Domestic Cult and Magic Priests

Many Domestic Cult and Magic Priests, aimed  in large part on protecting the home and its inhabitants from harm,  required  literate  or  learned  individuals  to  perform  the  appropriate  rites. Hence, priests were often called upon to serve in this capacity.  Lector-priests, with their specialized knowledge of religious texts,  were  the  principal  practitioners  of apotropaic magic.  They  also  appear to have been consulted in times of medical emergencies, as  the Old Kingdom biography of Wash-ptah attests. A group of men  identified  as  hkyw  ("magicians")  appears  in  association  with  the  House of Life. Both lector-priests and physicians (swnw) also held  specialized  titles  associated  with  specific  types  of  magic,  such  as  "Scorpion Charmer." Along with written and spoken prayers, these  Domestic Cult and Magic Priests were familiar with, and able to produce, the correct amulets  for protection and talismans for blessing.  
 
In the end, the Domestic Cult and Magic Priests played an important role in protecting homes and individuals.

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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.

Prices and Payments in Ancient Egypt

These are a key feature of the commercial, market economy. The ancient Egyptian economy,  based on redistribution and reciprocity, set prices in units of value  that  referred  directly  to  commodities,  rather  than  to  the  abstract  concept  of  money.  For  the  purpose  of  exchange  and  trade,  the  Egyptians first calculated the value of goods and services in units  that were directly related to the necessities of life and, later, they  calculated  in  terms  of  the  weights  of  metals.  Yet  the  Egyptians  never fully abstracted the idea of money—goods and services, as  well as metals, were valued concretely for what they were.

Sources  for  the  study  of  prices  and payments do  not  survive  from all periods of Egyptian history. Information about wages and  rations  are  best  known  from  documents  of  the  Old,  Middle,  and  New Kingdoms, while commodity prices are best preserved from  the  Ramessid  period.  Wage  payments  in  the  Old Kingdom  are  known from the Abusir Papyri. For the Middle Kingdom, there are  temple  documents,  biographies,  and  archaeological  data.  New Kingdom  wages  are  known  from Deir el-Medina and  from  documents pertaining to shipping. All the sources indicate that  wage  payments  were  made  in  rations  of  breadbeer,  grain,  meat, and cloth, which were the daily necessities of life.


Rations  were  expressed  most  frequently  in  units  of  bread  and  beer, the two staples of an Egyptian diet. Most likely, the lowest  salaries, which were close to subsistence level, were actually paid  in bread and beer. Just as modern coins are guaranteed to contain  standard  amounts  of  metal,  each  loaf  of  bread  was  baked  from  a  standard recipe, using equal amounts of ingredients, and had a standard  nutritional  value.  Uniformity  was  assured  through  a  system  called pfs, translated as "baking value." pfs could also be used by  the employer to ensure that a predictable number of loaves would  be  baked  from  a  known  amount  of  grain.  The  baking  value  was  based  on  the  number  of  loaves  or  beer  jars  produced  from  a  set  measure of grain;  the higher the value, the smaller would be the loaves, the weaker  the  beer,  or  the  smaller  the  jars.  Most  wage  lists  assumed  that  a  standard pfs was used in baking and brewing.

Uniformity was also assured through the use of tokens or tallies.  During the Middle Kingdom at Uronarti, ceramic tallies have been  discovered in the shape of a standard loaf of bread. Presumably that  tally  could  be  used  to  check  whether  a  worker's  wages  in  bread  loaves  were  all  the  same  size.  Beer  jars  were  also  of  a  roughly  standard size. The standard basic wage was ten loaves of bread and  one-third to two full jugs of beer per day (Egyptian beer was much  less  alcoholic  than  modem  brews  and  higher  in  calorie  content).  That was the ration of the lowest paid staff members. Others were  paid in multiples of the standard wage, varying from twice to fifty  times the standard wage for highly paid people. Various methods  could be used for apportioning wages. For example, documentation  exists  for  a  particular  ship's  crew  in  which  the  captain  and  other  officials received twice the ration of the ordinary sailors. In another  case, the highest paid official received thirty-eight one-third loaves  while the lowest paid worker received one and one-third loaves.

In an example from the Middle Kingdom the staff of a temple  received  a  commission  on  all  the  goods  that  came  to  the  temple.  One  inscription  describes  the  way  the  staff  was  paid  in  "temple  days":

As for a temple day, it is 1/360 part of a year. Now, you shall  divide  everything  which  enters  this  temple—bread,  beer,  and  meat—by way of the daily rate. That is, it is going to be 1/360 of  the bread, the beer, and of everything which enters this temple  for [any] one of these temple days which I have given you.

In that temple, the regular staff received 2/360 of the total revenue  of the temple, while the chief priest received 4/360.

In another case from the Middle Kingdom, an expedition leader  received five hundred loaves a day as his "ration." Large sums like  that were probably not paid out in actual loaves of bread or jars of  beer.  It  is  unlikely  that  an  expedition  leader  could  take  his  ever- increasing number of loaves of bread—fifteen thousand loaves after  a month—with him on an extended trip into the desert or that he  could  eat  that  much,  even  with  a  large  family  and  servants  to  support. Thus it seems possible that five hundred loaves of bread  was actually a unit for measuring out commodities, approximating  the  modem  idea  of  a  unit  of  money,  a  practice  that  allowed  the  ancient  Egyptians  to  save  and  also  to  draw  against  an  account  of  bread and beer.

Because  the  standard  measures  for  bread  loaves  and  beer  jars  vary from place to place and time to time, it is difficult to calculate  how  much  people  had  to  eat  and  to  determine  how  well  people  lived. The caloric value of the soldiers ration at Uronarti was about  one-third kilo (0.5 pound) of barley per day. Baked into bread, this  is  the  equivalent  of  1,458  calories  from  bread  each  day.  If  these  soldiers did any physical work, they must have received at least an  additional fifteen hundred calories from beer and/or vegetables just  to maintain their weight.  The New Kingdom craftsmen at Deir el-Medina received all the  necessities of life from their employer: their houses were owned by  the state, food and clothing rations were given to them, as well as  most of the other necessities, including water, fuel for their ovens,  and  the  tools  they  needed  to  perform  their  duties.  Yet  the  robust  trade  that  they  conducted  among  themselves  indicates  that  those  workers required additional goods and services that the state had not  provided.

Information about the prices of commodities was derived from  Deir  el-Medina.  Prices  were  recorded  on  a  few  papyri  and  on  numerous  ostraca  that  date  to  a  150-year  period  during  the  nineteenth  and  twentieth  dynasties.  Many  problems  with  the  interpretation  of  those  texts  must  be  overcome,  however,  before  commodity  prices  can  be  determined.  The  ostraca  were  written  in  the  cursive  Hieratic  script  by  nonprofessional  scribes  who  did  not  write as legibly as did professional scribes. The ostraca were often  broken in antiquity and ink has faded during storage in museums.  Moreover, the texts were never intended for others to read, but were  persona] notes, so that many details that would have been known to  the original reader were not recorded. Among the details that were  often excluded was the date of when it was written. Such omission  often  makes  it  difficult  to  compare  prices,  although  scholars  have  determined which ostraca are roughly contemporary by comparing  the  people  named  in  them.  This  process  has  its  own  difficulties,  because the small number of families living in the village drew on a limited stock, of personal names, making it difficult, for example, to  pinpoint  the  generation  of  a  particular  Pen-taweret.  Another  difficulty in determining prices was the lack of description of the  goods that were priced. Clearly, some variation in the price of two  chairs was based on the quality of the workmanship, although the  variation  is  almost  never  described  in  the  ostraca.  Finally,  the  precise  meanings  of  words  used  to  describe  the  commodities  is  often not understood. Sometimes, only the general category of the  good  can  be  determined  from  the  writing.  In  spite  of  these  difficulties, scholars have isolated four units of value that were used  to price commodities: the deben (dbn), the senyu (snjw, originally  called s'tj [shaty]), the hin (hnw), and the khar (hyr).

The  deben  is  a  measure  of  weight  used  for  gold,  silver,  and,  most  commonly,  copper.  One  deben  of  copper  weighs  ninety-one  grams. It was divided into ten kite. Copper weights seem never to  be lower than five kite or one-half deben, while the more precious  metals are found with weights of less than five kite. It is sometimes  difficult  to  determine  whether  the  actual  weight  of  the  metal  is  being  described  or  its  value  in  deben—or,  indeed,  whether  the  Egyptians  made  such  a  distinction.  In  the  Cairo  Ostracon  25242  verso,  for  example,  twenty  deben  of  copper  was  added  to  four  deben as the vahie of a basket, demonstrating that the actual weight  was difficult to separate from the idea of its value. Deben of copper  and  bronze  were  not  distinguished  by  the  Egyptians.  Both  were  valued as one kite of silver. Silver deben were rarely mentioned in  the ostraca, but are more common in the papyri. Papyrus, of course,  was  used  to  record  official and  thus  more  expensive  transactions,  while  the  ostraca  were  used  by  the  villagers  to  record  private,  smaller transactions. This practice ensures that gold deben are never  mentioned  in  the  ostraca  but appear  occasionally  in  the  papyri;  it  must  be  assumed  that  when  the  word  deben  is  used  alone  on  ostraca, copper deben should be understood.

The  senyu  ("piece"?)  is  the  second  unit  of  value  used  by  the  Egyptians. It is a weight in silver equal to 1/12 deben or 7.6 grams.  Its value is calculated as five deben, but that calculation does not  always  hold  true  (see  below).  The  senyu  is  found  as  a  weight  or  value only in the nineteenth dynasty and early twentieth dynasty up  to the first half of the reign of Ramesses III. The senyu could be  used to express a value in the same column of figures with deben.  The Berlin Ostracon 1268 states the value of objects in senyu but  the total of the column in deben of copper. The Varille Ostracon 25  -totals a razor valued at one deben, with a donkey valued at seven  senyu.

The hin, a third unit of value, is a measure of volume equal to  0.48 liters (about one-half quart). Its value is 1/6 senyu, but other  calculations show that it was also equal to one copper deben. The  value of the hin is probably based on the value of one hin of sesame oil, said to be equal to one  copper  deben.  Mrht-oil  and  'd-fat  were  also  measured  in  hin, but  their values seem to vary in relation to deben, both more and less  than one deben. Thus the value of one hin equal to one deben is  based on sesame oil.

The khar is a measure of the volume of grain, either emmer or  barley, equal to 76.88 liters (about 80 quarts), which is divided into  four oipe. The khar is translated as "sack" and was valued at two  deben. Deben, senyu, and khar are all found together in documents  ranging  from  the  time  of  Ramesses  II  (Hieratic  Ostraca  65)  through Ramesses V (Hieratic Ostraca 28). The khar is most com- monly  found  as  a  unit  of  value  for  baskets,  both  because  the  volume of a basket was equal to its value and because baskets are  relatively inexpensive. The same principle is at work in the Cairo  Osti-acon 25242, in which a bed is valued in deben while its legs  are valued in oipe. Ostracon Deir el-Medina 21 also differentiates  between expensive items in deben and cheaper items in oipe.

The  rough  equivalent  values  among  deben,  senyu,  hin,  and  khar,  as  given  above,  reveal  the  difficulty  of  calculating  precise  values  for  commodities,  as  well  as  fixed  ratios  among  the  four  different  units  of  value.  One  document  values  a  basket  at  one- quarter  senyu  for  a  volume  of  one-half  khar.  Since  one  khar  is  equal in value to two deben, the logical conclusion would be that  one senyu equals four copper deben in value. Yet another example  shows that one senyu of wss-garments is equal to five copper de- ben. Finally, another document values one hin of oil at 1/6 senyu.  Since one hin is equal to one deben, the logical conclusion is that  one senyu is equal to six deben. Clearly modern ideas about money  and prices were not at work in ancient Egypt. Modern conceptions  of  money  would  not  allow  one  senyu  to  be  equal  to  either  four,  five, or six deben, yet this was the actual state of affairs in Deir el- Medina.

Perhaps the real difficulty in interpreting prices and payments is  that  modem  scholars  are  attempting  to  systematize  a  procedure  which was actually determined on a case by case basis. All of the  prices  discussed  above  were  derived  from  specific  barter  agreements.  Barter  prices  were  much  more  fluid  than  the  fixed  prices in present-day western markets. Barter prices were set by the  strength  of  each  individual's  desire  to  conclude  an  exchange  and  each  individuals  skill  at  arriving  at  a  good  price,  in  addition  to  some abstract idea of value based on weight or volume. Use value  was  probably  more  important  than  abstract  value  and  all  the  commodities exchanged at Deir el-Medina were valued according  to  actual  use:  grain  was  for  eating;  silver  was  a  raw  material  for  making an object. The value of a good grew according to the need  for it.

Because  the  prices  were  set  by  barter,  prices  tended  to  cluster  in  amounts that are multiples of five, especially for amounts over ten deben. Numbers, then, were usually rounded  to the nearest five. J. J. Janssen (1988) illustrated that principle by  the  following  example.  The  Ostracon  Deir  el-Medina  72  verso  described the purchase of a coffin in the following way:

Given  to  him  in  exchange  for  the  coffin:  eight  and  one-half  deben of copper; again five deben of copper; one pig made five  deben;  one  goat  made  two  deben;  two  logs  of  sycamore  wood  made two deben. Total: twenty-five and one-half deben.

There, the value of the coffin was first agreed to be approximately  twenty-five deben. Then values were established for the individual  items brought to the exchange. The coffinmaker would decide how  much use he could make of the two lots of copper, the animals, and  the wood before determining the value he would assign to them. It  is  unlikely  that  those  goods  were  accepted  for  resale  at  a  profit,  since  that  concept  seems  to  be  unknown  to  the  Egyptians.  The  actual  desire  to  own  these  items  becomes  much  more  important  than the abstract value assigned to them in deben.

The  best  source  for  our  knowledge  of  loans  is  also  Deir  el- Medina. There are two kinds of loans attested from the village: one  type is made with a fixed date for repayment and a penalty if that  date is missed; a second type appears not to have a repayment date  and is more likely to reflect an obligation for reciprocity between  the  lender  and  debtor.  There  is  limited  evidence  that  loans  with  fixed  repayment  dates  were  made  from  people  of  higher  social  status to those of lower social status, while reciprocal loans were  made between people of more equal status.  In sum, the Egyptians were able to conduct business in a way  that met their needs without ever fully abstracting the concept of- money  from  their  units  of  exchange  value.  An  often  robust  economy ran smoothly, using various means of valuing labor and  commodities without either money or true markets.

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Canaan

Canaan, a geographical term (Eg., kn'n; Akk., ki-na-ah-nu; Heb.,  kn'n) for the area broadly encompassing the Eastern Mediterranean  lands that are to the west of the Jordan River, Phoenicia, and part of southern Syria during the second millennium BCE. The term Canaan is frequently used in the scholarly literature as a conventional reference for that region during the entire Bronze Age (occasionally referred to as the Canaanite period), although no certain mention of Canaan or Canaanites  has survived  in any  texts of  the  third millennium BCE. There are few references  to  Canaan  outside the  Bible  in the  first millennium BCE, although in that period  the Phoenicians along  the  Lebanese  coast  continued to think of themselves as living in the land of Canaan. The etymology of the  word  Canaan is uncertain: one suggestion is to derive the name from a Semitic  root  meaning  "to  bend";  another  relates  it  to  a  Human word meaning "blue cloth."

Map of the Ancient Near East during the Amarna Period
Map of the Ancient Near East during the Amarna Period

Canaan first appears  in Near Eastern texts in the fifteenth century BCE in the autobiography  of  Idrimi,  a  ruler  of  the  north  Syrian kingdom of Alalakh. The earliest reference to Canaanites is  on  an  eighteenth-century  BCE  cuneiform  tablet  from  Mari  on  the  Euphrates River  in  Syria.  New Kingdom Egyptian  texts  contain  more than a dozen references to Canaan. Canaan was the name that  the  Egyptians  applied  to  the  territory  of  the  Near  East  (Western Asia) that was under their control, and for which they often had to  contend  with  the  empires  of  Mitanni  and  the  Hittites.  Ramessid  period documents refer to both Canaan and "the (town of) Canaan  (py kn'n)": the latter was an appellation for Gaza, the administrative  headquarters  of  the  Egyptian  empire  in  Canaan.  It  is  not  always  clear whether the mention of "Canaan" in a particular text (especially a topographical list) refers to the land of Canaan or to the  town of Gaza.

The oldest reference to Canaan in Egyptian texts is in the annals  recording Amenhotpe Us (1454-1419 BCE) campaign of his seventh  regnal year to the land of Retenu; the booty list from that campaign included 640 Canaanite prisoners.  "The (town of) Canaan" (i.e., Gaza) appears in Sety I's (1321-1304  BCE) campaign report for his first regnal year in the hypostyle hall  at Kamak. There is also a mention in the famous Israel Stela from  regnal Year 5 of Merenptah (1237-1226 BCE) of the plundering of  "the  Canaan":  that  citation  is  thought  by  most  scholars  to  be  a  reference to Egypt's Near Eastern province, but by a few as another  mention of Gaza. Papyrus Anastasi I (line 27.1) from the reign of Ramses II (1279-1212 B.C) mentions  the  "end  of  the  land  of  Canaan"  (i.e.,  the  route leading eastward across Sinai to Gaza). Papyrus Anastasi III  A  (lines  5-6)  and  its  duplicate.  Papyrus  Anastasi  IV  (line  16.4),  belonging  to  the  reign  of  Sety II  (1221-1215  BCE),  mention  Canaanite slaves from Kharu. The land of Canaan shows up in two  cuneiform letters sent by Ramses II to his Hittite  contemporary, Hattusili III, at the Hittite capital Hattusha (present- day Bogazkoy). The latest phara-onic period reference to Canaan is on a Middle Kingdom statuette  reinscribed in the Third Intermediate Period for Pediese, son of a Near Easterner named  'Apy,  who  evidently  was  a  messenger  of  "[the]  Canaan  and  Philistia."

Canaan  appears  on  eleven  cuneiform  tablets  (Letters  8,  14,  30,109-110, 131, 137, 148,151,162, 367) and the Canaanites on one  (Letter  9),  from  the  diplomatic  archive  found  at  Tell el-Amama.  Letter  8  is  notable  for  the  Babylonian  king  Burnaburiash's  acknowledgment to Amenhotpe IV that "Canaan is your country,"  while  in  Letter  30  the  kings  of  Canaan  are  addressed  as  the  "servants" of the king of Egypt.  Middle and Late Bronze Age Canaan was divided politically and  territorially into perhaps several dozen small city-states of varying  size and importance. Each city-state normally consisted of an urban  capital as well as a number of smaller towns and villages and the  supporting agricultural land. Generally independent, and not infre- quently  feuding  with  one  another,  the  city-states  occasionally  banded  together  (especially  in  the  Late  Bronze  Age)  to  oppose  Egyptian  and  other  foreign  conquerors;  perhaps  the  best-recorded  case  of  such  cooperation  is  that  of  the  towns  that  gathered  at  Megiddo to oppose Thutmose Ill's Near Eastern campaign of regnal  Year 22.

Egyptian contacts with Canaan  in  the  early twelfth dynasty apparently  focused  on  sites  along the Levantine coast (especially  Byblos). Later on, in the twelfth and continuing into the thirteenth  dynasties, Egypt's foreign  interests  expanded  considerably: the Execration Texts of  the  period  mentioned  many of  the principal towns of both northern and southern Canaan.



The fifteenth dynasty (c. 1664-1555 BCE)  was the one time in  antiquity when a line of kings of Canaanite origin ruled in Egypt. The capital of those sovereigns, whose non-Egyptian  names  included Sheshy, Khayan, and Apophis, was established at Avaris  (i.e.. Tell ed-Dab'a) in the eastern Nile Delta. The origins of those  Canaanite  rulers  is  to  be sought in the movement of Near Easterners into the Delta during the late twelfth and early thirteenth dynasties.  The  political  and  military connections  of  the  Hyksos  kings with the Canaanite city-states of the late Middle Bronze Age  is  unclear  and  much  debated:  some  scholars  feel  that  a  Hyksos  "empire"  included  much  of  southern  Canaan,  while  others  deny  Hyksos control over any part of the Levant.

During the Late Bronze Age, the Egyptian military,  political, and economic activity in the Near East was focused on the major  Canaanite  towns  that  lay  along  the  principal  routes  (e.g., Gaza, Gezer, Megiddo, Hazor), had  ports  to  facilitate  maritime  trade  and/or  Egyptian  naval activity  (e.g.,  Joppa,  Acco,  Byblos,  Tyre),  and/or  could  support  Egyptian  political  and  military  control  of  Canaan (e.g., Gaza and Beth Shan in Palestine, Kumidi and Sumur  in Lebanon). The annals of the New Kingdom pharaohs repeatedly  mentioned  such  towns,  often  as  military  adversaries  of  the  Egyptians. There is substantial archaeological and textual evidence  from  the  nineteenth  and  early  twentieth dynasties (Late  Bronze  IIB-Iron  IA  periods)  of  Egyptian  garrisons  or  administrative centers in Canaan, especially in the Gaza region, as well as at sites  such as Tel Mor, Joppa, Megiddo, Beth Shan, and Kumidi. Finally,  in  the  first  millennium  BCE,  Egypt's relations with Canaan  were  largely  of  a  commercial  and  political  nature,  the  occasional Egyptian military  forays  into  the  region  (most  notably  that  of  Sheshonq I in the late tenth century BCE) usually had only short- term consequences for the region.

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Naqada III

Bird-shaped vase, late predynastic period (Naqada III)
Bird-shaped vase, late predynastic period (Naqada III)
Naqada III culture (c.3200-3050 BCE) was characterized by the abandonment or reduction in significance of certain population centers in Egypt's South (e.g., Matmar, Mahasna), the maintenance or even growth in  significance  of  others  (e.g.,  Hierakonpolis,  Abydos),  and  the  foundation  of  yet  others  (e.g.,  Elkab,  Tarkhan,  Tura).  Social  changes  were  of  increasing  importance,  yet  despite  a  certain  variance in material culture, this period was a direct continuation of  the  Gerzean.  A  major  settlement  move  from  the  desert  to  the  vicinity of the Nile was necessary in Naqada III. Ecological changes  that  began  in Naqada II were  intensified,  bringing  with  them  a  relative cessation in herding in favor of agriculture. Changes in the  material culture indicate an accompanying alteration in the spiritual  realm.  Some  objects  were  modified  in  shape,  while  their  basic  function  was  preserved;  others,  while  their  shape  was  preserved,  had  their  functions  changed—from utility to ritual-cult-symbolic (e.g., palettes). Pottery included decorated wares, cylindrical jars, cups, and large transport-storage jars, often with  engraved  and  painted serekhs, indicating that the contents were intended for the royal court. The production  of flint artifacts relatively decreased—due mainly to the expanded  use of metal tools. The use of jewelry also increased, as did the role  of sculpture and relief. In Coptos, no later than Narmer's time, three  colossal statues of Min (4 meters/I 3 feet high) and three statues of  lions  (1.5  meters/4  feet  long)  were  erected.  Many  items  have  elaborate  scenes:  palettes,  ceremonial  mace  heads,  and  knife  handles.  In  temple  deposits  at  Hierakonpolis,  Abydos,  and  Elephantine,  a  number  of  figurines—prisoners,  children,  women,  scorpions, baboons—were made of various materials, some votive  but  some  fragments  of  larger  objects  and  furniture.  They  indicate  development of the ritual-symbolic sphere—that associated with the centralization of authority.
Handle of a decorated knife. Naqada III. Louvre Museum
Handle of a decorated knife. Naqada III. Louvre Museum

Glyptics and writing became increasingly important, clearly developed under the influence of impulses from the Near East, passing through a brief phase  of  imitation,  then  ultimately  containing  typically Egyptian  motifs  and  inscriptions.  The  role of  long-distance  trade,  conducted  in  all  the  traditional  directions,  increased  considerably.  Contacts  with  Palestine  and  the  Sinai  intensified,  showing  the  importance  of  this  nearby  northeastern  region  and  its  goods  (wine,  oil,  resin,  timber,  copper).  The  Protodynastic colonization of northern Sinai and southern Canaan  lasted until the mid-first dynasty. The kings known from this period  ruled  over  all  of  Egypt—"Uj,"  Iry-Hor(?),  Ka,  "Scorpion,"  and  Narmer—have been dated to Naqada IIIB-IIICl. (c.3150-3050 BCE).  Toward the end of the Protodynastic Dynasty "O," probably in the  reign  of  Narmer,  the  kingdom  of  the  pharaohs  was  established,  more or less in the form known from the Early Dynastic (Archaic)  period. The gradual (not by conquest) formation of an Egyptian state was therefore the last stage, not the first, from which the civilization of the Nile Valley grew.

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Calendar in Ancient Egypt

Calendar in Ancient Egypt or the pharaonic Egypt's calendrical syste  was both straightforward  and  simple.  From  the  first dynasty  onward,  the  Egyptian  year  was  divided  into  three  seasons,  based  on  the  agricultural rhythm of the Nile Valley: (1) jht, inundation; (2) prt,  emergence  (of  crops);  and  (3)  smw,  harvest.  These  seasons  consisted of four months apiece, each containing thirty days. Hence,  the basic year of the Egyptians comprised a regular number of days  (360) as well as an orderly number of months (12). Such a system  had to have five additional days added to it, the epagomenals ("days  above the year"), which neatly fixed the annual rotation of the sun  to a set integer of 365; there were no intercalary days in that native  year.


The calendrical order was most advantageous to Egyptologists'  cumulative reckoning of such large-scale time elements as dynasties  and epochs. Mainly from hypothetical reasoning, it is assumed that  the  Nile  year  was  created  by  the  early  Egyptian  state  in  order  to  regularize  its  economic  stability  (tax  collecting  through  a  census  placed on cattle) as well as to record its kings' reigns. Modern scholars, therefore, call this 365-day year the civil calendar,  to  indicate  the  original  purpose  of  its  reckoning.  The  number  of  months,  as  well  as  their  names,  were  based  on  an  older,  lunar  calendar. In this earlier system, it is unclear whether the Egyptians  intercalated an extra month (the thirteenth), every three years or so,  to  bring  the  calendar  into  accord  with  the  seasons.  Although  the  extant data neither support nor reject that, traces of the lunar calendar exist in the presence of some feast days, which were determined  by  the  moon's  cycle  rather  than  permanently  fixed  on  a  day  (or  days) within the civil calendar.

Some ancient Egyptian festivals were therefore determined by  the moon, and quite a number of significant religious events were  solely  set  to  a  specific  lunar  day,  such  as  the  new  moon.  For  example,  the  Valley  Feast  took  place  within  the  tenth  Egyptian  civil month but was not permanently set on a predetermined day  within that month. Similarly, the funerary event of Wagy seems to  have taken place on day eighteen of lunar month two, although a  civil calendar counterpart always occurred on day eighteen of the  first  civil  month.  For  the  most  part,  Egyptian  religious  festivals  became civil calendar-based since a change had been made from  lunar time to the civil calendar when it came into being.

The regnal years of the kings were also reorganized so that they  coincided with civil calendar years. In Predynastic times, a lunar  calendar must have been the basis for the regnal year. In the Old  Kingdom, as the Palermo Stone clearly indicates, the regnal year  counts were originally labeled by names of auspicious or important  events  that  occurred  within  a  civil  calendar  year  of  365  days,  among  which  one  can  single  out  building  projects  of  a  religious  nature.  After  the  second  dynasty,  the  regnal  years  also  became  orderly,  since  they  were  referred  to,  on  a  regular  basis,  by  the  biennial  cattle  census  that  took  place  throughout  Egypt.  Eventually, probably by the sixth dynasty, the biennial census was  replaced by an annual one. From that time on, all regnal years were  rationalized so that the king's year in office was nothing more than  an integer that was counted every civil calendar year. The causes  for  such  change  included  the  importance  of  the  centralized  state  apparatus and the necessity to establish a workable and relatively  easy  method  of  counting.  Egyptian  regnal  years  were  dependent  upon  a  365-day  civil  calendar  year,  not  a  lunar  year,  and  they  operated independently of whether the anniversary of a pharaoh's  accession  caused  a  change  in  the  year  count  (as  in  the  New Kingdom) or whether the presence of subsequent new year's days  effected such a change. In the Middle Kingdom (unlike the New  Kingdom),  counting  of  regnal  years  was  reckoned  from  the  first  day of the civil calendar year to the next, excluding the opening  year, which almost always began within a civil calendar year.

Although later sources, mainly of Greco-Roman times, put great  emphasis  on  the  star  the  Egyptians  called  Sothis  (our  Sirius),  as  being  connected  with  an  enormous  cycle  of  1,460  Egyptian  civil  years, that lengthy period seems not to have been employed by them  for any historical reckoning. Nonetheless, the commencement of a  year  was  intimately  associated  with  the  goddess  Sothis  (identified  with  the  goddess  Isis),  especially  if  an  ideal,  rather  than  a  real,  beginning  was  to  be  stressed.  Such  was  the  case  because  the  reappearance  of  the  star  Sothis  at  dawn,  after  a  disappearance  of  seventy days (its heliacal rising, prt spdt), was originally linked with  the  inauguration  of  the  year  at  a  time  when  the  Nile  waters  had  crested. Owing to this connection, scholars argue that the first day of  the just-created civil year (new year's day) began at the exact time of  prt spdt. In many extant festival calendars, as well as a few other  sources, Sothis' heliacal rising was given great prominence although  it did not interrupt the mundane flow of time, since the astronomical  event occurred independently of the way the civil calendar operated.

Research  has  obviated  the  need  to  claim  that  the  Egyptians  invented  a  second  lunar  calendar,  somewhat  later  than  their  civil  calendar. From our knowledge of the festival system, it appears that  most religious celebrations were only on the civil calendar. Those  festivals that were lunar-based seem to have been organized around  specific  lunar  occurrences  (such  as  the  new  moon)  that  could  be  seen with the naked eye, but they were nevertheless based partly on  the civil calendar. It was understood that the lunar occurrence was  fixed within a given civil month and that no independent lunar year  was operating alongside the established civil calendar. Therefore, all  administrative work, such as daily accounts and the like, were set by  the civil calendar; lunar-based events appear to have been restricted  solely to the cultic sphere.

The names of the twelve civil months betray their origins, since  it is evident that they are mere copies of the original names of their  twelve lunar-month counterparts. The first, Thoth, was named after  the god of the moon, who was also the reckoner of time. The third,  Athyr, overtly indicates that it was named after the goddess Ha-thor,  whose festival took place on day one of the following civil month.  Khoiak,  the  designation  for  civil  month  four,  was  similarly  borrowed from a major religious event that occurred at the crucial  change of season—from the first season, yht, to the second, prt—the  festival held on day one of the fifth month. In this case, the first day  of peret served as a second new year's day, on which the rejuvena- tion  of  the  subsistence-based  agricultural  society  of  Pre-dynastic  Egypt was predicated. A similar change from the second season to  the third can be observed with the name of month eight, Renenutet.  Then, the goddess of the harvest Renenutet bequeathed her name to  the final civil month, smw, in recognition of the festival for the gathering of grain,  which  took  place  at  the  beginning  of  the  ninth  month.  In  some  cases,  for  historical  reasons,  the  designations  of  the  civil  months  were  changed.  For  example,  Menchet  ("clothing"),  civil  month  number  two,  was  altered  to  Paophi  in  honor  of  the  important  Theban  festival  of  Opet,  which  occurred  at  that  time.  In  similar  fashion, Phamenoth, civil month seven, reflected the festival of the  deified King Amenhotep I (1514-1493). Yet the final civil month revealed its origins  in the rebirth of the sun god Re, for that is what its name, Mesore,  actually  meant.  Earlier,  the  designation  was  Wep-renpet  ("the  opener of the year"), called after the most important festival in the  year,  that  of  new  year's  day,  on  the  first  day  of  Thoth,  the  first  month.

A careful comparison of the month names has determined that at  least  some  of  the  older  designations  were  based  on  key  religious  festivals; however, they seem always to have occurred on or about  day  one  of  the  following  civil  month.  The  clear  case  of  Athyr,  mentioned above, provides an excellent example of this. Although  the civil month was the third in the year, its religious counterpart,  the feast of Hathor, began with the following civil month. Insofar as  the  civil  months  postdate  the  original  lunar  calendar  months  in  which the key feasts were first celebrated, any attempt to equate a  month  name  with  the  eponymous  feast  name  must  consider  this.  Even  at  the  inception  of  the  newly  created  civil  calendar,  such  a  shunting  of  festival  dates  must  have  occurred—an  alteration  partially explained by the original lunar year of only 354 days, and  the  new  civil  year  of  365  days.  The  difference  of  nineteen  days  (called the lunar-solar epact) explains the lack of equivalence and  provides a reason for the observance of the festival of the moon god  Thoth on day nineteen of the first civil month. (In a similar lack of  concurrence,  present-day  Easter  and  Passover  continue  to  be  celebrated on old lunar dates that have no fixed Western calendar  dates.)

The  various  festival  calendars  of  the  Egyptians  reflected  the  civil  calendar insofar  as they located their celebrations within the  civil  year.  Quite  often  a  clear  separation  was  made  between  the  "festivals of heaven," which occurred more than once a year, and  the  "seasonal  festivals,"  which  took  place  annually.  By the nineteenth dynasty, the  first  group  merely  comprised  the  various  celebrations in honor of lunar days (e.g., day 1, 2, 6, 15, and the  like).  In  contrast,  the  second  group  reflected  the  developed  theological  outlook  of  the  various  temples,  wherein  the  crucial  religious  manifestations  took  place  once  a  year.  Note  that  the  dichotomy  was  not  merely  one  of  celestial  phenomena  versus  earthly ones, since the heliacal rising of Sothis was placed under the  "seasonal festivals." The festival calendars are very important to us  because they reveal, in precise fashion, just which days were of crucial importance to the Egyptians and how they were celebrated.

Other segments of time from ancient Egypt also are known. A  week was in reality ten days, with the standard holidays at the end  (day ten) and the day following. Hour measurements were known,  too,  but  they  were  of  irregular  length,  roughly  identical  to  the  "seasonal  hours"  of  Hellenistic  and  Roman  times.  There  are  Egyptian words for small segments of time other than the hour, but  no  precise  designations  for  the  "half-hour,"  the "quarter  hour,"  or  the "minute." Such a lack of specificity was mainly the result of the  relatively  simple  timekeeping  used  in  the  Nile  Valley;  pharaonic  civilization had no need for precise time intervals such as seconds  or minutes. The Egyptian hours appear to have been based always  on groupings of stars. In the First Intermediate Period, if not earlier,  a system of decanal stars was invented, by which there were twelve  night hours. These twelve intervals were determined by sight, and  they depended on the sighting of various star groups that cannot be  identified. As each star group rose, it designated a specific hour of  the night sky for ten days (hence each is called a "decan" and the  method a decanal system). The decan-hour stars would then move  on  one  integer,  for  120  days,  or  12  "weeks."  At  first,  the  system  depended on naked-eye viewing at the eastern horizon; later, in the  Middle Kingdom, a more refined method of observation was used,  in  which  the  crossing  of  the  star  groups  across  a  meridian  determined the nightly hours. From the New Kingdom onward, the  Egyptians  preferred  to  work  out  nocturnal  timekeeping  by  the  transit  of  stars  across  various  reference  points  on  a  man's  body  (head, neck, etc.) as he faced south and was checked by a second  man who faced him. All such attempts to work out an effective hour  system for the night were affected by various difficulties.

Research  on  such  star  clocks  has  confirmed  their  usefulness;  nevertheless,  by  modern  standards  such  timekeeping  was  limited  by the lack of a coordinate system for the heavens. Only during the  Ptolemaic dynasty was a zodiacal system introduced to Egypt, one  that had as its basis the division of the Sun's annual path along the  ecliptic. This system was based on a "degree" system—originally  of Babylonian origin—into which each star group occupied thirty  "degrees,"  there  being  twelve  star  groups  in  all  (30  X  12  =  360  degrees, as used today, to describe a complete circle).

The beginning of the Egyptian day was at "dawn," probably in  morning twilight (although that is contested by some researchers);  the  actual  dawn,  when  the  Sun  first  rises  in  the  east,  is  also  a  possibility.  The  inscriptional  material  is  ambiguous.  The  crucial  point  is  that  the  Egyptians'  calendrical  perspective  was  fixed  toward morning sightings directed at the eastern horizon. A lunar  month began  on  the  day  when  the  waning  crescent  moon  could  not  be  sighted on the eastern horizon. (The Egyptian month was therefore  regulated in a different tradition than either the Babylonian or the  Greek, in which months were based on the evening sighting of the  first lunar crescent in west). Since the absence of any lunar crescent  indicates  that  the  Egyptian  system  depended  on  the  eastern,  morning sighting, the Egyptian lunar epoch occurred about one day  earlier  than  those  cultures  that  regarded  the  day  as  commencing  with the first western, evening sighting.

The Old Egyptian names for the lunar days are useful to survey  for a linguistic connection. The first day, that of no lunar crescent  visibility, was connected to the Egyptian word for "new," whereas  the "crescent" gave its name to the second day, and the third day  was called "arrival," indicating actual visibility (the first crescent  might be delayed by atmospheric anomalies, so that it would turn  up  on  day  three).  There  was  a  "second  arrival"  on  day  sixteen,  heralding  the  completion  of  the  full  moon  (from  day  fifteen,  the  Egyptian  "half  month"),  with  "first  quarter"  and  "last  quarter"  (called  "parts")  the  terms  for  day  seven  and  day  twenty-three,  respectively. Finally, day thirty was associated with the god Min,  owing to his virility; in this case, it is clear that the association with  Min  indicated  procreation.  Theologically,  the  following  day  was  considered the "moon in the womb," with its appearance— birth— occurring on day two of the following lunar month.

For the Ptolemaic period, a  few  extant  sources  from  Egypt  indicate that a regular correlation was drawn between lunar months  and  their  civil  calendar  counterparts.  Papyrus  Carlsberg  9,  in  particular, supplies us with a full (though not complete) listing of  such  equivalences;  from  the  text,  a  relatively  simple,  albeit  artificial,  cycle  was  introduced  to  Egypt,  in  which  25  Egyptian  years  (of  365  days apiece)  were  equated  with 309  lunar  months,  the latter consisting of 16 years of 12 months and 9 of 13 months  (365 X 25 = 9,125 days; 309 lunar months with those parameters  yield 9,124.95 days). Such a cycle eliminates the need for an actual  lunar sighting. Originally thought to be a native Egyptian creation,  reinterpretations have placed its sophisticated workings outside the  Nile  Valley.  Other  scholarly  arguments  have  connected  this  Demotic  papyrus  with  the  Macedonian  calendar—in  use  for  the  duration  of  the  Greek  domination  over  Egypt—although  serious  questions  remain  concerning  the  exact  extent  of  its  use.  One  difficulty in textual interpretation is that the columns of odd lunar- civil  calendar  equivalences  were  not  presented,  if  those  sections  merely repeated the integers in the'even columns, as some believe,  then the entries in Papyrus Carlsberg 9 are still incomplete. Some  Egyptologists see the inauguration of this cycle (c.357 BCE) being  based on the nonvisibility of the lunar crescent. Classicists interested in Ptolemaic Egypt prefer to understand the system  as one developed for equating Egyptian days and months with the  Macedonian  calendar,  and  one  extremely  fragmentary  Greek  papyrus  reveals  that  such  an  equivalence  was  made  (Papyrus  Rylands 586); however, the extant pieces are not sufficient to draw  any firm conclusions regarding its origins.

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Calcite

Alabaster perfume jars from the tomb of Tutankhamun, (d. 1323 BC)
Alabaster perfume jars from
the tomb of Tutankhamun,
(d. 1323 BC)
Egyptologists today correctly use the term calcite when  referring to lithic materials that were historically called travertine,  alabaster,  Egyptian  alabaster,  or  Oriental  alabaster.  Geologically, calcite is  a  mineral  composed  of  hexagonal  crystals  of  calcium  carbonate (CaCO,). As used by geologists, the term alabaster refers  to  a  fine-grained,  massive  variety  of  rock  gypsum,  consisting  largely  of the  mineral  gypsum  (hydrous calcium  sulfate,  CaSO,,  •  2H;0),  which  is  a  secondary  mineral  formed  by  the  hydration  of  anhydrite (CaSC^) in a zone of weathering. Ironically, alabastrites  was the original, ancient Greek and Latin name used for "Egyptian  travertine" (a limestone), but that had been forgotten when alabaster  acquired  its  modem  definition  in  the  1500s.  Another  term  sometimes used for Egyptian travertine is calcite-alabaster, which  is  both  inappropriate  and  self-contradictory.  Many Egyptologists now call travertine by the term calcite, to avoid confusion with the  well-known  and  very  different-looking  Italian  travertine,  from  Tivoli, Italy (the Romans' tivertino, the Latin word for "travertine").  From the Old Kingdom onward, the Egyptians called travertine ss,  but during the Old Kingdom it was also occasionally referred to as  biyt.

Egyptian travertine (calcite) occurs in two varieties:  (1) a nonbanded to faintly banded, tan to brownish-yellow, coarse- grained, translucent form; and (2) the strikingly banded form with  interlayering  of  the  first-mentioned  variety  with  a  white,  fine- grained,  opaque  form.  With  prolonged  exposure  to  sunlight,  the  brown  and  yellow  colors  become  white.  An  example  of  this  weathering phenomenon may be seen at the Mosque of Muhammad  Ali (built from 1824 to 1848 CE) in Cairo's Citadel. Both the interior  and  exterior  surfaces  of  this  building  were  clad  with  banded  travertine (calcite), but now the outside surface has become nearly  white whereas the inside surface is still brightly colored.

Travertine  (calcite)  occurs as  fracture-and-cavity  fillings  in  the  limestone deposits that border the Nile Valley between Esna in the  south and Cairo in the north, and nine ancient quarries are known  for this rock. The locations, from south to north, and the dates for  these sites are the following: one site near Wadi Asyut (New Kingdom);  four  sites  near  the  Tell  el-Amama  ruins  at  Hatnub  (Old  Kingdom through Roman period), both in and near Wadi el-Zebeida  (Middle and New Kingdoms), and in Wadi Barshawi (possibly Middle Kingdom); one site at el-Qawatir  near the city of el-Minya (possibly Old through New Kingdoms);  one site in Wadi Umm Argub near the Wadis Muwathil and Sannur  (Late  period);  one  site  in  Wadi  Araba  near  Wadi  Askhar  el-Qibli  (Roman); and one site in Wadi el-Garawi near the city of Helwan  (Old  Kingdom).  Banded  travertine  was  obtained  from  all  those  quarries,  but  the  nonbanded  variety  may  have  come  only  from  Hatnub.  (Hatnub  is  an  ancient  Egyptian  word  meaning  "golden  house," and it may have been applied to that quarry because of the  uniform golden-brown color of its rock.).

As  a  relatively  soft  mineral  (number  3  on  the  Mohs  Hardness  Scale), calcite is easily worked with bronze, copper, and other metal  or stone tools. Its translucency, pleasing colors, and ability to take a  fine polish made it a popular decorative stone in Egypt from early dynastic times onward. Because of the difficulty of obtaining large  pieces, it was mainly employed for small objects, such as statuettes,  shawabtis,  offering  tables,  vases,  bowls,  dishes,  canopic  jars,  and  unguent jars. The unguent jars are the alabastra of classical Greece,  originally  ceramic  and  only  later  carved  from  Egyptian  travertine  (calcite), hence the Greco-Roman name alabastrites for this rock.

Occasionally, calcite was used for paving stones and wall linings  in temples as, for example, in the fourth dynasty valley temple of  Khafre at Giza and the nineteenth dynasty sanctuary in the temple  of Ramesses II  at Abydos, respectively. Although large travertine  (calcite) objects are less common than small ones, many are known;  these  include  sarcophagi,  life-size  and  colossal  statues,  naoi,  embalming  beds,  whole  shrines,  and  other  objects.  One  mode  of  transport for such articles was shown in a detailed painting on the  wall of the twelfth dynasty tomb of Djehutihotpe (or Thuthotpe) at  Bersheh,  where  a  colossal  statue  of  that  nobleman  is  pulled  on  a  sledge by 172 men. Some notable examples of large objects are the  following:

(1) the sarcophagus of King Sety I from his tomb in the Valley of  the Kings at Thebes, now in Sir John Soane's Museum, London; (2)  two  huge  blocks  at  Kamak  temple  in  Luxor—one  a  Late  period  offering stand or kiosk foundation in the Great Court and the other,  possibly, a statue pedestal of uncertain age in the Central Court; (3)  the  colossal  statue  of  the  god  Sobek  with  the  eighteenth  dynasty King Amenhotep III (1382-1344) from Dahamsha, now in the Luxor Museum;  (4)  the  colossal  statue  of  King  Sety  I  from  Karnak  temple,  now  in  the  Egyptian  Museum,  Cairo;  and  (5)  two  bark  shrines,  one  by  the  eighteenth dynasty  kings  Amenhotep I/Thutmose I, and one by the twelfth dynasty king Senwosret I, now  in  the  open-air  museum  at  Karnak  temple.  Numerous  other  examples  may  be  found  in  Alfred  Lucas,  Ancient  Egyptian  Materials and Industries (1962).

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