Through the Eras

Religionas messengers to proclaim the king’s dominion. The kingthen engaged in the symbolic massacre of Egypt’s enemiesby cutting off the tops of seven papyrus stalks. Nextthe king made offerings to all the deceased former kingsof Egypt. This last act was related to the concept of theroyal ka encountered in the Opet festival. Each king, byvirtue of the fact that he was endowed with the royal kaat his coronation, was thought to be a direct descendantof all the previous kings of Egypt. One responsibility ofpossessing this ka was that of providing for the king’sdeceased predecessors. In ancient Egypt, one way for theeldest son to ensure his right to the primacy of inheritancewas to provide for the burial and continued funeraryofferings of his father. By providing his deceasedpredecessors with the necessary offerings, the king confirmedhis right to inherit the throne.IMPORTANCE. As can be seen from this brief descriptionof the coronation, Opet festival, Sed festival, andthe New Year festival, the maintenance of the king’s divinestatus was of great importance in the royal ideologyof Egypt. An acquired status can be lost. In order to preventthis from happening, the king participated in severalrituals intended to reinforce his divinity and relationshipto the royal ka. The king’s divinity was essential to thewell-being of the country, because without his status ofnetjer the king could not meet the needs of the gods, norsuccessfully intercede with the gods on behalf of the Egyptianpeople. If this happened, all sorts of calamities couldbe expected. After the Amarna Period (1352–1332 B.C.E.),during which the traditional gods and their temples wereneglected, we are told that “the land was topsy-turvy, andthe gods turned their backs upon this land.” So it was vitallyimportant to the well-being of Egypt that the king’sstatus as netjer be constantly maintained.SOURCESLanny Bell, “Luxor Temple and the Cult of the Royal Ka,”Journal of Near Eastern Studies 44 (1985): 251–294.H. W. Fairman, “The Kingship Rituals of Egypt,” in Myth,Ritual and Kingship. Ed. S. H. Hooke (Oxford: ClarendonPress, 1958): 74–104.Eric Uphill, “The Egyptian Sed Festival Rites,” in Journal ofNear Eastern Studies 24 (1965): 365–383.SEE ALSO Fashion: CrownsTEMPLE ARCHITECTUREAND SYMBOLISMGOD’S HOUSE. One of the king’s duties was tobuild and maintain temples throughout Egypt. TheEgyptian word for temple meant “god’s house,” and templeswere designed to be the earthly dwellings of the gods.As such, they included all the elements necessary to providefor the care and feeding of the gods. To meet theneeds of the gods a temple needed to control an extensivenetwork of land, livestock, and personnel. All of theelements necessary to conduct the business of the templewere referred to as the er-per, or temple estate. Therewere two main classes of temple in ancient Egypt: thecult temple and the mortuary temple, called by the Egyptiansthe “House of Millions of Years.” The cult templehad as its main purpose to carry out the worship of aparticular deity or deities. The mortuary temple was builtby the reigning king in order to carry out his cult whileliving, and to provide for his mortuary cult after he died.Since much that went on in cult temples had to do withthe king, and the “houses of millions of years” could haveareas dedicated to the cults of the gods, it has been suggestedthat the difference between the two was a matterof primary focus, the cult temple having as its primaryfocus the carrying out of the cult of a god, and a mortuarytemple having as its primary focus the carrying outof the cult of the divine king, but not to the exclusionof the cults of other gods.BUILDING MATERIALS. For information on the layoutof Egyptian temples modern scholars depend primarilyon the large stone temples dating from the NewKingdom until the Roman Period (1539 B.C.E.–395C.E.). The earliest temples in Egypt were built of perishablematerials such as mud brick or reeds. For informationon these early structures, scholars rely onarchaeological evidence combined with images found onlabels, pottery, and other materials. The earliest religiousstructures built of stone were those intended for KingDjoser’s (r. 2675–2654 B.C.E.) cult at Saqqara. The useof stone in cult temples did not begin until the MiddleKingdom (2008–1630 B.C.E.), and the only survivingnon-royal cultic structures from the Middle Kingdomare the White Chapel of Sesostris I (r. 1919–1875B.C.E.) at Karnak and the small temple dedicated toSobek, Horus, and Ernutet built by Amenemhet III (r.1818–1772 B.C.E.) and Amenemhet IV (r. 1773–1763B.C.E.) at Medinet Maadi. The White Chapel was dedicatedto Amun at Karnak, and served as a place for thepriests to rest the barque (sailing vessel) of Amun whenthe god was out in procession. The only reason theWhite Chapel stands is because it was disassembled andused as fill in the Third Pylon of Amenhotep III at Karnak.When archaeologists discovered the blocks duringthe twentieth century C.E., they carefully reassembledthem.Arts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.) 227