PS: suppose should also say that the
sun king Ra suggests that the two _brothers_, Horus & Seth should share
the kingdom, Horus still getting the best deal,
you'd think this would be a reasonable solution, the idea of dual
rulership being another possibility from prehistory -
it is in a sense the ancient "status quo" - with the two tribal groups
ruling their own - which seems reasonable enough -
but this is rejected (in one myth cycle) in favour of a strong, absolute
ruler (Horus) -
which looks a bit like the moment culture moved decisively away from a
more pluralist societal model, perhaps also matrilineal/binomial
in favour of the kingship model we all know and "love"?
Mogg
> On 22/08/2011 10:07, Caroline Tully wrote:
>
> Cheers Caroline
>
> Interesting stuff there -
> I'm not to sure about Seth as "symbol of improper kingship" -
> wondered if that's some sort of ancient "colonial" narrative -
> afterall Horus is "illegitimate", conceived, according to the myth,
> post mortem -
> its funny how when we read this myth we also accept the "colonial"
> reasoning -
> In the mythology Seth does question Horus's legitimacy and indeed
> fitness to rule, given his weakness?
> European Kingship, often also illegitimate, has similar narratives, ie
> tracing lineage back to some supernatural parentage,
> ie Jesus for french monarchy, Melusine etc.?
>
>
> It's not to say the whole predynastic/preformal is
> matrilineal/matriachal there were, as you know, lots of different groups,
> and therefore lots of different ways they may have organised their
> extended family/tribal groups.
> It's also the case that "male strength" was only one of skills needed
> for survival - just as important in that environment would be
> knowledge of the seasons, business/trade cycles etc and the annual
> rains (in the desert areas).
>
> E J Baumgartle was Margaret Murray's successor at UCL/Petrie and
> she raised these kinds of possibilities based on analysis of the
> archaeology
> of predynastic sites
>
> bb/senebty
>
> Mogg Morgan
>
>
>
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