Husia

The Sacred Texts

The name chosen for the sacred text, Husia, is a compound word taken from two ancient Egyptian words that signify the two divine powers by which Ra (God) created the world in the ancient Egyptian creation narrative. The creation texts in the Husia say that the Creator “conceived the world in his heart/mind,” “took authoritative speech in his mouth,” and called the world into being. The word Hu means “authoritative utterance,” and the word Sia means “exceptional insight.” Thus, the two words are combined to express the concept “authoritative utterance of exceptional insight.”

The stress here is on the texts being both authoritative and exceptionally insightful. Moreover, Hu and Sia not only symbolize and express authority and insight, but are also at the heart of both creative activity and moral practice in ancient Egyptian or Maatian ethics. They are powers available to all humans so that they may understand, speak, and do Maat in an ongoing cooperative project with the Divine of constantly repairing and remaking the world.

The Husia is organized into seven major sections that represent the various kinds of texts in the corpus of ancient Egyptian sacred literature. The first section is the Books of Knowing the Creations, taken from the title of one of the narratives of creation titled “The Book of Knowing the Creations of Ra” and including various other creation accounts. The second section is called the Books of Prayers and Sacred Praises and includes literature of praise, petition, and thanksgiving to the Divine. Although what the Egyptians call “songs of praising and glorifying” also occur in other books, this section is dedicated essentially to them.

A third section of the Husia is titled the Moral Narratives and includes didactic narratives such as the Book of Khunanup, the oldest social justice text in the world, and the Book of Sinuhe, both classical works in Kemetic literature. The fourth section of the Husia is titled the Books of Wise Instruction and includes major and minor moral texts that the ancient Egyptians called Sebait (SbAyt). The fifth section is titled Books of Contemplation and includes literature called complaints, lamentations, prophecies, and admonitions in Egyptological literature. A sixth section is called the Declarations of Virtues, which contains autobiographical literature with moral self-presentations expressing virtues and vices central to Maatian moral conceptualization and discourse.

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