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provided by University of Wales Trinity Saint David 1 Cults: divine, called a cult-religion (Barta 1980: 839). The divine cult was the main state religion. Pharaonic The place of its practice was the , called KATHARINA ZINN the “House of the God” (Hwt netjer), which functioned as the main contact and communi- If “cult” in general can be defined as an cation point between the gods and their expression of religious ideas and values, both human partner in the dialogue, the king. The in actions and verbal expressions, then king served as a mediator: he joined in “divine cult” is the idea that every human activ- the dialogue of the gods, and was seen as a ity is authorized by a divine order and aimed at god himself during the ritual. The cult devel- contact with a particular celestial power. This oped forms of ritual adoration and worship. can itself manifest in natural phenomena or, Since the human site stayed the same, especially in , in the ongoing cycles a hierarchy of cults and a classification of tem- of life: sunset to sunrise to sunset, birth to death, ples resulted from the relevance of the specific endlessly repeated as an act of ongoing creation gods who were the recipients of worship. Size, (Quirke 1992: 70). This constant creation location, architecture, and decoration of tem- was kept alive through continuous religious cer- ples depended on their importance in relation emonies, worshipping the gods of the Egyptian to the main gods or local deities. pantheon, with the sun god as the most impor- In each temple, several gods could be tant, whose earthly representative, the king, worshipped at the same time. This covered the ensured that the necessary for the gods family of the main god or goddess, the so-called were carried out in the , either by him- triads (god – wife – child), and other inherent self or through his substitutes, the . This gods. (or Amun-Re as a syncretistic was seen as the fulfillment of the requirements merger of the Hidden One – Amun – and the of the divine cult. sun god Re) resided with his consort and In general, recipients of cult were gods, their son in (Thebes); the including deceased kings (divine cult), living falcon-headed sky god, , with his parents, kings (royal or ruler cult), and deceased private and , in HIERAKONPOLIS and EDFU; the individuals (private mortuary cult). Cult in -form god, , with his wife, ancient Egypt involved a huge variety of rit- , and their son, , in Memphis. uals. There was no specific word for cult or These places were some of the principal Egyp- ritual; the Egyptians referred to worshipping tian cult sites with large major temples as “doing things” (iret ikhet). This entry will inhabited by important universal gods, focus on the gods (netjerw) as the beneficiaries belonging to the functional “inner” Egyptian of the divine cult. Netjerw is not equivalent to pantheon. Their cult service was established the common understanding of “god” – it could over a long period of time. be applied to people or things – but all entities As seen with Horus, gods could be called netjerw could be beneficiaries of rituals represented in different localities, sometimes (Meeks 1988). They could be gods in the also called by different names – Horus in strictest sense, deified kings or other persons Hierakonpolis, but Horus-Behedetj in Edfu deified after their death, or animals that were (Wilkinson 2000: 82). The same happened considered manifestations of gods. The only with Amun (Karnak, ) and Re (Karnak, living person who possessed the qualities of Heliopolis). The process of syncretism between netjer was the king (Thompson 2001: 326). Amun, Re, and could strengthen the posi- The divine cult was so prominent in the tion of some gods and increase or stabilize the minds of the Egyptians themselves (and later importance of their cult. Some deities visited visitors) that the Egyptian religion is often each other and therefore took part in each

The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, First Edition. Edited by Roger S. Bagnall, Kai Brodersen, Craige B. Champion, Andrew Erskine, and Sabine R. Huebner, print pages 1861–1866. © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd. DOI: 10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah15093 2 other’s cult practices (i.e., of Dendera 141). The king initiated the erecting of temples and Horus-Behdetj of Edfu). The main god as places of contact with the gods and therefore of a temple received the main worship, while as an interface between this world and the the guest gods had their own sanctuaries afterlife. This was seen as his duty towards his and were given their own special forms of divine father, as mentioned in the dedication worship, both dependent on and independent texts – “he did it as his monument for his from the main god. Other gods received minor, father” (Konrad 2006: 13) – and the founda- local cults. Local elites performed rituals in the tion ceremony was the first step in service to local temples, as seen in ASYUT (Kahl 2007: 37). the gods. Because a cyclically renewed founda- These local cults formed the basis for popular tion is a prerequisite for the cult (both the daily religion in their area (Becker 2007: 143), since cult ritual and the festival cults), these rites the people saw themselves as under the protec- were depicted on the temple walls. tion of their town god as “the one [that the] life From this moment on, everything happening and death of the inhabitants depend on” in the temple was done on the king’s behalf, (Pap. Insinger 28, 4). including the intimate service of the gods We are fairly well informed about the official through offering food, drink, clothing, and minor cults in Deir el-Medina, where rituals gifts, as well as leading the god out for pro- for local deities (in particular Hathor and the cessions and involvement in the accompanying deified ) were performed in the rituals (Wilkinson 2000: 86). The gods, living chapels to the north of the village by lay priests in their cult images, were addressed by words who were simple workmen (McDowell 1999: and acts. The king was the highest and 92–104). For Amenhotep I, we have an account administrator of the land. As the representative of his daily ritual (P.Cairo 58030 and Turin of humanity, he was theoretically the only CGT 54042; McDowell 1999: 93–4). one able to perform the rites, as authorized Specific cults obtained their substance from communication with the gods. From the 11th myths, transmitted in and based on specific Dynasty on, he was called “Lord of the cultural memory. Ritual cultic myth initiated Rituals” (nb iret ikhet) (Schott 1963: 103). the (re-)creation of the past, with the intention The divine cult involved not only the god-king of it happening again and again within the relationship, but also the god-king-mankind cyclical time (neheh). Offerings for the differ- relationship. In reality, priests acted as proxies ent gods in the diverse temples were brought for the king, except on the very few occasions by word during the ritual and materialized when the king fulfilled his own role. The priest, in food, drink, and clothing. The goal of who functioned in the service of the god’s rituals in the divine cult was to please the image during the ritual, came from the higher addressed gods (sekhetep) and receive assis- class of priests, called “servants of God” tance and support from them as a gift in (hem netjer), translated in Greek as “prophet,” return. Even the priest used real food, wine, with the High Priest (hem netjer tepy) on top. water, and clothing during the performance, The primary cult practice in the temple and the cult was based on words that was focused on the statue of the god (akhem, had to be used correctly to ensure potency “image”), which had to be attended to. These (Barta 1980: 839–40). statues were small, only about 50 cm tall, Due to the celebration of the divine cult, and made of wood, stone, or precious metal, temples were state institutions. The divine such as the crocodile-shaped cult statue in cult as part of the official religion was needed Munich (A¨ S 6080). This statue is 22 cm long to maintain the cosmic order and was (perhaps 30 cm long when its tail was still intact) therefore not focused on comforting the indi- and is made from copper and electrum, vidual with hope and forgiveness (Becker 2007: a natural alloy of gold and silver. After a statue 3 was made, it had to undergo the ritual of the the floor rising, the ceiling lowering, resulting Opening of the Mouth, so that the divine ba,a in increasing darkness. With each level of major component of human and divine beings descent into the temple, fewer people would (often imperfectly translated as “soul”), could be granted access. take up residence. The god could then be pre- We can differentiate between the daily cult, sent in the . It was not believed that celebrated at least every morning (in some the images were equivalent to the gods, but temples also at midday and evening) and the that they were de facto homes to accommodate festival cult, celebrated according to a festival the gods. The ritual prepared the cult statue for calendar, which was specific to each temple. receiving the deity, which was then seen as Egyptologists see a difference in the quality of present. these two ritualistic acts, describing the daily As a consequence of the cult worship, the cult as active and functional – the ritualist is god was called into this world, becoming acting directly for and with the god’s image – immanent in the god’s image (Assmann 1984: while the festival cult is said to be reactive, with 58–9), so that his divine ba could navigate the paraded god experiencing the reactions the passage between this world and the other and emotions of the participants “firsthand,” world and remain in the image (Traunecker even though the image was veiled and 2001: 22, 94). The gods showed humanlike remained in its (Assmann 1975: 58–63). behavior and therefore had to be nursed like The daily cult ritual was practiced every humans: dressed, washed, and fed (Silverman morning before the cult image of the main god 1991: 6). Nursing the image was equivalent in the sanctuary. We have evidence of this from to caring for the god, whose life forces were the New Kingdom, possibly even before. It was regenerated by such care. The cultic veneration celebrated until the Greco-Roman era similarly was bound to rituals that had existed from the in each temple. The reason for the seeming earliest times of Egyptian history. This treat- uniformity might be sought in its relatedness ment provides hints towards the original to the royal ceremony, with its clothing and meaning of the word cult from colere, dining rites. The daily cult ritual was divided “to care, cultivate, till.” The cult was always into several acts, which we know from temple connected with offerings initiated by the reliefs and papyri. None of the sources describe king as “Lord of making offerings,” as only the whole ritual, but Pap. Berlin 3014, 3053, and he knew the created world and could search 3055, describing the ritual for the Amun and for the permanence of the ritually made Mut temples in Karnak, provide the essentials. objects (menw – from men, “endure, remain”; Complemented by scenes from the Sety temple Quirke 2001: 21). in Abydos, the whole ritual act becomes clear The image was placed in a shrine in the (Daily 2010). The best known reliefs are sanctuary, the darkest, innermost, hidden engraved (unluckily incomplete, due to lack of place in the temple, the holy of holies, where space) on the east and west walls of the sanctu- only a few people had access. This seclusion ary of the Horus temple in Edfu; they describe was described in a text as “more unapproach- the ritual as being performed three times a day – able than what happens in heaven, more arcane morning, midday, and evening, with the morn- than the nature of the underworld” (Sethe ing ritual as the most important and the midday 2010: 99, 15–16; slab stone of as the least (Watterson 1998: 80). from Abydos, 18th Dynasty). The temple as a The daily cult consisted of the following steps building, with its enclosure wall, pylons, court- (Barta 1980: 842; Braun 2010 with further yards, halls, and small chambers, literature; Watterson 1998: 81–83; Daily acted as a stage for the cult of the god. All 2010), which guaranteed a gradual approach parts were oriented towards the sanctuary: towards the divine (Assmann 1975: 50): 4

1 entering the temple and sanctuary at dawn priests and implements with natron and “when the sun’s rays illuminate the earth” water from the Sacred Lake before the ritual, (E I,20,1–3), followed by the ceremonial as well as using incense during each step. The purification of the officiant in the House place where the ritualist prepared himself for of Morning, the filling of libation vessels, the ritual within the temple was called the and the consecration of food offerings “House of the Morning” (per dwat). (prepared in the temple kitchens), the In return for the affection given to the god lighting of a torch to keep away enemies, during the rituals, it was hoped the god would and the recitation of texts on door jambs (a help the king and all of mankind with divine version of Declaration of innocence, Book of power, establishing order and strengthening the dead, ch. 125 – known from many the power of the state. By interfering in this private papyri, Lichtheim 1976: 124–32); world, the god kept the Maat omnipresent, so 2 opening the cult shrine by singing the that the king could reign successfully on earth Morning hymn (accompanied by priest- (Traunecker 2001: 96). esses and chantresses) and breaking the In order to perform the rituals and have all clay seals; the offerings on hand, the temples needed their 3 unveiling the cult statue, in which the god temple estates (per, a term used to describe the resides, the first climax as priest and economic aspect of the temple complex with god behold each other (“I saw the God, the subordinated word -per as the name of a and the Powerful saw me.” E I,6,4–6), part, provided for by the whole domain; resulting in the god’s ba entering the Konrad 2006: 8–13), an unbelievably large image, bringing the temple to life; amount of (cultivated) land, livestock, and 4 prostration and kissing the ground; personnel, in addition to the priest and the 5 adoration and presentation of myrrh as a inner-temple servants. The major temples were substitute for the food offerings laid out; thus the largest economic centers in Egypt. 6 taking the statue out of the shrine, remov- ing the cloth, ablution and anointing of SEE ALSO: Amun-Re; Cults: private (Pharaonic the statue; Egypt); Gods, Egyptian; Isis, Pharaonic Egypt; 7 ritual clothing of the statue with linen Khons (Khonsu); Kingship, Pharaonic Egypt; (white, green, red, blue – purified by Memphis, Pharaonic; , Pharaonic Egypt; bed-natron); Priests and priestesses, Egypt; Re and Re 8 purifying the image with water in red and Horakhty; Religion, Pharaonic Egypt; Ruler cult, green ritual vessels; Pharaonic Egypt; Temples, Pharaonic Egypt; 9 replacing the statue in the shrine while Thebes, East; Thutmose I–IV. censing it; 10 closing the shrine; 11 walking backwards, clearing away foot- REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS prints in the sanctuary by brushing the sand lying on the floor, walking around Assmann, J. (1975) Ag¨yptische Hymnen und the sanctuary, extinguishing the torch, Gebete.Zu¨rich. ¨ closing the door; Assmann, J. (1984) Agypten: Theologie und ¨ ¨ 12 presentation of food offerings in the “Hall Frommigkeit einer fruhen Hochkultur. Stuttgart. Barta, W. (1980) “Kult.” In W. Helck, ed., Lexikon of Offerings” and recitation of the “Rever- der A¨gyptologie, vol. 3: 839–47. Wiesbaden. sion of Offerings” for redistribution Becker, M. (2007) “Popular religion in Asyut.” In among the priests. J. Kahl, Ancient Asyut : the first synthesis after 300 years of research. Wiesbaden. During the whole process, ritual purity was Braun, N. (2010) Pharao und Priester – Sakrale imperative and was achieved by washing the Affirmation von Herrschaft durch Kultvollzug: 5

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