Category Archives: 08. REFLECTIONS

Lunar Rituals with Hair in the Ancient Egyptian City of Heliopolis.

Posted on April 7, 2015 | Leave a comment

It seems that in Ancient Egypt there were a relationship between the hair element and some rites of Heliopolis.

The funerary texts show that the hair, the lock of hair and the cut of this lock of hair were somehow connected with religious practices of this ancient Egyptian city.

In chapters 167 and 674 of the Coffin Texts the deceased receives the offers of bread for the snwt festivity and the bier for the dnit festivity in the moment when the two mourners prepare their hair for him. Both were important lunar celebrations in Heliopolis during the Old Kingdom.

Detail of the eye of Horus from the tomb of Roy. XIX Dynasty. Ancient Egypt. Photo Mª Rosa Valdesogo

Detail of the eye of Horus from the tomb of Roy. XIX Dynasty. Photo: Mª Rosa Valdesogo

The festivity of snwt was celebrated in Ancient Egypt the 6th day of the month (Wb IV, 153, 4) and dnit was the festivity of the first and third crescent (Wb V, 465, 6 and 7). During these days ancient Egyptians celebrated in Heliopolis the process of recovery of the lunar eye, and the following day was called “day of Horus’ festivity” (Derchain, 1962, p. 30). So in Heliopolis, the lunar cycle was celebrated with the hair element as a process of rebirth, as it was in the funerals of Ancient Egypt.

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Young Girls with Common Mourners in Ancient Egypt.

Posted on March 19, 2015 | Leave a comment

Tha artist in Ancient Egypt followed the rule of depicting children with the side lock of hair.

However, this archetype so common in the Old and Middle Kingdom, had some changes from the New Kingdom on.

Common mourners from the tomb of Ramose. XVIII Dynasty. Ancient Egypt. photo wikimedia

Common mourners from the tomb of Ramose. XVIII Dynasty. Photo: wikipedia

It is specially evident in the mourning scenes. Among the mourners usually some young girls can be seen taking part in the mourning performance, crying and rising arms as their adult companions. These young girls could be depicted in a smaller scale or nudes, showing this way their lower status. Also, according to the canon of Ancient Egypt, they should be represented with the side lock of hair. But from the New Kingdom it did not always follow the rule and some variations were introduced in the way of drawing the chiildhoodin Ancient Egypt.

For instance already in the tomb of Ramose, dating from the XVIII Dynasty, there is a group of common mourners in the funerary cortège. Some of them could be young girls due to their smaller size in the depiction, although they appear with the same long hair and the same clothes as the adults. One of them, however, was really a very young girl, due to the samller scale, her nudity and her different hairstyle: a middlelong hair, fringe and sidelock of hair.

Common mourners from the tomb of Ameneminet. XIX Dynasty. Ancient Egypt. Photo www.osirisnet.net

Common mourners from the tomb of Ameneminet. XIX Dynasty. Photo www.osirisnet.net

In the tomb of Ameneminet (TT277) from the XIX Dynasty…

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Posted in 02. HAIR AND MOURNING WOMEN, 08. REFLECTIONS, 09. VARIA

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A New Ancient Egyptian Tomb with Typical Funerary Scene Discovered.

Posted on March 4, 2015 | Leave a comment

Ancient Egypt gives us again a good document. The tomb of Amenhotep, the Gater’s keeper of god Amun, has been discovered in Gourna.

Although it is still too soon for seeing the whole decoration, some images of the walls can help us to imagine how could be some complete scenes.

Tomb of Gatekeeper of God Amun in Gourna. Ancient Egypt. XVIII Dynasty. Photo www.thecairopost.com

Funerary procession of Amenhotep, the gatekeeper of god Amun in Gourna. XVIII Dynasty. Photo www.thecairopost.com

This is the case of a part of the funerary procession, which can be seen on the right wall of the funerary chapel. Walking to an image of the ancient Egyptian god Osiris there is a depiction of a typical funerary procession of Ancient Egypt: In the upper register two oxen with ropes attached to their horns are moving forwards the West, one man stimulates the animal with a kind of branches (a natural whip), some men are holding the rope, two men are raising their arms, another one is burning and pouring; behind him there is a standing man with a long stick and dressed with a kind of shroud…

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In Ancient Egypt Isis and Nephthys became Midwifes of Nut.

Posted on March 2, 2015 | Leave a comment

The most evident proof of the importance in Ancient Egypt of Isis and Nephthys in a rebirth process is in the Books of the Day and Night, which describe the journey of the sun god through the sky.

Nut swallowing the sun disk. Book of the Day. Tomb of Ramses V-VI. Ancient Egypt. Thebanmapingproject

Nut swallowing the sun disk. Book of the Day. Tomb of Ramses V-VI. Photo: Thebanmapingproject

According to the thought of Ancient Egypt, especially during the New Kingdom, Nut was the goddess of the sky, so the sun made a journey through the goddess’ body.

The dusk happened because Nut swallowed the solar disk and during the night he traveled all over the Nut’s belly. The morning after, the sunrise meant that Nut was giving birth the solar disk. That is the iconography that the artist of Ancient Egypt depicted on the ceilings of tombs from XX Dynasty.

But Nut was also Osiris’ mother and the resurrection of the dead in Ancient Egypt happened because the corpse was assimilated to Osiris, so the new-born was Osiris, son of Nut, who was assisted by Isis and Nephthys.

Isis and Nephthys receiving the solar disk. Book of the Night. Tomb of Ramses IX. Ancient Egypt. Thebanmappingproject

Isis and Nephthys receiving the solar disk. Book of the Night. Tomb of Ramses IX.Photo: Thebanmappingproject

Taking that into consideration, it make sense that the priests of XX Dynasty included the figures of Isis and Nephthys in the sun disk rebirth. As a consequence the artists of Ancient Egypt had to create a new iconography with the union of the sun rebirth and the Osirian tradition of the two divine mourners.

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Isis and Nephthys rising Osiris-Re in the XX Dynasty of Ancient Egypt.

Posted on February 16, 2015 | Leave a comment

The religion of Ancient Egypt developed during the New Kingdom sophisticated religious texts, which combined the solar theology with the Myth of Osiris. As a consequence, the art of ancient Egypt included in its corpus of images a new solar-Osirian iconography.

As we saw in the previous posts, the artists of Ancient Egypt started painting during the XVIII Dynasty the solar god Khepri in the company of two human kneeling figures of Osiris in the eleventh hour of the Amduat. In the XIX Dynasty, Isis and Nephthys, the two mourners of Osiris took part of the solar imagery and they were depicted at both sides of Re-Osiris and of the solar disk.

Isis and Nephthys with the rising Ositis and Re. Chapter four of the Book of the Cavverns. Tomb of Ramses V-VI. Ancient Egypt. thethebanmappingproject

Isis and Nephthys with the rising Ositis and Re. Chapter four of the Book of the Caverns. Tomb of Ramses V-VI. XX Dynasty. Photo: The Theban Mapping Project.

During the following history of Ancient Egypt this tendency was even more evident. In the XX Dynasty the artists of Ancient Egypt created for the Book of the Caverns and The Book of the Earth new icons of the solar rebirth with the assistance of Isis and Nephthys…

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Isis and Nephthys in Ancient Egyptian Solar Iconography.

Posted on February 9, 2015 | Leave a comment

It was a fact, that the ancient Egyptian corpus of images needed an iconography for expressing the union of Re and Osiris. And little by little in this iconography Isis and Nephthys, the two mourners of Osiris, became essential.

In the XIX Dynasty the ancient Egyptian artists conceived some of the most famous images of this conception combining same as ever iconography.

Isis and Nephthys flanking the corpse. Tomb of Nefertari. Ancient Egypt

Isis and Nephthys flanking the corpse. Tomb of Nefertari. XIX Dynasty.

For instance in the tomb of Nefertari, wife of Ramses II, the chapter 17 of the Book of the Dead was illustrated with the typical image of the corpse with the two mourners Isis and Nephtys, not as women, but as kites.

In this same tomb it was included the Litany of Re; it was an ancient Egyptian religious text, which was inscribed in all Ramesside tombs. It described different forms of the sun god and it stressed specially the symbolic union of Re and Osiris and the identification of the dead king with this dual god.

Ram-Headed mummy (Re-Osiris) with Isis and Nephthys. Ancient Egypt. Tomb of Nefertari. XIX Dynasty.

Ram-Headed mummy (Re-Osiris) with Isis and Nephthys. Tomb of Nefertari. XIX Dynasty.

In this context the ancient Egyptian artist adapted the typical scene mentioned above and represented Isis and Nephthys adoring the image of Re-Osiris, as a hybrid figure with three main features: the body of a mummy evoking Osiris and the ram head with a solar disk recalling Re. The corpse of Re-Osiris could not skip the figures of Isis and Nephthys. As the professional mourners of the mummy, the total resurrection of this god, even being solar and Osirian, depended on them.

But the importance of Isis and Nephthys was so big, that…

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Isis and Nephthys, two Essential Images in the Ancient Egyptian Union of Re and Osiris.

Posted on February 3, 2015 | Leave a comment

The union of Re and Osiris supposed a challenge to the Ancient Egyptian Art, since new iconography was needed for decorating the tomb walls and the papyri.

From the XVIII Dynasty, some passages of the Book of the Dead were introduced in the royal tombs decoration and that meant to depict moments and gods from the Myth of Osiris into a royal space. However the monarchy was assimilated to the sun god, so some Osirian images suffered a solarization. That forced the ancient Egyptian artist to think of an Osiris-Re iconography.

The mourner (left) and Isis the kite (right) in the decorative program of Sethos I. Ancient Egypt

The mourner (left) and Isis the kite (right) in the decorative program of Sethos I.

We saw that in the XVIII Dynasty the figure of Khepri rising up between two images of a kneeling Osiris was the image of the first hour of the Amduat. But the Osirian world was maybe too important in ancient Egyptian belief for reducing it just to this iconography. The conception of the dead god, which resurrected thanks to the action of two women (Isis and Nephthys) was maybe too stablished in the ancient Egyptian thought.

Not for nothing in the XIX Dynasty Sethos I introduced Osirian iconography in royal monuments and he did not forget the two professional mourners…

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Ancient Egyptian Union and Rebirth of Re and Osiris.

Posted on January 26, 2015 | Leave a comment

The union of Re and Osiris in ancient Egyptian culture produced as a result new decorative motives in the ancient Egyptian iconography.

Khepri and Osiris. First hour Amdouat. Ancient Egypt. Tomb of Ay

Khepri and two figures of Osiris. First hour of the Amduat. Tomb of Ay. Photo: http://www.osirisnet.net

The earth god and the sky god needed to be reconciled in religious scenes and from the New Kingdom artist worked in creating new depictions of this mixed conception of ancient Egyptian religion.

In the Book of the Amduat Re in its journey had to unite with Osiris in the depths of the night and receive the power to be reborn in the morning. This idea written in hieroglyphs needed its iconographic reflection. Here ancient Egyptian artists from XVIII Dynasty started their brainstorming.

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A challenge in the Art of Ancient Egypt: Osirian-Solar Iconography.

Posted on January 19, 2015 | 2 comments

One of the main challenges for priests and artists in Ancient Egypt were to combine the osirian and solar cosmogonies in the funerary literature and iconography.

Ram-Headed mummy (Re-Osiris) with Isis and Nephthys. Ancient Egypt. Tomb of Nefertari. XIX Dynasty.

Ram-Headed mummy (Re-Osiris) with Isis and Nephthys. Tomb of Nefertari. XIX Dynasty.

The two main pillars in the belief of resurrection in Ancient Egypt were the myth of Osiris and the solar theory. The central aspect in the first one was the resurrection and new life in its most human version: a human body (Osiris), which needs to be embalmed and revived for the eternity. In the second one the stellar body (the sun-Re) did a cyclic trip through the sky; it died in the night and sailed in the solar bark through the dark sky; in the morning after the sun came back to life renewed plying the clear sky.

In Ancient Egypt both ideologies, due to its importance, were quickly conciliated as two versions of a same concept. In the thinking, ancient Egyptian priests could unite Re and Osiris in the funerary texts through the narrative, that is why, for instance, in chapter 67 from the Book of the Dead the dead Osiris wants to get out from the tomb and get into the solar bark of Re.

What happened in the art of Ancient Egypt?

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Ancient Egypt Resurrection. The Penis of Tutankhamun.

Posted on January 12, 2015 | 2 comments

In Ancient Egypt, virility was an essential faculty for granting the dead’s resurrection.

Stele Abkaou.XI Dynasty. Ancient Egypt

Mourners over the corpse. Detail of the stele of Akbaou. XI Dynasty. Musée du Louvre

All along my work I have been showing that, among the many practices in Ancient Egypt for reviving the corpse, there was one made by the professional mourners in the role of Isis and Nephthys. These two women shook their hair forwards the mummy for symbolising the mythical moment, in which Isis stimulated her husband Osiris and gave him back his virility.

Mummy of Tutankhamun. Ancient Egypt.

Mummy of Tutankhamun. Photo:The History Blog

In this sphere I would like to remind an aspect of the Tutankhamun’s mummy: his penis. This pharaoh was mummified with his erect penis, although it was broken from the body after the discovery. Obviously to embalm the corpse of this ancient Egyptian king with an erection was not unjustified. According to Salima Ikram, “it was a deliberate attempt to make the king appear as Osiris in as literal a way as possible. The erect penis evokes Osiris’ regenerative powers”. Yes, it evokes the regenerative power, but first of all it is the best proof of a male living body.

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