Through the Eras

Musicwomen learned to play music and that music was a partof elite society.MIDDLE KINGDOM STATUS. In the Middle Kingdom,the evidence for musicians is sparser than in otherperiods. Yet there are examples of musicians among theelite, or at least the class that obtained stelae for monumentsin Abydos and even among princesses. The highofficial Seba-shesu boasted in his tomb that he trainedten musicians. Stelae from Abydos belonging to Neferhotep,Renseneb, and Sathathor were decorated withartistic renderings of musicians. If these prominent menand women included musicians on monuments intendedto honor their own memories, musicians must not havebeen considered shameful. In literature there are examplesof both princesses and goddesses taking on the roleof musician. The daughters of Senwosret I in The Storyof Sinuhe played the sistrum and sang in honor of Sinuhe’sreturn to Egypt. In the late Middle Kingdom storycontained in Papyrus Westcar, a group of goddesses anda god disguised themselves as professional musicians, indicatingthat there was nothing reprehensible about beinga musician.NEW KINGDOM STATUS. There is more evidence tosupport a growing class of professional musicians in theNew Kingdom (1539–1070 B.C.E.), as indicated by thepresence of musicians with no relationship to the deceasedon tomb walls. There is also more evidence of the elitestatus enjoyed by musicians in both literature and tombdrawings. A passage in Papyrus Anastasi IV, for example,expresses the disappointment of the parents of a man whohas become a drunk, a lout, and a customer of prostitutes;they suggest that this is not the behavior they expectedfrom him since he is a highly trained musician.The high status of the chantress in the New Kingdom—which sometimes included queens who chanted the ritualfor the god—also suggests that musical training wasan elite trait. Singers served the gods and succeeded eachother as the office passed from one generation to the nextin elite families. For example, the female family membersof Rekhmire, a vizier of the king, were nearly all musicians.Thus it seems likely that there was no shame in beinga musician in the New Kingdom.SOURCESE. Hickmann, “Musiker,” in Lexikon der Ägyptologie. Vol.IV. Ed. Wolfgang Helck (Wiesbaden, Germany: OttoHarrassowitz Verlag, 1972–1992): 231–234.Emily Teeter, “Female Musicians in Pharaonic Egypt,” inRediscovering the Muses in Women’s Musical Traditions.Ed. Kimberly Marshall (Boston: Northeastern UniversityPress, 1993): 68–91.MUSICAL DEITIESHATHOR AND IHY. The Egyptians associated thedeities Hathor, her son Ihy, Bes, Isis, and Osiris withmusic. Egyptians honored the goddess Hathor and herson Ihy at her temple in Dendera as the deity of thesistrum and the menat, rattles played primarily bywomen during worship of the gods. Hathor’s temple inDendera has a roof supported by columns shaped likesistra. One of the sanctuaries in the temple is known asthe “shrine of the sistrum.” In the crypts below the templethere are relief sculptures of sistra that were speciallydecorated and part of the temple’s treasure. Hathor’s son,Ihy, also was depicted in the Dendera temple playing thesistrum.BES. The god Bes has associations with music inthe temple and in the home. In the temple of Philae insouthern Egypt, relief sculptures of Bes depict him playingthe harp, playing the frame drum, and dancing inhonor of Hathor. In the home Bes was associated withchildbirth. The combination of the two areas—musicand childbirth—explains why the goddesses who act asmidwives in the story found in Papyrus Westcar disguisedthemselves as musicians. Furthermore some musiciansin New Kingdom paintings bear a tattoo of thegod Bes.ISIS AND OSIRIS. Isis and Osiris had no real connectionwith music according to Egyptian traditions. YetGreek and Roman traditions about Egypt closely associatedthem with Egyptian music. By the time that Greekphilosophers and historians like Plato (427–347 B.C.E.)took an interest in Egyptian music, Isis and Hathor hadmerged in the minds of many people. Thus as the religionof Isis and Osiris spread across the MediterraneanSea, Isis took with her some of Hathor’s associations withmusic, along with the reputation given to her by Plato—that she had established all the forms of Egyptian music.In Apuleius’ Latin novel Metamorphoses, written inthe second century C.E., Isis transforms the hero Luciusfrom an ass or donkey back into a man with the use ofa sistrum. The Greek writer Plutarch (45–125 C.E.)recorded that Osiris ruled the world by the power of hisreason and his music. In reality, the Egyptians themselvescalled Osiris the Lord of Silence and forbade musicduring his worship except during one joyousceremony called the Raising of the Djed Pillar. Plutarchalso preserved the tradition that the trumpet could notbe played at Osiris’ temple at Busiris because its soundreminded the god of his evil brother, Seth, sometimesrepresented as an unidentified animal who could makea similar sound.170 Arts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.)