Magic bricks

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As Magic bricks , even magic bricks are bricks called of unfired clay or clay, which in ancient Egyptian cult of the dead since the New Kingdom were used. Examples of these magical objects include from the late period of Thutmose III. received until the reign of Ramses II . The bricks were provided with sections from the Egyptian Book of the Dead (Proverbs 151) and were supposed to drive out the enemies of Osiris and protect the deceased.

At the time of the New Kingdom four of these bricks were placed in small niches in the walls of the burial chamber. An amulet (grave amulet) belonged to each magic brick, but this could vary. A Djed pillar was used for the west wall, an amulet in the shape of Anubis for the east wall, a torch made of reeds for the south wall and a shabti- like figure for the north wall . In the grave of Tutankhamun ( KV62 ), for example, the following assignments were found: The magic brick on the east wall was provided with an Osiris figure, that on the south wall with a Djed pillar and the brick on the west wall with an Anubis figure and for the north wall a shabti -Figure.

Proverb 137A of the Egyptian Book of the Dead also refers to so-called “basins made of clay”, although it deals with the “proverb for torches”:

"Transfigurations to use for a deceased after you've made four cymbals of clay,
mixed with incense, and filled with the milk of a white cow in which the torches are extinguished. "

Such a fifth magic brick was found in front of the west-facing Anubis Shrine in the so-called "treasure chamber" in the tomb of Tutankhamun. The attached amulet was a torch, but did not contain a paragraph from Proverb 137A, but 151 in a modified form or a different translation:

“It is I who prevents the sand from suffocating the secret chamber, and who rejects those who reject it with the desert flame. I set the desert (?) On fire, it is my fault if the wrong path is taken. I am there to protect Osiris (the deceased) ”.

Erik Hornung translated:

“It is I who prevents the sand from blocking the hidden, and who rejects him who rejects (himself) to the torch of the desert. I set the desert on fire, I led the way (of the enemy) astray. I am the protection of the NN "

See also

literature

  • Peter Eschweiler: Image magic in ancient Egypt (= Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis. Vol. 137). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1994, ISBN 3-525-53772-7 , pp. 142-154.
  • Lucia Gahlin: Egypt - gods, myths, religions. Edition XXL, Reichelsheim 2001, ISBN 3-89736-312-7 , p. 149.
  • Ann Macy Roth, Catharine H. Roehrig: Magical bricks and the bricks of birth. In: The journal of Egyptian archeology. Volume 88, Egypt Exploration Society, London 2002, ISSN  0307-5133 , pp. 121-139.
  • Ian Shaw, Paul Nicholson: Reclam's Lexicon of Ancient Egypt. Reclam, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-15-010444-0 , pp. 170-171.

Web links

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ Excerpt from Erik Hornung : The Egyptian Book of the Dead. Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf / Zurich 1997 (unchanged photomechanical reprint of the 1979 edition) ISBN 3-7608-1037-3 , p. 320.
  2. ↑ Nicholas Reeves: The Complete Tutankhamen: Khe King. The tomb. The Royal Treasure. Thames & Hudson, London 2000, ISBN 0-500-27810-5 , p. 135.
  3. ↑ Excerpt from Erik Hornung: The Egyptian Book of the Dead. Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf / Zurich 1997 (unchanged photomechanical reprint of the 1979 edition) ISBN 3-7608-1037-3 , p. 266.
  4. ↑ Howard Carter : The Tomb of Tut-ench-Amun. Brockhaus, Wiesbaden 1981, ISBN 3-7653-0262-7 , p. 170.
  5. ↑ Note: Osiris always designates the deceased in such grave texts: "Osiris NN"