Through the Eras

Dance(1539–1514 B.C.E.). They also represented the ostrichdance in the tomb of King Akhenaten (1352–1336B.C.E.) and at the funeral temple of Ramesses III(1187–1156 B.C.E.) at Medinet Habu. The painting ofostriches on Nagada II period (3500–3300 B.C.E.) potsnear a dancing woman might also represent the ostrichdance. The Egyptians understood the ostrich dance tobe part of general jubilation on earth at the rising of thesun-god Re. All creation, in Egyptian belief, rejoiceddaily at sunrise. The ostrich was one animal that directlyexpressed its joy through dance.SOURCESEmma Brunner-Traut, Der Tanz im Alten Ägypten (Glückstadt,Germany: J. J. Augustin, 1938).Betsy Bryan, “The Etymology of HNR: Group of MusicalPerformers,” Bulletin of the Egyptological Seminar 4(1983): 35–54.Charles Kuentz, “La danse des autruches,”Bulletin d’Institutfrançais d’archéologie oriental 24 (1924): 85–88.Auguste Mariette, Les mastabas de l’ancien empire (Paris: F.Vieweg, 1889): 435b.SEE ALSO Music: A Musical Bureau in the Old KingdomFUNERAL DANCESLONG TRADITION. The tradition of a funeral dancein Egypt probably began in the Nagada II Period, asearly as 3500 B.C.E. Evidence of funeral dances continuedinto the Thirtieth Dynasty more than 3,000 yearslater. Yet these dances are not well understood today.Many problems in understanding the dances stem fromthe way that the evidence is preserved. The evidencecomes mostly from paintings and relief sculptures thathave severely abbreviated the dance steps in order to fita representative number of steps on the limited wallspace in a tomb. The liturgy of the funeral service cansupplement modern understanding of the dances, butthe best way to understand the dances is to see how theyfit with the parts of the funeral service, a ritual whichlasted for many days.FUNERAL RITUAL. The funeral dance portrayed thefive major parts of an Egyptian funeral. The separate sectionsincluded:1. The deceased’s journey from East to West acrossthe sky with the sun god Re,2. The deceased’s arrival in the West under the protectionof the matjerut-priestess,3. The deceased’s rebirth and washing the newbornin the House of Purification,4. Animating the newborn through a ritual called“opening the mouth,” led by a panther-skin cladpriest, and judging the deceased’s previous life inthe House of Embalmment,5. Depositing the mummy in the tomb, called “receptionin the West.”Dancers portrayed each segment of the funeral, but notevery tomb included every part of the dance on its walls.During the Old Kingdom, for example, there are 76tombs that illustrate some part of the funeral dance, eitherwith the depiction of the funeral procession or aspart of the funeral meal. The fullest depiction of thedance comes from the tomb of Princess Watetkhethor,daughter of King Teti (2350–2338 B.C.E.) and wife ofhis prime minister, Mereruka. In this very large tombcomprising six separate rooms, the princess commissionedone wall depicting the funeral dance. This largeamount of space contrasts greatly with the usual amountof space allotted to dance scenes in other tombs. In theprincess’s tomb, 31 figures comprise the fullest knownillustration of the funeral dance. Yet other tomb reliefsconcentrated on and expanded particular parts of thedance found in this tomb. Thus scholars can only achievea full understanding of the dance by combining informationfrom various tombs.COUPLES DANCE. Two couples perform the funeraldance. In eight different Old Kingdom tombs belongingto men, two groups of men impersonate the deceasedwhile female dancers simultaneously perform the ibadance.In Princess Watetkhethor’s tomb, however, thetwo couples are women, indicating that the gender ofthe dancers in the couples dance is determined by thegender of the deceased. In the tombs belonging to men,the tomb owner sits at an offering table while the performersexecute the steps. In the princess’s tomb, she sitsin a carrying chair and observes it.BEGINNING. Artists depicted the dance scene in theTomb of Watetkhethor using registers, a device for organizingthe space in a picture by creating a series ofparallel groundlines within the picture. The dancers inthe first register of Watetkhethor’s tjeref dance performthe opening movements of the dance. These movementswere called the muu-dance. Artists in other tombs expandedthis section with more detail, allowing scholarsto determine that the muu-dance represented the beginningof the funeral where the deceased symbolicallycrossed the heavens in the sun-god’s boat. The dancersArts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.) 73