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The King of the Cannibal Hymn as the New Creator

Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2019

Abstract

The Cannibal Hymn (PT 273-274, § 393-414), one of the most debated religious texts to have come from Ancient Egypt and has been widely studied, translated and interpreted but its meaning has not been fully understood. It reflects the final acceptance of the king as an absolute power, the accomplishment of his heavenly ascension and thus becoming the supreme being of the Egyptian pantheon, the creator-god.

The article aims, by comparing the so-called Cannibal Hymn and the Creation Myth, to (re-)define the motif of divine authority and the mutual relationship between the king and the deities within the two literary, religious and ideological compositions.