Egyptian influence in popular culture

Egyptian mythology and culture have influenced popular culture in multiple ways.

Influence in architecture and the arts

Egyptian architecture and the low-perspective, hieratic styles of Egyptian art have undergone several revivals in the Western world. Various obelisks have been carried off as trophies by colonial powers, or bestowed as gifts by Egyptian leaders, and these stand in a number of locations far from Egypt. The "Cleopatra's Needles" that stand in London, Paris, and New York City are examples of these transported obelisks. Egyptian architectural motifs appear in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili,[1] and Athanasius Kircher's Oedipus Aegyptiacus contains a fanciful attempt to translate Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Egyptian themes became much more widespread, however, after Jean-François Champollion deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphics, enabling Egyptian works to be read. The nineteenth century proved to be a heyday for Egyptianizing themes in art, architecture, and culture; these persisted into the early 20th century, and were revived briefly after the discovery of the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamen. Various mystical and fraternal groups incorporated Egyptian themes.[2] The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn had an "Isis-Urania" lodge in London, and an Ahathoor lodge in Paris.[3] The Shriners incorporated both Islamic and Egyptian themes into their visual imagery, including their characteristic fezzes. The Murat Shrine Temple in Indianapolis, Indiana contains a celebrated Egyptian Room, decorated with hieroglyphic motifs and Egyptian themed murals.[4] The Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis (AMORC) opened a Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in 1928.

In literature, Rick Riordan has written three books based on Egyptian mythology in the modern world: The Kane Chronicles - The Red Pyramid, The Throne of Fire, and The Serpent's Shadow. These books are about the adventures of two siblings, Sadie and Carter Kane, who discover that the ancient Egyptian world is still amongst them and they discover that they have the blood of pharaohs and must learn to become magicians in the House of Life. In their adventures they meet and interact with several ancient Egyptian Gods, such as Thoth, Anubis, Isis, Horus, Tawaret, Osiris, Ra, Sobek, Ptah, Bes, and many others.

In The Age of Ra by James Lovegrove, humanity is ruled by the Egyptian pantheon. The Egyptian gods have taken over the world by defeating all other Pantheons that once existed. They have since carved the world into different realms named after themselves

Depictions of Egyptian mythology

Anhur

Anubis

Apep

Bastet

Geb

Isis

Kheb

In Stargate SG-1, a television series based upon the 1994 science fiction movie Stargate, Kheb is a fictional planet where Oma Desala and an unknown number of monks lived, in the episode Maternal Instinct. It is later mentioned in the episode Warrior as the resting place for the brave and mighty Jaffa.

Khepri

Neith

Petsuchos

Ra

Serqet

Set

Sobek

Taweret

Thoth

General Pantheon

In the Palladium Fantasy and Rifts role-playing games, both from Palladium Books, the Church of Light and Dark is based on the Ancient Egyptian pantheon, with Ra, Thoth, and Isis being chief among the gods of light and Set, Anubis, and Apepi being the chief gods of darkness.

In Neil Gaiman's novel American Gods, history is re-imagined so mythological gods of Europe, Africa, and Asia were brought to the New World as ideas who manifest in physical form, and are waging a war against new gods. Mr. Ibis (Thoth) and Mr. Jacquel (Anubis) own a funeral parlor together in Cairo, Illinois, with their cat Bast (Bastet) and Horus.

Aside from the aforementioned, the third arc of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has four other Stands named after gods from the Ancient Egyptian pantheon: Atum (belonging to Telence T. D'Arby), Horus (belonging to Pet Shop), Khnum (belonging to Oingo) and Osiris (belonging to Daniel J. D'Arby). Of note, all of their users are antagonists of the arc.

The Mummy

Notes

  1. Francesco Colonna, Hypnerotomachia Poliphili: The Strife of Love in a Dream (Joscelyn Godwin, translator). (London & New York: Thames & Hudson, 1999 and re-editions)
  2. Joscelyn Godwin, Christian Chanel, and John Patrick Deveney, The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor. Historical and Initiatic Documents of an Order of Practical Occultism (York Beach: Samuel Weiser, 1995)
  3. Greer, Mary K. Women of the Golden Dawn. (Park Street, 1994) ISBN 0-89281-516-7.
  4. Murat Shrine Temple history (official site), accessed Aug. 6, 2007
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