Moral codes of Egypt
Introduction
Egypt’s story remote to about 5.000 years. The first inhabitants of Egypt settled on the banks of the Nile, fleeing from the desert. These inhabitants were organized in provinces (calls nomos) The society of Ancient Egypt was agricultural, but the arts and sciences had very developed (especially in algebra, geometry, writing and astronomy). Initial the pharaoh was considered the reincarnation of God Horus, then it was still a divine, but mortal figure. Egypt had a polytheistic religion that believed in many.
Towards 3100 to. C. King Menes del Alto Egypt invaded the Gajo Egypt unified to the two Egypts (El Alto, from Asuán to Cairo and Bass from Cairo to Delta), begins to be governed by the so -called Dynasties Menes becameThe I dynasty. There were a total of 33, each formed by rulers who came from the same family.
Developing
Moral codes change according to the time and culture in which they work. What for a culture is good or normal can be considered immoral in another, the same goes for times. Our ancestors had a different vision of the values to that of the new generations. The hierarchy of values changes according to the person who exercises them and the influence of the culture and time in which it develops. In this case we will talk about the moral code of ancient Egypt.
The Egyptians believed that the acts that were committed in life would affect the scope towards immortality. There was a series of instructions, a type of norms where acceptable behaviors and behaviors within personal relationships were established, which were inherited through a teaching code such as a type of advice to progress in life.
Most of the Egyptian works are anonymous but these instructions are very specific because they used to give more power to these people who wrote them. These texts cover issues such as the correct behavior towards superiors, equal and lower, and the need to be cautious and prudent when establishing a friendship.
The Egyptians believed that at the time of dying the God Anubis was going to judge them to be able to enter the world of the dead and rest forever.
In the trial his heart was heavy in a balance against the pen of truth, if in his mortal life they had been people who caused evil to others, his heart was going to be heavier than the pen and could not happen. But if during their lives the norms had been correctly followed, it has been honest, caused the good and made happy to other people, du heart would be lighter than the pen and could happen. Due to this belief the inhabitants of the Egyptian people during their lives focused on doing good to other people and acting as the laws of their pharaoh indicated, since for these the pharaoh was a representative of their gods on earth, obeying it wasplease the gods.
From our point of view, work properly only with a benefit (in this case access to the world of the dead) does not match ethics. But the idea they had to act like this would lead them to a great reward could be very effective since if all people acted looking for this, they would behave very decently and would not be rude or corrupt beings, in this way the official societycorrectly and in peace.
The funerary ritual, one of the most bleeding books in Egypt, has not allowed to know for sure that Egyptian moral, even if it was his own slave, drunkenness, laziness, indiscreet curiosity, envy, mistreat the neighbor with works or words, speak badly or muttering others, falsely accusing, seeking abortion, speaking evil of king or father.
There were also certain things that highlighted as good for example: to make God the due offerings, feed the hungry, dress naked. Thanks to the sanctions of these moral prescriptions, the Egyptians admitted that of the soul and the divine judgment after death. According to Herodotus, the Egyptians were the first to profess the dogma of the immortality of the soul. This claimed that when the body dies, the soul passes to other bodies through births or incarnations, touring and encouraging the bodies of almost all of the animals, until reaching another human body.
Throughout history, human groups and civilizations have established moral codes to govern their behavior. The ancient Egypt reflected on the cosmic reactions and phenomena, the observation of the forces of the universe and in particular its great link with the king, who was closely linked to humanity, thus becoming a mediator between human society and the divine world.
Egyptian literature that deals with ethical and moral both in the cosmic and social level, is abundant. For these studies, direct translation of hieroglyphic texts is considered important in addition to a formal criticism, and an interpretation of the conceptions of ethics and morals in the ancient Egypt reflected in these texts. The rules of society usually reflect a series of coded ideas, an ideology. Ancient Egypt formed its identity based on language, religion, tradition or the notion of belonging to a state. As an identity means offers, it is a powerful source of mental management.
The ancient peoples formulated their speculation in writings where they embodied, among other things, notions of ethics and morals, which is the issue that will be discussed in this essay. The Egyptians have left a lot of texts that were classified into literary genres, and where we can appreciate their reflections on society and their coexistence in the same.
In society men had to behave according to certain behavior regulations that were based on a series of values, constituting an ethic. They also reflected on the existence of evil in everyday experience, and the relationship between man and the god. The Egyptians admitted the immortality of the soul and divine judgment after death, with the prizes or penalties corresponding to the actions practiced in life.
Among the rules of conduct established in ancient Egypt there is abstention to all kinds of revenge, the help of the needy, although our own life is in danger, honor the parents, honor the dead, respect the elderly and protect the weakthink about life after death in resurrection within a new and unpredictable body. The Egyptians considered chastity a great virtue, and adultery was sentenced to death
According to Herodotus, the Egyptians were the first to profess the dogma of the immortality of the soul, because they claimed that when the body decomposes or dies, the soul passes successively to other bodies by means of births or incarnations, traveling and encouraging the bodies of almostAll animals of the earth, air and sea, until again in a human body in a given time or moment.
The belief in immortality never separated from the idea of a future remuneration of human actions. Although all bodies went down to the infernal world, not everyone was sure to reach the resurrection to achieve it, it was necessary not to have committed any serious fault, or in action, or with thought. The deceased should be judged by Osiris, accompanied by his forty -two advisors, his heart was placed on one of the saucers of the balance they had in his hand.
Horus and Anubis;In the other you can see the image of justice. Osiris is the Egyptian god of resurrection, the dead, vegetation and agriculture, in turn it is a symbol of fertility and regeneration of the Nile. Horus (the elevated) was the celestial god in Egyptian mythology. He was considered the initiator of the Egyptian civilization. It was the god of royalty in heaven, war and hunt.Anubis is the Greek name of the guardian of the tombs associated with death and life after this in the religion of ancient Egypt.
The Thoth God wrote down the result. This trial, which took place in the double justice room, depended on the irrevocable fate of the soul. If the deceased was convinced of irremisible faults, he was prey to an infernal monster with hippopotamo or was beheaded by [Footnoteref: 5] Horus. The annihilation of being was considered by the Egyptians as the punishment reserved for the evils, in terms of the righteous, it was fed and recreated with delicious delicacies. Toth is the god of wisdom, writing, music, spells, dream domain, time, magical spells and moon symbol.
It was said that he who wishes to speak of moral responsibility also has to talk about freedom, thinkers of ancient Egypt had very contemplated moral judgment, they defined it as a conscious state that accompanies all our intentional actions, which condemns them or that endorses them. It is what we call awareness, it is the voice of moral consciousness, which is linked to moral responsibility.
The one who works morally owns his own actions and therefore can determine himself, so he corresponds to freedom of decision so that moral judgment also contains the idea that moral value exceeds any other value. Great thinkers said that the unconditionality of moral demand points to absolute power, which orders and is different from man.
This refers to the fact that absolute power must be understood so that it does not annihile the freedom of man, that absolute power that unconditionally ligures human freedom from within without it identify with it, can only be an absolute and personal reality above anysuperhuman power.
conclusion
The Egyptians already talked about moderation before the Hebrew. It is a prudent wisdom and the elite of the 5th century.C. PTAHHOTEP two thousand years before had stated the maximum: ‘If you have a burning heart, moderate your violence. The calm man goes back all obstacles. Avoid the excess.
The Egyptians condemned pride and believed that divine compensation acted not directly in human affairs but indirectly. For ancient Egyptian, being generous was not to obey a divine mandate, but the direct consequence of its integration into the gods. Adhesion to the order created produces well -being, the detour causes discomfort. There is absence of sin concept. The difference with biblical conception is impressive. Many Egyptian words denote evil acts, but they cannot be considered sins in the theological sense. The Egyptians considered their transgressions not as sins but as aberrations that entail discomfort, since they disturb the order of the cosmos.
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