Egyptian Mythology |
Seven years' famine
![Picture](/uploads/5/2/1/1/52110449/8967898_orig.jpg)
In the eighteenth year of King Tcheser (the third king of the third dynasty), the whole region of the south, the island of Elephantine, and the district of Nubia were ruled by a high official Mater. The King had decided to send a dispatch to Mater and say that he was in great sorrow. That he and his people were suffering from famine and drought.
Any type of grain was scarce, vegetables and garden produce of every kind were not to be found. People had very little to eat, men were stealing from their neighbors. Men wished to walk out but couldn’t find the strength to do so. Children were crying for food and men collapsed through lack of food. Spirits of the aged were crushed to the earth, as they laid themselves down to die.
In trouble King Tcheser then remembered the god named Imhotep, the son of Ptah of the South Wall. Who had helped Egypt in a similar situation once before. But sadly his help was no longer coming to the people of Egypt.
So Tcheser asked Mater where the Nile rose, and what god or goddess was its duty.
For and answer to the king’s concerned question, Mater came immediately to the king.
He told him that the Nile flood came from the island of Elephantine where the first city had ever existed. Out of that city rose the sun when he went to bestow life upon a man. From there it was called, “Doubly Sweet Life”.
The spot of the island of where the river rose was a double cavern Qerti, which was likened to two breasts from which all good things poured from. The double cavern was also known as the “couch of the Nile”. From it, the Nile god watched until drought season had drawn high, and then he would flood the country.
Mater had then started to describe the temple to the king. The Temple of Khnemu of Elephantine. He then told his royal master that the other gods in were Sothis, Anquet, Hapi, Shu, Geb, Nut, Osiris, Horus, Isis, and Nephthys. Then Mater described the various products found in the neighborhood, and what offerings could be made to the god Khnemu.
Once the king heard these words, he gave sacrifices to the gods before him.
Finally Khnemu appeared before the king, and said, “I am the Khnemu the Creator. My hands rest upon thee to protect thy person, and to make sound thy body. I gave thee……thy heart. I am he who created himself. I am the primeval watery abyss, and I am the Nile who riseth at his will to give health for me and to those who toil. I am the guide and director of all men, the Almighty, the father of gods, Shu, the mighty possessor of earth.
Finally, the god had promised that the Nile should rise every year, as in older times it had. He described the good that should come upon the land when he put an end to the famine. When Khnemu ceased to speak King Tcheser then remembered that the god had gave a brief complaint about no one taking the time to complete/repair his shrine; even though stone lay near in an abundance. The king immediately issued a decree in which was order that only certain lands near/on the Nile River, near Elephantine should be set apart for the temple of Khnemu.
A certain tax was levied upon the neighborhood and devoted to the maintenance of the god. This text was original written in wood but did not last very long. So the king ordered that a copy of it should be written in stone, and set in a specific place to be seen.
Any type of grain was scarce, vegetables and garden produce of every kind were not to be found. People had very little to eat, men were stealing from their neighbors. Men wished to walk out but couldn’t find the strength to do so. Children were crying for food and men collapsed through lack of food. Spirits of the aged were crushed to the earth, as they laid themselves down to die.
In trouble King Tcheser then remembered the god named Imhotep, the son of Ptah of the South Wall. Who had helped Egypt in a similar situation once before. But sadly his help was no longer coming to the people of Egypt.
So Tcheser asked Mater where the Nile rose, and what god or goddess was its duty.
For and answer to the king’s concerned question, Mater came immediately to the king.
He told him that the Nile flood came from the island of Elephantine where the first city had ever existed. Out of that city rose the sun when he went to bestow life upon a man. From there it was called, “Doubly Sweet Life”.
The spot of the island of where the river rose was a double cavern Qerti, which was likened to two breasts from which all good things poured from. The double cavern was also known as the “couch of the Nile”. From it, the Nile god watched until drought season had drawn high, and then he would flood the country.
Mater had then started to describe the temple to the king. The Temple of Khnemu of Elephantine. He then told his royal master that the other gods in were Sothis, Anquet, Hapi, Shu, Geb, Nut, Osiris, Horus, Isis, and Nephthys. Then Mater described the various products found in the neighborhood, and what offerings could be made to the god Khnemu.
Once the king heard these words, he gave sacrifices to the gods before him.
Finally Khnemu appeared before the king, and said, “I am the Khnemu the Creator. My hands rest upon thee to protect thy person, and to make sound thy body. I gave thee……thy heart. I am he who created himself. I am the primeval watery abyss, and I am the Nile who riseth at his will to give health for me and to those who toil. I am the guide and director of all men, the Almighty, the father of gods, Shu, the mighty possessor of earth.
Finally, the god had promised that the Nile should rise every year, as in older times it had. He described the good that should come upon the land when he put an end to the famine. When Khnemu ceased to speak King Tcheser then remembered that the god had gave a brief complaint about no one taking the time to complete/repair his shrine; even though stone lay near in an abundance. The king immediately issued a decree in which was order that only certain lands near/on the Nile River, near Elephantine should be set apart for the temple of Khnemu.
A certain tax was levied upon the neighborhood and devoted to the maintenance of the god. This text was original written in wood but did not last very long. So the king ordered that a copy of it should be written in stone, and set in a specific place to be seen.