Tenth International Congress of Egyptologists Abstracts of Papers

XICE – Abstract of Papers
vegetable species such as the naret-tree and the uneb-flower. Through them, we
assist in a process of recreation, whereby the city and surroudings, either
anthropic or natural but “tangible”, are mythically reconstructed and projected
into the realm of the gods and the deceased.
� Lastly, the meaning of the characters and landmarks is rendered complete by
relating them to specific situations and mythological events: the fight between
Horus and Seth; the beginning of the destruction of humanity; the dwelling of the
main deities and others of minor status; the crowning and triumph of these gods
over their enemies, and therefore of order over chaos; the performance of rites
such as the hacking of the earth; the subjection to trials and subsequent
justification of the deceased before specific judges; the stopping in the nightly
journey of the sun and the deceased in the Heracleopolis of the Beyond in order
to be purified and reborn.
Among all the manifold aspects of the mythical topography of Heracleopolis, we will
draw attention to those that turn the city and Naref into a place of appearance of
Osiris. In this case, as in other examples of the manifestation of a god in the
Heracleopolitan area (Osiris, Re, Herysef), either a specific feature of his personality
or a concrete episode of his mythological cycle is selected. Osiris is therefore
integrated in the following core themes: the crowning and handing over of elements
of regalia endowed with a specific symbolism and function (Atef and Wreret-crowns);
the jubilation and fear that his enthronement entails in the community of gods and the
deceased; the arrangement of the burial of his body by his father Re or his son Horus,
or of one of his limbs as the nome’s relic; and the celebration of rites as the hacking of
the earth in relation to his being justified and triumphant over his Sethian enemies.
The figure of Osiris and these episodes enhance the spatial frame, turning
Heracleopolis into the legitimate seat of the royalty and Naref into the western
counterpart of Heliopolis.
We consider that the new mythemes, and above all the Osirian occurrences, with
their noticeable emphasis on royalty and the dynastic and legitimizing aspects of the
office, are part of a complex cycle. This cycle seems to be linked with the historical
and cultural development of the city that reaches the status of capital (more in a
nominal than in a real way) of the country in the First Intermediate Period. The
Heracleopolitan case-study underscores some issues concerning the analysis of myths
in ancient Egypt: the need for contextual interpretations; the emphasis placed on their
nature and purpose, which explains their highly dynamic character; their role as a
means of articulating events and social values; the importance of the local traditions
inside the national dynamics; and their function in the political and religious sphere as
an instrument for justifying and legitimating power.
Widowhood in Ancient Egypt
Helena Díaz Rivas
According to the British Encyclopaedia, widow/widower is one person whose spouse
has died and has not returned to marry. In ancient Egypt this loss did not have the
same meaning for man than for woman. Some authors 38 have suggested that the social
38 Some examples are: C. DESROCHES NOBLECOURT, La mujer en tiempos de los faraones (Madrid,
1999), 183; P.W. PESTMAN, Marriage and Matrimonial Property in Ancient Egypt. A contribution to
establishing the legal position of the woman (Leiden, 1961), 182; M. Bierbrier, The tomb-Builders of
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