User:ProfessorBrian22/Maat - Wikipedia

Here I shall improve upon the Maat Article by adding a Rhetorical Section, using Carol Lipson's article on Maat.

Karenga, Maulana. Maat, the Moral Ideal in Ancient Egypt: A Study in Classical African Ethics: A Study in Classical African Ethics, Taylor & Francis Group, 2003. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/indianauniv-ebooks/detail.action?docID=182887.

"For the Maatian person, Maat is the principle, substance and practice which binds all things together. And it is an order in which all things are bound together" (381).

"Moreover, humans are embedded in this order with its divine, social and natural aspects. In their identity as children and images of God, humans belong to the divine; in their identity as social beings, they belong to society, and in their identity as living beings they belong to nature" (381).

"It is this sense of unity of being that forms the fITst ground for a Maatian environmental ethics. The natural ethical concerns of Maatian ethics, then, flow fITst from the concept of a holistic universe, an inclusive order founded on and sustained by Maat" (385).

"Ancient Egyptians had the highest respect for nature and felt and expressed a kinship with it. In fact, in their concept of nature and the working of Maat in the world, they linked the human condition with conditions in the natural world" (385).

"[Maat] is an ethics which sees a vital relationship between nature and humans that requires the respect for both and rejects thoughtless, uncaring and irresponsible behavior which threatens both human life and the environment" (395).

"in modem Maatian ethics serudj is embraced as the most inclusive term for the spiritual, moral, natural and social obligation and practice it seeks to inspire and sustain. For in its most expansive meaning, as the texts demonstrate, it signifies an ongoing ethical obligation and practice:

• to raise up that which is in ruins;

• to repair that which is damaged;

• to rejoin that which is severed;

• to replenish that which is lacking;

• to strengthen that which is weakened;

• to set right that which is wrong, and

• to make flourish that which is insecure and undeveloped.

And it is within this philosophical understanding that the concept of serudj ta assumes and expresses such a rich and interrelated spiritual, ethical, natural, social, and ultimately cosmic meaning" (399-400).

Lipson, Carol. "Ancient Egyptian Rhetoric: It All Comes Down to Maat". p.79-97.

"Maat is tied to the natural order of the motion of the sun, moon, and stars, as well as to the motion  of  the  river  Nile,  all  of  which  provided  the  conditions  for  life  in Egypt. The  concept  of Maat is  based  on  the  premise  that  humans  must  not disturb the balanced state of creation, but instead must respect and live in accord with the cosmic harmony and the natural order."

"Thus, they linked social and political justice with the good harvest, the high Nile, and the regularity of time" (Maulana, 385).

There is comparatively little  mythology  surrounding  this  goddess;  she  is  the  daughter  of the Sun God Ra, and the wife of the God of Wisdom and Truth (Thoth), the god who invented writing. Maat exists mainly as a concept, which has no direct English translation. The concept was first presented explicitly in the Middle Kingdom (~ 2100 B.C.E.), and remained prominent thereafter. Often Maat is referred to as truth, justice, or order. I will translate Maat as ‘what is right,’ since it is clear from a variety of contexts that the judgment scene presents a determination whether  the  deceased  has  done  what  is  right,  or has  behaved properly according to the cultural precepts."

"Kings are often shown offering to the gods small statues of the seated Maat goddess, as a way of attesting that they are upholding the order of the universe as willed by the gods. The very nature of the concept focuses on the culture’s understanding of the interconnected order of the cosmic, divine, natural, and human worlds, as well as to its understanding of the need to preserve that order."

"To do Maat meant to behave in certain ways towards others in order 'that your conduct may  be  blameless'  (Lichtheim  1973, Instructions  of  Ptahhotep, p. 64).

"A common type of advice text was the instructions text, similar in some ways to the Hebrew proverbs that are better known in our society. The instructions give advice on how to  behave  as  part  of  the  elite. The  instructions  also  concern  themselves with  appropriate  communication  in  various  situations;  in  many  ways,  they constitute  rhetorics,  offering  concrete  principles  and  guidelines  for  speech and  behavior."

The Instructions  of Ptahhotep:

If you are a man who leads, / Who controls the affairs of the many, /

Seek out every beneficent deed, / That your conduct may be blameless. /

Great is justice, lasting in effect / Unchallenged since the time of Osiris. /

One punishes the transgressor of laws, / Though the greedy overlooks this; /

Baseness may seize riches, / Yet crime never lands its wares; /

In the end it is justice that lasts. . . . (p. 64)

Be generous as long as you live / What leaves the storehouse does not return; /

It is the food to be shared which is coveted, / One whose belly is empty is an accuser; /

One deprived becomes an opponent, / Don’t have him for a neighbor. /

Kindness is a man’s memorial / For the years after the function. (p. 72)

"The picture  of Maat presented  in  this  early  example  is  one  of  beneficence—the reader is advised to be generous and kind. However, the argument for beneficence is not made on the grounds that the poor deserve food, or that good should be done for its own sake. Instead, the appeal here is to personal benefit: if you don’t feed people, they will prove troublesome, but if you take care of them, they will take care of your memorial or tomb, and will help ensure  your  life  after  death."