Le ciel se lon l’Hymne Orphique à Ouranos et se lon des textes funéraires égyptiens (PT, CT, BD):une brève comparaison préliminaire
Summary: The Sky according to the Orphic Hymn to Ouranos and according to the Egyptian Funerary Texts (PT, CT, BD): A Brief Preliminary Comparison The Orphic Hymn to Ouranos (cf. Quandt 1973: 4) contains many important astronomical and cosmological notions, concerning the firmament, the stars an...
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| Formato: | Artículo |
| Lenguaje: | fra |
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Universidad Católica Argentina. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Centro de Estudios de Historia del Antiguo Oriente
2021
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://repositorio.uca.edu.ar/handle/123456789/11835 |
| Aporte de: |
| Sumario: | Summary: The Sky according to the Orphic Hymn to Ouranos and according to
the Egyptian Funerary Texts (PT, CT, BD): A Brief Preliminary Comparison
The Orphic Hymn to Ouranos (cf. Quandt 1973: 4) contains many
important
astronomical and cosmological notions, concerning the firmament, the stars and the
celestial sphere. These very
elements have been recently examined by the author, in
comparison to some similar ancient
Egyptian
ideas (Maravelia 2001: 49 ff. Maravelia
2006: chap. IV). The Orphics
(whose
astronomical
cosmovision dates since the 14th
century BCE, but whose ideas were first collected
and written
by the Peisistratos’
and Onomakritos’ doxographs at c. 525 BCE) considered
the sky as a transcendental
entity, presenting a multi–faceted aspect.
Hence, the sky was thought of as either:
(i)
A powerful ancestral cosmic divinity, incorporating
the characteristics
of a certain
cosmovision:
thus, elder Ouranos,
personification
of the Sky and identified with the
Cosmos, was considered
as the cradle of creation; (ii) The starry firmament,
rich in
astral luminaries and celestial bodies,
hence the locus or scenery
of their periodical
motions; (iii) The celestial
sphere, an imaginary cosmic orb encircling
the Earth
(which was virtually considered
only in the context of this and some other Orphic
hymns –but not in general– as placed
at the centre of the celestial sphere), apparently
revolving perpetually around the Earth, like an infinite cosmic top; by virtue
of these
facts, the sky was responsible for the appearance of various
astronomical
(diurnal rotation
of the Earth around her axis, annual revolution
of the Earth around
the Sun, precession
of the Equinoxes),
as well as meteorological
phenomena
(clouds, precipitations, variation
of the sky’s colour during the day, etc.), due
both to the continuous
and unceasing
change of the image/“face” of the sky; or, (iv) The guardian
and sacred
keeper of the Universal
Law, implying the celestial
harmony (connected to the Egyptian conception of Ma‘at). It has been proven (Krauss
1997; Wallin 2002; Maravelia 2006: chap. I, III, V) that the ancient
Egyptian funerary
texts were not only meant as religious compositions,
endeavoring
to safely transfer
the pharaohs and nobles from the visually perceived world to the metaphysical
realm
of the gods. They were also carriers of significant
astronomical
and cosmological
conceptions, expressed in a pre–scientific form, using myths and symbols
as virtual
signifiants. In the Pyramid Texts (PT), the Coffin Texts (CT), as well as in the Book
of the Dead (BD) there are numerous references to the sky. Either in the form of
the sky–goddess Nūt (in many instances personifying either the sarcophagus, as an
amniotic cocoon
for the deceased, or the Galaxy), or as the conception of the starry
firmament [biA(y)t] and the celestial
sphere [pDt, Hr(y)t], the notion of the sky plays
also an important part in these (religious
and cosmographical)
texts, which could be
classified –mutatis mutandis– under some of the same
previous categories
[viz (ii)
and (iv), supra]. |
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