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Original German edition, tbd undJrnsejlJ jm alten Agyplm, copyright C 200 1 by C. H . Beck, Mu nich . All rig hts resen'ed . English translatio n copyright © 2005 by Cornell University The p ublication of this wo rk was supponed by a grant from the Goetlle-Instl tll t.
All righ ts reselTed. Excep t for brief quota tions in a review, this book, or parts thereof, mus t no t be rep rod uced in any form wi thoUl permission in writing from the publisher. For information, add ress Cornell Un iversity Press, Sage House, 5 12 East St.·u e Street, Ithaca, New York 14 8 50 . English translation first published :w05 by Cornell University Press Printed in the United Stales of America Libmry of Congress Cat."lloging-in-Publication Data Assmann, J an. (Tod und J enseits im Alten Ag),p tell. English ] Death and salvation in ancient Egypt / by .Ian A~mann ; translated from the German by David Lonon. p. em. Includes bibliographical refe rences and indexes. ISBN-I 3: 978-0-8014-424 1-4 (cloth: alk. paper) ISBN- Lo: 0-8014-424 1-9 (d oth: alk. pape r) l. E.lon. 3. Death-Religious aspeCts. I. T itle. BL2450.E8A8813 2005 299'.3 123-<1c22
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I N TR O D UC T I ON
codified and handed down, experienced an enonnous upswing. To the clas.~ i c work known as the Amduat, wh ich had been c mployed in the d ccoration of the fu nerary chambers of the royal tombs of Dym15ty 18, the re was now added a series of sim ilar compositions depicti ng the next world in pictu res and writte n descri ptions: the Book of Gates, the Enigmatic Book. the Book of Caverns, the Book of the Earth. the Book of Nut, the Book of the Hea\'en ly Cow, the Book of the Day, and the Book of the Night.'" All these lxxJk.s are surrounded by an aura of strictesl mystery. and thus sec recy; in the New Kingdom, they occur almost exclusively in royal tombs. which v,·ere localed in hidde n places in the Valley of th e Kings, where no human foot was supposed to tread. From these dramatic events, wh ich wrought faNeach ingchanges in the Egyptian world in the course of less than fifty years, we see that there are con nections bt:t,,·een the ~de mystification of the world and Akhenaten'~ doctrine o f a single realm. connections fam iliar to us from the intellectual history of our O V,11 culture, and we sec that death plays a decisive role in the genesis and fonnation of concep ts regarding an ~o ther world. ~ With equal dari ty, the Egyptian fi ndings also show us that this "other wor1d,~ which is connened wi th death, is bathed in the aura of myste ry. Death genera tes mystery; it is th e thresh old to another world and also a ' ·ei! th;!t hides it. T his ;!spect of death will be treated in chapter 9. Wi th its radical d en ial of a next world, thc Amarna Period robbed death of its mystery, and by way of a reaction , the nolion o f m YSlery moved inlo the center of Egyptian beliefs about death. Knowledge o f this mystery was now the royal path to immortality. and the !'Oyal tombs became repositories o f this knowledge that brough t delivcr,m ce. M
d ) Images and Counte rimages, Death and Coumenl'orld ',ve rt: the Egyptians obsessed with death , did they have an aversion to life ? Or d id lhey, on the COntrary, merel y ~ uppre~ death under a mass of Cultural forms and symbols? In this rcgard, we can perhaps distinguish i.>erween two ideal cultural types; cultures that acce pt death and cul lure~ that rebel "gainst it." Cu ltu res th at accept death tend to accord no special status to m;!n among living beings. out rathe r to place h im on the same level as e,·erylhing alive and to vicw him as a p
C JPYnghted malenal
Death and Cui/uK
in any given culture, people diffe r acco rding to era, $OCial IC\'ei, geography, and eycn the times they assign to religious and to profan e concerns. With rebrard to this ideal distinction , I wish to propose th ree lheses tha t can characterize thc wo rld of Egypt by way, as it were, of contrastivc diagnosis. My first thesis is that Eg)'Pt was o ne of the cultures of denial, o ne o f the societit.-s that do not accept death and th us, in thei r concept o f man , draw a sharp bounda!"y between the $pirit, immortality, uniqueness, and the re mainder of nature. Blil did they in fact do so? An obj ection immediaLCly arises: What abom the animal cul ts? As wc know, the Eg)'Ptians mummified many kinds o f animals in large quantities, and they evidendy ascribed immortality to animals as well. Thus. they cann ot ha\'e drawn so very sharp a distinction between animal and man . In response, it mtL~t be noted that it matters not so much wh ether they drew a distinction between man and animal, but r-.uher that they drc.:w it between the mortal and th e immortal, between the perishable and the imperishable. For th e Egyptians, the distinction ~~.as differe nt from ours; for dIem, under certain circumstances, animals were part of the ci rcle of the imnJo rtal, the spiritual, the imperishable. What is decish'e is the fact that they made the distinction . Another objection concerns the unique presence of death in Egyptian cultu re. Death must h,we continually pr(.'OCcupied the Egyptians-with the construction of pyramids for kin w; and huge burial monumen ts for high officials, with the decoratio n and outfi tting of these tombs, cenotaphs, and commemorative chapels, with the preparation o f StatueS, stelae, offering tables, sarcophagi , wooden coffins , and Books o f the Dead , with the procureme nt of mo rtuary offerings and the conducting of mor· tuary rituals-and we wonder how a society tha t so constantly and ill so many ways made death the object of all possible actions supposedly did not accept death. Moreover, as a mle, a high-ran ki ng Egyptian would spend many years of his life constructing and outfitting a monumental tomb. H ow can someone who did not accep t death invest so muc h of his lifetime, not 1.0 mention his mate rial resources, on deatll? Here, we must be specific. The Egyptians certainly did not accept death , but dley also did not repress it. It wa.~ on their mind' in many ways, unlike us, who also do no t accept it. In Egyptian culture, as in no other, we may obscn 'e whal it means n Ol LO accept death and yet to p lace it at the cente r o f every thought and deed , every plan and act, to make it, in every ]XI$" sible way, the theme of the culture lhe}' created. TIte Egyptians hated d eath and loved life. "As yo u hatc deatll and love life .. .M: with this fonn u la, visitors to a to mb wcre el~oined to recite an otTering formula o n behalf of its owne r. "Gh'en that death humbles us, given that death exalts us,~ we read in dlC Instnlction of DjedeOlOr, th e oldest example of wisdom litera ture preserved to us, which goes o n to say, as is typical, ~ th e
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I NTRODUCT I ON
house of death (i.e., the tomb) is for life. Mn The Egyptians hated death , and in a sense, tlu:y built their tombs as a counte nneasure to it. In ancient Egypt, more so than in any other culture, we encoun ter death in many forms, in m ummies, statues, rel iefs, buildings, and texts; but these were no t images of death, they were collnteri mages, articulations o f its negation, not of its affinnation. T his is my second the~ i s. If we wish to learn something abou t the experience of death in Egypt, Io'e must tu rn these images inside out. They d epict the deceased as he appeared in life : well dressed, bejeweled, in the bloom of youth, always accompanied by his wife and often also by h is childn:n, can )'ing out the duties of h is officc, worshiping the gods, and engaging in the leisurely purs uits of the well-born , such as fi sh ing, fowling, and hu nting, and receiving rich offerings. And the texts speak of h is successfu l outcome in the J udgme nt o f the Dead, his acceptance into th e realm ohhe gods, his ability to transfonn h imself and to return 10 earth in all sorts of fonn s, to visit h is house, to stroll in h is garden, to panidp.l.te in religious festhoals, and aoove ail, to he close to the gods in the sky, thc nClhelWorld, and the te mples on earth . These pictures and texts m ight tempt us to think that fo r the Egyptians, death "as nothing other than a gentle transition into an C\'en finer, more fulfill ing, richer life. Perhaps it ,,~,u, but nOt ill and of itself. Rather, it w.ts the distan t goal of countless efforts, withom which death would be an absolute opposi tion: isolation, te nni nation , e nd , disappearance , darkness, filth. defectivencs.\, distance from the divine, decompositio n , dismemben nent, d issolutio n , in short, all that constitutes the opposite of those radiant imag(.'S o f a transfi gu red existence. The Egyptian experie nce o f death was no t, overall , much diffe rent from that elsewhere in the wo rld, exce pt for the astonis h ing. and in this respect probably unique, attitude that the Egyptians assumed toward this experien ce. an altimde based on truSt in the power o f counterimages, or rather in the power of spe ech , o f representation , and of rima I acts, to be able 10 make these counteJimages real and to create a coun terworld th rough the medium of symbols. The world o f Egyptian mortuary religion wa.~ indeed a countelWo rid. But what was sp«ial, and perhaps u niquc , about this Egyptian counterworld is that it was not a construct o f fa ntasy and belief. blll o ne that required plan ning and arch itecture, along with all sorts of othe r arts, including anatomy, phalmacology, linen weaving, and C\'erything else that the mummification p rocess entailed , all of it set into motion , visible, tangible, massh'e, even colossal, with all its resultant COSl~ and side efIecl~ . The re has p.-ohahly n ever been so this-worldl y a next wo rld, this-wo rldly not in the M!nse that the Egyptians envisioned Paradise. as Muslims do, afte r the fash ion of all eanhly pleasure hou.\C, but in the sense tha t in this wo rld, Egyptians were o bliged lO keep their hands fu ll bu ilding it. COIlceptuaU), colonizing it, and ri m ally keeping it in motion.
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iJtalh and Cllllw't As our first thesis stresses, Egyptian culture
was one of those societies
that do not accept death but ra ther rebel against d eath as an empirical fact with all the power at their disposal. Th is rebellion assu med the form o f religion, that is, the creation of a cou nterworld. That was our second thesis. I do n ot mean, howe\'er, that these counterimages sketch ed by religion co\'er up the empirical ....·orld and make it disappea r; 011 the comrary, rather, they generate an excitement for the always remembered , and in this excitement all the more brightly illuminated , factual world. This v.~J.."; especially true of Egyptian mortuary religion. The original experience o f death was in no woly covered up o r suppressed by the counterimages of religion. T hese counterimages made tha t which they negated , the darker aspects of the theme ofdealh , all the mo re intensely borne in mind. Along with the transfiguring texts of the mortuary religion, which sketch mag· nifice nt, linguistically articulated images, there are other texts that speak of loneliness and darkness. lack, deprivation, and paralysis. The dark side of death was not cove red ovc r but remai ned present. The countcrim
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I NTRODUCT I ON
beg-dn to be published in 1938, into the second edition of 1956, though in the process, his account lost much o f its readability. Jan Zandee's book lkath as an Emmy is a lexical study confined to just o ne ou t of many different images of death._ The useful dissertation by Gretel Win , Too und Vtrgiillglichlurit im aften Agyptnl, deals onl), with literary sources, omitting the rituals and reci tations of the mortuary CUll, which stand at the cente r of this \·olume. A.J. Spencer's lkath in Ancitnt Egypt treats the theme exclusively from the perspective of arch aeology. ~ In its pages, customs are dealt with in te rms of their arc hac.."Ological and architectonic traces, omitting tJle wo rld of text'. Quite compre hensive, but also concelllrated on the material culture of the Egyptian religion of deatJl, is the recelll book by J ohn H. Ta)'lor. Death and t~ Aftmift in Ancie111 £g)'pt, which unfolds al l the rich es of the world of objects in which Egyptian mortuary belief is manifested with the help of examples from the British Museum. T he present book, howeve r, seeks to vcnture illlo tJle realm of the cultural semantics 011 which this rich array of customs o ncc fed. In this rega rd. Erik Hornu ng has paved the way more than any other scholar in the introductions and commentaries o f his various text editions and anthologies. ~ T he essays by Alan Gardiner,» Constantin Sander-Hansen,"; Philippe Dcrchain ," and many o th ers~ are cOllfined LO individual aspects. There is no lack of lilerature 011 the th eme ," but there is no comprehensive treatment of this phenomenon, which is nOt only imponant in and of itself, but which also opens the way to insights, insigh ts with ....-ide-ranging consequences, into lhe relationship between death and culture.
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RIT UA I. S AND R ECITAT I ONS
some decades earlier, and the new, Mrealistic Mtype of funeral ritual.' The old ~enes refer lO rituals performed .....ilh and on various objcxts and to pieces o f scenery pcnaining to a cultic drama with a number of individual episodes. The new scenes, however. de picl the actual funeral procession , which included three m~or segments: crossing the Nile from the city of the living o n the east bank to the necropolis on the west bank; I! . the procession from the embalming hall to the tomb; and 3. the rites in front of the tomb. I.
In the tomb of Amelle mope, the sequences of ~enes conti nues from the entrance into an area we are p robably to recognize as the nexl-worldly realm. We see the lOmb owner embraced by the goddess of Ihe \Yt.'S1 and provided with food by the tree goddess. \"le also see him praying to various deities and tending to his occupations in the Field of Reeds. And, finall y, we see him addressing the deities of the nomes, that is, the judges at the Judgm e nt of the Dead (Book of th e Dead chapter I S) , undergoing the JudgnH!1l1 in the fonn oflhe weigh ing ofthe heart, and, at the end , acquitted and saved fro m deat h , seated before Osiris.' In the decorative program of this to mb, we can distinguis h three levels of representation in te nns of their relationship to reality: (I ) the level of Mold scene5,M whidl refer to an age-old cul t drama from early in the h istorical period. one thaI was sto red in the cultural memo ry; (2) the level of Mnew sce n es~ thal represent the th ree major segmentS of the funeral ritual as it was ac tually pcrfonned; and (3 ) the le\'el of scenes of the afterlife, which do no t refer to ritual acts but to even ts that OCC\lr in the next world, after the fun e ral. or mther, arc intended to represent the meaning o r Msacramental explanatio n ~ of the.'le eventS in the realm of the god5. in the visib le wo rld , the d eceased " 'as conveyed to the tomb and buried in Ihe sarcophagus chamber, while in the next world. he pcnelrdtcd into the spaces of the realm of the dead , finall y arriving at the paradise of the Field of Reeds and Osiris in the hall where the Judgment of the Dead occurred. The depiction of the fune ral in the wmb of Am enemope, which is un ique in its complexily, can serve as a key w u nderslandi n g both the older and the newer re presentations. In older tombs, we find only scenes fronl representatio nal IC\'els I and 2 , while in later to mbs, only lC\'els 2 and 3 are combined with one another. lfwe [Urn from Ihe lOmb of AmenCIll OPC to the o lder tombs, we encounte r, along 'with scenes of the arc haic cult d rama, represenL"ltional levc1 I, scenes that corre51xmd to the "new scenes of level 2 . We sec Ihcjourney across the Nile (the j o urney to Ihe West) re presented, along with the p rocession to the tomb, which is often divided into three processions: the .sled bearing lhe sarcophagu5, which ft
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Rituals of Transititm from H Qlne 10 Tomb is drawn b y caltl e, is accompanied by two smalle r processions, one bearing a shrine containing the canopic jal1l, and the o th e r bearin g an unshapely objcct id entifi ed in the ca ptions a5 tekniu., which probab ly co n taine d remnan ts of the embalming p rocess s(!wn into an animal skin ! In all periods, the draggin g of the coffin. with the cattle, th e mourne rs. and th e accompanying priests remained th e canonical core of the fun eral procession. Texts a lso lay stress o n this procession as th e cor e of a sple ndid burial, as in th e description of a state fun eral at Ihe Residence in th e Story of Sinuhe , by means of which th e kin g cndeavO I1l to pcl1luade the protagonist, who had fled 10 Pa lestine, 10 re turn; 111ink of the day of burial, of pa$.'ling ililo a revered Slate! A n octurn al wake i$ divided for )'o u with o inuncnt and th e four-threaded clom of Tayt. A burial processioll i$ made for you on me day of UIC funeral. The mummy case is of gold. m e ma!'lk of lapis-lazuli. m e sky (i.e., the baldachin) is above rou a!'l you lie 011 m e 5ledge. Ca.tt1e draw )'Ou and singers p rt'i:ede )'Q u. The dan ce of me muu is ~rfomled for rou at the entnln(c to your tomb. TIle offering list is recited for you. and a sacrifi ce is made 011 your offcring-stone. H e re, too, th e fun er,t1 is divided into three major secti ons: the e mbalming, th e procession to th e tomb. and welcome to th e tomb by m ean s o f th e dance of the murr and a large o ffering. Dances played an important role in Egyptian festival ritua ls, exp ressi n g th e e m otion aroused by the appearance o f a sacr ed being. Ritual dancing a t th e en trance to the to mb is also m e ntio n ed in fun erary spells o f th e New Kin gd o m: "The dan ce o f th e dWdrfs is perfo nned fo r you at the e ntrance to yo ur tolllb~ and ~ May the d ance o f th e dwarfs be perfonned for me at ul e e n trance to Illy lo mb."7 The funera l riles are described in far grea te r d e tai l in a stela text fro m early Dynasty 18 (ca. t 500 H.C.t:.): The beautiful burial. may it comc in ~ace afte r ) 'OUI" seventy days are completed in your embalming hal l. May )"011 be laid OUI o n a bier in th e house or rcst and be drawlI by ..... hite oxen. May m e ways be opened with milkS until )"ollr arri\~t1 at the em....m ce 10 your tomb. May the i:h ild ren of your childre n 0111 be assem bled and wail with lOvi ng heart. May your mouth be opened by the chier lector pricst, may )'Ou be purified by the sem-pricst,
C JPYnghted malenal
RIT UA L S AN O RE C IT AT IO NS
may Horus "'..:igh yo ur monUI for you, after he has opened you r eyC$ and ea~. May)'Qur limb$ and ~'O lIr bones all be present on )'O u. May the uansfl guration ~pclls be read for yo u and the mortuary offering (trtp-dj-lIswt) be perfornloo for
)'011.
May you r jb-heart be with )'QU in the rig ht way, and your tr~.lj'-h ean of }'Our exi$tence on earlh, you being ~lOred to your previous fonn. as o n the day "'hen you were born. May the .d-mr-priest be brought 10 )'O u, may the friends sing the litany ~ Bcw,tT(: , 0 earth!," w e eutry in to the eanh wat the king granl$,~ in the coffin of the western $idc. ~lay
you be gi\'en an escort like the ancestors, may we muu corne to )'Q u in jubilation. The god's favor for Ule o ne he 10\'C$ i.>! to be imperishable fOTe\...:r and e\..:r.lo Here, we lind lhe ~Ille segmen u o f the ritual: ( I) the seve n ty day e mbalmi n g process, ( 2) the procession with cattle, he re specifie d as "whi te oxen," which arc preced ed by a priest who libates with milk to ~o pen the way," and (3) the recep tio n at Ule tomb, which is d escri bed witll spedal d etail: the m ourning of the family, lh e Opening o f the Mo uth, purification by the .sem-priest and the ch ief lector priest, the Opening of the Mouth by H orns (which again refers to rites carried out by the _ p riest ) , the recitatio n o f rransfiguration spells (whic h agai n refers to the chief lecto r priest), t he carrying o ut o f the o ffering rimal, a nd placement in the to mb with the hel p o f the sa-IMF-priest (literally translated, ~ l ovi n g son~) , lhe ~ frien ds,~ and the muu, whose dance was a lread y me ntioned in the Story of Sinuhe. He re, we must add a few words regarding the various priests who concem e d t he mselves wi th the deceased. As we can see, lhe Open ing o f Lhe Mouth and fu neral rituals were com plex affairs in wh ich a number o f persons par ticipated in various roles. A mortuary spell fro m the tom b o f ute royal e pisto lary scribe Tjay (The b."ln Tomb 23, G1. 12 20 !J.c.E. ) contai ns a list of the "dramatis personae~ of these r imal.s: Chi e.f lector priest,
snr~prie5t,
im,.u.priest, il7lJ'"khmf.pries t,
nine friends, ~fpriest, fo llowe r of Horns.
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Ritu.als oJ Transition from H()/IIe 10 Tomh Ku lpto r, (aryer. crafl$man (?). carpen ter, th e t....,o mourning hirtll. mourning women. the berea\'ed,
who are present in the hall .. ,II Of all these, we see only the stm-p riest and the ch ief lector priest engaging in other activities, in particular. the mortuary o fferings. Both wo re special cloth ing: the SfflI-priest a panthe r skin , and the chief lector priest a special wig and a sash that crossed the breast. Only these two were mortuary priests in the strict sensc o f the term; the o then bore their ti tles ;u roles in the cult drama but not in their professional life. In the offering ritual , there was a third participant, the &e mbalme r~; he is ofte n represented in O ld Ki ngdom tombs, and he is perhaps to be recogn ized in the figure of ·Anubis ,~ who supports th e upright mUlllmy at the entrance to the tomb in New Kingdo m re presentations, and who is the on ly one of the three who wean; a mask as his characteristic garb. The o ther IWO priests also played divine roles. The sem-priest was Horus, the mythic son , the successor to the priest o f the Archaic Period who bore the title Mseeker/ embracer o f the ancestral spiril.M The chief lector priest was TIlOth, the mytllic 5a\'ant, ritualist, and magus, tlle master of the s..1crcd texts. With their many participants, these rituals differed from the normal mortuary cult in the tomb. The latter was always carried out by a single participant whom we o hen sec rep resented wearing the panther skin o f the sem-pril.."st.. He was the actual mortuary priest who was responsible, after the fun eral, for carrying out the mortuary cult. In life, he bore the title "'fta.scrvant- Olin-H) , in imalogy wi th the tille Mservant of the god" in the tem ple cult, and in the representations in the to mbs, he played the rolc o f sem-priest. His duties consisted of making libations and censings o\'er such food offerings as vegetables, meat. ~pes, figs, bread, beer, and similar foods, but which might never or only seldom ha\'e actually been brought, as opJX>scd to simply representing them on o ffering tables, ready to be activatcd on behalf of the deceased by lhe pouring of water. The figure o f the .mI.-priest was systematically hacked out of tombs dating to before the Amarna Period. Amarna arl did away with all histOrical costumes: o nl y reality was 10 be re presented. Re presenl.'ltio nallevei I of the ~vi rtual ritual ,~ which recalled the O ld Kingdom and was more a m edium of cultural memory than a representation of reality, was ban ned from lhe canon of Amama art. The .YI~priest with his linen panther ski n was an especially stri king manifestation of this principle of sh unn ing historical costumes.
JOJ
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RIT UALS AND REC I TAT I ONS 2.
Fwm
Hom~ (0
T&mh
a ) C rossi ng O':er to the West We have information regarding the first stage o f the fun eral. the crossing of the Nile from the place o f dealh to the embalming hall, exclusively from representations in tombs at Thebes. In the captions that commen t on the ac tion (e.g., in tomb 133) , the boat cartying the coffin is sometimes equated with the ~grea t fe rry~ t hat the deceased will use in the afte rlife to make the transition from the realm of death to Elysium. The crossing to the necropolis ....'aS th us inte rpreted as a passage Ihat bro ught Sidvation from death and led to immortality. But, as the lext indicates, this salvation was only for the righteous: Fare across, great ferry of the West. Fare in peace across to the West! I gave bread to the hungry, water w the thirst)', dothing to the naked ..
:1
In Theban Tomb 347. the re is a caption that designates the boat cafTYing the coffin as ntshm
C ;.pvrlgnted matenal
Rituals of Transition from Home 10 TMllh to the righll_'Ous. This ~sacrame ntal explanation, Malong with the usc of a ceremonial boat, shows lhatthe crossing to the West was n o t a mere physical transfer o f the corpse from one place to another but ra ther a ritual riverine p rocess io n .
b) Embalming, C ult Drama in the Sacred Te menos, and RiLUais in the Carden Except for a sing le scene in the abovc-mentioned tomb of Amenemopc, which was later copied by the owner of the neighboring Theban Tomb 23, the e mbalming process itself ....-as neve r represented in lhe tombs. For tha t reason , the depic tions of what occurred before and after the embal ming play an e'o'en more important role in the decoration o f the o lde r to mbs. Before the e mbalming, there was the -procession to the divine tent o f Anubis,M that is, to the emlMlming hall, and after the e mbalming, but before the a ctual procession to the lOmb. a cui tic drama was performed in the ~sacred temenos." The latter was above all a symbolic journ ey by boat to various places in Lower Egypt: Givi ng a goodly burial lO N., vindicated, ancr the landi ng. Going to the necropolis, accompanying N. to the beautiful We5t, to the divine tent of Anubis (i.e., the place of embalming) in the westem d esert. Accompan}ing N. to the cult barque. Going upstream to the un iting hall of Rckhmire. Tuming around and sailing downstream, accompanying N. to Sais, traveling downstream to the gates of Uuto. Arriving at the House of the Noble (in He1iopolis). Conducting N. upstream and Slopping in the middle or the water. Going on land by N. in dIe presence of the inhabitants of Buto.'· Pe rhaps, in remOle prehistory, t he re reall y ,",'c re such j o unleys lO t he sacred places of the land during the funerals of Lo.....e r Egyptian ch ieftains o r kings. In the older tombs of Dyna.~ty 18, they .....e re re presente d as an archaic cult drama in the sacred te menos (in the sense of re presentational level I ), while in the later tombs (in the sense of representational level 2), they became the ~mo nu ary celeb nuion in the garden with its pool.MU Thc rites in the garden might ha\'e included the Mjourm.-y to Abydos ,~ a scene that was depicted in many tombs from the Middle Kingd o m down LO the later stages o f Egyptian history, always in connection with th e fun eral. In any event, it was represented as an aClual jounley by boat and not as a m erely symbolicjoumey in a ceremonial barque, as it undoubte dly y,'3S in fuet carried OUL In the Mjo u m ey to the West," we see a larger, rivc r-worthy boat to wing a barque. De pending o n the geographical loca-
30 ,
C ;lpynghted malenal
RITUALS AND RE CITATIONS
tion of the necropolis, either the trip the re was by sail (with the north wind, butagainn the current) and the relUrn trip by oar (with the current, bm against the wind). or vice versa. III the barque sat the statues of the tomb owner and his wife. In so far as the brief captions yield infonnation, the journey to Abydos was con n«.ted with the desire to participate in the cultic dramas of Osiris that were celebrated there. In inscriptions of the New Kingdom, we often encounter the wish to travel to Abydos and Busiris in a transformed state in order to participate in the major festivals of Osiris: Tr.w.:ling dowll.'llream to Busirh iIll a living ba, tra\'Cling upstream to Ab)dos iIll it phoenix. following Wennefer in U-poqer at his festival of the beginning of the )"Car. A seat is prepared for me in the lU:'Ihrnd-barque on the day of the ferrying of th e god. May my name be called OUI when he is found before the one who decides '1UUIL '~ Behind the journey to Abydos stood the co ncept of the spet:ial sacredness of this place , a sacredness in which the deceased wis hed to share unconditionally at his transition into the netherworld. The necropolis of Ahydos W"dS the oldest Egyptian royal n ecropoli,,; here lay the kings of Dynll.'Sties I and 2, and modern excavations ha\·c discovered a MDynasty o~ that makes it possible to extend the series of rOY'tl tombs back well inlo late prehistory. Even after other places in the north and the south came to be used as royal cemeteries, Abydos retai ned ilS paramount sanctity. which it had perhaps first won as a semi-mythical place of origins. Though there were cemeteries everywhere in the land , there was thus a place that WJ.S clo~r to the netherworld than any o the r, just as Heliopolis was closer to the sky than an y other city in Egypt. That place ....'aS Abydos. The concept or transition from home to tomb thus included ajourney to the one p lace on earth with an especially close connection to Osiris and the netherworld. More generally speaking, the concept of a sacred place in Egypt included the ract that it opened into the nethen·:orld. In Hcliopolis lay Ule body or the sun god. at Busiris th ere was a neulerworldly counterpart in which Osiris lay, at Thebes there was the mortuary cult of the primeval gods al Medinet Habu, while in the later periods or histol)" fourteen or sixteen-the numbers varied-religious centers in Egypt had a tomb or Osiris. 1llis idea of a s.."l.cred city as elltr.lnce to the Iletherworld had its origin and model in Abydos. Abydos \\-'as sometimes also the location of the Judgment or the Dead. Certain texts give the ~ day of examining the dead~ as the date of the journey to Abydos.1 7 }o6
C :opynghted malenal
RITUALS AND R"CITAT I ONS
may you han: power there, a.'I a beloved onc Illert', as Westerners. may you be: there. Osiris N.
Foremo~t
of the
The cult dmma of the journey to Abrdos seems to ha\'e been perfonned
in connection with the funeral, givcn that thc two are regularly depicted together in the representations in tombs of Dynasty t8, But it was undoubtedly also repeated later, as emerges, for example, from this text, according to which the journey to Abydos was enacted every rear on the eighteenth and nineteenth day of the first month of the inundation season. This was the date o f the wag-festiv.tI. At Abydos, this was the day of the great river processio n of the lIe:Jhm~.. barque to U-poqer, the holy place of the tomb o f Osiris, where the festival participants n :"cdved the ~wreat h ofjustification~:
A "Teath is placed ro und your neck on ule day of Ul<' wagfcstiml.'I>II
This is the ~ bandage " that is also mentioned in the text considered here. Adorned with it, the deceas<.-d was supposed to return to his tomb,
c) The Procession to the Tomb T he deceased was conveyed from the embalming hall to the tomb in a solemn procession. The sledge bearing the sarcophagus, again dnlwn by cattle, was accompanied by the shrine containing the canopic jars and tht: mysterious 1~l!J_'t 1 As already noted, the lekenu might have been a sack containing materials left over from the embalm ing process. Another plausiblt: explanation of I.he lekalu that has been proposed by Hermann Kees, who sees it as ~a sort of ~apegoa t " that "v.~.l.S supposed to attract the evil powers that won control over a pel1lOn in death, so that the transfigured body would remain free of them ,~ that is, it was the embodiment of the noxious substances (Egyptian 4w.t nb.t ue\'erything evin remm
C ;.pvrlgnted matenal
R I TUA L S ANO R J;CITATIONS
distinction in the way in which men and women were depicted displayi ng grief. The women d isplay intense pain , while the men grieve calmly. In the Amarna and post-Amarna Periods. howC\'cr, artists did not hesitate to depict e\'en high-ranking men maki ng gestures of passio nate mourning. In the royal tomb at A1narna, we see Akhenaten by the bier of his de<:eased daughter Meketaten , holding his head in the same gesture of d espair as Neferti ti. while in a newly acquired relief in Munich , one of the two viziers is de p icted turning away crying and holding a hand to his face . f'/ This change in the representation.s from depic tions of an image sancti fi ed by tradition to de pictions of ac tions that really took p lace occurred at the same time as the open expression o f pain and m ourn ing, and the negative images of dea th in the songs of mourni ng sung at fu nerals, a few of which were cited in chap te r 5. These far-reachin g changes in the iconography of the funeral ri tual do not point to a change in the ritual itself, wh ich had undoubtedly been carried out in the same Wdy for SQme centuries, but rather to a change in the pictorial and textual re presentations' relationship to reality. Earlier, the desire had been to stress the funera l's ritual and cul tic aspect as a canonical festival drama that res ted on an age-old ancestral tradition. Now, the desi re was to emphasize i rs ritual and above all its emotional character. T he ind ivid ual im portance of the deceased WolS shown by the intensity and variety of the emo tions expressed: theatricality and authentici ty were always closely connected in these rep rese nL'llions. But whe reas previously the authenticity was seen in the reference (preserved on ly in pictures) to rituals fro m prehistoric ti mes, now it was seen in the liveliness and articulateness of expressions of emotion in language, mime, and gesture.
). 'I'M Riles oj Opening /l,e MQuth at tM Entronce oj the Tomb
a) The Opening of the MOUlh Ri tual The different files of the burial procession , which towed the sledge hearing the coffin , the sh rine con taining the cano picjars, and the ttkenu (which disa ppeared fro m the represenL'ltions at the begin ning of the Ramesside Period). ended in fron t of the lomb, which was usually represented as a pyramid with a \'estibule and a stela. Here, the mummy \\Ia5 take n o ne last time out o f its coffin o r sarcophagus and set up right in from of the Stela, facing south, in the forecourt of the tom b. In lhe rep' rescntalions, it is often supported from behind by Anubis (Figure 5).:18 It is generally thoug ht that this ....-as a priest wearing a d og-h eaded mask: de picting the god himself in these scenes would not have suiled the relationship to reality otherwise found in these representation.s. The
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R I T UA LS AND R ~c I T"TIONS
depictions in the to m~ mostl y show twO mummies set up in frOIll of the tomb, and seholars have taken these to be the mumm ies of the tomb owner and his wife. The wife thus plays a double role in these depic tions. She appears in the role of widow bewa iling her h usband, which was !lIe role of Isis, and sh e is al~ rep resented as already deceased. standing mummifonn next (0 the m ummy of her husband, just as she al~ sits and sta nds next to him in the o ther repn:scntatio ns o n the walls of the tom b, receiving mortuary o fferings , adoring the gods, stridi ng th rough the gates of the netherv.·orld, and unde rgoi ng the Judgment of the Dead before Osiris. The Opening ofthe Mouth (Egyptian wp.l-d) ritual was carried o u t on the mummiesset up in frolll o fth e tomb.29 This was originally a ritual for bringing the tomb SL"ltue to life , and it lhen developed into it consecratio n ritual carried Out on all possible sacred objects, fro m offering stands to an entire temple, in order to dedicate them to their sacred purpose. The ritual lranllfonned the sta tue fro m an object crafted by artisa ns into a cultic body that was capable o f being animated by a god o r an ancesLra\ spirit in the fmmC\\'Ork of sacred ac tions. None of o ur sources is older than the New Kingdom, but the ritual itself mUll! have bee n much o lder than th al. A number of its spells arc already allested in the Pyra mid Texts of the O ld Ki n gdom, and many sunes display a vOC'dbulary and a form that point to an even older period, pel'ilaps that of the fi ot t ....o dynasties. in which lhe p reparation of divi ne statues was such an important ac tivity that it was used in the names of years. Eberhard O uo, to whom we owe the defi nith-e publicatio n and study of the ritual , ....'as thus motivated by an understa ndable inte rest in est
3"
C ;.pvrlgnted malarial
Rituals of Transition from
Hom~
to Tomb
(west wall, nonhe rn portio n ), and the founh (scenes 43-59, with om issions) on the right entrance wall (east wall, no rthe rn portion). First sequence: scenes . -6 all consist of purifications. T he accom panying spells begin with the foml ula Ml'u re, p ure!~ , which is to be repeated four times. So fa r as the representations are preserved (scenes 4--6), they depict censings. In scenes 5 an d 6 , the statue is circled four times and censed with d iffere nt ki nds of aromatic substances. T his sequence includes abo\'e all a purification with fo ur ntmSt'l-jars, which must be assumed h ere in the destroyed portio n . In this purification as well , the statue was circled fou r times and v,mer was poured out. This sequence clearly has the chardcter of an in itial purifi cation ritual. In the daily tem ple cult as well , the offering sequence wa.~ preceded by purifications with incense and water. T he seventh scene bears the ti tle "Enteri ng, g-.ui ng upon him.· ~ E n ter ing, gazing u pon the god" is also a scene in the daily temple ri tual. T he eigh th scene is enti tled MGoing to the tomb" (sm.! r j1.). The priests who participate in it are the jmj-!Jnt (chamberlain) and the lector priest. As depicted, the lomb looks like a tall base with sloping walls resting o n a pedestal, the hieroglyph for the typical tomb of the Old Ki ngdom, which we designate with the Arabic word Mmast.'l ba." The to mb is captioned "tomb of the Osiris, the domain administrator Nebsumenu." The second sequence on the opposite east wan begins on the rig ht with a series of scenes that belong to th e core material of th e ritual. They arc uniq ue in the history of Egyptian religion; they are an instance of trance or medit.'ltion , fo r which there arc no parallels whatsoever in Egypt. In ou r tomb , th ese scenes arc unfortunatel y badly damaged. so that we arc obliged to consult better-prescn'ed variants. A stm-priest is depicted wrapped in a mantle and squatting o n a bed or chair. In the tomb of Nebsume nu , he is de picted kneeling. According to the caption, he is "sleeping~ or ~spendi n g the night ~ (sgr). "The um-priest, sitti ng before him (i.e .. the stalUe)M says, MHe has srj (shattered?) me,M and the jmHz. who is stand ing behind him, says, MHe has drjll' (Olto suggests 'shoved') me.~ T hejl11ffr. th en says four times "My fa ther! My fa ther! My fathe r! My fath er! ~ Finally, we read, "\faki ng the sleeping one, the stm-priesl. Finding the jmjll'./;nt priests." In the fo llowing scene 10. the um.priest, sti ll squattin g on his chair, conducts a dialogue with the jmj ....'ilnt: "To be spoken by the stm-priest: ' I have scen my father in all his o utl ines!' MThe word qd "ou tli n e~ is a play o n qd "sleep.· "The jmjw-iml say 10 the sem: 'Your fa ther shall not depart fro m you!' The urn says to the jmjw./;m: 'The face hu n ters have capturM h im.' T hejmjw.ynr say to the sen:' 1 have scen my father in all his o utlines. Bev.'llfC lest he perish. Lct there be no da mage to h im!'" T he st'I'Jtopriest pla~'S the role of the SOil of the deceased, o r vice \'ersa. O nly th e SOil v,~.lS capable of doing what is ha ppening here: seeing the
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C JPYnghted malenal
R I TUAl. S AND RE C ITATION S
form of h is fathe r in a trance or in meditative concemrdtion and capturing it in its outlines so that artiJla ns can render it in stone o r wood. Scene 1 I is entitled, ~S tanding up by the Y in. He lakes his staff. He wears the qnjbreastpl ate. ~ The sem thus d resses himself, putti ng on a gan ne n t whose name means ~e m bracer.~ Scene 1 2 depicts h im facin g three "woodcar\"ers~ (qs.tjw). He says to them: '"Brand my fathe r! Make my fathe r fo r me! Make it like m y father! Who is it who ma kes it simila r fo r me?" In scene 13, the sem addresses three other artisans, the bone-carver, the woodchopper, and the craftsman who wielded the polishing SlOne, with the words: "Who are they wh o wish to approach m y father? Do not smite my fath e r! Do no t touc h his head! ~ The artisans' activities on the statue e ntail violence that must be neutralized. Scene 14 depicts the sem making a symbolic gesture designated "add ing the mo uth .. ; he extends his arm to the statue and touc hes its mouth wi th h is little finge r. The Egyptian term rendered "addi ng" he re is a carpenter's te rn} tha t means pUlti ng two pieces togethe r in such a way tha t they inte rlock. He th en recites (i n the Rekhmire versio n ): I havt: come to seek/e mbrace ~'Oll , I am Horus. I have added your mouth. I am your son, who loves you!
Scene 15 also has !.he purpose of ,werling the disagreeable consequences of unavoidable violence. T he sem says to the artisans. "Come, smite my father for me!" and the artisans say, MLet !.hose who sm ite yo ur fathe r be protecled! " ln scene 16 , the Je7nsays to a woodchopper, MI am Horus an d Seth; I do not allow you to make the head of my father wh i tcl~ In scene 17. the jmyw-!;nt say to a priesl called ~ lh e o ne behind Horus," "]sis, go to Horus, that he may seek his futher!~ In scene 18, thc ch ief lector priest stands before the urn a nd says, MHu rry and see you r fa ther!" The statue is now ready, and it is to be recognized by the son as a porlrait o f his fath e r. The sequen ce of scenes involving a rtisans comes to a n e nd he re, and with scenes 19-2 1, something new begins. The JD1I must change his c10 thcs; he removes the q,y.breastplatc an d do ns the panther skin that is his characteristic item of clothing. His recitation is dcvo ted solely to this ac tio n : Ml have saved his eye from his mouth ! I have ripped off his leg.~ The chief lector priest sa)'S to the statue, MO N. , 1 havc branded your eye fo r you, so thaI you may be bro ught to life by it! MT he words " brand~ and ~be brought to life~ are puns on the word fo r panther skin. Like mOSt o f the other versio ns, th e one in to mb 183 proceeds immed iately to scene 23. Th is is t he beginn ing of the c h ief portion of the e n tire ritual, the actual open ing of th e mouth . Scene 23 presc::rilx.'S a slaughte r. Utter, we shall go in to this in detail, so we shall merely summarize it h ere .
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C JPYnghted malenal
RitUllu of Transition fro m
Ho~
w Tomb
One leg and the heart are re moved fro m a bull, and the heads of a goat and a goose are cut o ff. In scene 24, the chief lector priest and the selin'priest quickl y bring the leg and the hean to the statue and place them, along with the goat and the goose, on the ground in front of it. This scene has been misunderstood by Otto and others as an offering scene. It is clearly tilled "opening of the mouth and eyes. ~ The Sent does nO[ offer the leg to the statue hut rather uses it as an implement to open its mo uth . In this rega rd , we must note that in the writing system, the hieroglyph depicting a hull's leg resembles an adz, the actual implement for opening the mouth, which is e mployed in the foll owing scenes 26 and 27 (which are lost in lo mb 183). The slaughter is thus a part of the opening of the mouth , which begins with scene 23 and ends with Ke ne 27. We can now grasp the scenes o n the left entrance walt as a unity: they include the sleep sequence in which the se7n beholds the fathe r (9-12), the artisan sequence 13-18, and the opening of the momh sequence 23-27. Scene 19, in which the sem-ptiest changt.'S his garb, selVes as an intermissio n . Third sequence: the ritual continues on the right rea r v,'aU. In scene 28; the jmj-hnt and a priest called j rj·p'.1 ~ h e rcdi lary nobl e~ (again a son 's role) stand facing one anothe r. The recitation here yields no sense and is (as will later become clear) displaced to here from the opening of the mo uth scenes: "I smite him for his mother. so that she bewails him . I smile him fo r his consort. ~ Scene 29 is a repetition of scene 17. The jmj-bnt again sars to "the one behind Horus," "'sis, go to Horus, that he may embrace his fa th erl~ Scene 30 repeats Ke ne 16. Scene 3 1 is a double scene. The first part has to do with Mflllding the 'son who 100'es,' who is standing o utside." and the second part with "bringin g the 'son who loves' inside the tomb.M¥le see the sem take the Mson who IO\'C5,M who pr«cdes h im, by the hand and guides h im into the tomb. Behind the m stands the lector priest, and behind the to mb the statue, which is presen t in all t.he scenes. The recitatio n reads: "0 N. , I b ri ng you your loving son. that he may open }'our mouth for yo u !W In scene 32. the "loving son wgoes into action to open the mouth and the eyes: "C..mying OUI the opening of the mouth and eyes, first with the ddft-implemenl, and then with L1le finger of el«trum." The lector priest recites. "0 N., I have attached your mouth for )lOu! This cleaning o ut of the mouth o f your fat.her N. in your name 'Sokar' (etc.) .w In scene 33, there follows the Mo pening ofthe mouth with the little finger,~ in which, as in scene t4 , the sem to uches the mo uth of the staltle ....ith his little fin ger. In scenes 34-39 an d 4 l (40 is a d oublet) various objects are extended to the statue, objects lhal are to have a lifeendowing. Mmouth openingWefTt."1:t: a nemes (scene 34 ), at whose offerin g the chief l«tor priest says, "I clean out yo ur moudl, I open your eyes for )lOu; four 'b.t·grains (35 and 36). at whose o fferi ng it is again said, M clean_ ing out the mouth and the eyes, opening the mouth and the eyes with
C ;.pvrlgnted material
RIT UALS AN I) RIl C IT Al' l ONS
each of the m , twice, ~ the pss-H-fimplcrnem, a kind of flint knife (37) with the words -I have opened yo ur mouth for you with the pss-H f, '....ith which the mouth of every god and co.·ery goddess is opened, - grapes (38), with the wo rds -0 N., take the Eye of Horus, seize it; if you seize it, it will not pass by,· an ostrich feather (39) , with the words -take the Eye of Horus, may your face not be dco.'Oid of it, ~ and a bowl of Woller (
intenni$sion
no. 40
~laughtcriog
no. 43 no. +I 00. 45
IICcnc prl:$entatiQn of the heart and prcscnution or thc leg
I~
opening of the mouth wilh Ih "
acI~
nO. 4 6
The core of the ritual, the opening of the mouth with the leg of the freshly slaughtered bull . is thus carried out twice, which undoubtedly corresponds to an intent of the tomb owner that these two most important scenes stand opposite aile another on the eastenl wall, to the left and right of the entrance. On the southern side, these principal scenes are preceded by the sequen c(:s involving the sleeping SfflI-priest and his dialogue with the artisans. On the northern side, the .scenes are preceded by scenes that conclude the ritual in this version. These begin ....ith scene 55. in which the sen anoints the statue, touching its mouth with the index fmger of his right hand. The following spell is then recited (i n the vcrsion in a monuary liturgy on a papyrus of th e Late Period:'" in to mb 183, only the fi rst three verses are presen 'ed): o Osi ris N., your mother has given birth to you today! You ha\'e been made into one who I;,nO\l., what wall not I;,no,",'Il,
Geb at the head of the corponttion of the Great Ennead has healed you, joining your head to your bones. Then he speab to you, and the Great Ennead among the living hears it on this day.
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C ;.pvrlgnled malenal
R I TUALS ANI} R EC I TAT I ONS
TIle day of burial, striding freely to his tom b. Pcrfonning the Opening of the Mouth at die (... J in the HOll~ of Gold, set upright on the desert soil. ilS lace turned to the solllh , bathed in light on earth on the day of being dothed (i.e., the ~in\'est i lure~). 31
Cen$ing and liooting to Osiris N. in order to open the mou th for the statue of N., it being onellled "ith its face 10 the south on the desert sa nd. May you be balhed in light on the day of being dothed (Le., the ~im'esti lure") !I" The IlIrning of the face towards the south probably means that the mummy or statue was set up at midday, facing th e sun, wh ich was in the south at that hour. Since the procession began in the early moming, at Ihe embalming hall , we must conclude that it arrived at the tomb around 1 2 noon. The mean ing of this setting up of the statue or mummy is that it was bathed in light and "charged" by the rays of the sun. It is thus ofte n stressed in mortuary spells that the mummy is to be ~t up at the entra nce of the tomb "before~ or "for" Re." These fommlas appear at the same point in ti me as the representations: at the end of Dynasl)' 1 8, arou nd 1300 H.C.E. The earliest men tion is in a harper'~ song in the tomb o f the god's father Neferhote p from the re ign o f Aya: Their mummies are setup before Re, while their people mlJurn ceaselessly. Death comes al ilS ti me, Shay (i.e., fate, lifetime) counlS his days." In Theban Tomb 224 , a nd simi larly in the tomb o f the "lZIer Paser (Theban Tomb 106) from the early Ramesside Period, the deceased exprcs-<;es the wish : May my augmt mummy be set up in the sighl of Re and a great alTering placcd at the enlnlncc to my 10mb. Then those in the Seduded Land will say, "See the praised one, N.!~!6 There is cons tant stress on contact with the sunlight. The mummy is SCt up "for~ or "before~ Re, and the entrance. or mo re ofte n, the court (wsb.t) of the 10mb is specified a.~ lhe place wh ere this takes place: Your mummy is set up for Re in the forecourt of)~ur t om b:~
]'8
C ;!pynghted ma1enal
Rituals QfTransition from
H()m~ U!
A text attested in two tombs of the late thirteenth cemury rite with a dear allusion to the Judgment of the Dead: Your
mumm~
70mb
COllneCl~
this
is sel up for Re
ill the court of your tomb. )'Ou being given o\'1.:r to the scale o f the Ilecropolis. May you emerge vindicated ." Here, setting up the mummy in the Court of the tomb was taken as the sigtlal for an enactment of the Judgment of the Dead, which perhaps consisted of a recitation of chapter 125 of the Book of the Dead. This was presumably a repetition of the vindication of the deceased that had been carried out in the framework of the embalming rilUa\. As we ha\'e seen, the forecourt of the tomb is mentioned as the place where these proceedings took place. When we consider the development of the Egyptian monumental tomb in the course of the New Kingdom , we take note of an aston ishing coincidence. Just when the textual formulas describing the setting up of the m umm y and the artistic representatioTUi o f the rites made their appearance, that is, at the end of Dynasty 18, there WdS a change in the 'Ippcarance of the forecoun of the tomh."'l It was now surrounded by a high wall that protected it from the outside world, and often enough, its character as a sacred place was emphasized by pillar.;, decorated fa.;:ades . and stelae. The tomb of Amenemope, which was the starting poim for our treatment of the funeral rituals, furnishes a good example ofl.his new type of court. In this case, the court is sunken, and it is entered by a staircase leading down from the cast. The south, east, and north sides are surrounded by pillar.;, and the pillars o n the 50uth side are decorated v.~th mummiform, mez:w-rilie\'o statues of the LOmb owner, while the pillars of the other twO sides wou ld undoubtedly also have had such statues had their preparation been com pleted. 'nle motif ofseuing up the mummy in the forecourt -before Re- is thus arch itectonically realized in this instance. Tomb 183, which served as our model for the reconstruction of the Opening of the Mouth ritual. also has a richly decorated forecourt . It was entered from a second court through a pylon. O n all sides, including the west side, it is surrounded by pillars, and o n the sides facing the court, these pillars are decorated with figures of the tomb owner. Similar figures flank the fa.;:ade of the entrance to the transverse cham ber (where the Opening of the Mouth ritual is located), as well as the doorway from the transverse chamber to the passage. This change in LOmb architecture serves as an important indication that with the mmsition from Dynasty 18 to Dyn,lsty Ig. not only did the conventio ns of representing the funeral change but also the ritual itself.
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C ;.pvrlgnted malarial
R I TUAL.S AND R f,GITATIONS
Perhaps the mummy had been set up atlhe entrance to the tomb before being buried from time immemorial, o r oil lea'll since the begi nn ing of the New Kingdo m : we have no way of knowing, for the earlier rep resentations do nOt de pict the rillials that were actually carried om but rathe r a son of p ictorial recollection of ule time of origins. Now, however, what actually happened ass umed so much importance that the arc hitecture took note of it and furn ished an appropria te cuhic stage for it. The most important aspect of th e rite was probably the contact with the sunlight. This emerges from the passages cited above, describing how the mummy or statue was set up ~faci n g south,~ and the poi nt is also stressed in mor· lllaf}' spells that refer to this scene of th e Opening of the Mouth at the LOmb: May )'ou stand erect on the sand of Rasetau, may you be greeted when the sun $hines on you SO as 10 carry Out your purification." Your mouth will be opened, your limbs will be purified before Re when he riM!.~ ! May he transfigure you, may he grant that you be rejuvenated,
living alllong the go(bl40 The cult o f the sun flourished in New Ki ngdom Egypt, culminating in late Dynasty 18 and early Dynasty 19, and solar religio n al.'loO grew ever more important in fu nerary beliefs. Tomb owners often had themse h'es represented on the southern thickness of the entrance to their tomb, striding Out to greet the rising sun wi th a hym n. On the opposite th ickness, they re turned illlo their tomb with a hymn to the evening sun or to Osiris." In this way, the to mb decoration expressed the idea of ~gojng forth by day" and l;onnected it with the sun god. During this period, stelae with solar hymns and represelltations of the Open ing of the Mouth ritual were often placed on the fat;:ades of tombs ... 2 1l1e wmb of Amenemope is again a good example of th is practice. Not only d id it have three stelae in front of itS fat;:ade, two on the south side with solar hymns and on e on the north side with a hymn to Osiris, bUl the .'IoOuth side v.'aS itself decorated wi th a representation of the su n god and a lengthy hymn to him.'" The motif of the deceased's association V.ilh the sun god, which played .'100 great a role in the transfi guration texts of this period , found its iconographic and architectonic expression in this tomb. Its ritual expressio n , howeve r, was in the rite of setting up the mummy "before Re." Also co nnected with this motif wa.~ the practice of setting up stelae decorated with sun hyrn ns and represe nta tions of the Opening of the MOUlh ritual in the forecourts of tombs. in front of the fa,ade , as fint attested in the reign of Amenophis III. Association with lh e sun god. which played )'0
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Rituals oJ Transition Jrom Honu to Tomb
so great a role in the transfiguration spells, had its cultic equi\'alent in this rite: setti ng up the mummy in frOllt o f the entrance to th e tomb was thus well suited to the period in which it was fi rsl mentioned and repres<:nlc..-d. The rile can also be connected "'ith a tradition dating back to the Pyrnmid Texts, from !he period when the Opening of the Mo uth ritual is also first m entioned. Pyramid Texts spell 222 is especially well suited to !he fram ework of a comparable rile. Here, tOO, !he deceased , in the fonn o f a statue, coffin, o r mummy, stands face to face with the sun . This spell ste ms from the liturgywhosc initial spells ( 2 13 - 216) were cited in chapte r 6. I cite it here in a versio n from a tomb of Dynasty 18, from which it is d ear that it W'dS also used in the cult a t this time: May you stand up on it, on this land from which Attlm emerged , on th e spUlum that came OUI of Kh epfe r. May rou cOllie into being on it, mar you come on h igh on it, 50 Ihat )'Our father sees }'Ou, 50 that Re: sees you.
The stanza that follows is addressed to the sun god, d escribing !he deceased, who has been set up in front of him: He has come to )'Ou, his father, He has coml; to you , 0 RI;. He: has come to }'Ou, his father, he: has come to you, 0 Ndj." He: has come to you, h is father, he has come to you, 0 Dndrl. ~ He has come to you, his father, he has come to rou, 0 Great Wild Bull . He has come to you, his father, he has come to }'Ou, 0 Great Reed float. He has come }UU, his fath er. he: hall come to you, 0 Equipped Onc. He has come to yo u, his fathe r, he h a5 come 10 you. 0 Sharp-toothc..'
The next Slan zas once ag"din address the deceased , describing his partic. ipation in the course o f the sun . The first depicts his as~ialion with the
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Ritllals of Transition from HOlM to Tomb (J;nm-jln), consisted of a procession in which the Slatues were Iaken to the
tem ple roof on specified occasions and set out in the sunlight." Here , th e illumination by the sunlight seems to have taken the place of the Opening of the Mouth ritual and its consecrating, life-end ov.-ing function. This h istory of transmission , which spanned three mille nnia, re...eals a creative powe r that began with the royal and then the nomoyal funerary cults and finally extended to the temple cult of the gods. The setti ng up of mummies before Re and his shining down on them was thus alread y an imporlant, even centr.l.l ri te, one that was enti rely independent o f the further ri tes that were carried o ut o n the mummy after it was set up. 111I!SC consisted first of all of a purification scene that we often see rep resented in the tombs. In this rite, water was poured o ...e r th e mummy fro m the so-called mmstljars. In a mortuary spell that appears above a rep resenlatio n of the Jt'ntopriest and the mourners in Theban Tomb 23, the rite is described in delail: May you stand up on the sand of Rasetau," may you be greeted when th e sun shin<."S on )'ou. and may your purification be carried out for you as a dail y pe rformance . May Nun purity you. may cool water come forth for )'O u fro m Elephantine. may you be: greeted ,,"i ul the 1lt'IUdjar. l'dke incense for yourself, re<:e i\'e lIatron ! May the divine words purify }'01I,!.< may )'Qur mouth be open ..-ct by Ule chisel of Plah ."" May your 1,,"'0 eyes be: ope ned for you. May Ihe requirements or all arislocral be brought to you,:OS 5(1 thaI their "'Ork can be carried o ul for you. May the lectOr priest come 10 you wiUI his book roll5" and ule ,iD",pliest with his Ir.!.nsfiguration spells. May the pit.'C~ of carpentry be grallled to yo u by Plah, namely, th e cheSI, provided with its implenll:nL~. ~ May Anubis place his arms 011 you, may thejunNIlw. t=f pricst~ Jibate for you. May the Great Mo urning Birds (i.e. , mounting wome n playi ng the rolC$ o f Isis and Nephthys) cOllie to you and punish your enemies. The $ ~.mr .f·prie$t stands in fro m of the lomb be h illd you. May the four-threaded cloth that Tayl has WO\'ell cOllie 10 )'Qu. May your phean mount up to il$ place for you and may )'Ollr /I~. tj-hearl be as il was. May your body be transfigured , and may your b~ ~ d i\1ne. May )'Ou keep company \\11h Ihe god in th e sky. May the sky belong to your bl, may the ne therworld belong to )'Our corpse. 60
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R ITUALS AN D Rt: C IT A'J'ION S
May linen belong to your mummy and breath be at you r n ose. thaI you not suITOCItc:. 61 May you re new yourself dailf" and assume any fonn you ....ish, May )"Ou emerge as a li\ing I:>~. c) Offering of the Heart and Leg The cen tral rite of the Opening o f the r..louth ritual was celebrated with an offeri ng. which we shilll consider in some detail here. This was an u nusually ghastly offering scene, first attested in tombs and Book of the Dead papyri from after the Amarna Period. A foreleg of a living calf was amp utated while its mother stood beh ind it, mo urning her you ng with upraised head and her tongue stuck out. A priest weill running with the leg, carrying it to the mummy: evideOlly, it was important that it be preseilled while it "''as still waml with life. Sometimes, a second slaughter was depicted , and another prie~ t went runni ng to the mu mmy with a heart. In twO tom bs, this 5Cene has a caption from which it emerges that not o nly did the wann fles h of the calf playa role in this rite but also the mournful bello....
Both of these, the fres h meat and the bellowing o f the bereaved cow, which was illlerpreted as mournin g over the deceased , were supposed w have a life.endowing, ~ m otlth-ope n ing~ elTect on the mummy. Among UIt: scenes of the Opening of the Mouth Ri tual, as we ha\'C seen, it is the scen es of slaughtering and o f pr(.'SCnting the hcart and leg that occur twice. 6oI In each case, the presentation of the heart and leg is followed immediately by the central scenes of the entire ritual, the "opening of the mo u th~ with the carpenter's tool specific to that purpose. Though the texts that accompany the arc haic ritual are unclear, they fu rnish indications as to the meaning o f the slaughtering scene , which does nO[ sen "e to feed ule statue but rathe r to endow it wiul life, A, usual, the slaugh ter of the an imal is explained as punishment of the enemy. The \\-'oman playing the role o f Isis whispers inw the ear of the offering animal, wh o evidcntly represenl~ Seth, that he has brought the judgment on himself. This statement alludes to the scene in the H ouse o f the Nobles at H cliopolis, where Seth , attempting to defend himselfbcfore the gods, tries to shift the blame lO his offering and in UI C p rocess signs h is own death warrant (Pyramid spell 477, see chapter 3).~
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Riluals of Transilion from
Ho~
10 Tomb
Kene 23 = 4 3: Sem.prU5t laying a hand o n the male Upper Egyptian s«.-er. Shlugh/em'. de$Cending on it, remo\ing its leg, taking out its hearL RI:ci/ing in its ear by the ~Grea t Kitc~ (i.e .. Isis as mourning .....oman ): ~It is your lips that han: done this to rou through the cleverness of your mouth !~
Bringing a goat: cUlting ofT its head. Bringing a goose; cutting ofT its head.
It is said lO the e nem y incorporated in the animal to be slaughte red that he has pronounced his own judgmcnl!66 In the scenes that follo,"", the leg and heart are g iven lO two priests, who hurfl' to the statue ....ilh them. It is thus clear thal this is still a malter of the cow-calf scenes, in which the speed of the delh'ery plays so great a ro le: Scene 24 = 44: Slaughlr.rtr. giving the leg to the chief lector priest, the heart to the SDIIn. The heart is thus in the ha nd of the SCI1/U, the leg in the hand of the chief lector priest. They run quickly "ith them. 61 Laying the leg and the heart down before N. &rita/Um: Take the leg, the Ere of Horus! I have brought you the heart that was in him (i.e .. Seth). Do not approach that god!
I ha\"e brought you the goat, its head cut off. I have brought you I..he goose, its head cut oil. Just what this offering rite is about is made clear in the scene that follows. The severed , h as tily deli\'ered leg is held to lhe face of the statue so that the still warm vital energy streaming out of it will open its mouth and eyes, that is, e ndow it with life. There is an allusion lO Seth , in the third person and without m e ntio n of his n ame, an allusion that acquires meaning only from the scene with the cow and the calr:611 scene 115 '= 45 Sem-Priat and Chi4l«/1Jr J.rtWl: Taking the leg, opening the moulh and eyes. Illriting: 0 N .. I have come in S(:,lrch of )"ou (to e mbrace you) ! I am Hon.l.'l, and I have supplied your mouth. I am your beloved 5011 , and I ha\'e opened your mouth for you. How he (i.e., Sel.h, I.he animal being offered ) is slain ror his mother, ..... ho bewails him, how slain he is for his companion. Ho ..... hng (the meaning or this word is unknown ) is yo ur mouth l I have fil. )'Our mouth on your bom..'$. o N.t I have: opened your mouth ror you "ith th e leg/ Eye of Horus!
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RI TUALS AND RI!. C ITAT10N S
The offering of a heart and leg is also mentioned in mortuary spells of the New Kingdom . It is dear that this was n Ot j ust a rite connected with a ritual that endowed a statue with life, but that in a more general sense, it had 10 do wilh bringing the deceased h imself to life: A leg is c ut off for you;
a leg is cut off for yo ur A:a. and a ~ l .tj-heart for )'our mummy." In an oft-attested texlthat accompanied food o fferings , lhe rite that interl'SlS us herc is mentioned in the fourth stanza: An offering litany with incen$l:: will be brought 10 at the cntrdnce to your 10mb. A fordeg will be cut ofT for your Iw, and a heart for )'Qur mummy. May your btl go abo\-e and your COrp5(: below:'"
)'OU
The rite is expressly conn«ted with the Opening of the Mouth in the fo llowing mortuary spell: Opening of lhe Mouth and rejoicing for yo ur 1ro in e\'ery beautiful place. while the stm-prie$t carries out the (ritual) of Opening the Mouth and the Great Leader of the Craftsmen exalts your ka. Maya leg be cuI off for your ba. tllat it may be divinc in tllC realm of the d ead.' l The essential poilll is thai this presentation of the h eart and leg, which is carricd oUllwice during the Opening of the Mouth rilUal. has nothing to do with an o rdinilry food offering. This offering occu rs later: after a series of censi ngs and libations (scenes 58-64) . the offering mcal (scenes 65-'70) serves as the crowning poilll of this last segmcnt of the funeral. In mOSt representations. we thus sec not only the Opening of the Mouth implcmenlli in fro nt o fthc dC(:cascd bUI also a huge pile of o fferings. This offering is both an e nd and a beginning: it completes the procession to the to mb, and it inauguraLCs the offering cull thaI from now o n will be regularly carried OUl in thc LOmb. Scene 71 i~ a censing for Re-Harakhty, an aCI Ihat agolin integrates the ritual perfonnance into the c:ourse of the sun . The priest addresses a litany invoking maat ORe. lord of ,mull! 0 Re, who liw:$ on maaJ! ORe, who rejoices o\'er maa~ 0 Re. who 10\'1:5
",aa~
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RI T U AL S A ND R': C ITATION S
Car l")i ng by nin e $mnll. .f1III"W. C'.lrry him 011 ~'our arms! R«;ilaljqn: 0 son.'! of Horus, hurry with your fath er, carry him. He is not LO be far from )'Q u, carry hi m! O N ., Hol'lls has placed you r children ull der you, that th ey may C'drry you and th at you may have powe r ove r th em. o you SOilS of Horus, Im5(:t, Ha pi, Duamutef, Qebe hs.e nuf! Hurl')' ,,;t1l your father! He is no t to be far frOIll you. O N., t,hey carry you like Sokar in m e hnllffia rque. It (the barque) ele\'atC5 ~'O u as a god in your name Sokar. ON., you are embrdced; )'Ou have power ove r Uppe r and Lowe r Eg)-'Pt as this HOnJ~, wiul who m you are un itt:d.7:I
o
This Ke n e occ u rs in a numbe r of Middl e and New Ki ngdo m to m bs. H Playing th e role o f th e n in e frie n ds, the SO IlS o f H orus also carry th e corpse o f O sir is in lh e r itua l of the Osiri s ch apels a t De ndilra: The gud is theJl carried in on Ul cir sho ulders. o n those of th e so ns of Horus. whose name refers to nine gods.1) Thi.~
act co n cluded t h e fu n eral ri tu al. Mte r bein g SCt up befo re Re in the forecou rt o f the tomb, th e m umm y was again placed in ilS coffin , wh ich WolS transfe rred fro m th e sledge to ca r ryi n g poles. A gro up of partici pants lifted it onto t h eir sh o u ld e rs and carrie d it from th e fOI'C(:o u rt to t h e sarco phagus chamber. In a re p r esentation in the Middle Ki n gd o m LOm b of Illyotefoqer (The ban To mb 60), this K e n e occ u rs in front of th e e ntrance to th e tomb, wh e re the mU Il·d an ce rs g~eted th e coffin . AI th e beginn in g o f th is ch a p te r. we cite d texIS that m e n ti o n t.h eir d an ce. In th e tomb of Ame n em h e t (The ban To m b 82) fro m th e re ign of Tuthmosis rn , the scen e occu rs in front of th e fa lse d oor, in th e in terior of ule tomb. 7t At th e end , the co ffi n was bro u ght to its p roper place in th e sarcop h agus c h ,un ber. T h e ~ frie n ds~ and - royal d e pe n dents" the n too k. the coffi n and p laced it on a sledge. Two p r iests look IU m s dra ggi n g th e sledge, o n e to th e south and the oUle r to th e n o nh , ullIi l it reach e d its final position. III th e tomb o f Rekhmir e , we re ad the fo llo win g: To be spoke n by ule Ii:lHCf\".lnt: It is I who drag it to the SC/um ! To be spoke n by th e embalme r: It is I who drag it to the north!" III th e 10mb of Me lllu h e rkho p shef (The ban To m b 20), this scene occ u rs in a space tha t might well re p rest:1lI th e sarcophag us c h amber. Seven
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{CHAPTER .'QU RTEENI
Provisioning the Dead
here were two important frameworks for the r«itation of m ortua!)' liturgies: the rites in tile embalming chamber during the night before the funeral and the offering service in the cult place in the tomb. The Egyptian expression for -morlua!), offering," translated literally into English, is "coming Out at the voice."l The idea ....'as that at the sound o f the mortua!), priest's voice, the ba of the d«eascd would Mcome out~ from the netherworld. the sky. or wherever it was conceived of as being, and re
T
May my ba emerge, al the sound of its monmuy pri<.""SI, to recd\"~ the offering th at has been brought to it.)
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ProvisWning the Dmd We can thus see that in Egypt, a mortuary offering \\-'as first and foremost a matter of speech and sound. The offering rite en tailed a recitation, and it was this verbal act thaI made the difference. In this chapter, I wish to presen t some well·attested spells that we re recited at the making of offerings. They all have a similar structure; invitations to the deceased to ready himself 10 receive offerings: 2. fonnulas for presenting the o fferin gs (~ta ke to yo urself ... ~); 3. mentio n of further actions of the deceased tha t result fro m receiving the offering and represent the ~sacramenta l explanation- of the offeri ng. 1.
Sometimes, there is also 4. a ~cond uding text- in which the officiant speaks o f himself and his activities on beh alf of the deceased.
There are hundreds of spells structured according to this scheme. The fo llowing three spells, which I would like to presen t in some detail, h,we been selected because of the freq ue ncy of thei r occurrences. From thei r popularity, it can be concluded mat they are typical and representative of this form of mortuary liturgy.
f.
Pyramid 1als SJxU 37J
The first spell is [rom the Pyram id Texts. It is first attested in the pyramid o fTeti and is then repeatedly attested down into the lat.cr periods o f Egyptian h istory. This spel1 also occurs in the con text of a mo rtuary liturgy that we shal1 nOt treat in its entirety here. s Raise yourself. Osiris N.! take you r head, gather your bones, collect your lim bs. shake: the: soil from )'
You wi ll step op before the door·leaves that keep out the subjl.'(;t.s, and Khenti·menutef wi ll go out to you to take yoo by the hand and lead )'Ou to the ~ky, 10 you r father Ceb. ))'
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R I T UA L S AND RE C ITATION S
He "ill rejoil:e at your prdence and exte nd hi$ arms to yo u. He will kiss you and feed you and place you at the head of the transfigured spirits, the imperishable o nes. Those with hidden places will wors hip you. the great ones will gather around you, and th e guardians \">111 stand up before you. I ha\'e ull"e$lll:d barley and reaped em mer for yo u. Ulat I may arrange your monthly festival "ith Ulem and arrange )'Our full moon festi V'.t1 with them, as your fathe r Ceb has commanded to be done for you . Raise
~'l)urself,
Osio., N., )'OU have /lo t died!
The text is divided into three stanzas of 7, 5, and 7 verses, to which the re is added a concluding text of 5 verses. T he first stanza consists of motifs I and 2, that is, th e invitation to the deceased LO come and receive the offering and the fonn ula for presenting the ite ms offered. The second and third stanzas are dC'o'oted to the third motif, the sacramental explanation of the offering, which thus takes up by far the most space in th is spell . The last verse of the concluding text refers back to the first verse of the spell, repeating the invitation to the dcceast.'
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Provisioning Iht fkud put a piece of meat in yo ur mouth; panake of your ribjoin u in the sky in the com pany of th e gods.:
Ano the r text adds the motif of th e bread tha t is 1I0t to grow moldy and the beer tha t is n Ot to grow so u r:8 Raise you ~lf, 0 N. here, take your water, gathe r )"Qur bones, get up on yo ur feel, tr.I.nsfig\lred at the head of the tr.msligured Ollb! Raise yourself to this bread of yO Ul-s thaI does nOt gro.... mOldy and to )"O\Ir beer Ihal does no t g row sour.' The fo llo wing verses begin a spell for presentin g the deceased with fo ur jugs o f wa ter, evidemly to pur ify h im: Stand up, rdise you rsel f, 0 my fa ther N., gathe r )'our bones, ta ke your limhs, shake the soil from your fl esh, take tJu:se four 1It'msd'jars, filll.""({ to the brim.' o Ano the r spell begins wi th a presentation of water and incense: Rai'}C )'Uurself, 0 N. there, gather you r bon ~, heslir your mem bers, your \\"dle r comes from Elep ha ntine, your ince nse from the palace of the goo Y The same formu las occur whe n mo re subs tan tial offerings afe presented , fOr example , meal: Raise yourself, 0 N. there, gather yo ur bones, take your head , Ihe Ennead has commanded that )"OU be seated 0.1 )"Our j·w,. bread and that you ("Ul ofT an ox's leg on the great ~laughle ri nK hl oc:k, for the ribjoinu ha\'e been placed for yo u on the slaughte ring block of Osiri$.!l This combinatio n of m o tifs, so typicdl of the Pyram id Tex ts, d oes not occu r later in texts h aving to do wi th food offcrin g5. We mig ht see in th is )))
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