Landgrafova TSP Spojene

7/27/2019 Landgrafova TSP Spojene

1/11

T IMES , S IG N S A N D P YR AM I D S

The Oldest Known Scene of the Purificationof the King

Renata Landgr.fov.

When I was a third year student of Egyptology and was searching for a themefor my masters thesis, Professor Verner suggested me to analyze the largecorpus of faience inlays and fragments of Egyptian Blue discovered during theexcavations of the funerary complexes of King Raneferef and Queen KhentkausI I of the 5th Dynasty. Back then, I did not realize how vast and complex theproblem was and how grateful I should have felt for having been awarded andI use this word intentionally such a task. Now, after almost six years of hardwork, the results are finally coming to publication and I am very happy for thisopportunity to express my immense gratitude to Professor Verner for havingenabled me to enter the thrills and mysteries of Old Kingdom archaeology atsuch an early stage of my Egyptological career. I hope he will find this smallstudy, which of course draws from the faience inlays, enjoyable, and I wishhim many happy and productive years in the midst of our Prague Egyptologicalcommunity.

Generally, the scene of royal purification is characterized by several features.

It is centered on the figure of the king, wearing only a wig on his head. Oneach side of the king there is a god, who faces the king and holds a Hs-vaseover his head so that either a stream of water, anx-signs, or alternating anx- andwAs-signs flow from the vase over the head of the king.

Royal purification was depicted as a ritual accompanying the coronation ofthe king. In his article from the year 1950, A. Gardiner1 listed the 36 then knownroyal purification scenes. The most ancient of the scenes included in this listcomes from the reign of Hatshepsut. The deities associated with this scene inthe preserved examples include almost exclusively either Horus (facing the

king) and Seth (behind the king), or Horus (facing the king) and Thoth (behindthe king).2 According to the quantitative analysis of the occurrences of eitherSeth or Thoth, Gardiner concluded that Thoth had been the primary deity associatedwith purification, and that after some time he could have been replacedby Seth. A similar conclusion has recently been reached by AaronSmith.3 These conclusions appear valid in view of the evidence available tothe authors. However, there exists a much more ancient example of the sceneof royal purification.

Among the fragments of faience inlays discovered between the years 1982and 1997 in the funerary temple of King Raneferef,4 two small fragments werefound (F1185 and F1187) that were identified as fragments from the royal purific

ationscene. The fragments (cf. Fig. 1) show a stream of small anx sings


2/11

TIMES, SIGNS AND PYRAMIDS

falling down around a pair of hands, oriented the same way. A careful examinationshows that the only possible reconstruction is that in which these fragmentsshow the hands of the king (of whom also a part of the ceremonial tailis visible), standing between two gods who hold Hs-vessels and pour streams ofanx sings, i.e. life, over him.

Considering the fact that the oldest example that we hitherto have of thisscene comes from the reign of Hatshepsut, we have here the stunning evidenceof the scene of royal purification from the Old Kingdom, about 1000 years beforethe reign of this queen. In question of the discussion pertaining to this scene,itis interesting to examine which gods were involved in this scene, since it ismost likely that in this Old Kingdom scene, it was the original, and not the substitute,deities that were represented.

The two fragments themselves do not allow for reconstruction of the deities,however, the evidence of the other about 1000 fragments of faience inlaysis important here, as well as that of other Old Kingdom royal reliefs.

Firstly, the faience inlays of Raneferef include many representations of Horusand Seth (at least 9 and 19 cases respectively), but none of Thoth. Therefore, wemay presume that also the scene of royal purification also included Seth, andnot a totally unique Thoth.

Secondly, the arguments of Gardiner5 and Smith,6 that the royal purificationscene was part of the coronation ritual,7 appear persuasive, and since in all(admittedly New Kingdom) scenes, where both coronation and purification aredepicted side by side, the same gods crown and purify the king, we may considerthe preserved coronation scenes for our present argument.

Again, no such complete scene has been found within the inlays. FragmentF0020 (Fig. 2) has preserved only the head of the king and part of an arm ofa figure placing the crown on the head of the king. This fragment, togetherwith a second one depicting the feet of two of the figures involved (F0024), canbe reconstructed into the coronation scene, where two gods put the crown ontothe head of the king (Fig. 3). Unfortunately, no traces of the identity of the godsinvolved can be found on the fragments, and no fragments with any deitieshave been found in sufficient vicinity so as to guarantee their association withthe coronation scene. The argument of the absence of Thoth from the corpus ofthe inlays is, however, valid here.

Moreover, in the only known Old Kingdom coronation scene, preserved inthe funerary temple of King Unas,8 the figure of Seth is clearly present, as hisears and title nb sw, Lord of sw, indicate. Luckily, the block numbered Doc. 47preserves the ears and hand of Seth, which rests on the crown, and thus clearlyshows that in this scene, it was Seth who partook at the coronation of the King.And, since the purification scene may be associated with coronation and includes


3/11

the same deities, we may once again opt for Seth rather than Thoth asHoruss partner in the purification of the king.

In view of this (admittedly indirect, but on the whole rather persuasive) evi


4/11


dence, it is very likely that the purification fragments can be reconstructedinto the purification scene, where Horus and Seth pour anx signs over the king(Fig. 4). It would thus also appear that Seth, and not Thoth was the originaldeity associated alongside Horus with the royal purification scene. Consideringroyal ideology in the Old Kingdom, this appears very likely.

Horus and Seth were deities closely associated with Egyptian kingship. In thePyramid texts, Horus and Seth assist the king in his journey to the afterlife.Horus and Seth also represent Upper and Lower Egypt, as does the DoubleCrown that the king assumes at his coronation, and thus it appears likely thatthe process be carried out by deities representing the two parts of the country.

In the reliefs of the royal funerary temples of the Old Kingdom, Seth againfunctions alongside Horus as one of the deities associated with the two parts ofthe country. In the relief decoration of the funerary temple of Djedkare-Isesi,Seth appears as a deity assisting the embrace and giving life to the king.9 In thefunerary temple of King Pepy I I., Seth appears among the deities bringing offerings

to the king.10 Moreover, in the Sun Temple of King Niuserre, Horus andSeth reach the king the arrow that he sends to the four directions as a symbolof his divine rule.11 Thoth, on the other hand, appears only in one of the royalfunerary (or sun) temples of the Old Kingdom, namely in large and rather generalprocessions of deities in the temple of Sahure.12 Thus, it would appearthat13 in royal relief decoration as well as in the purification scene in general,Seth is perceived as the counterpart to Horus, acting together with him asa guardian of the Egyptian king, who stand by him from the day of his ascentto the throne on and together give the King their blessings in the course ofroyal festivals.14 This function of the two deities is also reflected in the sce

ne, inwhich Horus and Seth tie together the smA-tA.wj symbol and thus, as representativesof Upper and Lower Egypt respectively, unite the Two Lands. Thisthroughout positive aspect of Seth (in association with Horus) in the representationsin temple reliefs is not limited to the Old Kingdom, Seth can throughoutEgyptian history be found in the scenes of the Unification of the two landsand Coronation.15

The question we thus must ask is not why Seth deputizes for Thoth in threeout of 25 New Kingdom scenes, but why Thoth to such a great extent replacedthe original Seth. A glimpse into the Pyramid Texts suggests yet another solutio

n,though. In PT Spell 35, purification is clearly connected with four deities,Horus, Seth, Thoth, and Dwn-anwy: Your purification is the purification of Horus,your purification is the purification of Seth, your purification is the purificationof Thoth, your purification is the purification of dwn-anwy.16 Thus the purificationritual is indeed connected with the four cardinal points, and through thisconnection Thoth appears to come in play for the scene as a suitable substitute


5/11

for Seth.

Thus, I believe Seth to have been the original deity connected together withHorus


6/11


to the scenes and Rituals of royal purification and coronation. Seth served thisrole due to his being one of the two deities most tightly connected with Egyptiankingship. At a later stage, Seth could be replaced by Thoth, and this wasmade possible by Thoth being one of the gods of the cardinal points, since alsothe idea of the four cardinal points was connected with the ritual of coronation.The search for the reason why Seth seems to have been replaced in a wide majorityof cases remains outside the scope of this small tribute to Professor MiroslavVerner.


7/11


/ Landgr.fov._pozn.mky/

1 A. H. Gardiner. The baptism of Pharaoh, JEA 36 (1950), pp. 312.2 The exceptions include the purification of Hatshepsut from her temple at Der el-Bahri, whereAmon and Re-Harakhti are shown, and the purification of Amenhotep I I I., enacted by Montuand Atum; as well as two scenes, where the king is purified by a single deity, Horus (Seti I) andAtum (Ramesses I I I); for details see Gardiner, JEA 36 (1950), pp. 45.3 A. Smith, Kingship, Water and Ritual: The Ablution Rite in the Coronation Ritual of thePharaoh, in A. Amenta, M. M. Luiselli, M. N. Sordi, LAcqua nellantico Egitto: vita,rigenerazione,incantesimo, medicamento, (Roma 2005), pp. 329336.4 R. Landgr.fov., Faience Inlays and Tablets of Egyptian Blue in M. Verner et al.,The FuneraryComplex of Neferre at Abusir, Vol. I. [Abusir IX], (Prague 2005), pp. 161 183; R. Landgr.fov.,Faience Fragments from the Funerary Temple of King Neferre: Neferres Substitute Relief

Programme [Abusir XIV], (Prague 2005).5 A. Gardiner, JEA 36 (1950).6 A. Smith, Kingship, Water, and Ritual.7 This is of course not to say that the idea of royal purification was exclusively connected tocoronation, but its depiction was limited to this context, cf. S. Schott, Die Reinigung Pharaos ineinem memphitischen Tempel (Berlin P 13242), (G.ttingen 1957), pp. 67ff.8 A. Labrousse, J.-P. Lauer, J. Leclant, Le Temple haut du complexe funraire du roi Ounas, (Cairo1977), p. 96 fig. 73.9 D. Stockfisch, Untersuchungen zum Totenkult des .gyptischen K.nigs im Alten Reich: Die

Dekoration der k.niglichen Totenkultanlagen, Vol. I I. [Antiquitates: Arch.ologischeForschungsergebnisse], (Hamburg 2003) doc. 5.8.1.10 G. Jquier, Le monument funraire de Pepi I I, Vol. I I, Le temple, (Cairo 1938),pl. 46.11 F. W. von Bissing, Das Re-Heiligtum des K.nigs Ne-woser-re, Vol. I I, (Leipzig 1907), pl. 18/9.12 L. Borchardt, Das Grabdenkmal des Sahure, (Leipzig 1913), pls. 20, 21 and 25.13 Contrary to Smith, Ablution Ritual.14 H. Bonnet, Reallexikon der .gyptischen Religionsgeschichte, (Berlin 1952), p.706.15 H. Kees, Horus und Seth als G.tterpaar, (Leipzig 1923), pp. 826.

16 R. O. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts, (Oxford 1969), p. 7.


8/11

LANDGR.FOV.

Fig. 1 Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Fig. 4


9/11


(after: Junker, Gza XI, Fig. 7)Fig 3 The granite sarcophagus of the Vizier Minunefer in Leiden (Inv. No. AM 106)(after: Leemans, Mon. Eg. I I I, Pl. I)Fig. 4 The granite coffer of Akhtihotep (after: Ziegler et al., Akhethetep, 165f., Figs.2225)Fig 5 Typical limestone sarcophagi of the Fourth Dynasty (top) and the limestonesarcophagus of Seneb (Leipzig Inv. No. 3695) (below) (after: Junker, Gza I, Fig.5 andidem, Gza V, Fig. 30)Fig. 6 The sarcophagus of Seneb within a hypothetical granite sarcophagus showinghow the limestone lid was set in place

Pl. 1 The lower part of the assembled inner sarcophagus from the tomb of Sekhemka(1929) (Photo No. 5169 Archive of the Institute of Egyptology, University Vienna)

Pl. 2A, B The limestone sarcophagus of Seneb (Leipzig Inv. No. 3695) shortly afterrestoration showing its fragmentary and smashed state ( Courtesy Museum Leipzig)

/Kanawati_popisky/Fig. 1 False door of Qar of SaqqaraFig. 2 The unfinished condition of Qars false door: a) a view of the false door jambs,b) Qars figures at the bottom of the right jambFig. 3 The architrave of Qar of EdfuFig. 4 The slab stela of Qar of Edfu

/Krej.._popisky/Fig. 1Fig. 1

Pl. 1Pl. 2

(Pencil comment Ottmar08/03/2011 12:31:17

blank)/Landgr.fov._popisky/(Typewriter comment blank)(Typewriter comment Fragments F1185 and F1187 (excavation no. 892/I/84).)Fig. 1(Typewriter comment Fragment F0020 (excavation no. 100/I/82).)Fig. 2(Typewriter comment Reconstruction of the coronation scene (with fragments F0020and F0024)(Typewriter comment blank)


10/11

Fig. 3Fig. 4

(Typewriter comment Reconstruction of the purification scene (with fragments F1185 and F1187).)(Typewriter comment blank)/Myn..ov., Coppens_popisky/(Typewriter comment blank)Fig. 1

(Typewriter comment blank)/My.liwiec_popisky/

Fig. 1 Saqqara, Polish-Egyptian excavations west of the Netjerykhet pyramid. Late OldKingdom shafts in square 2104. Drawing by Beata B.aszczukFig. 2 Burial nr. 393 in the burial chamber connected with shaft nr. 41. View from thenorth, i.e. from the shaft. Photo by Maciej Jawornicki

Fig. 3 Shaft 41 and burial 393: 1) Cross-section A-A (N-S) through the burial chamberwith view of its east wall. 2) Plan of the shaft and burial chamber. 3) Cross-section CC(E-W) through the shaft with view of the burial chamber. 4) Cross-section D-D (E

21


11/11

Documents

Landgrafova TSP Spojene