Description
Egyptian New Kingdom laudatory texts (ca. 1539-1077 BCE) offer a rich locus to investigate concepts surrounding the binomial “Creator/Creation”, as aimed by the doctoral research underpinning this paper. Therein, the Creator deity is portrayed as a multifaceted complex entity, who creates and superintends ceaselessly over every being. Among the several epithets employed to qualify the Creator in this textual ensemble, a few connect the deity to concepts of ‘fear’ and ‘terror’, with lexemes such as snḏ(.t) and nrw being instrumental in such characterisation. Indeed, the Creator may be textually described as ‘causing fear (of himself) to his enemy’ (rdj snḏ⸗f m ḫrw⸗f; Louvre C 286, 10) or ‘Lord of fear, with great terror’ (nb snḏ.t ꜤꜢ nrw; Cairo CG 58038, II.6). Despite such allusions to the Creator as fear-inspiring and fear-triggering, the praised deity is also occasionally depicted as the one who makes the worshipper ‘exist without fear’ (dd(w) wn⸗j šw m nr(w); TT 11 (Solar Hymn), 2). This paper will examine how ‘fear’ is conceptualised, materialised, and represented in the studied textual corpus. Considering the inherent communicational setting of a laudatory text - which refers to an asymmetrical communication between two ontologically different beings (i.e., the worshipped Creator and the (created) worshipper) - this epistemological exploration will endeavour to localise ‘fear’ in said textual sources and to contextualise its pertinence and instrumentality in characterising the Creator deity. Moreover, bearing the Creator’s fear triggering yet also fear-preventing simultaneous dual nature, the implications of ‘awe’ and related concepts in interacting with the divine — and their consequences for the viability of truly accessing ‘belief’ vis-à-vis past agents— will also be considered.| Period | 23 Sept 2025 |
|---|---|
| Event title | III Atlantic Conference 2025 | Fears, Beliefs and Representations |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Ponta Delgada, São Miguel, PortugalShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |
Keywords
- Ancient Egyptian Religion
- Fear
- Religious Texts (Egyptology)
- New Kingdom (Egyptology)
- Creation