Come, let me relate to you his journey to Khor [a general term for Palestine and Syria] and his marching upon the hills. His rations and water are upon his shoulder like the load of an ass. His neck has become calloused, like that of an ass. The vertebrae of his back are broken. He drinks foul water and halts to stand guard. When he reaches the enemy he is like a pinioned bird, with no strength in his limbs. If he succeeds in returning to Egypt, he is like a stick which the woodworm has devoured. He is sick, prostration overtakes him. He is brought back upon an ass, his clothes taken away by theft, his henchmen fled ... turn back from the saying that the soldier’s is more pleasant than the scribe’s profession.18
As one would expect, Inena decided not to enter the military and became a scribe instead.
Campaign life was difficult but the rewards of foreign travel may have been a deciding factor. To travel by river from Memphis to Thebes in daylight took between twelve and twenty days, and was a dangerous journey, with sandbanks, hippopotami and thieves along the way. The soldiers needed to carry all their food and equipment, including weapons, upon their backs, making the walking elements of the journeys even more arduous.
Life in the army was a combination of the excitement of being on campaign and the tedium of guarding desert trading posts. The latter lasted for twenty days at a time and soldiers marked the days until their shift was over on the rocks surrounding the guard posts. Other practical, domestic jobs carried out by the military included transportation of large stone blocks for construction work, as well as helping with the harvesting in times of need.
Soldiers were paid in food rations while on campaign, which provided the food they needed to survive, and when they returned to the barracks they received the excess. At the Middle Kingdom fortress of Uronaroti, in Nubia, wooden tokens have been discovered, which were exchanged for bread. The different-shaped tokens identified the number of loaves they could be exchanged for and was no doubt an easier way of providing the soldiers with their daily rations. They could exchange the tokens as and when they needed to.
On the battle field soldiers increased their wealth with plunder from conquered enemies, which included gold, cattle and even slaves. Soldiers who excelled in their role and caught the attention of the king were awarded golden flies (a sign of endurance and persistence) or gold collars of valour, known as shebyu collars, which were the equivalent of medals. Not only were the recipients made wealthy by these gifts, but they also gained recognition for their service. Such possibilities of wealth and fame no doubt persuaded a number of young boys to enter the army rather than another career.
While there is little doubt that the Egyptian army were well trained, many died on the battlefield. In 1923 a tomb was discovered at Deir el Bahri which contained the bodies of sixty soldiers who died in the Middle Kingdom civil wars. Only two of them were buried in coffins, and it is presumed these were the officers; the other soldiers were simply stacked on top of one other. All of the bodies had been wrapped in linen although none were mummified, and none were named. Tomb robbers had ransacked the tomb, separating the bones and making it impossible to reconstruct the full skeletons. The soldiers had all died in battle, either from arrow wounds or being struck on the head with stones. From the battle wounds it is possible to reconstruct their last moments. The soldiers were initially showered with arrows and one of these was embedded in the left eye socket of one of them. Those who survived this onslaught were able to scale the fortress walls on ladders or siege towers, only to have large rocks thrown on them from above. The enemy then caved in the face of any injured soldiers with a rock, and on many skeletons the left side of the face and head was destroyed. Before being collected, some of the bodies were left on the battlefield long enough for the carrion birds to start pecking at the flesh. When they were collected they were quickly rubbed down with sand and wrapped in linen. None of the soldiers were killed in hand-to-hand combat, indicating this was a siege using distance weapons.19 Their burial in the valley of Deir el Bahri was a final sign of respect and honour for these soldiers, who were fighting for their pharaoh, Mentuhotep II, whose mortuary temple was in the same valley. However, this death and anonymous burial was almost certainly not what the young recruits were hoping for when they enrolled in the army.
Another sector which offered many opportunities for both educated and non-educated boys was the priesthood. The role of the priest was not a vocational calling and they were not expected to preach to or convert the uninitiated.20 Egyptian priests were known as servants of the god, as their role was to provide for the god rather than to worship him or her. The titles were either passed down from generation to generation or the office was given as a gift by the king.21 The family of the high priests of Ptah at Memphis, for example, the last of which died in 30 BCE, had held the same titles for 300 years, with the men as high priests and the women holding the title of songstresses of Ptah in the same region.
Prior to the New Kingdom the priesthood was organised on a part-time basis, with the temple staff working for one month in four on a rotational basis. For the remainder of the year they returned to their primary job. Even after the introduction in the New Kingdom of a permanent priesthood they were still operating on a part-time rota basis.22 It was expected that their daily occupation dictated the priestly role issued. For example, doctors became priests of Sekhmet, the goddess of epidemics; lawyers would become priests of Maat, the goddess of truth; and scribes became priests of Thoth, the god of writing.23
It is only from the Late Period that we have any information regarding initiation rites into the priesthood. A Late Period papyrus states that new recruits had to pass an exam on religious topics before they were initiated into the role. Whether this was applicable to earlier periods is unrecorded.24 The Ptolemaic Period records that for the initiation into the priesthood of Amun the new recruit should wash thoroughly before entering the temple and plunging into the sacred lake. They were then presented to the gods and initiated into the sacred texts and knowledge.25 The Roman cult of Isis insisted new priests fasted for ten days and dressed in new linen before entering the holy sanctuary and learning the rites of the cult. These initiation rites were translated from older hieroglyphic texts and were therefore older traditions.
Through all periods the ritual of purification was the most important for the priest before entering the temple, and the most common, yet lowest, level of the priesthood were the wab priests, or ‘the purified ones’. They were required to wash twice daily and twice nightly in the sacred lake of the temple and purify their mouths with natron diluted in water. Herodotus records that in addition to washing regularly priests also shaved all of their body hair every other day to prevent lice. Through these rituals the priests were daily cleansed and renewed.26 The role of the wab priest included the carrying of the sacred barque, cleaning the temple and supervising painters and draftsmen. If they themselves were craftsmen they may have been given the task of making sandals for the deities. For a large temple like Karnak even the wab priests had a hierarchy, with the ‘foremost of the pure ones’ being in charge of the lower wab priests.
This strict hierarchy of all level of priests meant it was possible to progress through the ranks. The priesthood of Amun at Karnak was divided into five ranks, with the first prophet (high priest) being the highest and fifth prophet being the lowest. There was only one first prophet, but there were a number of people at one time holding the lower-ranking titles.27 The first and second prophet titles were obtained through heredity, personal ambition or political and royal favour. Those who held the top positions in the priesthood of Amun were very wealthy; they owned a house and land and were held in high esteem.28 The high priest was the most important in the temple and acted as a substitute for the king, performing the rituals on his behalf. According to tradition, the king, as the high priest of every cult, was personally responsible for carrying out all rituals in every temple in Egypt on a daily basis. Of course this was not physically possible and he hired high
priests to act as stand-ins for him. It was therefore a greatly revered position.
Reaching this much coveted role of high priest or first prophet was beyond the reach of most priests, but there were plenty of other roles for them within the temple. Karnak temple at the end of the reign of Ramses III employed a total of 81, 322 personnel.29 These ranged from priests concerned with the toilette and dressing of the divine statue, who were called stolist priests or priests of the loincloth, to priests of the House of Life, who were scribes and scholars working on the sacred texts.
The House of Life has often been referred to as a university or library, whereas it was actually more of an archive where religious and magical texts could be written, restored, archived and consulted. The House of Life discovered in Tell el-Amarna was near the archive for royal correspondence and seems to have acted as a library.30 However, such institutions were not open to the public and were only consulted by specific priests, administrators or the king himself.
Numerous texts have been discovered that record the information stored in the House of Life, which included religious knowledge, temple plans for building and decorating and spiritual secrets. In the Famine Stela at Sehel (332–31 BCE), the king asks the lector priests where the dwelling of the god of the Nile inundation, Hapy, was and the priest says he will consult the books from the House of Life: ‘I shall enter the House of Life, unroll the scrolls of Re, I shall be guided by them.’ 31 These scrolls revealed all the knowledge required to stop the drought causing the famine.
Most large temples had a House of Life, including Memphis, Abydos, Tell el-Amarna, Akhmim, Koptos, Esna, Edfu and Karnak. There is at least one mention of a teacher of the House of Life and in the ‘Story of Setne Khamwas (II)’ a young boy is put in school,32 indicating instruction may have been given there: ‘He grew big and strong; he was put in school. [After a short time he surpassed] the scribe who had been given him for instruction.’33
Many of the priests at the House of Life were also lector priests, who may have been trained physicians and scholars. The lector priest carried the sacred book during rituals, recited the prayers and was present during the divine oracles. Furthermore, in society lector priests were regarded as magicians and were greatly revered, if not actively feared.
Sem or funerary priests were particularly sought after as they provided all the rites and rituals on the body before burial, as well as prayer recitations, water sprinkling, lighting of incense and the Opening of the Mouth ceremony.34 After death ka priests were responsible for maintaining the cult of the ka of the deceased (see chapter nine).
A tantalising insight of how funerary priests made a living is provided by the archive of Djekhy. Djed-khonsu-iuf-ankh, known as Djekhy, and his son Iturech lived in the Theban area in approximately 590 BCE and were funerary priests (choachytes), responsible for carrying out rituals and making offerings to the dead on behalf of others. Their fee often took the form of land which was then rented out to others, meaning they earned a living from the rent. It is thought that in addition to working as funerary priests they also acted as trustees for important documents belonging to colleagues, as well as maintaining their own records. Their archive covered documents of land leasing, harvest tax receipts, private letters, a marriage contract, hostile takeover of a tomb, donation of land, business conflicts and the purchase of a son; on the whole these connected indirectly with their funerary priest business.
The funerary business was cut-throat in this politically and economically unstable time, and one document discusses a hostile tomb takeover. Another priest, Petosiris son of Iturech, and two other men were spreading the news that he had been commissioned to service a new tomb in the Theban Necropolis. However, this tomb ‘belonged’ to Djekhy and his colleagues. Djekhy clearly was not happy and raised this as a legal issue, after which Petosiris had to relinquish any claim on the tomb, passing it back to Djekhy and his colleagues. He had to file an oath before the god Khonsu-em-was-nefer-hotep to say he agreed to the terms:
The place of the mountain [the tomb] of which I have said ‘I have […] received […] Ankhhor son of Iturekh’- you are its choachytes, bonded with these Great Ones [the mummies in the tomb] … I have no longer any authority over it from today onward. There is no one with us: brother, sister, master, mistress, or anyone else who will be able to approach you about this matter, unto eternity.35
Another document deals with Iturech’s acquisition of two new mummies to perform funerary rites for, further increasing his income. Iturech and a partner, Khausenmut, signed a contract to split the role, completing half the practices and receiving half the payments each: ‘Anything that will be given in their name, viz., bread, offerings, and all else that will be given in their name, half being yours and half being mine, and we will share their services between us, the two men, half being yours and half being mine, to complete the specification.’36 These new mummies brought the recorded ‘clients’ of Iturech to four or five for whom he was expected to carry out the funerary rites, prayers and offerings on a daily basis. What is rather intriguing about the funerary cult is that it was possible for families to pay for someone else to do what was essentially family duty to their ancestors, and that the service was popular enough that people like Djekhy and Iturech were able to make a living from this.
Not all roles in the priesthood had such an impact on the community, but they were still considered as important to the maintenance of the cult. For example, during religious processions the god was transported in his sacred barque on procession and required as many as thirty bearers to carry it. Each held the title of bearer of the barque. Although a low-grade position it was one which enabled the priest to get close to the god, and one Ramesside priest declares, ‘I carried Ptah at the length of my arms, may this god grant that I may be beatified with his fervour!’37
Each temple also had a number of auxiliary workers who were not priests, including caretakers, janitors, workmen, bakers, butchers and florists, all essential to the successful running of the temple. Of these auxiliary roles one of the most influential was the butcher, or ‘one who slaughters animals and makes sacrifices’, as he was responsible for the ritual killing of the food for the gods and the palace. Even butchers who were not employed by the palace had a high status and were often attached to large estates. There are jars which originally held meat labelled by the butcher and estate where he worked. It was a sign of immense importance to have their work labelled in such a manner. As with most positions in Egypt these were hereditary roles passed on from father to son. The ritual nature of the position is apparent as butchers held the title of veterinary priests and not only checked the health of the animals but also checked the entrails for messages from the gods.38 At Tell el-Amarna one of the known butchers’ yards was located in the temple of Aten, showing it was considered a ritualistic activity. In the house of Panehsy, the keeper of the cattle of Amun next to the temple of Aten, 43 kilograms of animal bone were recovered, primarily of cattle, with the most popular cut being the hind legs.39 Through studying the butchery marks on the bones it was possible to identify that some of the animals were slaughtered by inexperienced butchers, perhaps trainees. It is thought that the cattle were killed in the sacred confines of the temple and then brought to the vicinity of Panehsy’s house for dismemberment and preparation, indicating his was a practical rather than an administrative role. In a nearby house meat labels were discovered demonstrating the meat was not for immediate consumption but was to be potted and stored for a later date.
However, such a high status was only attached to butchers of cattle; poulterers were considered almost as unskilled labourers, because anyone was thought capable of killing a bird. Even Akhenaten is depicted wringing the necks of birds to offer to the Aten.
The priesthood also offered employment opportunities for women, both educated and uneducated. From the fourth dynasty women were priestesses mainly for the cults of Neith and Hathor, but could in fact work for the cult of any other god.40 The f
irst known priestess of Hathor was Neferhetpes, a daughter of King Radjedef in the fourth dynasty. In the Old Kingdom more than 400 women held this title. It appears that these women were members of the elite, as many owned their own tombs and it is unlikely their wealth was acquired carrying out the role of priestess.41 There were tombs and chapels in the region of the temple of Nebhetepre Mentuhotep II for at least eight women, some of whom were priestesses of Hathor, indicating this king had a special relationship with them. There are even images of the king embracing two priestesses, Ashayt and Sadeh, which is unusual although not unique.42
Like the priesthood, the priestess positions were also hereditary and some were passed down for generations. Priestesses primarily acted as impersonators of goddesses or played instruments during temple rituals. Old Kingdom evidence shows that women could also act as funerary priestesses. The earliest reference of the role of choachyte carried out by women dates to the twenty-fifth dynasty.43 An archive from the Persian Period (517 BCE) tells us of the career of Tsenhor, a female funerary priest, and a Ptolemaic Papyrus (P. Berlin 5507 and 3098) comments that Shakhepery, another female funerary priest, serviced thirty-six tombs; this included not only the tomb owner but also his family, which may have numbered 150 mummies. The job entailed praying for the deceased every ten days and making offerings to them of food and water. With so many tombs being the responsibility of one person there was likely a rota system for the funerary rituals. Sometimes choachytes shared a tomb and one person may only be responsible for quarter or half of a tomb, meaning they did not need to carry out the rituals as frequently. One stela (Cairo CG 22022) shows a choachyte on their daily rounds carrying a pole with a jug on each end over their shoulders. These jugs held everything needed for the libations and rituals.44
Lost Voices of the Nile: Everyday Life in Ancient Egypt Page 15
