Feast of the Sun's Eye
The feast of the dead of the eye of the sun (also " feast of the dead of the eye of Re ") was held annually on the 17th Peret I in ancient Egypt . The beginnings go back to the early dynastic period . Evidence has existed since the Middle Kingdom .
The 17th Peret I originally referred to the time around October 18th and related to the end of the Nile flood in the Nile Delta . Seventeen days earlier, the rebirth of Osiris was celebrated on the 30th of Achet IV , which at the same time symbolized the emergence of the flooded land.
background
Egyptian mythology
In Egyptian mythology , the wearers of the eye of Re are also referred to as the daughter of Re . Best-known daughters of Re are Hathor , Sopdet , Sachmet , Bastet , Tefnut and Isis .
In the myth " Book of the Celestial Cow " the goddess of the sun's eye plays an equally prominent role as in the " Myth of the sun's eye ", in which the death of the sun's eye is also described:
“Out of love, he (re) soon called his daughter“ his diadem ”and also“ his eye ”. When she died, she asked her father: "Put up my picture once a year so I can look up at you."
In later times, Hathor in particular received great veneration as the bearer of the Eye of Re. In the most important temples of Egypt, the priests carried their gold statue on the roof on the 17th of Peret I so that she could look up at her father. Archaeologists were able to prove numerous roof chapels , similar to the chapel of the Hathor festival in Dendera . So far, no reliable information is available about the exact course of the festival.
Historical reference
With the final sinking of the Nile to normal level and the beginning of the sowing , the cycle of celebrations ended: New Year, Death of Osiris, Arrival of the Sun's Eye, Search of Osiris, Rebirth of Osiris, Conception of Horus and Death of the Sun's Eye.
literature
- Adolf Erman : The religion of the Egyptians. Their becoming and passing away in four millennia. 2nd Edition. de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 2001, ISBN 3-11-017040-X .
- Carola Metzner-Nebelsick (ed.): Rituals in prehistory, antiquity and the present. Studies in Near Eastern, Prehistoric and Classical Archeology, Egyptology, Ancient History, Theology and Religious Studies. Interdisciplinary conference from 1st to 2nd February 2002 at the Free University of Berlin. Leidorf, Rahden 2003, ISBN 3-89646-434-5 .
- Richard A. Parker : The calendars of ancient Egypt (= Studies in ancient Oriental Civilization. Volume 26, ISSN 0081-7554 ). University of Chicago Press, Chicago IL 1950.
- Siegfried Schott : Altägyptische Festdaten (= Academy of Sciences and Literature. Treatises of the humanities and social science class. Volume 10, 1950 ISSN 0002-2977 ). Publishing house of the Academy of Sciences and Literature and others, Mainz and others 1950.
Web links
- Roof chapels for the funeral service (PDF file; 2.70 MB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Adolf Erman: The religion of the Egyptians. Berlin et al. 2001, p. 66.