What Would Egyptian Horror Stories Look Like?

Plateosaurus

Inspired by @Scorpio Retindar's norse horror thread, I have recently become highly interested in egyptian mythology, and so I wonder what horror media be like in a world where traditional ancient egyptian (or kemetian to be more accurate) be like.

Obviously, you're going to have a lot of focus on disorder, crime, and disturbances thanks to the concept of Isfet vs. Ma'at and gods like Apep and Set more or less, which could take the suburban horror tropes of disturbances in a normally peaceful place order up to eleven. Extending on this, a lot of the more xenophobic tropes you'd see with say lovecraftian cosmic horror or overseas-set torture porn would be a lot more blatant, because IIRC, egyptians up to the New Kingdom thought of foreigners more often then not as unruly and violent at best needed to be kept out or at best assimilated.
 

John7755 يوحنا

I can imagine a healthy dose of scenes related to the desert. Unlike Arabs and many of the western semites who made their life in the desert, Egypt in ancient times feared such things. The further one ventured into the desert, the greater the conception of chaos was compounded.

Chaos and randomness/change were concepts that Egypt feared greatly. The Nile and its god, the King/Pharaoh, represented stability. All one found exiting these lands were endless hills, desert and dangerous peoples. Egyptian expansionism was in fact predicated upon creating a buffer for the harmonious interior.

Thus, some great horror framework, is the idea of being lost and without the river as a guide. Likewise, scenes related to the desert as a factor of destroying the constructions of men or the hills as containing dangerous unharmonious peoples. Also, an idea of being trapped in these areas upon the death of a person... would be quite traumatic for an ancient Egyptian.
 
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British Biscuit

British Biscuit

I recall once seeing a horror movie (the name of which escapes me now) centered around a cult attempting to summon a demon. The film had a whole bunch of rain/water imagery throughout -- I would have thought it was just to keep up dreary atmosphere but reading about the movie online later revealed that the film-makers did that to bring up thematic links to Apep, the Ancient Egyptian water snake-demon. So maybe there'd be more movies with such imagery?
 

Kaze

Banned
I could see where an Egyptian heroes goes and defeats every single Biblical Plague.

Water to Blood = evil villain tries to poison the water supply of random city and the rest of the Nile.
Frogs =
a. small frogs = Night of the Lepus.
b. large frogs = Godzilla style
Pestilence in livestock = some sort of vampiric jackal
Locusts (see frogs above)
darkness = where the hero must save Horus from imprisonment by Set. Must set into the realms of darkness, but risking his sanity to do so.

etc.
 

Plateosaurus

I've noticed that the stereotypical view of Ancient Egypt is loaded with eye of horuses and ankhs and the like so much, its basically rivals the more evangelistic communities of the US.
 

Deleted member 123260

John7755 يوحنا said:
I can imagine a healthy dose of scenes related to the desert. Unlike Arabs and many of the western semites who made their life in the desert, Egypt in ancient times feared such things. The further one ventured into the desert, the greater the conception of chaos was compounded.

Chaos and randomness/change were concepts that Egypt feared greatly. The Nile and its god, the King/Pharaoh, represented stability. All one found exiting these lands were endless hills, desert and dangerous peoples. Egyptian expansionism was in fact predicated upon creating a buffer for the harmonious interior.

Thus, some great horror framework, is the idea of being lost and without the river as a guide. Likewise, scenes related to the desert as a factor of destroying the constructions of men or the hills as containing dangerous unharmonious peoples. Also, an idea of being trapped in these areas upon the death of a person... would be quite traumatic for an ancient Egyptian.
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How about medieval Islamic or Semitic horror stories? I've always been interested in such things.
 

SeaBos

Perhaps something could be done with the Amduat, follow an oarsman carrying the Tomb of Ra through the 12 lands of the night so that he can resurrect in the morning.
 

Byzantion

Plateosaurus said:
Inspired by @Scorpio Retindar's norse horror thread, I have recently become highly interested in egyptian mythology, and so I wonder what horror media be like in a world where traditional ancient egyptian (or kemetian to be more accurate) be like.

Obviously, you're going to have a lot of focus on disorder, crime, and disturbances thanks to the concept of Isfet vs. Ma'at and gods like Apep and Set more or less, which could take the suburban horror tropes of disturbances in a normally peaceful place order up to eleven. Extending on this, a lot of the more xenophobic tropes you'd see with say lovecraftian cosmic horror or overseas-set torture porn would be a lot more blatant, because IIRC, egyptians up to the New Kingdom thought of foreigners more often then not as unruly and violent at best needed to be kept out or at best assimilated.
Click to expand...
It probably involves the mischief Set and his evil shemes.
 

Mort the Reaper

John7755 يوحنا said:
I can imagine a healthy dose of scenes related to the desert. Unlike Arabs and many of the western semites who made their life in the desert, Egypt in ancient times feared such things. The further one ventured into the desert, the greater the conception of chaos was compounded.
Click to expand...
Another interesting contrast with the Arabs is that while they've traditionally been fond of darkness, the Ancient Egyptians feared it.
 

Byzantion

Plateosaurus said:
Inspired by @Scorpio Retindar's norse horror thread, I have recently become highly interested in egyptian mythology, and so I wonder what horror media be like in a world where traditional ancient egyptian (or kemetian to be more accurate) be like.

Obviously, you're going to have a lot of focus on disorder, crime, and disturbances thanks to the concept of Isfet vs. Ma'at and gods like Apep and Set more or less, which could take the suburban horror tropes of disturbances in a normally peaceful place order up to eleven. Extending on this, a lot of the more xenophobic tropes you'd see with say lovecraftian cosmic horror or overseas-set torture porn would be a lot more blatant, because IIRC, egyptians up to the New Kingdom thought of foreigners more often then not as unruly and violent at best needed to be kept out or at best assimilated.
Click to expand...
Souls of not so just people getting rejected by Anubis and eaten by the Crocodile.
 
Gillan1220

Gillan1220

Miranda Brawner said:
I think the idea was to speculate on media that ancient Egyptians themselves might potentially create, rather than media produced centuries later by people on the outside looking in.
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Well I've never really read on Egyptian mythology but I'm sure they have equally terrifying horror stories like the Arabs in 1001 Arabian Nights.
 
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Night Gaul

Mort the Reaper said:
Another interesting contrast with the Arabs is that while they've traditionally been fond of darkness, the Ancient Egyptians feared it.
Click to expand...
Yep. If you look at the Qur'an, nights and their associated things (darkness, stars, the Moon etc.) are repeatedly praised.

This goes the other way too. Arabs are traditionally less fond of the day, and IIRC, their equivalent of a vampire is diurnal.
 
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