DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3350#0018
8
THE SUBJECT OF THE PYLON SCENES
113-9, 170-9, (footline 172-6,) 199-4, 230-3, 260-3. The
continuous courses on the right side are from the top
of PI. VIII = 0, (footline 1-5,) 29-5, 58-3, (footline
87-0,) 88-9, 116-9, J44'9i 166-6, 188-4.
CHAPTER III
THE SUBJECT OF THE PYLON SCENES.
20. From the presence of the palanquins of the
suten mes or royal children, and from other objects,
it is clear that these scenes are connected in some
way with the sed festival. The nature of the feast
we must first notice, in order to see the meaning
of these scenes.
In a discussion of this festival, three years ago in
Researches in Sinai, I concluded that the ceremony
was connected with the slaying of an old king and
investiture of his successor, which is found in ancient
Ethiopia and in modern Africa and India. Also that
this ceremony was changed before historic times into
the deification of the old king as Osiris, after which
he reigned as already deified, while his successor was
at that time appointed and became Crown Prince.
The careful study of the sed festival by Dr. A. Moret
{Du Caractere religieux de la Royaute1 Pharaonique)
agrees completely in its results with this view,
although the ceremonial death of the king is not
considered by him.
The summary of Dr. Moret's outline of the
festival is as follows. The king started ceremonially
for the festival (p. 238). He went to the special
pavilion which was erected in the " large hall of the
sed feast." This consisted of two or four shrines
raised on steps, in which he was seated as Osiris
(238). Priests in divine dress put on the king the
two crowns, and tied the plants of south and north
under his feet (241). He was then led by the priest-
gods to the cycle of temple gods (243). There the
gods embrace him and give him emblems of the feast
(244). He then returned seated on a throne borne
by the priest-gods, as being fully a god himself. He
went with the queen to a feast where he ate with the
gods (247). He was then served with food, seated as
Osiris (249-252). Lastly the gods dispersed to their
sanctuaries (253). "The king enthroned, crowned,
embraced, deified by the gods, was then in all the
splendour of his royal and divine power (252) .. . the
divinity of the king acquired by the sed feast the new
character of being solemnly proclaimed in public "
(255). All of these statements accord perfectly with
the Osirification of the king, and that being the
ceremonial of his entering on a divine life, and
dropping his mere humanity.
The details of the chapel of Sankh-ka-ra which
I cleared this year at Thebes {Qurnek, 4-6, Pis.
V-VII) also accord closely with this view. Not
only was the Osiride seated figure there, but parts
of a cenotaph or imitation sarcophagus, which had
stood openly in the chapel.
21. Of the acts of the crown prince we have
much less recorded. He wore the crown, and
danced before the old king seated as Osiris, as shewn
on the tablet of Den. And on the curious coffin with
the sed feast of Osiris figured upon it (Aeg. Zeits.
XXXIX, taf. V, VI) the prince is shewn dancing or
running before the king of Upper Egypt holding a
khu bird and an oar, and before the king of Lower
Egypt holding a whip and apparently a short roll
or stick, as in PI. V here. He also dances with oar
and whip at the raising of the obelisks in Heliopolis.
It will be seen that none of the royal figures in our
scenes, Pis. Ill—VIII, (or all together in PI. IX,) are in
the Osiris dress worn by the king in his deification.
Again, in one scene, V, the royal figure is dancing or
running as the crown prince dances. Hence we must
conclude that these are figures of the crown prince;
and that the subjects of the scenes are the ceremonies
of his investiture. Agreeing with this is the curious
fact that none of the ka names have been carved, they
are all blank. Now the ka name was only taken on
coronation, and the prince would therefore not have
a ka name yet, at the time of his investiture. These
scenes are therefore of much interest, as they shew
a series of ceremonies of which we have no such
consecutive representation as on this pylon. It may
be that this pylon was the entrance to the quarters of
the crown prince in the palace.
22. PI. III. This seems to be the first of the
scenes, as the apparatus of the ceremonies is being
brought out, and there is the address of the officials,
" He is the leader of the living kas, his heart is en-
larged before the gods." Such an address is given
to the ruler on the opening of the ceremonial at
Luqsor (Moret, fig. 68). The same phrase " leader of
living kas " frequently occurs in the description of the
sovereign when offering to the gods, e.g. Deir el
Baharii, Pis. XI, XVIII, XIX, XXII.
The objects brought are the two fans, which were
used in the sed ceremony {Hierakonpolis i, XXVIb),
and which continually appear as insignia of a royal
attribute, behind the king, as on this same plate.
THE SUBJECT OF THE PYLON SCENES
113-9, 170-9, (footline 172-6,) 199-4, 230-3, 260-3. The
continuous courses on the right side are from the top
of PI. VIII = 0, (footline 1-5,) 29-5, 58-3, (footline
87-0,) 88-9, 116-9, J44'9i 166-6, 188-4.
CHAPTER III
THE SUBJECT OF THE PYLON SCENES.
20. From the presence of the palanquins of the
suten mes or royal children, and from other objects,
it is clear that these scenes are connected in some
way with the sed festival. The nature of the feast
we must first notice, in order to see the meaning
of these scenes.
In a discussion of this festival, three years ago in
Researches in Sinai, I concluded that the ceremony
was connected with the slaying of an old king and
investiture of his successor, which is found in ancient
Ethiopia and in modern Africa and India. Also that
this ceremony was changed before historic times into
the deification of the old king as Osiris, after which
he reigned as already deified, while his successor was
at that time appointed and became Crown Prince.
The careful study of the sed festival by Dr. A. Moret
{Du Caractere religieux de la Royaute1 Pharaonique)
agrees completely in its results with this view,
although the ceremonial death of the king is not
considered by him.
The summary of Dr. Moret's outline of the
festival is as follows. The king started ceremonially
for the festival (p. 238). He went to the special
pavilion which was erected in the " large hall of the
sed feast." This consisted of two or four shrines
raised on steps, in which he was seated as Osiris
(238). Priests in divine dress put on the king the
two crowns, and tied the plants of south and north
under his feet (241). He was then led by the priest-
gods to the cycle of temple gods (243). There the
gods embrace him and give him emblems of the feast
(244). He then returned seated on a throne borne
by the priest-gods, as being fully a god himself. He
went with the queen to a feast where he ate with the
gods (247). He was then served with food, seated as
Osiris (249-252). Lastly the gods dispersed to their
sanctuaries (253). "The king enthroned, crowned,
embraced, deified by the gods, was then in all the
splendour of his royal and divine power (252) .. . the
divinity of the king acquired by the sed feast the new
character of being solemnly proclaimed in public "
(255). All of these statements accord perfectly with
the Osirification of the king, and that being the
ceremonial of his entering on a divine life, and
dropping his mere humanity.
The details of the chapel of Sankh-ka-ra which
I cleared this year at Thebes {Qurnek, 4-6, Pis.
V-VII) also accord closely with this view. Not
only was the Osiride seated figure there, but parts
of a cenotaph or imitation sarcophagus, which had
stood openly in the chapel.
21. Of the acts of the crown prince we have
much less recorded. He wore the crown, and
danced before the old king seated as Osiris, as shewn
on the tablet of Den. And on the curious coffin with
the sed feast of Osiris figured upon it (Aeg. Zeits.
XXXIX, taf. V, VI) the prince is shewn dancing or
running before the king of Upper Egypt holding a
khu bird and an oar, and before the king of Lower
Egypt holding a whip and apparently a short roll
or stick, as in PI. V here. He also dances with oar
and whip at the raising of the obelisks in Heliopolis.
It will be seen that none of the royal figures in our
scenes, Pis. Ill—VIII, (or all together in PI. IX,) are in
the Osiris dress worn by the king in his deification.
Again, in one scene, V, the royal figure is dancing or
running as the crown prince dances. Hence we must
conclude that these are figures of the crown prince;
and that the subjects of the scenes are the ceremonies
of his investiture. Agreeing with this is the curious
fact that none of the ka names have been carved, they
are all blank. Now the ka name was only taken on
coronation, and the prince would therefore not have
a ka name yet, at the time of his investiture. These
scenes are therefore of much interest, as they shew
a series of ceremonies of which we have no such
consecutive representation as on this pylon. It may
be that this pylon was the entrance to the quarters of
the crown prince in the palace.
22. PI. III. This seems to be the first of the
scenes, as the apparatus of the ceremonies is being
brought out, and there is the address of the officials,
" He is the leader of the living kas, his heart is en-
larged before the gods." Such an address is given
to the ruler on the opening of the ceremonial at
Luqsor (Moret, fig. 68). The same phrase " leader of
living kas " frequently occurs in the description of the
sovereign when offering to the gods, e.g. Deir el
Baharii, Pis. XI, XVIII, XIX, XXII.
The objects brought are the two fans, which were
used in the sed ceremony {Hierakonpolis i, XXVIb),
and which continually appear as insignia of a royal
attribute, behind the king, as on this same plate.