Peseschkaf
| Peseschkaf in hieroglyphics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
pesesch-kaf psš-kf Peseschkaf |
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The Peseschkaf (also: Peseschkaf device ) was a fish-tail-shaped device made of flint ( flint ), with the help of which - in addition to a variety of other ritual devices and embedded in an extensive canon of ritual acts - both statues and the mummies of the deceased in the mouth opening ritual of ancient Egypt on magic , the alleged use of their senses and organs and thus their alleged vitality was made possible.
According to individual finds and other representations, the peseshkaf is one of the oldest tools of the ritual mentioned, and it can also be traced back to ancient Egypt. However, it is only mentioned once, in scene 37 of the mouth opening ritual, and there - handled by the Sem priest in charge of the ritual and according to the accompanying text - serves the unspecified purpose of dividing the jaws of the statue (or the mummy). According to tradition, this is done with the words addressed to the statue: “I fastened your two jaws so that they are divided. I opened your mouth for you with the psš-kf , with which the mouth of every god and goddess is opened. "
The name of the device is made up of psš = "divide, split" and kf = "Silex / Obsidan".
literature
- Eberhard Otto : The Egyptian mouth opening ritual . Part I: Text. / Part II: Commentary. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1960, ISSN 0568-0476 ; 3.1 and 3.2.
- Manfred Lurker : Lexicon of the gods and symbols of the ancient Egyptians (= Fischer pocket books. Volume 16693). New edition, Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 3-596-16693-4 .
- Rainer Hannig : Large concise dictionary of Egyptian-German (= cultural history of the ancient world. Volume 64). 2nd edition, von Zabern, Mainz 1997, ISBN 3-8053-1771-9 .
