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Ringlets and Plaits, Horns and Snakes, Moon and Resurrection.

Posted on October 28, 2013 | Leave a comment

In ancient Egypt some aspects of the hair have just a symbolic dimension in the deceased’s resurrection, these are the cases of the two ringlets wprty and the plait of hair Hnskt.

The goddess Hathor with lateral ringlets. Column from the temple of Khnum in Elephantine Island. Photo: Mª Rosa Valdesogo Martín.

The goddess Hathor with lateral ringlets. Column from the temple of Khnum in Elephantine Island. Photo: Mª Rosa Valdesogo Martín.

Wprty are, according to the Coffin Texts, the two lateral ringlets at both sides of Hathor’s face; these two pieces of hair are in Egyptian imagery a kind of curtains which open and let see the goddess’ face. It is about the lunar divinity and to see her face means to see the moon, it is the metaphoric access to light from the darkness of the death, so a proof of resurrection. When the two wprty open, the deceased can come into the Herefater and be guided by the moon through the night sky.

Regarding the plait Hnskt, it is assimilated to the snake and the horns, both elements having a lunar nature. In Egyptian belief moon and snake are immortal, due to their cyclic renovation; they change gradually without dying; in fact that change is a way of regeneration and getting in a new existence. This is the Egyptian idea of death: it was not a disappearance, but a change of condition in the human life, so the funerary ceremony could be considered as a rite of passage.

Comparison of crescent (photo: www.channing.info) with the horns of a bull. Relief from a block in the Open Air Museum of Karnak. Photo: Mª Rosa Valdesogo Martíni.

Comparison of crescent (photo: http://www.channing.info) with the horns of a bull. Relief from a block in the Open Air Museum of Karnak. Photo: Mª Rosa Valdesogo Martín.

Horns in many ancient cultures, and also in the Egyptian one, were a symbol of regeneration thanks to the shape, which remembered the first quarter of the moon. This union between hair and horns makes us as well think about the two ringlets wprty of Hathor as a hair image of the two horns of the goddess. Precisely for that reason, the horns of Hathor can be connected with the plait Hnskt, which, according to one version of the Osiris legend, the goddess lost.

Head fragment from a statue of a "Bald of Hathor". New Kingdom. Metropolitan Museum of New York. Photo: www.metmuseum.org

Head fragment from a statue of a “Bald of Hathor”. New Kingdom. Metropolitan Museum of New York. Photo: http://www.metmuseum.org

In turn, all that can be related to the clergy of Hathor, whose priests were called “bald of Hathor” and whose requirement was the lack of hair in the crown, so remembering the goddess’ mutilation.

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Posted in 07. CONCLUSIONS

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Hair offering in Ancient Egypt. Archaeological remains.

Posted on September 9, 2013 | Leave a comment

Iconography and texts point to an Egyptian funerary custom of shaving or cutting a piece of hair to the two mourners in the role of Isis and Nephtys. But, does the archaeology say something to us? The answer is yes. There is archaeological information from different moments of the Egyptian history proving the existence of hair offering to the dead.

  • In the tomb of king Djer in Abydos (I Dynasty), a piece of hair and a false fringe were found by Petrie. He considered that they could be from the queen. Nowadays these remains are in Pitt Rivers Museum of Oxford[1]. In a common sepulchre in Abydos, dating possibly from the III Dynasty, many locks of hair were found, some of them were plaited and some were tangled up[2].

    Hair remains from the tomb of King Djer. I Dynasty. Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. Photo: www.prm.ox.ac.uk

    Hair remains from the tomb of King Djer. I Dynasty. Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. Photo: http://www.prm.ox.ac.uk

  • In a “pan-grave” from the Middle Kingdom near Balabish[3], at the south of Abydos, was found a burial with a masculine mummy, close to the body were laying out some plaits of hair, which apparently did not belong to the mummy[4], so they should be a ritual offering.
  • In the tomb of Tutankhamon was found inside a small anthropoid sarcophagus a plait of hair belonging to the Queen Tiye. According to A. Rowe, that would a queen’s relic, who was divinised, so that plait was considered a goddess’ hair[5]. Due that Queen Tiye was dead when Tutankhamon was buried, it seems much more logical to think of a familiar relic[6].
  • From Deir el-Bahari is a group of tombs from XVII, XVIII and XIX Dynasties.  Maspero assures there were locks of hair wrapped and put between legs, arms and around the necks of each mummy[7].
  • In a tomb of Deir el-Medina were found locks of hair inside a basket[8].
  • In the tomb of Queen Ahmose- Meritamun (XVIII Dynasty) H. E.Winlock found three baskets with human locks of hair and plaits of hair inside them.
    Inner coffin of Ahmose-Meritamun. XVIII Dynasty. Cairo Museum. Photo: www.wikimedia.org

    Inner coffin of Ahmose-Meritamun. XVIII Dynasty. Cairo Museum. Photo: http://www.wikimedia.org

    They were found with some other toilette objects. For that reason, Winlock considered that this hair was maybe for the Mertiamon’s hairdressing in the Hereafter[9]. This hypothesis sounds logical.

  • In many houses from Amarna were found clay balls with hair inside. They cold maybe be utilised for some kind of domestic magic[10].
  • In el-Kahun, Petrie found in 1890 in a tomb dating from the XX Dynasty two clay balls with locks of hair inside[11].
  • From Deir el-Bahari is a mummy dating from XXI Dynasty of a young girl, between her two legs were put locks of hair of 40 cm long[12].
  • In Gurob Tomb 605 at both feet of a female mummy was a squared case, which contained locks of hair. In some other tombs were also found hair remains[13].
  • Finally, we have to mention the Douch necropolis, in el-Kharga[14] and dating from I-V  centuries. In ten tombs were found deposits with globular clay vases with cut hair wrapped in clothing packs inside[15]; these vases were sometimes on the ground and sometimes inside a kind of whole in the walls of the funerary chambers . According to scholars the hair inside did not belong to the deceased ones, since these ones still had their own hair, but offerings.
The two Drty (two kites), offering nw vases to the four pools. Relief from the tomb of Pahery in el-Kab. XVIII Dynasty. Photo: www.osirisnet.net

The two Drty (two kites), offering nw vases to the four pools. Relief from the tomb of Pahery in el-Kab. XVIII Dynasty. Photo: http://www.osirisnet.net

All these archaeological remains make us think of those images of the twomourners called Drt with short hair at the end of the Opening of the Mouth ceremony and also of those texts mentioning the shaving of the mourners and the cut of the s3mt.

[1] Petrie and M. Flinders, 1902, p. 5, Pl. IV, fig. 7.

[2] Maspero, 1912, p. 170.

[3] It was in the group B 213, near the cultivable area.

[4] Wainwright, 1920, p. 11.

[5] Rowe, 1941, p. 624.

[6] Nachtergael, 1980, p. 243.

[7] Maspero, 1893, p. 274.

[8] Wagner et allii, 1984-1985, p. 188. They are in Musée du Louvre (Département des Antiquités Égyptiennes, Inv. Nº E 18851).

[9] Winlock, 1932, p. 34, Pl. XXXII y XXXIII.

[10] Peet and Woolley, 1923, p. 66.

[11] Crompton, 1916, p. 128. They are in the Manchester Museum.

[12] Daressy, 1907, p. 34.

[13]Bell, 1985, pp. 61-86, Pl. II.

[14] Dunand, Heim, Henein, Lichtenberg, 1992; Wagner et allii, 1984-1985, pp. 175- 202.

[15] The tombs are: T3, T4, T5, T7, T9, T11, T12, T53, T58, T66.

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Posted in 04. HAIR AND THE EYE OF HORUS

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Cutting the Lock of Hair s3mt in Ancient Egypt.

Posted on August 5, 2013 | Leave a comment

The Coffin Texts show us how the lock of hair s3mt was not just a symbolic element which had a very important place in the funerary imagery. Apparently it could also have been a physical thing which was manipulated and cut during the ceremony.

Chapter 532 is about to restore many parts of the corpse. To place the deceased’s head in his neck is the main gesture for reaching the new life:

“Formula for placing the head…Mi head is placed. My neck is put by Tefnut. This is the day of putting their heads to the gods. My two eyes are given to me, I see with them. I have received my dorsal spine from Ptah-Sokaris. Is tied to me a lock of hair in Heliopolis, the day of cutting the lock s3mt[1]”

chapter 532

In this chapter the deceased gets his eyes, his neck, his spine and the lock of hair syt, which we have already identified as the frontal lock of hair in mourners. According to the text it is a Helipolitan practice for restoring the corpse, which also includes the cutting of the lock of hair s3mt.

The Osirian ritual of Ancient Egypt represented the life, death and resurrection of that god. During the Stundenwachen-liturgy, where the two representative mourners of Isis and Nephtys had an important role, there was a practice of tying up the lock of hair. According to the inscription[2], in the second hour of the night one of the mourners, called “small Dyerit”, says:

“Join the head for you, put the plaits of hair Hnskwt” [3].Stundenwachen

 Sr can be translated as “hair of woman” or “hair of animal”[4] and srt means “bull’s hair”[5]. The action takes place in a resurrection rite where the mourner is giving a hair element. Could we think of a relationship between this passage of the Stundenwachen and the chapter 532 of the Coffin Texts? The imbalance here is that the document of the Middle Kingdom mentions the lock of hair syt, while the document from a later period mentions the plait of hair Hnskwt. Maybe we should think of a variation due to the passing of time.

Chapter 640 of the Coffin Texts mentions also the same practice, although in a more confusing context:

“A knot is tied for me around me in the sky connected with the earth by Re each day. He puts a knot on the inert over his two thighs on that day of cutting the lock of hair s3mt.

chapter 640

  Seth ties a knot around me when the ennead is in its first power, with no turmoil.

You protect me against those who slew the father. Nut ties a knot around me, at the sight of the first time before I had seen Maat, before the gods were created[6]. I am Penty[7]; I am the heir of the gods”[8].

We find again the expression to cut the s3mt in a context of Heliopolitan divinities.

Would the action of cutting the lock of hair in Ancient Egyptian funerals come from prehistoric times? Cutting rituals (depilation, cutting hair, dental mutilations…) are usually in all cultures one of the first techniques of purification; by means of that men apart themselves from animality[9]. The fact of cutting is something fundamental in initiation ceremonies, as it is for instance circumcision. We know that in Ancient Egypt the cut of the side lock in children was made when they were already adults[10] (nowadays some African peoples still do the same), so in the pass from childhood to a new state of existence.

Nudity and lock of hair were features of childhood. Relief from the mastaba of Ptahhotep in Saqqara. VI Dynasty. Photo: Mª Rosa Valdesogo Martín.

Nudity and lock of hair were features of childhood. Relief from the mastaba of Ptahhotep in Saqqara. VI Dynasty. Photo: Mª Rosa Valdesogo Martín.

We know that death for the Egyptians was just a change of condition and funerary ritual was not just a burial ceremony, but a rite of passage. The dead changed his condition; he passed from dead to reborn, from child to adult, from crescent to full moon. And in some moment of that process happened to cut the s3mt. The fact that this Egyptian word could also be translated as “mourning” or “sadness” refers us again to the mourning women; were there a connection between these women and the cut of the lock of hair s3mt?

P. Barguet considered cutting the s3mt as a Helipolitan ritual[11]. The side lock of Egyptian children was cut when they became adults. In Roman times athletes and youth initiated in Isis cult were distinguished because first ones had a side lock on the top of the head, while second ones had it over the right ear; this lock of hair was cut with the puberty at the same time of circumcision[12]. In religious sphere, Khonsu, the lunar god, was represented with his side lock and his lunar head-dress.

Could we think of cutting the s3mt of chapters 532 and 640 as a lunar rite? In a symbolic context, maybe to cut the s3mt was made when the moon was not a crescent anymore, but a full moon, that is, when the moon stopped being a child and became an adult. In the funerary ceremony, this cut of hair was maybe made as a symbol of the lunar rebirth of the deceased; it could reflect the end of the chaos and darkness which dominated the universe before the creation. Cutting the s3mt would mean full moon, light, order and new life.

 

[1] CT VI, 532

[2] H. Junker studied the inscription from Dendera, Edfu and Philae.

[3] H. Junker, 1910; E XIV, 95.

[4] Wb IV, 191, 3 y 4.

[5] Wb IV, 191, 5.

[6] The primeval moment.

[7] Pnt is an Egyptian verb related to the making of bread (to knead) and beer (press) (Wb I, 511, 3). Desinence –y converts it in a prospective passive participle, which indicates a future fact, so, Pnty would mean “The one who will be produced”; that would refer to the deceased as a new creation.

[8] CT VI, 640

[9] G. Durand, 1979, p.160.

[10] Scholars consider that circumcision in Ancient Egypt was made between six and fourteen years old.

[11] P. Barguet, 1986, p. 52, n. 5

[12] V. von Gonzenbach, 1957 (summary in AEB, nº 57214, pp. 61-62).

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Posted in 03. LOCKS, PLAITS AND RINGLETS

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The Lock of Hair s3mt and the Childhood of the Deceased in Ancient Egypt.

Posted on August 1, 2013 | Leave a comment

The Coffin Texts mention a final shape of hair also with a deep symbolic meaning. It is the lock of hair s3mt. About the meaning of s3mt there are different opinions. According to A. Erman and H. Grapow s3mt means “sadness” [1]; A. Gardiner translates it as “mourning” [2] and for R.O. Faulkner its meaning is “lock of hair” [3]. We will treat that later and we will notice that all translations result in the same idea.

In chapter 334 of the Coffin Texts the deceased is Ihy[4], the son of Hathor[5], but he is also son of Re, Isis and Nephtys. In fact, many passages of the text refer to the dead one as a being in his first steps of existence. The chapter is very long, so we will skip a part of the text and will focus on the most interesting sentences for the subject we talk about:

“To change into Ihy…I am the first product of Re, he created me in the body of my mother Isis…

 I am the son of Nephtys, I have been great and lucky.

 My lock of hair s3mt is not destroyed in the bosom of my father and my mother.

 CT 334 samt

I live, I exist…I am a protector. I am acclaimed in my name of Khonsu. I am immortal in the sky, with Re and my mother Hathor…”

His lunar nature comes from his condition as son of Re; he succeeds his father the sun, who rules the daily sky, in the sky during the night, the moonlight follows the sunlight. And we already know that the moon in Ancient Egypt is a symbol of new life in the Hereafter. The entire chapter is about the dead one as a new born, a son, he has the ability to be born with no handicaps, even his s3mt keeps intact and thanks to it, he can live and exist.

It is also interesting to notice that because the s3mt has not been destroyed the deceased exists and he is acclaimed in the name of Khonsu. This god was the son of Amon and Mut (Theban Triad) and his image characterized by the lunar head-dress and the side lock of hair[6]. Khonsu and his side lock were a symbol of youth and showed him as the heir[7]. Could we think of the s3mt as the side lock of Khonsu?

Khonsu with side lock and lunar head-dress. Relief from the funerary temple of Seti I in Dra Abu el-Naga. XIX Dynasty. Photo: Mª Rosa Valdesogo Martín.

Khonsu with side lock and lunar head-dress. Relief from the funerary temple of Seti I in Dra Abu el-Naga. XIX Dynasty. Photo: Mª Rosa Valdesogo Martín.

If the lock of hair is synonymous with rebirth and inheritance; not destroy it would mean continuity and constant renovation.  The dead one would be in the funerary thought of Ancient Egypt assimilated with Khonsu in the first step of the regeneration. Khonsu with the side lock (maybe s3mt) is the crescent, the childhood of the moon, and he starts its way to maturity; its growth for becoming the full moon, which materializes the deceased’s resurrection[8].

We have to take into consideration also the following passage:

“I am the ejaculated one, I crossed through her two legs…I have germinated in the egg, I have harried up through its sf[9], I have slid on its snf[10]. I am the lord of the blood…my mother Isis conceives me when she is unaware of her body under the fingers of the lord of the gods, who invades her that day of magnificence[11]…that day of disorder[12]… »

To keep the s3mt means to germinate into the egg, that vital centre which contains the energy to create a new being. The deceased remains inside the egg still unborn but and he will be reborn from it.

So, the lock of hair s3mt and the rebirth/regeneration appear together. Could we then think of that lock of hair s3mt as vital factor which helps the deceased in his resurrection? The answer seems to be affirmative[13].

[1] Wb IV, 18, 10.

[2] A. Gardiner, 1988, p. 588.

[3] R. O. Faulkner, 1988, p. 210.

[4] He is the musician with the sistrum.

[5] Already in Old Kingdom the deceased is “Horus, son of Osiris,…son of Hathor, the semen of Gueb” (Pyr., 466 a-b)

[6] J. Zandee, recalling Kees, who considered the lunar eye a parallel of the lock of hair (ZÄS 60), identified this one with Khonsu (J. Zandee, 1953, p. 112).

[7] Ph. Derchain, 1962, p. 40.

[8] In chapter 310 there are many verbs of growth, and that could be a proof of how the power of Khonsu increases (J. Zandee, 1953, p. 111)

[9] P. Barguet translates “egg white”.

[10] P. Barguet translates “yolk”, although its real meaning is “blood”.

[11] Could that refer to the sexual act?

[12] The translation of Xnnw is “uproar”, “disturbance” (Wb III, 383, 15). We are facing in this passage a moment of disorder, while the deceased is conceived; that shows the relationship we have already seen between chaos and orgy.

[13] As son of Isis the deceased is then also Horus and we will see later the relationship between this god and the lock of hair s3mt.

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Pulling and shaking hair over the mummy in Ancient Egypt.

Posted on May 24, 2013 | 4 comments

We have already seen how in chapter 180 of Book of the Dead the mourners appear dishevelled for or over the deceased.

Mourner covering her face with her hair. Tomb of Renni in el-Kab. XVIII Dynasty. Photo: www.egyptraveluxe.blogspot.com

Mourner covering her face with her hair. Tomb of Renni in el-Kab. XVIII Dynasty. Photo: http://www.egyptraveluxe.blogspot.com

The dead is now in the Hereafter and needs to get again the mobility. This chapter treats about the physical resurrection of the deceased and it was included in many tombs of kings (Tutmosis III, Seti I, Ramses II, Meneptah I, Seti II, Siptah, Ramses III and Ramses IV). In all cases the verb used for dishevelled was nwn. Taking into consideration those determinatives and the iconography of tombs of Amenemhat and Renni, one correct translation could be “…they are dishevelled over you…”.

We can then visualize the nwn gesture over the corpse for his benefit. Because after that the chapter follows: “…your soul gets happy, your body becomes glorious…” It describes the resurrection of the mummy, process in which was important that rite of mourning.

At this point we need to mention three relevant documents that refer to the role of mourning women in front of the body.

1)      The tomb of Ramses IX. On the left wall of the funerary chamber there is a unique scene of resurrection. The dead as a mummy inside an oval, over the corpse four women are making the nwn m gesture of pulling their locks of hair.

Women pulling lock of hair over the dead. Tomb of Ramses IX. Valley of the Kings. XX Dynasty. Photo: Mª Rosa Valdesogo Martín.

Women pulling lock of hair over the dead. Tomb of Ramses IX. Valley of the Kings. XX Dynasty. Photo: Mª Rosa Valdesogo Martín.

In the following scene the dead is not a mummy anymore, but now his legs and arms have movement. That makes us think about the nwn m gesture as something made for revitalising the body. The text accompanying the image is a fragment of the Book of Caverns in which we read about the resurrection of the dead and in that context it says:

“Those Goddesses are so, they are mourning over the secret place of Osiris…they are together, screaming and crying over the secret place of the ceremony…their secret is in their fingers…”

It is clear the relationship between mourning and the resurrection of the dead, to whom the women are pulling their locks of hair. On the other hand it is interesting to pay attention to the expression “…their secret is in their fingers…”, because with those fingers they are holding their hair. Which one is the secret? Is the resurrection or the way for reaching that resurrection?

2)      The coffin of Ramses IV. In the head piece there is a representation of Isis and Nephtys making the same nwn m gesture.

Isis and Nephtys pulling their locks of hair. This image is the head piece of the coffin of Ramses IV.

Isis and Nephtys pulling their locks of hair. This image is on the head piece of the coffin of Ramses IV.

Both goddesses are facing the head of the dead and the image is accompanied by an inscription where we read:

 “They move their faces during the moan; they mourn over the secret corpse of …

Both goddesses are holding their locks swt, the water is dropping from the eyes of these goddesses…the breath comes from them (the goddesses)…”

In some moment of his resurrection the dead finds Isis and Nephtys, which leaning their faces, holding their locks of hair swt and crying over the corpse, allow the dead to breathe and revive.

There is a very similar example in the coffin of the dwarf Dyedhor, who was dancer in the Serapeum. This coffin was found in Saqqara and belongs to the Persian period. The coffin of Dyedhor shows also Isis and Nephtys pulling their frontal locks of hair (Cairo Museum, nº cat. 1294).

3)      The stele C15 in Louvre Museum is another important document for this subject. It was found in Abydos and dates from XI Dynasty. His owner was Abkaou, chief of the cattle. In the Middle Kingdom became very popular to put a stele in Abydos in the memory of the deceased god Osiris. In this stele the lower register shows Abkaou receiving the offerings while in an upper register there is an image of the ceremonies that took place during the Osiris festivity. Two mourners are over the lying corpse and both cover their face with the hair; in fact it remembers what it is said in chapter 180 of Book of the Dead.

Two mourners making nwn gesture over the corpse. Detail of the stele of Akbaou (stele C15) from Abydos. Musée du Louvre. XI Dynasty. Photo (stele): www.cartelfr.louvre.fr; photo (detail): www.commons.wikimedia.org

Two mourners making nwn gesture over the corpse. Detail of the stele of Abkaou (stele C15) from Abydos. Louvre Museum. XI Dynasty. Photo (stele): http://www.cartelfr.louvre.fr; photo (detail): http://www.commons.wikimedia.org

The inscription is much reduced: once hieroglyph tm and twice the hieroglyph nwi.   niw tm

The verb tm in ancient Egyptian means “complete”, “be completed”, “join the different parts of the body” (Wb V, 303), especially when it is about the parts of the dead (Wb V, 305, 1) and nwi means “to be in charge of” (Wb II, 220);  the whole could be translated as “to be in charge of completing”. In the Myth of Osiris Isis with the help of Nephtys are the ones who collect the different parts of the body of Osiris, so these two mourners of the image would also be in charge of mending the body of the dead. The nwn gesture they are doing over the body would be one of the practises for revitalizing the deceased.

Suming up, mourners in Ancient Egypt made a kind of rite with their hair during the funerals. It could be to cover the face with the hair (nwn) or pull the frontal lock of hair (nwn m). In both cases we have proofs of this practise over the corpse and always with a revitalising goal.

For understanding better the meaning of this practise we have to know more about the symbolism of hair.

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Posted in 02. HAIR AND MOURNING WOMEN

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Hair and Death in Ancient Egypt: Foreword.

Posted on May 14, 2013 | Leave a comment

 

I started this research when Dr. Nadine Guilhou from the university of Montpellier told me about some images in Egyptian iconography where hair in funerary rites was treated in a very special way.

The first important document was a vignette in the chapter 168 of the Book of the Dead. Here mourning women in the funeral cortege of Re were shaking their hair and covering their faces with it.

Chapter 168 B of the Book of the Dead.

Chapter 168 B of the Book of the Dead.

I needed to be sure that it was not an isolated case, so I had to find out more similar examples. I found many similar scenes in Theban tombs from the New Kingdom where mourning women gesticulated in the same way: Amenemhat (TT82),  Minakht (TT87), Rekhmire (TT100) and Ineni (TT81), in the tomb of Renni at el-Kab (see the front of the blog). Out of the burials, but always in the funerary context, there is a scene from the funerary temple of Seti I in Dra Abu el-Naga.

Relief from the tomb of Amenemhat (TT 82)

Relief from the tomb of Amenemhat (TT 82)

Such a common attitude could not be just a coincidence, or a theatrical exposure of pain, but it had to arise from a deeper reason related to the funeral rite.

I still needed to look for more. Together with the iconography in Egyptology is necessary to have a look to the vocabulary. Among the words used by the Egyptian for “mourner” there was iakhbyt or hayt; I noticed that in many cases the writing did not include the determinative of a woman or a dishevelled woman, but the hieroglyph of the hair.

Determinatives of a woman and a dishevelled woman.

Determinatives of a woman and a dishevelled woman. Below the words in egyptian for “mourner“.

Jeroglíficos Foreword1


  This showed that the mourner’s hair was such an important part of them, that even it could identify them.

As we were in the funeral field, I had to consider all funerary texts and I found many allusions to the capillary element. Those ones were more frequent in the Coffin Texts of the Middle Kingdom and all of them with a « common denominator »: in all speeches mentioning the hair, mourner women were the main personages (and of course the mourning rite) and the Osiris myth was the backdrop.

For supporting the written document of the Middle Kingdom I found two images from the same period. One of them was a representation of a mourner beside the coffin leaning onwards and with her hair over her face; the other one was the Louvre stela C15, where the two mourners who assist the dead are doing this same gesture.

Mourning woman beside the coffin. Image in a coffin of the Middle Kingdom from Abydos.

Mourning woman beside the coffin. Image in a coffin of the Middle Kingdom from Abydos.

Given that the Coffin Texts is where more allusions to hair can be found, I decided to initiate the research with reading of this corpus, so the other texts I mention are just support documents.

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Posted in 01. INTRODUCTION

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