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in this issue:

2 Editor: Amgad Refai

E-mail: [email protected]

Published by:Al-Hadara Publishing

Cairo, Egypt

www.alhadara.comE-mail: [email protected]

Fax: (20 2) 3760 58 98

The Heritage of EgyptVolume 2 Number 2 Issue 5

May 2009

The history, archaeology,and legacy of Egypt

© Al-Hadara Publishing

The Publisher and the Editor are notliable for statements made and opinions

expressed in this publication.

Legal Deposte No. 18063/2008

Per Medjat 40

In Preparation forRegenerationDr. Filip Coppens 33

Ancient Egyptianfunerary practicesMladen Tomorad

29Eternal YouthLise Manniche

Reviving the LostAncient Egyptian Artof SarcophagusMakingChristian De Vartavan 3

From The Editer

editor’s letter e.fh10 5/31/09 11:02 AM Page 1

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Year 21, first month of the second season,twenty-first day, under the majesty of the Kingof Upper and Lower Egypt: Usermare-Setepnere, Son of Re: Ramses-Meriamon, givenlife, forever and ever, beloved of Amon-Re-Horakhte, Ptah-South-of-His-Wall, lord of "Life-of-the-Two-Lands," Mut, mistress of Ishru, andKhonsu-Neferhotep; shining upon the Horus-throne of the living, like his father, Horakhte,forever and ever. On this day, his majesty wasat the city (called): "House-of-Ramses-Mer iamon," per for ming t he pleasingceremonies of his father, Amon-Re-Horakhte-Atum, lord of the Two Lands of Heliopolis;Amon of Ramses-Meriamon, Ptah of Ramses-Meriamon, " great in strength, son of Mut,"according as they gave to him eternity inj u b i l e e s ,everlastingness inpeaceful years, alll a n d s , a n d a l lc o u n t r i e s b e i n gprostrate beneathhis sandals forever.There came t heking's messenger,t he deputy andbutler, together witht h e k i n g ' sm e s s e n g e r[bringing (?) to theking] Ramses II [themessenger (?)] of[Kheta, Ter teseb]and the [secondmessenger (?)] ofKheta [bearing (?) asilver tablet] which

the great chief of the Kheta, Khetasar (xtAsrA)[caused] to be brought to Pharaoh, to cravepeace [fro]m [the majesty] of the King of Upperand Lower Egypt, Ramses II, given life, foreverand ever, like his father, Re, every day. Copyof the silver tablet, which the great chief of

Kheta, Khetasar (xtAsArA) caused to be broughtto Pharaoh, by the hand of his messenger,

Terteseb (tArAtysbw), and his messenger,Ramose, to crave peace from the majesty ofRamses II, the Bull of rulers, making hisboundary as far as he desires in every land.

From the Egyptian version of the peacetreaty between Ramses II and Hattusili III(After Breasted)

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From The Editor

Christian de Vartavan.fh10 5/31/09 11:25 AM Page 1

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Since the beginning of the Old Kingdomand for over three thousand years, ancientEgyptians used woods, mineral pigments,plasters and binders of various kinds, as wellas varnishes to build “boxes” meant to protectthe bodies of their deceased ones. This, withthe aim to help these defunct souls fare acrossthe Netherworld and live hereafter in theAmenta and its “Fields of Ialou”; which is tosay the Egyptian version of paradise. Theseobjects are now known as “sarcophagus”(plural “sarcophagi”), a word said to originatefrom the Greek “flesh eater” or “coffin”. Atfirst simply square, sarcophagi became withtime very elaborated, adopting forms imitatingparts of the humans bodies and very elaboratereligious decorations. With the result thatsome of them reached such a level oftechnological and artistic sophistication thatthey are considered as masterpieces of the artworld.

The art of making a or“Lord of Life”, or a , – from theword qrs “to bury” - the main ancient Egyptiannames for “sarcophagus” and “coffin” died

with the disappearance of ancient Egyptianreligion; although some later realisations ofthe Ptolemaic and Christian periods clearlyinspired themselves from their pharaonicforebears whether at the technical or religiouslevel. In the course of three thousand years ofacquired empirical experience to build thesebeautiful creations, for the hundreds ofthousands of bodies which they aimed topreserve, ancient Egyptian artists developeda technological and technical know-how thesophistication of which is increasinglystupefying us and which in many aspectsremain not short of unknown. Consideringthe various artistic schools which must haveexisted in Memphis, Thebes, Sais or evenAlexandria, and considering that every master– as today - had its own manufacturing secrets,this is perhaps not surprising. Yet as we shallsee the careful study of the basic materialsonce employed in the manufacture of ancientEgyptian sarcophagi has since a few yearsunravelled new data, in turn further revealingunforeseen technological dimensions. Withthe result that a first attempt to reconstruct

Reviving the Lost Ancient Egyptian Art ofSarcophagus Making

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Christian De Vartavan1

1- Dr. Christian Tutundjian de Vartavan, Director, Armenian Egyptology Centre, 7th Floor, TheRectorate, 1, Alex Manoogian Street, Yerevan State University; Yerevan 0049, Armenia, 00 374 1055 82 32, e-mail: [email protected], http://a-egyptology.atspace.com or http://www.armenian-egyptology-centre.org, www.ysu.am. Acknowledgment is given to Mrs Ingeborg Waanders, Holland,for proofing the present article.

Varnished Sarcophagus of Khonsu-Ms (21st dynasty – Deir el Bahari), Victoria Museum,Uppsala –Courtesy of Mr Geoffrey Metz, Curator).

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from scratch an ancient Egyptian sarcophagusis now and for the first time realistically withinreach. This is precisely the goal of our statevalidated “thematic research”, started inSeptember 2007, which aims to reconstruct inArmenia not one but two New Kingdomsarcophagi so as to, within the frame ofexperimental archaeology, trigger severalscientific discoveries in the disciplines andfields involved in this reconstruction.

As already stated elsewhere2, anyone cantake some wood, some plaster, some oil oracrylic paints and some modern varnish tomake a an “ancient Egyptian” sarcophagus.In the past many cabinet makers worldwidehave produced good to very good lookingancient Egyptian objects, such as, for example,the replicae of the Tutankhamun objectsexhibited a few months ago in Zurich(Switzerland). The material and techniquesused for their manufacture have however verylittle to do with those employed by ancientEgyptian workers and artists - if not for a startbecause many of these are still debated or evenunknown in certain cases.

Reconstructing an ancient Egyptiansarcophagus - such as we are employingourselves with within the frame of our“Sarcophagus Project” - is in fact no lessdifficult than replaying one of many existingpartitions of classic music, parts of whichwould need rediscovering.

The wood cannot be any wood but one usedin ancient Egypt for such purpose. The gessoes- that is the surfaces applied over the woodprior to its painting - must consist of the matterwhich ancient Egyptian “plasterers” applied.The pigments need to be those employed byancient Egyptian artists, hence naturalpigments; the varnishes equally. Moreover,the tools used should be those once utilized,and the artistic techniques near as much aspossible those acquired and practiced byancient Egyptian craftsmen throughout theirlives; which is to say that the mastery of thereed-pen and palm made brushes should bereached. All in all an extremely difficult task,as even if the wood is easily found, the gessoes,natural organic and inorganic pigments aswell as techniques need to be reconstructed,whereas ancient Egyptian varnishes so farretain as we shall see a part of mystery.Moreover, the art of coffin making varied notonly from one artistic school to another, butalso across time – producing a wide variety ofsarcophagi, usually recognizable in relationto their time and place of origin.

The “Sarcophagus Project” was initiallytriggered by a simple request concerning thetypical yellowing of 21st dynasty sarcophagi,from our colleague Edward Loring of theCentre for Egyptological Studies of the RussianAcademy of Sciences (CESRAS) now ourpartner in this research program. As formerlystated by Elisabeth Delange curator at theLouvre Museum:

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2- See the undersigned’s edito in the online AEC-Newsletter No. 8 (December 15, 2008), page 1 athttp://a-egyptology.atspace.com

Egyptian Blue cake, made of malachite, quartzand other ingredients, prepared YSU Armenian

Egyptology Centre before firing.

Purer Egyptian Blue obtained in Yerevan StateUniversity after several experiments.


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“Since the discovery of a wholeseries of coffins of this [21st dynasty]category in [the cache of] Deir-elBahari, all curators, all Egyptologistssince the beginning of the centuryponder on the varnish [of thesesarcophagi]…What was the real color[of this 21st dynasty varnish], whatwas the desired effect, was thisvarnish aimed to reproduce the colorand glittering of gold or was it usedfor conservation purposes?

Since our Armenian EgyptologyCentre specializes on the plant worldof ancient Egypt, including basic plantmaterial, and since science showed afew years ago these varnishes to bepartly made of a resin issued fromone or more Pistacia tree species (thesame family to which the truepistachio tree belongs), the variousquestions attached to the yellowingof the coffins interested us. Thesequestions are much less why thisyellowing? A question which recentchemical studies have answered byshowing the oxidization processesdarkening varnishes remaining in theobscurity of tombs for centuries.Rather, the unsolved question of the exactcomposition of these varnishes, as well as theirwell known alteration of the natural pigmentswhich ancient Egyptian applied on coffins,since these varnishes often turned the originalwhite, red and blue pigments in respectively:yellow, dark red or brown, as well as dark blueto green.

It was thus first decided that an in depthresearch on these Pistacia based varnishesshould be conducted, with the aim ofreconstructing them for “real” and thereafterapply them on ancient Egyptian pigments -equally reconstructed - to measure theirchemical interactions over a long period.Thereafter sprung naturally the idea toreconstruct entirely one or two ancientEgyptian sarcophagi, and thus give a re-birthto a long vanished art. We also thought – inrelation to ancient Egyptian art and technology– that these reconstructed 21st dynastysarcophagi would be first class tools foreducational purposes.

Until now the reconstruction of an ancientEgyptian sarcophagus was for a start hinderedby three major obstacles. Firstly, the artisticcapacity of the makers (particularly concerningcarpenters or draughtsmen where much skillis required for their work) as, as just statedabove, the mastery of the reed-pen and brushesneeds to be reached so as to be able to draw

Firing of Egyptian Blue cakes in red hot oven inYerevan State University.

Firing of Egyptian Blue cakes in red hot oven in Yerevan StateUniversity –Edward Loring and Christian de Vartavan.


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the Egyptian “line”. Secondly, technologicalknow-how since not only a mastery of themaking of ancient Egyptian blue is needed,but also of ancient Egyptian varnishes someingredients of which and its principle ofmanufacture remaining unknown.

Reconstruction of Egyptian blue andother ancient Egyptian pigments

Where Egyptian Blue is concerned, it haslong been established that since early timesancient Egyptians discovered (or learnt fromabroad) the art of cindering in red hot ovenscopper oxides – which are available in naturein the form of natural copper ores or of themineral malachite –with silicates, such as sandor natural quartz. To make it clearer, theydiscovered how to melt (fuse would be a betterword) minerals like malachite and quartz –using natron and calcium carbonates asadditives and reacting agents. This, so as to beable to transform a green looking sandy paste,in a variety of blue pastes with deep orglittering tones which once crushed produceblue pigments of various density and purity.

Egyptian Blue (CaCuSi4O10), Loring and theauthor were successful to recreate in November2008 within the premises of Yerevan StateUniversity Faculty of History’s ArchaeologyLaboratory. Against further evidence this is

the first time in moderntimes that this synthesis ism a d e o n A r m e n i a nterritory, whereas very fewinstitutions worldwide haveattempted and succeeded inthis endeavor. The creationof this synthetic bluepigment – a difficult processnecessitating a just balancebetween each component ata right temperature above800° Celsius - is one of theg reatest technologicalachievements of antiquityand one of t he f irstsynthetic processes andproducts in the history ofmankind. Our center’sc a p a c i t y to p r o d u c eEgyptian Blue pigmentsremoves a heavy obstacle

against the reconstruction and decoration ofthe sarcophagi.

At the same time further successfulexperiments for the making of the other basiccolors - green, yellow, white and black (or evenrarer colors) were made, following initialcollecting of the wide range of minerals usedby ancient Egyptians, such as steatite, realgar,orpiment, etc.. Once gathered, these basicminerals were crushed in the laboratory or inour centre with a hammer or a bronze pestle,so as to thereafter mixed them with a plantgum to bind and transform them into useablepigments.

First experiment with gesso

At that stage appeared the necessity toemulate an ancient Egyptian gesso – that isthe white plastering spread on the sarcophagi’swood and on which decorations were drawnand painted. A first experiment using amixture of cow-dung and earth, thereafterplastered three times with layers of puregypsum, was made. However, a simplerexperiment of sizing the wood with rabbit orfish glue prior to applying various types ofgypsum layers – as seems to have been usedfor Nsi-Khonsu’s 21st dynasty coffin in Cairo- is currently in the waiting.

First experiment with red ochre and stick by C. de Vartavan – detail ofa scene from Ouserhat’s tomb reproduced on a wall in construction of

Yerevan State University. Photo E. Loring.


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Reconstruction of the technique ofreed-pen drawing and mastery of the artof ancient Egyptian draughtsmanship

First experiments with twigs collected inthe wild during one of our many recentbotanical expeditions allowed the author, whois also a draughtsman, to experiment with line-making using a natural ferrous oxide,otherwise known as red ochre (Fe2O3), similarto that existing up to this day in the wadis ofthe Aswan area. Under an imposed timeconstraint of less than five minutes, and a freehand since ancient Egyptian artists had tocover rapidly large surfaces of preparatorydrawings, the author succeeded in recreatinga detail of a scene from the tomb of Userhat.Despite the relative accuracy of the drawing –considering that this was a first attempt – theexercise made us understand that the exact

species of reed should be retrieved for moreprecision. By chance we discovered that thesame common reed species (Phragmitescommunis L.), with which ancient Egyptiansoften made their pens, grows wild along theancient river of Yerevan. Following the cuttingof a series of stems, a reserve of potential penswere made, some of them thereaftersharpened to remake the same drawing, butthis time with a greater degree of accuracy.The pen and ochre experiment was againrepeated to draw a detail of a scene from Tomb101 (Thebes) showing a young donkey – thistime with more than satisfactory accuracy.

T h e r e m a i n i n g s t e p , w h e r edraughtsmanship is concerned, will be toreconstruct ancient Egyptian brushes similarto the surviving examples scattered acrossmuseums. This, so as to spread in the verysame manner as ancient Egyptian artists did

the pigments in the red preparatorylines – so as to obtain the same brush-marks which are sometimes observedin the colors decorating sarcophagi.

Progresses and discovery in thereconstr uction of ancientEgyptian varnishes and theirhistory

The third major obstacle, and aformidable one, is the reconstructionof an ancient Egyptian varnish. Ifpublished chemical identifications ofresins found in ancient Egyptianfunerary or field archaeology contextsa r e s u b s t a n t i a l , c h e m i c a lidentifications of ancient Egyptianvarnishes are extremely rare. For whatis published, whether performed inEngland or in France analyses agreeon two points. First and as statedabove, some Pistacia resin was oftenemployed for their manufacture;second, they are a mixture of differentingredients as traces of other resins,wax or fats are detected by the variousspectrographic techniques employedfor these same analyses.

Concerning the Pistacia resin, anddespite what is sometimes stated inthe literature, there is as yet no proofof the exact species used. The best twoOne of Egyptian Blues obtained in YSU transformed

in a blue pigment.


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candidates for the source of the resin are themastic tree (Pistacia lentiscus L.) – often cited– and the Mount Atlas mastic (Pistacia atlanticaDesf.) The former in fact yields very little orno resin, except for the famous Chios varietyfound only in the southern part of the Aegeanisland bearing the same name. The possibilitythat some of it was already imported fromthere in remote times – or from the north-western coast of Egypt and Libya where it isalso found - should however not be excluded.In the same way as it is possible that the resinof another species – the Bombay Mastic (P.khinjuk) - which thrives at the top of Sinaimountains could theoretically be used. It ishowever more likely that the resin used wasthat of the Mount Atlas mastic. A tree whichthrives not only in Sinai – some fragments ofits wood and fruits were found in the Hathortemple in Timnah (New Kingdom;) – but allthe way to the Levant, as well as in Libya. Thisis one of the reasons why last June 2008 N.Garibian and the author organized a botanicalexpedition to Jerusalem where wild or plantedstands of this tree are found, to collect its resin

as well as that of nearly all other Pistaciaspecies which ancient Egyptian could haveused. With these resins now in our referencecollection, we will soon start reconstructing aseries of ancient Egyptian varnishes,particularly as we have made a decisiveadvance in this respect.

This advance concerns the second aspecton which science agrees, i.e. the mixedcomposition of ancient Egyptian varnishes.Luckily, a unique papyrus discovered in Deirel Medineh (Upper Egypt) provides the recipeto make a New Kingdom varnish. It is a letterof carpenter Maanakhtef to the scribe of thevizier of Amenmose asking him for the threeingredients necessary to prepare the varnish(mrht/mrhw in ancient Egyptian) of a coffinhe wished to finish; the text running as follows:

“..look, I am now decorating the small innercoffin and the lid. The which you broughtis completely finished. Please bring , ,& so that I may prepare varnish [ ]"

It may be noticed that the varnish is indeedas chemical science revealed it a mixture.Science in fact also revealed that the resindiscovered in Canaanite containers found inAkhenaton’s capital – Amarna – was Pistaciaresin. A most welcome identification as thelids of many of these containers were inscribedwith the name . The same mentioned in Maanakhtef’s letter and whichEgyptology long knows to be a resin which canalso be burned as incense. This discoveryestablishes one of the three ingredients –Pistacia resin - as necessary to make a New

Kingdom varnish, but what of and

?

Following our examination of the nature ofthe two other ingredients, we were able tomake a first simple but very decisive advance.Epigraphists long understood that wassome kind of wax and it may there be againnoticed that this fits with science whichidentified some “wax” in ancient varnishes;but which as wax sources are many? Thisparticular question raised, we turned to ourcolleague Dimitri Meeks of MontpellierUniversity (France), a leading expert on ancientEgyptian lexicography, and asked if this “wax”could not precisely be “beeswax”. Particularlyas to this day it is used with mastic to makesome Renaissance-type varnishes. The answer

Resin exuding from the Atlantic Mastic Tree(Pistacia atlantica).


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came swiftly as Meeks could immediatelyconfirm that “ ” was indeed “beeswax”since Papyrus Salt 825 clearly states that is produced by the bee together withhoney. With this reply a second of the threeingredients was thus identified, opening amajor door for the identification of the mostmysterious mny, a word for which so far veryfew and contradictory translations exist, andwhich we are currently examining. In themeantime for whoever knows ancient recipesfor varnish making, if two of the ingredientsare mastic and beeswax, the third shouldlogically be some sort of solvent. Very probablyturpentine as also issued from another Pistaciaspecies found in the Levant, the terebinth tree(Pistacia terebinthus).

The problem is that according to ourknowledge of pharaonic technology, artistsdid not know about solvents such as turpentine(made mainly of either the terebinth or pinetree) and even less aboutdistillation which seeminglyentered t he Egyptiancivilization during the verylate periods of its history.This is the state of ourknowledge, but not onlyrecent external evidenceincreasingly suggest thatdisti l lation was moreancient than thought, butancient Egyptians had in factprobably access to morenatural types of solventseither in the form of highlyterpenic resins or oils.Recently the author hasindeed identified many textsmentioning “etheric” oilswhich could be someprimitive sort of solventproducts. Another questionnow under examination andwhich to our knowledge hasnever been raised. Moredefinite answers will come since mastic andbeeswax will soon be combined with highlyterpenic resins to see if one or more varnishescan be achieved; something highly likely.

Where we definitely stroke advances, whereancient Egyptian varnishes are concerned, isin relation to their basic nature, as well as their

place in history. The knowledge of two out ofthree ingredients employed by Maanakhtef tomake varnish, as well as the strong suspicionof the identity of the third combined with theresults showing that varnishes could be mono- bi- or tripartite, perhaps even quadripartite,permit to definitely qualify these varnishes as“Complex varnishes” or “Complex-mediavarnishes”. These terms, so far unseen inEgyptology, are in contrary well known in thefield of applied arts where complex varnishes,in fact similar in nature and composition tothat prepared by Maanakhtef’s, are used up tothe present. This conclusive labeling changesthe history of ancient art and technology, sinceit may be said that ancient Egyptians knewabout complex varnishes as early as the NewKingdom (Circa 1550 – 1069 B.C.) In otherwords, many centuries earlier than previouslythought in relation to what is known of thehistory of varnishes which start, at the earliest,

during the very late antiquity and usuallyconcentrates on Renaissance masters; masterswho in fact inherited much of their knowledgefrom antiquity.

This is however not all. The question of howancient Egyptian artists came to learn aboutmaking complex varnishes compels to studythe very history of varnishes in ancient Egypt.

Raw malachite and Egyptian Blue cakes - note the burnt attempt.


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A field where, despite scarce analyses, muchinformation is available since varnishes areeasily seen on objects. British chemist andEgyptologist Alfred Lucas already establishedin his pre-Second World War pioneer study“Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries”that prior to the New Kingdom what werecalled “varnishes” were in fact often blackglosses made out with pigments. Whereas“varnish”, properly speaking, only appearedfrom the beginning of the New Kingdom, togradually disappear from the 26th dynasty(672-525 B.C.) onwards – with only a fewinstances found up to Roman times. Recentresearch has confirmed Lucas’s statements,and went further as to precise that the firstuse of black varnish is linked to the appearanceof coffins with a black background and to thebeginning of Year 7 of the reign of Hatchepsut(circa 1473-1458 BC – 18th dynasty). Whereasthe likelihood was also established that yellowvarnish was introduced exactly during thesame reignal year; hence during the beginningof the 18th dynasty.

This coincides with the historical timeperiod from which Egyptian power enduredincreasing setbacks in its “Late Bronze Age”trade. Thereafter in its domination of foreignnations until such time when its powerreceded within its traditional frontiers. Thisrecession, as various authors rightly noted,would have gradually created a rupture in theexploitation and import of Pistacia/snTr resinsand other incenses. Today, “mastic” varnishesare made with the resin of P. lentiscus – aquestion of availability. P. lentiscus resin ishence widely available in view of the exportsfrom Chios, the reverse being true for P.

atlantica, the resin of which is, as far as weknow, not used anymore. The reverse situationwas no doubt true in ancient Egypt since P.lentiscus resin – a species which in fact yieldsvery little resin (the Chios variety aside) – wasnot easily available. Whereas when theEgyptian Empire was at its height, P. atlanticaresin could be obtained from various parts ofthe neighbouring Levant or Sinai, and evenfrom Libya which Egypt also long controlled.

This is most probably why “ ” “mastic”-made (i.e. P. atlantica) varnishes appearedduring the New Kingdom, and thereafterdeclined in use from the 21st/26th dynasty.When the increasingly arduous tapping andexport of these resins – because of theincreasingly aggravated political situation -became difficult, the fabrication in Egypt ofcomplex varnishes became sporadic. Toeventually and gradually disappear whenEgypt ultimately faced political chaos duringthe Third Intermediate Period, and its laterdirect invasions. In fact, if we refer to thearchaeological record, only a few traces of thesevarnishes are found until the Roman period.To sum it up, so long as the New EgyptianEmpire extended itself up to Syria, the masticand other such foreign supplies flowed. Whenit receded to the frontiers of Egypt, the masticsupply receded also - until it nearlydisappeared. Thus preventing multipartite,particularly tripartite varnishes to becomposed and used. Hence the authors’proposition to further label these “complex”varnishes as “imperial”, since they havereflected – a pleasant jeu-de-mot - over circa500 years, i.e. from Hatshepsut’s to Ramses IX(circa 1126-1108 BC- 20th dynasty)’s reigns, theextent of Egyptian power and the degree ofartistic knowledge, technological elaborationsand creations which any strong political power,and even more empire, engenders. To clearlylabel these varnishes as “imperial” (as justexplained in Vartavan, 2009: in press) has not,as far as we could verify, been done before.Probably because the subject of ancientEgyptian varnishes has been left either to avery few Egyptologists, and more often to hard-sciences specialists such as chemists, who notbeing Egyptologists and/or [art] historians,couldn’t reach this conclusion. Where arthistory and the history of technology areconcerned, this precise labeling should be auseful and important contribution.

Pounded malachite to obtain a vivid greenpigment.


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Conclusions

The above study presented the extent of theadvances and discoveries made in our attemptto reconstruct the lost art of ancient Egyptiansarcophagus making. The technology andtechnique of Egyptian blue is mastered,equally the very difficult art of ancientd r a u g h t s m a n s h i p . F i r s t s u c c e s s f u lexperiments were made in the reconstructionof ancient Egyptian gesso and pigments,whereas, through linguistic, the identity ofanother of the three ingredients known tohave composed an ancient Egyptian varnishhas been discovered, namely “beeswax”.Discovery opening the door to suspect thenature, identity and use as solvent of the thirdingredient named mny. These combinedresults allowing the further and definitediscovery that ancient Egyptian had discoveredthe art of making “complex media” varnishesmany centuries prior than expected. Varnisheswhich can now be labeled as such and canequally be labeled as “imperial” as they havereflected New Kingdom Egyptian foreignpolicy and trade over a period of 500 years.The last two conclusions constituting decisivebreakthroughs not only in the history ofancient Egyptian art, but in art history ingeneral; and a type of synthetic conclusionswhich we did not expect to reach beforeseveral years.

Much research remains however to be doneuntil all materials needed torebuild two sarcophagi from the21st dynasty will have beencollected and their technologicaluse fully mastered. The project ismoreover not only aimed at onlyphysically reconstructing suchbeautiful objects, but also in theprocess trigger new questions soas to bring new conclusions, suchas already reached for the“complex” and “imperial” natureof ancient Egyptian varnishes.Reviving a lost art is of course arare privilege, but to do it rightrequires patience and sometimesa voluntarily slowed pace – so asto ponder. Ancient Egyptianartists after all practiced this artall their life and were moreoverthe heirs of thousands of years of

empirical artistic knowledge. This is preciselywhy, long after the sarcophagi will have beenbuilt, their physical evolution will be carefullymonitored through a variety of measuringequipments to see how gesso, pigments andvarnish chemically interact and alterthemselves. Monitoring perhaps to be madeby generations of students, who in themeantime, will decipher the beautiful textsand scenes painted on their sides so as tounderstand the unsuspected deep spiritualmeanings which these very elaborate objectsharbor. A spiritual aspect of the research whichis not forgotten, and which this ancient artpowerfully sustained for millennia. A Lord ofLife, one may recall, is shaped like a sea vesselso as to carry its owner over a long journeythrough time.

Christian T. de Vartavan, Director of theArmenian Egyptology Centre (Yerevan StateUniversity) since 2006 and founder ofEgyptology in Armenia. He has studied theplant remains found from Tutankhamun'stomb (1988-1994) and unwrapped the mummyof Namenkhet-Amen in Venice (1995). He isthe author of several publications includingtwo landmark books in Egyptology: "Codex ofAncient Egyptian Plant Remains (1997 -London) and "Hidden Fields of Tutankhamun"(1999 [2nd. Edition, 2002] - London).

Egyptian Blue cakes after firing – note the different tones reflectingdifferent proportions between constituents.

Mladen Tomorad.fh10 5/31/09 11:28 AM Page 1

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1. Introduction

The Ancient Egyptians changed their burialpractices during history mostly as result ofchanges in religious beliefs and these changesare visible in every period of their long history.The major development of Egyptian burialrites was visible until the Third IntermediatePeriod when mummification techniquesstarted to be simpler, and funerary practicesstarted to decline. Bigger changes happenedduring Hellenistic and Roman times when thenew elements of funerary practices wereadded. In the same period the typical Egyptianrites were also adopted by foreigners and newrulers of Egypt (Macedonians, Greeks andRomans).

There are not many literary sources whichcan give us detailed descriptions aboutEgyptian funerary customs and burialpractices. Most of the details were describedby Greek historians, Herodotus1 (5th centuryBC) and Diodorus Siculus2 (1st century BC).Mostly all other sources came fromarchaeological excavations of elite and middleclass burial tombs. Lower class burials rarelycontain more then few objects (usually scarabs,shabtis and amulets).

The archaeological museums in Croatiahold various types of typical funeraryequipment which were commonly placed intombs. I will try to document my work with

such objects mostly because they are not sowell known in the world of Egyptology.

2. Death and rituals before the embalming

Today the best preserved descriptions aboutancient Egyptian funeral customs came fromHerodotus and Diodorus Siculus. Their wordswell describe how Egyptians treated deceasedafter his/her death and how their associatedrituals looked like for thousands of years.

“As regarding mourning and funerals, whena distinguished man dies all the women of thehousehold plaster their heads and faces withmud, then, leaving the body indoors,perambulate the town with the dead man’sfemale relatives, their dresses fastend with agirdle, and beat their bared breasts. The mentoo, for their part, followt he same procedure,wearing a girdle andbeating themselves like thewomen. The ceremonyover, they take the body tobe mummified.”3.

“When the wife of adistinguished man dies, orany woman who happensto be beautiful or wellknown, her body is notgiven to the embalmers

Ancient Egyptian funerary practicesfrom the first millennium BC to the Arab conquest of Egypt(c. 1069 BC-642 AD)

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Mladen Tomorad, Ph.D.

1- Herodotus, The Histories, II, 85-90.2- Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, I, 91-92.3- Herodotus, The Histories, II, 85. Similar description by: Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, I, 91

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immediately, but onlyafter the lapse of threeor four days. The is ap r e c a u t i o n a r ymeasure to preventthe embalmers fromviolating the corpse, athing which is saidactually to happenedin the case of a womanwho had just died.4”

“If anyone, eitheran Egyptian of aforeigner, is founddrowned in the rivero r k i l l e d b y a

crocodile, there is the strongest obligationupon the people of the nearest town to havethe body embalmed in the most elaboratemanner and buried in a consecrated burial-place; no one is allowed to touch it except thepriest of the Nile – not even relatives or friends;the priests alone prepare it for burial withtheir own hands and place it in the tomb, asif were something more sacred than the bodyof a man.”5

3. Mummification

3.1 Embalmers

From t he earliest t imespreservation of deceased body wasthe key element for reachingeternal life and the essential partof burial practice in ancient Egypt.In Egyptian religion ka couldreturn to the deceased body onlyif it would be well preserved fromdecay. In cases when it was in badshape and unrecognizable because

of the decay afterlife of the deceased will bemost likely impossible to reach.

The artificial process of preservation of thed e c e a s e d b o d y u s u a l l y i s c a l l e dmummification and it was very well describedby Herodotus6 and Diodorus Siculus7. In

second part of the first millennium when thoseancient wr iters wrote t heir work smummification techniques already welldeclined, and embalming was also morewidespread and used for burial of all classesif we compare it with previous times.Similarity of both descriptions is also goodevidence that whole embalming process didn’tchange that much during Late and Ptolemaicperiods.

Embalmers profession was very wellorganized in ancient Egypt. After the deathbody of deceased was brought to theembalmers. “The embalmers, when a body isbrought to them, produce specimen modelsin wood, painted to resemble nature, andgraded in quality; the best and most expensivekind is said to represent a being whose nameI shrink from mentioning in this connexion

4- Herodotus, The Histories, II, 89.5- Herodotus, The Histories, II, 90.6- Herodotus, The Histories, II, 86-88.7- Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, I, 912

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(e.g. Osiris); the next best is somewhat inferiorand cheaper, while the third sort is thecheapest of all. After pointing out thesedifferences in quality, they ask which of thethree is required, and the kinsmen of the deadman, having agreed upon a price, go away andleave the embalmers to their work8.” Body wasthen firstly taken to the “Place of purification”(ibw). In that structure it was firstly washedwith natron and after that was brought to the“House of beauty” (per nefer) where body wasactually mummified9. “Overseer of themyster ies” (her y seshta) , who tookmythological part of Anubis, was in charge ofmummification. He was helped by “Seal-bearerof the god” (hetemw netjer), who was usuallypriest of Osiris10.

3.2 Embalming: types,magic rituals anddevelopment oftechniques

Egyptians used “threeclasses of burial, the mostexpensive, the medium,and the most humble11”.This is how Herodotusdescribed these methods.“The most perfect process...: as much as possible ofthe brain is extractedthrough the nostrils withan iron hook, and what thehook cannot reach isrinsed out with drugs; nextthe flank is laid open witha flint knife and the wholecontents of the abdomen removed; the cavityis then thoroughly cleansed and washed out,first with palm wine and again with aninfusion of pounded spices. After that is filledwith pure bruised myrrh, cassia, and everyother aromatic substance with the exceptionof frankincense, and sewn up again, afterwhich the body is placed in natrum, coveredentirely over, for seventy days – never longer.When this period, which must not be exceeded,is over the body is washedand then wrapped fromhead to foot in linen cut intostrips and smeared on theunder side with gum, whichis commonly used by theEgyptians instead of glue.In this condition the bodyis given back to the family,who have a wooden casemade, shaped like thehuman figure, into which itis put. The case is thensealed up and stored in as e p u l c h r a l c h a m b e r,upright against the wall.

When, for reasons of expense, the secondquality is called for, the treatment is different:

8- Herodotus, The Histories, II, 86.9- Shaw & Nicholson 1995, p. 191.10- Shaw & Nicholson 1995, p. 190.11 Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, I, 912

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no incision is made andthe intestines are notremoved, but oil of cedaris injected with a syringeinto the body throught he anus which isafterwards stopped upto prevent the liquidfrom escaping. The bodyis t hen pickled inn a t r u m f o r t h eprescribed number ofdays, on the last of whichthe oil is drained off. Theeffect of it is so powerfulthat as it leaves the bodyit brings with it thestomach and intestines

in a liquid state, and as the flesh, too, isdissolved by the natrum, nothing of the bodyis left but the bones and skin. After thistreatment it is returned to the family withoutfurther fuss.

The third method,used for embalming thebodies of the poor, issimply to clear out theintestines with a purgeand keep t he bodyseventy days in natrum.It is then given back to thefamily to be takenaway.”12

Diodorus Siculus welldescribed the details howthe body of the deceasedwas treated after it wasb r o u g h t t o t h eembalmers. “When anag reement has beenreached on every detailand they have taken thebody, they turn it over tomen who have been assigned to the serviceand have become inured to it. The first is thescribe, as he is called, who, when the body hasbeen laid on the ground, circumscribes on theleft flank the extent of the incision; then theone called the slitter cuts the flesh, as the lawcommands, with an Ethiopian stone and atonce takes to flight on the run, while thosepresent set out after him, pelting him withstones, heaping curses on him, and trying, asit were, to turn the profanation on his head;for in their eyes everyone is an object of generalhatred who applies violence to the body of aman of the same tribe or wounds him or , ingeneral, does him any harm. The men calledembalmers, however, are considered worthyof every honour and consideration, associatingwith the priests and even coming and goingin the temples without hindrance, as beingundefiled. Whenthey have gatheredto treat the bodyafter it has been slitopen, one of themthrusts his handt h r o u g h t h eopening in t hecor pse into thetrunk and extractseverything but thekidneys and heart,

12- Herodotus, The Histories, II, 86-88.

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and another one cleanses each of the viscera,washing them in palm wine and spices. Andin general, they carefully dress the whole bodyfor over thirty days, first with cedar oil and

c e r t a i n o t h e rpreparations, andthen with myrrh,cinnamon, andsuch spices as havethe faculty not onlyof preserving it fora long time butalso of giving it afragrant odour.And after treating

the body they returned it to the relatives ofthe deceased, every member of it having beenso preserved intact that even the hair on theeyelids and brows remains, the entireappearance of the body is unchanged, and thecast of its shape is recognizable.”13

Mummification process did not onlyinclude embalming. According two survivedpapyri from 2nd century AD14 which has beencopied from the sources from previous timesafter each stage specific magical rituals hasbeen made. Magical texts were read by the“lector priest” (hery heb), and evisceration andbandaging has been done by the “bandagers”(wetyw)15 as it was described by ancientwriters. After the whole process was completedbody was returned to the family.

In their works Herodotus and DiodorusSiculus did not state what happened withviscera but archaeological evidences gave us

the answer to that question. During the Lateperiod the whole viscera were placed in fouranthropomorphic canopic jars known as Sonsof Horus. The liver was protected by human-headed Imsety, the lungs by ape-headed Hapy,the stomach by the jackal-headed Duamutef

and the intestines by the falcon-headed Qebehseneuf. After theburial these vassals were placedi n t h e to m b a l o n g w i t hmummified deceased body.16

During Hellenistic period internalorgans were stored in tall woodencanopic chests or placed betweendeceased legs dur ing t heb a n d a g i n g . D u r i n g s o m eembalming procedures organswere removed, treated and thenreturned inside mummy. Also insome cases mummies were stuffedwith balls of resin soaked linen,broken pottery or mud, moltenresin or bitumen.17

D u r i n g t h e P t o l e m a i c p e r i o dmummification was adopted by Greeks as atraditional aspect of Egyptian religion. After30 BC when Egyptbecame part of theRoman Empire it wasa l s o a d o p t e d byRomans.

D u r i n g t h eHellenistic and Romanperiods the actualburial was no longer

13- Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, I, 914-7.14- Shaw & Nicholson 1995, p. 191.15- Shaw & Nicholson 1995, p. 191.16- Tomorad & Urani_ 2006, pp. 93-97.17- David 2002, p. 336

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the most important part of funeral procedure.Older traditions were replaced with moresophisticated appearance of the mummifiedbodies which were nowhighly decorated with fancyartistic or rhomboidalpatterns on bandages.18

Ptolemaic mummies ofEgyptians were mostlybandaged together with thewhole body, but limbs(arms, legs) of Greekmummies were wrappedseparately.19 Head of themummified body wasusually covered withdecorated funeral maskmade of cartonnage, andbody was also wrapped innicely decorated funeralshroud. The whole bodywas then put in outerc a s i n g m a d e f r o md e c o r a t e d p a i n t e dcartonnage, and the bodywas usually kept in somep r ev i o u s ly p r e p a r e dchamber in the housewhere the body could beseen by living. Suchappearances became themost important part ofburial practices as it wasn i c e ly d e s c r i b e d byD i o d o r u s S i c u l u s 2 0 .Mummies were identifiedby small wooden labelwhich was usually tied bythe neck of deceased. Suchlabels written in Greek, orbilingual Greek-Demoticusually records the nameof the deceased, parentsname and age.21

Mummification was still in use during theRoman and Byzantine period but the wholeprocess decline even more. During Roman

times bodies were mostly coveredwith thick coating of resinoussubstance which supposed toprevent decay.22 During Lateantiquity bodies were only treatedwith natron and instead ofbandages body was dressed indaily life dress.23 The Arabconquest of Egypt in 7th centuryAD also ended common use ofmummification in Egypt.

4. Judgement andpreparation for the burial

It is well known from theprevious times that after themummification process family ofthe deceased announces the dayof interment to the forty-twojudges24 who had to decide if thedeceased could be buried or not.Diodorus Siculus described theprocess of judgement25 duringthe late Ptolemaic period whenthe actual judgement of the deadand the final verdict of the godswere mostly based on a virtuouslife of the deceased. But still thewhole judgement process was stillvery important and most likelythe central element of achievingthe afterlife. When the deceasedpassed his/her judgementrelatives and friends “describethis righteousness and justiceafter he attained to manhood, alsohis self-control and his othervirtues, and call upon the gods ofthe lower world to receive him

18- Budge 1893. pp. 186-187; Bowman 1986, p. 186.19- Budge 1893, pp. 181, 186.20- Diodorus Siculus, Library of history, I, 917.21- Budge 1893, p. 188.22- David 2002, p. 337.23- Mummies and Mummification: Late Period, Ptolemaic, Roman and Christian Period at: Digital Egyptfor Universities - A learning and teaching resource for higher education web site [www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/mummy /late.html, 13 February 2009].24- Book of the Dead, chap. CXXV.25- Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, I, 92.

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into the company of ther i g h te o u s ; a n d t h emultitude shouts itsassent and extols theglory of the deceased, asof one who is about tospend eternity in Hadesamong the righteous.”26

After all these ritualsthe body was carried tothe Nome lake where itwas taken to the boatwhich carried deceasedbody to the other side tothe place where it will beburied.27

5. Burial customsduring t he ThirdIntermediate and LatePeriod

D u r i n g t h e T h i r dintermediate Periodarchaeological evidencesstarts to document somechanges in Egyptianfunerary practices whichwere not typical inprevious periods.

Theban officials of 21st dynasty were buriedin vast galleries with otherEgyptians.28 In northern regionspharaohs, members of royal familyand high officials were buried insmall tomb chambers mostly builtwithin enclosures of the temples.In elite tombs29 from this periodstill wide range of grave goods were

found (coffins, shabtis,stelae, funerary papyri,canopic jars, and figures ofgods – mostly Osiris). Fromthe 22nd dynasty elitemembers of Egyptiansociety were mostly buriedin small chambers30 withlargely reduced grave goodswhich only includes coffins,cartonnage, braces andamulets.

Shabtis, funerary papyriand canopic jars are veryrarely discovered in tombsfrom mid-22nd dynastyuntil the end of period.31

In the Late period tombs32 were againequipped with much wider range of gravegoods. In some tombs up to for hundredshabtis were found (one for each day and someoverseer shabtis). Many figures or statuettesof the gods (e.g. Ptah-Sokar-Osiris; Pl. 2) andgoddesses (e.g. Isis, Nephthys) were also placedin tombs. They were made from wood, clay orbaked soil.33

Sometimes bronze votive statuettes of godsand goddesses (e.g. Isis with Horus; Pl. 2) werealso discovered in tombs. Scarabs (Pl. 3) andalmost all types of amulets (e.g. ankh, djed-pillar and udjet-eye; Pl. 4-5) were wrapped

inside the mummybandages.

Internal organswe r e p l a c e d i ncanopic jars (Pl. 7),and the mummifiedbody in coffin or

26- Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, I, 925.27- Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, I, 925.28- Dodson & Ikram 2008.29- Dodson & Ikram 2008.30- E.g. Tomb of Hereuf – Thebes 192 where the family of Amun priests buried their members. In thistomb sarcophagus with the cartonnage and mummy of Kaipamau was discovered (Pl. 1). Today it is keptin the Egyptian collection of the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb. (Pl. 1) Croato-Aegyptica Electronicadatabase (ed. Mladen Tomorad & Igor Uranic) at: www.croato-aegyptica.hr.31- Burial customs: Third Intermediate Period at: Digital Egypt for Universities - A learning and teachingresource for higher education web site [www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/burialcustoms /3inter.html, 13 February2009].32- Dodson & Ikram 2008.33- Burial customs: Late Period at: Digital Egypt for Universities - A learning and teaching resource forhigher education web site [www.digitalegypt.ucl. ac.uk/burialcustoms/lateperiod.html, 13 February 2009].

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sarcophagus. Wrappedmummy was very oftend e c o r a t e d w i t h a nelaborated bead net (Pl. 8).Books of the dead (Pl. 9, Pl.10) and cartonnage (Pl. 11)were also discovered insome of the elite tombsfrom this period.

D u r i n g T h i r dintermediate period andLate per iod non-eliteEgyptian classes wereusually buried in ovalcoffins which were placedin small shaft tombs in non-elites cemeteries. Suchtombs were equipped withvery few types of gravegoods which mostly includefew small amulets andscarabs (e.g. Matmar tombs

1223, 1252, 1253, 1270)34

During the 4th century BC there areevidences of further development of burialpractices. In tombs and graves much widerrange of grave goods were discovered, andsometimes traces of various foreignconnections and influences (e.g. Greeks,Etruscans, Jews and other ancient tribes andnations) are also more visible (e.g. the mummyof Nesi-Khonsu and her linen wrappings –Liber linteus Zagrabiensis, Pl. 11-12).

Ve r y g o o d e x a m p l e f o r s u c hinterconnections is the mummy of Nesi-Khonsu which is today kept in theArchaeological Museum in Zagreb (Pl. 12). Hermummy was bought in Cairo in 1847 or 1848by Mihael pl. Barich. After his death (1859)Barich by his will gifted this mummy with itslinen wrappings (Liber linteus Zagrabiensis,Pl. 13) to Narodni muzej in Zagreb. After longinvestigations of its wrappings it wasdiscovered that they are written with Etruscansigns and language but why this mummy waswrapped with them is still unknown.Radiocarbon analysis in 1980’s dated her death

in the beginning of 4th century BC. Duringunwrapping of 340 cm long linen wrappingsflower wreath, pearls, amulets and head ofmummified cat were also discovered. Alongwith this mummy came the Book of the Deadwhich belong to the Amun priest Paher-Khonsu and his wife Nesi-Khonsu.35 It is stillunsure how this Egyptian woman wasconnected with Etruscan funeral customs butmost likely some Etruscan colonies existed inEgypt during Late period36

6. Burial rites during Hellenistic times

6.1 Type of tombs

During Graeco-Roman periods newelements of funerary rites were added and thetypical Egyptian customs were adopted byforeigners. After the Alexander the Greatconquest of Egypt in 332 BC Egyptian societywere derived in several communities: AncientEgyptians and foreigners (Macedonians,Greeks and Jews). The types of tombarchitecture are mostly connected with eachof these communities.

During the Hellenistic period tombs andits arrangements changed and it only keptprevious form. The outer chamber with itsinscriptions was rarely used and mostlydisappeared from tombs along with the oldEgyptian religious ideas.

34- Matmar (Al-Matmar) at: Digital Egypt for Universities - A learning and teaching resource for highereducation web site [www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/matmar /index.html, 13 February 2009].35- Tomorad 2003a, pp. 20, 28, 37, 38, 81-89; Tomorad 2003b.36- Bubenheimer-Erhart 2006.

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There are no archaeological evidences aboutany fusion of architectural styles but someinfluences are visible in their decorativestyles.37 Anyway archaeological evidenceproves that tombs with hybrid elements fromvarious communities existed in HellenisticEgypt38.

In the Macedonian dynasty tomb of priestof Thoth, Petosiris39, discovered in Tuna el-Gebel, painted decorations with mixture ofboth Egyptian and Greek artistic styles werediscovered on the pronaos walls. Thesemixtures of styles can be seen on the paintedreliefs with the traditional motifs of harvestinggrain (Pl. 13) and other agriculture activities40.On these reliefs Petosiris and his family areshown in dresses and appearances with visibleGreek influences, in not fully commonEgyptian front view but still as profile41. Allthese elements documents radical departurefrom previous iconography characteristic forpharaonic periods.

Diodorus Siculus described burial in tombsduring Ptolemaic period. Such burial couldbe afforded by rich and middle class. “Thosewho have private sepulchres lay the body in avault reserved for it, but those who possesnone construct a new chamber in their ownhome, and stand the coffin upright againstthe firmest wall.42” Rich mummies weremostly laid in stone sarcophagi in nicelydecorated tombs. Middle class mummies were

laid in wooden sarcophagi and placed in tombswhich were made by more modest and withfewer decorations. The poor were justmummified in most common way and laid ina community graveyard.43

6.1.1 Egyptian types of tombs

Archaeological evidences from Hellenisticperiod show us that previously plundered andabandoned old New Kingdom tombs at Thebesand Hawara, along with the tombs from ThirdIntermediate and Late period in other regions,were commonly re-used. The new shaft orchamber tombs were also made.44

Most of the discovered Egyptian tombs weremade in traditional Egyptian architecturalstyle. Mostly middle or lower Egyptianpopulation without much wealth were buriedin them. These tombs were mostly roughlybuilt with the main purpose to accommodatemultiple burials for the members of eachfamily. In them decorations like wall paintingsand hieroglyphic inscriptions were only madein burial chambers.45

The shaft tombs were usually cut in therock. In some cases tombs were made as shaftsopen to the sky or in the shafts whichdescended from the pavement of a chapel.These kinds of tombs were mostly excavatedin Gurub, Hawara and the Faiyum region.46

37- David 2002, p. 333.38- Dodson & Ikram 2008.39- Dodson & Ikram 2008, pp. 293-294.40- Lloyd 2000, p. 393.41- David 2002, pp. 335-336.42- Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, I, 926.43- Bowman 1986, p. 186.44- David 2002, p. 334; Dodson & Ikram 2008.45- David 2002, p. 335; Dodson & Ikram 2008.46- David 2002, p. 334; Dodson & Ikram 2008.

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Chamber tombs were designed like theprevious known chamber tombs with the oneor two chambers which were cut in the rock.Cut steps usually lead to the vaults. Duringthe Ptolemaic period middle Egyptian classesused these kinds of tombs for the burial oftheir families. In rare cases the walls of suchtombs were decorated with paintedinscriptions and funeral scenes.47

Not much has been known about theEgyptian tombs in capital city of Alexandriawere elite tombs where mostly associated withGreeks or Jews. Most of the burial tombs weredestroyed by later building or today has beenfew meters under the sea. Because of thatarchaeological excavations did not gave anyanswer to the question how Egyptian tombslooked like in Alexandria but we can presumethat they were built in similar style like inother parts of Egypt.

6.1.2 Greek type oftombs

Greeks who lived inEgypt since the firstcolonies buried theirdead in Greek type ofto m b s w h i ch we r ediscovered mostly inN o r t h e r n E g y p t(Alexandria, Naucratis,Abusir and the Faiyumregion)48. They wereb u r i e d i n p i t o runderground tombs.49

The pit tombs were digin t he g round andcovered with soil andstones or cut in the rockand inside of themvar ious number ofburials were found.50

Underground tombs

are usually divided in two main groups: klineand loculus tombs. Kline tombs were built likethe similar tombs discovered in Macedonia,and they were used for the burial of Greekaristocracy. Archaeological evidences indicatethat such tombs only existed in Alexandria.51

Kline tombs were usually divided in an opencourt, prostas anteroom) with an offering altarand bench for mourning relatives and friends,and the oikos – burial room where asarcophagus of deceased were placed.52 Inlater period they were replaced by loculustombs mostly because of limited burial spacein Alexandria.

Loculus tomb, which were discovered inAlexandria and the Faiyum53, most likely hadbeen adopted from Phoenicians and thenmixed with Greek and Egyptian influences.They were made for the single and mass burial.Single tombs were cut in the ground with ashallow shaft which leads to the loculus roomwhere the actually burial took place. Morepopular mass tombs had a long narrowcorridor with cut rows of loculi in which bodiesof the deceased were placed.54

Both type oft o m b s w e r eu s u a l l ydecorated withsphinxes, whichwere placed atthe entrance ofthe tomb, stalae,c o l u m n s ,statues, wallp a i n t i n g s ,inscriptions andother carvingso n w h i c hE g y p t i a ninfluences canbe seen (e.g.decorations ofpillars, copies

47- David 2002, p. 334; Dodson & Ikram 2008.48- Dodson & Ikram 2008.49- David 2002, pp. 332-333.50- David 2002, p. 333; Dodson & Ikram 2008.51- David 2002, p. 333; Dodson & Ikram 2008.52- David 2002, p. 333; Dodson & Ikram 2008.53- Dodson & Ikram 2008.54- David 2002, p. 333.

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from temple decorations …). Some kind ofsacrificial animal altars were also discoveredin such tombs.55

6.2 Grave goods

During the Ptolemaicperiod most commonobjects found in elite andmiddle class Egyptiantombs were: shabtis,wooden statuettes ofPtah-Sokar-Osiris, Isisand Nephthys, amulets,scarabs, canopic boxes,stele, painted reliefs,

tombstones, sarcophagus, coffins, cartonnageand the Books of the Dead. Such grave goodswere discovered in the burial ensemble ofHornedjtyitef from el-Assasif and ensemblefrom the Nesmin family tomb in TT32.56

Daily life objects were rarely discovered inthe tombs during the Late and Ptolemaicperiod (except in tombs which were relatedwith Greeks), but placing them in tombs willbecome popular during the Roman period.During the Ptolemaic period daily life potteryand painted vessels were placed in the tombsin some native Egyptian tombs around Thebes(e.g. daily life objects discovered in TT3257.

Since the end of 7th century BC Greeksmade their colonies in Egypt. With them theyalso brought their traditional funerarypractices and other rites. During the 4th

centur y BC and laterHellenistic period Greekpopulation in Egyptbecame much larger.Archaeological excavationsin the Hellenistic capitalAlexandria document theseburial traditions. ThereG r e e k t o m b s w e r eequipped with urns, Greekstyle coffins and someobjects of daily life.58

Shabtis figures whichwere commonly placed ingraves during Late periodnow became product of thecommon manual craftwithout any esthetic orartistic value59. In mostcases t hey sti l l holdinscriptions on the back-pillar which still containscomplete or only partlyformula 60.During the Ptolemaic andRoman period shabtiswere involved of diffusionof Egyptian cults all overEurope and Mediterranean(Pl. 15). Usually they werecopies of shabtis made inprevious times and theywere made in workshopsin Alexandria or someother place. Sometimesthey were buried in Romangraves as symbol of thesecults61. In the end theymostly disappear asreligious ideology began tochange with various newreligious ideas.62

P l a c i n g w o o d e nstatuettes of the gods and

55- David 2002, p. 333.56- Strudwick 2006, pp. 294-297; Schreiber 2006, pp. 228-229.57- Schreiber 2006, p. 229.58- Burial customs: Ptolemaic Period at: Digital Egypt for Universities - A learning and teaching resourcefor higher education web site [www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/burialcustoms/ptolemaic.html, 13 February2009].59- Tomorad 2004, p. 93.60- Tomorad 2006, p. 283.61- Tomorad 2006.62- Tomorad 2005; Tomorad 2006, pp. 282-285.

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goddesses in tombswas very popular. Themost popular was thestatuette of Ptah-Soker-Osiris whichusually stands onwooden pedestal63.Ichnog raphical lythey were made int h e s h a p e o fmummified figure oft h e g o d O s i r i s .Sometimes it wearstypical head horns,the disk and plumes.A figure hand holdsthe flail and the crooka n d t h e y w e r ecrossed over hisbreast. Sometimesthey are really nicelydecorated and wellp r e s e r v e d ( e . g .statuette from theBritish museum, inv.no. EA 9736 from thet o m b o fHornedjtyitif)64 butmostly artistic valuesof such figures arevery poor (Pl. 16).Wooden statuettes ofIsis and Nephthysand votive bronzefigures (Pl. 17) werealso placed in thetombs.

Various types of amulets (djed-pillar, udjet-eye – Pl. 18, ankh, neha amulet, papyrus sceptreamulet, etc.), scarabs and heart scarabs wereusually placed inside mummy wrappings.They were commonly made from stone, semi-precious stone, coloured faience, baked soiland glass.

Stelae found in tombs from Late andPtolemaic periods were made in all types ofstyles. They usually contain hieroglyphicinscriptions with mostly religious formulas (Pl.

19-20) or autobiographytext about the deceased(e.g. Stele of Taimhotepfrom the British museuminv. no. EA 147)65. Sucht e x t s w e r e u s u a l l yinscribed or cut in woodor stone. In these periodsit seems that they wereplaced in tombs more asmatter of form of burialrites then the actual belief.During the Hellenisticperiod inscriptions onstelae were written inhieroglyphic, demotic andGreek and they were mademostly as the copies ofmodels made in previouspharaonic periods. Highrelief figures of the godswere also very popularwith iconography whichcontains elements of bothEgyptian and Greek

attributes (Pl. 21). During the Ptolemaic timespainted reliefs and decorated tombstones werediscovered in Greek tombs (Pl. 22) and rarecases in Egyptian tombs (Pl. 23). They weremade in Ptolemaic style. Around Alexandriafunerary stelae were usually made in Greekstyle in typical form of a small temple with twopillars and a triangular pediment (e.g. funerarystelae from Egyptian Museum in Cairo66.

Sarcophagi were commonly used duringthis period. They were made from wood, andconsisted two parts: the lower board on whichcoffin was placed and the rectangular vaultedcover. Both parts were usually colourfullydecorated with figures of gods, hieroglyphicinscriptions, sign of the Zodiac, animals,scarabs etc. Greek sarcophagus commonlyholds inscription with the name of thedeceased and his father.67 During Ptolemaicperiod coffins were rectangular in shape andmade from thin pieces of wood. They bareinscriptions but rarely chapters from the Bookof the dead. In Lower Egypt stone coffins with

63- e.g. fig 87 in: Nagy 1999, pp. 105-106.64- Strudwick 2006, pp. 296-297.65- Strudwick 2006, pp. 302-303.66- Bongioanni & Sole Croce 2001, pp. 242, 245.)67- Budge 1893, p. 314.

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inscriptions and variousfigures were also commonlyused.68

The Egyptian collectionof Archaeological Museumof Zagreb (AMZ) has twofemale sarcophagi withcoffins and cartonnage69

which nicely documentsEgyptian burial rites duringP t o l e m a i c p e r i o d .M u m m i f i e d b o d y o fShepenun (AMZ E-667) wasplaced in beautiful woodensarcophagus. It is vaultedcover is decorated withseveral sections inscribedw i t h h i e r o g l y p h i cinscriptions, images of thegods in-between them (Pl.24). Bottom board is alsonicely decorated with

inscriptions and various images (Pl. 25-27),and inner part is decorated with image ofHorus (Pl. 28). Covers of the sarcophagus (Pl.29) and coffin (Pl. 30) are decorated withvarious images of the gods and several sectionsinscribed with hieroglyphs. Bottom side of thecoffin board is decorated with middlehieroglyphic pillar with there rows ofinscriptions, and various images on both rightand left side along with inscriptions (Pl. 31-32). Mummified body of Shepenun was placedinside the coffin (Pl. 33)

During the Late and Ptolemaic periodscartonnage was commonly used as part of

m u m m y d e c o r a t i o n .Hypocephalus was placed bellowmummy head to provide rebirthand heat for the deceased (this isusually connected with the 162chapter of the Book of theDead)70. Mummies were wrappedin nicely decorated funeralshrouds (Pl. 34-35). A bead collars(Pl. 36), mummy trappings71,decorated masks with idealistic

images of the deceased72

and a painted foot-piecewere also common part off u n e r a l e q u i p m e n t .Mummies were usuallycovered with the net madefrom cylindr ical bluefaience73 which symbolisedthe sky which the deceasedsoul supposed to reach afterthe death.

Shepenun mummy wascovered with golden leafdecoration on linen shroud,and wrapped with typicalfaience cylinder bead net (Pl.37). Nice golden paintedfuneral mask was placedabove her head (Pl. 38).During the Roman periodsuch masks were replaced

with painted wood panels on which theidealized portrait of the deceased wascolourfully painted (e.g. Faiyum portraits, Pl.39).

It seems that during the Ptolemaic periodcomplete Books of the dead were no longerplaced in the tombs. Instead of placing

expensive books duringthe Hellenistic andR o m a n p e r i o d sd e c e a s e d r e l a t i ve sprepared copies of onlycertain parts of the Bookof t he dead. Suchchanges were the resultof the new religiousbeliefs and funerarypractices which allowever y deceased toachieve eternal life innetherworld. It alsoseems that such newconcepts, which wereintroduced since theThird intermediateperiod onwards, “move

68- Budge 1893, p. 310.69- Shepenun – inv. n. AMZ E-667, Kareset – inv. n. AMZ E-668.70- Gee 2006, pp. 49-50.71- E.g. figs. 89-90, Nagy 1999, pp. 108-109.72- E.g. figs. 69-70, Nagy 1999, pp. 84-85.73- E.g. fig. 96, Nagy 1999, p. 116.

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towards the concept of righteous living as aqualification for the enjoyment of an afterlife”74.During the Late and Ptolemaic periods therewas the feeling among Egyptians that only thecertain chapters of the Book of the dead werereally important for the resurrection of thedeceased body, and for the actual salvation ofits soul. Archaeological excavations of the tombsfrom Late and Ptolemaic periods proves thatEgyptians mostly rejected the old magicalaspects of the Books of the dead, and made onlycopies of the chapters and formulas which wereassociated with the popular cult of Osiris.Sometimes such texts extracts with magicalformulas were inscribed on the mummybandages, coffins or were written on papyrusand placed in tomb.75 During the Ptolemaicand Roman periods the most popular booksassociated with death were “Book of breathing”and the “Book of traversing eternity”.76

7. Summary

In this article author described changes inthe ancient Egyptian funerary practices fromthe Third intermediate period (c. 1069 BC) tothe Arab conquest of Egypt in 641/642 AD.

First part of the article contains basicdescription of burial practices and rites writtenby ancient writers (Herodotus, DiodorusSiculus) which were also well documented invarious archaeological sources (variousunearthed artefacts, tombs etc.). Authordescribes how ancient Egyptians deal withdeath, various rituals before the embalmingprocess, mummification process, judgementaccording ancient Egyptian mythology andpreparation for the burial after all these ritesand rituals.

In second part author describes funerarypractices from the Third intermediate periodto the Arab conquest of Egypt. In this sectionvarious type of tombs and grave goods weredescribed and documented from the findingsof various archaeological excavations. Most ofthe typical funerary equipment mentioned inarticle was taken from the Egyptian collectionof the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb.Article also contains original photos taken byFilip Beusan and Mladen Tomorad.

Mladen Tomorad, he was born in Zagreb,Croatia in 1971. He studied history, ancienthistory, museology and Egyptology at theUniversity of Zagreb – Faculty of Philosophywhere he got M.A. degree in history (1997dissertation entitled: “Shabtis from Romanprovinces Dalmatia and Pannonia”), master ofscience degree (M.Ph.; 2001 - thesis entitled:“Egyptian antiquities in Croatian historicalsciences”) in ancient history, doctor of sciencedegree (Ph.D.) in museology and history (2006,thesis entitled “Model of computer-aided analysisand presentation of Egyptian artifacts in museumcollections in Croatia“). He also studiedEgyptology at the University of Manchester,Faculty of Life Sciences (dissertation “Shabtisfrom Archaeological Museum in Zagreb,Croatia”). Since 2000 he works at the Universityof Zagreb (Department of History, Faculty ofPhilosophy). From 2003 to 2008 he visited variousuniversities and museums around Europe(Belgrade, Berlin, Bologna, Budapest, Florence,London, Manchester, Oxford, Padua, Prague,Rome, Naples, Vienna, Warsaw, ...), USA (Boston,New York, Philadelphia, New Haven ...) and Egypt(Luxor, Cairo, Aswan, Esna, Edfu). His majorresearch fields are: early Egyptian history untilthe end of Old Kingdom, Egypt in 1st millenniumBC, diffusion of Egyptian cults during Graeco-Roman times and Egyptian collections in Croatia.

9. Bibliography

9.1 Articles and books

Bongioanni, A. & Sole Croce (ed.), M. (2001)The illustrated guide to the Egyptian Museumin Cairo. – Cairo: The American University in

Cairo Press.

Bowman, A. K. (1986) Egypt after thePharaohs 332 BC- AD 642. – Berkeley & LosAngeles: University of California Press.

Bubenheimer-Erhart, F. (2006) Aspects ofEgyptian Religion in Archaic Etruria (7th-6th

Centuries B.C.), Aegyptus et Pannonia III - ActaSymposii anno 2004 (ed. Hedvig Gyory). –Budapest, pp. 11-26.

Budge, E. A. W. (1893) The mummy: Chapterof Egyptian funeral archaeology. Reprintedas: The mummy – Funeral rites & customs

74- Shaw & Nicholson 1995, p. 106.75- David 2002, p. 336.76- Budge 1914 at: [http://egypt.annourbis.com/EgyptianLiterature/chapter5.html, 13 February 2009]


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in Ancient Egypt. London: Senate 1995

Budge, E. A. W. (1914) The Literature of theAncient Egyptians. London: J. M. Dent & SonsLimited at: [http://egypt.annourbis.com, 13February 2009]

David, R. (2002) Religion and Magic inAncient Egypt. – London: Penguin Books.

Dodson, I. & Ikram, S. (2008) The Tomb inAncient Egypt – Royal and Private Sepulchresfrom the Early Dynastic Period to the Romans.– London: Thames & Hudson

Fazzini, R. A., Romano, J. F. & Cody, M. E.(1999) Art for Eternity: Masterworks fromAncient Egypt. – New York: Brooklyn Museum

of Art & Scala Publishers.

Gee, J. (2006) Non-Round hypocephali,Aegyptus et Pannonia III - Acta Symposii anno2004 (ed. Hedvig Gyory), pp. 41-57.

Lloyd, A. B. (2000) The Late period (664-332BC) in: Shaw, I. (2000) The Oxford history ofAncient Egypt. – Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress, pp. 369-394.

Monnet Saleh, J. (1970) Les antiquitéségyptiennes de Zagreb. Catalogue raisonnédes antiquités égyptiennes conservées auMusée Archéologique de Zag reb enYougoslavie. – Paris: Mouton.

Nagy, I. (1999) Collections of the Museumof Fine Arts, 2. Guide to the EgyptianCollection. – Budapest: Museum of Fine Arts.

Schreiber, G. (2006) Ptolemaic Cartonnagesfrom Thebes, Aegyptus et Pannonia III - ActaSymposii anno 2004 (ed. Hedvig Gyory), pp. 227-246.

Shaw, I. & Nicholson, P. (1995) BritishMuseum dictionary of Ancient Egypt. –London: British Museum Press.

Strudwick, N. (2006) The British MuseumMasterpieces of Ancient Egypt. – London: TheBritish Museum Press.

Tomorad, M. & Uranié, I. (2006) TheEgyptian collection of the Museum of t h eCity of Varazdin, Croatia, Trabajos deEgiptologia-Papers on Ancient Egypt (TdE), 3(2004), Madrid, pp. 87-98.

Tomorad, M. (2003a) Egipat u Hrvatskoj. –Zagreb: Barbat.

Tomorad, M. (2003b) Zagrebacka egipatskamumija i lanena knjiga, Meridijani, 77, Zagreb

rujan 2003, pp. 54-59.

Tomorad, M. (2004) Shabtis from RomanProvinces Dalmatia and Pannonia, Journal ofEgyptological Studies, 1, Sofia, pp. 89- 116.

Tomorad, M. (2005) Egyptian cults of Isisand Serapis in Roman Fleets, L'acquanell'antico Egitto: vita, rigenerazione,incantesimo, medicamento - Proceedings ofthe First International Conference for Young Egyptologists (Chianciano Terme, 15-18 October 2003) (ed. A. Amenta / M. M. Luiselli/ M. N. Sordi), Roma 2005, 241-253.

Tomorad, M. (2006) Shabtis from RomanProvinces Dalmatia and Pannonia and theirRole in Egyptian Cults during Roman Empire,Aegyptus et Pannonia III - Acta Symposiianno 2004 (ed. Hedvig Gyory), Budapest, pp.279-309, Table 69-78.

Tomorad, M. (2007) Egyptian artefacts inthe Archaeological museum of Istria in Pula(Croatia), Journal of Egyptological Studies, 2,Sofia, pp. 43-58.

Wilkinson, R. H. (2003) The Complete Godsand Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. – London:Thames & Hudson.

9.2 Classic writers

Diodorus Siculus Library of History(translated by C. H. Oldfather). CambridgeMass. & London: Loeb Classical Library 1933

Herodot Povijest (translated by DubravkoSkiljan). Zagreb: Matica hrvatska 2000

Herodotus The Histories (translated byAubrey de Sélincourt). Hammondsworth:Penguin Classics 1972

9.3 Web sites

C r o a t o - A e g y p t i c a E l e c t r o n i c ahttp://www.croato-aegyptica.hr

Digital Egypt www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk

Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeologyhttp://www.petrie.ucl.ac.uk

T h e G l o b a l E g y p t i a n M u s e u mhttp://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org

Ancient Egypt http://egypt.annourbis.com


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Plates

Pl. 1(a, b, c) The cartonnage and mummyof Kaipamau. 22nd dynasty – The ThirdIntermediate period. The ArchaeologicalMuseum in Zagreb, Inv. no. E-687. Photo: FilipBeusan (2005).

Pl. 2 Badly damaged wooden statuette ofPtah-Sokar-Osir is . Late per iod. TheArheological Museum in Zagreb. Inv. no. E-248. Photo: Filip Beusan (2005).

Pl. 3 Bronze votive statuette of Isis withHorus. Late Period. The ArchaeologicalMuseum in Zagreb. Inv. no. E-733. Photo: FilipBeusan (2005).

Pl. 4 (a, b) Dark granite scarab. Late period.The Archaeological Museum in Zagreb. Inv.no. E-003. Photo: Mladen Tomorad (2004).

Pl. 5 Djed-pillar amulet. Late period. TheArchaeological Museum in Zagreb. Inv. no. E-149. Photo: Mladen Tomorad (2004).

Pl. 6 Udjat-eye amulet. Late period. TheArchaeological Museum of Istria in Pula. Inv.no. P-30337. Photo: Mladen Tomorad (2004).

Pl. 7 Canopic jars of Ketjen from the reignof Psamtek I. 26th dynasty – Late period. Townmuseum of Vara_din. Egyptian collection. Inv.no. AO-5280. Photo: Mladen Tomorad (2002).

Pl. 9 Part of the Book of the dead. Lateperiod. The Archaeological Museum in Zagreb.Inv. no. E-601. Photo: Filip Beusan (2005).

Pl. 10 Part of the Book of the Dead. Lateperiod. The Archaeological Museum in Zagreb.Inv. no. E-603. Photo: Filip Beusan (2005).

Pl. 11 Hypocephalus. Cartonnage. Late

period. The Archaeological Museum in Zagreb.Inv. no. E-596-b. Photo: Filip Beusan (2005).

Pl. 12 The mummy of Nesi-Khonsu. 4thcentury BC. The Archaeological Museum inZagreb. Inv. no. E-664. Photo: Filip Beusan(2005).

Pl. 13 Liber linteus Zagrabiensis. Linenwrappings of the mummy of Nesi-Khonsuinscribed with Etruscan signs. 4th century BC.The Archaeological Museum in Zagreb. Inv.no. E-664. Photo: Filip Beusan (2005).

Pl. 15 (a, b) Shabti from green glaze faiencediscovered in Salona (Solin, Croatia). Ptolemaicperiod. The Archaeological Museum in Zagreb.Inv. no. E-564. Photo: Mladen Tomorad (2004).

Pl. 16 (a, b) Badly preserved woodenstatuette of Ptah-Soker-Osiris without pedestal.Ptolemaic period. The Archaeological Museumin Zagreb. Inv. no. E-249. Photo: Filip Beusan(2005).

Pl. 17 Bronze votive statuette of Isis withHar pocrates. Ptolemaic per iod. TheArchaeological Museum in Zagreb. Inv. no. E-735. Photo: Filip Beusan (2005).

Pl. 18 Udjet-eye amulet. Ptolemaic period.The Archaeological Museum of Istria in Pula.Inv. no. P-30340. Photo: Mladen Tomorad(2004).

Pl. 19 Funerary stelae. Late-Ptolemaicperiod. The Archaeological Museum in Zagreb.Inv. no. E-569. Photo: Filip Beusan (2005).

Pl. 20 Funerary stelae. Late-Ptolemaicperiod. The Archaeological Museum in Zagreb.Inv. no. E-571. Photo: Filip Beusan (2005).


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Pl. 21 Greek funerary stela from Abydos.Late Ptolemaic period, 1st century BC. Twoadults, Pekysis, his brother Pachoumis, andtwo children, Tbaikis the Elder and Tbaikisthe Younger are shown in company of Anubisand Osiris. Anubis is shown as guardian of thetomb (with the key in his hand), and Osiris,as ruler of the underworld. Interesting mixtureof ancient Egyptian and Greek styles. TheMetropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Inv.no. 20.2.44. Photo: Mladen Tomorad (2004).

Pl. 22 Typical Greek style of tombstone.Ptolemaic period. Collection of theMetropolitan Museum of Art in New York.Photo: Mladen Tomorad (2004).

Pl. 23 Egyptian style tombstone. Ptolemaicperiod. Collection of the Metropolitan Museumof Art in New York. Photo: Mladen Tomorad(2004).

Pl. 24 Decorated vaulted cover of thesarcophagus of Shepenun. Ptolemaic period.The Archaeological Museum in Zagreb. Inv.no. E-667. Photo: Filip Beusan (2005).

Pl. 25-26 Outside decorations on thesarcophagus of the Shepenun. Ptolemaicperiod. The Archaeological Museum in Zagreb.Inv. no. E-667. Photos: Filip Beusan (2005).

Pl. 28 Inner decoration on the bottom boardof the sarcophagus of Shepenun. Ptolemaicperiod. The Archaeological Museum in Zagreb.Inv. no. E-667. Photo: Filip Beusan (2005).

Pl. 29 Inner decorations of the cover of thesarcophagus of Shepenun. Ptolemaic period.The Archaeological Museum in Zagreb. Inv.no. E-667. Photo: Filip Beusan (2005).

Pl. 30 Decorated outside cover of the coffinof Shepenun. Ptolemaic period. TheArchaeological Museum in Zagreb. Inv. no. E-667. Photo: Filip Beusan (2005).

Pl. 31 Decorated inner part of the bottomboard of the coffin of Shepenun. Ptolemaicperiod. The Archaeological Museum in Zagreb.Inv. no. E-667. Photo: Filip Beusan (2005).

Pl. 32 Decorated outside bottom board ofthe coffin of Shepenun. Ptolemaic period. TheArchaeological Museum in Zagreb. Inv. no. E-667. Photo: Filip Beusan (2005).

Pl. 33 Mummified body of Shepenun placedin the coffin. Ptolemaic period. TheArchaeological Museum in Zagreb. Inv. no. E-667. Photo: Filip Beusan (2005).

Pl. 34 Cloth funerary shroud of Shepenun.Ptolemaic period. The Archaeological Museumin Zagreb. Inv. no. E-667. Photo: MladenTomorad (2005)

Pl. 36 A bead collar of Shepenun made fromcloth. Ptolemaic period. The ArchaeologicalMuseum in Zagreb. Inv. no. E-667. Photo:Mladen Tomorad (2005)

Pl. 37 Remains of the blue faience cylinderbead net. Mummy of Shepenun. Ptolemaicperiod. The Archaeological Museum in Zagreb.Inv. no. E-667. Photo: Filip Beusan (2005).

Pl. 38 Golden painted funeral mask ofS h e p e n u n . P to l e m a i c p e r i o d . T h eArchaeological Museum in Zagreb. Inv. no. E-667. Photo: Filip Beusan (2005).

Pl. 39 Faiyum portrait. Roman period.Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Artin New York. Photo: Mladen Tomorad (2004).

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The ancient Egyptians were very concernedwith the passing of time and its effect on thefragile human frame. Their interest wentdeeper that just looking good. During theirlife on earth, few Egyptians could have beenexpected to reach an age beyond some 30-oddyears. Most people would never have knowntheir grandchildren. This would have providedan incentive to marry at a fairly early age. Agenre of literature, perhaps invented by theEgyptians, the so-called Wisdom Texts, givesadvice on how a man should interact withfellow Egyptians, especially those of a higherrank, but basic instructions also concernmarriage: 'Take a wife when you are 20 yearsold, so that you may have a son while you arestill young.' Keeping in good health wasimportant, and the same texts suggestmoderation in all things: food, drink – andwomen. Were it not for the ignorance of germs,and, in the case of women, the risks ofchildbirth, in theory the variety of availablefoods would have provided an adequate basefor a healthy diet and a long life, certainly inthe higher echelons of society where therewould have been no shortages.

The quest for eternal life

When commissioning a statue or thedecoration of a tomb chapel, the brief of amember of the elite to the artist must clearlyhave been to depict the owner in the prime oflife, with a firm, muscular body, a full head ofhair and an erect posture, occasionally withhis wife at his side. If he was a member of theclergy, he was, however, obliged to shave hishead for reasons of purity. In the walldecoration of a tomb, those who came to jointhe tomb owner during the annual, religiousfeasts conform to this ideal and show the samecharacteristics. There are no children presenthere, apar t from occasionally thoseimmediately related to the tomb owner,usually shown as adolescents or adults. Wheng randparents are present t hey areindistinguishable from their offspring.

There is a specific reason for this. The ideawas not to reflect the various age groups of afamily, as it would have been in real life, but toproject a picture of dynamic people in theprocreative phase of their life in order togenerate on the tomb wall an image of the sexualenergy that was required for the miracle ofrebirth in the Hereafter. This is spelled out bydepicting people at the appropriate age, and bya wealth of pointers such as being heavily made-up and scented, wearing semi-transparent

Eternal Youth

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ill. 1. A tomb owner and his wife sniffing lotusflowers. Tomb of Roy at Thebes, 19th dynasty.

ill. 2. The Egyptian lotus still grows in the OrmanGarden in Cairo.


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garments, and displaying intimate gestures. Itis further emphasized by straightforwardsymbols relating to rebirth such as the lotusflower, which is being worn, sniffed andpresented [ill. 1-2]. Egyptian art is imbued withthese sexual notions which all relate to the ideaof a continued existence after death. On thetomb wall, with a view to obtaining such eternallife, the essential idea to get across was one ofdynamic, youthful energy.

The king, above all, projected an image ofeverlasting vigour. Such is the message heconveyed on the walls of his temples whetherthey were meant to be seen by his subordinatesor not. He is strong on the battlefield and forever active presenting offerings to the gods.Because of his position he has access to whatmay be called the elixir of life: the divine milkwhich he suckles from the udder of a cow (oneof the forms of the goddess Hathor) or fromthe breast of a goddesss [ill. 3]. Drinking thisprecious liquid rejuvenates him for ever, on

earth and beyond.

Looking good on earth

On a more mundane note, the Egyptianswere obviously concerned about their bodiesduring their brief life on earth. Cosmetics wereused not just for funerary purposes, placed inthe tomb in bags or vessels of pottery, stoneor glass, but to delight and enhance men andwomen alike, and preparations were made tokeep the skin smooth and white. Some 3500years ago experts recommended this bodyscrub which can easily be prepared at hometoday (substituting chalk for calcite): '1 partpowdered calcite; 1 part red natron; 1 partdelta salt; 1 part honey ground to a paste andrubbed into the body.' Wrinkles were treatedwith a daily application of a mixture of gumresin, wax, moringa oil (Arabic: ban) andCyperus esculentus (Arabic: habb el-aziz)ground together. A liquid gum resin on its ownis said to be equally successful.

Because of the fact that refined sugar wasabsent from their food, the Egyptians oughtto have had decent teeth. But mummies showsevere wear and tear, in many instancesprobably caused by the amount of dust andgrit left in the flour used for the mostimportant item in their diet: bread.

Greying hair was not desirable. It is rarelyrepresented in art, and they used herbalremedies to stop the process. Somesympathetic magic would have been involvedin a preparation consisting of oil boiled withthe blood of a black ox or calf, or the horn ofa black gazelle was made into an unguent withoil. The hair of some mummies, notably thatof Ramesses II in the Cairo Museum, have areddish tinge which would appear to suggestthat the Egyptians dyed their hair. However,t h i s m ay h a v e o c c u r r e d d u r i n gmummification, or it is a case of discolorationwhich took place naturally over the millennia.

A remedy for youth

If the damage had been done and signs ofageing presented a problem, there was hopeyet if one was acquainted with ‘The beginningof the book of making an old man into a youngman’. It is of some interest that the male andnot the female sex is involved here. The

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treatment is external, and it is not specified ifthe purpose is purely cosmetic or whether theaim was total rejuvenation, inside and out.

You must collect a great quantity of hemau,about two sacks full (if the reference is a sackof grain, we are talking about some 50kilograms). Then you shall break them upand leave them in the sun. When they arecompletely dry, you shall thresh them like youwould thresh barley. Then you must winnowit down to the last pod. All that has come outof it must be measured and sifted. Divide itinto two portions, one consisting of the seeds,the other of the pods, of equal quantity. Theyyou shall place them in water, the two portionshaving been combined. Knead it to a dough.Place it in a clean pot on the fire and boil it fora long time. You will recognise when it is donewhen the water has evaporated and they dryup until they are as dry as straw with nomoisture at all. Take them away from the fire.

When they have cooled, place them in a potand wash them in the river. Wash themthoroughly. You will know when they arewashed enough when you taste the water inthe pot and there is no bitter taste left. Thenyou shall leave them in the sun spread out ona piece of laundryman's cloth. When they aredry, you shall grind them on the mill stoneuntil they have been reduced to small pieces.

Then you shall steep them in water andmake them into a soft dough. Then you shallplace them in a vessel on the fire and cookthem for a long time. You will know when theyare done when the pellets of oil rise to thesurface. All the time you must skim the oilwhich has risen with a spoon. Place it in a jarwhose inner surface has been plastered withclay, smooth and thick. Skim the oil and strainit into a jar through a cloth. Then you shallplace it in a jar of stone and use it as anunguent. It is a remedy for illness in the head.When the body is rubbed with it, the skin isleft beautiful without any blemishes. It is amillion times efficient.

The crucial issue here is of course the natureof the word hemau. The suggested translationof this single ingredient is fenugreek [ill. 4].Fenugreek (Arabic helba) is a herb producingpods with 10-20 seeds of a yellowish-browncolour, which are almost odourless unlesssubjected to heat. They are rich in vitamins,nitrates and calcium. The seeds are thought to

encourage lactation and heal inflammations.Nowadays they are an ingredient in some curryspices. In Egypt they are added to bread, andin the Siwa oasis they are boiled with waterand sugar (3 tsp helba and 4 tsp sugar to 4 cupswater) for 10 minutes to make an invigorating,hot drink in the winter, or, medicinally, to betaken while having a ‘sand cure’, allegedly toprevent sweating. In England fenugreek seedsare sprouted and included in salads.

There can be no doubt that the Egyptiansknew fenugreek, for seeds were found in thetomb of Tutankhamun (c. 1350 BC). The Greekherbalist Dioscorides (1st cent. AD) says thatthe Egyptians called it itasin, a word which istotally different from hemau. His remedy wasused to treat a female complaint. This doesindeed somehow relate it to the use of hemauin pharaonic Egypt, for with honey it was takento induce childbirth, or it was an ingredientin a suppository for the same purpose.Whatever the philological implications, weseem to be in the field related to hormones.

Survivals

The knowledge of the beneficial propertiesof herbs goes back as far as human civilisation.The many remedies recorded in writing bythe Egyptians give substance to such a claim.Although some genetic changes may occur, aherb may be supposed to maintain itsproperties for thousands of years. Herbaliststoday will in many instances acknowledge theuse of ingredients which were equally familiarto their colleagues in antiquity [ill. 5]. This caseof ‘fragrant archaeology’ is particularlyinteresting in a composite remedy used todayunder the name of tiryac. It consists of a

ill. 4. Fenugreek from Siwa.


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number of herbs individually mixed to suitthe needs of a patient. Since the Middle Agesit has been used to treat serpent bite – forwhich purpose reptile skin was included – butit may also be taken on a regular basis to keeppeople young and prolong their life, almostcomparable to a modern ‘rescue remedy’. Anumber of the components of tiryac have aparallel in a composite preparation which maygo back as far as to the age of the pyramids:kyphi. We have details of its ingredients withmany variations from the Greco-Romanperiod, recorded on the walls of the templesof Edfu and Philæ [ill. 6] and in manuscriptsby the classical writers. One prescription fromAD1574 records kyphi as being itself aningredient in tiryac. Those who will todayconsult a herbalist at al-Azhar for personalisedtiryac is thus perpetuating a tradition that maygo back 4500 years.

Perfect old age

Strangely, while being engaged in theirquest for eternal youth, at the same time theEgyptians strove after 'good old age'. They evenput a figure to their thoughts: 110 years wasthe perfect score, and this span of years isquoted in some tales in order to imply that theperson in question was imbued with greatwisdom. Few Egyptians achieved it, althoughit appears that king Pepi II of the 6th dynasty(c. 2400 BC) ruled for 94 years, having ascendedthe throne at the tender age of 6. One official

of the New Kingdom (c. 1000 BC) is quoted onhis tomb wall to have lived to the age of 88.

The resurrection of ancient mummies, asportrayed in certain popular films, has untilnow been proven to be pure fantasy. Infortunate circumstances, DNA material maybe available, and perhaps one day we shall seea clone of an ancient Egyptian walking thestreets of London, although, regrettably, withhis cultural baggage left behind...

Lise Manniche graduated from theuniversities of Copenhagen and Cambridge. Sheteaches Egyptology in Copenhagen and is editorof Papyrus, magazine of the Danish EgyptologicalSociety (www.daes.dk). She has appeared in anumber of television programmes and is theauthor of many books including:

• Sexual Life in Ancient Egypt, London 1987(also in Arabic 2002)

• L’art égyptien, Flammarion 1994

• Egyptian Luxuries. Fragrance,Aromatherapy and Cosmetics in Ancient Egypt,American University Press, Cairo 1999

• An Ancient Egyptian Herbal, 2nd ed., BritishMuseum Publications 2006 (also in Arabic 1993)

ill. 6. Door to the unguent storeroom at Philae,with a prescription for kyphi written in the upperleft corner.

ill. 5. Guests being attended to at a banquet. Tombof Nakht, Thebes. 18th dynasty.

Filip Coppens.fh10 5/31/09 12:16 PM Page 1

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The ever growing darkness each visitorencounters when proceeding from the templeentrance to the central sanctuary is in anumber of temples of the Ptolemaic andRoman era suddenly chased away by theappearance of a few rays of sunlight in a smallcourt. (fig.1) This court is part of anarchitectural ensemble with a distinct layout:a court, open to the light of day, and a slightlyelevated and covered chapel, accessible fromthe court through a flight of steps. Theterminology presently in use refers to theensemble as the ‘court (of the new year)’ andwabet or ‘pure place’ . This paper aimsto provide an overview of the essentialcharacteristics of this remarkable ensembleof spaces.

The complex has so far been identified innine and suggested for at least four othertemples. The nine ensembles illustrate thecomplex’s occurrence in the temple over aperiod of almost half a millennium,approximately from the middle of the fourthcentury BC until the end of the first centuryor perhaps even the first half of the secondcentury AD. The state of preservation of thenine ensembles differs greatly from temple totemple. While for instance only thefoundations remain of the complex in thetemple of Khnum on Elephantine or in thetemple of Sobek and Haroeris in Kom Ombo,the Ptolemaic ensembles in the temples of Isisat Philae (fig. 2), Horus in Edfu and Hathor inDendara, and the Roman complexes of Isis inShanhur and el-Qal’a are much betterpreserved. The ensembles in the temples ofIsis and Mandulis in Kalabsha and Isis in DeirShalwit are also well preserved, but haveremained undecorated. All of these templesare located in Upper Egypt, from Dendara inthe north to Kalabsha in the south. Thelocation of these monuments suggests thatthis ensemble might have been a typicalcomponent of the temples of southern Egypt.One has to keep in mind that the absence ofcomplexes of wabet and court in temples to

the north of Dendara might be due to the poorstate of preservation and insufficientpublication of the temples in this region ratherthan any purposeful geographical planningdone by the ancient Egyptian priests.

Layout

After the initial stages in the developmentof the layout of the ensemble during theThirtieth Dynasty and the early–Ptolemaicperiod (Khnum temple of Elephantine and Isistemple of Philae – fig. 2), the complex appearsto have received its typical form for the firsttime in the temple of Horus at Edfu during thereign of Ptolemaios III, Euergetes I. (fig. 3). Inessence the layout of the complex of wabet andcourt consists of the following characteristics.The ensemble is located in the core of thetemple, almost at the height of the sanctuary,and is accessible through the ‘hall of theennead’ or vestibule preceding the sanctuary.Ideally it is located to the right of the sanctuaryin temples on the west bank or on islands inthe Nile, and to the left in temples on the eastbank. This rule is strictly applied in Pharaonicand Ptolemaic times, but only partly in theRoman period. The ensemble consists of twodistinct areas: a court, open to the light of day,and a slightly elevated and covered chapel. Asmall staircase, located in the middle of thespace, connects both parts of the ensemble,while a facade, consisting of two screen wallsattached to the lateral walls of the complex, twocolumns and two broken door lintels, screensthe wabet from the open court. (fig. 1 and 3)An entrance to a crypt was another essentialcharacteristic of the typical complex. In thelarger examples, the ensemble was usuallypositioned near one of the staircases leading tothe roof of the temple, while in smaller templesthis could not be achieved, most likely due tothe size of the building.

In Preparation for RegenerationThe Wabet in Temples of thePtolemaic and Roman Period

33

Dr. Filip Coppens


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The ensemble of wabet and court in the Temple of Hathor at Dendara (photo by the author)


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Designations

The Egyptian priests who designed theinscriptions and reliefs for the walls of theensembles in the Ptolemaic and Romantemples used a large variety of designationsto refer to the ensemble. These variousdesignations appear to illustrate quite differentaspects of the complex, such as its architecturalappearance and the nature and period of theritual activities performed in it. Although theensemble is best known today as the wabet,the most frequently used term — from earlyPtolemaic times well into the first century ofRoman rule — appears to have been ‘seat ofthe first feast’ . The association ofthis term with the ensemble is at times stillproblematic since it was shared with the kioskon the roof of the temples of Edfu and

Dendara. The designation clearly indicatesthat the complex and the kiosk played animportant role during the first feast which took place during the lastdays of the old year and the first days ofthe New Year. The transition from the oldto the New Year represented to the ancientEgyptian mind a period of renewal andrejuvenation and this idea appears to havebeen a source of inspiration for a series ofdesignations associated with the ensemble.A large number of terms refer to theconcepts of death and burial and thesubsequent resurrection and renewal oflife. Although in general the term wabet designates a workshop where all sortof goods were prepared, it has also amortuary connotation. It can be a place ofembalming, where the body of the deceasedwas prepared, and even refer to the tombitself. The term (‘chapel’) also appearsto point to this aspect of the complex as amortuary workshop and tomb. Thetransitional region between this world andthe next could well be represented by theuse of the term (‘horizon’) as one of thenames for the ensemble, while the singleoccurrence of the designation bw (‘placeof regeneration’) would suggest the finalstage in this process, from death to newlife. The transitional period at the time ofthe New Year was also well known to be anunstable and life–threatening time and thismight well have inspired the use of theterm or ‘protective chapel’ for theensemble in Dendara. A series of other

terms, like (‘columned edifice’) and (‘screen–walled portico’), refer to thearchitectural appearance of the ensemble andmore specifically to the facade with columnsand screen walls which separated the opencourt from the wabet. The designation or ‘(court of) the food–altar’ clearlysuggests which type of activities took place inthe open court. The latter is confirmed by themany depictions of the or ‘largeoffering’ on the walls of the open court in mostensembles. (fig. 4)

The decorative programme and function

In only five complexes the decorativescheme and inscriptions have been preservedto such a degree that a detailed study of the

The open court in the Temple of Isis at Philae (photoby the author)


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decorative programme can be carried out. Thedecorative scheme in these five ensemblesfortunately covers almost the entire periodduring which the complex occurred inEgyptian temples, including examples fromearly Ptolemaic times in Philae and Edfu, alate Ptolemaic example in Dendara, and twoRoman ensembles in Shanhûr (fig. 5) andel–Qal’a.

The study of the decorative programme ofthese ensembles has revealed that it is possibleto distinguish a number of recurring themesin the decoration of the complex’s walls. Thecentral theme of all texts and reliefs engravedupon the walls of these ensembles focuses onnotions of rejuvenation and renewal attainedthrough the rite of the ‘union with the sundisc’ or the exposure of the ‘lifeless’statues of the gods to the rays of the sun. Thecomplex functioned as a crucial stage, if notat times the final destination, during festiveprocessions that would result in the renewalof the statues residing in the temple. The exactsequence of events, such as the routes of the

processions, was undoubtedly not the samefor every temple and can be reconstructed formost sanctuaries only in a very hypotheticalmanner. The exact timeframe of the ritualsperformed in the complex also differed fromone temple to another, but in general it seemsto have mainly revolved around the final daysof the last month of the year (Mesore), the fiveepagomenal days, New Year’s Day –undoubtedly the best suited day for any act ofrenewal and rejuvenation – and the first daysof the first month of the year (Thoth). Theensemble however also functioned on otheroccasions throughout the year.

In the decorative scheme two generalthemes can almost always be recognised: a)the safeguarding of the natural course of eventsand b) the preparation of the deities for theirrejuvenation. The first concept is expressed ina variety of scenes and inscriptions in the opencourt related to the perpetual and undisturbedjourney of the solar bark and to theappeasement of the raging goddess, whosedestructive powers reached their climax

The complex in the Temple of Horus at Edfu (photo by Miroslav Bárta)


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precisely dur ing t he f iveepagomenal days preceding theNew Year. The second theme isusually found on the walls of theelevated chapel. An extensiven u m b e r o f s c e n e s a n dinscriptions focus on a series ofritual acts to be performed priorto the actual rejuvenation of thestatues of the gods: the festiveprocession of the statues in theirshrines to the elevated chapel; theopening of the shrines and therevealing of the face of the deities;their subsequent purificationwith water, incense and natron,clothing with linen, anointmentwith various unguents, andfinally the presentation ofprotective amulets in the shape ofnecklaces and pectorals. Next tothese activities in the elevatedchapel, large offerings of food andbeverages appear to have beenpresented in the open court,judging by the always presentscenes of the “large offering” on its walls. A finalcategory, which consists mainlyof inscriptions, is most oftenfound in text columns on thebroken door–lintels and columnsthat separate the open court fromthe elevated chapel. Theseinscriptions regularly refer to thesun shining down on the statuesof the gods and the joy it createsin the land – the actual result ofa perfect execution of the rites inthe ensemble.

Precursors of the complex

The typical and recurring decorativescheme the priests designed for the walls ofthe ensembles did not come about entirely byaccident. It is a well thought out programmebased on an extensive knowledge of variousritual practices. In order to express the functionof the ensemble in the decoration its editorschose a (visual) language that was alreadywell–known. They found inspiration in a seriesof rites that also expressed the themes whichplayed a central role in the function of the

complex – the transfer from death, or at leasta lifeless or deathlike state, to new life. Theeditors found this in the rites that in theirmind had been performed successfully formany centuries and in various contexts: intemple rites (e.g. especially the daily templeritual), in royal rituals (e.g. the confirmationof the pharaoh’s power at the time of the NewYear), and mortuary rites (e.g. particularly theritual of the ‘opening of the mouth’). Theinfluence of older rituals is, as one wouldexpect, much more detectable in the decorativeprogramme that dates from the early periodin the development of the ensemble and its

The ensemble in the Temple of Isis at Shânhur (photo by theauthor)


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decoration (Philae and Edfu). In later examplesthe editors kept the main decorative themeswhich derived from older rites and rituals,but their distribution and the inclusion ofother themes in the decoration indicates afurther development.

The typical architectural layout of the

ensemble is likewise not an innovation of theThirtieth Dynasty and the Ptolemaic andRoman period either. It appears to concludea development that started at least as early asthe New Kingdom Eighteenth Dynasty. The or ‘sunshade’ of many New Kingdomtemples1 is generally considered to be the mostlikely precursor of the complex of court andelevated chapel in the temples of the ThirtiethDynasty and the Ptolemaic and Roman period.The development of these New Kingdom solarcourts is unfortunately extremely difficult totrace through the first millennium BC due toan almost total lack of well–preserved templesfrom this period. Several monuments fromNubian and Saite times provide some insightinto the general development in the layoutand cult of the temples in between the NewKingdom and Ptolemaic times. These temples,specifically six Ra–Harakhte courts or thronerooms in the Amun temples in Nubia2, theedifice of Taharqa near the sacred lake inKarnak, and a series of rooms (complex E) onthe roof of the temple of Amun–Ra in Hibis inthe el–Kharga oasis, offer a brief and,unfortunately, rather unsatisfying glance atthe plausible further development of the solarcourts and cult in the temple. The presence ofan open court, often accompanied by aplatform or altar and a partly covered room,is a recurring architectural element in thelayout of many temples of the New Kingdom,the Third Intermediate Period and the LatePeriod. Even if we keep in mind that manytemples from this era have not been preservedand only very little remains of the decorativescheme that was once applied on the walls ofthese open courts and associated spaces, a fewvery general themes and concepts can still berecognised in all these monuments.

1- For instance: the open court in the north half on the upper terrace of the temple of Hatshepsutat Deir el–Bahari., the open court in the north–east corner of the Akh–Menu of Thutmosis III inKarnak, the open court XLII to the north of the hypostyle hall in the temple of Seti I on the Thebanwest bank, the hardly preserved court in the north half of the Ramesseum (Ramses II), the northchapel or ‘Pylon–/Kioskheiligtum’ of Ra–Harakhte to the north of the temple of Abu Simbel ofRamses II, the open court in the north–west corner of the temple of Merenptah on the Thebanwest bank, and the open court 18 and rooms 17 and 19 in the temple of Ramses III in MedinetHabu.2- For instance: Chapel B520 in the great Amun temple of Piye and Taharqa at Gebel Barkal/Napata(temple B500); rooms D and E in the temple of Amun from the reign of Taharqa in Sanam; roomsD and E in the temple T of Taharqa at Kawa; an unnumbered chapel in the Amun temple of Taboon the island of Argo, dated to the reign of Taharqa; chapel 106 in the Amun temple of Naqa whichdates from the reign of king Natakamani and queen Amanitore, and chapel 266 in the Late AmunTemple of Meroe City from the second half of the third century BC.

The open court of the complex, with a columnreused as an altar, in the Temple of Shânhur(photo by the author)


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The presence of a court open to the light ofday clearly points towards a solar cult andperhaps even to the ultimate ritual act inPtolemaic and Roman temples: the exposureof statues of the deities to the rays of the sunfor renewal and rejuvenation. The origin ofthis typical architectural structure and itsrecurring decorative programme is perhapslocated in the Theban region of the NewKingdom and of the cult of the creator godand solar deity Amun–Ra. In the course of thefirst millennium BC the solar cults graduallyassimilated with the funerary sphere andespecially the god Osiris. One can witness, forexample in the Edifice of Taharqa in Karnak,a development towards the incorporation offunerary motives or themes from the sphereof Osiris into the solar cult. The recurringpresence of a large court open to the sunlightin the monumental tombs of the Late Periodin the Assasif at the same time appears to pointtowards a similar development in the funeraryarchitecture. It is not the concept of death butthe victory over death and especially therenewal, rejuvenation or reanimation of thedeceased and their entry into a new life thatis the central theme of the funerary rites andnotions that became incorporated in thetemple and solar liturgy at this time.

The remaining decorative schemes of thesesolar monuments also link the confirmationand the renewal of kingship, a theme that lateron also occurs in the ensemble of wabet andcourt, with the events taking place in theserooms. The New Kingdom and theedifice of Taharqa indicate the importance ofthe king for the continuity of the daily renewalof the sun and the world order. In Ptolemaicand Roman times the by then foreign rulerappears to no longer have such a prominentposition. In these examples the ruler is stilldepicted performing the necessary rites forwhich he is for instance granted the kingshipover the two lands, but the kingship of Horus(Edfu) and Hathor/Isis (Dendara) and itsconfirmation and renewal has taken the prideof place in the decorative schemes of thesemonument.

All these facts indicate that the main themesin the decorative scheme of the wabet andcourt and its function in the temple inPtolemaic and Roman times draw upon ageold traditions that developed in the course of

the preceding millennium. The idea of renewaland rejuvenation, the central theme runningthrough the decorative scheme of thePtolemaic and Roman ensembles, is in oneway or another already present in these olderstructures. The themes and the typicalarchitectural layout that is found in manytemples of the previous periods appears tohave crystallised in the course of the fourthcentury BC in the ensemble of wabet and courtwhich would reach its standard format in thetemple of Edfu in the early Ptolemaic times.

Conclusion

The complex of wabet and court is anarchitectural ensemble that is typical fortemples of the Thirtieth Dynasty and thePtolemaic and Roman era, but it is also theend result of a development that started atleast a millennium earlier. The reworked andedited elements from these variousarchitectural and ritual precursors, combinedwith new texts and imagery, resulted in thecreation of a coherent decorative system thateloquently expressed the themes that playeda central role in the function of the complex:renewal, or rather, the transfer from death, orat least a lifeless or deathlike state, to new life.

Further Reading

– Claude Traunecker, “Les ouabet destemples d'el-Qal'a et de Chenhour”, in DieterKurth (ed.), 3. Ägyptologische Tempeltagung.Systeme und Programme der ÄgyptischenTempeldekoration, (Ägypten und AltesTestament 33/1), Wiesbaden 1995, 241–282.

– Walter Niederberger, Elephantine XX. DerChnumtempel Nektanebos’ II., (ArchäologischeVeröffentlichungen 96), Mainz 1999, especially113–137.

– Filip Coppens, The Wabet. Tradition andInnovation in Temples of the Ptolemaic andRoman Period, Prague 2007.

Dr. Filip Coppens is a member of the CzechInstitute of Egyptology, Charles University inPrague, and participates in the excavations ofthe institute in Abusir. He specialises in thereligion and language of the Late Period andthe Ptolemaic and Roman era.”

book review e new.fh10 5/31/09 11:34 AM Page 1

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• The first translation of these unspoiltprivate documents

• An unparalleled insight into the villagelife and personal lives of Ancient Egyptians

Deir el-Medina, the village of the workmenwho built the royal tombs in the Valley of theKings, is a uniquely rich source of informationabout life in Egypt between 1539 and 1075 BC.The abundant archaeological remains arecomplemented by tens of thousands of textsdocumenting the thoughts and activities ofthe villagers. Many of the texts are written onpapyrus but most are on flakes of limestonewhich, being free and readily available, wereused for even the most casual and temporaryof records. They include private letters,administrative accounts, magic spells, recordsof purchases, last wills and testaments, laundrylists, and love songs. The value of these rareglimpses of daily life is greatly enhanced bythe concentration of texts in one time andplace.

This book combines translations of over200 of these texts spanning the entire rangeof preser ved genres wit h stunningillustrations. The reader will, therefore, beable to experience the life of the villagersthrough their own words whilst viewing placesknown to each individual writer. Each text isintroduced by a commentary that providesthe context and explains the contribution eachtext makes to our understanding of Egyptiansociety at this period.

A. G. McDowell, Visiting Assistant Professorof Law, University of Pennsylvania

This new and meticulous reference workincludes an alphabetized list of all the knownpharaohs up to the end of the TwentiethDynasty. Each entry includes a brief biographyof the reign, the tomb location and number(if known), the location of known mummies,the chief consorts (if known), the hieroglyphsand transliterations of each form of thepharaoh’s name, and pertinent bibliographicalreferences. In addition, the encyclopediacontains a glossary of commonlyused terms,an index of Greek forms of names and variantspellings, a list of apocryphal kings of theFourteenth Dynasty, the royal titulary, and achronological king list by dynasty.

Darrell D. Baker studied ancient Egyptianhistory, archaeology, and language at theUniversity of California, Los Angeles.

40

Village Life in Ancient EgyptLaundry Lists and Love Songs

Author : A. G. McDowellPublisher : Oxford University Press

ISBN: 978-0-19-924753-0314 pages, 26 line illus/maps, 216x138 mm

Price: £34.00 (paper)

Encyclopedia Of The PharaosVolume 1: Predynastic to the Twentieth

Dynasty: 3300–1069 BCAuthor : Darrell D. Baker

Publisher: American University in Cairo PressISBN: 978-977-416-221-3. 588pp. Hbd. 17x23.5cm

LE200 / $49.50

the heritage of egypt - egyptologists' electronic · pdf file31.05.2009 · the...

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