DOI Artikel:
Blackman, Aylward M.: Sacramental ideas and usages in ancient Egypt
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12742#0050
46 A. M. BLAGKMAN. [3]
it, his mouth becomes vlike the mouth of a calf of milk on the day it was bornn. The
king was also said to be divinizcd by the natron, there being a play on tbe words niter
rr natron a and miter ce god ^W. By being wasbed or sprinkled witb holy water and
fumigated with incensc, and by tbe chewing of natron, the king was mysteriously
reboni, brought into contact with divinities, and imbued with their unearthly qua-
lities, and his mouth made fit to chant the sun-god's praises and recite the formula?
which accompanied the enactment of the various cérémonies composing the daily
service in the sun-temple ^.
Fumigation, it should be noted, was the regular sequel to a bath or to the washing
of the hands before a banquetai The purification undergonc by Egyptian priests
before they entered upon their course comprised the ce drinking 17 of natron. Like-
wise the wailing women who bemoaned Osiris at the annual re-enactment of his
embalmment and revivification, besides purifying themselves four times, washed their
mouths, chewed natron, and fumigated themselves with incense, in order that both
they and the lamentations with which they beatified the god might be pure (4). In
this connection it is, perhaps, not inappropriate to point ont that the modéra Egyptians
before praying still perform ablutions, thèse ablutions consisting, among other acts,
in the washing of the mouth (5).
After being thus purified, the king-priest was robed, anointed, decked with various
ornaments, and investecl with the royal insignia. In fact, vvhat took place in the Ilouse of
the Morning was an elaborate cérémonial toilet^. He was now ready to enter the temple.
To return once more to the daily service performed in the Heliopolitan sun-temple..
After having washed or sprinkled the god's image, the king-priest completed its toilet
in exactly the same way as his ovvn had been completed by the two officiants in the
House of the Morning, viz., he fumigated it with incense, presented it with natron
for the cleansing of its mouth, and then clothed, anointed, and arrayed it in various
ornaments, and invested it with royal insignia (A
That the toilet of the sun-god should be identical with that of the king is perfectly
natural. The god was conceived of as a king, indeed as the prototype of ail Helio-
politan kings; accordingly the ideas about the god and the king, and also the céré-
monies performed on their behalf, acted and reacted upon one another.
Journal of Egyptian Archœology, vol. V, loc. cit.
Ibid.; see also Mariette, Abijdos, vol. I, pl. 29, Mont's speech, lines 5 foll. : xPure is what thou sayest,
pure, pure, is ail that issues from thy mouth ».
(3) See the writer's article Purification (Egyptian), in Hastings, Encyclopœdia of Religion and Elhics, vol. X,
pp. 476b, 477'.
(4) Journal of Egyptian Archœology, vol. V, p. i5y, footnote 12.
(5) Lane, Manners and Customs of the Modem Egyptians, ed. 1895, p. 82.
(6) Journal of Egyptian Archœology, vol. V, p. 161, footnote 10.
(7) Op. cit., p. 162.
it, his mouth becomes vlike the mouth of a calf of milk on the day it was bornn. The
king was also said to be divinizcd by the natron, there being a play on tbe words niter
rr natron a and miter ce god ^W. By being wasbed or sprinkled witb holy water and
fumigated with incensc, and by tbe chewing of natron, the king was mysteriously
reboni, brought into contact with divinities, and imbued with their unearthly qua-
lities, and his mouth made fit to chant the sun-god's praises and recite the formula?
which accompanied the enactment of the various cérémonies composing the daily
service in the sun-temple ^.
Fumigation, it should be noted, was the regular sequel to a bath or to the washing
of the hands before a banquetai The purification undergonc by Egyptian priests
before they entered upon their course comprised the ce drinking 17 of natron. Like-
wise the wailing women who bemoaned Osiris at the annual re-enactment of his
embalmment and revivification, besides purifying themselves four times, washed their
mouths, chewed natron, and fumigated themselves with incense, in order that both
they and the lamentations with which they beatified the god might be pure (4). In
this connection it is, perhaps, not inappropriate to point ont that the modéra Egyptians
before praying still perform ablutions, thèse ablutions consisting, among other acts,
in the washing of the mouth (5).
After being thus purified, the king-priest was robed, anointed, decked with various
ornaments, and investecl with the royal insignia. In fact, vvhat took place in the Ilouse of
the Morning was an elaborate cérémonial toilet^. He was now ready to enter the temple.
To return once more to the daily service performed in the Heliopolitan sun-temple..
After having washed or sprinkled the god's image, the king-priest completed its toilet
in exactly the same way as his ovvn had been completed by the two officiants in the
House of the Morning, viz., he fumigated it with incense, presented it with natron
for the cleansing of its mouth, and then clothed, anointed, and arrayed it in various
ornaments, and invested it with royal insignia (A
That the toilet of the sun-god should be identical with that of the king is perfectly
natural. The god was conceived of as a king, indeed as the prototype of ail Helio-
politan kings; accordingly the ideas about the god and the king, and also the céré-
monies performed on their behalf, acted and reacted upon one another.
Journal of Egyptian Archœology, vol. V, loc. cit.
Ibid.; see also Mariette, Abijdos, vol. I, pl. 29, Mont's speech, lines 5 foll. : xPure is what thou sayest,
pure, pure, is ail that issues from thy mouth ».
(3) See the writer's article Purification (Egyptian), in Hastings, Encyclopœdia of Religion and Elhics, vol. X,
pp. 476b, 477'.
(4) Journal of Egyptian Archœology, vol. V, p. i5y, footnote 12.
(5) Lane, Manners and Customs of the Modem Egyptians, ed. 1895, p. 82.
(6) Journal of Egyptian Archœology, vol. V, p. 161, footnote 10.
(7) Op. cit., p. 162.