Category Archives: 09. VARIA

The Egyptian Verbs for “Disheveling Hair”

Posted on March 25, 2014 | Leave a comment

Ancient Egypt language had many different words for expressing the disorder in a long female hair.

We have seen that in the funerary context the most used one was the verb nwn, which literally meant “to dishevel the hair over the face”,nwn gesture of disheveling hair in Ancient Egypt that is, to shake the mane of hair forwards and cover the face with it.  So the verb refers to the fact of extending the hair upside down. That was the gesture the mourners did during their mourning ritual in the Egyptian funerals. The verb is documented already from the Old Kingdom and closely realted to the funerary context.

All during this blog we have seen how the nwn gesture was made by the common mourners during the cortège, but overall by the two professional mourners in the role of Isis and Nephtys during the resurrectional rites. Making the nwn gesture those two women evoked some crucial moments of the Myth of Osiris, as the copulation beweet Isis and Osiris, when Isis as a kte produces vital breath with her wings or the maternity of Osiris.

 

 

Another Egyptian word was tejtej (also written with the determinative of hair) tejtej-dishevel hair in Ancient Egyptwhich meant the tangled hair. According to Erman and Grapow, it was documented from Middle Kingdom and the sense of this verb was related to disorder. It was also applied to the fact of having the ideas mixed-up, so producing a state of confusion. The enemies of Egypt were as well tejtej when captured, since they were put all together in a disordered pile.

Isis as a kite over the corpse of Osiris. Relief from the temple of Seti I in Abydos. XIX Dynasty. Photo: www.common.wikimedia.org)

Isis as a kite over the corpse of Osiris. Relief from the temple of Seti I in Abydos. XIX Dynasty.

It is interesting to notice that chapter 17 of the Book of the Dead, which relates the copulation of Isis with Osiris, uses the verb tejtej for referring to the disordered hair of isis during her copulation with Osiris (Urk. V, 87). It still gains sense when we realise that tejtej is a reduplicated form from the Egyptian verb tej, which meant “get drunk”. And one epithet of Isis from the New Kingdom was “Lady of the Inebriation”. So, aluding to this state of confusion, which in the Myth of Osiris would be the moment of the copulation.

The verb sps has a very similar meaning as nwn, it was used for the tousled hairsepes- dishevel hair in Ancient Egypt, the main difference is that sps was documented from the New Kingdom, concretely in the Book of the Dead, while nwn is an existing verb for disheveled hair from the Old Kingdom. On the other hand it seems quite sure that nwn was the verb for referring to the concrete gesture of covering the face with the hair.

Two women shaking their hairs. Relief from the Red Chapel of Hatshepsut in Karnak. Photo: Mª Rosa Valdesogo Martín

Two women shaking their hairs in the Festival of the Valley. Relief from the Red Chapel of Hatshepsut in Karnak. Photo: Mª Rosa Valdesogo Martín

We have also to notice that the verb sps was later on also written with the determinative of a dancing person and it meant “dance”. sepes- dishevel hair in Ancient Egypt

At that point we could think that the verb sps could refer to the tousled during some dancing. If so, it comes tour mind those dances made by women during the Festival of the Valley or the Heb Sed. In them those dancers shook their hair forwards and disheveled it on her faces as symbol of renewing.

For the moment we cannot give many conclusions, but we know that the original word related to disheveled hair was nwn, as the gesture of shaking hair forwards by the mourners in the funerary ceremony.

In the Middle Kingdom appears the verb txtx, apparently evoking the chaos and disorder of a tousled hair and applied to the copulation of Isis and Osiris.

From the New Kingdom the verb sps is another way of referring to disheveled hair, although probably taken from ritual dances in which the dancing women made the nwn gesture of shaking hair forwards.

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The wrong location of Isis and Nephtys in the coffin of Khnum Nakht.

Posted on March 18, 2014 | 3 comments

In Ancient Egypt iconography Isis was mainly placed at the feet of the mummy, while Nephtys were at his head. That happened in tomb walls and in sarcophagi.

We have seen that this position was not accidental, but something deliberate. That typical icon of the mummy flanked by Isis at his feet and Nephtys at his head would remain two things. On one hand, it could represent a birth itself, when one woman gives birth (Isis) and being assisted by a midwife (Nephtys). On the other hand, it could refer to the mythical copulation between Isis and Osiris, so the goddess being at his feet would be ready for putting herself over her husband.

Coffin of Khnum Nakht. Head extreme with image of Isis. On the left the false door with the two udyat eyes indicating the threshold between the earthly world and the Afterlife. XIII Dynasty. Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York. Ancient Egypt.

Coffin of Khnum Nakht. Head extreme with image of Isis. On the left the false door with the two udyat eyes indicating the threshold between the earthly world and the Afterlife. XIII Dynasty. Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York.

But, sometimes, Egyptian art surprises us with some exceptions. Looking at the coffin of Khnum Nakht in the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York we realised that the decoration in it did not follow the rule we have said before.

The coffin of Khnum Nakht dates from the XIII Dynasty and comes from Meir (Middle Egypt). The decoration in it includes on the left side of the coffin the false door with the two udyat eyes. That indicates that the head of the mummy was located behind it.

Coffin of Khnum Nakht from Meir. XIII Dynasty. Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York. Ancient Egypt

Coffin of Khnum Nakht from Meir. An image of Isis at the head extreme of the coffin. XIII Dynasty. Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York.

At both extremes of the corpse the artist placed two goddesses. At the extreme of the head appears a goddess with a strange standard on her head carrying two hieroglyphs of the sealed oil jar with unguent mrht or mDt. According to the inscription above, she is Isis the Divine (Ast nTrt).

At the feet of the coffin there is no image, but two paintings of the façade of the palace. However we know this was the place of Nephtys thanks to the inscription.

Coffin of Khnum Nakht. Feet extreme with inscriptions referring to Nephtys. XIII Dynasty. Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York. Ancient Egypt

Coffin of Khnum Nakht. Feet extreme with inscriptions referring to Nephtys. XIII Dynasty. Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York.

Isis and Nephtys were there, at both extremes of the coffin assisting in the deceased’s resurrection. But it is surprising to watch that they were not where they were supposed to be: that is, Isis at the feet and Nephtys at the head.

We do not why, but the artist who decorated the coffin of Khnum Nakht located the feet as the place for Nephtys and the head as the place of Isis.

Was it maybe just a mistake? The coffin is made with an exquisite technique, so the manufacturer was not a beginner. The coffin was decorated by an expert (or a team of experts).

Was the icon of Isis at the feet and Nephtys at the head of the corpse still not too consolidated during the Middle Kingdom?…

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Three Dimensions of the Ancient Egypt Mourning Rite in a Rishi Coffin.

Posted on March 10, 2014 | Leave a comment

The distribution of images is clue in Ancient Egypt decoration. Depending on how the scene is ordered and where it is located it has a sense or not.  We have seen how mourning women took up different spaces in a rishi coffin, indicating so two different dimensions onwards the deceased’s resurrection.

Rishi coffin of Lady Rini from Thebes. The whole lid is covered by feathers. XVII Dynasty. Ancient Egypt

Rishi coffin of Lady Rini from Thebes. The whole lid is covered by feathers. XVII Dynasty. Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York.

But there is still a third one: the top of lid. On the exterior of the lid a pair of big wings wrap the whole body[1], these ones are usually identified with the wings of Isis. What is the sense of these feathers?

At the end of the XVII Dynasty the feathers on a rishi coffin symbolizing the Isis’ wings would be a way of remembering the image of this goddess over the corpse of Osiris.

Isis as a kite is over the body of the dead. Statuette of prince Tutmosis, son of Amenhotep III. XVIII Dynasty. Altes Musuem (Berlin). Photo: Mª Rosa Valdesogo Martín.

Isis as a kite is over the body of the dead. Statuette of prince Tutmosis, son of Amenhotep III. XVIII Dynasty. Altes Musuem (Berlin). Photo: Mª Rosa Valdesogo Martín.

In the Egyptian myth of Osiris, Isis, the mourning wife, put herself as a kite over the mummy of her husband for giving him back his breath and his virility. So, we would be facing the highest level outside the coffin as the divine sphere.

coffin of Ahhotep Tanodjmu. Nut outside the lid of the coffin. Early XVIII Dynasty. Ancient Egypt

Coffin of Ahhotep Tanodjmu. Nut outside the lid of the coffin. Early XVIII Dynasty. Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York.

But due that in the Egyptian belief the upper part of the lid is the divine sphere, this surface accepted another goddess: Nut. At the beginning of the XVIII Dynasty some of the anthropoid coffins changed the feather by an image of Nut, as we can see in the coffin of Ahhotep Tanodjmu. In it an extended image of Nut appears covering the upper part of the lid.

We know that in Ancient Egypt cosmogony Nut was the mother of Osiris and that in the mourning ritual the nwn gesture of shaking hair forwards was a way of evoking this goddess and giving the deceased back to his birth. The mummy came back to his mother’s womb and was a new-born.

So between the end of the XVII and the beginning of the XVIII dynasties, the anthropoid coffins in Thebes had three dimensions:

  1. The coffin base was the earthly dimension, where the common mourners on earth shook their hair, remembering what happened on Earth for the deceased’s resurrection.
  2. The threshold of the divine dimension was at the feet of the lid, where the two professional mourners in the role of Isis and Nephtys did their mourning rites for bringing the dead back to life.
  3. The upper part of the lid was the pure divine sphere, where the goddesses Isis and Nut had their place as wife and mother of Osiris and performed according to the myth.

DIMENSION IN A RISHI COFFIN. ANCIENT EGYPT

 

To be continued…

[1] In fact this is why these coffins are known as rishi coffins, from the Arabic word for “feather”.

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In Ancient Egypt each Mourner had her place in a Rishi Coffin.

Posted on March 3, 2014 | 1 comment

When looking at the decoration of some rishi coffins from Ancient Egypt we notice that many of them follow similar rules:

  1. On both sides of the coffin base there are the funerary ceremony practices, which can include the common mourners shaking their hair and sometimes the two professional mourners in the role of Isis and Nephtys accompanying the corpse.

    The two mourners in the role of Isis and Nephtys at the feet of the lid in a rishi coffin. XVIII Dynasty.Funeral in Ancient Egypt

    The two mourners in the role of Isis and Nephtys at the feet of the lid in a rishi coffin. British Museum. XVIII Dynasty. Photo: www.britishmuseum.org

  2. At the feet of the lid in the frontal extreme the coffin usually the two professional mourners, who are the representatives of Isis and Nephtys (Drty), appear kneeling over the neb hieroglyph making mourning gestures or holding the shenu hieroglyph, as we can see in this rishi coffin from the British Museum.

The distribution of these images in the coffin was not accidental, but something deliberate. Why?

The exterior of the coffin base had images of the Egyptian funeral, that is, the practices which took place on earth, as the mourning ritual and the nwn gesture of shaking hair made by the common mourners.  We are facing here the earthly dimension; this decoration shows what happens on Earth for the deceased’s resurrection.  That is the reason why the artist put these scenes on the exterior side of the lowest part of the coffin.

Rishi coffin. Right side with the funerary procession. On the left a common mourner shaking hair forwards. XVII-XVIII Dynasty. Thebes. Funerary ceremony in Ancient Egypt.

Rishi coffin. Right side with the funerary procession. XVII-XVIII Dynasty. Thebes. Photo: www.metmuseum.org

In some cases the two Drty appear standing at both extremes of the corpse, but in a static way. They do not shake or pull their hair as we know they did in the professional mourning ritual. Why? Because the rites they did for granting the mummy’s regeneration did not belong to the earthly sphere, but were closer to the divine one.

The two mourners at the feet of the lid in a rishi coffin. XVII-XVIIIDynasty. Funeral in Ancient Egypt.

The two mourners at the feet of the lid in a rishi coffin. XVII-XVIII Dynasty. Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York. Photo: www.metmuseum.org

The two Drty appear at the feet of the coffin, but on the exterior side of the lid, so an upper level. They are here the two representatives of Isis and Nephtys. Two human women performing as goddesses, they are carrying out the divine rites for bringing the dead back to life, so they are at the threshold of the divine dimension.

Summing up, it seems to exist a place for each mourner and for each mourning ritual in a rishi coffin. In the lower part the common mourners were lamenting on earth; at the feet of the lid the two mourners in the role of Isis and Nephtys did their mourning rites reproducing at the gates of the Afterlife the Osiris myth for bringing the dead back to life.

But that is not all…

To be continued…

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A double Coffin from Roman Egypt. Double Nut…double Funeral?

Posted on February 24, 2014 | Leave a comment

Ancient Egyptian culture and traditions were adopted also by foreign people who ruled the country in many different periods of Egyptian history. Funerary customs were not an exception.

In the National Museum of Scotland there is a very interesting double coffin which belongs to two children: Petamun and Penhorpabik. Both mummies were supposed to be buried together inside this sarcophagus dated from the Late Roman Period (175-200 A.D.).

Double coffin of Petamun and Penhorpabik. In the image a double image of Nut inside the lid. Funerary ceremony in Ancient Egypt.

Double coffin of Petamun and Penhorpabik. In the image a double image of Nut inside the lid. National Museum of Scotland. Late Roman Period. 

Following the Egyptian belief, inside the cover of the coffin, the image of Nut in a very Roman style, dominates all along the surface. The artist who decorated the inside selected the image of the goddess who, as the mythical mother, granted the resurrection of the deceased, considered in ancient Egypt a new born.

The image of Nut in the inner part of the lid would show that the funerary though in ancient Egypt had not change even under the Roman rulers. Anyway, the fact is that Nut does not appear as we could imagine, that is, with raised arms and disheveled hair. We already know that this was the gesture of this goddess for assuring the dead’s resurrection.  Nut with a short hair here would be indicating that things were already changing in the Egyptian belief.

Detail of the double Nut in the coffin of Petamun and Penhorpabik. Funerary ceremony and funerary belief in Ancient Egypt.

Detail of the double Nut in the coffin of Petamun and Penhorpabik.

Another point to consider is that, due that the coffin was for two bodies, they needed two images of Nut for their resurrection. So, what comes to our mind is that the image of Nut is double, because the resurrection was also double.

Taking that into consideration, we could also think, that during the funerary ceremony, the mourning rite for reviving the corpse could also be double in the burial of these two children?

If this image of Nut is still a legacy of the ancient Egypt belief from pharaonic times, some questions come to our mind:

Did the Egyptians a funerary ceremony per person?

Did the Egyptians an Opening of the Mouth Ceremony per person?

If the burial was double, then, did they double also the funerary ceremony and each funerary rite?

So, did the two mourners in the role of Isis and Nephtys (the two Drty) make the mourning rite twice?

Let’s think about it…

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An Egyptian Mourning Ritual from the Cache DB320 in Thebes.

Posted on February 19, 2014 | 2 comments

We usually think that there is a strong lack of documents on the subject about mourning in ancient Egypt. But the more we visit museums all over the world, the more examples we find. The point is that we need to look even at the smallest pieces and also watch at them.

In this fragment of a coffin from Thebes the decoration shows a part of the mourning ritual, which was one of the main practices in the funerary ceremony of ancient Egypt.

Fragment of coffin from TT320 (Thebes) showing a part of the mourning ritual in ancient Egypt. Two mourners are bending over the royal mummy. XVII-XVIII Dynasty. Photo: Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. 

Here we have a piece of a rishi coffin in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It is small, with incomplete decoration and with no inscriptions, so it could be of no relevance. Probably visitors ignore it, but it is extremely important for our subject about mourning women in ancient Egypt and their mourning ritual in the Egyptian funerary ceremony.

It comes from the debris area in the Royal Cache TT320[1] (also known as DB 320 for being next to Deir el-Bahari temples) and it is dated at the end of the XVII dynasty and the beginning of the XVIII dynasty.

The decoration of this small piece of wooden coffin shows the Egyptian mourning ritual made by five women. Three of them are on the left standing with crossing arms on their chests. On the right side, the mummy is flanked by two other mourning women. Although the whole bodies are incomplete, we can guess from their hips that both are bending over the corpse. The lower part of the mane of hair in the mourner on the left is still visible and from it we could deduce that she would be making the typical Egyptian nwn gesture of shaking the hair forwards. Most probably her fellow on the right was making the same gesture.

Detail of the stele of Abkaou in the Louvre Museum. XI Dynasty. Photo: www.commons.wikimedia.org

Detail of the stele of Abkaou in the Louvre Museum. XI Dynasty. Photo: www.commons.wikimedia.org

This would remind us the scene of the stele of Abkaou in Louvre Museum and dated in the XI dynasty, where the two mourners during the rites of the Osiris festivities are bending and shaking hair towards the mummy. The difference here is that it is royal mummy. In that case it reminds the scene in the funerary temple of Seti I in Dra Abu el-Naga, where the two mourners are bended and making the nwn gesture towards the king’s corpse.

Mummy with both mourners on the extreme making the nwn gesture. Funerary temple of Seti I in Dra Abu el-Naga. Photos: Mª Rosa Valdesogo Martín

Mummy with both mourners on the extreme making the nwn gesture. Funerary temple of Seti I in Dra Abu el-Naga. Photos: Mª Rosa Valdesogo Martín

With all these data we could deduce that this small fragment of painted wooden from the Metropolitan Museum of Art shows the two mourners in the role of Isis and Nephtys, so the Drty, performing their ritual mourning and shaking the hair forwards, which was a part of the Opening of the Mouth ceremony, over the Pharao’s mummy.

 

[1] The TT 320 was built in XXI dynasty for hiding the mummies of kings, queens, royal relatives and Egyptian noble men; all of them dated from XVII dynasty until XXI dynasty.

 

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Were in ancient Egypt funerals the two Drty mourners more important that the common mourners?

Posted on February 17, 2014 | Leave a comment

Rishi coffin. Both views with both funerary scenes. XVII-XVIII Dynasty. Thebes. Funerary ceremony in Ancient Egypt.

Rishi coffin. Both views with both funerary scenes. XVII-XVIII Dynasty. Thebes. Photo: www.metmuseum.org

Archaeology has brought to light Egyptian coffins dated in the XVII dynasty and in the early XVIII dynasty coming from Thebes and showing an external decoration which should be a help for the corpse regeneration. Due to the limited space which was the surface of the coffin, it seems obvious to think that the ancient Egypt artists working in Thebes had to choose the main or most effective images.

At that point the rishi coffin from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York shows at one side the funerary procession with common mourners, one of them making the nwn gesture of shaking hair forwards. On the other side is represented the Opening of the Mouth ceremony, where we can see the coffin flanked by the two women representatives of Isis and Nephtys (Drty). Both elements had to be very important for the mummy who was inside.

Rishi coffin. Right side with the funerary procession. On the left a common mourner shaking hair forwards. XVII-XVIII Dynasty. Thebes. Funerary ceremony in Ancient Egypt.

Rishi coffin. Left side with the funerary procession. On the left a common mourner shaking hair forwards. XVII-XVIII Dynasty. Thebes. Photo: www.metmuseum.org

The point is: if the Egyptian artist chose these two moments for being present in that decoration it is because they helped in the dead’s resurrection. So, the two mourners in the role of Isis and Nephtys (Drty) were an important part during the Opening of the Mouth ceremony, but this does not mean that the common mourners were less important.

Rishi coffin. Right side with the Opening of the Mouth ceremony.XVII-XVIII Dynasty. Thebes. Funeray ceremony in Ancient Egypt

Rishi coffin. Right side with the Opening of the Mouth ceremony.XVII-XVIII Dynasty. Thebes. Photo: www.metmuseum.org

Not only the common mourners were necessary for the funerary ritual of ancient Egypt, but also the nwn gesture of shaking hair forwards was important in that intention of reviving the mummy. Because, as we have seen in former posts, that gesture was not just a sign of desperation and sadness, that shaken hair symbolized the renewing waters, the waters of the primeval moment the dead had to come back to for being reborn. If it would not be like that, the Theban artist of that rishi coffin would not have chosen that common mourner shaking her hair in the decoration.

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Isis the Mourner at the Feet of Osiris. An Ancient Egypt Birth?

Posted on February 11, 2014 | 3 comments

We know that the position of Egyptian goddess Isis at the feet of Osiris could be a matter of sex, a way of positioning herself ready for putting over her husband’s body.

Isis and Nephtys at both extremes of the corpse with shen rings. Tomb of Siptah. XIX Dynasty. Valley of the Kings. Ancient Egypt. Photo: www.thethebanmappingproject.com

Isis and Nephtys at both extremes of the corpse with shen rings. Tomb of Siptah. XIX Dynasty. Valley of the Kings. Photo: www.thethebanmappingproject.com

But there is another very important aspect in the dead’s resurrection. We know he becomes a new born, so he needs a mother.

Coffin of Khenstefnakht from the Late Period. Inside the cover, the goddess Nut with her hair standing up. She swallows the evening sun and gives birth the morning sun. Musée Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire (Brussels). Photo: www.vroma.org

Coffin of Khenstefnakht from the Late Period. Inside the cover, the goddess Nut with her hair standing up. She swallows the evening sun and gives birth the morning sun. Musée Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire (Brussels). 

Funerary stele of Lady Taperet with an image of Nut in nwn gesture. XXII Dynasty. Musée du Louvre. Photo: www.nybooks.com

Funerary stele of Lady Taperet with an image of Nut in nwn gesture. XXII Dynasty. Photo: www.louvre.fr

In Ancient Egypt iconography the image of the goddess Nut in the inside of the lid of the coffin was a grant for the mummy’s new life. She, as the mother of Osiris, appears in the surface extended with raised arms and disheveled hair.

We have seen that this was a way of representing the birth of Osiris. In fact, Nut, as the vault of heaven would be bended forwards with her hair falling down. In this position she would give birth Osiris (the deceased).

In the funerary ceremony the mourners with their mourning ritual helped in the dead’s resurrection, if this one was considered a new born, he also would need someone making the role of mother. The mourner in the role of Isis could be this woman who, shaking her hair forwards would reproduce the birth of Osiris (the deceased).

We all know that in a childbirth the baby first shows the crown and the head, while the feet go out in the end. If Isis (the mourner) was symbolically giving birth, the correct position in the funerary ceremony (and also in the iconography) should be at the feet of her newborn son (the dead).

Nephtys at the head of the coffin and Isis at the feet. Coffin of Thutmes IV. XVIII Dynasty. Ancient Egypt

Nephtys at the head of the coffin and Isis at the feet. Coffin of Thutmes IV. XVIII Dynasty.

In this case the role of Nephtys would have been helping her daughter’s birth and delivering the baby. That is, her mission was to be the midwife, and for that reason she always appears at the head of the mummy.

Egyptian hieroglyph of a woman giving birth. Relief from the temple of Kom Ombo. Ancient Egypt

Egyptian hieroglyph of a woman giving birth. Relief from the temple of Kom Ombo.

Summing up, the scene of the mummy (Osiris) flanked by the two mourners kneeling, Isis at his feet and Nephtys at his head, could be the image of a birth. One woman giving birth (Isis) and being assited by a midwife (Nephtys). Let’s also rememeber that Egyptian women gave birth kneeling.

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Isis the mourner at the feet of Osiris. A matter of sex?

Posted on February 5, 2014 | Leave a comment

Fragment of Papyrus of Hornefer. Ancient Egypt. Photo: www.ancient.eu.com

Fragment of Papyrus of Hornefer. Ptolemaic Period. Museo Castello Sforzesco in Milan.Castello Photo: www.ancient.eu.com

Position of charaters in Ancient Egypt art is more important than we could think, because it could also hide some intentions.

The hieroglyph over the kneeling mourner in this image from the papyrus of Hornefer is not clear at all, so we cannot read her name, but thanks to her position next to the coffin, we can know she is Nephtys.

The two mourners who took care of the mummy (so the two Drty), where during the Ancient Egypt funerals the representatives of Isis and Nephtys. Those two mourning women and the two goddesses were usually represented in the same way: they accompanied the body at both extremes of the coffin, Isis at the feet of the corpse and Nephtys at the head. The point is why?

Isis and Nephtys at both extremes of the corpse with shen rings. Tomb of Siptah. XIX Dynasty. Valley of the Kings. Ancient Egypt. Photo: www.thethebanmappingproject.com

Isis and Nephtys at both extremes of the corpse with shen rings. Tomb of Siptah. XIX Dynasty. Valley of the Kings. Photo: www.thethebanmappingproject.com

We all know that in Ancient Egypt the artist had to follow the canon, not just from the aesthetic point of view (color of skins, perspective…), but also the whole composition was subjected to some rules, like the order of some scenes, what they could represent or not, or the position of some characters.

In almost all images of Isis and Nephtys with the mummy, the Egyptian artists represented them always as we described above. If this was a rule, it had to have a sense, because in Ancient Egypt art for art’s sake did not exist.

Two different ways of representing Isis and Nephtys assisting the deceased: as the two kites (tomb of Sennedjem) and as women (tomb of Nakhtamon). XIX Dynasty. Photos: www.osirisnet.net

Two different ways of representing Isis and Nephtys assisting the deceased: as the two kites (tomb of Sennedjem) and as women (tomb of Nakhtamon). XIX Dynasty. Photos: http://www.osirisnet.net

As we are in a funerary context, the explanation has to be related to the role of these two women as mourners in the funeral of Ancient Egypt. We need to look at the mourning ritual they made for contributing to the deceased’s resurrection. It was a re-enactment of the myth of Osiris and in it there were two main aspects which give sense to the position of Isis at the feet of the dead. One of these aspects is sex.

Mummy with both mourners on the extreme making the nwn gesture. Funerary temple of Seti I in Dra Abu el-Naga. Photos: Mª Rosa Valdesogo Martín

Mummy with both mourners on the extreme making the nwn gesture. Funerary temple of Seti I in Dra Abu el-Naga. Photos: Mª Rosa Valdesogo Martín

The two women in the role of Isis and Nephtys, shook their hair forwards the mummy, among other things, for reproducing the episode in which Isis put on Osiris’ phallus for giving him back his virility and conceives Horus. This intercourse would be dramatized in the mourning rite in its most human version, which is why the mourner shook her hair forwards the mummy, as if she, as a woman, would be over her husband’s body.

Isis as a kite over the corpse of Osiris. Relief from the temple of Seti I in Abydos. XIX Dynasty. Photo: www.common.wikimedia.org)

Isis as a kite over the corpse of Osiris. Relief from the temple of Seti I in Abydos. XIX Dynasty. Photo: www.commons.wikimedia.org

Usually Egyptian artists represented that coitus with Isis as a kite facing her husband Osiris and over the phallus of the mummy. When the Egyptian artist had to represent Isis as the woman and wife, the one who has sex with her husband over him and facing him, the most logical position next Osiris would be at his feet.

So, maybe Isis appears at the feet of Osiris because from there she will copulate with him.

But we have said “two main aspects”, sex is one, do you imagine which the other one is?

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Codified Information in Ancient Egypt. Mourners in the Tomb of Qar?

Posted on January 28, 2014 | Leave a comment

The Egyptian tomb of Qar has in its decoration program a funerary ceremony with all the main components. However it seems that there is missing a very typical image of Egyptian funerals: the lament.

Among all the images there is no scene showing a group of mourning women as we can see, for instance, in the mastaba of Mereruka or in the adjacent tomb of Idu.

Relief of mourners, one of them pulling her frontal lock of hair. Tomb of Mereruka in Saqqara. Ancient Egypt. VI Dynasty. Photo: Mª Rosa Valdesogo Martín.

Relief of mourners. Tomb of Mereruka in Saqqara. VI Dynasty. Photo: Mª Rosa Valdesogo Martín.

But we know now that Qar (or the main artist) decide to codify or summarize the funerary rituals in the walls of his tomb. For that reason the Opening of the Mouth ceremony (the main Egyptian ritual for regenerating the mummy) seems to be represented (see posts of 13th and 22nd January), although not in an explicit way.

Dancing and clapping in fronnt of the tomb. The inscription above says: "mourning by the two acacias". Tomb of Qar in Giza. Ancient Egypt. V-VI Dynasty. Image: W. K. Simpson

Dancing and clapping in fronnt of the tomb. The inscription above says: “mourning by the two acacias”. Tomb of Qar in Giza. V-VI Dynasty. Image: W. K. Simpson

It could also be possible that something similar happened with the mourning practice. Reading at the translation of the inscriptions made by Simpson, we find that above the dancing women who are in front of the tomb (uabet building) the scribes wrote: “mourning by the two acacias”[1]. It is obvious that the women below are dancing and clapping hands and not mourning. And does it make sense two trees mourning?

The Egyptian word shenedjet mainly means “acacia”, but it is also the holy tree which mythically protects the tomb of Osiris[2], and in the text it is written with a dual form (shenedjety) , so it refers to two. The pairing usually protecting Osiris is Isis-Nephtys, as it is proven in iconography and literature.

Could we then think that again we are facing a codified / summarized information? The expression “the mourning (made) by the two acacias” would be then referring to the image or the fact of the two mourners in the role of Isis and Nephtys mourning for Qar.

[1] Simpson, William K., The Mastabas of Qar and Idu. G 7101 and G 7102.  Vol. 2. Boston. 1976, p. 6

[2] Wb IV, 521, 4

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