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Part of
Consensus and Dissent: Negotiating Emotion in the Public Space
Edited by Anne Storch
[Culture and Language Use 19] 2017
► pp. 229–246

Chapter 12
Affecting the Gods

Fear in Ancient Egyptian religious texts

This chapter presents an analysis of the concept of fear and the usage of linguistic expressions referring to this emotion in selected Ancient Egyptian religious texts. By using approaches from Cognitive Linguistics and Psychohistory, a deeper insight into the ancient sources is gained. Furthermore, some considerations about the relationship between fear and public space, as well as about the meaning of individuality and identity, will be made within the selected corpora.

Keywords: Ancient Egypt, Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts, Book of the Dead, Graeco-Roman temples, Kom Ombo, decorum, psychohistory, emotionology, Conceptual Metaphor Theory
Article outline
  • 1.The sources – Advantages and obstacles
  • 2.Between awe and horror – Egyptian terms for fear
  • 3.Who’s afraid of…? Timid groups within the realm of the dead
  • 4.The fear within: Aspects of Conceptual Metaphor Theory
  • 5.Masses, individuals, masses of individuals and the (public) space: Emotions and emotionology
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Additional glossing abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 10 March 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/clu.19.12eic
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