WE were talking in the previous two articles about the parallelism of the Mesopotamian and the Pharaonic civilisations during the sec¬ond millennium BC. The main civilisation of Mesopotamia was the Babylonian, from which comes the legendary epic Enuma Elish, which as we mentioned last week, reflects their beliefs and thoughts.
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During the second millennium BC, there existed the Middle and the New Pharaonic Kingdoms of Egypt. The Hieroglyphic scroll texts that were found from that period are of extreme importance; in the field of scientific knowledge, the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus is considered to be a masterpiece of knowledge. It shows how ancient Egyptians, thousands of years before the Greeks, had mathematical and geometrical knowledge that was attributed later on to the Greeks. .
On the other hand, the Papyrus of Any known as the Book of the Dead, although its original title is The Book of Going Forth by Day, reflects a good part of the ancient Egyptian beliefs, and values. Regarding these values, there is a chapter in this Papyrus known as the Negative Confessions, in which the deceased affirms that he did not commit 42 unrighteous actions. We have selected here some of these 42 confessions, which are stated as follows:
“I have not done wrong.
I have not robbed.
I have not stolen.
. I have not slain people.
I have not reduced measures. I have not told lies.
I have not stolen food.
I have not caused (anyone) to weep.
I have not transgressed. .
I have not robbed a parcel of land.
I have not discussed (secrets) .
I have not had intercourse with a married woman.
I have not struck terror
I have not been (bad tempered),
I have not been neglectful of truthful words.
I have not been violent.
I have not been impatient.
I have not done evil.
I have not waded in the water. My voice was not loud.
I have not cursed a god.”
We can see from the previous examples how great the moral awareness of the Ancient Egyptians was and their high sensitivity to ethics, even the subtlest ones. That’s why, I believe, this civilisation lasted for such a long time; their code of ethics and values, through which their civilisation matured, was structured, like their buildings, to survive time.
