Abstract
Ancient Egypt is undoubtedly one of the great fluvial civilizations of the world. The Nile, whose annual flood enabled the flowering and maintenance of the Egyptian civilization, was perceived as mimesis of the Nun, the primordial Ocean that would have been the stage of genesis, containing all the potentialities of the world to come. Thus, the sacredness of the Egyptian river permeates this human collective since its very beginning. Nevertheless, the Nile is not the single Egyptian waterbody. The “Two Lands” are bathed by salty waters, more specifically, the Mediterranean and the Red Seas. Despite the common description of this particular geography and chronology employing the adjective “Nilotic”, in the light of the most recent research, the existence of a maritime matrix in the Egyptian becoming seems undeniable. This paper aims to think about the place of the sea in the Egyptian religious structure, navigating through two core questions: are the seas subjected to a sacred perception by the ancient Egyptians? Is there a subjective ranking of the aquatic surfaces in the land of the “Two Riverbanks”?
Published Version
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