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A stunning and original interpretation of an ancient system of poetic, religious, and philosophical thought
Buried in the Egyptian desert some four thousand years ago, the Pyramid Texts are among the world's oldest poetry. Yet ever since the discovery of these hieroglyphs in 1881, they have been misconstrued by Western Egyptologists as a garbled collection of primitive myths and incantations, relegating to obscurity their radiant fusion of philosophy, scientific inquiry, and religion.
Now, in a seminal work, the classicist and linguist Susan Brind Morrow has recast the Pyramid Texts as a coherent work of art, arguing that they should be recognized as a formative event, in the evolution of human thought. In The Dawning Moon of the Mind, she explains how to read hieroglyphs, contextualizes their evocative imagery, and interprets the entire poem. The result is a magisterial religious and philosophical text revealing a profound consciousness of the world with astonishing parallels to Judeo-Christian culture, Buddhism, and Tantra.
More than twenty years in the making, The Dawning Moon of the Mind is a monumental achievement that locates one of the origins of poetic thought in Western culture. Almost before science, art, and written language, these texts set forth the relationship between time and eternity, life and death, history and ideas. In The Dawning Moon of the Mind. they emerge in their original luminosity and intelligence alongside a persuasive argument for their central importance to the history of language.
Buried in the Egyptian desert some four thousand years ago, the Pyramid Texts are among the world's oldest poetry. Yet ever since the discovery of these hieroglyphs in 1881, they have been misconstrued by Western Egyptologists as a garbled collection of primitive myths and incantations, relegating to obscurity their radiant fusion of philosophy, scientific inquiry, and religion.
Now, in a seminal work, the classicist and linguist Susan Brind Morrow has recast the Pyramid Texts as a coherent work of art, arguing that they should be recognized as a formative event, in the evolution of human thought. In The Dawning Moon of the Mind, she explains how to read hieroglyphs, contextualizes their evocative imagery, and interprets the entire poem. The result is a magisterial religious and philosophical text revealing a profound consciousness of the world with astonishing parallels to Judeo-Christian culture, Buddhism, and Tantra.
More than twenty years in the making, The Dawning Moon of the Mind is a monumental achievement that locates one of the origins of poetic thought in Western culture. Almost before science, art, and written language, these texts set forth the relationship between time and eternity, life and death, history and ideas. In The Dawning Moon of the Mind. they emerge in their original luminosity and intelligence alongside a persuasive argument for their central importance to the history of language.
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Reviews
"In this exciting book, Morrow . . . provides a radical new translation and a line-by-line exegesis."
The New Yorker
"With a brilliant combination of literary criticism, cultural history, and linguistic expertise, archaeologist Morrow . . . provides a dazzling new translation of the hieroglyphs of the pyramid of Unis (built in 2323 B.C.E.) as well as a detailed and thoughtful guide to interpreting hieroglyphs and understanding the culture that produced them. . . . Most translations misinterpret the Pyramid Texts to be the stories of animals and gods, but Morrow's translation and interpretation reveal them to be the story of the invention of time and an examination of the ways in which humanity is deeply embedded in the cosmic."
Publishers Weekly
"An erudite investigation that rewards patient, careful reading."
Kirkus Reviews