Schesemu

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Schesemu in hieroglyphics
N37
O34 		G17 G43 A40

shezmu
Šzmw

Schesemu , also Schesmu , is a lion- or ram- headed god in Egyptian mythology who symbolizes the sack press and the slaughterhouse. He is the lord of the perfume , myrrh and ointment production and at the same time the god of wine production , since all these activities are based on the press. Other areas of responsibility are the god of embalming (since this took place in the same room as the perfume production) and the twelfth hour of the night as well as the supporter of the dead. According to mythology, Schesemu was the god who gave grape juice to the dead in the afterlife. Harageh comes into consideration as a cult site for him .

Because a (grape) knife is also required for winemaking in addition to the press, the slaughter knife is usually associated with Schesemu in Egyptian art. Last but not least, the work of a butcher and a wine press have certain things in common as destructive activities. Due to this second area of responsibility it will be as attributes a boiler (for the preparation of slaughtered), two leg pieces of meat and often fish trap attributed. His titles "the one in his lake" and "the one in the earth elevation" are not entirely clear. They could be related to cattle sacrifices on a lake or to geese that nest on mounds of earth in the lake and may have been attributed to Schesemu. The perfume boat (vessel for perfumes) is also an attribute of Schesemu, who is thus also a star god.

In another branch of Egyptian religious history, Schesemu appears as an underworld demon, in contrast to his otherwise positively interpreted activities - anyone who mentions his name is doomed to death. In a traditional equation of red wine and human blood, he was also considered the "torturer of Osiris", who squeezes the heads of the people executed by Osiris.

In the literary tradition there is also a description of the afterlife, according to which Schesemu, as a “benevolent demon” for the deceased and deified king, slaughters the other gods and cooks them in his cauldron. But carnal “food” from the gods is not prepared for the pharaoh in a cannibalistic manner. Rather, Schesemu cooks out their magical and supernatural spiritual powers, which serve as "broth" for the Pharaoh, who himself has become supernatural. Through this story Schesemus developed a reputation as the "Slayer of Osiris".

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wolfgang Helck : Schesemu. In: Wolfgang Helck (Hrsg.): Lexikon der Ägyptologie (LÄ). Volume V, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1984, ISBN 3-447-02489-5 , Sp. 590.
  2. ^ Christian Leitz : Tagewahlerei. The book ḥ3t nḥḥ pḥ.wy ḏt and related texts. Text volume (= Ägyptologische Abhandlungen, Vol. 55). Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1994, p. 304.
  3. ↑ Michael Fieger, Sigrid Hodel-Hoenes: The entry into Egypt. A contribution to the Old Testament story of Joseph (= The Old Testament in Dialogue, Vol. 1). Peter Lang, Bern 2007, p. 126 ( online )
  4. ↑ Georg Meurer: The enemies of the king in the pyramid texts (= Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis, Vol. 189). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2002, p. 48 ( online , with further information on the transmission line).
  5. ↑ Erika Meyer-Dietrich: The divine meal before sunrise in ancient Egypt. In: Christian Grappe (ed.): Le repas de Dieu. The Supper of God (= Scientific Investigations on the New Testament, Vol. 169). Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2004, p. 23.
  6. ^ Günter Burkard , Heinz-Josef Thissen: Introduction to the ancient Egyptian literary history. Introduction and source texts on Egyptology. Vol. 1: Old and Middle Kingdom. Lit Verlag, Münster 2003, p. 68 ( online , with a more detailed explanation).
  7. ↑ Christina Geisen: The dead texts of the lost coffin of Queen Mentuhotep from the 13th Dynasty. A text witness from the transition from the coffin texts to the Book of the Dead (= studies on the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, vol. 8). Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2004, p. 67.