Solution (Ancient Egypt)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Solution in hieroglyphics
s I9
Aa1
Z1 Z1 Z1 Z1
Z1 Z1 Z1

sefech
sfḫ
seven
s I9
Aa1
or
z
I9
Aa1
D54

sefech
sfḫ
solution, detachment (of the seven deans)
z
I9
Aa1
D54
F17 N35A

sefech-abu
sfḫ-ˁbw solution in the cleaning water
(lake of the Duat )

Under solution ( ancient Egyptian sefech was) in the ancient Egyptian mythology and astronomy , the ritual cleansing of the dead during the seventy days lasting embalming understood. In contrast to the Abrahamic religions ( Judaism , Christianity , Islam ), in which the “liberation from sins ” is sought in the course of life and with the transition into the world of the deceased, here the “detachment of evil (bad Deeds) ”associated with rebirth after a short stay in the realm of the dead at the moment of transition into the world of the gods.

etymology

The ancient Egyptian term sefech is based on a play on words. Among other things , sefech describes the number “7”, and in the same spelling it also refers to the seven deans and seven decades.

The solution in the cleaning water is to be understood as equating the cleaning in the lake of the Duat . Accordingly, the invisibility phase of 70 days also counts as the cleaning and regeneration period.

Mythological connections

The "solution to the evil" is also the subject of the Nutbuch , which, among other things, contains the description of the state of the seven invisible dean stars , who stay in the underworld for seventy days and change to the status of the Chatiu demons .

Excerpts from the Sethos scriptures (lines 104 to 132) Excerpts from the PC1 / PC1a version (lines 104 to 133)

104 The star that goes to earth dies.
105 He stays in the underworld for 70 days.
107 “Solving” is not mentioned until the 70th day.
106 So he solves his evils for 70 days.
108 The name life is not said to mean loosening.
109 His evil hits the ground.
116 So their bones fall to the ground,
116 when the bows rise from the bones.
117 So their tears fall and turn into fish.
118 The life of a star arises in the lake.
120 It flutters upwards,
121 from the sea of ​​images.
132 Evils become people for 70 days.

104 The star that goes to earth rests in the underworld.

105 He stays in the house of Geb for seven decades.
106 During this time he solves his evils in the embalming workshop .
107 One says "loosening" as the name of the "7" to this day
108 The name life is said to solve.
116 So their evils fall to the earth,
116 and the Bas who fell to the earth come forth.
117 Her tear falls, becomes a fish, her form of water.
118 The star will touch the lake when it rises.
132 Evils become people.
133 This is the origin of his lifetime in the underworld.

The changing shape of the "living dean" is closely linked to mythology in the liquid form of a tear. During the solution, the deans are also called “dean fish” who stay in the “lake of the duat”. After the acronymic downfall, the entry into the Duat, the “dean fish” regenerates in the “Lake of the Duat” and changes its shape again at the moment of rebirth ( heliacal rise).

There is also a play on words for the terms tear (remyt) and people (remtju). In the coffin texts , the deceased is compared with a tear. The word play of “ tear ” and “ fish ” is already documented from the Old Kingdom . In this respect, the “deceased deans” symbolize the corpse of a person after they have been transformed into a “dean fish”. In the later period that fusion was extended to the judgment of the dead . Both the deceased and the invisible deans must make the negative confession of guilt in front of the 42 adjunct judges of the Book of the Dead . The judgment of the dead met during the "embalming phase". The “solution” was part of the funeral rites , although in extreme cases a burial could be refused due to the lack of a negative admission of guilt.

The dean star's negative confession of guilt is probably based on the necessary purity of the priest responsible, who was only able to perform the recitations in this way. In addition, priestly purity was a prerequisite for entering the temple. After the end of the service of a Phylene priest , a new purification was necessary before taking office. The priest's confession of purity as an access authorization is therefore probably directly related to the “decade solution”.

In the Book of the Dead, the solution is standardized under no. 158 in the “Saying for a golden collar ”: “Loosen me, look at me. I am one of those (Chatiu deans) who belong to the solution when they see Geb. ”Book of the dead entry 125 also points in the same direction:“ Relieve a man from sins. To see the face of the gods. ”In this regard, it is written on an ostraka :“ May you remove corruption and show gentleness, one does what you have said ”. The desired "solution" is therefore the request of the deceased to be reborn like a temporarily dead dean at the end of the 70-day funeral rites. In the book of breathing it is reported that the deceased was brought to a lake before being wrapped in mummy bandages to “relieve his evils” in order to perform the magical rites there.

literature

  • Edda Bresciani a. a .: La tomba di Ciennehebu, capo del flotta del Re , Giardini, Pisa 1977
  • Alexandra von Lieven : Floor plan of the course of the stars. The so-called groove book. The Carsten Niebuhr Institute of Ancient Eastern Studies u. a., Copenhagen 2007, ISBN 978-87-635-0406-5 ( Carsten Niebuhr Institute Publications 31), ( The Carlsberg Papyri 8).

Individual evidence

  1. Cf. Edda Bresciani et al. a .: La tomba di Ciennehebu, capo del flotta del Re , Giardini, Pisa 1977, p. 83.