Funerary and Mortuary Cult Priests

Although stelae and tomb scenes usually show burial offerings being brought by family  members, professional mortuary priests are documented serving in private memorial cults  as  early  as  the first dynasty. A class of specifically Funerary and Mortuary Cult Priests included the servants of the ka (hmvv- k-j), who provided  for the immortal life force of the deceased  person.  Scenes  in  tombs from the Old Kingdom onward  show priests participating in the funeral—wab-priests pour libation offerings,  while lector-priests read aloud  the funerary texts  critical  to  transforming the deceased person into an immortal being. Lector-priests  also  perform  the  int-rd  ceremony,  sweeping  away  the  footprints of the celebrants after the ceremony has been completed.

Mortuary  literature,  from  the  Pyramid Texts  on,  provides  evidence that the funeral ceremony included not only the reading of  religious texts, but also the performance of acts such as playing the  role of deities associated with the myth of Osiris. The Coffin Texts,  for  example,  include  directions  for  those  taking  part  in  the  ceremony,  along  with  texts  that  must  have  been  spoken  aloud,  presumably by a lector-priest. Women, who had served as funerary  priests (Spmvt-kf) during the Old Kingdom, thereafter acted as (Ay- mourners, impersonating the grieving Isis and Nephthys.

Sem-priests  are  identifiable  by  the  end  of  the Old Kingdom, after which they are shown  offering  incense  and  performing  the Opening of the Mouth ceremony on the mummy of the deceased.  Beginning in the New Kingdom, scenes  of  the  funeral accompany  several  chapters  of  the  Book  of  Going Forth by Day, and form an increasingly significant part of  tomb  decoration.  A  priest  wearing  a  mask of the god Anubis is shown preparing the mummy for burial, and supporting the upright  coffin  in  front  of  the  tomb  entrance,  while  the  Opening  of  the  Mouth takes place. The heir of the deceased is typically shown per- forming  this  ritual,  touching  the  mouth  with  a  ceremonial  implement, such as an adze tipped with iron or flint.

Wealthy  and  influential  officials  established  mortuary  endowments in the same way as kings, to perpetuate their memorial  cults  and  to  provide  for  mortuary  priests.  Several  Abydene  stelae  refer  to  contractual  arrangements  with  mortuary  priests,  and  the  twelfth dynasty tomb of the vizier Djefai-hapi I at Asyiut preserves  the  complete  text  of  his  mortuary  contracts.  According  to  the  contracts,  the  priests  are  responsible  for  delivering  offerings  of  bread and other items to the vizier's statues in the local temple, in  exchange for being paid a portion of the offerings dedicated in the  temple. 
 
At the end of the article, it can be said that the Funerary and Mortuary Cult Priests played an important role in the religious history of ancient Egypt.

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