I went to see some of King Tut’s old stuff today in San Francisco. It was a smallish presentation of Egyptian antiquities but it was well worth the trip for me. The artifacts were well presented and how they fit into the broader worldview of the “new kingdom” was well done I thought.

As I stood there looking at these amazing pieces that are over 3,000 years old a few thoughts ran through my head. First, that these little statues were very much the idols that were spoken about in the Bible, and I pondered the significance of moderns oowing and ahing over them after paying good money just to behold them in air conditioned cases. It made the draw and power of these little statues all the more believable. This was reinforced when our tour was let out into the gift shop, of course, where anyone for not a lot of money could purchase modern replicas of these little statues. They are cool. They make nice decorations. The “ankh” is the symbol of for “life” in the hieroglyphics. You can adorn yourself with it as earrings, a necklace, a hand mirror and in many other ways. I can imagine all of these regaining traction and popularity in the place where I live and among the people I call friends.

I also thought about identity and this young king. I reposted a piece I wrote when I was working through some of Tim Keller’s work on identity yesterday. This nine year old boy became king of one of the world’s great empires. That became his identity. He was dressed up with various symbols and performed various roles. For his people their land and in fact their whole world depended upon it. The narration with the tour claimed that his name translated into “image of the living god”. Identity was not chosen by him, it was conferred upon him for national necessity. It was not earned by him by performance. The exhibition talked about how during his reign there was an effort to undo the work of Akhenaten consolidating divinity into the sun god and himself the only priest. Was it truly this boy who wished this to happen or his handlers?

One of the reasons I enjoy history is because it relativizes assumptions of our own time that we so often can’t escape. The thought of Tut “going out to find himself” would have been ludicrous. Imagine him saying to his handlers “I’ve just got to be me!” “Um, you are you and this is who you are…”

In another statue the Pharaoh sits with his mother on one arm (Gen 2:24 was rolling through my mind) and in his other hand was the Ankh. Pharaoh brings life. Pharaoh makes the Nile flood and the crops grow and brings order to the cosmos. Again, identity is bestowed and from identity flows performance in that world, not from performance flows identity.

The third thought was about celebrity. The narration in the tour breathlessly fawned over the Pharaohs and their treasures. In a number of places men and women who encountered these artifacts claimed that those encounters were the most important moments of their lives. We find our meaning in communion with the… In this case gold, beads, carvings, writings, etc. Here we are, thousands of Americans from the leftest coast of the country gasping in amazement over these artifacts that sat in boxes for 3,000 years. “They’re really old!”, yet every rock we walk on and think nothing of is far older still. What gives this stuff it’s power? Presentation is everything.

Many artifacts, as is common with collections like these have missing noses or faces due to political and religious expression far closer to their time than to ours. Akhenaten undid the power of the previous community of gods and their priests and the counter revolution took revenge on Akhenaten. Yet we behold the artifacts and pour into them meaning and value and divinity.

In that world (mostly) you didn’t just chose to be a god, you had to be born into it (unless you had a really successful army and through power could accomplish it). Today celebrity is far more attainable to us commoners. Living in Northern California means bumping into parents to talk about their adult children who went to So Cal or NYC to become a star (and haven’t made it yet). Through fame you can become divine.

Sometimes we disparage ancient civilizations because they worshiped these men and women as divine even though they clearly died. I think we miss understand. We do exactly the same thing to our “stars”. Listen to the hyperbole revolving around Michael Jackson. We participate in this system of making gods because we need them, just like the people of Egypt needed Tut.

In the movie “Unforgiven” English Bob spends much of his dialogue espousing the benefits of monarchy as opposed to a mere “president”. “No one would dare kill a sovereign. If you were to point a gun at him your hand would wither…” After the election of Obama I wonder if English Bob might adjust his commentary. 🙂 We need to worship and so we cast others into the roles we need them to play.

Tut’s old stuff was cool. He taught me that things maybe haven’t changed as much in 3200 years as we imagine.