Egyptian Myths and Legends

by E.A. Wallis Budge, E.A. Wallis Budge, Unknown Author

Hardcover

About the author

Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge was an English Egyptologist, Orientalist, and philologist who worked for the British Museum and published numerous works on the ancient Near East.

Reviews

[Aaron]

Compared to Greek and Norse, Egyptian mythology was always a weak point of mine, and I was hoping to learn a thing or two from this book. Unfortunately, it was a big disappointment. A cursory glance at other reader reviews shows that I'm not alone in this opinion. The text itself is translated from the hieroglyphics of tombs, monuments, steles, tablets and papyrus scrolls from Ancient Egypt. The translations are over 100 years old, and no effort has been made by Arcturus to modernise or make them approachable. In the first half of the book, the 'stories' are more like hymns or chants, extolling the majesty of their animal headed gods. They're extremely tedious and repetitive to read. Later, the stories move away from the gods and cover mortal doings. Sometimes these are less 'myth' and more historical accounts of merchants arguing over trade goods. Some are quite entertaining, but not enough to salvage the whole.

I was wondering why there aren't many books featuring stories of the Egyptian gods and heroes, and why there isn't a unified mythic canon. The reason is due to the sprawling, messy, and fractured nature of Egyptian history, which causes gods to evolve, merge and contradict one another over a long period of time. There aren't many memorable tales in the collective conciousness, scholars argue about the identities of the gods and what they represent. There is also much that has been lost, and those texts that have survived appear to be mostly snippets. Often, the translator marks how a story is damaged or incomplete, thus ending it abruptly, or beginning halfway. In my opinion, this book was not fit for publication, and required an extensive overhaul. On the other hand, I was wary of rubbishing this volume because at the end of most tales is a warning not to criticise the holy writings, on pain of being smitten by a terrible curse...