DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4032#0017
THE FESTIVAL.
possibly points also to a period of the
calendar, is the ornamentation which occurs on
the throne of Osorkon in the pavilion (pi. ii.),
^j| the bird with two arms raised, crouching
over the sign ^7 or ^§J. This ornamenta-
tion is already found at the time of the
eighteenth dynasty, in several tombs at
Thebes,4 under Amenophis III., and one of the
heretical kings. Rameses III. also used it
in his beautiful enamelled building of Tell el
Yahudieh.5 It is considered by Lepsius,6
Brugsch, and Mahler,7 as referring to the
period of the Phoenix, the meaning and
duration of which are still uncertain. The
bird, which in the old representations has the
head of a bat, is said by Herodotus to return to
Heliopolis every 500 years after the death of its
father. Later authors have created the legend
of the bird burning itself, and rising again from
its ashes. Although classical authors mention
it frequently, it is doubtful whether the Phoenix
period really was an Egyptian period, and
whether it was ever made use of in astronomical
calculations.
The Sed-festival is very old ; it is on record
as early as the time of King Pepi, of the sixth
dynasty,and at that remote epoch we already see
the king represented with the flail and the crook,
like Osorkon, when he is carried on his litter;
also Pepi wears alternately the northern and
southern headdress, as it is at Bubastis. It is
hardly to be supposed, however, that the ritual
employed in the numerous ceremonies con-
nected with the festival is as old as the festival
itself. The ritual grew by degrees, as time
went on, and probably never was so complicated
as under the Ptolemies ; nevertheless, some of
the principal features of the Sed go back to
the eighteenth dynasty, and are found at Soleb;
4 Leps., Denkni. iii. 76, 115, 118.
5 Em. Brugsch, Eecueil, vol. viii. pi. 2.
6 Chron. p. 183.
7 Zeitschr. 1890, p. 122.
for instance, what I should call the introduc-
tory text, which is engraved near the king
being carried in his litter, and which is identical
in both places, at Soleb and at Bubastis, under
Amenophis III., and under Osorkon. This
remote origin may explain to us certain points
Avhich strike us as being out of place at
Bubastis. Why, for instance, should Thebes be
mentioned twice ? What has the festival in the
Delta to do with the capital of Upper Egypt ?
Apparently nothing. But if we have here a ritual
text handed down from a remote antiquity,
preserved during several centuries in a stereo-
typed form, and in which no changes could be
made, we can understand why the name of the
southern capital should occur in one of the
principal cities of Lower Egypt.
In both places also the festival is celebrated
in honour of Amon, though he was not the god
of the city.8 At Soleb, the divinity to whom
the temple is dedicated is Amenophis III.
himself, his own person represented wearing
the lunar disc like Khonsu, and the horns of
Amon; the king is considered as the son of
Amon, but he is not Amon himself. At
Bubastis, Anion was the god of the temple
under the eighteenth dynasty. He was nearly
superseded by Set under Rameses II. He
is still found occasionally in the sculptures
of Osorkon I., with other gods of Egypt; but
already under his reign Bast is becoming more
and more the chief divinity of the place. Ex-
cept in the festival-hall she appears everywhere
in the inscriptions of Osorkon II. as the
goddess who presides at Bubastis. Osorkon II.
even went so far as to erase the name of Set
from the older sculptures, and to replace it
by Makes, the son of Bast. However, he cele-
brated the Sed-festival in honour of Amon.
But though Bast does not take the leading part
in the solemnity, she is not absent from it. She
appears in the great sculptures which are in the
8 Leps., Denkni. iii. 86.
possibly points also to a period of the
calendar, is the ornamentation which occurs on
the throne of Osorkon in the pavilion (pi. ii.),
^j| the bird with two arms raised, crouching
over the sign ^7 or ^§J. This ornamenta-
tion is already found at the time of the
eighteenth dynasty, in several tombs at
Thebes,4 under Amenophis III., and one of the
heretical kings. Rameses III. also used it
in his beautiful enamelled building of Tell el
Yahudieh.5 It is considered by Lepsius,6
Brugsch, and Mahler,7 as referring to the
period of the Phoenix, the meaning and
duration of which are still uncertain. The
bird, which in the old representations has the
head of a bat, is said by Herodotus to return to
Heliopolis every 500 years after the death of its
father. Later authors have created the legend
of the bird burning itself, and rising again from
its ashes. Although classical authors mention
it frequently, it is doubtful whether the Phoenix
period really was an Egyptian period, and
whether it was ever made use of in astronomical
calculations.
The Sed-festival is very old ; it is on record
as early as the time of King Pepi, of the sixth
dynasty,and at that remote epoch we already see
the king represented with the flail and the crook,
like Osorkon, when he is carried on his litter;
also Pepi wears alternately the northern and
southern headdress, as it is at Bubastis. It is
hardly to be supposed, however, that the ritual
employed in the numerous ceremonies con-
nected with the festival is as old as the festival
itself. The ritual grew by degrees, as time
went on, and probably never was so complicated
as under the Ptolemies ; nevertheless, some of
the principal features of the Sed go back to
the eighteenth dynasty, and are found at Soleb;
4 Leps., Denkni. iii. 76, 115, 118.
5 Em. Brugsch, Eecueil, vol. viii. pi. 2.
6 Chron. p. 183.
7 Zeitschr. 1890, p. 122.
for instance, what I should call the introduc-
tory text, which is engraved near the king
being carried in his litter, and which is identical
in both places, at Soleb and at Bubastis, under
Amenophis III., and under Osorkon. This
remote origin may explain to us certain points
Avhich strike us as being out of place at
Bubastis. Why, for instance, should Thebes be
mentioned twice ? What has the festival in the
Delta to do with the capital of Upper Egypt ?
Apparently nothing. But if we have here a ritual
text handed down from a remote antiquity,
preserved during several centuries in a stereo-
typed form, and in which no changes could be
made, we can understand why the name of the
southern capital should occur in one of the
principal cities of Lower Egypt.
In both places also the festival is celebrated
in honour of Amon, though he was not the god
of the city.8 At Soleb, the divinity to whom
the temple is dedicated is Amenophis III.
himself, his own person represented wearing
the lunar disc like Khonsu, and the horns of
Amon; the king is considered as the son of
Amon, but he is not Amon himself. At
Bubastis, Anion was the god of the temple
under the eighteenth dynasty. He was nearly
superseded by Set under Rameses II. He
is still found occasionally in the sculptures
of Osorkon I., with other gods of Egypt; but
already under his reign Bast is becoming more
and more the chief divinity of the place. Ex-
cept in the festival-hall she appears everywhere
in the inscriptions of Osorkon II. as the
goddess who presides at Bubastis. Osorkon II.
even went so far as to erase the name of Set
from the older sculptures, and to replace it
by Makes, the son of Bast. However, he cele-
brated the Sed-festival in honour of Amon.
But though Bast does not take the leading part
in the solemnity, she is not absent from it. She
appears in the great sculptures which are in the
8 Leps., Denkni. iii. 86.