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Peace
>what was the relationship between ancient >egypt and the rest of >the continent?
Specifically which areas of the continent and the people are you most interested in are you most curious about, in terms of their relationship with Kemet? As you know its a vary large continent, and therefore that is way too much to breakdown in such a broad manner. Give me a target to aim at and ill shoot...
> >what, if any, were the consistencies >in the spiritual systems?
The concept of Ma'at was the main consistency in their way of life. Ma'at was the goddess of truth and righteousness, she is pictured as a winged kneeling woman with a feather in her hair, as the feather, or as a standing wingless woman with a feather for a head. She represented the moral aspects of Kemetic life, and when one died, ones heart was weighed on the scales of justice against the feather of Ma'at. Ones heart had to be lighter than the feather in order to gain access to the after life. The concept of Ma'at involved 42 laws to live by, these are called the negative confessions, and these are which the ten commandments come from.
Beside this the other major consitency was the despite what orthodox historians teach, the concept of one great god. In kemet there were many gods, when first examined, hence why most orthodox egyptologists and historians refer to their religion as a polytheism. However when closely examined one finds that indeed it was monotheistic. See the different gods, such as Djehuti(tehuti, hermes, thoth hence the word thought)Heru(horus) Auset(Isis) Ausar(Osiris) Sekhemet, Bes, etc. were all god which represented certain aspects or characteristics of the one great god. The ancient Kemites understood that god was too infinite to be represented in a single physical form, and to make it easier for humans to comprehend the greatness of god, created individuals which represented these aspects and characteristics of the one great god, the characteristics of all that is. So when they praised a lower god, they were just paying tribute or homage to the aspects of the one great god which that lower good represented. The other consistency is the beilief in an after life which I touched apon earlier. Regardless of the period the Kemites believed that your sould survived a physical death and lived on. I stated part of this belief system in dealing with Ma'at.
These are just a few that came immediately to mind, im sure ill think of more later, and when I do ill notify you of them.
I hope this serves as something to start with.
Peace and Blessings
Knowledge is Infinite;Seek and You Shall Find Every Sage Was Once a Wide Eyed Student
"Facts equal the hard concrete irrefutable truth, and there is only 1 truth but many perceptions of it. Perceptions cannot be taken as facts, only as evidence to possibly support facts at best. The problem lies in the fact that many people are not looking for truth, or facts, but rather what "truth" or "facts" fit best and most comfortably into their world, there is only 1 absolute truth and that cannot be compromised for anything" - LOGiC @ hiphop-elements.com
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