Through the Eras

DanceMUU-DANCERS AS FOUR ROYAL CROWNSINTRODUCTION: In this Pyramid Text the deceased appearedbefore the personifications of four royalcrowns. A priest greeted these beings on behalf ofthe deceased. The deceased was called Horus, a godwho was also the king and whose damaged andhealed eye became the symbol for healing and rebirth.By making this connection between the deceasedand Horus, the priest enlisted thepersonifications of the royal crowns in the rebirthinto the next world. It is likely that the muu-dancersbecame personifications of the crowns at this pointin their dance. Various connections within the pyramidtexts associated groups of four with the muudancerswho appeared as two pairs.The gates of the horizon are open, the door-boltsare shoved back.He [the deceased] has come to you, Oh net–crown!He [the deceased] has come to you, Ohneseret–crown!He [the deceased] has come to you, Ohweret–crown!He [the deceased] has come to you, Oh werethekaw–crown,While he is pure for you and while he fears you.May you be satisfied with him!May you be satisfied with his purity!May you be satisfied with his word, that he mightsay to you,“How beautiful is your face, when you are satisfied,when you are new and young. A god has createdyou, the father of the gods!”He [the deceased] has come to you, oh werethekaw–crown!He is Horus, who has strived to protect his eye, ohweret-hekaw–crown.Translated by Edward Bleiberg.muu-dancers are ferrymen whose job was to transportthe tekenu and the canopic jars.PERSONIFIED AS CROWNS. H. Altenmüller connectedPyramid Text 220 with scenes in tombs of the muudancersbefore the Gates of Buto. The four personificationsof crowns named in Pyramid Text 220 were probably thesame four beings addressed in Pyramid Text 310 wherethey were called ferrymen. In the spell, the crowns werenot symbols of royal power. Rather they were personifiedas beings that wore crowns, each with a beautiful face. Thefact that these beings had a face at all, and could also feelsatisfaction and appear both new and young, indicates thatthe spell was addressing beings rather than crowns themselves.The three statements about them in the text referredto their outer form, physical circumstances, and descentfrom gods. H. Altenmüller associated these four beingswith the two pairs of muu-dancers in tomb scenes. As gatekeepersat the gates of the horizon, they played a similarrole to the ferrymen of Pyramid Text 310; they facilitatedtransport of the deceased to the afterlife. Furthermore, Altenmüllershowed through connections with other spellsthat this horizon gate is located in the east, making it thebeginning of the sun-god Re’s journey from east to west.Thus the evidence from the Pyramid Texts connects themuu-dancers with the transport of the deceased from theeast—the land of the living—to the west—the land of thedead—through their dance. This transportation involvesthe god’s boat, a place easily associated with the ferrymenmuu-dancers. Pyramid Text spells 220 and 310 thus establishthat the muu-dancers represented ferrymen. Thisconnection is clear because of comparisons between thescenes in tombs of the Old Kingdom and the role the textsplayed in the burial ritual. In Pyramid Text 220, the dancersrepresented ferrymen who double as border guards on theeast side of heaven and who were personifications of theLower Egyptian crowns. These crowns were also associatedwith ferrymen in Pyramid Text 1214a.PLANTS. Egyptian thought conceived of a heavenlyworld filled with canals and ferrymen from experienceof life on earth. These ferrymen, in both realms, woreplants and wreaths as clothing. Numerous depictions ofboats in tombs show that the crewmembers decoratedthemselves with braided plants, placed in their hair. Thepapyrus-stem headdress worn by the muu-dancers thusconnects them further with boats and ferries.STATUE PROCESSIONS. Another connection betweenferrymen and muu-dancers can be found in statueprocessions. In Old Kingdom tombs, there are scenesthat depict processions of statues guarded by muudancers.Inscriptions in these scenes compare the processionsto a trip by boat. The dancers in the processionsthus perform the same guardian function during funeralsas the dancers perform in the statue processions.SONS OF HORUS. The muu-dancers probably werefused with the Sons of Horus, the spirits who were directlyconnected to the canopic jars that held the visceraof the deceased. The Sons of Horus helped convey thefunerary procession in the land of the dead. The Sonsof Horus were also ferrymen and border guards, furtherconnecting them to the muu-dancers.78 Arts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.)