Unwrapping Ancient Egypt by Riggs Christina;

Author:Riggs, Christina; [Неизв.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1630368
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

FIGURE 5.6 Ramses II censing the bark of Amun, from the hypostyle hall, Karnak, 19th dynasty (c. 1290–1224 B.C.E.). Courtesy of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago

Concealing the god, its shrine, and its servants when they were put on public view was an act of revelation in the service of power, and in social, rather than theological, terms, the power at stake was the power of the priests over a time period that, the evidence suggests, spanned several hundred years. Revelation is the necessary counterpart of secrecy, establishing the boundaries of what could be heard, or seen, or understood, and hence the boundaries of who could know, act, and speak in Egyptian society. Rites of initiation and bodily disciplines were similarly revealing in the sense of signaling to the excluded who was “in” on the secret. This was especially true since most Egyptian priests, from the Old Kingdom to the Ptolemaic period, served in rotation in set groups, usually four groups per temple; the Rosetta Stone records a Ptolemaic royal decree increasing the number of groups to five.57 These men lived most of the year as householders in the community, albeit with privileges. A man’s household and neighbors knew perfectly well who he was and in what capacity he served the god, and any observant wife would be able to recognize her husband’s feet shuffling under the weight of a processional boat, even under a veil or mask. Obscurity had done its job, for the secret—or rather, the existence of the secret—was out.

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