Lost Voices of the Nile: Everyday Life in Ancient Egypt

by Charlotte Booth

  In such a hot climate, especially after spending so much time and attention on their appearance, the Egyptians were rather conscious of their body odour, and there were numerous ways, in addition to applying scented oil, of combating this. Numerous tomb paintings show revellers at banquets with a small cone of fat on their heads. There are varying thoughts about this cone, one being they were made of animal fat and saturated with perfume, and as they slowly melted they gave off a subtle fragrance. Such cones may have been made by the cold-steeping technique, which comprised placing a number of flower petals (rose or jasmine are best suited), over a layer of animal fat placed between two boards. When the fat had absorbed the fragrance the petals were replaced with fresh petals. This process was repeated for a number of weeks until the fat layer was saturated with scent. Then it was moulded into cones.86

  Some scholars believe, however, that these cones were not worn as a physical item but were purely an artistic representation to show the application of perfume. 87 This is supported by the overall eroticism of the banquet scenes, in which the revellers are anointed with oil, imbibing alcohol and watching dancers.88 The shape of the cone has also led some scholars to believe there is in fact a spiritual element to them, the thought being that they were associated with the ba, an element of the spirit. The shape of the cone varies, developing from a standard loaf of bread shape, to a pile of corn, and back to a long loaf of bread of the type offered to the gods and essential for the survival of the ba in the afterlife.89

  Egyptians were also regular users of breath freshener in the form of balls of cinnamon, myrrh, frankincense and rush nut, which one would chew on. Dental hygiene was minimal and teeth were cleaned by chewing on a twig or stiff reed.90 Underarm deodorant was approached in a similar manner; small balls of incense and porridge were placed in elbows and armpits 91 and as they heated up they omitted a pleasant smell.

  It is possible to see that the ancient Egyptians were not so different to modern societies in the way they passed their free time – drinking, going to parties, playing board games and listening to music – and the care they took in their appearance is something familiar to all societies, ancient and modern. Some aspects of the ancient Egyptian lifestyle are not, however, comparable to the modern world; this is most obviously their religious beliefs and household religious practices, which will be discussed in the next chapter.

  3.

  HOUSEHOLD RELIGION

  ‘When I did a deed of transgression against the Peak, she punished me.’1

  For the ancient Egyptians religion was more than simply a belief system; it was fundamental to their entire culture and comprised hundreds of deities who dealt with all aspects of daily life. These gods came in many forms, including animal and human, each with a specific role, their own imagery, mythology and cult practices. Contrary to popular belief, the Egyptians did not worship animals, but rather the anthropomorphic gods were believed to possess the characteristics associated with the animal represented; for example, Hathor, a cow-headed deity, was a mother goddess, as the cow was associated with life-giving milk and sustenance.

  The pantheon was separated into state and personal deities. State religion was that of the king and is presented in temples throughout Egypt. These gods were concerned with the complexities of environmental cycles (solar and inundation), kingship succession, battles and cosmic equilibrium (Maat). Such concerns were too complex for ordinary people to comprehend, as their worries included primarily illness, fertility and childbirth. Therefore different deities that helped with such concerns were worshipped in the home. There were, of course, some deities who appealed to both king and commoner; Isis, for example, the mother of Horus and general mother goddess, or Ptah, a creator god worshipped primarily at Deir el-Medina as the god of craftsmen. Consequently there were deities who were members of both the state and household pantheon of gods.

  Religious mythology was used in Egypt to explain environmental cycles and world formation, in the form of creation myths. Although the deities concerned were state gods, the whole population was familiar with the stories. There were, however, variants on the creation story, with different supreme deities dependending on the period and the city.

  The primary myth concerns the Ennead of Heliopolis: the nine most important deities of the pantheon. According to this myth, creation took place in Heliopolis, just outside modern Cairo. In the time before creation the world was empty, except for darkness and the primordial waters known as Nu or Nun. Although there is a sacred lake in every temple in Egypt reminiscent of this primordial water, there are no temples or shrines dedicated to Nun in his own right.

  A small mound of earth arose from the primordial water, upon which a lotus flower emerged. From this flower the solar deity Atum came into existence. Such a mound was familiar to the ancient Egyptians as these were the first visible land masses after the annual inundation started to abate. Every year, from July until October, much of Egypt was under water. This was essential for the fertility of the farmland, as the inundation brought with it rich silt which was deposited over the fields. As the water abated and the first mounds appeared, due to their freshly silted fertility, small shoots of plant life were visible on the top. Therefore, in the minds of the Egyptians, this was associated with the first mound of creation from which all life began.

  Upon the first mound Atum, as a solar god, instigated the birth of the sun and the first dawn. Although male, Atum was able to self-reproduce through spilling bodily fluids. The next generation of gods, Shu and Tefnut, were created from spit and semen. Utterance 527 of the Pyramid Texts states, ‘Atum is he who came into being, who masturbated in Heliopolis. He took his phallus in his grasp that he might create orgasm by means of it, and were born the twins Shu and Tefnut.’2 This makes it clear that Atum masturbated to create the next generation of gods. However, Utterance 600 claims they were born from his mouth: ‘You spat out Shu, you expectorated Tefnut, and you set your arms around them’.3

  Shu was the god of air, whose name means void or empty. He is depicted as a man with arms raised to support the sky, filling the space between the sky (Nut) and the earth (Geb). Pyramid Text Utterance 222 states the bones of Shu were the clouds used by the king to descend to heaven. ‘Go up, open your way by means of the bones of Shu, the embrace of your mother Nut will enfold you.’4

  Tefnut, Shu’s sister, whose name means ‘to spit’, was the goddess of moisture and was believed to be visible in the morning dew which purified the land. Shu and Tefnut then produced the next generation of gods, Geb and Nut. They formed the boundaries of the sphere which constituted the world, with Shu and Tefnut within and Nun the primeval water surrounding the exterior. The sun was unable to exist in the area outside this sphere. In the tomb of Ramses VI (1141–1133 BCE) the sun god is depicted travelling along Nut’s body, to be swallowed at dusk in order to continue the journey inside her body until rebirth in the morning.

  Nut and Geb’s children were the most important gods in the pantheon: Osiris, Isis, Seth and Nephthys. The first five deities of the Ennead (Atum, Shu, Tefnut, Geb and Nut) explained the environment in a simplistic way, whereas the mythology of the final four deities explained the laws of kingship and succession.

  The Turin King List (dated to Ramses II 1279–1212 BCE) records the time when Egypt was ruled by the gods; Ptah, followed by Ra (one of the many sun-gods), then Shu, Geb and Osiris. As king, Osiris taught the people how to farm, make wine, obey laws and believe in the gods.

  This he did by showing them the fruits of cultivation, by giving them laws, and by teaching them to honour the gods. Later he travelled over the whole earth civilizing it without the slightest need of arms, but most of the peoples he won over to his way by the charm of his persuasive discourse combined with song and all manner of music (Plutarch 13).5

  Osiris’s wife Isis taught wives how to make bread and beer. His brother Seth was envious of Osiris’s popularity and plotted against him in order to take the throne for himself. The most d
etailed version of this story comes from Plutarch’s Isis and Osiris (120 CE), although there are fragments in the Old Kingdom Pyramid Texts. Seth collected the bodily measurements of Osiris and built a box of priceless wood which fit them exactly. Seth then held a banquet and invited Osiris and a number of fellow conspirators to dine. In the middle of the banquet Seth presented the box to the revellers.

  The company was much pleased at the sight of it and admired it greatly, whereupon Typhon [Seth] jestingly promised to present it to the man who should find the chest to be exactly his length when he lay down in it. They all tried it in turn, but no one fitted it; then Osiris got into it and lay down, and those who were in the plot ran to it and slammed down the lid, which they fastened by nails from the outside and also by using molten lead (Plutarch 13).

  Seth then cast the chest into the Nile and it floated away, drowning Osiris. When Isis heard about this she immediately began searching for the chest. She learnt that a casket had been found in Byblos and travelled there to retrieve it. After some time she located the chest, but discovered that the spirit of Osiris had entered a tamarisk tree which the king of Byblos had used for a pillar in his palace. Isis appealed to the queen of Byblos and eventually returned with the body and the casket to Abydos. After unloading the chest she fell into a deep sleep, only to be discovered by Seth, who was hunting crocodiles in the area.

  [She] bestowed the chest in a place well out of the way; but Typhon [Seth], who was hunting by night in the light of the moon, happened upon it. Recognizing the body he divided it into fourteen parts and scattered them, each in a different place. Isis learned of this and sought for them again, sailing through the swamps in a boat of papyrus (Plutarch 18).

  The tears of Isis, instigated by the loss of her husband, were believed by some to be the cause of the first inundation. Greek records, however, state her tears were those of joy, at the discovery of her pregnancy with Horus.6

  Isis and her sister Nephthys started to search for Osiris’s body parts. They eventually found thirteen of the fourteen pieces.

  Of the parts of Osiris’s body the only one which Isis did not find was the male member, for the reason that this had been at once tossed into the river, and the lepidotus, the sea-bream, and the pike had fed upon it; and it is from these very fishes the Egyptians are most scrupulous in abstaining (Plutarch 18).

  Wherever they discovered a body part they built a tomb, the most important of which was Abydos, where the murder took place. After discovering all the pieces of the body Isis resurrected Osiris and turned herself into a kite, using her wings to breathe life back into him. She modelled a penis from clay and became impregnated with her son Horus. After that final act Osiris was banished to the realm of the dead, where he remained as the god of the underworld. Seth then took over the throne of Egypt.

  In the later periods of dynastic history the murder was ritually re-enacted annually to ensure that the cycle of life continued. In the Ptolemaic Period, this ritual re-enactment of the Sacred Mysteries was common and was dominated by priestesses rather than priests. Two priestesses were recruited in particular to play the roles of Isis and Nephthys. They had all their bodily hair removed in order to maintain their purity and wore wigs and headdresses to identify them with the goddesses. The names Isis and Nephthys were written upon each goddess’s arm, to make it clear which role they were playing, and they chanted from sacred texts while shaking their sistra, which were bronze rattles sacred to the goddess cults. Performing a re-enactment at the burial place of Osiris was very powerful and ensured the cycle of birth and death was maintained.

  In a similar Ptolemaic re-enactment at the Serapeum at Saqqara, the burial place of the Apis bulls, orphaned twin girls were known to have played the roles of Isis and Nephthys in the ceremonies surrounding the burial of this sacred Bull. The Apis Bull was thought to accommodate the ba of the creator god Ptah during its lifetime, and was treated as a god for all of its natural life. Even the mother of the Apis Bull was revered and kept in luxury. Both the bull and his mother were mummified and buried in stone sarcophagi with traditional canopic jars (see chapter nine) and offering stelae.

  The twins, Taous and Tawe, had requested asylum at the Serapeum, where a friend of their father worked. Their mother had left their father and moved in with another man, who attempted to murder their father. He managed to escape, but died of grief after being separated from his daughters. His body was returned to their mother, ‘but to this day Nephoris [their mother] has not troubled to bury him’.7 Nephoris then sold his possessions even though the twins should have inherited them, and threw them out onto the street. They approached the Serapeum in the hope of refuge. ‘At that moment the mourning for the Apis was declared, and they hired us to make the lamentations for the god.’8 They performed tasks around the temple to pay for their upkeep, the most important and symbolic being the divine mourners at the Apis Bull funeral.

  As the burial place of Osiris, Abydos was considered an important place of pilgrimage for many Egyptians. The journey to Abydos was depicted on the walls of numerous New Kingdom tombs, or model boats were placed in the tomb to enable the deceased’s spirit to make the pilgrimage. However, despite the apparent importance on the walls of the tombs, it seems that not many Egyptians physically went on pilgrimage to Abydos in life. The images in the tomb acted as a substitute for a physical pilgrimage and ensured the deceased (the new Osiris) connected with the divine Osiris on a spiritual level.9

  Horus was raised secretly by his mother Isis in the marshes until he was old enough to take his rightful place, as the son of Osiris, on the throne. However, Seth still wanted to rule and called for a tribunal held by the Ennead, which lasted for eighty years. ‘The Contendings of Horus and Seth’ describes this tribunal and is recorded on the Chester Beatty I Papyrus (twentieth dynasty).

  Ra-Horakhti (another sun-god) presided over the tribunal and supported Seth, whereas the other deities believed, as the son of Osiris, the throne rightfully belonged to Horus. There were various judgments, each declaring Horus to be the rightful king, but Seth refused to accept the decision. He boasted that the throne was his by right on the basis of his personal strength, before challenging Horus to a battle, demanding they both turn into hippopotamuses and submerge themselves in the water for three months. The one to re-emerge should be given the crown.

  After they submerged Isis was distressed, and made a fishing line with a copper barb and cast it into the water, where it pierced first Horus and then Seth. Both appealed to her for mercy, the former as her only son, the latter as her brother. Isis felt compassion for both of them and released them, incurring the wrath of Horus. He was furious that she had shown mercy to Seth and cut off her head in a fit of rage. Ra-Horakhti ordered that Horus should be punished. Seth found him asleep under a tree, attacked him, plucked out his eyes and threw him down the mountain. Hathor discovered Horus weeping in the desert and healed him by milking a gazelle into his eyes. She reported his injuries to Ra-Horakhti and the Ennead, who demanded Horus and Seth stop their arguing. Seth agreed and asked Horus to dine at his house that evening.

  After the meal when Horus was sleeping, Seth inserted his erect phallus between Horus’s thighs. Horus caught the semen in his hand and showed the revived Isis what Seth had done. Becoming angry, Isis cut off Horus’s hands and threw them into the river, making new ones from clay. She then took Horus’s semen and poured it over Seth’s lettuce garden. When Seth ate a lettuce the next day he became pregnant. Lettuces were considered an aphrodisiac due to the white, semen-like liquid that poured from the stem when cut, and were the sacred vegetable of the fertility god Amun-Min. Seth reported the incident to the Ennead.

  Horus decided to settle the argument with a race in stone ships. It was Horus’s turn to cheat and he constructed his boat of pine and covered it with gypsum to resemble stone. Seth sliced off the top of a mountain and fashioned a boat from it. They started their race in the presence of the Ennead. Seth’s boat sank and he transformed
himself into a hippopotamus and attacked Horus’s ship. Horus aimed a copper harpoon at him but the Ennead stopped him. Horus later complained that he had been in the tribunal for eighty years and was constantly winning against Seth but still was not king. After some deliberation and intervention by Osiris in the underworld, the Ennead arrived at the conclusion that the throne of Egypt should belong to Horus. As a consolation Seth was to accompany the sun-god on his solar barque to fight the enemy of the sun-god, the snake Apophis.

  This myth introduces a number of deities and confirms the act of succession as well as the balance of order (Horus) over chaos (Seth), all of which were relevant, not only to the king, but also to the wider populace, as such concepts were important in daily life. There were numerous other myths which the Egyptians may have been familiar with, although they may not have had such an impact of their day-to-day lives.

  However, during the reign of Akhenaten the religion of the king was to have a great, if not necessarily positive impact on the very foundations of society. Akhenaten decided to eliminate the rich pantheon of gods and replace them all with the Aten. The Aten was portrayed as a sun-disc with a uraeus on the lower arc and was androgynous in nature. Hands on the end of the sun-rays emanating from the disc often held the symbol of life (the ankh), which was offered to the mouth and nose of Akhenaten, his queen, Nefertiti, and their daughters. This was never offered to the ordinary citizens of Tell el-Amarna as only Akhenaten and the royal family were allowed to worship the Aten; everyone else worshipped the royal family.

  The Aten does not appear in any myths and is androgynous, being neither male nor female. It is constantly present above the heads of the people and worship was carried out in the open air, with temples having rows and rows of open-air offering tables. One of the Amarna Letters (EA16) to Akhenaten from the Assyrian king complains about the treatment of the messengers at Tell el-Amarna: ‘Why should messengers be made to stay constantly in the sun and to die in the sun?’10 Clearly not everyone was happy with standing in the sun for hours on end. After Akhenaten’s death the Aten returned to the role of a minor deity, leaving the pantheon open again for traditional deities.