Everything as One: A Linguistic View of the Egyptian Creator in the Pyramid Texts.

• Author: Theis, Christoffer

Everything as One: A Linguistic View of the Egyptian Creator in the Pyramid Texts. By JOANNA POPIELSKA-GRZYBOWSKA. Travaux de l'Institut des Cultures Mediterraneennes et Orientales de l'Academie Polonaise des Sciences, vol. 5. Wiesbaden: HARRASSOWITZ VERLAG, 2020. Pp. 400. [euro]71 (paper).

This book by Joanna Popielska-Grzybowska focuses on the intention to extract and reconstruct a view of the ancient Egyptian Creator, as described in the Pyramid Texts. The author addresses on p. 20 that the terms "creator" and "demiurge" have to be separated: a creator is a "primary and primaeval god that was... the stimulus, incentive, spark and thus finally the causa prima of the creation." The demiurge is "the Universal Fashioner." To approach this differentiation or the demiurge himself, Popielska-Grzybowska first gives an introduction to her methodological framework and valuable works on the Pyramid Texts (pp. 15-31). The second chapter is entitled "The Gods or Divine Concepts" (pp. 35-149).

In subchapters, the author presents ideas and thoughts about various gods and divine concepts that can be found in various Pyramid Texts in different pyramids. For example, the god R', which is mentioned as the first being (pp. 35-55), is described by his various aspects, such as his assistance in ascending to the sky, his name and recognition, his role as father, as supplier of food, his connection to the Pharaoh, his appearance and his reign, and creatures and objects that are linked to R'.

In the third chapter (pp. 153-87), Popielska-Grzybowska treats different "Elements of Creation," such as water, earth, light, semen, sound, as well as gods such as Shu and Tefhut. The fourth chapter, "Time and Space versus Creation" (pp. 191-217) consists of translations and interpretations of various Pyramid texts, in which a specific period of time or a specific point in time plays a major role for creation. Another subchapter is devoted to space(s) as places of creation. There are many different spaces and places for creation, as one thinks specifically of (the) Nwn, but as the author correctly points out, the name of this being or space is never written as Nwn in the Pyramid texts, but as Nw, Nwj, Nnw, or Njw. There are also some other places connected to the act of creation in ancient Egyptian thought, as preserved in the Pyramid Texts, such as a cave or cavern tph.t, or specific cities such as Heliopolis or Hermopolis.

The fifth chapter, "Means of Creation" (pp...