Kingship and the Gods: A Study of Ancient Near Eastern Religion as the Integration of Society and Nature (Oriental Institute Essays) - Softcover

Henri Frankfort

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226260119 ISBN 13: 9780226260112

Publisher: Oriental Institute Of The University Of, 1978

Synopsis

This classic study clearly establishes a fundamental difference in viewpoint between the peoples of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. By examining the forms of kingship which evolved in the two countries, Frankfort discovered that beneath resemblances fostered by similar cultural growth and geographical location lay differences based partly upon the natural conditions under which each society developed. The river flood which annually renewed life in the Nile Valley gave Egyptians a cheerful confidence in the permanence of established things and faith in life after death. Their Mesopotamian contemporaries, however, viewed anxiously the harsh, hostile workings of nature. Frank's superb work, first published in 1948 and now supplemented with a preface by Samuel Noah Kramer, demonstrates how the Egyptian and Mesopotamian attitudes toward nature related to their concept of kingship. In both countries the people regarded the king as their mediator with the gods, but in Mesopotamia the king was only the foremost citizen, while in Egypt the ruler was a divine descendant of the gods and the earthly representative of the God Horus.

About this title

About the Author:

The late Henri Frankfort, famed equally as explorer and scholar, was director of the Warburg Institute and professor of preclassical antiquity at the University of London. Frankfort was the author and coauthor of many books, including "The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man," published by the University of Chicago Press.

From the Back Cover:

A Study of Ancient Near Eastern Religion as the Integration of Society and Nature.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oriental Institute Of The University Of
• Publication date: 1978
• ISBN 10: 0226260119
• ISBN 13: 9780226260112
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 470