КРОКОДИЛЕ, ГЕТЬ! ВИСЛОВИ 31–42 КНИГИ МЕРТВИХ В ІКОНОГРАФІЇ ФІВАНСЬКИХ САРКОФАГІВ QRSW ПІЗНЬОГО ТРЕТЬОГО ПЕРЕХІДНОГО ПЕРІОДУ

D. Haładaj

doi:10.15407/skhodoznavstvo2019.83.101

BACK OF CROCODILE! SPELLS 31–42 OF THE BOOK OF THE DEAD IN ICONOGRAPHY OF LATE THIRD INTERMEDIATE PERIOD QRSW COFFINS FROM THEBES

PDF

https://doi.org/10.15407/skhodoznavstvo2019.83.101

D. Haładaj

The Antiquity of Southeastern Europe Research CentreUniversity of Warsaw

Abstract

This paper presents an iconographical analysis of vignettes accompanying the spells 31–37, 39–42 Book of the Dead placed on the floors of three qrsw coffins from so called “Priests of Montu” group (Cairo CG 41004, 41008, and 41009). The analysis aims to contribute to a discussion about usage of so called warding off spells in the decoration of 25th–26th Dynasty coffins by taking into consideration a relation of the aforementioned vignettes to other compositions against dangerous creatures known from the funerary context of the period and later material associated with the Saite Redaction of the Book of the Dead. Such approach made it possible to distinguish the social and religious context in which these spells appear and to answer the question concerning the possible meaning they could have for the coffin owner.
The need of such analysis derives from the fact that while the usage of sequences from the Book of the Dead in decoration of the 25th–26th Dynasty coffins was rather a common arrangement, the placing of thematically related sequence of BD spells 31–42 is limited only to a small group of objects from the Besenmut and Montuemhat families. On these, the “warding off” spells appear in a close relation to each other, like in papyri or in tomb decoration, but none of the objects contain the full sequence. The main feature of the spells known from the qrsw coffins and an element that differentiates them from the examples appearing on anthropoid coffins is the presence of the accompanying vignettes which follow the general motifs known from the papyri of the Book of the Dead. In iconography, the emphasis is placed on the physical destruction of these creatures represented by the deceased with the spear aimed at wild beasts: crocodiles, snakes, insects, the demon ‘Swallower of the Ass’ and dangers like slaughter and dismemberment.

How to Cite

Haładaj, D. (2019). BACK OF CROCODILE! SPELLS 31–42 OF THE BOOK OF THE DEAD IN ICONOGRAPHY OF LATE THIRD INTERMEDIATE PERIOD QRSW COFFINS FROM THEBES. The Oriental Studies, (83), 101-122. https://doi.org/10.15407/skhodoznavstvo2019.83.101

Article views: 45 | PDF Downloads: 29

Keywords

Book of the Dead, coffins, iconography, Priests of Montu, Thebes, Underworld Books

References

Allen T. (1974), The Book of the Dead or Going Forth by Day. Ideas of the Ancient Egyptians Concerning the Hereafter as Expressed in their own Terms, Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization, Vol. 37, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Aston D. (2009), Burial Assemblages of Dynasty 21–25; Chronology – Typology – Developments, Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, Vienna.

Bierbrier M. (1975), The Late New Kingdom in Egypt (c. 1300–664 B.C.): A Genealogical and Chronological Investigation, Aris & Phillips Ltd, Warminister.

Elias J. (1993), Coffin Inscription in Egypt after the New Kingdom. A Study of Text Production and Use in Elite Mortuary Preparation, University of Chicago, Chicago (Unpublished PhD Dissertation).

Gauthier H. (1913), Cercueils Anthropoïdes Des Prêtres De Montou. No. 41042–41072, T. I–II, Catalogue Général des Antiquités Egyptiennes du Musée du Caire, Institut Francais d’Archeologie Orientale, Cairo.

Kitchen K. (1973), The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1100–650 B.C.), Aris & Phillips Ltd., Warminister.

Leahy L. (1989), “Wahibreemakhet at Giza”, The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 75, pp. 239–43. https://doi.org/10.1177/030751338907500125

Lepsius R. (1842). Das Todtenbuch Der Ägypter Nach Dem Hieroglyphischen Papyrus In Turin, Georg Wigand, Leipzig.

Lucarelli R. (2006), “Demons in the Book of the Dead”, B. Backes, I. Munro, and S. Stöhr (eds.), Totenbuch-Forschungen. Gesammelte Beiträge des 2. Internationalen Totenbuch-Symposiums Bonn, 25. bis 29. September 2005, Studien zum altägyptischen Totenbuch, Bd. 11, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, pp. 203–12.

Lucarelli R. (2007), “The Vignette of Ch. 40 of The Book Of The Dead”, J.-Cl. Goyon and Chr. Cardin (eds.), Proceedings of the Ninth International Congress of Egyptologists / Actes du Neuvième Congrès International des Égyptologues, Grenoble 6–12 Septembre 2004, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta, T. 150, Peeters Publishers, Leuven, pp. 1181–6.

Lucarelli R. (2009), “Two Fragments of a Ptolemaic Book of the Dead on Mummy Wrappings with Spells 32–38 (Leiden Inventory No. F 2008/1.1)”, B. Backes, M. Müller-Roth, and S. Stöhr (eds.), Ausgestattet mit Den Schriften Des Tot. Festschrift Für Irmtraut Munro Zu Ihrem 65. Geburtstag, Studien zum altägyptischen Totenbuch, Bd. 14, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, pp. 105–16.

Molinero Polo M. (2014), “The Textual Program of Karakhamun’s First Pillared Hall”, E. Pischikova (ed.), Tombs of the South Assasif Necropolis. Thebes, Karakhamun (TT223), and Karabasken (TT 391) in the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty, The American University in Cairo Press, Cairo, pp. 131–72. https://doi.org/10.5743/cairo/9789774166181.003.0010

Moret A. (1913), Sarcophages de l’Epoque Bubastite A l’Epoque Saïte, No. 41001–41041, T. I–II, Catalogue Général des Antiquités Egyptiennes du Musée du Caire, Institut Francais d’Archeologie Orientale, Cairo.

Mosher M. (2013), “An Intriguing Theban Book of the Dead Tradition in the Late Period”, British Museum Studies in Ancient Egypt and Sudan, Vol. 15, pp. 123–72.

Munro P. (1973), Die Spätägyptischen Totenstelen, J. J. Augustin, Glückstadt.

Raven M. (1981), “On Some Coffins of the Besenmut Family”, Oudheidkundige mededelingen uit het Rijksmuseum van Oudheden te Leiden, T. 62, pp. 7–21.

Rosati G. (2006), “Glimpses of the Book of the Dead in the Second Court of the Tomb of Montuemhet (TT 34)”, B. Backes, I. Munro, and S. Stöhr (eds.), Totenbuch-Forschungen. Gesammelte Beiträge des 2. Internationalen Totenbuch-Symposiums Bonn, 25. bis 29. September 2005, Studien zum altägyptischen Totenbuch, Bd. 11, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, pp. 297–300.

Scalf F. (2017), Book of the Dead: Becoming God in Ancient Egypt, Oriental Institute Museum Publications, Vol. 39, University of Chicago, Chicago.

Sheikholeslami C. (2010), “The Night and Day Hours in Twenty-Fifth Dynasty Sarcophagi from Thebes”, L. Bareš, F. Coppens, and K. Smoláriková (eds.), Egypt in Transition. Social and Religious Development of Egypt in the First Millennium BCE. Proceedings of an International Conference, Prague, September 1–4, 2009, Czech Institute of Egyptology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague, Prague, pp. 376–95.

Tarasenko M. (2013), “Development of Illustrative Tradition of the Chapter 42 of the Book of the Dead”, Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur, Bd. 42, pp. 325–48.

Taylor J. (1984), The Stylistic Development of Theban Coffins during the Third Intermediate Period, Birmingham University, Birmingham (Unpublished PhD Dissertation).

Taylor J. (2003), “Theban Coffins from the Twenty-Second to the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, Dating and Synthesis of Development”, N. Strudwick and J. Taylor (eds.), The Theban Necropolis. Past, Present and Future, British Museum, London, pp. 95–121.

Vittmann G. (1978), Priester und Beamte im Theben der Spätzeit. Genealogische und Prosopographische Untersuchungen zum Thebanischen Priester- und Beamtentum der 25. und 26. Dynastie, Beiträge zur Ägyptologie, Bd. 1, Veröffentlichungen der Institute für Afrikanistik und Ägyptologie der Universität Wien, Wien.

ON-LINE SOURCES

Totenbuchprojekt Bonn, (2018), TM 135425 (Cairo CG 41004), available at: http://totenbuch.awk.nrw.de/objekt/tm135425 (accessed 19 September 2018).

Totenbuchprojekt Bonn, (2018), TM 135527 (Cairo CG 41008), available at: http://totenbuch.awk.nrw.de/objekt/tm135527 (accessed 19 September 2018).

Totenbuchprojekt Bonn, (2018), TM 135424 (Cairo CG 41009), available at: http://totenbuch.awk.nrw.de/objekt/tm135424 (accessed 19 September 2018).

Totenbuchprojekt Bonn, (2018), TM 135269 (London BM EA 22940), available at: http://totenbuch.awk.nrw.de/objekt/tm135269 (accessed 19 September 2018).

Totenbuchprojekt Bonn, (2018), TM 135263 (Theben A. 70034), available at: http://totenbuch.awk.nrw.de/objekt/tm135263 (accessed 19 September 2018).

Totenbuchprojekt Bonn, (2018), BD spell 31, available at: http://totenbuch.awk.nrw.de/spruch/31 (Accessed 19 September 2018).

Totenbuchprojekt Bonn, (2018), BD spell 36, available at: http://totenbuch.awk.nrw.de/spruch/36 (accessed 19 September 2018).

Totenbuchprojekt Bonn, (2018), BD spell 40, available at: http://totenbuch.awk.nrw.de/spruch/40 (accessed 19 September 2018).

Totenbuchprojekt Bonn, (2018), BD spell 41, available at: http://totenbuch.awk.nrw.de/spruch/41 (accessed 19 September 2018).

Totenbuchprojekt Bonn, (2018), BD spell 42, available at: http://totenbuch.awk.nrw.de/spruch/42 (accessed 19 September 2018).

REFERENCES