conversations.from: human
conversations.value: What could be a title for a book about Egyptian, Hieroglyphs, Egyptology with the genre: History, World?
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: A title for this book could be 'Gods of Ancient Egypt'
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: a description for a book titled Gods of Ancient Egypt about Egyptian, Hieroglyphs, Egyptology with the genre: History, World
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: the author is a lecturer on Egyptology and the author of "Introducing Egyptian Hieroglyphs," "More About Egyptian Hieroglyphs," and "The Egyptians."
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: the first five paragraphs for this book
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Gods of Ancient Egypt
  The Bukhis Bull was worshipped at three other places in the Theban district – in the precinct of Amun at Karnak, where Montu had his own temple, at Tod and at Medamud (see below), although it is probable that there was not a separate live bull in all of them, but rather that the bull regarded as Montu incarnate visited each place at regular intervals and was represented in its absence by a statue.
  The popularity of Bastet was such that, again according to Herodotus, the most important and best-attended festival was the one held at Bubastis in honour of the goddess, whom the Greeks identified with Artemis. The animal sacred to Artemis was the she-bear, not the cat; hence the Greeks could not have associated Artemis with Bastet because of any identity between sacred animals. However, they were both virgin goddesses, Bastet being the mother of Mihos notwithstanding, although their worship was orgiastic and in Bastet's case included ritual frenzies.
  The evidence of the numerous statuettes, made in the Late Period especially, of beautifully observed cats, lissome, muscular and dignified, testifies to the popularity of Bastet, which never abated from the time when she rose to importance as the local deity of the kings of Dynasty XXII to the Graeco-Roman period.
  From literary works such as Instructions on behaviour, which were a popular genre from the Old Kingdom onwards, and for which the New Kingdom sages, Ani and Amenemope, were famous, humility was a prized quality. From biographical inscriptions in tombs, and from funerary stelae, it is clear that good deeds, such as giving bread to the hungry and water to the thirsty, were expected of a man, as were the virtues of truthfulness, modesty and humility. In spite of this, it has to be admitted that many biographical inscriptions seem to be somewhat lacking in modesty and humility.
  By the New Kingdom, an awareness of individual responsibility for good behaviour is often demonstrated; and personal goodness, or piety, is much in evidence in votive stelae offered to a deity clearly in the expectation that it will please him. Punishment meted out for wrongdoing was accepted in a penitential manner; thus, a draughtsman from Deir el-Medina, Neferabu, admits that he swore a false oath, for which the god has blinded him:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Add another sentence about Romans, Italy, Rome, carried, provided.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Gods of Ancient Egypt
  The Bukhis Bull was worshipped at three other places in the Theban district – in the precinct of Amun at Karnak, where Montu had his own temple, at Tod and at Medamud (see below), although it is probable that there was not a separate live bull in all of them, but rather that the bull regarded as Montu incarnate visited each place at regular intervals and was represented in its absence by a statue. 
  The popularity of Bastet was such that, again according to Herodotus, the most important and best-attended festival was the one held at Bubastis in honour of the goddess, whom the Greeks identified with Artemis. The animal sacred to Artemis was the she-bear, not the cat; hence the Greeks could not have associated Artemis with Bastet because of any identity between sacred animals. However, they were both virgin goddesses, Bastet being the mother of Mihos notwithstanding, although their worship was orgiastic and in Bastet's case included ritual frenzies. 
  The evidence of the numerous statuettes, made in the Late Period especially, of beautifully observed cats, lissome, muscular and dignified, testifies to the popularity of Bastet, which never abated from the time when she rose to importance as the local deity of the kings of Dynasty XXII to the Graeco-Roman period. The Romans carried her worship to Italy, to Rome, Ostia, Pompeii; and to Nemi, where she was provided with a silk robe in purple and turquoise-green, a shirt of purple linen with two girdles, one gilt, two mantles, a tunic and a white dress. 
  From literary works such as Instructions on behaviour, which were a popular genre from the Old Kingdom onwards, and for which the New Kingdom sages, Ani and Amenemope, were famous, humility was a prized quality. From biographical inscriptions in tombs, and from funerary stelae, it is clear that good deeds, such as giving bread to the hungry and water to the thirsty, were expected of a man, as were the virtues of truthfulness, modesty and humility. In spite of this, it has to be admitted that many biographical inscriptions seem to be somewhat lacking in modesty and humility. 
  By the New Kingdom, an awareness of individual responsibility for good behaviour is often demonstrated; and personal goodness, or piety, is much in evidence in votive stelae offered to a deity clearly in the expectation that it will please him. Punishment meted out for wrongdoing was accepted in a penitential manner; thus, a draughtsman from Deir el-Medina, Neferabu, admits that he swore a false oath, for which the god has blinded him:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: four more paragraphs. End with the sentence ' Old animal cults, such as those of the Apis, Mnevis and Bukhis Bulls, enjoyed the patronage of Ptolemaic kings, though the most popular deity was the relative newcomer, Bastet.'.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: The tradition of worshipping deified men seems to have died out during the New Kingdom, although both Imhotep (see page 161) and Amenhotep-son-of-Hapu were revered. Amenhotep-son-of-Hapu belonged to an obscure family from Athribis in the Delta but, in the reign of Amenhotep III, he rose to become overseer of all the king's works, royal scribe, scribe of recruits and steward of the estates of the princess, Sitamun. Much of the credit for the great buildings erected during the reign must go to the king's namesake, who lived to the age of eighty. He was honoured with a memorial temple on the west bank at Thebes that was comparable to the royal temples nearby, and his statue was erected within the hallowed precincts at Karnak. However, it was not until the Saite era that the cult of Amenhotep-son-of-Hapu flourished: he then became a healer and patron deity of physicians. In the Ptolemaic era, he was worshipped as a god of healing and a giver of oracles, with a sanctuary at Deir el-Bahri, in the upper court of the temple. In the Graeco-Roman era, this became the place to which people went to ask his help in having children. The Greeks called him 'Amenothes Paapis', and linked him with Imhotep.
  Direct communication between deity and mortal was often sought, and could be achieved by several means. Oracles were used not only by kings but by ordinary people, who expected them to give advice on a variety of problems, from enquiries on promotion, to the whereabouts of a piece of lost property, to the treatment of servants. Oracles could be consulted by written message, by casting lots with straws or sticks, and by asking a question – usually demanding the answer 'yes' or 'no' – of the statue of a deity. The statue answered by inclining its head, or by varying its pressure on the shoulders of the priests who carried it to indicate that they should step forward (yes) or backwards (no) – a good deal of interpretation by the priests being essential to this method. In the New Kingdom, if not before, the prophetic voice of the god emanating from his sanctuary was a popular method of consulting the oracle. In the Late Period, in particular, incubation became popular, and Egyptians sought the interpretation of dreams by sleeping overnight within the precincts of a temple, not only at Denderah (see page 123) but elsewhere.
  Messages to a deity could be left at his or her shrine. The richer members of society left votive stelae, but the poor could leave their messages on pieces of broken pottery, as at Abydos (see page 68). From the Eighteenth Dynasty to the Saite era, the portico of the tomb of the Twelfth-Dynasty noble, Hapjefa III, at Assiut, was used as a popular shrine to Abydos' ancient deity, Wepwawet. Over six hundred small votive stelae have been found there, the majority dedicated to Wepwawet, others to Amun, Hathor and other deities. One of these stelae (No. 1632 in the British Museum), belonging to a man named Pateweret, is proof that sometimes gods were asked to intervene to save human beings: seemingly, Pateweret was chased by a crocodile, and begged Wepwawet to save him from it. His prayer seems to have been answered, for he erected the stele in thanks for his deliverance.
  In the last centuries before Christ, there was an extraordinary revival in animal cults, especially among the poorer sections of Egyptian society. Although the worship of gods made manifest in animals was one of the oldest forms of religion in Egypt, it seems likely that this new-found popularity of animal cults owed much to Egyptian nationalism. Sickened by successive periods of foreign domination, priests may have encouraged Egyptians to turn to what was perhaps the most characteristic feature of Egyptian religion, the worship of sacred animals, mummified after death and buried in tombs. Old animal cults, such as those of the Apis, Mnevis and Bukhis Bulls, enjoyed the patronage of Ptolemaic kings, though the most popular deity was the relative newcomer, Bastet.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: the last five paragraphs
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Sekhmet: black granite statue in its shrine in the Temple of Ptah, Karnak. The statue is lit from above through an opening in the roof but is otherwise in darkness. Among local people, the statue has a reputation for evil. One story tells of how, at some unspecified time in the past, seven boys (seven is a magical number to the Egyptians) who were employed on an archaeological excavation as basket boys to remove rubble were buried at the feet of the statue by a fall of sand and stones. Their bodies were never found – the inference being that the goddess had devoured them.
  Shu holding Nut aloft: vignette from a Twenty-first-Dynasty Book of the Dead. (Now in the British Museum and known as the Greenfield Papyrus after its donor)
  Pectoral (3.8 cm high 3 5.7 cm long) from a Dynasty XII necklace reputed to have come from Dahshur and now in Eton College, Windsor. In the centre is a representation of the goddess Bat (the personification of the sistrum of Hathor), supporting on her head a sun's disk flanked by two cobras (Wadjet and Nekhbet as uraei). To the left and right of the disk are Wadjet Eyes (symbols of Horus). To the left of Bat is Horus as a sphinx, to her right the Seth-animal: they are confronting each other not as enemies but as allies in the protection of the royal wearer of the pectoral.
  Gilded statuette of Tutankhamun showing him balanced on a skiff with harpoon in hand, ready to stab Seth in the manner of Horus. (Cairo Museum)
  Seth, worshipped by Aapahte, deputy foreman of the gang (of workers), Deir el-Medina, Dynasty XIX. (Stele, Turin Museum)