Dead Sacrifice (Ancient Egypt)

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Dead sacrifice in hieroglyphics
Old empire
O1
P8
N38
Aa13
W22
Z1

Peret-cheru
Pr.t-ḫrw Coming
out on the voice

The ancient Egyptian sacrifice was an important ritual in the funeral liturgy that was performed in the tomb . The “voice” of the priest of the dead caused the “coming out” of the dead man's ba . Through the recitation of the priest of the dead, the ba emerged from the hereafter and received the offerings . The ancient Egyptians called this process "coming out on the voice (of the priest of the dead)".

Death offering and offering

Already in the Old Kingdom the making of offerings was associated with the "coming out of the dead soul". In the mastaba of vizier Achethotep from the fifth dynasty , it says: "May all offerings be made to him forever in his grave and in every place of the sacrificial offering". In the Middle Kingdom , the "offering" is documented for the first time in sacrificial formulas as a request: "May sacrifices be made for him on the Wag festival , Thoth festival , New Year festival and on all beautiful festivals". Especially at the beginning of the New Kingdom , numerous grave inscriptions show the rite of offering sacrifices to the dead, which took place on various feasts of the dead "in response to the calling voice of the offerer":

“My ba lives with the Lord of Eternity. The doorkeepers who guard the gates of the Duat do not ward him off . May he come out while proclaiming the offering in my grave in the necropolis . May he enjoy bread and an abundance of beer and may he drink water at the river's drinking place. "

- Amunwahsu's grave inscription, grave TT111 (under Ramses II ), Urk. IV, 430

See also

literature

  • Jan Assmann : Death and the afterlife in ancient Egypt. Beck, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-406-49707-1 .
  • Siegfried Schott : The beautiful festival of the desert valley. Festive customs of a city of the dead (= Academy of Sciences and Literature. Treatises of the humanities and social sciences class 1952, 11, ISSN  0002-2977 ). Publishing house of the Academy of Sciences and Literature, Mainz 1953.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Christian Leitz u. a. (Ed.): Lexicon of the Egyptian gods and names of gods . (LGG). Volume 3: p - nbw (= Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta. Vol. 112). Peeters, Leuven 2002, ISBN 90-429-1148-4 , p. 95.
  2. Jan Assmann: Death and Beyond in Ancient Egypt . P. 432.
  3. Selim Hassan : Excavations at Gîza. Volume 1: 1929-1930. Johnson, Oxford 1932, Fig. 136; Christine Favard-Meeks: Le temple de Behbeit el-Hagara. Essai de reconstitution et d'interprétation (= studies on ancient Egyptian culture. Supplements 6). Buske, Hamburg 1991, ISBN 3-87548-000-7 , pp. 404-405.
  4. Wolfgang Schenkel: Memphis, Herakleopolis, Thebes. The epigraphic evidence of the 7th - 11th dynasty of Egypt (= Egyptological treatises. Vol. 12). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1965, pp. 65-66. ( online )
  5. Jan Assmann: Death and Beyond in Ancient Egypt . P. 433.