Egyptian Saints: Deification in Pharaonic Egypt (Hagop Kevorkian Series on Near Eastern Art and Civilization)

Professor Wildung traces the evolution of the elaborate Egyptian mythology through the legends of two historical persons prominent in the politics and culture of ancient Egypt: Imhotep, builder of the Step Pyramid at Sakhara, and Amenhotep III, the father of Akhenaten. Through the veneration of their contemporaries and later generations, these two figures rose to the level of saints and ultimately became legitimate members of the pantheon. The popularity of such saints created by the feelings and eeds of a religious people, was generally encouraged by the reigning kings who presented themselves as intermediaries between man and god, acting as healers, advisors, and oracular gods. A systematic classification of the self deification of these Pharaohs reveals their attempts to encourage popular acceptance of the Pharaoh as a holy person and exposes the fagility of the famous sacred kingship and the weaknesses and human characters of the Pharaohs.