Tea at Trianon: The Meaning of the Pharaoh in Ancient Egypt

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, August 3, 2017

The Meaning of the Pharaoh in Ancient Egypt

From Groovy Historian:

There have been many representations of the rulers in the Form of the Divine Ruler, the saver, the living embodiment of Amun-ra. The ancient Egyptians believed, without the divine ruler of Egypt.. they would not be safe from the demons and darkness of the night. So for them to have a ruler, was for them to have the unity between upper and lower Egypt. The reward of the sun, was the growing of crops from the planted seeds which in turn led to a stable civilisation and life with a great ruler, believed to be an embodiment of the sun god Ra.

The Word ‘Pharaoh translates to the “Great House” so in terms of reference this meant the royal house would live prosperously, and be strong. It was not until the later periods of Ancient Egypt history that the Egyptians would use the word Pharaoh as more in terms of “Ruler”.

The Pharaoh was seen as the sun who would be fighting the darker demons. There have been such cases in which the pharaoh built many monuments for the gods. These embody Egypt, the Nile, the Sun, the gods, and the Pharaoh mysterious all intertwined together….The Sed festival was an important part for Ruler in ancient Egypt, when the Pharaoh gets to a certain age in his ruling 20-30 years of a regal year. He needs to be reborn and re-strengthen the ties with their people and the gods. (Read more.)