Simile and Metaphor in the Religious Propaganda for the king: A Case Study of Edfou VIII

Document Type : Original Article

Author

New Valley University - Archaeology Dept., Faculty of Arts

Abstract

The focus of this paper is on the specific similes and metaphors which were most prominently present, with abundant systematically use, in the king's speech and in the return gifts given by the gods to him. One of the aims here is not only to glorify him but most of all have to persuade people with his abilities in maintaining the integrity and internal cohesion of the society as well as to demonstrate the king's legitimacy and prestige. This aim was the trigger for the intensive production of religious propaganda. This study tries to examine the persuasion tactics used to deliver propagandistic messages directed to the public and a subtle display of social behaviors and political allegiances from a completely modern political angle. Using the marvelous of considered puns, play on words and power of metaphorical expressions were the religious media or archaic means of mass indoctrination. They also were used to create a pharaonic ideology or the absolutist theory of government by showing the king as supernatural power, for millennia, carrying out different exploits, some real, some fictitious to reaffirm that it was unthinkable to see Egypt or even the world without him.

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