User:EgyptologyStuff/sandbox

Persona 5 is a 2016 role-playing video game published by Atlus. Although no hard-line date is set for the game, it is set sometime in modern-day Tokyo, and follows a high school student who gains the power to enter a world of cognition, or a psychological realm of a person, called 'palaces', who are conventionally perceived as "evil" or have an "evil" cognition. Within this world the characters gain a power to summon what are called "Personas" which are physical manifestations of the psyche of the individual, or the general population- the general psyche. The majority of "Personas" being based in myth and religion of Abrahamic, Aztec, Babylonian, Buddhist, Chinese, Egyptian, Greco-Roman, Hindu, Norse, Slavic and Zoroastrian mythology.

1.1 Lore
This video game has what is known as "the Compendium", which lists every "Persona"- as they are unlocked and provided a short paragraph describing the lore of the "Persona".

2.1 Egyptian Inspired Personas
The fourth palace of this video game, named "Futaba's Pyramid" is set in Egypt as perceived by the character of Futaba, a hacker known as "Medjed", with "Personas" manifesting as Egyptian gods. The following gods are represented in the "chapter" or "palace"- Anubis, Isis, and Thoth, although through crafting you can create further Egyptian "Personas" of Anat, Astarte, Horus, and Seth, although the previous games in the series have a playable Sphinx "Persona"- in this video game the Sphinx appears as the boss of the chapter, and thus is unplayable. There is a "Persona" titled Phoenix within Persona 5, but the "Persona" is not modelled after the Egyptian mythical bird, but rather after the Chinese conception of Feng Huang- as "the Compendium" states- "The legendary bird of Chinese Mythology".

2.2.1 Anat
Compendium- “The daughter of Ugaritic's highest god El. She is the goddess of fertility, as well as hunting and war. Her characteristics are the characteristics of the seasons in Canaan.”

Anat is a foreign goddess that originated in Syrian Levant or Canaan, in the region of Ugarit, with the ‘Compendium’ reflecting the special nature of the goddess as an imported deity from the Near East. Anat, both in the Levantine tradition is considered to be “the goddess of fertility, as well as hunting and war”, as well as in the Egyptian tradition. Anat in Egyptian depictions is portrayed as a young woman, who sometimes is portrayed nude, and sometimes with a long flowing dress, and even further, in rare cases wearing leopard skin, while having the White Crown of Upper Egypt. Anat, to reflect her warlike nature is also portrayed holding a lance, an axe and/or a shield. Anat in Persona does not match this description, as she appears to be an anthropomorphic motorcycle, missing any key features that would identify Anat with the Egyptian depictions of Anat.

2.2.2 Anubis
Compendium- “The jackal-headed god of the dead and embalming from Egyptian myth. He weighs the hearts of the dead to determine their final destination” Anubis, as the ‘Compendium’ states, was viewed by Egyptians as a black coated jackal-headed deity,      associated with various funerary rituals and traditions. Wilkinson postulates that the black coat is meant to reflect the role of Anubis in the embalming ritual, during which the deceased body gains black discoloration. Despite most common depictions in Egypt show Anubis as being a man with the head of a jackal, with outstretched ears, the depiction in the game, of an entirely animal depiction of Anubis do exist- with even rarer entirely human depictions. Within the game Anubis is shown as sitting- which does reflect the historical portrayals of Anubis, who is often sitting, although is portrayed as standing as well. Anubis holding the scales reflects the myth the ‘Compendium’ alludes to of weighing the hearts of the dead against the feather of truth to determine if Anubis should prepare the deceased for immortality through mummification and Opening of the Mouth Ritual. This is based in historical myth of Anubis, although Anubis does not wield the scales, instead in iconography of the ritual Anubis is shown standing next to the scales. Despite the inaccurate portrayal of the scales Anubis uses, the rest of the portrayal of Anubis is quite accurate and easily recognisable, while being accurately based in Egyptian myth.

2.2.3 Astarte
Compendium- “A Middle Eastern goddess of fertility. Many scriptures note her folklore, and there is even a mention of her as the "Queen of Heaven" in the Bible” Akin to Anat, Astarte is also an imported deity from the Syrian Levant region, although as the ‘Compendium’ limits the role of Astarte to “goddess of fertility”, in Egyptian myth Astarte was also recognised as a goddess of war. Astarte was often portrayed naked,  which is reflected in the game, with Astarte being portrayed as scantily clad as possible in a PEGI 16 video game. Astarte is also portrayed wearing an atef crown  which was a crown of Upper Egypt consisting of ostrich feathers on two sides, which is not represented in the portrayal in the video game. Astarte, instead of the Atef Crown, is sometimes portrayed as having bull horns,  which could be seen in the video game, as Astarte has a peculiar head piece- which could be interpreted as very wild bull horns, although it is hard to tell what is the headpiece of Astarte in Persona. Persona 5 captures the uniqueness of Astarte through her unique design; although the historical accuracy of the portrayal is dubious, as you may or may not accept her headpiece as being bull horns.

2.2.4 Horus
Compendium- “An ancient god of Egypt whose eyes are the sun and moon. Revered by some as the chief god, he is often depicted as a hawk or a falcon”

Horus in Egyptian portrayals is often depicted as a falcon as mentioned in the ‘Compendium’, with depictions of a human with a head of a falcon, or as being entirely a falcon,  with entirely human Horus depictions depicting the god in his youth. As the ‘Compendium’ states, Horus’ eyes are described as being “the sun and moon”,  although not portrayed as though Horus was the sun. Wilkinson details the description of the eyes mentioned as the “Horus the Sky God” aspect however the game portrays Horus as though he was the sun which is more reminiscent of descriptions of Re-Horakhty; “Horus… the god of the rising and setting sun”, as a falcon possessing the sun disk. The depiction of Horus is quite striking and recognisable in Persona, although not of “Horus the Sky Deity” mentioned in the ‘Compendium’ but of Re-Horakhty, a combined sun god of Ra and Horus.

2.2.5 Isis
Compendium- “Osiris's wife as well as his younger sister. Upon the death of her husband, she revived him with her incredible magic power. Isis is seen at many gravesites as the guardian goddess of the dead.”

The ‘Compendium’ largely retells Isis’ part in the Osiris’ myth; while mentioning Isis’ role in funerary tradition, as the guardian of the dead, although not mentioning Isis’ role as the divine mother of gods. Isis is often portrayed as a woman with wings, holding some traits of a anthropomorphic bird, and/or a dress as is portrayed in the game. A headpiece depicting a throne can be seen atop the head of Isis in the game, which a common signifier of Isis, for Isis contains the hieroglyphic sign for “throne”. This is a largely accurate and recognisable Isis based on Egyptian iconography.

2.2.6 Seth
Compendium- “The Egyptian god of the desert, chaos, and evil. He murdered his brother, Osiris, and tried to become chief god, but he was castrated by Osiris's son, Horus”

Seth’s lore in Persona 5 as an evil god is largely based on the Osiris’ myth, whereby Seth disrupted Maat, or harmony in Egypt, and brought chaos through his “murder… [of] Osiris” and war with “Hours”, which is based in Third Intermediate Period myth. While being the god of desert, chaos, and evil, Seth is also recognised as the god of the night sky as well as storms and the raging sea. Seth has a few animals he is associated with, with the antelope, ass or donkey, goat, pig, hippopotamus, crocodile, and certain fish, as well as taking the form of a bull and a leopard; none of them the dragon, as portrayed in Persona 5. Seth does have a unique unidentified animal represented on depictions of a man with a head of an animal called the ‘Seth animal’. Seth’s animal is described as an animal with a canine body, long square topped ears, and a long nose resembling that of an anteater, although associating this description with a dragon is quite a stretch. Wilkinson suggests that a story of where Seth is a hero, that of Seth’s defence of the sun barque against the serpent Apophis has been interpreted as a precursor of the St George and the Dragon motif, although even in such a case Apophis would be the dragon and not Seth. Seth’s lore is quite picky to the Osiris’ myth representation of Seth, and the appearance is quite fictional to the franchise and not to Egyptian portrayals of Seth.

2.2.7 Thoth
Compendium- “Egyptian moon god that takes the form of a baboon, he is the one who measures time. He gave Isis the power to resurrect Osiris after he was killed by the evil god Seth” Thoth’s part in the Osiris’ myth is mentioned although not elaborated on, as Thoth is also responsible for healing the eye of Horus. Thoth has various roles, namely that of god of wisdom, and the patron god of scribes, as Thoth is responsible for inventing hieroglyphics. Although Thoth is depicted as an Ibis headed man, the representation used in the game of a “baboon”   is also quite a popular representation of Thoth. Thoth is mentioned as writing down the verdict of the weighing of the heart ritual, which would reference Thoth holding a book in the game, while his headpiece represents a full moon resting on a crescent moon in reference to him being a “moon god”. Although it could also be possible to declare the book he is holding as ‘The Book of the Dead’ or even the ‘Book of Thoth’ which records all the wisdom humans should know. Despite it being unclear as to what the book is that Thoth is holding, the representation of Thoth is based in historical portrayals of Thoth in Egypt.