Egyptology in HeXen II by loonyboi

One of the reasons that I enjoyed the Egyptian hub of HeXen II so much, is that it contains a number of references to historical and mythological figures. The fine folks at Raven obviously did their research, as many areas of the hub are extremely accurate in their depictions. I'll attempt to explain as simply as possible the meanings behind some of the symbols and figures referred to in the Egyptian Levels.

The major purpose to the hub itself is to gather up the crowns of upper and lower egypt. These crowns did exist, and they are depicted accurately. The crowns were worn together, one atop another, to symbolize the Pharoah's leadership over upper and lower Egypt.

While the pharoah whose tomb you plunder in HeXen II is never actually given, we can deduce his identity from the presence of Nefertari (called Nefertum in the game). Nefertari was the most famous wife of the pharoah Ramses II. Ramses II reigned for 67 years (roughly from 1290-1224 BC). In his almost 80 years of life (a figure unheard of in his day) he supposedly fathered 100 children with 6 main wives, and countless concubines. Nefertari is especially famous, as she appears with him on a number of statues, and has her own sanctuary located next to Ramses' (the Great Temple of Abu Simbel).

In retrieving the crowns, you must gather up the canopic jars of Ramses II. Ever wonder what was in those jars? Before I get onto the gory details, let me first explain their purpose. As you may already know, when they died, the pharoahs were embalmed, or mumified. The process of mumification entailed removing the insides of the pharoah (not just wrapping them in toilet paper). Naturally the insides of the pharoah were seen as just as important as the rest of his body (and his worldly possesions which were buried with him as well; this is akin to someone being buried in their house with their car) so they were stored in canopic jars, and placed in his tomb.

Each jar featured the head of an animal, and was devoted to a specific deity (all sons of Horus, the personification of the kingship of egypt). The Hapi jar contained the lungs and featured a baboon on the lid, the Duamutef held the stomach and had a Dog, the Imsety contained the liver and had a human head, and the Qebehsenuf jar contained the intestines and featured a falcon on the head. Horus (whose famous "eye" is used as a key) was supposedly the last god to rule ancient Egypt, and as a result is the personfication of the kingship, and the ruler of the heavens. Horus is a protector-god, a god who attacks and destroys evil whereever he sees it. The mummies themselves in HeXen II are actually representations of Anubis, the ruler of the underworld (not the god of the dead, as he is often mistaken for). Anubis is a man with the head of a dog, who participated in the trial of the dead (in Egyptian mythology when you died your heart was weighed in the court of Anubis. If you were seen to be worthy, you passed through the gate into the underworld).

If you look at some of the textures on the walls, you'll notice this one in particular (pictured left). While there are no other references to him in the game, this texture I find interesting because it is an almost exact replica of an illustration of Osiris from the Egyptian Book of the Dead. In the trial of the dead, it was Osiris who was judge. Behind him stand the goddesses Isis and Nephthys. In front of him is the four leaved lotus, representing his grandchildren, the four sons of Horus.

Also here (and on several other textures as well, you'll see an Ankh, the Egyptian sign of life. Oftentimes you'll see an image of one of the gods holding a sceptre with an Ankh on the end. This is to represent that the gods are the ultimate dispenser of life. Also, the Ankh can be shown in front of someone's nose, as life is breathed in through the nose. The Scarab Beetle is another prominant symbol in the Egyptian Hub (and is a weapon for the Assassin class) and its meaning is an interesting one. The Scarab was always associated with the sun in one form or another. This comes from an odd practice of the dung beetle, in which it will shape its feces into balls, and push them around. Each day, the process would repeat itself. Ancient Egyptians saw this as representitive of the way the sun rises each morning. The Scarab was a powerful symbol in ancient Egypt, and therefore is quite prominant in their artwork.

All in all, Raven Software should be commended for bothering to do their research in HeXen II. It's not at all uncommon for a videogame to use complex symbolism without any regard for their actual meaning (read: Doom, Quake), so I found the Egyptian hub refreshingly different. Truth be told, I was actually hoping to write a sort of critical essay chronicling all the mistakes Raven made in their symbolism, and as much fun as it would have been to write that article, I think overall I prefer this one. Bravo Raven.

Egyptology is a remarkably easy to access field on the internet. If you are interested in finding out more about egyptology, start with Egyptology.com, or Yahoo's Egyptology Section.

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