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On 25/09/2012 18:25, Noah Gardiner wrote: I think it is a fantastic insight that the Egyptian folk stories (ie Tale of Two Brothers, Khemwaset etc) are ways of discussing sexual mysticism - indeed they are often very explicit - as when a grave robber thinks he is getting his way with the lovely Tabubue and wakes up naked in the street with his penis in a clay pot! I will check out the full article in the library as the authors are being coy - the festival of local sufi saint and his wife at Luxor, is said by some researchers to be an archeological memory of the festival of Opet (Amun & Mut). Older versions of the festival had a symbolic sexual component (now suppressed) - although I'm currently reading Mahfouz's "Cairo Trilogy" - which covers the period from 1918 - independence. It is full of "cigarettes, and whiskey and wild wild women" - also much Islamic and Koranic folklore - of which the author was an expert - do you have any thoughts on this view of Egyptian society? mogg > This will certainly interest Mogg and many others on this list, if you > didn't already know about it: "A recently deciphered Egyptian papyrus > from around 1,900 years ago tells a fictional story that includes > drinking, singing, feasting and ritual sex, all in the name of the > goddess Mut." > > I don't know the site, but the article seems legit: > http://www.livescience.com/23401-cult-fiction-ancient-egypt-priest.html > -- > Noah Gardiner > Doctoral candidate, Dept. of Near Eastern Studies > University of Michigan, Ann Arbor