[vrinimi]

A conjecture that I entertain, allowing a bit of validity to Julian Jaynes' "bicameral mind" theory:

Egyptians back then could literally hear commands from statues as representations of the gods. Maybe breaking off the noses muted the voices (not sure why noses and not mouths). Warring factions might have wanted to mute opposing gods and install their own.

[circlefavshape]

"Egyptians back then could literally hear commands from statues as representations of the gods"

What?

[simiones]

It's an entertaining (though certainly wrong) theory that states that ancient peoples' minds were divided into a "conscious" part that executed commands given by the other part, which it perceived as "gods speaking to it". More (and better) explanations on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicameralism_(psychology)

[trevyn]

That’s a really interesting hypothesis. Breaking off the nose is probably easier to do and maybe was a sufficient “this is not a real person” mental input to damp the response.

[EGreg]

Literally hear? Citation needed!

[725686]

The citation is the very first thing in the comment you responded to: The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes. Haven't read it but heard of it many times. Interesting speculation, but there you have your citation.

[EGreg]

You haven’t read it but you know egyptians could literally hear voices from statues? I call exaggeration :)

EDIT: I didn’t see your colon, I thought it was a period which made it sound like you were making the claim yourself, and I was eager to get resources other than his theory, only to hear his theory again lol.