Week 5 Story: Ahura's Dream

         Ahura woke with a start. What a disturbing dream she had had! She wiped the tears from her eyes and immediately went to check on her child, Merab. He was sound asleep in his crib, with dark brown curls framing his red cheeks. Ahura let her heart slow down as she watched him sleep, but she could not get the sick feeling in her stomach to go away. She had dreamt of a wooden floor, and a force making her walk off of it and towards the water. Then she had drowned, but not after seeing her child floating in its depths. The dream had terrified her, and she had felt a prophecy-like quality to the dream that left her anxious. She heard footsteps behind her, and her favorite servant ran up and told her that her husband Nefer-ka-ptah was about to embark on a great journey to find the Book of Thoth, and that he wanted her and Merab to go with him. Ahura fainted.
           When Ahura awoke, she was laying in the arms of the one she loved most. "My husband" she said, "please, we cannot go on this journey. I have had a dream and this trip spells ruin for you and your family!" The man replied, "Ah, my sweet Ahura, do not trouble yourself. You simply had a bad dream, and if there were any chance of harm coming to you or my son I would have also been blessed with some kind of warning as well. I will protect you both, while also gaining all the power and magic in the world. What can go wrong?"
           Ahura tried to comfort herself with his words, but the knot in the pit of her stomach would not loosen. This trip would mean disaster for all of them, she just knew it.

Old Kingdom Egyptian princess Neferetiabet (dated 2590-2565 BC) from her tomb at Giza, painting on limestone, now in Louvre, France

Author's Note: This story is based on The Book of Thoth, in which Nefer-ka-ptah stole the book of Thoth, a god, in order to learn all the magic and knowledge of the world. In response, Thoth summoned the wrath of Ra and made all three of Nefer-ka-ptah's family walk off the edge of the boat. Ahura, Nefer-ka-ptah's wife, was against the trip to get the book from the beginning, and I wanted to give a little more backstory as to why.

Bibliography: Story source: Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie (1907).

Reading Notes: Egypt, Part B

-Who is this priest? Is he important? It seems kind of brazen for him to just approach the son of the Pharoah but maybe priests hold a higher position in than I think they do
-How old is Nefer-ka-ptah in this story? The way he is acting seems pretty young, just taking the word of a priest and running off
-How does Ahura know that this journey will cause so much sorrow for her husband? Maybe she has had a vision or someone has come to warn her about this journey and what it will bring to her family.
-It shows a lot of respect that Nefer-ka-ptah is willing to share the magic of the world with Ahura. However, I wonder if she would have still suffered the same fate if she had not read from the book and been able to combat its magic. This is really a sad story, and I am sad that the child had to die.
-The fact that Nefer-ka-ptah was able to thwart Thoth even in death and how Thoth interacted with Ra reminded me of the Greek gods and goddesses. They are not all powerful, and humans are in some instances able to trick them and get their own way. Also how Thoth had to beg Ra to extract revenge on the humans as if they were equals.
-I wonder if all of this came about because Nefer-ka-ptah forgot to worship the gods in the first place. It seems pretty harsh for Ra to just make them all drown themselves at such a young age, but maybe that is the price you pay for forgetting to worship the gods and putting reading above worship.
-Would the priest have been blamed for any of this, or did Nefer-ka-ptah get what he deserved by searching for such a fantastic power?

Thoth-Ibus by Anonymous

Story source: Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie (1907).

Reading Notes: Egypt, Part A

-The Egyptians seem to place a lot of importance on magical deeds and gather a lot of entertainment from hearing about magical acts. The wax crocodile seems to me to be a sad tale of lovers who met a sour end, but it seems like it was told as a form of entertainment among the royals

-I wonder if the crocodile liked being bossed around. Maybe the crocodile could “disappear” and then come back later to seek revenge on the man who made him kill that youth. Maybe the crocodile is a sweet, gentle animal who just wants to live in a lake and do no harm

-The poor woman! Being burned at the stake with no chance to explain herself. I am sure the chief scribe is a busy man and is able to have the attention of any female he pleases. But God forbid a woman strays and breaks the bond of marriage! I cannot imagine a chief scribe is the most attentive husband, what with him being so busy doing magic and other acts.

-Also, what is considered a youth in this case? Is that like a teenager? Because if so, ew that lady is probably too old for him and I am picturing some gross rich lady- pool boy nonsense going on.

-The story mentions a “certain magic box” and there is definitely a lot of story-telling potential there. Maybe the box grants great power to whoever owns it, but at what cost?

-The story said seven days passed and the crocodile held onto the youth within the lake, how did the boy not drown? How did the crocodile not eat him? I guess that is not the most implausible part of this story but still does not make a whole lot of sense to me.

Amulet in the shape of a crocodile.

Egyptian, Late Period - Ptolemaic Period, 664 BC-30 BC

Story source: Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie (1907).