Book of the Sky Cow.
In the waning years of the 18th Dynasty (the reign of Tut’ankhamun) royal artisans began decorating tombs and funerary equipment with a new text. Sometimes known as “The Destruction of Mankind,” the book tells of a distant age, when Ra ruled on earth. But as the sun-god aged, a group of humans perceived his weakness, and plotted rebellion. Faced with an uprising, Ra marshalled his supporters and sent forth an enforcer. The goddess Hat-Hor (and her alter ego Sakhmet) began to wreak havoc upon the lowly, wayward humans…
The Book of the Sky Cow:
- Part I and Part II, and the Shrines of Tutankhamun, available in Piankoff, The Shrines of Tut-Ankh-Amon. Available at Internet Archive Open Access.
- Part I and Part II available in Simpson, The Literature of Ancient Egypt, pages 289—298. Available at Internet Archive Open Access.
- Part I (the Rebellion) available in Lichtheim Ancient Egyptian Literature Volume II: The New Kingdom. Available at Academia.edu.
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Photo Dominic Perry
Photo Dominic Perry
Photo Dominic Perry
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Bibliography
- Capochichi, S. (2016). Towards a New Interpretation of the Myth of the Destruction of Mankind. Cahiers Caribéens d’égyptologie, 21, 47–60.
- Franci, M. (2011). Destruction of the Mankind. Relations Between the Egyptian and the Mesopotamian Myths: Influence or Literary Drift? In J. Popielska-Grzybowska & J. Iwaszczuk (Eds.), Studies on Disasters, Catastrophes and the Ends of the World in Sources (pp. 111–116). https://www.academia.edu/1216518/Destruction_of_the_Mankind_Relations_between_the_Egyptian_and_the_Mesopotamian_Myths_Influence_or_Literary_Drift
- Graur, O. (2024). The Ancient Egyptian Personification of the Milky Way as the Sky-Goddess Nut: An Astronomical and Cross-Cultural Analysis. Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 27, 28–45. https://doi.org/10.3724/SP.J.1440-2807.2024.01.02
- Guilhou, N. (2010). Myth of the Heavenly Cow. UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, 1(1). https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2vh551hn
- Hornung, E. (1982). Der ägyptische Mythos von der Himmelskuh: Eine Ätiologie des Unvollkommenen. https://www.zora.uzh.ch/138421/1/Hornung_1997_Der_aegyptische_Mythos_von_der_Himmelskuh.pdf
- Lichtheim, M. (1976). Ancient Egyptian Literature Volume II: The New Kingdom. https://www.academia.edu/11753060/Miriam_Lichtheim_Ancient_Egyptian_Literature_Vol_II
- Lurson, B. (2004). Le livre de la vache du ciel.
- Maravelia, A.-A. (2003). Cosmic Space and Archetypal Time: Depictions of the Sky-Goddess Nut in Three Royal Tombs of the New Kingdom and Her Relation to the Milky Way. Göttinger Miszellen, 197, 55–72. http://www.digizeitschriften.de/dms/img/?PPN=PPN522563589_0197&DMDID=DMDLOG_0013
- Maystre, C. (1941). Le livre de la Vache du Ciel dans les tombeaux de la Vallée des Rois. Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, 40, 53–115.
- Piankoff, A. (1934). The Sky-Goddess Nut and the Night Journey of the Sun. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 20(1/2), 57–61. https://doi.org/10.2307/3855003
- Piankoff, A. (1955). The Shrines of Tut-Ankh-Amon. https://archive.org/details/shrinesoftutankh0002unse
- Spalinger, A. (2000). The Destruction of Mankind: A Transitional Literary Text. Studien Zur Altägyptischen Kultur, 28, 257–282. https://www.academia.edu/304627/The_Destruction_of_Mankind_A_Transitional_Literary_Text
- Tyldesley, J. (2016). The Destruction of Mankind. Ancient Egypt Magazine, 98(17/2), 32–35.
- Wells, R. A. (1992). The Mythology of Nut and the Birth of Ra. Studien Zur Altägyptischen Kultur, 19, 305–321. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25150181
- Wente, E. F. (2003). The Book of the Heavenly Cow. In W. K. Simpson (Ed.), The Literature of Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Stories, Instructions, Stelae, Autobiographies, and Poetry (3rd ed., pp. 289–298). https://ia802907.us.archive.org/1/items/TheLiteratureOfAncientEgyptKellySimpsonBySamySalah/The%20Literature%20of%20Ancient%20Egypt%20-%20Kelly%20Simpson%20By%20Samy%20Salah.pdf
