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

SPACE AND SCENERY | 311
rituals to the gods Hathor and Amun-Min of birds and flowers of
papyrus (the rite zSS wAD?), probably performed in the Halls of
Offerings; 2. IV Axt 4 “the day of the Festival of Hathor” or the
festival “Procession of Hathor”, which involved the southwards
navigation of Hathor’s statue on the Sacred Lake; 3. IV Axt 4 IV
Axt 30 ceremonies in the Akhmenu temple with the participation
of Hathor, Amun-Min and Osiris-Sokar, such as the offerings of
cows, bulls, milk, the “Opening of the Mouth” ritual in the Rooms
of Sokar, etc.; IV Axt 20-IV Axt 30 the Khoiak Festival; IV Axt
26 – the Festival of Sokar, the rite Xnm jtn (“union with the sun
disc”) of Hathor; 4. IV Axt 30-I prt 1 performing the rites dedicated
to the cults of the pharaoh and royal ancestors in the southern
chapels of the Akhmenu temple.
CONCLUSION
This article is as an attempt to provide a new approach to the study
of an Egyptian festival. It has been shown that the examination of
the temple decoration offers rich information both on the symbolic
meaning of the temple premises during some festivals and on their
symbolic program, as shown in the scenes on the temple walls. We
undertook an analysis of the orientation of the festive scenes within
the temple space (east-west, north-south), their location with respect
to the main temple axis (along, across, beyond the axis),
which could have a symbolic correlation with the daily journey of
the sun-god. As a result it became possible to create a kind of spatial-semantic
model reflecting the principles of the relationship
between the festive program in the temples of Karnak and Deir el-
Bahari and a number of ancient Egyptian religious notions (such as
the myth of sun-god’s west-east journey in the Underworld and the
idea of pharaoh’s wandering to the north). Such study allows one
to reconstruct the route and ritual program of the festival, especially
in the cases where the festive scenes are badly damaged.
Besides, the reconstructed model shows the emphasis on the
role of pharaoh in the forming of the festive program, as the temple
was laid out and decorated on his will. For example, Hatshepsut
stressed the east-west of the temple axis associated with the day