Tenth International Congress of Egyptologists Abstracts of Papers

XICE – Abstract of Papers
in the creational process of the god Atum who, after masturbating ingests his own
semen only to spit it afterwards and creating Shu and Tefnut by doing so (CT 77 II, 18
b-e).
In the case of semen ingestion with sexual contact, the action is expressed by
means of a specific verb. At least two verbs are used in this context. One of them is
nwH (Wb. II, 224,1) which according to most of the scholars refers to an
undetermined sexual act or to the act of copulation, but which Goedicke (JARCE 6,
1967, p. 101) relates to oral sex by means of its homophony with the verb which
means “ to drink“ (Wb. II,224, 3-6). This verb is documented in two passages with
very different purposes: in the negative confession of the Book of the Dead (BD 125,
27) it appears as a homosexual act whereas in an Hymn to Ptah (pBerlin 3048, 8`8) it
does so as a creational act. The other verb is xnp (Wb. III, 291,1), translated by
different dictionaries as “receiving (semen)” but without specifying the means of the
action. A detailed study, both etymological and semantic, shows that the verb refers to
the absorption of semen by oral means. On the one hand, it is in fact, a verb
homophone to another verb that also means “to drink“ (Wb. III, 291,2) and on the
other hand the use of the determinative D19 remits to an action performed with the
head. The presence of the verb in a passage where the copulation between Isis and
Osiris is described (Louvre Stele C286, 16) suggests that one of the manners in which
Horus was conceived was an oral means, being understood that Isis ingests the semen
of Osiris in order to conceive. The ingestion of semen and oral sex were not regarded
as bad actions by ancient Egyptians and in the mythic or literary texts they lead, in
most of the cases, to conception. It is only in one case that oral sex has a negative
connotation, but this negativity does not apply to the act per se but to the individual
upon whom it is acted, a nk.kw, that is to say, literally “one that has been repeatedly
copulated“, which refers to a homosexual act and therefore an infertile one.
Egyptian finds from Mycenaean chamber tombs at Mycenae
Helene Palaiologou
Egyptian imported items of the 14 th and early 13 th centuries BC were found at
Mycenae, either at the acropolis or in chamber tombs. All these finds present a special
interest for the relations in the Mediterranean world and their social acceptance by the
Mycenaeans. Among others, a scarab with a “cartouche” of Amenhotep III was found
in a chamber tomb, while faience plaques with the same cartouche are known from
the acropolis. We also examine an alabastron vase, faience beads, a conroid
presenting at the same time their mycenaean context.
Egyptian blue in Egypt and beyond: the Near East and the Aegean
Marina Panagiotaki, M. Tite, Y. Maniatis
Egyptian blue frit is one of the three so-called “vitreous materials” of antiquity, the
other two being faience and glass. It is coloured blue throughout and unlike faience is
without any glaze layer. It is a multicomponent material whose colour is due to the
190