The reading unit for Egyptian Mythology was slightly disappointing, in all honesty. I feel like there was a lot more that could have been done with this unit. It was nice to see the folklore in there, but the focus of stories had a very narrow scope. There’s such a richness and variety to Egyptian myths that you just didn’t have here and it was sad to see.
As for the stories that were included, I had mixed feelings about them. The Creation one was really just a slightly different take on just about every other creation story ever (they all end up sounding the same after a while) though it was interesting to note all the elements of other ones and how they’re used here. The Secret Name of Ra and Ra and Hathor were really neat ones, especially considering in Ra and Hathor they end up just barely avoiding a flood story. The Sun’s Journey was boring - kind of an endless list that could be summed up in a few sentences. Likewise the Osiris group* is just about the most commonly known myth in Egyptian mythos and more of a chore to read than anything since everyone knows the story already. The Wax Crocodile and The Green Jewel were interesting simply because they’re little known folklore. A bit more context would have been nice, as I was really confused as to why the son was telling his father random stories. TWC was very neat and entertaining, but TGJ was mediocre and boring - like he goes sailing with his harem, whatever, who cares? The Two Brothers was… odd. It had a lot of classic fairy tale elements, and kind of reminded me of The Ramayana. I’m not really sure what to think about it. The Book of Thoth was likewise entertaining but kind of odd - I did like this one however. Same with The Tale of King Rhampsinitus.
Overall I wasn’t terribly impressed by this unit, and only a few of the stories were entertaining. Some mythos concerning other gods would be nice, as well as a bit more context for the folklore. Granted, you don’t tend to be very forgiving when you’re running on three hours of sleep, so it may have just been me.
(Worship of Aten aka Ra. Web Source)
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*The Osiris group were the stories Osiris, The Death of Osiris, The Journey of Isis, and King of the Dead
That's great that you already have so much advance knowledge of Egypt, Elizabeth! If you can suggest the other myths you would have liked to see, I can at least add links to them. I'd like there to be a sense of richness and variety, so definitely let me know the myths you think were missing - that would be so helpful! Pretty much all the units in this class are focused on the basics, so if there is a topic you already are super-familiar with, it's good to check out the unit carefully to make sure you will find something entertaining/new. I wish everybody knew about the myth of Osiris already for example (that would be great!)... but I can assure that it's not the case. Until Disney makes a movie about Isis and Osiris (ouch, it pains me to think what that might be like...), universal foreknowledge is going to come up short, which is why the readings do focus on the basics. But there are always lots of options to choose from, and I don't want you to feel stuck with the same-old same-old! If the titles aren't enough of a clue, you can always poke around a bit in the stories first and see what you find ... or don't find, as the case may be!
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