Reading Notes:Egypt, Reading A

The Secret Name of Ra

This was a very interesting story and I am not sure that I completely understood all of it. The English that it was written in were a little hard to follow and to understand however despite this being the case I was still a big fan of this story and really enjoyed the parts that I didn't understand. I think that this would be a pretty interesting story to be written in a more modern version of English and incorporating some other modern aspects but this is one of the first ancient fairytales that I felt didn't go too crazy with some of the basic views that I have seen in most of the folktale and myths that I have read in this class so far. I like that the Earth god was a female I have always thought that to be one of the greatest depiction of a god. I also like that she didn't feel like she had to serve mankind but instead was actually growing weary of mankind which is something that I would definitely think the earth would be doing. I however wasn't the biggest fan of how she was depicted as an enchantress. While I like that Earth is considered and enchantress I would like to change the perspective and focus more from Isis point of view as someone who felt left behind and that Ra the father is using his power to hold all of his kids in line and it feels more like it is forced love and not actual love and she feels like she was cast out of her life and forced to deal with the humans who just take from her and don't make offerings or sacrifice while everyone fears Ra. This way she isn't just trying to be selfish but help herself her kid and everyone else from the tyrannical Ra. 

"The god Ra"

Bibliography

Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie (1907). The secret name of Ra