On the scale of a God though ... why do they only care about people if they go to accuse someone? Killing humans was never a real problem. Like, they said it themselves now and then, for example, when Isis revealed her flood plan and said that Geb, the God of Earth, doesn't give a fuck about anything but his wife.
It's not quite like the gods can kill humans for no reason, though. The story goes that they can only do it under certain "legitimate" reasons, like for example when it's required to kill off a great number of humans in order to keep the balance between the population numbers and the available resources (food, etc.), which is what Sekhmet means when she says in chapter 45 that floods were used to turnover the population. In Ancient Egypt, the flooding of the Nile was an "ordinary" catasprophe because it was a forseeable, natural event that repeated itself every year and was vital for human survival, as it turned the land briefly fertile enough for them to grow crops in. However, with the uncertain flow of the Nile, during very high flows the dikes were washed away and villages flooded, drowning thousands. During low flows, the land did not receive enough water, and no crops could grow. In ancient times, whenever a population growth outpaced agricultural production, it caused a Malthus cycle a.k.a. population trap, which meant the scarcity of food would bring famine and war, resulting in poverty and depopulation, and it inevitably had the effect of forcing the population to "correct" back to a lower, more easily sustainable level. Both "ordinary" catastrophes (like famine and war) and "extraordinary" ones (like earthquakes) had the same result in a great loss of human life, which could also result in a temporary food surplus, which would then trigger another rise of overpopulation and begin a new cycle... In ancient times, the ancient people thought these cycles and were the work of the gods, so they prayed to the gods, asking them either to help them survive the catasrophes, or for the gods to send a "less drastic" cycle (nowadays, economists contend that since the industrial revolution, mankind has broken out of the trap). That's why Geb the Earth god still intervened to stop Isis' flood attempt on Ra's order, and it's why Ra ordered him to intervene in order to save the humans: because it was NOT the due time for a new flood.
That was very informative! thanks!
wow that are a whole bunch of information. what did you study/search to know all this? just curious, i never been taught about these in my school days
Oh, I'm a big history buff so I kinda always manage to retain stuff like that in my head... instead of lots of other more practical things that'd probably be a lot more convenient and vital to remember...like, for everyday life, lmao... But if you're really curious, I first learned about the the Mathus cycle (a.k.a. population trap or Malthusianism) when studying the Industrial Revolution in college (it's one of the key points in favor of the argument that the I.R. greatly changed human history). The thing about the Nile's big role in Ancient Egypt, though, is kinda just something that usually comes up in most documentaries and stuff (about Ancient Egypt, I mean) so when one's a big history otaku like me you just simply remember those (and sometimes even obsessively look up more, whenever you have time, as a hobby... and yeah, I know this totally makes me sound like a nerd, haha).
I see!! Thank you for telling me! It's very interesting(๑•ㅂ•)و✧
....I hate to admit it but Ra is right....it doesn’t excuse what Seth did. Although Seth has been through so much he shouldn’t had taken out his anger on other people....oh poor Anubis...he really loved Seth...and Seth really loved Anubis like his own son. I’m just. Torn apart T.T