Painted priests' tombs uncovered in Saqqara

Two sixth dynasty tombs of King Pepi II’s priests uncovered in Saqqara

By Nevine El-Aref

During excavation work by the French Institute for Oriental Studies (IFAO) at Tabetl Algish in the south Saqqara necropolis, two very-well preserved tombs were uncovered.

The tombs belong to two priests from the reign of the sixth dynasty King Pepi II, and include their skeletons and a few items of their funerary collection. The first priest is named Ankhti and the second is Saby.

Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh Eldamaty explains that the walls of both tombs are very well decorated with paintings depicting religious rituals, among them presenting offerings to deities.

He asserted that the paintings are still bearing their vivid colours as if they were painted yesterday, although they were dug 4,200 years ago.

“These paintings are a good documentary revealing the type of religious rituals at that time as well as showing the skill of ancient Egyptian artisans,” Eldamaty confirmed.

French Egyptologist Vassil Dobrev, head of the mission, explains that burial shafts are found at a very deep level inside the tombs. Saby’s burial shaft was six metres deep, while the one of Ankhti was found 12 metres deep.

He went on to say that each tomb is built on two levels: the upper one is on the ground built of mud bricks, while the lower part is a rock hewn of limestone.

Kamal Wahid, director of the central administration of Giza antiquities, told Ahram Online that although a few alabaster vessels, offerings and the skeletons of both priests were found, both tombs were subjected to looting in antiquity. Both skeletons were found scattered on the ground and not inside sarcophagi.

He explains that both tombs are almost identical and bear very distinguished scenes, among them the ancient Egyptian offerings painted on the walls of the priests’ burial chambers.

It shows the pot of the seven ritual oils and the list of offerings with their names and quantities. Incense balls and copper burning incense are also depicted as well as head rests and necklaces worn by priests.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/40/126746/Heritage/Ancient-Egypt/Painted-priests-tombs-uncovered-in-Saqqara.aspx

Museum Pieces - Block statue of Nes-Amun

Photocredit: BA Antiquities Museum/C. Gerigk

Block statue of Nes-Amun

Category: Sculpture in the round, statues, human / gods and goddesses statues, block (cube) statues
Date: Late Period (664-332 BCE)
Provenance: Upper Egypt, Luxor (Thebes), East Bank, Karnak temple
Material(s): Rock, granite, black granite
Height: 46 cm; Width: 20.5 cm; Depth: 29.5 cm
Inventory#: BAAM Serial 0598

Description

Block statue of a priest serving the god Montu in Thebes by the name of "Nes Amun" which was found in a cache in Karnak.  The priest is represented in a squatting position and a relief sculpture of the god of the dead, Osiris in mummified form and wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt, occupies the centre of the statue.  The god Osiris holds the crook and flail, emblems of power and government.  Hieroglyphs in two vertical lines on the sides glorify him.  The back of the statue also contains hieroglyphs divided into two horizontal lines which read from right to left representing a dedication from the priest and prayers for his soul.

The Priesthood

The priest in ancient Egypt was considered a servant of the god and he was therefore referred to as Hem-Neter, Hem literally meaning servant, Neter meaning god.  He was attached to a temple to look after the needs of the god in terms of food and clothing.  During the Old and Middle Kingdoms, some priests worked only part-time at the temple and returned to their ordinary everyday family life and occupation after a stint lasting three months in the temple compound (one month in every four per year).

Priests were divided into different ranks and had different duties within the temple, such as attending to offerings and minor parts of temple ritual, or running the economic affairs and administration of the temple, while only the chief priest was allowed to handle the cult image. This high rank of priesthood was not limited to men only, as women from the elite also filled the role of chief priestess. They were called Hemet-Neter and during the Old and Middle Kingdom served the goddess Hathor.

The chief priest exercised great power and influence on Pharaoh and ordinary people alike. During the 18th Dynasty (1550-1295), the god Amun gained supremacy over other gods and as a result, the Amun priesthood dominated the religious landscape and became exceedingly powerful.

The lowest or entry rank among priests was that of Waab, or 'purifier' who was entrusted with the purification and cleanliness of ritual area and items, however, he was not allowed into the inner sanctuary.  Another rank of priesthood was that of astrologer/ astronomer which was in charge of divination and of calculating time and setting the calendar determining religious festivals, as well as lucky and unlucky days.

Other priests attached to the "House of Life" or 'Per-Ankh'  were responsible for teaching religious matters, writing and for copying texts.  The Hery Heb or lector priests recited the words of the god.  They were part of the permanent staff at the temple.

Every temple had its retinue of singers and musicians to perform during festivals and rituals. Women among the nobles had the title of "singer or chantress of Amun" and were shown holding or shaking the musical instrument called sistrum during ceremonial activities.

There were other priests involved with healing, with oracles, those who were able to communicate with the dead (mainly women called Rakhet) and those workers of protective magic.

Priests were not allowed to wear wool or leather products, only clothes made of high-quality linen and sandals made of Papyrus, with the exception of the Sem priests who wore a cheetah skin.  The latter performed the 'Opening of the Mouth' ceremony during the mummification process.

Priests inherited their role from their fathers, and by the Roman period it was common for the office to be bought.  The role of priests in small provincial temples remained less important than in larger ones.


Bibliography
"Priests". In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Edited by Donald B. Redford. Vol. III. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
"Priests". In Dictionary of Egyptian civilization. By Posener, Georges, Serge Sauneron and Jean Yoyotte. Translated from the French by Alix Macfarlane. London: Methuen, 1962.

Source: http://antiquities.bibalex.org/Collection/Detail.aspx?lang=en&a=598

Tasty Life: Leopard Teeth, Calf Bones Found in Ruins Near Pyramids

By Owen Jarus, LiveScience Contributor   |   January 21, 2014

TORONTO — The remains of a mansion that likely held high-ranking officials some 4,500 years ago have been discovered near Egypt's Giza Pyramids. Bones from young cattle and teeth from leopards suggest its residents ate and dressed like royalty.

Archaeologists excavating a city just 400 meters (1,312 feet) south of the Sphinx uncovered the house and nearby mound containing the hind limbs of young cattle, the seals of high-ranking officials, which were inscribed with titles like "the scribe of the royal box" and "the scribe of the royal school," and leopard teeth (but no leopard).

The house, containing at least 21 rooms, is part of a city that dates mainly to the time when the pyramid of Menkaure (the last of the Giza Pyramids) was being built.

"The other thing that is just amazing is almost all the cattle are under 10 months of age … they are eating veal," said Richard Redding, the chief research officer of Ancient Egypt Research Associates, at a recent symposium held here by the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities.

From his sample of 100,000 bones from the nearby mound, Redding said he couldn't find a cow bone that was older than 18 months and found few examples of sheep and goat bones.

"We have very, very, high status individuals," said Redding, also a research scientist at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology at the University of Michigan.

Priests In Ancient Egypt

By Marie Parsons

Priests in ancient Egypt had a role different to the role of a priest in modern society. Though the Egyptians had close associations with their gods ,they did not practice any form of organized religion, as modern times would define it.

The priests did not preach, proselytize, or care for a congregation. They were not messengers of any "divinely revealed truth." There was no single Holy Book on which the religious system of Egypt was based. In fact, the various cosmogonies developed at Heliopolis, Memphis and Hermopolis are each different and even contradictory. The various myths and legends surrounding the gods were totally incompatible with the development of one coherent system of belief. One version of how the sun traveled across the sky described how Ra was ferried in his sacred boat, the Solar barque, whose divine crew the deceased King hoped to join upon his resurrection. According to another myth, the sun was born each morning on the eastern horizon to the sky-goddess Nut and traveled across the vault of heaven, which was her body, to be swallowed by her at sunset on the western horizon. A third explanation was that a giant scarab beetle, the god Khepri, pushed the fiery ball up through the horizon at dawn and rolled it across the sky.

No preaching was required because every Egyptian accepted the validity of the traditional religious theology, i.e. the world was created, ordered and governed by the gods, through the intermediary the king, the only actual priest in Egypt. It was accepted that people tried to live good lives in the hope of earning merit for the life to come; they didn’t need to be "converted" to a way that was already considered to be theirs. The authors of religious works had no responsibility for instructing the people as a whole in the ways of the gods. The same was true for the ritual priests.

Egyptian priests did have a vital role in the religious ritual of daily and festival life. Whereas today a god may be worshipped who is believed to bestow his grace upon his followers, the Egyptian priest offered and performed material and ritually magic services to the god of his temple, to ensure that god’s presence would continue on earth, and thus maintain the harmony and order of the world as it had been created. That was why the priests were called "servants of the god," or hem-netjer, the traditional title for a priest.