Per-who

The Per-who was in ancient Egypt , the shrine of Upper Egypt crest goddess Nekhbet , the ancestral kings and Upper Egyptian kingdom sanctuary of Hierakonpolis . In building symbolism, it represents Upper Egyptian sanctuaries in general as a counterpart to the Lower Egyptian Per-nu .

The type of this sanctuary developed in early dynastic times . Already in the ruler's grave Uj of Abydos ( Umm el-Qaab ), which belongs to the Naqada III culture (around 3200 BC), bone labels with characters were found, which are clearly a shrine of the Per type -who acts.

Label from the Uj tomb in Umm el-Qaab depicting the Per-wer and a lying animal

The hieroglyphic representations allow conclusions to be drawn about the shape of the building. It was originally constructed from wood and matting . Typical are the downward curved, rounded roof with a tail hanging back and three to four tusks on the front. Masts rise up along the facade. A low fence surrounds the sanctuary.

The replica of an animal is obvious. Its unambiguous determination is not possible. In addition, the representations vary in some details such as the number of horns, length of the tail and the size of the animal. In the representations in the Uj tomb, the per-wer appears once in connection with a hieroglyph of a standing animal and eight times in combination with a character of a lying animal. Günter Dreyer interpreted all animal representations as elephants . According to Ludwig D. Morenz , the animal represented is certainly the one that symbolizes the person who is. He thinks it is a 3bw animal (Abu animal), which with some probability is an elephant or at best a rhinoceros . Jochem Kahl interprets the animal on the basis of later representations as a Seth animal, which, however, cannot be precisely determined. Even with the recumbent animal representations from the grave Uj, he considers an identification with the Seth animal most likely. According to Ludwig D. Morenz, however, the later representations with stronger similarities to the Seth animal could be a deliberate reinterpretation.

In 3BW it could be after Morenz is a reproduction of Semitic Rabu ( "Big") to act as a Herrscherbeizeichnung. Per-wer would then be interpreted as a “sacred building / residence of the great”. Alternatively, he suggests an interpretation as "the sanctuary of the (king) elephant" or as the "sanctuary of Elefantine ( 3bw )". If the animal were to be identified as a set animal, a sanctuary of Seth or a sanctuary of Ombos should also be considered.

Archaeological remains of a per-wer may have been found in Hierakonpolis. These remains from early dynastic times are interpreted as the earliest evidence of an ancient Egyptian temple. Imprints in the ground show that it was built from wooden pegs and mat hangings. The facade was decorated with four masts. An oval courtyard in front of the building was bordered by a fence. The building was obviously used to worship the local falcon god.

a Per-wer chapel in stone in the Djoser complex (right)

Monumental copies of this wood mat construction were first shown in stone in the Djoser complex in Saqqara . Per-who is possibly represented in the “maison du sud” of the Djoser district in symbolic architecture. On special occasions such as the royal coronation and the Sedfest , a per-wer was probably set up at the royal residence, in which the king was initially only crowned with the white crown , later also with other crowns. He then visited chapels of other gods, who symbolized the corresponding parts of the country. Together with the Per-wer, these formed the jtrt šmˁt (Iteret scheme), the line-up of the Upper Egyptian gods.

literature

Dieter Arnold : Lexicon of Egyptian architecture. Patmos, Düsseldorf 2000, ISBN 978-3-491-96001-5 .
Dieter Arnold: Article Per-wer II. In: Wolfgang Helck , Eberhard Otto (founder), Wolfhart Westendorf : Lexicon of Egyptology. Volume IV: Megiddo - Pyramids. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1982, ISBN 978-3-447-02262-0 , column 934-935.
Günter Dreyer : Umm el-Qaab I. The predynastic royal tomb Uj and its early written documents (= archaeological publications. German Archaeological Institute. Cairo department. Vol. 86). von Zabern, Mainz 1998, ISBN 978-3-8053-2486-1 .
Henry Frankfort: Kingship and the Gods. A Study of Ancient Near Eastern Religion as the Integration of Society and Nature (= Oriental Institute essay. ). University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1948, especially pp. 95-96.
Jochem Kahl : The oldest written evidence for the god Seth. In: Göttinger Miscellen . 181, 2001, pp. 51-57 ( online ).
Ludwig D. Morenz : picture letters and symbolic signs. The development of writing in the high culture of ancient Egypt (= Orbis biblicus et orientalis. Vol. 205). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 978-3-525-53062-7 .
Herbert Ricke : Comments on Egyptian architecture in the Old Kingdom. Volume I (= contributions to Egyptian building research and antiquity. Volume 4). Zurich Cairo Borchardt Institute f. Egyptian building research u. Antiquity, Zurich / Cairo 1944, esp. Pp. 27–36.
Miroslav Verner : Temple of the World: Sanctuaries, Cults, and Mysteries of Ancient Egypt. American University in Cairo Press, Cairo 2012, ISBN 978-977-416-563-4 .

Web links

Charles York Miller: Per-wer- state shrine of Upper Egypt. www.charlesmiller.co.uk, 2002, accessed April 27, 2015 . Reconstruction of a per-who

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b ^c Dieter Arnold: Lexicon of Egyptian architecture. Düsseldorf 2000, p. 190.
^ Günter Dreyer: Umm el-Qaab I. The predynastic royal tomb Uj and its early written documents. Mainz 1998, plate 30; Ludwig D. Morenz: picture letters and symbolic signs. The development of writing in the high culture of ancient Egypt. Göttingen 2004, p. 90 and p. 353, Figure 40.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Ludwig D. Morenz: Image letters and symbolic signs. The development of writing in the high culture of ancient Egypt. Göttingen 2004, p. 91.
^ Günter Dreyer: Umm el-Qaab I. The predynastic royal tomb Uj and its early written documents. Mainz 1998, pp. 121-122, p. 141.
↑ Jochem Kahl: The oldest written evidence for the god Seth. In: Göttinger Miszellen 181, 2001, pp. 51–57.
^ Miroslav Verner: Temple of the World. Sanctuaries, Cults, and Mysteries of Ancient Egypt. Cairo 2012, pp. 513 and 515.
↑ Dieter Arnold: Per-wer II. In: Wolfgang Helck, Eberhard Otto (founder): Lexikon der Ägyptologie. Volume IV. Wiesbaden 1982, columns 934-935.

[LBK-1] A ^b ^c Dieter Arnold: Lexicon of Egyptian architecture. Düsseldorf 2000, p. 190.

[2] Günter Dreyer: Umm el-Qaab I. The predynastic royal tomb Uj and its early written documents. Mainz 1998, plate 30; Ludwig D. Morenz: picture letters and symbolic signs. The development of writing in the high culture of ancient Egypt. Göttingen 2004, p. 90 and p. 353, Figure 40.

[Morenz90-3] Ludwig D. Morenz: Image letters and symbolic signs. The development of writing in the high culture of ancient Egypt. Göttingen 2004, p. 91.

[4] Günter Dreyer: Umm el-Qaab I. The predynastic royal tomb Uj and its early written documents. Mainz 1998, pp. 121-122, p. 141.

[5] Jochem Kahl: The oldest written evidence for the god Seth. In: Göttinger Miszellen 181, 2001, pp. 51–57.

[6] Miroslav Verner: Temple of the World. Sanctuaries, Cults, and Mysteries of Ancient Egypt. Cairo 2012, pp. 513 and 515.

[7] Dieter Arnold: Per-wer II. In: Wolfgang Helck, Eberhard Otto (founder): Lexikon der Ägyptologie. Volume IV. Wiesbaden 1982, columns 934-935.