Animals, Ontology and Agents of Seth

The ontological turn in anthropology provides an interesting basis to consider ancient Egyptian thought from a different angle than has been done so far. By considering animals as appearances of the gods, enemies of the gods, carriers of power, victims, predators, prey, threats and protectors, while in all these manifestations an essential part of the divine in the world of the humans, we may gain new insights. It is an effort to suspend our interpretation of ancient rationality based on our own world view, and instead attempt to consider alternative ways of being in the world. This requires understanding and calling out our own biases in a self-reflexive effort to approach our sources. The long timespan and regional, as well as social variation within what we call ancient Egypt makes this a daunting and yet very rich task. For the moment I call this a thought experiment, to indicate that further discussion is welcome and necessary.