Sky Goddesses and Gods
Dr Bernadette Brady
A set of 8 pre-recorded lectures (first presented in October and November 2022).
You will have access for 90 days from your enrolment.
The Egyptian sky was populated with sky deities from the time of the Pyramid Texts right through to the Roman Period. Goddesses such as Nut, Isis, Nephthys, all offered wisdom and protection, while sky gods such as Osiris, Ra and the star decans pointed to an afterlife through cosmic cycles. The divine pair of Thoth and Seshat offered knowledge, and the shifting figure of Khonsu reflected the moon’s changing role.
In this course, Bernadette will track the journey of these sky deities through Egyptian history, both in text and imagery, showing their shifting roles. You will look, for example, at the changing character of Isis and the mysterious Nephthys, the moving nature of Nut as she entered the New Kingdom and the emergence of Osiris and Osiris-Iah as the moon overtook Ra in dominancy in the Ptolemaic period. All these sky deities underwent transitions, and in this course you will trace each one through their own story and personal journey.
Course Outline
Week 1: Nut the ubiquitous Goddess.
Week 2: Isis and Nephthys, the inseparable sisters.
Week 3: Sopdet, Isis and Time. Week 4: Thoth and the Moon.
Week 5: Seshat, and the gods of the stars, rulers of the time.
Week 6: The many faces of Ra, Solar Theology.
Week 7: Khonsu and Osiris-iah, Lunar Theology.
Week 8: Sky Divinities on display – the Osirian Chapels of Dendera.
Berndette has provided an additional reading list for every weekly lecture for those who wish to delve deeper into a particular deity.
*Certificate of Completion available upon viewing all eight lectures.
*We will send you a reminder 14 days before your enrolment finishes to ensure you do not lose track of time!
Dr Bernadette Brady
Bernadette Brady has a PhD in Anthropology (2012) an MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology (2005), and a MA in Egyptology from Manchester University (2022). Since 2008 she has been a tutor in the Sophia Centre for the Study of Cosmology in Culture at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, UK. Her research interests are in varying forms of cultural astronomy, primarily Egyptian religious astronomy, sky mythology and the cultural implications of star phases. In 2019 she was the course director of the BBS Summer School in Luxor on Ancient Egyptian Astronomy. Her publications include the cultural astronomy contained in examples of Egyptian astronomy (Oxbow 2012), the orientation of the Solstical Churches of North Wales (JSA, 2017) and the solar discourse in Cistercian Welsh abbeys (Citeaux, 2016, 2022). She has also authored Cosmos, Chaosmos and Astrology (London: Sophia Centre Press, 2014) and co-edited Space, Place and Religious Landscapes, Living Mountains London, NY, Oxford Bloomsbury. She lectures widely on Egyptian religious astronomy and she currently lives in Devon UK.
Booking instructions
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Session recordings are accessed via the course Classroom, which you will find under My Courses. If you have any queries, please get in touch.