Egyptian priesthood

21st Dynasty funerary papyri have much to inform us about Egyptian funerary practices and religious beliefs.  The preserved texts can be read to enrich our views of cosmogony and can further our knowledge of Egyptian language and writing systems.  By examining the materials and tools used to create the documents, one can gain insight of production techniques.  And by studying the owners of these documents, we can uncover facts about family genealogies, social structures, and a wealth of information about the rank and titles of the deceased, as well as the implications these societal positions held for living descendants.  One interesting feature of this corpus of papyri that has largely been overlooked by scholars is the significant quantity of them that have an unfinished edge at the end of the document.  Many papyri have vignettes that simply trail off, being left incomplete.  Sometimes, the polychrome color scheme ends, leaving behind a black and red outlined sketch.  Other times, there are empty registers where images were not drawn, or text columns that remain blank.  The top and bottom decorative borders fade away, creating an uneven length of framing.  This understudied observation can shed much light on how funerary papyri were procured: were these documents pre-fabricated, with customers purchasing documents “off the shelf,” or were they custom commissions made for specific individuals?  If the former, did purchasers know the documents were unfinished?  If the latter, was it a lack of funds, materials, or time that resulted in the incomplete documents?

Throughout Egyptian history, high-ranking Egyptian priests were the scholars responsible for the creation of the very material that constituted the core of Egyptian intellectual culture. During the first millennium BCE, and particularly in the Graeco-Roman period (late fourth century BCE–fourth century CE), they were the social group in charge of mediating and negotiating the terms of the relationship between traditional Egyptian culture and the new foreign rulers of the country. As such, they are fundamental figures for our understanding of the greater Mediterranean and Near Eastern world of the time.
Marina Escolano-Poveda offers for the first time a detailed analysis of the most relevant Egyptian priestly characters from Egyptian and Graeco-Roman literary and paraliterary sources. The examination of these sources contrasts the self-presentation of Egyptian priests in texts created and circulated within the temple environment with images presented by outside sources, providing a solid base to analyze how these figures were seen in their historical milieu. In the second part of the book, the results of the previous analysis are contrasted with a series of widely-used models employed to understand the historical and intellectual context of Egyptian religion and the Egyptian priesthood in the Graeco-Roman period, questioning the usefulness and applicability of such models. Escolano-Poveda proposes new ways of understanding the role of the Egyptian priests in this context as fundamental actors in the development of the philosophical, scientific, and literary culture of the Hellenistic, Roman, and Late Antique worlds.

https://www.harrassowitz-verlag.de/The_Egyptian_Priests_of_the_Graeco-Roman_Period/title_6581.ahtml

New edition of two cuboid statues belonging to Nesmin, a young Ptolemaic Priest from Thebes. Although both objects were published decades ago, many transcription errors in the modern editions rendered the inscriptions nearly illegible. Collation with new photographs enables substantial corrections, resulting in continuous texts, practically free of errors.
Most importantly, the new translations demonstrate something previous editors had overlooked: Nesmin had died prematurely, so that his parents, represented on his statues, buried him and commissioned his posthumous private statues. By comparing these monuments with another statue of Nesmin from the Karnak Cachette – previously unpublished – one can establish a relative chronology for his private statuary.
The striding, tonsured effigy (JE 38025) captured Nesmin while still an aspiring young priest, whereas his gloomier, idealizing cuboid statues (WAM 22.183, Linköping 102) place him among the blessed dead of Thebes.


"Schließlich brauchen sie uns nicht mehr, die Früheentrückten,
man entwöhnt sich des Irdischen sanft, wie man den Brüsten
milde der Mutter entwächst. Aber wir, die so große
Geheimnisse brauchen, denen aus Trauer so oft
seliger Fortschritt entspringt –: könnten wir sein ohne sie?"

– Rilke, Erste Duineser Elegie

Aashyet’s sarcophagus (JE 47267) offers a unique case for understanding how the intersection of a person’s identities, such as ethnicity, gender, age, or religion, is portrayed on a funerary object within the historic and religious circumstances of a specific context. Aashyet’s sarcophagus portrays her as a wealthy, elite priestess, and the headof-household, while being a Nubian who celebrated her non-Egyptian origins. The sarcophagus’s archaeological context also demonstrates the importance of Priestesses of Hathor within Montuhotep II’s funerary complex at Deir el-Bahri for the legitimation
of his kingship before he unified Egypt, late in his reign.

Decentralization characterized the 21st Dynasty, resulting from the political division between the Tanite kings and the Theban High Priesthood of Amun.  For the Theban priesthood, this decentralization created complications with regards to social identity.  The temple was an obvious choice for this theocratic regime to physically and socially connect in order to maintain status and identity.  These changes also resulted in funerary papyri becoming common in burials, as reliance on extended burial caches and the distillation of the funerary assemblage warranted.  With this limitation of decorative space to the coffin set and usually one or two papyri, choices were made regarding the content of the funerary iconography.  By studying the corpus of 21st Dynasty funerary papyri and the specific choices made for their content, particularly as these choices reflect positions within the priesthood, one can better understand how the individual socially defined himself or herself.

Decentralization characterized the 21st Dynasty, resulting from political division between the Tanite kings and the Theban High Priesthood of Amun. For the Theban priesthood, this decentralization created complications with regards to social identity, as stressing a relationship to the king was no longer a means to power. The temple was an obvious choice for this theocratic regime to physically and socially connect, resulting in the maintenance of status and identity via the priesthood. The political and economic changes of the 21st Dynasty also resulted in funerary papyri becoming more common in burials, as reliance on extended burial caches and the distillation of the funerary assemblage warranted more compact methods of including religious and ritual content in the burial. With this limitation of space reduced to mainly the coffin set and one or two funerary papyri, choices were made regarding the content of the funerary iconography. By studying the corpus of 21st Dynasty funerary papyri and the specific choices made for their content – particularly regarding these choices as they reflect positions within the priesthood – one can better understand how the individual socially defined himself or herself during this time of decentralization. In addition, this established social status passed through the generations, illustrating the inheritance of these temple positions and the importance of hereditary positions in this religiously entrenched society.

The first section of this paper focuses on two unpublished objects: a faience plaque constituted by seven pieces (E 32591) and one shabti (E 32787), both currently preserved at the Louvre Museum, Paris, and belonging to the same owner, the renep-priest Horemheb, son of Ankhpakhered. The objects are dated back to the beginning of the Late Period (c. 664-600 BC). The priest Horemheb, son of Ankhpakhered, is already known from several other shabtis: six of them belong to a private collection and have been recently published; another several shabtis have been offered for sale at auctions and they are scattered across private collections. The second section of the paper attempts to gather and update all the available documentation related to the specific sacerdotal renep-title in the Third province of Lower Egypt. Finally, from the analyses of the sources, the paper aims to shed new light on the specific sacerdotal renep-title and its relationship with other sacerdotal titles, administrative and religious offices, often connected to the Western Delta region.

In the long passage of De abstinentia, IV, 2–18, Porphyry mentions a series of “groups” (ἔθνη) as examples of abstinence from animal food: the ancient Greeks of the “golden age”, the Lacedaemonians of Lycurgus’ era, the Egyptian priests, the Essenes among the Jews, the Magi among the Persians and the gymnosophists among the Indians. Such an association does not seem at all accidental, since Porphyry refers to a tradition in which these communities have similar habits of life, including the prohibition of eating meat and drinking wine, sexual abstinence, absence of diseases and wars, separation from the civil sphere, devotion to the sacred. All these elements constitute the specific connotation of a human existence that evokes the “time of the origins”, substantially a paradisiac dimension, far from history. It is a deliberate symbolic shift. This brief research will investigate the reasons and the deep meaning of the connection based on utopian life traits.

Publication d'une statue provenant de la Cachette de Karnak conservée au Musée du Caire et appartenant à un certain Ousirour qui occupait la fonction de «serviteur du sanctuaire de Chentayt», titre en relation avec la fabrication des figurines osiriennes pendant les fêtes de Khoïak. Le monument date du IVe S. av. J.C. et l’hypothèse d’un lien avec une autre statue  (JE 37343) provenant de Karnak et datant de la même période est aussi envisagée.

Decentralization was a fundamental element of the 21st Dynasty, as the physical split and political division between the Tanite kings and the Theban High Priesthood of Amun illustrated.  For the Theban priesthood and their families, this decentralization created complications with regards to social identity.  Elite members of Egyptian society traditionally emphasized relationships to the king and highlighted important positions held within the palace structure.  With Tanite kingship marginalized to the north at the beginning of the Third Intermediate Period, the Theban ruling priesthood could not use traditional methods of self-identification, such as strong connections to the palace, to maintain and promote their social status.  It was thus necessary to prioritize connections to other institutions.  The temple was an obvious choice for this theocratic regime, but it was not the only framework for illustrating social status.  Family connections also grew in importance during this time of political fragmentation, as the study of 21st Dynasty funerary papyri suggests. 
Funerary papyri became common in 21st Dynasty Theban burials, as reliance on extended burial caches and the distillation of the funerary assemblage to mainly the coffin set warranted the incorporation of funerary imagery and text deemed necessary for the deceased to be incorporated into the burial in a more compact way.  With this limitation of decorative space to the coffin set and one or two papyri, choices were made regarding the content of the funerary iconography.  The relationship between funerary materiality and social identity is constant throughout pharaonic history, but holds a distinct importance in this time of decentralization and crisis.  By studying the corpus of 21st Dynasty funerary papyri and the specific choices made for their content, one can better understand how the individual socially defined himself or herself by placing increased emphasis on family relationships, ethnic diversity, and hereditary temple titles.

This paper assembles for the first time two fragments, Bologna Museo Archeologico KS 1840 and Cairo Egyptian Museum JE 42880, which originally belonged to the same statue. While the upper part of the statue, Bologna KS 1840, is already known from several publications, the
lower part, Cairo JE 42880, remains so far unpublished. The texts from both are reassembled here, analysed and discussed. The naophorous statue belonged to an individual named Wahibre, who very likely lived at the end of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty in the western Delta of Egypt.
Indeed, Wahibre and his parents held during their life several specific regionally sacerdotal titles related to the Fourth (Hm nTr N.t-Jh.t), Fifth (xrp-Hw.wt (N.t); Hm nTr Hr aA m Hw.t-N.t (?); xnd (n.t) Rs-N.t), Sixth (Hm ¡r wr-wAD.tj), and Thirteenth (Hm nTr Hapj) provinces of Lower Egypt

Textual references of family members and inclusion of their images on private monuments – especially those of a funerary nature – are common throughout pharaonic Egyptian history.  The function of the incorporation of these family members, however, is often integral and inseparable from the time period in which they occur.  This paper will analyze the inclusion of family on a number of objects from the Third Intermediate Period and contextualize them within the era of political instability, conflict, and compounded social identity.  In what light were family members often depicted, and to what end?  Through the study of funerary papyri, deification decrees, coffins, and statuary, it becomes clear that the function of the venerated family was multifaceted: supporting political claims, maintaining economic rights, strengthening property ownership, and enhancing family status.  These functions were veiled within a religious tradition of highlighting one’s ancestors with respect and praise.  Looking behind the (heartfelt) veneer of veneration, however, reveals the utilization of a time-honored Egyptian tradition of emphasizing family lineage for the purpose of personal gain.

The purpose of this article is to review an Egyptian wooden funerary stela (File number 3519) housed in the Museo Arqueológico Nacional (Madrid) dated at the beginning of the I millenium BC. We shall study its iconographic and epigraphic features in order to find information about the family tree of a Theban high priest who lived during the Third Intermediate Period.
Key words: Egypt. Priestly elite. Third Intermediate Period. Theban Onomastic. Prosopography. Opener of the Doors of the Sky in Karnak.
Revisamos en el presente trabajo una pieza egipcia del Museo Arqueológico Nacional en Madrid: la estela de madera nº inv. 3519, datable a comienzos del I milenio aC. Realizaremos un análisis iconográfico en profundidad, previo a su estudio epigráfico. La combinación de ambos permitirá conocer la familia de un alto cargo sacerdotal tebano del Tercer Periodo Intermedio.
Palabras clave: Egipto. Élite sacerdotal. Tercer Periodo Intermedio. Onomástica tebana. Prosopografía. Abridor de las Puertas del Cielo en Karnak.

Description of the archive of Osoroeris son of Horos. He was a mortuary priest (choachyte) in Western Thebes. His archive is linked with the archive of Panas son of Pechytes (TM Arch 364), another member of his family. Most papers in this archive deal with the sale and inheritance of liturgies, but the archive also contains a couple of lawsuit dossiers.

Poster presented at the GARDEN VI conference in Cairo. The poster concerns the study of the papyrus archive of Osoroeris son of Horos (TM Arch 50). Osoroeris was a mortuary priest (choachyte) in the Theban necropolis. His archive mainly concerns the sales and inheritances of liturgies. It also contains a couple of lawsuits, amongst others papers related to the Hermias-trial.

Die Formel "Agathe Tyche, Kerdon, Hermes, Aphrodite" findet sich auf mehreren Schreibübungen und Gebrauchstexten aus dem Umfeld der Landgutverwalter im kaiserzeitlichen Fayum. Mehrere Hinweise sprechen dafür, dass die Formel Bestandteil eines Unterrichts bzw. einer Ausbildung für Gutsverwalter war, die sich im Fayum ortsübergreifend vernetzten.

Djeme is known as a place name in Theban West bank, but the analysis of some Demotic texts demonstrates that it was used also as a god's name. This talk registers the attestations of this theonym in personal names, titles of temple staff, and as recipient of feasts and libations, taxes and fines to pay; Djeme is also invoked as a deity in five temple oaths and one graffito from Medinet Habu. The absence of the theonym Djeme in Hieroglyphic and Greek sources, its invocation in temple oaths in the same places devoted to Amun-of-the-Ogdoad and the role of the god's servants of Djeme as chiefs of the notary office of the Theban West bank; all together, these three elements could justify the proposal that Djeme was employed as an alternative to Amun-of-the-Ogdoad, or Amun-Ra-of-Ḏsr-s.t, the patron deity of the small temple of Medinet Habu.

Georges Legrain made an extraordinary discovery in 1903 in the north-west section of the courtyard in front of the Seventh Pylon at Karnak : over 700 statues in stone, 17000 in bronze and many other artefacts were unearthed during an excavation made difficult due to the infiltrations from the watertable. The work lasted until 1907 and most of the statues ended up in the Cairo Museum. Apart from a certain number of royal effigies from various periods, the statues, which date from the New Kingdom up to the end of the Ptolemaic period, portray priests occupying various functions in Karnak.
The Karnak Cachette database gives for each object a general description (with dimensions, material, date, etc.), its different registration numbers and a bibliography. It also provides access to the photographic documentation collected during the project (around 8000 photographs).