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Some great little bits in this exhaustive survey of the evidence (amulets! letters! stelae! votaries!)
'Despite the many positive images of the afterlife, some of the owners of the biographical inscriptions express apprehensions about death. [for example, one says:] "A moment of seeing the rays of the sun is more beneficial than eternity as the ruler of the realm of the dead." ... there was perhaps some questioning of the accepted funerary beliefs and ideas concerning the afterlife...' (p47) I wonder if loads of people did, but it was unwise to express fears about what the afterlife might be like, lest they come to pass.
Talking about the 'fertility figurines' found in peoples' homes and as votive offerings at shrines, naked clay female figurines presumably used to 'bring about conception, ensure a successful pregnancy and protect offspring during childhood', Adderley says: 'The naked female figure may have represented a goddess, either a specific deity (perhaps varying from region to region) or simply a generic divine female... Waraksa has suggested that a generic form may have been used "in order to protect the deity involved from the affliction she was being asked to address."' (p173)
This made me smile. The oracular amuletic decrees, rolled up in a container and worn around the neck, were written guarantees from the gods to protect the wearer from every kind of calamity -- impressive promises of protection against "every kind of illness which is known and every kind of illness which is not known", "every death, every illness and every suffering which comes to people". But just in case, one of them added: "I shall provide [for him] a physician who heals." (My relationship with Sekhmet in a sentence.) (p 199)
The wearer might need protection against not just evil spirits, but malevolent deities, such as Sekhmet, Nefertem, Bastet, 'the fierce lion of Bastet whose sustenance is the blood of people', Ptah, Isis, Horus, Amun, Mut, Khonsu, and Thoth. It's surprising to see these righteous gods in a sort of line-up of potential aggressors against the individual; I suppose someone had to be responsible when bad things happened to people. The decree would promise to propitiate the gods in question. (p 203)
'Despite the many positive images of the afterlife, some of the owners of the biographical inscriptions express apprehensions about death. [for example, one says:] "A moment of seeing the rays of the sun is more beneficial than eternity as the ruler of the realm of the dead." ... there was perhaps some questioning of the accepted funerary beliefs and ideas concerning the afterlife...' (p47) I wonder if loads of people did, but it was unwise to express fears about what the afterlife might be like, lest they come to pass.
Talking about the 'fertility figurines' found in peoples' homes and as votive offerings at shrines, naked clay female figurines presumably used to 'bring about conception, ensure a successful pregnancy and protect offspring during childhood', Adderley says: 'The naked female figure may have represented a goddess, either a specific deity (perhaps varying from region to region) or simply a generic divine female... Waraksa has suggested that a generic form may have been used "in order to protect the deity involved from the affliction she was being asked to address."' (p173)
This made me smile. The oracular amuletic decrees, rolled up in a container and worn around the neck, were written guarantees from the gods to protect the wearer from every kind of calamity -- impressive promises of protection against "every kind of illness which is known and every kind of illness which is not known", "every death, every illness and every suffering which comes to people". But just in case, one of them added: "I shall provide [for him] a physician who heals." (My relationship with Sekhmet in a sentence.) (p 199)
The wearer might need protection against not just evil spirits, but malevolent deities, such as Sekhmet, Nefertem, Bastet, 'the fierce lion of Bastet whose sustenance is the blood of people', Ptah, Isis, Horus, Amun, Mut, Khonsu, and Thoth. It's surprising to see these righteous gods in a sort of line-up of potential aggressors against the individual; I suppose someone had to be responsible when bad things happened to people. The decree would promise to propitiate the gods in question. (p 203)
A hiatus for the Book of the Dead
Dec. 27th, 2023 09:24 pm"The Book of the Dead was used throughout the New Kingdom and Twenty-first Dynasty, and then, following an apparent hiatus in its use in the Twenty-second and Twenty-third Dynasties, from around 700 BCE to Ptolemaic times." -- Nicola J. Adderley, Personal Religion in the Libyan Period in Egypt, p 42 n211 (which leads to:)
"In the ninth century BC the detailed decoration of Theban coffins gave way to a plainer style without texts and the local practice of placing funerary manuscripts in he burial vanished altogether. At Tanis in the north meanwhile we find for the first time since Ramses XI royal burial chambers inscribed with scenes and texts extracted from the Book of the Dead and the Underworld Books. The occurrence of both startling reversals in the surviving record at the two governing centres of Egypt suggests that there may be a link to wider historical developments; the reign of Osorkon II brought a reimposition of northern control over Thebes, which resisted with force according to the Karnak inscription of the general Osorkon, a prince in the royal house. Yet the link may not amount to a direct royal clampdown on Theban use of texts because the Thebans did not resume their earlier coffin and manuscript traditions under the weak successors of Osorkon II. It is also significant that the disappearance of funerary texts involved not only those reserved before 1100 BC for the king but also.the Book of the Dead which had always been available to his subjects. Therefore the renewed vigour of the north under Osorkon II may have caused the change in Theban burial customs more indirectly, by promoting the spread of northern textless funerary traditions to the southern city, much as funerary customs altered abruptly in the nineteenth century BC without any obvious political motivation.
"Whatever the reasons for the change, for over a century no funerary literature survives..." -- Stephen Quirke, Ancient Egyptian Religion, pp 167-8
__
Nicola J. Adderley. Personal Religion in the Libyan Period in Egypt. OmniScriptum, Saarbrücken, Germany, 2015.
Stephen Quirke. Ancient Egyptian Religion. British Museum Press, London, 1992.
"In the ninth century BC the detailed decoration of Theban coffins gave way to a plainer style without texts and the local practice of placing funerary manuscripts in he burial vanished altogether. At Tanis in the north meanwhile we find for the first time since Ramses XI royal burial chambers inscribed with scenes and texts extracted from the Book of the Dead and the Underworld Books. The occurrence of both startling reversals in the surviving record at the two governing centres of Egypt suggests that there may be a link to wider historical developments; the reign of Osorkon II brought a reimposition of northern control over Thebes, which resisted with force according to the Karnak inscription of the general Osorkon, a prince in the royal house. Yet the link may not amount to a direct royal clampdown on Theban use of texts because the Thebans did not resume their earlier coffin and manuscript traditions under the weak successors of Osorkon II. It is also significant that the disappearance of funerary texts involved not only those reserved before 1100 BC for the king but also.the Book of the Dead which had always been available to his subjects. Therefore the renewed vigour of the north under Osorkon II may have caused the change in Theban burial customs more indirectly, by promoting the spread of northern textless funerary traditions to the southern city, much as funerary customs altered abruptly in the nineteenth century BC without any obvious political motivation.
"Whatever the reasons for the change, for over a century no funerary literature survives..." -- Stephen Quirke, Ancient Egyptian Religion, pp 167-8
__
Nicola J. Adderley. Personal Religion in the Libyan Period in Egypt. OmniScriptum, Saarbrücken, Germany, 2015.
Stephen Quirke. Ancient Egyptian Religion. British Museum Press, London, 1992.
Die "Herrin der Unterwelt"
Dec. 2nd, 2023 01:31 pmI stumbled through this German-language article with the help of Google translate, which was very gentle about the umlauts. It's about Hepet-Hor, but refers to her by one of the other epithets she's given, "Mistress of the Duat".
The goddess has various headdresses -- a cobra, an atef crown, a feather. In one example, she's given the name Neith; in another, Selkis; in still another Saryt. Refai suggests this could be explained by "special devotion or local ties". Hepet-Hor also appears as one of the gods in the Litany of Re.
Here's Google Translate's attempt at a key passage: "The exact nature and function of this underworld goddess remain difficult to interpret. In the variation of her representations, she shows several arbitrary combinations, which include protection symbols (knives, lions) on the one hand and symbols of regeneration (snakes, crocodiles) on the other. As is often the case, it combines protection and regeneration, the two most important afterlife hopes of the deceased." Her "embracing" is protective. IIUC, in a couple of papyri, Hepet-Hor's function is clear: she welcomes the deceased to the underworld. In some inscriptions she offers bread, beer, and "all good things" to the deceased, which reinforces this idea. Refai states that "The goddess certainly forms a partial aspect of the personified underworld kingdom from which the deceased hopes for reception, protection and regeneration."
__
Refai, Hosam. Die "Herrin der Unterwelt". in Ursula Rössler-Köhler et al (eds). Die Ihr Vorbeigehen Werdet. Berlin, New York, Walter de Gruyter, 2009.
With this and other epithets, a curious female figure appears on papyri and coffins of the Late Period, who apparently has an important, yet difficult to interpret, underworldly function. Her depiction remains unchanged, apart from variations in the shape of her head and the inscription. She is shown standing wearing a tight, long robe and holding a knife in both hands. There is often a sacrificial table in front of her, and in some examples Thoth presents her with a Western symbol.
Although Hepet-Hor's head and title/name change, she always wears one of those sheer dresses and has a knife in either hand. (I wonder if this helps to differentiate her from similar double-headed goddesses who don't have the knives - eg Niwinski fig. 25) She most often has the head of a snake, and most often appears in front of the double staircase / primordial mound / step pyramid thing, borne on the back of the great serpent, where Osiris is enthroned. She also sometimes appears at the judgement.The goddess has various headdresses -- a cobra, an atef crown, a feather. In one example, she's given the name Neith; in another, Selkis; in still another Saryt. Refai suggests this could be explained by "special devotion or local ties". Hepet-Hor also appears as one of the gods in the Litany of Re.
Here's Google Translate's attempt at a key passage: "The exact nature and function of this underworld goddess remain difficult to interpret. In the variation of her representations, she shows several arbitrary combinations, which include protection symbols (knives, lions) on the one hand and symbols of regeneration (snakes, crocodiles) on the other. As is often the case, it combines protection and regeneration, the two most important afterlife hopes of the deceased." Her "embracing" is protective. IIUC, in a couple of papyri, Hepet-Hor's function is clear: she welcomes the deceased to the underworld. In some inscriptions she offers bread, beer, and "all good things" to the deceased, which reinforces this idea. Refai states that "The goddess certainly forms a partial aspect of the personified underworld kingdom from which the deceased hopes for reception, protection and regeneration."
__
Refai, Hosam. Die "Herrin der Unterwelt". in Ursula Rössler-Köhler et al (eds). Die Ihr Vorbeigehen Werdet. Berlin, New York, Walter de Gruyter, 2009.
Part one of my notes
I'm up to the papyri I'm most interested in -- the ones Niwiński calls "the new redaction [of the Book of the Dead] of the 21st Dynasty", ie the ones with all the strange new imagery. So I thought I'd start a new posting.
(p 132) Niwiński divides them into groups, starting with "the figural hieroglyphic papyri":
- more pictures than text
- the etiquette's on the right; you read the scroll right to left.
- the writing's in hieroglyphs (as opposed to hieratic), arranged in vertical columns
- the etiquette and vignettes, and often the border, are coloured
- the content is mostly chapters of the Book of the Dead, but there are new illustrations invented at the start of the 21st Dynasty
- included a limited repertoire of BD spells (some taking on the function of others, some changed)
"... among those belonging to the subtype under discussion, several "families", or groups of the papyri of analogous contents can be distinguished, being probably reflection of the origin of these papyri from the same workshop, where the same patterns of texts and scenes were used." That's extraordinary -- we're almost down to the individual artist here. I wonder where the new patterns came from? Perhaps a master artisan said, right, this is what we're doing now? Maybe after discussions with a priest?
The judgement scene (BD 125, and also representing BD 30B) is the most common scene on Niwiński's papyri, often accompanied by BD 126. (I'm confess I don't know my BD chapters very well so I'm going to have to look some of this up. Can't wait for more libraries to have The Oxford Handbook to the Book of the Dead). There's a new scene of purification, called BD 195, on many papyri, and many have BD 149/150. BD 186, the Hathor-cow emerging from the mountain, is popular on papyri and coffins (p 140). Rituals are sometimes represented (p 143).
(p 139) "The creativity of the Theban artists of the period expressed itself in a great number of figural variations of the same theme, each papyrus being, practically, a unique combination of the motives, even within the same family', or series of papyri." In the judgement scene, Osiris can be replaced by the sun-god.
As well as variations on chapters from the Book of the Dead and other afterlife books, there were new theological compositions, such as the scene with Geb lying beneath Nut (p 147). In a small number of cases, scenes from the Amduat crop up on a papyrus titled "Book of the Dead" and vice versa (p 150).
(p 151) This type of papyrus first appears at the start of the 21st Dynasty and is in full swing by the middle, until the end of the reign of the High Priest Pinudjem II. There are still "sporadic" examples after this, but they've disappeared by the 22nd Century.
The next subcategory of papyrus Niwiński considers (p 152) is similar to the above, but:
- in black ink only, with occasional use of red
- quality of the drawings varies
- many more pictures than text
- probably got started under the High Priest Menkheperre and went until the end of the 21st Dynasty
(Fig 45 is the bizarre version of Osiris that got this whole obsession going. I love all this crazy post-New Kingdom iconography, the crazier the better. You get so used to the staid, traditional representations in coffee table books, and then bam, Osiris has a donkey's head and Sekhmet is a hedgehog.)
Niwiński puts the papyrus of Nesitanebetasheru (aka the Greenfield Papyrus) into its own category, with 87 chapters of the Book of the Dead and lots of extra hymns etc, written in hieratic, all illustrated in black ink.
Almost all of the other papyri Niwiński considered have the Amduat. Some have just the last four hours of the book, some include content from the Book of the Dead, and some have contents closer to the Litany of Re, even though they're entitled the Amduat.
The Amduat starts out in royal tombs, as does the Litany of Re. Amduat papyri for private individuals were introduced at the start of the 21st Dynasty, or the end of the 20th, in what Niwiński calls "the Renaissance Era under Ramesses XI and the HP Herihor". Mummies were usually buried with two papyri, a Book of the Dead and an Amduat (but sometimes it's only the title that tells you which is which -- p 236).
Niwiński groups the Amduat papyri into four main groups:
- the ones that resemble the Litany of Re (and perhaps BD 168)
- the more traditional ones, closer to those found in royal tombs
- the ones that resemble the Book of the Dead
- the bonkers ones (my favourite)
The first group, the Litany of Re-like papyri, are divided into many panels, each one containing one form of the "united Osirian-solar aspects of the Great God", each one labelled with that form's name. These appeared while Herihor was High Priest and disappeared under Pinudjem II. There are also two papyri which have, as well as the catalogue of the forms of the Great God, "additional iconographic representations".
The next group is based on the Amduat as it appears in royal tombs. Typically there's the etiquette at right, then the last four hours of the Amduat, read left to right, so that the 12th hour is up against the etiquette. The papyri are illustrated in black and maybe red. They first appear in the middle of the 21st Dynasty.
There's a variation where, instead of the normal 3 registers, the figures are laid out in 1 or 2 registers, presumably because the papyrus was too small! The content of these may be "transformed under the influence of other iconographic compositions, and owing to an individual artistic invention of the drawer." Another variation from the late 21st Dynasty is short, usually lacking the etiquette; the four hours are represented by a few figures each.
Next up are the papyri which include motifs from both the Amduat and the Book of the Dead -- how much from each varies from papyrus to papyrus. Ideally, mummies were buried with a BD (in a papyrus sheath) and an Amduat (wrapped with the mummy -- p 213), so even if there were Book of the Dead content, the papyrus must have still been seen as an Amduat. On the other hand, for some burials such as those with only one papyrus, they might have played the role of both texts at once.
The last group comprises papyri which include stuff from the Amduat, the Book of the Dead, and other compositions as well, such as the Book of Caverns, Book of Gates, and Book of the Earth. One subgroup of similar papyri have the deceased worshipping a series of figures from the BD (p 192-3). There's a tendency to cram as much stuff onto the papyrus as possible -- figures, symbols, etc. The figures are often transformed from their original appearance, and new scenes invented by the 21st Dynasty artists appear. This group includes the papyri sometimes called mythological papyri, although Niwiński argues against using this term. Similarities between some of the papyri suggest that the same artist would prepare both of the papyri for the same burial. OTOH sometimes there is a "striking contrast" between them (p 214).
A few bits and pieces:
(p 219) "Poor people buried without coffins or papyri could only rely on the magical protection furnished by the religious texts and representations on papyri and coffins belonging to other deceased persons lying in the same tomb-cachette."
(p 220) The decorations on coffins were an extension of the papyri -- they didn't duplicate their contents. eg Sutimes' outer coffin has the Litany of Re type figures, instead of the expected papyrus (though there's a bit of repetition of the BD stuff on the inner coffin, eg the Weighing of the Heart scene). In the late 21D/early 22D there was more duplication.
(p 236) The fact that papyri vary so widely in quality indicates that you didn't have to be high-status and rich to be entitled to a funerary papyrus.
(p 237) In the 22nd Dynasty the papyri soon settle down into hieratic BD without pictures and traditional Amduats. In turn the Amduat papyri disappear some time during the later Third Intermediate Period.
Good grief, I'm finished!
Andrzej Niwiński. Studies on the Illustrated Theban Funerary Papyri of the 11th and 10th Centuries BC. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 86. Göttingen, Vandenhoeck u. Ruprecht, 1989.
I'm up to the papyri I'm most interested in -- the ones Niwiński calls "the new redaction [of the Book of the Dead] of the 21st Dynasty", ie the ones with all the strange new imagery. So I thought I'd start a new posting.
(p 132) Niwiński divides them into groups, starting with "the figural hieroglyphic papyri":
- more pictures than text
- the etiquette's on the right; you read the scroll right to left.
- the writing's in hieroglyphs (as opposed to hieratic), arranged in vertical columns
- the etiquette and vignettes, and often the border, are coloured
- the content is mostly chapters of the Book of the Dead, but there are new illustrations invented at the start of the 21st Dynasty
- included a limited repertoire of BD spells (some taking on the function of others, some changed)
"... among those belonging to the subtype under discussion, several "families", or groups of the papyri of analogous contents can be distinguished, being probably reflection of the origin of these papyri from the same workshop, where the same patterns of texts and scenes were used." That's extraordinary -- we're almost down to the individual artist here. I wonder where the new patterns came from? Perhaps a master artisan said, right, this is what we're doing now? Maybe after discussions with a priest?
The judgement scene (BD 125, and also representing BD 30B) is the most common scene on Niwiński's papyri, often accompanied by BD 126. (I'm confess I don't know my BD chapters very well so I'm going to have to look some of this up. Can't wait for more libraries to have The Oxford Handbook to the Book of the Dead). There's a new scene of purification, called BD 195, on many papyri, and many have BD 149/150. BD 186, the Hathor-cow emerging from the mountain, is popular on papyri and coffins (p 140). Rituals are sometimes represented (p 143).
(p 139) "The creativity of the Theban artists of the period expressed itself in a great number of figural variations of the same theme, each papyrus being, practically, a unique combination of the motives, even within the same family', or series of papyri." In the judgement scene, Osiris can be replaced by the sun-god.
As well as variations on chapters from the Book of the Dead and other afterlife books, there were new theological compositions, such as the scene with Geb lying beneath Nut (p 147). In a small number of cases, scenes from the Amduat crop up on a papyrus titled "Book of the Dead" and vice versa (p 150).
(p 151) This type of papyrus first appears at the start of the 21st Dynasty and is in full swing by the middle, until the end of the reign of the High Priest Pinudjem II. There are still "sporadic" examples after this, but they've disappeared by the 22nd Century.
The next subcategory of papyrus Niwiński considers (p 152) is similar to the above, but:
- in black ink only, with occasional use of red
- quality of the drawings varies
- many more pictures than text
- probably got started under the High Priest Menkheperre and went until the end of the 21st Dynasty
(Fig 45 is the bizarre version of Osiris that got this whole obsession going. I love all this crazy post-New Kingdom iconography, the crazier the better. You get so used to the staid, traditional representations in coffee table books, and then bam, Osiris has a donkey's head and Sekhmet is a hedgehog.)
Niwiński puts the papyrus of Nesitanebetasheru (aka the Greenfield Papyrus) into its own category, with 87 chapters of the Book of the Dead and lots of extra hymns etc, written in hieratic, all illustrated in black ink.
Almost all of the other papyri Niwiński considered have the Amduat. Some have just the last four hours of the book, some include content from the Book of the Dead, and some have contents closer to the Litany of Re, even though they're entitled the Amduat.
The Amduat starts out in royal tombs, as does the Litany of Re. Amduat papyri for private individuals were introduced at the start of the 21st Dynasty, or the end of the 20th, in what Niwiński calls "the Renaissance Era under Ramesses XI and the HP Herihor". Mummies were usually buried with two papyri, a Book of the Dead and an Amduat (but sometimes it's only the title that tells you which is which -- p 236).
Niwiński groups the Amduat papyri into four main groups:
- the ones that resemble the Litany of Re (and perhaps BD 168)
- the more traditional ones, closer to those found in royal tombs
- the ones that resemble the Book of the Dead
- the bonkers ones (my favourite)
The first group, the Litany of Re-like papyri, are divided into many panels, each one containing one form of the "united Osirian-solar aspects of the Great God", each one labelled with that form's name. These appeared while Herihor was High Priest and disappeared under Pinudjem II. There are also two papyri which have, as well as the catalogue of the forms of the Great God, "additional iconographic representations".
The next group is based on the Amduat as it appears in royal tombs. Typically there's the etiquette at right, then the last four hours of the Amduat, read left to right, so that the 12th hour is up against the etiquette. The papyri are illustrated in black and maybe red. They first appear in the middle of the 21st Dynasty.
There's a variation where, instead of the normal 3 registers, the figures are laid out in 1 or 2 registers, presumably because the papyrus was too small! The content of these may be "transformed under the influence of other iconographic compositions, and owing to an individual artistic invention of the drawer." Another variation from the late 21st Dynasty is short, usually lacking the etiquette; the four hours are represented by a few figures each.
Next up are the papyri which include motifs from both the Amduat and the Book of the Dead -- how much from each varies from papyrus to papyrus. Ideally, mummies were buried with a BD (in a papyrus sheath) and an Amduat (wrapped with the mummy -- p 213), so even if there were Book of the Dead content, the papyrus must have still been seen as an Amduat. On the other hand, for some burials such as those with only one papyrus, they might have played the role of both texts at once.
The last group comprises papyri which include stuff from the Amduat, the Book of the Dead, and other compositions as well, such as the Book of Caverns, Book of Gates, and Book of the Earth. One subgroup of similar papyri have the deceased worshipping a series of figures from the BD (p 192-3). There's a tendency to cram as much stuff onto the papyrus as possible -- figures, symbols, etc. The figures are often transformed from their original appearance, and new scenes invented by the 21st Dynasty artists appear. This group includes the papyri sometimes called mythological papyri, although Niwiński argues against using this term. Similarities between some of the papyri suggest that the same artist would prepare both of the papyri for the same burial. OTOH sometimes there is a "striking contrast" between them (p 214).
A few bits and pieces:
(p 219) "Poor people buried without coffins or papyri could only rely on the magical protection furnished by the religious texts and representations on papyri and coffins belonging to other deceased persons lying in the same tomb-cachette."
(p 220) The decorations on coffins were an extension of the papyri -- they didn't duplicate their contents. eg Sutimes' outer coffin has the Litany of Re type figures, instead of the expected papyrus (though there's a bit of repetition of the BD stuff on the inner coffin, eg the Weighing of the Heart scene). In the late 21D/early 22D there was more duplication.
(p 236) The fact that papyri vary so widely in quality indicates that you didn't have to be high-status and rich to be entitled to a funerary papyrus.
(p 237) In the 22nd Dynasty the papyri soon settle down into hieratic BD without pictures and traditional Amduats. In turn the Amduat papyri disappear some time during the later Third Intermediate Period.
Good grief, I'm finished!
Andrzej Niwiński. Studies on the Illustrated Theban Funerary Papyri of the 11th and 10th Centuries BC. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 86. Göttingen, Vandenhoeck u. Ruprecht, 1989.
Arsinoe II
Oct. 31st, 2023 12:27 pmMore photocopies lying around the place.
Žabkar, Louis V. Hymns to Isis in her temple at Philae. Hanover, NH. Published for Brandeis University Press by University Press of New England, 1988.
"It is true that there exist in Egyptian history some well-known examples of the deification and cult of the queen; such names as Teti-Sheri, grandmother of Ahmose, Ahmes-Nefertari, his wife, and Nefertari, chief wife of Ramesses II, immediately come to mind. The fact remains, however, that the divine status of Arsinoë as a co-templar, or temple-sharing goddess, or synnaos theos, closely associated with or assimilated to Isis, was emphasized and displayed at Philae in an unprecedented manner." (More about Arsinoë's deification.)
Céline Marquaille, in her chapter "The Foreign Policy of Ptolemy II", states that Ptolemy used Arsinoe to embody his naval power, creating a goddess "Arsinoe-Aphrodite-Kypris" (Aphrodite of Cyprus) and Arsinoe-Aphrodite-Kypris-Zephyritis, "the protector of seafarers and of Greek maidens about to enter marriage."
Stefan Pfeiffer, in his chapter "The God Serapis" in the same work, notes that "Arsinoe had received her own temple at the Cape of Zephyrion [I suppose this is arsinoe-aprodite-kypris-zephritis?] and, there, became the patron goddess of seafaring as Aphrodite-Arsinoe." (399)
Ptolemy II "elevated her after her death to the temple-sharing goddess of all Egyptian temples. An Egyptian goddess had now emerged from the Greek goddess Arsinoe, appearing in a completely Egyptian form on the temple reliefs and votive steles." Her cult was particular important in Memphis. She may also have a been a temple-sharing goddess in Greek temples. Isis and Aphrodite were equated, and Arsinoe was linked to them both. Ptolemy II and Arsinoe II were both temple-sharing gods for Serapis. (401)
(I had this mad plan to write a novel about Arsinoe II. Could still happen.)
___
Céline Marquaille. "The Foreign Policy of Ptolemy II". in McKechnie, Paul; Guillaume, Philippe (eds). Ptolemy II Philadelphus and his world. Leiden, Brill, 2008.
Žabkar, Louis V. Hymns to Isis in her temple at Philae. Hanover, NH. Published for Brandeis University Press by University Press of New England, 1988.
"It is true that there exist in Egyptian history some well-known examples of the deification and cult of the queen; such names as Teti-Sheri, grandmother of Ahmose, Ahmes-Nefertari, his wife, and Nefertari, chief wife of Ramesses II, immediately come to mind. The fact remains, however, that the divine status of Arsinoë as a co-templar, or temple-sharing goddess, or synnaos theos, closely associated with or assimilated to Isis, was emphasized and displayed at Philae in an unprecedented manner." (More about Arsinoë's deification.)
Céline Marquaille, in her chapter "The Foreign Policy of Ptolemy II", states that Ptolemy used Arsinoe to embody his naval power, creating a goddess "Arsinoe-Aphrodite-Kypris" (Aphrodite of Cyprus) and Arsinoe-Aphrodite-Kypris-Zephyritis, "the protector of seafarers and of Greek maidens about to enter marriage."
Stefan Pfeiffer, in his chapter "The God Serapis" in the same work, notes that "Arsinoe had received her own temple at the Cape of Zephyrion [I suppose this is arsinoe-aprodite-kypris-zephritis?] and, there, became the patron goddess of seafaring as Aphrodite-Arsinoe." (399)
Ptolemy II "elevated her after her death to the temple-sharing goddess of all Egyptian temples. An Egyptian goddess had now emerged from the Greek goddess Arsinoe, appearing in a completely Egyptian form on the temple reliefs and votive steles." Her cult was particular important in Memphis. She may also have a been a temple-sharing goddess in Greek temples. Isis and Aphrodite were equated, and Arsinoe was linked to them both. Ptolemy II and Arsinoe II were both temple-sharing gods for Serapis. (401)
(I had this mad plan to write a novel about Arsinoe II. Could still happen.)
___
Céline Marquaille. "The Foreign Policy of Ptolemy II". in McKechnie, Paul; Guillaume, Philippe (eds). Ptolemy II Philadelphus and his world. Leiden, Brill, 2008.
Gotta tidy away some of these photocopies randomly lying around.
Cássio de Araújo Duarte. "Scenes from the Amduat on the funerary coffins and sarcophagi of the 21st Dynasty." in Rosati, Gloria (ed). Proceedings of the Eleventh International Congress of Egyptologists. (2015: Florence, Italy) Oxford, Archaeopress Publishing, 2017.
"... the appearance of actual Amduat motifs on coffins and sarcophagi is attributed to the last years of the government of the high priest Menkheperre, and to the beginning of the 22nd Dynasty under the high priest Iput." On papyri, too. Papyri labelled "Amduat" appeared at the start of the 21st Dynasty, but their content actually came from the Litany of Re; the actual Amduat turns up on papyri "around the middle of the dynasty", with an emphasis on the last four scenes of the book.
Duarte says "the artisans were conscious of the meaning of what they were painting and, instead of producing mechanical 'copies' [of the various funerary books], they created many fascinating variations that conversed one to the other." For instance, the funeral scene in the Book of the Dead and the solar barque from the Amduat were paralleled (hoping to grab Duarte's chapter about this later in the week for more detail). Duarte points out that the interplay between these scenes combines the divine and human worlds, as well as "the last moments of decisive narratives", the conclusion of the funeral and the sun's preparation to rise. He wonders if the "sacerdotal classes" "perceived their land to bve materially populated by divine subjects and their territory to be the actual landscape of the sun god's trajectory."
He also mentions those weird diagrams where the sun falcon's head is upsidedown, and that this derives from an image in the Book of Caverns. Well stap me vitals. I'll try and post an example.
ETA, from the papyrus of Padiamun:
Also hilariously about the, erm, varying abilities of different artists: "We cannot risk idealising the scenery too much."
Onto Nut in a bit.
Nils Billing. "Text and Tomb: Some spatial properties of Nut in the Pyramid Texts." in Hawass, Zahi Abass, Brock, Lyla Pinch (eds). Egyptology at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century: Proceedings of the Eighth International Congress of Egyptologists, Cairo, 2000. American University in Cairo Press, Cairo; New York, 2003.
There were two themes that caught my eye in this chapter. One, the importance of the reintegration of the body, in the form of the mummy. "The body disintegrated through death has been reintegrated, an ultimate precondition for rebirth." So the deceased and their parts are identified with Atum, whose name suggests tm, "complete".
The second theme is Nut as embracer and container -- analogous to the coffin that holds the mummy. Nut "extends herself over her son [Osiris/the king]": "This theme was to be repeated throughout Egyptian history in numerous variations on coffins, canopic equipment, tombs, and papyri." Nut is called "great embracer / she who embraces the Great One", "she who embraces the frightened". Billing says: "Nut represents a principle of integration. She is the all-containing waters of the sky, a celestial womb. She manifests the act of bringing together in order to give life." This role suits the "all-encompassing sky". "The dismembered pieces, themselves signs of disorder and death, are made hale and alive within her embrace." Nut is equated with the sarcophagus chamber, and the sarcophagus itself.
Alexander Piankoff. The Sky-Goddess Nut and the Night Journey of the Sun. JEA 20(1-2) 1934
Nut swallows the sun in the evening and gives birth to it in the morning: if the deceased can identify themself with the sun god, they too can rise again. Hence the goddess of the sky became "the protector of the dead, the personification of the coffin". Not surprisingly, inscriptions refer to the rebirth but seldom to the swallowing, death. (Later though, rather than not being mentioned, the West becomes the symbol of new life.) What's the geography of this journey? In the PT it's through the sky: "the dead sun was conveyed on the waters above the firmament". In later times, the creation of the universe was reenacted every morning, with the sun god rising from the waters of Nun.
"
Cássio de Araújo Duarte. "Scenes from the Amduat on the funerary coffins and sarcophagi of the 21st Dynasty." in Rosati, Gloria (ed). Proceedings of the Eleventh International Congress of Egyptologists. (2015: Florence, Italy) Oxford, Archaeopress Publishing, 2017.
"... the appearance of actual Amduat motifs on coffins and sarcophagi is attributed to the last years of the government of the high priest Menkheperre, and to the beginning of the 22nd Dynasty under the high priest Iput." On papyri, too. Papyri labelled "Amduat" appeared at the start of the 21st Dynasty, but their content actually came from the Litany of Re; the actual Amduat turns up on papyri "around the middle of the dynasty", with an emphasis on the last four scenes of the book.
Duarte says "the artisans were conscious of the meaning of what they were painting and, instead of producing mechanical 'copies' [of the various funerary books], they created many fascinating variations that conversed one to the other." For instance, the funeral scene in the Book of the Dead and the solar barque from the Amduat were paralleled (hoping to grab Duarte's chapter about this later in the week for more detail). Duarte points out that the interplay between these scenes combines the divine and human worlds, as well as "the last moments of decisive narratives", the conclusion of the funeral and the sun's preparation to rise. He wonders if the "sacerdotal classes" "perceived their land to bve materially populated by divine subjects and their territory to be the actual landscape of the sun god's trajectory."
He also mentions those weird diagrams where the sun falcon's head is upsidedown, and that this derives from an image in the Book of Caverns. Well stap me vitals. I'll try and post an example.
ETA, from the papyrus of Padiamun:
Also hilariously about the, erm, varying abilities of different artists: "We cannot risk idealising the scenery too much."
Onto Nut in a bit.
Nils Billing. "Text and Tomb: Some spatial properties of Nut in the Pyramid Texts." in Hawass, Zahi Abass, Brock, Lyla Pinch (eds). Egyptology at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century: Proceedings of the Eighth International Congress of Egyptologists, Cairo, 2000. American University in Cairo Press, Cairo; New York, 2003.
There were two themes that caught my eye in this chapter. One, the importance of the reintegration of the body, in the form of the mummy. "The body disintegrated through death has been reintegrated, an ultimate precondition for rebirth." So the deceased and their parts are identified with Atum, whose name suggests tm, "complete".
The second theme is Nut as embracer and container -- analogous to the coffin that holds the mummy. Nut "extends herself over her son [Osiris/the king]": "This theme was to be repeated throughout Egyptian history in numerous variations on coffins, canopic equipment, tombs, and papyri." Nut is called "great embracer / she who embraces the Great One", "she who embraces the frightened". Billing says: "Nut represents a principle of integration. She is the all-containing waters of the sky, a celestial womb. She manifests the act of bringing together in order to give life." This role suits the "all-encompassing sky". "The dismembered pieces, themselves signs of disorder and death, are made hale and alive within her embrace." Nut is equated with the sarcophagus chamber, and the sarcophagus itself.
Alexander Piankoff. The Sky-Goddess Nut and the Night Journey of the Sun. JEA 20(1-2) 1934
Nut swallows the sun in the evening and gives birth to it in the morning: if the deceased can identify themself with the sun god, they too can rise again. Hence the goddess of the sky became "the protector of the dead, the personification of the coffin". Not surprisingly, inscriptions refer to the rebirth but seldom to the swallowing, death. (Later though, rather than not being mentioned, the West becomes the symbol of new life.) What's the geography of this journey? In the PT it's through the sky: "the dead sun was conveyed on the waters above the firmament". In later times, the creation of the universe was reenacted every morning, with the sun god rising from the waters of Nun.
"
A few notes. (Not a definitive summary of the book, just whatever caught my eye. Which I admit was a lot.)
(p3) The artists who worked on the 21st Dynasty funerary papyri and coffins must have worked from "artists' patterns". As often happens, that detail seemed to bring them alive in my mind's eye.
(p3-5) With some exceptions, in the New Kingdom, middle- and upper-class Egyptians and even queens could only use the Book of the Dead, while other funerary texts like Amduat and the Litany of Re were reserved for the king.
(p 7) Post-Amarna, funerary papyri started being contained in elaborate "papyrus sheaths" such as this one.
(p 8) When researchers started studying BD they thought it was like the Bible, with a standard, immutable text, so they took the best copy they could find (belonging to a Ptolemaic Egyptian named Iufankh) and divided it up into the chapters still in use. (I need to get my head around the different "redactions" / "recensions".)
(p 13) "Most of the funerary papyri begin with such a big adoration scene before a god sitting in a chapel. We will designate the initial scene, where a legend with the titles and names of the deceased and his spouse is usually encountered, with the term 'etiquette'." (Example here?) In the NK this is on the leftmost end of the scroll, in the 21D on the right.
(p 17) "Papyrus was rather expensive, and the value of a ready exemplar of the Book of the Dead... was 1 deben of silver, according to some materials from Deir el-Medina." Papyrus was sometimes reused (p76).
(p 18) Books of the Dead were pre-made and the owner's name filled in after purchase; but some were made to order, sometimes by the owner themselves, so they might have chosen which chapters and vignettes to include. (I've wondered if something similar happened with the yellow coffins.)
(p 19) In post-Amarna / Ramesside times, vignettes get bigger and better drawn, while text has more errors. (Hilariously, the start of the scroll tends to be the best-drawn, coloured, and written, which suggests only the start was shown to the customer!) Niwiński argues that the Egyptians were following a principle he calls pars pro toto -- a part for the whole -- wherein just part of the book can stand for the entire thing. So scrolls have a selection of chapters, summaries of chapters, shortened chapters, and vignettes taking the place of the text. A single spell might stand for two or even many spells. Even texts with errors, or that had been combined and no longer made sense, counted as the real thing. (This approach wasn't due to indifference or lack of ability. (p 44))
(p 32) Decorations from the BD on the tomb walls could probably substitute for a papyrus. In the 21st Dynasty, tombs were undecorated, with all the decoration going to papyri and coffins: at Thebes, "tombs of the Third Intermediate Period have the form of rock caches containing the shaft, the corridor and one or more rough chambers, the walls of which are even not smoothed." (p 35) But tomb robberies continued. "Better results were assured only through the founding of a well-protected cemetery with some huge mass tomb-caches (like Bab el-Gusus) in later years of the Dynasty." (p 37)
(p 37) For economic reasons, 21st Dynasty funerary papyri were shorter and about half as tall as their New Kingdom equivalents. (Mostly 22-25 cm high, and mostly less than 2 m long, p 74.) This made it necessary to use the pars pro toto rule to represent chapters by a fragment of text, a title, or just a vignette. The title was usually written on the back on the right-hand side (p 76).
(p 38) "A series of new iconographic compositions were then created, which represented complicated conceptions of cosmogony, cosmology and eschatology by means of a limited number of figural symbols. All these scenes were an illustration of the principal theological idea of the period: the solar-Osirian unity of the aspects of the Great God, with whom the deified deceased was identified... During the travel the deceased as a form of the Sun passed through an infinite number of transformations that were at the same time understood as multiplex creations of Osiris 'with many faces' (ꜥš3 ḥrw) , or 'with many forms' (ꜥš3 ḫprw) , or else 'with many names' (ꜥš3 rnw)". The idea of Osiris with many forms, and an eternal journey with the sun, reflects the contents of the Litany of Re and other books. Papyri didn't have enough room to hold all of this; so the inner coffins were covered in vignette. (Outer coffins continued to be decorated with traditional motifs (p 42).
(p 39) The new scene included
-- Shu lifting Nut
-- Osiris on the Double Staircase protected by the Great Serpent
-- the solar barque above chopped-up Apophis
-- the Sycamore Goddess
-- the Cosmic Cow going forth from the Western Mountain
(p 42) "Since the early years of the Dynasty, until at least the middle of the 9th century B.C. each typical funerary ensemble comprised two papyri: the BD-manuscript in the papyrus-sheath, and the 'Amduat' -papyrus bandaged together with the mummy, usually placed between its legs." The need for two papyri per burial meant an increase in the number of workshops. Some of the workers were better than others, and some clients might have been able to pay for better quality products than others. They worked from many different patterns of the texts and pictures. (p 43)
The papyri are very various, in size, length, and content.
(p 44) "some papyri entitled pry m hrw do not resemble the Book of the Dead of the New Kingdom at all... often one finds himself faced with quite new texts and scenes without any analogy."
(p 45) "There are coloured papyri with their vignettes painted red, white, blue, green, brown, pink and even gilded ones, and the figures and some other papyri of the same period are only outlined in black." Some are mostly text; some are almost entirely pictures.
(p 71) After a discussion of the history of the study of the papyri, Niwiński concludes we should drop "mythological papyri" as a third category (after Book of the Dead and Amduat). Not sure I follow this yet.
(p 77) For some papyri, such as those depicting the BD or the Amduat, the artist didn't have a lot of choice about content. But they did control some details, such as the border decoration.
(p 93) The texts on the papyri fall into these groups: (a) BD excerpts, (b) hymns and "litany-like incantations" illustrated by "the Great God in his different forms": Osiris, Re, the door guardians, the judges; (c) Amduat excerpts; (d) excerpts from the Books of the Underworld (the Book of Gates, Book of Caverns, Book of the Earth, etc); (e) offering formulas.
(p 95) The illustrations fall into these groups: (a) BD vignettes; (b) illustrations to hymns and litanies; (c) Amduat illustrations; (d) Books of the Underworld illustrations; (e) the original 21st Dynasty images.
(Never seen the door guardians and the judges of the weighing of the heart referred to as aspects of Osiris-Re before, though I suppose it makes sense!)
(p 97) Most papyri included an "etiquette", a large opening vignette with the deceased's name and titles, often with a portrait of the deceased worshipping a god (most often Osiris (p99)). (Here's Pinedjem II's, which includes no other illustrations. And here's Maatkare's, with the God's Wife depicted as a divinity herself, receiving offerings.)
(p 105) Papyri which were given a title might be entitled the Book of Coming Forth by Day (ie the Book of the Dead), or the Amduat. Book of the Dead papyri included those where images take up 90% of the decorated space, including the newly devised images, which don't illustrate BD chapters. Niwiński calls these "the new redaction of the 21st Dynasty (p 123). (There are also new images added to the traditional Book of the Dead illustrations, such as Amentet with a hieroglyphic head and the mouse-headed god who holds a hand to his snout. (p 123).
This way to part two of my notes!
___
Andrzej Niwiński. Studies on the Illustrated Theban Funerary Papyri of the 11th and 10th Centuries BC. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 86. Göttingen, Vandenhoeck u. Ruprecht, 1989.
(p3) The artists who worked on the 21st Dynasty funerary papyri and coffins must have worked from "artists' patterns". As often happens, that detail seemed to bring them alive in my mind's eye.
(p3-5) With some exceptions, in the New Kingdom, middle- and upper-class Egyptians and even queens could only use the Book of the Dead, while other funerary texts like Amduat and the Litany of Re were reserved for the king.
(p 7) Post-Amarna, funerary papyri started being contained in elaborate "papyrus sheaths" such as this one.
(p 8) When researchers started studying BD they thought it was like the Bible, with a standard, immutable text, so they took the best copy they could find (belonging to a Ptolemaic Egyptian named Iufankh) and divided it up into the chapters still in use. (I need to get my head around the different "redactions" / "recensions".)
(p 13) "Most of the funerary papyri begin with such a big adoration scene before a god sitting in a chapel. We will designate the initial scene, where a legend with the titles and names of the deceased and his spouse is usually encountered, with the term 'etiquette'." (Example here?) In the NK this is on the leftmost end of the scroll, in the 21D on the right.
(p 17) "Papyrus was rather expensive, and the value of a ready exemplar of the Book of the Dead... was 1 deben of silver, according to some materials from Deir el-Medina." Papyrus was sometimes reused (p76).
(p 18) Books of the Dead were pre-made and the owner's name filled in after purchase; but some were made to order, sometimes by the owner themselves, so they might have chosen which chapters and vignettes to include. (I've wondered if something similar happened with the yellow coffins.)
(p 19) In post-Amarna / Ramesside times, vignettes get bigger and better drawn, while text has more errors. (Hilariously, the start of the scroll tends to be the best-drawn, coloured, and written, which suggests only the start was shown to the customer!) Niwiński argues that the Egyptians were following a principle he calls pars pro toto -- a part for the whole -- wherein just part of the book can stand for the entire thing. So scrolls have a selection of chapters, summaries of chapters, shortened chapters, and vignettes taking the place of the text. A single spell might stand for two or even many spells. Even texts with errors, or that had been combined and no longer made sense, counted as the real thing. (This approach wasn't due to indifference or lack of ability. (p 44))
(p 32) Decorations from the BD on the tomb walls could probably substitute for a papyrus. In the 21st Dynasty, tombs were undecorated, with all the decoration going to papyri and coffins: at Thebes, "tombs of the Third Intermediate Period have the form of rock caches containing the shaft, the corridor and one or more rough chambers, the walls of which are even not smoothed." (p 35) But tomb robberies continued. "Better results were assured only through the founding of a well-protected cemetery with some huge mass tomb-caches (like Bab el-Gusus) in later years of the Dynasty." (p 37)
(p 37) For economic reasons, 21st Dynasty funerary papyri were shorter and about half as tall as their New Kingdom equivalents. (Mostly 22-25 cm high, and mostly less than 2 m long, p 74.) This made it necessary to use the pars pro toto rule to represent chapters by a fragment of text, a title, or just a vignette. The title was usually written on the back on the right-hand side (p 76).
(p 38) "A series of new iconographic compositions were then created, which represented complicated conceptions of cosmogony, cosmology and eschatology by means of a limited number of figural symbols. All these scenes were an illustration of the principal theological idea of the period: the solar-Osirian unity of the aspects of the Great God, with whom the deified deceased was identified... During the travel the deceased as a form of the Sun passed through an infinite number of transformations that were at the same time understood as multiplex creations of Osiris 'with many faces' (ꜥš3 ḥrw) , or 'with many forms' (ꜥš3 ḫprw) , or else 'with many names' (ꜥš3 rnw)". The idea of Osiris with many forms, and an eternal journey with the sun, reflects the contents of the Litany of Re and other books. Papyri didn't have enough room to hold all of this; so the inner coffins were covered in vignette. (Outer coffins continued to be decorated with traditional motifs (p 42).
(p 39) The new scene included
-- Shu lifting Nut
-- Osiris on the Double Staircase protected by the Great Serpent
-- the solar barque above chopped-up Apophis
-- the Sycamore Goddess
-- the Cosmic Cow going forth from the Western Mountain
(p 42) "Since the early years of the Dynasty, until at least the middle of the 9th century B.C. each typical funerary ensemble comprised two papyri: the BD-manuscript in the papyrus-sheath, and the 'Amduat' -papyrus bandaged together with the mummy, usually placed between its legs." The need for two papyri per burial meant an increase in the number of workshops. Some of the workers were better than others, and some clients might have been able to pay for better quality products than others. They worked from many different patterns of the texts and pictures. (p 43)
The papyri are very various, in size, length, and content.
(p 44) "some papyri entitled pry m hrw do not resemble the Book of the Dead of the New Kingdom at all... often one finds himself faced with quite new texts and scenes without any analogy."
(p 45) "There are coloured papyri with their vignettes painted red, white, blue, green, brown, pink and even gilded ones, and the figures and some other papyri of the same period are only outlined in black." Some are mostly text; some are almost entirely pictures.
(p 71) After a discussion of the history of the study of the papyri, Niwiński concludes we should drop "mythological papyri" as a third category (after Book of the Dead and Amduat). Not sure I follow this yet.
(p 77) For some papyri, such as those depicting the BD or the Amduat, the artist didn't have a lot of choice about content. But they did control some details, such as the border decoration.
(p 93) The texts on the papyri fall into these groups: (a) BD excerpts, (b) hymns and "litany-like incantations" illustrated by "the Great God in his different forms": Osiris, Re, the door guardians, the judges; (c) Amduat excerpts; (d) excerpts from the Books of the Underworld (the Book of Gates, Book of Caverns, Book of the Earth, etc); (e) offering formulas.
(p 95) The illustrations fall into these groups: (a) BD vignettes; (b) illustrations to hymns and litanies; (c) Amduat illustrations; (d) Books of the Underworld illustrations; (e) the original 21st Dynasty images.
(Never seen the door guardians and the judges of the weighing of the heart referred to as aspects of Osiris-Re before, though I suppose it makes sense!)
(p 97) Most papyri included an "etiquette", a large opening vignette with the deceased's name and titles, often with a portrait of the deceased worshipping a god (most often Osiris (p99)). (Here's Pinedjem II's, which includes no other illustrations. And here's Maatkare's, with the God's Wife depicted as a divinity herself, receiving offerings.)
(p 105) Papyri which were given a title might be entitled the Book of Coming Forth by Day (ie the Book of the Dead), or the Amduat. Book of the Dead papyri included those where images take up 90% of the decorated space, including the newly devised images, which don't illustrate BD chapters. Niwiński calls these "the new redaction of the 21st Dynasty (p 123). (There are also new images added to the traditional Book of the Dead illustrations, such as Amentet with a hieroglyphic head and the mouse-headed god who holds a hand to his snout. (p 123).
This way to part two of my notes!
___
Andrzej Niwiński. Studies on the Illustrated Theban Funerary Papyri of the 11th and 10th Centuries BC. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 86. Göttingen, Vandenhoeck u. Ruprecht, 1989.
Links October 2023
Oct. 27th, 2023 01:03 pm'Cyber-archaeology' salvages lost Iraqi art (BBC, 2015)
Middle Egyptian Grammar by Dr. Gabor Toth -- texts, vocabulary, exercises, etc
Volcanic eruptions may have contributed to war in ancient Egypt (SMH, 2017)
Viking expert raises doubts over research claiming famous warrior was actually a woman (ABC, 2017)
Egypt had an unusually powerful 'female king' 5,000 years ago, lavish tomb suggests (Livescience, October 2023). Meret-Neith, wife of the First Dynasty pharaoh Djet. It's not clear if she reigned in her own right.
Ancient Egyptian papyrus describes dozens of venomous snakes, including rare 4-fanged serpent (Livescience, October 2023).
4,500-year-old Sumerian temple dedicated to mighty thunder god discovered in Iraq (Livescience, February 2023). The god in question is Ningirsu.
Falcon shrine with cryptic message unearthed in Egypt baffles archaeologists (Livescience, October 2022). "An ancient falcon shine in Berenike, an old port city in Egypt, has flummoxed archaeologists who aren't sure what to make of its headless falcons, unknown gods and cryptic message that reads, 'It is improper to boil a head in here.'"
500 Year-Old Love Letter Found Buried with Korean Mummy (IBT, 2013)
Ancient Viking warrior given a hero’s burial may have actually been ‘transgender, non-binary or gender fluid’, researchers say (Pink News, 2020) | Archaeologists say it’s not scientific to assume gender of ancient human remains (Pink News, 2022) -- not just gender, but sex, which can't always be accurately determined and may not dictate how someone lived, which is why there are multiple "Oops! Warrior was not a man!" news stories | 1,000-year-old skeleton may have been non-binary medieval warrior, say archaeologists (Pink News, 2021)
The Theory That Men Evolved to Hunt and Women Evolved to Gather Is Wrong (Sci Am, November 2023) | Worldwide survey kills the myth of ‘Man the Hunter’ (Science, June 2023)
Lost Ethiopian town comes from an ancient empire that rivalled Rome (NS, 2020) ie Aksum
Oldest legible sentence written with first alphabet is about head lice (NS, 2022)
Where was the first city in the world? (NS, nd)
Powerful photo by Pacific Indigenous artist reveals truth about 1899 painting (CNN, 2022). "Kihara also believes that Gauguin’s models may not be cisgender women, referencing the research of Māori scholar Dr. Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, who has written that the “androgynous” models he painted were likely Māhū – the Indigenous Polynesian community that, like Samoa’s Faʻafafine, are considered to be a third gender and express a female identity."
Egypt unearths 'world's oldest' mass-production brewery, dating back to era of King Narmer, more than 5,000 years ago (ABC, 2021)
Third Gender: An Entrancing Look at Mexico's Muxes (YouTube, 2017)
The Hidden Girls of Afghanistan (YouTube, 2017) | Inside the Lives of Girls Dressed as Boys in Afghanistan (NG, 2018) | I'm a Woman Who Lived as a Boy: My Years as a Bacha Posh (Time, 2014) | Bacha Posh: An Afghan social tradition where girls are raised as boys (The News Minute, 2018) | She is My Son Afghanistan's Bacha Posh, When Girls Become Boys (YouTube, 2018)
Did Aboriginal and Asian people trade before European settlement in Darwin? (ABC, 2018)
History of chocolate rewritten by cacao traces found on ancient pottery unearthed in Ecuador (ABC, 2018)
Earliest roasted root vegetables found in 170,000-year-old cave dirt (NS, 2020)
Religion from nature, not archaeology (Starhawk, 2001). Still an important document.
Middle Egyptian Grammar by Dr. Gabor Toth -- texts, vocabulary, exercises, etc
Volcanic eruptions may have contributed to war in ancient Egypt (SMH, 2017)
Viking expert raises doubts over research claiming famous warrior was actually a woman (ABC, 2017)
Egypt had an unusually powerful 'female king' 5,000 years ago, lavish tomb suggests (Livescience, October 2023). Meret-Neith, wife of the First Dynasty pharaoh Djet. It's not clear if she reigned in her own right.
Ancient Egyptian papyrus describes dozens of venomous snakes, including rare 4-fanged serpent (Livescience, October 2023).
4,500-year-old Sumerian temple dedicated to mighty thunder god discovered in Iraq (Livescience, February 2023). The god in question is Ningirsu.
Falcon shrine with cryptic message unearthed in Egypt baffles archaeologists (Livescience, October 2022). "An ancient falcon shine in Berenike, an old port city in Egypt, has flummoxed archaeologists who aren't sure what to make of its headless falcons, unknown gods and cryptic message that reads, 'It is improper to boil a head in here.'"
500 Year-Old Love Letter Found Buried with Korean Mummy (IBT, 2013)
Ancient Viking warrior given a hero’s burial may have actually been ‘transgender, non-binary or gender fluid’, researchers say (Pink News, 2020) | Archaeologists say it’s not scientific to assume gender of ancient human remains (Pink News, 2022) -- not just gender, but sex, which can't always be accurately determined and may not dictate how someone lived, which is why there are multiple "Oops! Warrior was not a man!" news stories | 1,000-year-old skeleton may have been non-binary medieval warrior, say archaeologists (Pink News, 2021)
The Theory That Men Evolved to Hunt and Women Evolved to Gather Is Wrong (Sci Am, November 2023) | Worldwide survey kills the myth of ‘Man the Hunter’ (Science, June 2023)
Lost Ethiopian town comes from an ancient empire that rivalled Rome (NS, 2020) ie Aksum
Oldest legible sentence written with first alphabet is about head lice (NS, 2022)
Where was the first city in the world? (NS, nd)
Powerful photo by Pacific Indigenous artist reveals truth about 1899 painting (CNN, 2022). "Kihara also believes that Gauguin’s models may not be cisgender women, referencing the research of Māori scholar Dr. Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, who has written that the “androgynous” models he painted were likely Māhū – the Indigenous Polynesian community that, like Samoa’s Faʻafafine, are considered to be a third gender and express a female identity."
Egypt unearths 'world's oldest' mass-production brewery, dating back to era of King Narmer, more than 5,000 years ago (ABC, 2021)
Third Gender: An Entrancing Look at Mexico's Muxes (YouTube, 2017)
The Hidden Girls of Afghanistan (YouTube, 2017) | Inside the Lives of Girls Dressed as Boys in Afghanistan (NG, 2018) | I'm a Woman Who Lived as a Boy: My Years as a Bacha Posh (Time, 2014) | Bacha Posh: An Afghan social tradition where girls are raised as boys (The News Minute, 2018) | She is My Son Afghanistan's Bacha Posh, When Girls Become Boys (YouTube, 2018)
Did Aboriginal and Asian people trade before European settlement in Darwin? (ABC, 2018)
History of chocolate rewritten by cacao traces found on ancient pottery unearthed in Ecuador (ABC, 2018)
Earliest roasted root vegetables found in 170,000-year-old cave dirt (NS, 2020)
Religion from nature, not archaeology (Starhawk, 2001). Still an important document.
Non-Existence
Sep. 18th, 2023 01:07 pmMany interesting abstracts for the CRE 2023 conference in Basel, including one entitled Death is Only the Beginning: Non-Existence – A State of Existence or Total Annihilation? (p 83) by Kristine Reinhold, which asks how we should understand what happens to the damned. "The attestations will be presented in thematic groups, including: existence in a state of anti-life, where one is deprived of the features of life, non- existence as total annihilation, and a state of non-existence characterized by existing in the darkness, without the potential to come forth." I hope this is eventually published and I can get my hands on it.
More from CRE 2003:
And from CRE 2022, Conception of the Doors of Heaven in Ancient Egyptian Religion (p 24) by Mennah Aly; The study of ex-votos: new perspectives on the cult of Bastet/Boubastis and its diffusion in the Mediterranean (p 36) by Emanuele Casella; The One She-Cat of Pakhet: Towards a New Type of Animal Cult? (p 48) by Romain Ferreres; The Libyan Political and Social Impacts on Ancient Egypt within The Third Intermediate Period (p 107) by Marwa Soliman; and Late Twentieth Dynasty Yellow Coffins of Akhmim: Towards the Identification of a Corpus, Workshop, and Individual Artisans by Jaume Vilaro Fabregat.
https://www.archaeopress.com/Archaeopress/download/9781803275833
And CRE 2021:Being annihilated or being satisfied in the Duat. About the dynamic of the sw.wt in the New Kingdom Books of the Underworld (p 17) Mariano Bonanno: "... as one of the elements with greater mobility, the shadow is a first-order component to preserve the integrity of the deceased. That is why a deceased (or a god) with a “powerful shadow” or who can keep it in the Hereafter, guarantees to join the crew of the disk and therefore regenerate. On the contrary, with the annihilation of the shadow, the condemned are executed and included among those that do not exist." And The Beginnings of a Consumer Society: Beer Production in Predynastic Egypt (p 34) by Nisha Kumar; Red images in the Amduat of Thutmose III (p40) by Jordan Miller; Near Eastern deities in Egyptian magical texts of the New kingdom: Some methodological considerations and a case study on Anat and the servant of Hauron (p 78) by Joachim Friedrich Quack.
And CRE 2019: Not to see isefet: Symbolic links between eyesight and bwt in the Coffin Texts (p 5) by Apolinário de Almeida, Ana Catarina: "Bwt is the most regularly used verb to introduce isefet in the Coffin Texts, yet another verbal form can be found closely associated with bwt, often showcasing a parallel or causal relation with it, which is n mAA (not to see)... an akh has no limits to its eyesight and finds no obstacle (IV117): he who sees will never die, while the dead mwt are conceived as blind. Those who exist see and can be seen."; “Father of the Fathers and Mother of the Mothers” in the religious hymns of the New Kingdom (c. 1550-1069 BC): Creator’s non-gender binarism or expression of an all-encompassing deity? by Borges Pires, Guilherme; Spell 125b of the Book of the Dead [the judges] by El-kemaly, Radwa; Anat in LBA Egypt: Some preliminary remarks on the audience, agents, and importance of a foreign deity in a new land by Huwyler, Jacqueline M.; The Book of the Twelve Caverns in the tomb of Petosiris (Tuna el-Gebel) by Méndez-Rodríguez, Daniel Miguel; It has not been seen until today: Some myths from the texts of the outer sarcophagus of Iufaa by Míčková, Diana: "... and text about Tutu and his group of protective demons connected with the new year, mentioning also their connection to the fight of Ra and Apophis, as well as the personified eye of Ra."; Where do you come from, Bastet? by Pubblico, Maria Diletta / Vittori, Stefano;The demon-deity Maga: Geographical variations and chronological transformations in ancient Egyptian demonology by Rogers, John; A dangerous seductress? Re-reading the Tale of the Herdsman by Serova, Dina; An unpublished 21st Dynasty coffin set in the Nicholson Museum, Sydney University [!!!] by Smith, Danielle; and Litany of the Underworld. Forms of Osiris represented in the inside of some XXIst Dynasty coffins by Haładaj, Dagmara.
CRE 2018 has papers onApedemak, "the dreadful aspect of Nu[n]", catfish-headed gods, mummiform demons on Third Intermediate Period coffins, gender differences in the CT, Illustrations of Temple Rank on 21st Dynasty Funerary Papyri, and Being the son of a Goddess: The claim for legitimacy of the bubastite kings.
Partial contents: https://www.archaeopress.com/Archaeopress/Products/9781789692143
ETA: Amunet in Thebes - how Hatshepsut developed the cult of the feminine form of Amun, 17th Current Research in Egyptology, Kraków, 4-7 May 2016
More from CRE 2003:
And from CRE 2022, Conception of the Doors of Heaven in Ancient Egyptian Religion (p 24) by Mennah Aly; The study of ex-votos: new perspectives on the cult of Bastet/Boubastis and its diffusion in the Mediterranean (p 36) by Emanuele Casella; The One She-Cat of Pakhet: Towards a New Type of Animal Cult? (p 48) by Romain Ferreres; The Libyan Political and Social Impacts on Ancient Egypt within The Third Intermediate Period (p 107) by Marwa Soliman; and Late Twentieth Dynasty Yellow Coffins of Akhmim: Towards the Identification of a Corpus, Workshop, and Individual Artisans by Jaume Vilaro Fabregat.
https://www.archaeopress.com/Archaeopress/download/9781803275833
And CRE 2021:
And CRE 2019: Not to see isefet: Symbolic links between eyesight and bwt in the Coffin Texts (p 5) by Apolinário de Almeida, Ana Catarina: "Bwt is the most regularly used verb to introduce isefet in the Coffin Texts, yet another verbal form can be found closely associated with bwt, often showcasing a parallel or causal relation with it, which is n mAA (not to see)... an akh has no limits to its eyesight and finds no obstacle (IV117): he who sees will never die, while the dead mwt are conceived as blind. Those who exist see and can be seen."; “Father of the Fathers and Mother of the Mothers” in the religious hymns of the New Kingdom (c. 1550-1069 BC): Creator’s non-gender binarism or expression of an all-encompassing deity? by Borges Pires, Guilherme; Spell 125b of the Book of the Dead [the judges] by El-kemaly, Radwa; Anat in LBA Egypt: Some preliminary remarks on the audience, agents, and importance of a foreign deity in a new land by Huwyler, Jacqueline M.; The Book of the Twelve Caverns in the tomb of Petosiris (Tuna el-Gebel) by Méndez-Rodríguez, Daniel Miguel; It has not been seen until today: Some myths from the texts of the outer sarcophagus of Iufaa by Míčková, Diana: "... and text about Tutu and his group of protective demons connected with the new year, mentioning also their connection to the fight of Ra and Apophis, as well as the personified eye of Ra."; Where do you come from, Bastet? by Pubblico, Maria Diletta / Vittori, Stefano;
CRE 2018 has papers on
Partial contents: https://www.archaeopress.com/Archaeopress/Products/9781789692143
ETA: Amunet in Thebes - how Hatshepsut developed the cult of the feminine form of Amun, 17th Current Research in Egyptology, Kraków, 4-7 May 2016
The Egypt Centre in Swansea have shared information about this coffin, including photos and a drawing and details of the mound scene that includes Hepet-Hor. The scene, which occurs on many coffins and papyri, shows the deceased appearing before Osiris, "triumphant" or "justified" -- their heart was weighed and they passed the test. Osiris, who merges with Re and is reborn, sits on a throne atop the primeval mound, the first hill that rose from the primordial waters. He is protected by a large snake, and by Hepet-Hor with lioness and crocodile heads, holding two knives, standing on a snake -- she guards the door to the mound.
Carolyn Graves-Brown notes that Hepet-Hor can also turn up in scenes of the judgement of the dead, and leading the deceased to Osiris. She suggests that a female presence is needed for the resurrection of Osiris-Re.
___
Graves-Brown, Carolyn. "An Egyptian Priestess Reborn: Scenes from the Twenty-first Dynasty Coffin of Iwesemhesetmwt". Swansea University, Y Ganolfan Eifftaidd, Egypt Centre, n.d.
Carolyn Graves-Brown notes that Hepet-Hor can also turn up in scenes of the judgement of the dead, and leading the deceased to Osiris. She suggests that a female presence is needed for the resurrection of Osiris-Re.
___
Graves-Brown, Carolyn. "An Egyptian Priestess Reborn: Scenes from the Twenty-first Dynasty Coffin of Iwesemhesetmwt". Swansea University, Y Ganolfan Eifftaidd, Egypt Centre, n.d.
She Who Embraces
Jul. 3rd, 2023 01:12 pmI've had a long break from Egypt; well, here I am again. I'm at the library, looking at an electronic version of the book Daemons and Spirits of Ancient Egypt, hoping to summarise the substantial section of Hepet-Hor -- the variously represented goddess who protects Osiris, Ra, and the deceased, with whom I fell in love a few years ago.
Hepet-Hor was basically invented during the 21st Dynasty, at the beginning of the Third Intermediate Period. She's depicted with a snake head, or a lioness head plus a crocodile head, or with three heads. She appears on coffins and papyri (and sometimes tomb walls) in the context of the Book of the Dead, The Litany of Re, and the Amduat.
(Isn't it extraordinary! We have access to the approximate moment that a god is created for the first time, out of the imagination of one or more humans.)
She's often depicted guarding the door to a mound on which Osiris sits in judgement, along with other guardians, such as a huge snake. The mound represents the Primeval Mound; Osiris is resurrected inside it. Osiris may be shown unified with Ra, via an extra falcon head. Alternatively she might lead the deceased, or stand by the scales. In one papyrus she's shown holding the sun-god aloft. In another (belonging to Khonsu-Renep, Piankoff and Rambova Plate 11) she's one of a number of seated mummiform gods, "witnessing the birth of Re-Osiris".
Graves-Brown suggests Hepet-Hor is actually wearing a croc headdress, which might explain its odd angle. She might be seen brandishing knives and/or snakes.
Hepet-Hor ("Embracing Horus") might also be called "Embracing the Duat", "Embracing Osiris", "Lady of the West", amongst other titles; she may be given the names of goddesses such as Serqet, Sekhmet, and Dechty. There's a similar goddess named Saryt.
ETA: Just leaving myself a note about an abstract from the 2023 Basel CRE conference: Towards a Synoptic Edition of Book of the Dead Spell Sources from the 21st Dynasty (p22). "The goal is to better understand variability within the funerary compositions, and to shed light on key evidence regarding their transmission and editorial practices."
___
Hepet-Hor was basically invented during the 21st Dynasty, at the beginning of the Third Intermediate Period. She's depicted with a snake head, or a lioness head plus a crocodile head, or with three heads. She appears on coffins and papyri (and sometimes tomb walls) in the context of the Book of the Dead, The Litany of Re, and the Amduat.
(Isn't it extraordinary! We have access to the approximate moment that a god is created for the first time, out of the imagination of one or more humans.)
She's often depicted guarding the door to a mound on which Osiris sits in judgement, along with other guardians, such as a huge snake. The mound represents the Primeval Mound; Osiris is resurrected inside it. Osiris may be shown unified with Ra, via an extra falcon head. Alternatively she might lead the deceased, or stand by the scales. In one papyrus she's shown holding the sun-god aloft. In another (belonging to Khonsu-Renep, Piankoff and Rambova Plate 11) she's one of a number of seated mummiform gods, "witnessing the birth of Re-Osiris".
Graves-Brown suggests Hepet-Hor is actually wearing a croc headdress, which might explain its odd angle. She might be seen brandishing knives and/or snakes.
Hepet-Hor ("Embracing Horus") might also be called "Embracing the Duat", "Embracing Osiris", "Lady of the West", amongst other titles; she may be given the names of goddesses such as Serqet, Sekhmet, and Dechty. There's a similar goddess named Saryt.
ETA: Just leaving myself a note about an abstract from the 2023 Basel CRE conference: Towards a Synoptic Edition of Book of the Dead Spell Sources from the 21st Dynasty (p22). "The goal is to better understand variability within the funerary compositions, and to shed light on key evidence regarding their transmission and editorial practices."
___
Graves-Brown, Carolyn. Daemons & spirits in ancient Egypt. Cardiff, University of Wales Press, 2018.
Piankoff, Alexandre and Natacha Rambova. Mythological Papyri. New York, Pantheon, 1957.Ptah-Naunet
Apr. 18th, 2023 05:56 pmWrote a thing on Ptah-Naunet, the double-gendered deity from the Memphite Theology, over at my Tumblr. Perhaps, to give Ptah the powers of the entire Ogdoad, there was also a Ptah-Kauket, a Ptah-Amaunet, and a Ptah-Hehut?
More on the Twenty-First Dynasty
Nov. 5th, 2018 10:01 pmMore on my obsession with the yellow coffins and papyri of the Twenty-First Dynasty, and their rich repertoire of religious symbols.
The coffins were made out of wood, covered in plaster, sometimes modelled into shapes, such as hands and breasts. Every bit of space was jammed with symbols. The coffin was typically covered in orange varnish, and the decorations might be gilded. Men got a blue-and-yellow headdress, women a plain blue one, sometimes with the vulture-headdress. Usually a winged figure, typically Nut, spread protective wings over the body. The most usual set-up was an inner and an outer coffin, with a "cover-plate" over the mummy.
ETA: Kathlyn M. Cooney writes that there are about 900 of these coffins around the world -- about 300 in Egypt, and the others in North America or Europe. (There are at least 2 in Australia too.)
The papyri are different in their sizes, contents, and where they were placed -- most commonly, between the mummy's legs, but also elsewhere else on the body (wherever an amulet might be placed), or in a wooden figure of Osiris next to it. (It occurs to me that there must be a ton of papyri which are still inside unwrapped mummies; perhaps a future technology will be able to read them without disturbing the mummy.)
Why so much variation in the decoration of the coffins, and the contents of the papyri? Goff's explanation is that, for the workshops that produced funerary papyri, "it was a matter of pride with them to introduce variants" into the patterns available to them, "and to shuffle pictures and texts so that their works of art were individual". (p 124) [clients could also choose] [coffins didn't reproduce contents of accompanying papyri]
Why did funerary papyri stop being large sheets of text with some illustrations, and become long bands of illustrations with some (or no) text? Because papyrus was expensive! The practice of shortening the Book of the Dead had already begun in the New Kingdom; after the Amarna period, pictures start to dominate. (There was no standard BD, with different papyri containing different selections of chapters, and some chapters being added late in the Book's history.)
Alexandre Piankoff discusses what he calls the principle of pars pro toto, where a part of the Book of the Dead (or another text) could stand for the whole thing -- a chapter could be replaced by a summary, or by its vignette or illustration. One vignette could illustrate two or three chapters. An incorrect or muddled version of the text would still do the job.
__
Cooney, Kathlyn M. "Coffin reuse: Ritual materialism in the context of scarcity". in Proceedings of the First Vatican Coffin Conference. Vatican Museum, Vatican City, 2017. pp 101-112.
Goff, Beatrice L. Symbols of ancient Egypt in the late period: the twenty-first dynasty. The Hague; New York, Mouton, 1979.
Piankoff, Alexandre and Natacha Rambova. Mythological Papyri. New York, Pantheon, 1957.
The coffins were made out of wood, covered in plaster, sometimes modelled into shapes, such as hands and breasts. Every bit of space was jammed with symbols. The coffin was typically covered in orange varnish, and the decorations might be gilded. Men got a blue-and-yellow headdress, women a plain blue one, sometimes with the vulture-headdress. Usually a winged figure, typically Nut, spread protective wings over the body. The most usual set-up was an inner and an outer coffin, with a "cover-plate" over the mummy.
ETA: Kathlyn M. Cooney writes that there are about 900 of these coffins around the world -- about 300 in Egypt, and the others in North America or Europe. (There are at least 2 in Australia too.)
The papyri are different in their sizes, contents, and where they were placed -- most commonly, between the mummy's legs, but also elsewhere else on the body (wherever an amulet might be placed), or in a wooden figure of Osiris next to it. (It occurs to me that there must be a ton of papyri which are still inside unwrapped mummies; perhaps a future technology will be able to read them without disturbing the mummy.)
Why so much variation in the decoration of the coffins, and the contents of the papyri? Goff's explanation is that, for the workshops that produced funerary papyri, "it was a matter of pride with them to introduce variants" into the patterns available to them, "and to shuffle pictures and texts so that their works of art were individual". (p 124) [clients could also choose] [coffins didn't reproduce contents of accompanying papyri]
Why did funerary papyri stop being large sheets of text with some illustrations, and become long bands of illustrations with some (or no) text? Because papyrus was expensive! The practice of shortening the Book of the Dead had already begun in the New Kingdom; after the Amarna period, pictures start to dominate. (There was no standard BD, with different papyri containing different selections of chapters, and some chapters being added late in the Book's history.)
Alexandre Piankoff discusses what he calls the principle of pars pro toto, where a part of the Book of the Dead (or another text) could stand for the whole thing -- a chapter could be replaced by a summary, or by its vignette or illustration. One vignette could illustrate two or three chapters. An incorrect or muddled version of the text would still do the job.
__
Cooney, Kathlyn M. "Coffin reuse: Ritual materialism in the context of scarcity". in Proceedings of the First Vatican Coffin Conference. Vatican Museum, Vatican City, 2017. pp 101-112.
Goff, Beatrice L. Symbols of ancient Egypt in the late period: the twenty-first dynasty. The Hague; New York, Mouton, 1979.
Piankoff, Alexandre and Natacha Rambova. Mythological Papyri. New York, Pantheon, 1957.
The Twenty-First Dynasty
Oct. 21st, 2018 03:13 pm While I was hypomanic recently I became obsessed with the "yellow coffins" and mythological papyri of Ancient Egypt's Third Intermediate Period -- the stretch between the New Kingdom (Akhenaten, Hatshepsut, Ramesses the Great, etc) and the Late Period. Especially at the start of the TIP, during the Twenty-First Dynasty, there was a burst of innovation in religious art.
The New Kingdom had been a time of "highly centralized authority", writes Beatrice L. Goff. but towards its end, "respect for the royal office was very low". Royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings were plundered, and there was conflict in the court, including the "harem conspiracy" to assassinate Ramesses III. During the Third Intermediate Period, there were often two rulers, one in the north, one in the south; and the priests rivalled the king in power and prestige.
The New Kingdom gave us so many beautifully decorated tombs, but in the TIP the decoration moved to coffins, papyri, and stelae made of wood. For those who could afford it, two coffins plus a mummy-board (a wooden cover) was de rigeur. The "yellow coffins" have brilliant colours, with a bright yellow background, scenes painted in rich reds, blues, and greens, and a thick varnish. The insides of the coffins were also vividly decorated. Hundreds of them were found in a cache at Deir el-Bahari.
The coffins and the mythological papyri, were a sort of summary of the afterlife books. Rather than lots and lots of text illustrated with "vignettes", the vignettes took over, with little or no accompanying hieroglyphic text. Scenes from the Book of the Dead, the Amduat, the Book of Gates, and Book of Caverns, the Book of Aker (lost to us), and the Litany of Re were used, as well as completely new scenes and even new deities. (One of the latter, Hepet-Hor, captured my crazed imagination, and became a much-needed symbol of Hope during a very confusing time.) The coffin lids are jam-packed with scenes and symbols and get even more so over time. (Things cool off again in the Twenty-Second Dynasty.)
IIUC around this time Osiris and the sun god (Re, Ra-Horakhty, etc) were becoming identified; the coffins and papyri draw on the mythology of both of them, with scenes of the solar barque, sunrise and sunset, the weighing of the heart, the forms of Re, and a new scene showing Osiris enthroned on a double staircase which represents the primeval mound -- a fusion of both myths. (It's in this scene that my girl Hepet-Hor typically appears, guarding the staircase alongside a huge snake.) Surprisingly, Amun doesn't get much of a look-in. Other popular scenes include the tree goddess who nurtures the deceased, the separation of Nut from Geb, and the Hathor cow coming out of the mountain.
The first time I clapped eyes on a mythological papyrus, many moons ago, it was this extraordinary image of Osiris from the papyrus of Ta-shed-khonsu, which Kyla showed me in a book:
That led me to Alexandre Piankoff and Natacha Rambova's book Mythological Papyri, which contained the weirdest Egyptian art I'd ever seen*. Egyptian art, like its religion, is a mix of conservativism and innovation; the deeper you dig, the more surprises you find -- like Osiris represented with a donkey face looking out at the viewer, wielding a lizard as though it's a knife. It's shocking, and yet, in the context of the papyrus, it's intelligible.
While I was up af I had a very minor clash with an Egyptology student, who accused me of finding Ancient Egypt "spooky", "mysterious", and "exotic", in the vein of the occultists of Victorian times**. tbh I don't think I've ever found AE any of these things, probably not since I read Asterix and Cleopatra as a small child, certainly not since publishing fiction set there. After writing about Egyptomania for the Pyramids of Mars non-fiction book I could understand where she was coming from, but ultimately the Egyptians were human beings who had to solve the same philosophical and spiritual problems we do. To do so, they copied, borrowed, and made stuff up, no different to anyone.
When I first saw those mythological papyri, they were incomprehensible, bizarre, random. "There was no fixed form of either text or picture," writes Goff "since every individual sought each his own special form to ensure that its potency was directed towards him." And yet, if I'd simply sat down and done the reading, they'd have made sense to me. Not as much sense as they made to a Twenty-First Dynasty Theban priestess, admittedly. But because the coffins and the papyri rely so heavily on illustration, they become meaningful to a modern reader in the same immediate and powerful way that a tarot card or a Surrealist painting can punch you in the brain. (Goff suggests that, when the vignettes were first developed in the NK, it was to increase the magical power of the spells.) Well, I've done the reading now -- or started to, anyway.
Are there parallels to be drawn between the intense religious creativity of the 21st Dynasty, the modern impulse to create and recreate ancient religions, and the god-making fever of my own disordered mind?
* Hibis temple and its wild parade of gods was a similar shock to the system.
** She seems to have deleted it subsequently. Perhaps I'm forgiven? ... nope, still Blocked. XD
ETA: Connecting Coffins and Papyri -- a poster which summarises how the political situation affected burials.
__
The New Kingdom had been a time of "highly centralized authority", writes Beatrice L. Goff. but towards its end, "respect for the royal office was very low". Royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings were plundered, and there was conflict in the court, including the "harem conspiracy" to assassinate Ramesses III. During the Third Intermediate Period, there were often two rulers, one in the north, one in the south; and the priests rivalled the king in power and prestige.
The New Kingdom gave us so many beautifully decorated tombs, but in the TIP the decoration moved to coffins, papyri, and stelae made of wood. For those who could afford it, two coffins plus a mummy-board (a wooden cover) was de rigeur. The "yellow coffins" have brilliant colours, with a bright yellow background, scenes painted in rich reds, blues, and greens, and a thick varnish. The insides of the coffins were also vividly decorated. Hundreds of them were found in a cache at Deir el-Bahari.
The coffins and the mythological papyri, were a sort of summary of the afterlife books. Rather than lots and lots of text illustrated with "vignettes", the vignettes took over, with little or no accompanying hieroglyphic text. Scenes from the Book of the Dead, the Amduat, the Book of Gates, and Book of Caverns, the Book of Aker (lost to us), and the Litany of Re were used, as well as completely new scenes and even new deities. (One of the latter, Hepet-Hor, captured my crazed imagination, and became a much-needed symbol of Hope during a very confusing time.) The coffin lids are jam-packed with scenes and symbols and get even more so over time. (Things cool off again in the Twenty-Second Dynasty.)
IIUC around this time Osiris and the sun god (Re, Ra-Horakhty, etc) were becoming identified; the coffins and papyri draw on the mythology of both of them, with scenes of the solar barque, sunrise and sunset, the weighing of the heart, the forms of Re, and a new scene showing Osiris enthroned on a double staircase which represents the primeval mound -- a fusion of both myths. (It's in this scene that my girl Hepet-Hor typically appears, guarding the staircase alongside a huge snake.) Surprisingly, Amun doesn't get much of a look-in. Other popular scenes include the tree goddess who nurtures the deceased, the separation of Nut from Geb, and the Hathor cow coming out of the mountain.
The first time I clapped eyes on a mythological papyrus, many moons ago, it was this extraordinary image of Osiris from the papyrus of Ta-shed-khonsu, which Kyla showed me in a book:
That led me to Alexandre Piankoff and Natacha Rambova's book Mythological Papyri, which contained the weirdest Egyptian art I'd ever seen*. Egyptian art, like its religion, is a mix of conservativism and innovation; the deeper you dig, the more surprises you find -- like Osiris represented with a donkey face looking out at the viewer, wielding a lizard as though it's a knife. It's shocking, and yet, in the context of the papyrus, it's intelligible.
While I was up af I had a very minor clash with an Egyptology student, who accused me of finding Ancient Egypt "spooky", "mysterious", and "exotic", in the vein of the occultists of Victorian times**. tbh I don't think I've ever found AE any of these things, probably not since I read Asterix and Cleopatra as a small child, certainly not since publishing fiction set there. After writing about Egyptomania for the Pyramids of Mars non-fiction book I could understand where she was coming from, but ultimately the Egyptians were human beings who had to solve the same philosophical and spiritual problems we do. To do so, they copied, borrowed, and made stuff up, no different to anyone.
When I first saw those mythological papyri, they were incomprehensible, bizarre, random. "There was no fixed form of either text or picture," writes Goff "since every individual sought each his own special form to ensure that its potency was directed towards him." And yet, if I'd simply sat down and done the reading, they'd have made sense to me. Not as much sense as they made to a Twenty-First Dynasty Theban priestess, admittedly. But because the coffins and the papyri rely so heavily on illustration, they become meaningful to a modern reader in the same immediate and powerful way that a tarot card or a Surrealist painting can punch you in the brain. (Goff suggests that, when the vignettes were first developed in the NK, it was to increase the magical power of the spells.) Well, I've done the reading now -- or started to, anyway.
Are there parallels to be drawn between the intense religious creativity of the 21st Dynasty, the modern impulse to create and recreate ancient religions, and the god-making fever of my own disordered mind?
* Hibis temple and its wild parade of gods was a similar shock to the system.
** She seems to have deleted it subsequently. Perhaps I'm forgiven? ... nope, still Blocked. XD
ETA: Connecting Coffins and Papyri -- a poster which summarises how the political situation affected burials.
__
Goff, Beatrice L. Symbols of ancient Egypt in the late period: the twenty-first dynasty. The Hague; New York, Mouton, 1979.
Piankoff, Alexandre and Natacha Rambova. Mythological Papyri. New York, Pantheon, 1957.
Taylor, John H. Egyptian Coffins. Aylesbury, Bucks, Shire, 1989.Hepet-Hor, redux
Oct. 9th, 2018 11:31 amDiscussing the various forms in which Hepet-Hor appears on Twenty-First Dynasty papyri and coffins, Beatrice L. Goff remarks: "Artists of the Twenty-first Dynasty were ingenious in devising variations while retaining a clearly discernable form... It would be a mistake, however, to suppose that they reflected upon the implications of such similarities and variations. They were concerned to meet present needs; and a papyrus or sarcophagus was felt to be more satisfying if the designs were in some way uniquely adapted to a particular person while at the same time conforming to a pattern. There is never any attempt to explain the significance of the derivations from but conformity to an accepted pattern." (p165) That fits the mental picture I have of the Egyptians, who were enormously uninterested in what a fan might call "canonicity". I wonder how imagery was fitted to the individual? "Give Fred a lot of snakes, he likes those." (If there was an explanation, I wonder what form it would take? Marginal notes, like the ones added to the text of the Book of the Dead?)
I'm compiling a list of attestations of Hepet-Hor. Goff mentions some of her forms which I haven't encountered yet: a deity with two snakes for a head; a male form, "That porter of the West"; a hare-headed guardian at the Lake of Fire; one with a hippo head with a snake in its mouth, guarding a form of Re.
ETA: Hepet-Hor appears in the Lexikon der ägyptischen Götter und Götterbezeichnungen under a number of names: Ḥptt, "the Embrace"; Ḥptt-wrt, "the Great Embrace"; Ḥptt-bı͗k, "she who embraces the falcon"; Ḥptt-bı͗k-ntry, "she who embraces the divine falcon"; and Ḥptt-m-dw3t, "the embrace in the underworld". These are different readings and translations than those given by the authors I've been reading (of which much, much more later), most conspicuously the reading of "falcon" for "Horus".
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Goff, Beatrice L. Symbols of ancient Egypt in the late period: the twenty-first dynasty. The Hague; New York, Mouton, 1979.
Leitz, Christian (ed). Lexikon der ägyptischen Götter und Götter bezeichnungen. Dudley, MA, Peeters, 2002-3.
I'm compiling a list of attestations of Hepet-Hor. Goff mentions some of her forms which I haven't encountered yet: a deity with two snakes for a head; a male form, "That porter of the West"; a hare-headed guardian at the Lake of Fire; one with a hippo head with a snake in its mouth, guarding a form of Re.
ETA: Hepet-Hor appears in the Lexikon der ägyptischen Götter und Götterbezeichnungen under a number of names: Ḥptt, "the Embrace"; Ḥptt-wrt, "the Great Embrace"; Ḥptt-bı͗k, "she who embraces the falcon"; Ḥptt-bı͗k-ntry, "she who embraces the divine falcon"; and Ḥptt-m-dw3t, "the embrace in the underworld". These are different readings and translations than those given by the authors I've been reading (of which much, much more later), most conspicuously the reading of "falcon" for "Horus".
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Goff, Beatrice L. Symbols of ancient Egypt in the late period: the twenty-first dynasty. The Hague; New York, Mouton, 1979.
Leitz, Christian (ed). Lexikon der ägyptischen Götter und Götter bezeichnungen. Dudley, MA, Peeters, 2002-3.
I've long been captivated by this figure, but didn't imagine I'd ever be able to find out her name -- let alone so much information about her. She first appears during the Twenty-First Dynasty, a time of innovation when new scenes of the afterlife were introduced. She is most usually called Hepet-Hor, She Who Embraces Horus, though she may also be called She Who Embraces Osiris, Lady of the West, the Eye of Re, etc.
Hepet-Hor is shown with the head of a lion and a crocodile (coming out of the back of the lion head), or with a snake head, or other variations -- there's one example where she has three heads, lion, crocodile, and flaming brazier. She holds two knives (or a snake may be substituted for a knife). She might be set to guard the door of the mound where Osiris is resurrected (another 21st Dynasty invention); or she might accompany the deceased. On two papyri, she holds the sun aloft. So she plays a role in both the rebirth of Osiris and of the sun god.
The most spectacular image of Hepet-Hor I've come across is on the coffin of Ankh-Hor at the Norwich Castle Museum, where she has three heads -- lion, crocodile, and flaming brazier. Warren R. Dawson's 1929 article on the museum's coffins calls her "a graphic abbreviation for three demons usually represented separately". But if so, which ones?
At my Tumblr: http://dwellerinthelibrary.tumblr.com/tagged/Hepet-Hor
ETA: On the coffin of Padiamun in the Cairo Museum (JE 29668 = CG 6081), Hepet-Hor has a snake head and may be captioned "Lady of the West, may she give offerings." (Régen, 2017).
ETA: I found what must be a strikingly beautiful image of Hepet-Hor -- if only I could see it in colour! She appears amidst the forms of Re on the papyrus of Ta-Udja-Re (Cairo Museum, JE34033). The figures are all mummiform, except for her: she is barefoot and ready for action. She holds two knives and has -- this is great -- four snakes where anyone else's head would be, each snake decorated with a feather and a streamer; her belt also ends in or is decorated with streamers. Even from the black-and-white photo you can see that this image must be brightly coloured. Unusually, there's accompanying text, which says: "O great Embrace, Lady of the Mountains, give they two arms to Osiris, Lady of the House, Chantress of Amon Ta-Udja-Re, the justified." (Piankoff, 1964.)
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Dawson, Warren R. A Note on the Egyptian Mummies in the Castle Museum, Norwich. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 15(3/4) November 1929, pp. 186-190.
Lull, José. A Scene from the Book of the Dead Belonging to a Private Twenty-First Dynasty Tomb in Tanis (Tomb of 'nḫ.f-n-Jmnw). Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 87, 2001, pp. 180-186.
Piankoff, Alexandre. The Litany of Re (Egyptian religious texts and representations 4). New York, Bollingen Foundation, 1964.
Régen, Isabelle. "Tradition and Innovation on the Third Intermediate Period Coffins. The Case of an uncommon solar and Osirian scene with Hacking up of the Earth". in Amenta, A. and H. Guichard (eds.), Proceedings of the First Vatican Coffin Conference, 19-22 June 2013, vol. 2, Le Vatican, 2017, p. 439-450.
Piankoff, Alexandre. The Litany of Re (Egyptian religious texts and representations 4). New York, Bollingen Foundation, 1964.
Régen, Isabelle. "Tradition and Innovation on the Third Intermediate Period Coffins. The Case of an uncommon solar and Osirian scene with Hacking up of the Earth". in Amenta, A. and H. Guichard (eds.), Proceedings of the First Vatican Coffin Conference, 19-22 June 2013, vol. 2, Le Vatican, 2017, p. 439-450.
The above illustration is by Léon-Jean-Joseph Dubois, from the 1823 book Panthéon égyptien, written by Jean-François Champollion.
The second and third chapters of Quirke's book are an overview of the sacred in Ancient Egypt. He asks what times and places the Egyptians considered sacred, and investigates the roles of animals, of sickness and injury, the hygiene and ornamentation of the body, menstruation, conception, childbirth, naming, ageing, death, and the household. He discusses the different kinds of temples, offerings, and temple staff, and our fragmentary knowledge of festivals. Quirke's emphasis is always on the gaps in our knowledge, in both written and archaeological sources, and how in many cases we only have "hints" of what the Egyptians believed and did.
I'm going to skip making detailed notes from these chapters, with one exception. Considering the role of domestic animals, Quirke points out a "strong distinction" between people and animals in the written record, with only rare examples of pets being mummified. OTOH, "... personal names are found for dogs and, more rarely, cattle; a few instances are found where a cat is named, but the name is always cat."
ETA: In the end I found this a frustrating book. Quirke raises a lot of important issues around how little we really know about Ancient Egypt, in numerous aspects of life and worship, but he doesn't really develop them. Perhaps that's because, without further research, only questions are possible, not answers.
I'm going to skip making detailed notes from these chapters, with one exception. Considering the role of domestic animals, Quirke points out a "strong distinction" between people and animals in the written record, with only rare examples of pets being mummified. OTOH, "... personal names are found for dogs and, more rarely, cattle; a few instances are found where a cat is named, but the name is always cat."
ETA: In the end I found this a frustrating book. Quirke raises a lot of important issues around how little we really know about Ancient Egypt, in numerous aspects of life and worship, but he doesn't really develop them. Perhaps that's because, without further research, only questions are possible, not answers.
Stephen Quirke's book has been sitting about on my shelves for long enough; it's time to actually read it, and post some notes here as I go along.
The first chapter of Exploring Religion in Ancient Egypt is devoted to blowing up any preconceptions the reader brings to the subject, down to whether we can meaningfully apply terms like "religion" to Ancient Egypt. We tend to get a homogenised view of Ancient Egypt, which was a huge country with different borders at different times, made up of multiple geographic regions (floodplain, marsh, oasis), with people of different ages, genders, and stations in life. Quirke is inviting us, when we read that "the Ancient Egyptians said/did such-and-such", to ask which Ancient Egyptians, and where, and when.
Quirke opens by commenting on modern religion: when we declare our faith, we're declaring which religion we've chosen from the selection available. (An atheist or agnostic is making the same choice.) He writes, "... a human group may instead express itself without reference to any contemporary or earlier other society or way of expression." (That phrase will give you a quick taste of Quirke's writing, which is not the easiest going.) Actually, I'm not sure of this, but I don't think the idea of mutually exclusive religions actually gets going until the early Christians refuse to worship deified Roman emperors. Quirke suggests the influx of foreign religious ideas in the Late Period and Graeco-Roman times brings Egypt somewhat closer to the modern model of competing faiths. In the ~2600 years before that, the only religious alternative was Atenism - which lasted just 12 years.
Quirke repeatedly warns against a homogeneous view of the Ancient Egyptians. Nomads, shepherds, and farmers, people on islands and people at the margin of cultivation, were all differently affected the annual Nile flood - which itself was unpredictable. The peasantry included people with no, some, or lots of land. Rich Egyptians only packed their tombs with "full-house inventories" at two times in history, around unification and "the period of greatest military presence in western Asia, circa 1450-1300 BC" - at other times they were supplied as if for a single journey; girls and infants might be buried with amulets and jewellery, "as if for puberty or childbirth rites they did not live long enough to see".
A table reminds us how few temples have survived - most of them Ptolemaic or Roman from Upper Egypt, where they were made from durable local sandstone. The limestone temples of Lower Egypt were literally burned to make lime for plaster. (Abydos survived by dint of being buried in the sand.) So our information on religion from temples is strongly filtered by historical contingency. Quirke mentions other sources of information, such as the remains of mudbrick temples and votive offerings.
"One of the most deeply rooted modern assumptions pervading accounts of ancient Egyptian religion is the opposition between official cult and personalized practice," writes Quirke (italics in original). He attacks this binary, pointing out that, for example, royalty, the nobility, and commoners all resorted to the same healing amulets and spells.
Discussing the images and names of the gods, Quirke suggests that the multiple representations of each god, and the splitting and combining of gods, allowed the ancients to focus on a specific aspect of the divine. He mentions the multiple Horuses, Amun, Ra, and Amun-Ra, and the "four forms of Anubis", matching the cardinal directions or four steps in embalming. Gods might even split off because of an architectural detail, such as a space created by symmetry which could be filled by a new deity - so Tasenetnefret, the quality of being a good sister, splits off from Isis to become "an independent deity receiving offerings of her own". These multiple images are matched by the multiple epithets and descriptions of gods in religious texts. Quirke also discusses the lack of long narratives about the Egyptian gods, even suggesting that "myth" may be a "confusing" term to use for Egyptian religion. (Or is this another artifact of what happens to have survived - given the number of narratives we do have, in magical / healing papyri, for example?)
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Quirke, Stephen. Exploring Religion in Ancient Egypt. Wiley, London, 2015.
The first chapter of Exploring Religion in Ancient Egypt is devoted to blowing up any preconceptions the reader brings to the subject, down to whether we can meaningfully apply terms like "religion" to Ancient Egypt. We tend to get a homogenised view of Ancient Egypt, which was a huge country with different borders at different times, made up of multiple geographic regions (floodplain, marsh, oasis), with people of different ages, genders, and stations in life. Quirke is inviting us, when we read that "the Ancient Egyptians said/did such-and-such", to ask which Ancient Egyptians, and where, and when.
Quirke opens by commenting on modern religion: when we declare our faith, we're declaring which religion we've chosen from the selection available. (An atheist or agnostic is making the same choice.) He writes, "... a human group may instead express itself without reference to any contemporary or earlier other society or way of expression." (That phrase will give you a quick taste of Quirke's writing, which is not the easiest going.) Actually, I'm not sure of this, but I don't think the idea of mutually exclusive religions actually gets going until the early Christians refuse to worship deified Roman emperors. Quirke suggests the influx of foreign religious ideas in the Late Period and Graeco-Roman times brings Egypt somewhat closer to the modern model of competing faiths. In the ~2600 years before that, the only religious alternative was Atenism - which lasted just 12 years.
Quirke repeatedly warns against a homogeneous view of the Ancient Egyptians. Nomads, shepherds, and farmers, people on islands and people at the margin of cultivation, were all differently affected the annual Nile flood - which itself was unpredictable. The peasantry included people with no, some, or lots of land. Rich Egyptians only packed their tombs with "full-house inventories" at two times in history, around unification and "the period of greatest military presence in western Asia, circa 1450-1300 BC" - at other times they were supplied as if for a single journey; girls and infants might be buried with amulets and jewellery, "as if for puberty or childbirth rites they did not live long enough to see".
A table reminds us how few temples have survived - most of them Ptolemaic or Roman from Upper Egypt, where they were made from durable local sandstone. The limestone temples of Lower Egypt were literally burned to make lime for plaster. (Abydos survived by dint of being buried in the sand.) So our information on religion from temples is strongly filtered by historical contingency. Quirke mentions other sources of information, such as the remains of mudbrick temples and votive offerings.
"One of the most deeply rooted modern assumptions pervading accounts of ancient Egyptian religion is the opposition between official cult and personalized practice," writes Quirke (italics in original). He attacks this binary, pointing out that, for example, royalty, the nobility, and commoners all resorted to the same healing amulets and spells.
Discussing the images and names of the gods, Quirke suggests that the multiple representations of each god, and the splitting and combining of gods, allowed the ancients to focus on a specific aspect of the divine. He mentions the multiple Horuses, Amun, Ra, and Amun-Ra, and the "four forms of Anubis", matching the cardinal directions or four steps in embalming. Gods might even split off because of an architectural detail, such as a space created by symmetry which could be filled by a new deity - so Tasenetnefret, the quality of being a good sister, splits off from Isis to become "an independent deity receiving offerings of her own". These multiple images are matched by the multiple epithets and descriptions of gods in religious texts. Quirke also discusses the lack of long narratives about the Egyptian gods, even suggesting that "myth" may be a "confusing" term to use for Egyptian religion. (Or is this another artifact of what happens to have survived - given the number of narratives we do have, in magical / healing papyri, for example?)
Finally, Quirke ponders whether the idea of a "priest" is even applicable to Ancient Egypt, where the temples were staffed on a rotating basis byt people who had other jobs the rest of the time.
So that's got us softened up for what's to come!__
Quirke, Stephen. Exploring Religion in Ancient Egypt. Wiley, London, 2015.
