, thus pushing the sky up away from the earth. Later Ra felt sorry for the two separated lovers, Geb and Nut, and so he scattered numerous stars in the sky to ensure Geb that he would always be able to see his beloved Nut.
This creation myth lends itself well to a visual and oral presentation. As I tell this story of creation I plan to use large paper cut-outs of the characters, fixing each one on a large felt-board so that by the end of the story a re-creation of an original tomb painting of Geb, Shu and Nut will have been made. Robert Hull, in his book, Egyptian Stories, provides a suitable facsimile of such a painting on p. 9, which I plan to use.
To provide the opportunity to revisit this wonderful creation myth I plan to have the class create a Big Book for which only the text will be provided. Pairs of students will be given a single page of the book and will be asked to create an illustration to match the text. Once the Big Book is bound I will use it for a shared reading experience in which students will be invited to read along with the teacher.
The second creation myth that I will use is one adapted and illustrated by C. Shana Greger in her very imaginative Cry of the Benu Bird. In this book the author combines mythical stories of the benu bird (or phoenix) and of Atum, the creator-god, to tell a creation-story with great appeal to children. In it we meet some of the same characters from our first creation-story but here the plot becomes more complex. Unlike the previous myth, the benu bird, a symbol of eternity and a protector against darkness, first arises from the waters of Nun, bringing light and life. Later, out of a lotus flower arises Atum who goes on to create the world day by day, adding the sun, moon, stars and planets, and creating the city of Heliopolis on a mountain-top. From his drops of sweat hundreds of gods are created and from his tears, human beings. Finally, each creature and plant of the earth is created simply by Atum calling out its name. The benu bird’s offspring returns to remind Atum of their shared relationship with the sun and with light.
After reading this story aloud to my class, I will ask students to choose one aspect of Atum’s creation to illustrate in a mural on large paper. Groups of two or three will choose from the following :
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the benu bird arising from Nun’s waters, lighting the darkness
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Atum rising from the lotus flower
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the birth of the sun
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the creation of Heliopolis
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creation of gods
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creation of mankind
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creation of animals and plants
Students will be asked to describe their paintings by retelling their illustrated portion of this creation myth.
In contrast to the first creation myth in which I used human figures to retell the story, beginning with this case I plan to use a combination of symbols and pictorial drawings borrowed from hieroglyphics as each myth is presented. I have provided an appendix of such representations at the end of this unit for easy reference. These symbols will help the students to recall and distinguish between the nine myths presented in the unit. They will also form a useful vehicle by which they can retell each story orally or in written form. In addition, they are an ideal way to prepare the students for the study of hieroglyphics and how the ancient Egyptians told stories using pictures.
R. T. Rundle Clark in his book, Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt, lists and describes some of the basic symbols used in ancient Egypt. He writes that, in fact, the number of symbols favored by the Egyptians was surprisingly small, with some (i.e., the lotus) common to other cultures, and others (i.e., the ankh) peculiar to Egypt. He reminds us that the significance of symbols resides in their ability to act “as focal points for emotions or imaginative speculations. They belong to the world of myth, even if they have mundane origins” (p. 218). From this valuable resource book I have been able to gather symbols for each of the myths presented in my unit.
The symbols presented in the preceding myth are the lotus (symbol of rebirth), the benu bird, the primeval mound, the ankh (symbol of life), and the waters of chaos.
Our next cosmological myth is based on the movement of the sun each day from dawn to dusk. Abigail Frost in her Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt presents a simplified version of this myth, entitled “The Barge of the Sun.” In this myth, dawn breaks as Ra awakens in the east and, after being dressed, is led to his golden barge which slowly crosses the sky all day, giving off light and warmth. Dusk arrives and the skies darken as Ra’s barge sails out of our world and into a perilous region between the kingdoms of the living and the dead. It is at this point that he replaces his human, daytime face with that of a great-horned ram. Gradually he passes through the twelve gates of night, arriving at last in the underworld where the dead tow his boat. Ra then has to pass through the dark, snake-infested waters of the caverns of the west where he uses magic in order to safely pass. His journey continues with two fish, one pink and one blue, who give escort, swimming ahead of him. Their job is to warn him of the approach of his greatest enemy, the gigantic serpent, Apopis, who tries to attack and destroy him every morning and evening. If Apopis were ever victorious, the sun would disappear, plunging the universe into total darkness and chaos. Again, Ra must rely on his magic to see him through. A new dawn breaks as Ra on his barge completes the night journey and passes back through the monumental gate into the world of the living.
Following the read-aloud presentation of this myth, discussion will focus on Ra’s heavy responsibility to pass safely through the night in order for a new day to begin. To better appreciate the force of good (Ra) and of evil (Apopis), students will be asked to create a retelling of this myth through the eyes of each of these two characters. This retelling can act as a good springboard to writing. Pairs of students will be asked to write a dialogue that might occur between Ra and Apopis as they confront each other in the caverns of the west. Another effective way to bring out points of view might be to have individual students volunteer to be one of these characters and to answer questions posed by the rest of the class, interview-style.
The symbols to be introduced with this myth are: the solar boat and scarab beetle (symbol of Ra the sun god and of renewed life), the cosmic serpent, and the fish.
A final cosmological myth serves to explain why the moon waxes and wanes and involves, along with Ra and Nut, two new gods, Thoth and Khonsu. Robert Nicholson and Claire Watts in their book, Ancient Egypt, offer an enchanting version of this myth, entitled “Nut’s Children.”
In this myth, Ra, now reigning as a human pharaoh, tries to prevent a succession to his throne. Thoth, god of wisdom and magic, has predicted that Nut’s son would one day reign, and so Ra has laid a curse on her, specifying that she cannot give birth on any day or night of any year. Thoth, who sympathizes with heartbroken Nut, devises a plan to trick the moon-god, Khonsu, by challenging him to a game of senet. Thoth wins every time they play, which frustrates Khonsu to no end. So the moon-god wagers an hour of his light that he will win the next game. But he continues to lose and wager again, so that Thoth cunningly gathers up enough light for five days. Then Thoth affixes the five extra days to the end of the year, during which Nut is able to give birth to Osiris, the future pharaoh after Ra, as well as Seth, Harmachis, Nephthys and Isis. Khonsu is sufficiently weakened after the game and is only able to shine brightly a few days of each month, using the rest of the month simply to gather his wasted strength together.
The symbols to be used with this myth are the moon (symbol of Khonsu), the ibis (symbol of Thoth) and the crook and flail (symbols of authority).
The last two myths lend themselves nicely to an exploration of the scientific explanations for the sun’s rising and setting and the moon’s waxing and waning. At second-grade level, such research takes a very basic form as students in pairs pore over simplified encyclopedias and science picture-books to find answers to simple questions about the function of the sun and moon. The research-project could take the form of a poster showing both pictures and small fact-cards to explain what they have learned. A second extension activity relevant to this stage of learning about myths would be to have students write their own mythological versions of such topics as:
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why it snows
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why it rains
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why it thunders
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why there is lightning
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why there are deserts
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how volcanoes were created
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Story mapping as is introduced in Lesson Plan One of this unit could be used to help students plan out their stories.