“semitisches pantheon”. eine “männliche tyche” - MOSAIKjournal.com

SPACE AND SCENERY | 303
new life of Re-Osiris who finally, after completing the night journey,
rises with the help of Sokar on the eastern horizon.
The evidence discussed above allows us to suggest that in the
abode of Sokar a sort of conception of Re and Horus (and hence
the pharaoh) occurred, both of them receiving the new life before
the battle with the god Apophis occurred in the seventh valley of
the Duat. The god Sokar himself was, on the one hand, a mediator
between death and rebirth, and on the other – the final form of the
deceased who underwent mummification and the “Opening of the
Mouth” ritual. These ceremonies appeared to be a part of the Festival
of Sokar and of the Khoiak Festival. The Festival of Sokar was
given an abbreviated presentation in the Sokarian rooms at
Akhmenu. Here one can see the Sokar Bark carried by priests, with
four additional priests leading the procession and carrying symbolic
towing ropes. 125 The procession moved towards the “Tent of Purification”,
where the ceremonies of the funerary character supposed
to be held. 126
As P. Barguet suggested, the Rooms of Sokar were the place
where the pharaoh underwent the resurrection ritual, during which
he symbolically died and resurged, like Osiris. 127 In the context of
the funeral ritual this could mean that at the end of the ceremonies
in the Rooms of Sokar the deceased pharaoh became Sokar, i. e.
the final form of Osiris, and was able to make a journey with the
sun, resurrecting daily at the dawn.
With these criteria in mind, we return to the question of the
relationship between the Xnt @wt-@r Festival and the Festival of
Sokar. As it was noted earlier, the former emphasized the cult of
the deceased pharaoh whom Hathor met and accompanied to the
Underworld. The appearance of the goddess was probably stimulated
by the ritual zSS wAD. This rite was similar to the rustling of
the papyrus which imitated shaking a sistrum (musical instrument
of Hathor) and urged to appease the fierce temper of the goddess.
128
125 PORTER – MOSS (1972) 116; BARGUET (1962) 184.
126 BARGUET (1962) 184 (n. 4). 285.
127 BARGUET (1962) 284–285.
128 BLEEKER (1973) 88–89.