Hunting & Eating Divinity: Pyramid Texts, the "Cannibal Hymn,” and Divine Kingship

Afterlives of Ancient Egypt with Kara Cooney

Kara and Amber take a deep dive into the so-called “Cannibal Hymn” (Utterances 273–274) of the Pyramid Texts, which date to the late Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period (ca. 2375–2055 BCE) and are the oldest funerary texts from ancient Egypt. They do some reading, some interpreting, and talk about the great power the ancient Egyptians believed these texts held, and how they're a part of the restricted knowledge and magical power that the Egyptians kept for their god–kings.

Sources

Eyre, Christopher. 2002. The Cannibal Hymn: a cultural and literary study. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.

Faulkner, R. O. 1969. The ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts: translated into English, 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Goebs, Katja. 2004. “The Cannibal Spell: continuity and change in the Pyramid Text and Coffin Text versions.” In: Bickel, Susanne and Bernard Mathieu (eds), D'un monde à l'autre: Textes des Pyramides & Textes des Sarcophages. Actes de la table ronde internationale, "Textes des Pyramides versus Textes des Sarcophages", IFAO - 24-26 Septembre 2001, 143-173. Le Caire: Institut français d'archéologie orientale.

Hornung, Erik. 1992. Idea into image: essays on ancient Egyptian thought. Translated by Elizabeth Bredeck. New York: Timken.

Sethe, Kurt. 1908-1922. Die altaegyptischen Pyramidentexte: nach den Papierabdrücken und Photographien des Berliner Museums, 4 vols. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs.

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