Through the Eras

Theaterthat offer a view of the drama inherent in certain religiousrituals for the Egyptians.COFFIN TEXT 148. Much of Drioton’s conjecturecomes from the dialogue between the deities Isis, Atum,and Horus in Coffin Text 148. According to Drioton,the text begins with a title and the stage directions thatIsis awakes, pregnant. She then speaks, describing in outlinethe conflict between Osiris, her husband, and Seth,his brother. She proclaims that the child within herwomb, Horus, will become the next king. Atum firstquestions her knowledge, but then agrees to protect herafter she insists that this child belongs to Osiris. Isis repeatsAtum’s assurances and describes Horus. Horushimself then gives a speech to the gods, claiming his rightto the throne. The action thus is magical and not clearlylogical. The inherent drama from this text comes fromthe audience already knowing the story and making otherconnections to mythological tales while hearing thisrecitation. The speeches thus belong to the realm of ritualand could possibly have been acted out by priestsduring the ritual.BOOK OF THE DEAD 39. The Book of the Deadcontains spells designed to enable the owner to enterthe afterlife. They replaced coffin texts during the NewKingdom and through the end of pagan Egyptian religion(1539 B.C.E. to the second century C.E.). Some ofthese spells, such as the one contained in Chapter 39,also resembled drama to Drioton. Chapter 39 bears thetitle “Repelling a Rerek-snake in the God’s Domain,”and it contains long speeches made by the god Re andan unnamed speaker, and short speeches made by thedeities Geb, Hathor, and Nut. Again the situation isheavily dialogue-based. It concerns saving the god Refrom the attacks of a snake. Again the text resembles atypical Egyptian ritual, but unlike the Coffin Texts, thereis no clear evidence of stage directions or the intentionto stage the recitation of these speeches.METTERNICH STELE. The Metternich Stele receivedits modern name because it was once in the collectionof the early nineteenth-century Austrian prince Klemensvon Metternich. An artist carved the stele (a slab with aninscribed or sculpted surface) in the reign of NectaneboI (381–362 B.C.E.) during the final native Egyptian dynasty.Most Egyptologists today consider the stele acippus, a magical device used to protect the owner fromsnake bites and scorpion stings. Drioton, however, regardedthe story carved on the stele as a drama. The textdescribes the rescue by the goddess Isis of a rich woman’sson from a scorpion bite, and her subsequent curing ofher own son, Horus, with the help of the gods when heis poisoned. Though Drioton understood the narrativeMISIDENTIFICATION IN THE BIOGRAPHYOF EMHABINTRODUCTION: Emile Drioton’s desire to discover ancientEgyptian drama in some texts also led him to searchamong Egyptian texts for people who had been actors.Drioton translated the Biography of Emhab ina way that implied that Emhab had been an itinerantactor, rather than a drummer in the Egyptianmilitary. Drioton translated a word that means “followed”as “tour” and a word that means “utterance”to mean “declaim” and thus could interpretthe text to mean that Emhab was an actor. JaroslavC∧erný, the Czech Egyptologist, retranslated the Biographyof Emhab according to standardized meaningsof the words and discovered that Emhab wasa military drummer.A boon which the king gives (to) Osiris, lord ofBusiris, the great god, lord of Abydos, that he maygive invocation-offerings consisting of bread and beer,oxen and fowl, to the spirit of the hereditary nobleand favoured count Emhab, called Tamereru, repeatinglife. He says: I am one who followed his lord in hismovements and one who did not fail in (any) utterancewhich he said. I put all strength and supplenessin (my) two hands. It was said to Hetinet: “Come!He will fight with you in endurance.” I beat him withfingers seven thousand (times) in endurance. (I) spentyear 3 beating drum every day. I gave satisfaction tomy lord in all his affairs, (for) he is now a god, whileI am (only) a ruler. He killed and I let live. I reachedMiu without counting all foreign countries, while Ifollowed him day and night, and I reached Auaris. Mylord acquired Gemishena for Lower Egyptian barleyand one pot full of choice oil …SOURCE: Jaroslav C∧erný, “The Stela of Emhab from TellEdfu,” Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts,Kairo 24 (1969): 89.as stage directions and the magic spells as dialogue, noother Egyptologist accepts this interpretation.RETURN OF SETH. Drioton draws the drama TheReturn of Seth from the Louvre Papyrus 3129 and theBritish Museum Papyrus 10252. The Louvre papyrusdates to the Ptolemaic period (332–30 B.C.E.) while theBritish Museum papyrus dates to the reign of NectaneboI (381–362 B.C.E.). These texts describe the god Seth’sreturn from banishment after losing his battles with thegod Horus. These battles resume upon his return. Thisstory relates to the narrative in the Shabaka Stone and,Arts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.) 259