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Von Lieven The Soul of The Sun Permeates PDF
Von Lieven The Soul of The Sun Permeates PDF
Special Issue
Pandanus 2000: Natural Symbolism in Indian
Literatures.
Pandanus ’01: Research in Indian Classical Literature.
Pandanus ’02: Nature in Indian Literatures and Art.
Pandanus ’03: Nature Symbols in Literature.
Pandanus ’04: Nature in Literature.
Pandanus ’05: Nature in Literature, Myth and Ritual.
Pandanus ’10
Pandanus ’06: Nature in Literature and Ritual.
Pandanus ’07: Nature in Literature, Art, Myth and Ritual.
Pandanus ’08: Nature in Literature, Art, Myth and Ritual.
Pandanus ‚09, Nature in Literature, Art, Myth and Ritual.
Special Issue
4/2 Sun Worship in the
Civilizations of the World
Summary: In Ancient Egypt, the cult of the sun was of major importance from the earliest
periods until the very end of Paganism. The solar god under different names and forms was
perceived as the creator and highest deity in the pantheon. Other gods could be identified
with him to mark their increased rank and importance via ‘solarization’. His cult comprised
both highly esoteric forms of worship executed within the temples by priests and popular
practices available to the whole of the population. While the latter as well as the everyday
temple rituals were more or less identical for all Egyptian deities, some of the more esoteric
rites were specific to the solar cult.
If one was to start a poll among the public on the most widely known facts
about Ancient Egyptian Religion, there would probably be two stereotyp-
ical answers apart from the afterlife beliefs: the animal cults on the one
hand and the particular worship of the sun on the other.1 Both even come
together in the scarab, as the dung-beetle was believed to be the morning
shape of the sun god. His dung ball reminded the Egyptians of the sun
itself. The freshly hatched beetles’ mysterious appearance from the ball
without any visible birth further enhanced this resemblance and helped
to make the beetle one of the most important symbols of Egyptian culture.
This example already highlights some of the basic principles of Egyptian
speculative thinking. Nature was carefully observed, things visible on earth
were often set into relation with phenomena in the sky and vice versa; all
observable phenomena are potential expressions of the divine.
Naturally, the sun is such a phenomenon par excellence, especially in
a country with a geographical position like Egypt. So it is not too diffi-
cult to see the reasons for the prominence of the solar cult in particular.
Possible evidence for its existence as early as Pre- and Protohistory is not
of historical facts from the past in a review by the 17th dynasty (around
1600 B.C.), when the text was written.
At any rate, it is the 5th dynasty that builds monumental sun temples in
Abusir, each of which contained a gigantic obelisk at its centre.5 Even more
impressive than the architecture is its relief decoration, which unfortunately
is highly fragmented today. Apart from scenes from the cult and the Sed
Festival, a royal jubilee to be celebrated after a reign of 30 years, the dec-
oration of the so-called “Chamber of the Universe” in the sun temple of
Niuserre is of particular importance (Edel, Wenig 1974). This is a room
which was completely decorated with depictions of animals and their be-
haviour within the course of the year. The animals mate and have their
young, they eat and are eaten and all of this is shown with the precision
of a biology book. Apparently, the pictures intend to praise the beneficial
influence of the sun on the earth.
To every sun temple belonged the model of a large sun boat built in stone.
In accordance with the usual mode of transport in real life, the Egyptians
also posited for the sun and other heavenly bodies that they would cruise
about the sky in ships, like humans on the earthly Nile. It logically fol-
lows that the sky and the primeval ocean Nun surrounding it were also
ascribed a watery nature.
From the Middle Kingdom (around 1950 B.C.) onwards, a syncretistic
solarising of other gods by calling them NN-Re is attested. This tendency
increases over the course of history until every male main deity of a city or
village can take on this role. One of these solarized local gods is the The-
ban Amun-Re, who profits from the political importance of Thebes from
the New Kingdom (1500 B.C.) onwards at the latest. Thereby he becomes
the main imperial deity, a position the importance of which is only dimin-
ished by the rise of Isis and Serapis in the Greco-Roman period. The latter
also occasionally takes on a solar aspect as Zeus-Helios-Serapis.6
Amun-Re’s power was, however, temporarily suspended in the New
Kingdom for approximately two decades. In the so-called Amarna period
(1350–1330 B.C.), King Amenhotep IV (“Amun is Content”) proclaimed
a new solar deity called Aton, changed his own name into Akhenaton
(“Efficient for Aton”), left Thebes for his newly-founded capital Amarna
(Akhetaton “Horizon of Aton”) and prosecuted the cult of Amun. This epi-
sode in the history of religion has made a great impression on the scholarly
as well as the popular mind as the “first monotheism of history”.7 More
fitting, however, would be “first totalitarian regime of history”, because
Akhenaton’s presumed monotheism not only accepted only one deity, but
moreover only one way to religious well-being for every citizen – himself.8
This is not the place to review Amarna ideology in extenso. In relation to
sun worship, only a short look at the god Aton (ıtn) is in order. His name
means “Disk” and when used absolutely, it is most often preceded by the
definite article. By the way, the word iten (ıtn) “disk” as a word, not a name,
can mean any round celestial body in Egyptian, be it the sun, the moon
or the planets. There is even a feminine form itenet (ıtn.t) “female disk”
which designates Sirius (von Lieven 2001). As for Aton, the name existed
already before Akhenaton as an epithet of the sun god Re. The word Re
(Rcw) literally means “Sun”. Therefore, Re also has occasionally been pre-
fixed since the New Kingdom and quite often in late sources with the mas-
culine definite article as Pa Re, Pre (P –Rcw). This indicates a very literal
understanding of the name as the real celestial entity. Akhenaton, however,
made Aton into a distinct deity by itself, which was soon no longer repre-
sented as a hawk-headed man like Re, but as a veritable disk. In contrast
to the traditional solar disks before and after, Aton also had rays ending
in hands which held signs of life to the king’s nose or otherwise interacted
with him. Apart from this, “Aton” was only an abbreviation of his name.
His full name was written like a royal name in two cartouches:
“(Re-Harakhte (later changed into “The Horizontal Ruler”) lives, who rejoices in the horizon)|
(in his name as light which is in the disk)|”.
For a good overview over the reception history see Montserrat 2000.
7
Critical comments on this are rare in the literature. See mainly Hornung 1995.
8
2. “The soul of the sun permeates the whole world.” 33
animal head. Apart from scarab and hawk, cat, ram and bull are also im-
portant forms. Each shape had its particular function. Thereby the scarab
was the morning shape, the ram the night form. A four-headed ram, how-
ever, could also signify high noon. As “Great tom-cat”, Re killed his snake-
shaped adversary Apopis. The sacred bull Mnevis was the particular sacred
animal in Iunu, Egypt’s most important centre of sun worship, therefore
called Heliopolis by the Greeks. Apart from these prominent shapes, there
was a plethora of other possibilities. For example it was thought that the
sun aged within the course of a day from a baby to a senile old man (Fig.
1) or that it changed its animal shape every hour or two. The latter concept
gave rise to the astrological concept of the Dodekaoros in Greco-Roman
time, which again via several intermediate stations became the so-called
Far-eastern Zodiac (von Lieven in print). Other sources know of even more
forms. The so-called Litany of the Sun, the original title of which is “Book of
Venerating Re in the West”, even lists 75 different shapes of the sun god with
their respective names in text and pictures (Fig. 2, Hornung 1975/1976).
Fig. 1: The sky goddess Nut arching over twelve boats containing different shapes of the sun
god from child to old man. Ceiling of the New Year’s hall in the Ptolemaic temple of Edfu
(2nd–1st century B.C.). (after Maspero 1895, p. 89)
34 Pandanus ’10
Fig. 2: 14 of the 75 shapes of the sun god from the Litany of the Sun in the tomb of Thut-
mosis III (18th dynasty, 1486–1425 B.C.). (after Bucher 1932, Pl. XXVI)
All of these forms had their own names like Khepri for the scarab morning
form or Atum for the human night form, but apart from that, the sun god
also had one secret name containing all his power. This name was so secret
that not even his mother knew it. According to a myth which is preserved
in a historiola of a magical spell, the goddess Isis nastily tricked Re into tell-
ing her this name. When the god had grown old and started to slaver she
took a bit of the earth on which his spittle had fallen. Out of it she formed
a snake which she placed on the route he took daily. As expected, he got
bitten and suffered terribly from the pain. The price he had to pay for his
healing was to tell her that secret name. After several useless attempts to
get off the hook without divulging his secret, he finally had to give in.9
With Re’s ageing, this myth contains an element which is of some impor-
tance, namely the idea that gods are born, age and eventually die as well. In
Re’s case this can be connected both to his daily course and to a complete
9
Pleyte, Rossi 1869–1876, pls. XXXI, LXXVII; Gardiner 1935, pp. 116–118, pls. 64–65;
Roeder 1915, pp. 138–141; Borghouts 1978, pp. 51–55.
2. “The soul of the sun permeates the whole world.” 35
10
In fact the whole myth is rarely given in detail, therefore the diverse facts have to be gath-
ered from different sources and hints.
11
Esna 206, translated by Sauneron 1962, pp. 253–271.
36 Pandanus ’10
He had beer brewed and coloured red with some mineral, thereby giving
it the appearance of blood. This brew is then tipped out on the morning
of the planned execution. It covers the ground by three hand-widths and
the result is as intended:
“Now, this goddess came early in the morning and found this country flooded. Her face grew
beautiful thereby and she drank – this was agreeable in her heart! Drunken she arrived and
could not recognize the humans any more”.
Nevertheless, the god lost trust in humanity and Re leaves the earth to re-
tire on the back of the heavenly cow.
The myth of the rebellion of humanity is also attested in several vari-
ants.12 It conveniently provides the explanation for the sub-optimal state
of the universe. It is not the creator’s fault, but humanity itself is to blame.
Accordingly, the Lord of All, i.e. Atum says in Coffin Text spell 1130:
“I have done four good deeds within the gate of the horizon. I created the four winds, so
that everybody in his time can breathe. This is one of them. I created the Great Flood, so
that the poor man is as powerful as the rich man. This is one of them. I created every hu-
man like his fellow, I have not commanded anyone to do injustice, it is their hearts which
have destroyed what I said. This is one of them. I have made their hearts in such a way as
not to forget the West (i.e. the realm of the dead), because of the desire to let offerings be
given to the gods of the nomes. This is one of them.” (De Buck 1961, pp. 462–464; Backes
2005, pp. 119–120)
If one takes a broader perspective and asks which other astronomical phe-
nomena were of particular importance in Ancient Egyptian religion, it is
striking how little relevance was accorded the planets. They do figure in
the Classical Sky Picture, a list-like astronomical depiction attested from
the Middle Kingdom to the Roman Period,13 but apart from that they
hardly ever appear, let alone play any role in a more practically oriented
religion as recipients of a cult. This only changes in the Late Period when
the zodiac is introduced from Mesopotamia and as a result horoscopic
astrology starts its triumph in Egypt (Quack in print). But even then, the
12
Apart from the texts cited by Hornung there are some recently published papyrus frag-
ments, see Smith 2000.
13
Neugebauer, Parker 1969, pls. 1–28; for fragments of a Roman period papyrus copy clearly
reproducing a Middle Kingdom model see Osing, Rosati 1998, pp. 81–82, 92–94, pls. 8, 12.
2. “The soul of the sun permeates the whole world.” 37
some sources.14 Presumably, the sickle moon serves as his weapon. These
and some other gods, who can occasionally exhibit lunar traits, had promi-
nent cults, some even in the most important cities of Egypt.
A specifically Egyptian concept are the decans, 36 constellations whose
risings and settings were used for time-keeping (Quack 2003). These con-
stellations do not readily correspond to any modern constellations and
have not yet been identified conclusively. Their Greek designation “decan”
stems from the fact that every ten days a new one rises anew, while anoth-
er becomes invisible for approximately 70 days under the horizon. There-
fore, there always are 29 decans visible at any one time. Each one in turn
culminates or “works”, as the Egyptian term is, for a certain period during
its visibility phase. Accordingly, the Egyptian designation for the decans
is “Workers”. The seven invisible decans, on the other hand, are temporar-
ily “dead” and act as butcher-demons and divine messengers during this
phase (von Lieven 2000, pp. 46–55).
The structure of the decan calendar correlates with the ideal calendar of
360 days made up of 36 ten-day weeks. Additionally, there are the five so-
called epagomenal days, additional days “on the year”, as they are described
in Egyptian. Thereby one arrives at the ideal solar calendar of 365 days. For
lack of a leap year every fourth year the ideal year and the real year were
not in accordance with each other. When eventually such a leap year was
introduced with the decree of Canopus in 238 B.C., it did not gain much
acceptance in practice (Pfeiffer 2004, pp. 131–144, 249–257).
In fact, the epagomenal days would have been fatal anyway for the ac-
curacy of the decan calendars. All these problems which give modern his-
torians of astronomy a headache when dealing with the Egyptian material
did not prevent these concepts from gaining great popularity at a practical
religious level. In particular the demonic and dangerous character of the
decans, which is particularly enshrined in their ophiomorphous form, ex-
cited the fantasy of the ancient theologians. In the ophiomorphous form
the decans are shown as snakes with arms and legs or wings and as lion-
headed humans. In their hands they hold wine jars, whose contents serve
to pacify the Dangerous Goddess, the lady of the decans, a form of the
Sun’s Eye. The whole group is therefore sometimes shown on the sides of
the Goddess’ throne. Smaller and less luxurious versions show only one or
two decan figures in the same position. In the form of single figure fayence
amulets, snake-shaped decans holding tiny jars are attested by the hundreds.
These amulets were part of everyday apparel and were worn especially by
women and children to ward off the illnesses meted out by the Goddess.
Of particular importance in relation to the decans are Sothis and Orion
(Krauss 1997, pp. 146–206). The constellation Orion itself was at least partly
made up of decans, as the latter’s names – “Upper arm of Orion”, “Lower
arm of Orion” etc. – suggest. Sothis, whose name Sepedet (Spṭ.t) means
“The pointed one”, was itself a decan. It originally consisted of three stars
(α, δ and ε Canis maioris to be precise), the most important of which was
Sirius at the upper tip. Later the two other stars lost more and more of their
importance, until finally the Greco-Roman authors simply equated Sothis
with Sirius. Sothis and Orion could also be understood as astral forms of
Isis and Osiris respectively.
Sothis was of fundamental importance for Egyptian culture as its he-
liacic rising coincided with the start of the annual Nile flood, which was
vital for the agricultural cycle. Consequently the Egyptians believed the
two phenomena to be causally linked with each other. They scrupulously
observed the cycle of Sothis. Its heliacic rising, i.e. its first rising immedi-
ately before sunrise, was called “Hathor in the hair of Re” and identified
with a fire-spitting cobra on the god’s brow. This is the astronomical-the-
ological background for the well-known uraeus snake as a royal symbol.
In this function, Sothis is identified with Tefnut or Hathor and other god-
desses thought to be the daughter of Re. Apparently the bright star also
reminded the Egyptians of an eye. Therefore all these goddesses can be
given the standard epithet “Sun’s Eye”. It is important to note that thus
the “Sun’s Eye” is not the sun itself, but Sothis, i.e. essentially Sirius. The
same is true for the already-mentioned designation Itenet (ıtn.t) “Female
disk” and even Rat (Rc.t) “Female Sun”. Both do not denote a female so-
lar deity, but Sothis. This becomes evident beyond doubt in texts speak-
ing about the rising of the male and female sun together, sometimes even
mentioning the Nile flood as well (von Lieven 2001). As nobody will se-
riously think there actually were two suns shining over Ancient Egypt,
2. “The soul of the sun permeates the whole world.” 41
15
To put this designation into perspective it is important to note that Sirius is in fact as
much as 22 times brighter than the sun, but because of its seemingly much smaller size
to the human eye this is not so obvious.
16
Esna 400: Sauneron 1969, p. 3, for a depiction compare the folding plate after p. 16 (Esna
409), von Lieven 2000, pp. 20–21.
42 Pandanus ’10
sun is himself a god, while the planets are just avatars of other deities. On
the other hand this helps to elucidate the curious fact that a planet can be
called “Horizontic Horus” (Harakhte), when this name – typically in the
combination Re-Harakhte – is a standard designation for the morning
form of the sun as a hawk-headed man.
The correlation of gods and phenomena of nature via lists, which is first
attested in the Classical Sky Picture, is also well documented for other
fields, regardless of whether the phenomena in question are animals, plants,
meteorological features or minerals (von Lieven 2004). Thus the Book of
the Celestial Cow states in a chapter on the soul-powers (Ba) of the gods:
“The soul of Shu is the air, … the soul of Darkness17 is the night, … the souls of Sobek
are the crocodiles, … but the soul of Re permeates the whole universe.” (Hornung 1991,
pp. 26–27, 47).
17
Personified Darkness (Keku) is a primeval god.
2. “The soul of the sun permeates the whole world.” 43
Fig. 4: The Embalming Hall of Osiris on the ceiling of the rear transverse hall in the Osireion
at Abydos (19th dynasty, around 1300 B.C.). (after Frankfort 1933, Pl. LXXIV)
44 Pandanus ’10
Hornung 1997 with a list of the respective editions; Hornung 1989 (collection of trans-
19
lations, unfortunately without the Books of the Sky); on those see now Roulin 1996; von
Lieven 2007; Müller-Roth 2008.
2. “The soul of the sun permeates the whole world.” 45
Fig. 5: The ram-shaped sun god in his boat during the 11th hour of the night, Amduat in
the tomb of Thutmosis III (18th dynasty, 1486–1425 B.C.). (after Bucher 1932, Pl. X)
46 Pandanus ’10
Fig. 6: The scarab-shaped sun god rising from the underworld again at the end of the
12th hour of the night, Amduat in the tomb of Amenhotep II (18th dynasty, 1425–1397 B.C.).
(after Bucher 1932, Pl. XL)
2. “The soul of the sun permeates the whole world.” 47
Books of the Sky. These have as their most prominent feature a large figure
of the sky goddess Nut spanning the whole text zone. Probably the Book
of Day and Night is one single composition, but the night part is attested
much more often. All the names of these books, by the way, are only mod-
ern nicknames for lack of any authentic titles. The only exception to this
is, to an extent, the Amduat, and most importantly, the Fundamentals of
the Course of the Stars.20
The Fundamentals is also different from the rest in that it does not only
treat of the course of the sun during a full day, but also elaborates in detail
on the interaction between the sun and the decans. Therefore, only the first
chapter with the course of the sun is illustrated by a picture of Nut, while
other unillustrated chapters on the decans, the moon and perhaps even the
planets follow. Moreover, the solar chapter is quite realistic in comparison
with the imaginary worlds conjured by other cosmographies. This is not
true of the lunar and planetary chapters, however, as these unfortunately
belong to those texts from Ancient Egypt which are the most difficult to
understand. This might partly be due to text-critical trouble and especially
to the sorry state of preservation of all sources for these passages, but it is
certainly also a result of the strong layer of mythology applied to the as-
tronomical observations in these parts.
All of these texts are only positively attested from the New Kingdom on-
wards, but there is good evidence to posit their original composition as early
as the 3rd millennium B.C. for historic-linguistic reasons (Baumann 1998).
This question is very controversial within scholarship, and so is the ques-
tion of their original function and use. While one position concludes from
their preserved attestation in royal tombs and on other funerary equipment
that they are “royal funerary texts” only intended to assure the kings post-
humous well-being,21 others meticulously analyze the contents of the texts
and compare them with other material. This position could demonstrate
from a good deal of evidence that in fact these cosmographies are part of
20
Until recently, the Fundamentals of the Course of the Stars was also only known under
a modern nickname, namely “Book of Nut”. The Amduat is a bit problematic, as the same
designation is also attested for some compositions of vaguely related content, but with
much difference in the details.
21
Thus especially Hornung.
48 Pandanus ’10
The way this knowledge was achieved by the king through a vision can for-
tunately be gleaned from a report on his coronation by king Thutmosis III:
“He threw open for me the gates of heaven, he opened for me the doors of his horizon. I flew
up to heaven as a divine hawk to see his heavenly secret idol, to worship his Majesty. …
I saw the transformations of the Horizontic One on his hidden paths in the sky. Re himself
Thus e.g. Assmann, Baines and Wente. See most recently von Lieven 2002 with bibliog-
22
raphy.
2. “The soul of the sun permeates the whole world.” 49
installed me. I was distinguished with the crowns, which are on his head, his uraeus snake
took her place on my head. … I was furnished with all his efficiency, I was saturated with
the knowledge of the gods, like Horus when he became conscious, at the house of my fa-
ther Amun-Re.” 23
23
Urkunden IV 159,11–160,7; translation: Sethe 1914, pp. 176–177; Quack, 2002b, pp. 99–100.
24
Meaning the joined nocturnal form of Re and Osiris.
25
In this respect it needs to be borne in mind that stone pavings were rare in Ancient Egypt
and even in temples there often were none originally. Many stone pavements in temples
today suggesting otherwise have in fact only been installed in the 20th century A.D. to
facilitate access for tourists!
50 Pandanus ’10
Possible evidence for the strewing method as well as further details add-
ing to the picture of such rituals comes from a spell that is concerned with
passing gates in the cult of Osiris. In funerary adaptation it found its way
as spell 144 into the Book of the Dead. The speaker identifies himself with
the crew of the sun boat which traverses the realm of Osiris in the Neth-
erworld without having difficulties of passage. Again, pictures of the gates
and their keepers have to be drawn. The directions for use at the end of
the spell read:
“Recite above this picture which is drawn, drawn with Nubian ochre. The second crew of
the sun boat, offer food, fowl and incense to them. This means to feed an Efficient One
(Akh) and to make him powerful among these gods. This means he will not be repelled and
not be hindered at the gates of the Netherworld. You should perform it above a picture of
this Efficient One, so that he can reach each of these gates which are drawn. Speak above
each of these gates which are drawn. Offer to each of them: a bull’s foreleg, heart and ribs
of a red bull, 4 bowls of blood from the twitching heart, 16 loaves of white bread, 8 loaves
of offering bread, 16 cakes, 8 loaves of Khenef-bread, 8 loaves of Hebnenet-bread, 8 jugs
of beer, 8 bowls of groats, 4 clay bowls filled with the milk of a white cow, fresh herbs and
fresh oil, ointment, eye-paint and finest oil, incense on the flame. Recite while each picture
is effaced(!), after this prescription has been acted upon during the course of the fourth
hour of day. Guard yourself well against noon in the sky! You shall use this book without
letting anybody see it.”26
Interestingly, here the figures are indeed effaced. Moreover, in the temple
of Ramses II at Abydos, this spell with its pictures is inscribed immediately
next to the Litany of the Sun and its figures on the wall (Mariette 1880, pls.
14–17, Abdelrahiem 2006). I would expect that the 75 figures of the sun
god addressed in the first part of the Litany of the Sun also each received
such a more or less elaborate offering, even if the text does not explicitly
state this. While the Book of the Dead spell 144 serves the benefit of the
officiant himself or the deceased, for whom he does the ritual, in the Lit-
any of the Sun clearly Re himself is the beneficiary. The acts of the priest
are intended to justify the god against his enemies and thereby guarantee
the unproblematic continuation of the solar course.
According to Egyptian conceptions this was a dire need as Re was subject
to specific dangers at special times during the day, which vary according to
Text: Lapp 1997, pl. 76; translation: Hornung 1979, pp. 280–281; Eschweiler 1994, pp. 134–135.
26
2. “The soul of the sun permeates the whole world.” 51
But why is it not enough to overcome the snake Apopis by force? Why does
the Litany of the Sun speak of “justifying”, as if it had to be established in
court who is right and who is wrong in this cosmic battle?
In fact the whole story here is much more complex than the majority of
sources in their brevity would lead one to believe. There was indeed once
in the mythical past a lawsuit over who rightfully owned the sacred city of
Heliopolis, as is hinted at in the “Spell for Knowing the Souls of Heliopolis”.
And in fact Apopis is not just some deluded demon, but in a somewhat
bizarre manner no less than the brother of the sun god himself! Accord-
ing to one creation account, he came into being when the navel-string of
new-born Re was cut and thrown into the primeval water, where it im-
mediately transformed itself into a gigantic snake (Quack 2006). This em-
barrassing fact is passed over in silence in most of the sources on purpose.
The Egyptians never quite liked to speak about unpleasant truths or at least
tried to cover them up by euphemistic expressions.
According to the “Spell for Knowing the Souls of the West”, Apopis is
a full 30 cubits long, which approximately equates to 15.60 m. According
to the Amduat he would even be longer, as there he is said to fill a com-
plete sandbank of 440 cubits or 228.80 m with his curled-up body (Fig. 7).
Without the help of Seth and Isis, Re would be in some difficulty. As of
course the existence of the whole cosmos and consequently of humanity
depends on the correct course of the sun, it was a duty for the Egyptians
to ritually help the sun god as much as possible.
Fig. 7: The solar boat is almost dwarfed by the 440-cubits-long Apopis, who already has
been fettered and had six knives pierce his body. 7th hour of the night, Amduat in the tomb
of Amenhotep II (18th dynasty, 1425–1397 B.C.). (after Bucher 1932, Pl. XXXIV)
2. “The soul of the sun permeates the whole world.” 53
Apart from the Litany of the Sun, which just seeks to strengthen the sun
god, other rituals have the express aim of destroying Apopis. Two such texts
are preserved in Papyrus Bremner-Rhind, the “Book of throwing down
Apopis, enemy of Re, enemy of (Wenennefer28)|, may he live, be safe and
sound, justified, which is performed as daily act in the house of Amun-Re,
lord of the throne of the two lands, the first of Luxor every day” and “The
names of Apopis which do not exist.”29
The latter also belongs to the field of magically avoiding potentially bad
things. Moreover it exemplifies well the dilemma that on the one hand to
completely destroy somebody you also have to destroy his names, while
on the other hand you need to know these very names to gain power over
the being to be destroyed. The same motif had already occurred in relation
to the secret name of Re. In this case, the list of names was written com-
pletely in red, a common means of emphasizing titles and subscriptions,
but also to mark out negative things. On the contrary, in the title line of
the first Apopis Book which is otherwise also written in red, the names of
the good gods Re and Wenennefer are written in black.
Both texts explain in detail how to produce figures of Apopis out of red
wax in the shape of “a snake whose tail is in its mouth, with down-turned
face and with a knife engraved on his back ‘Apopis, the fallen one, the crim-
inal’”. His retinue should be modelled in wax as well. Then they are to be
mistreated in every possible way reminiscent of voodoo magic and finally
they are to be burnt. A copy of the list of names written on a new slip of
papyrus is also to be burnt. It is self-evident, why there are no archaeologi-
cal remains of such figures. Nevertheless, the text clearly states that this
ritual was to be performed daily, which is only logical in view of the daily
renewed danger. What should not be overlooked, by the way, is the politi-
cal dimension of such execration rituals, as enemies of Pharaoh – foreign
ones as well as Egyptian ones – were named and thus destroyed alongside
the enemies of the sun god.
Of course the cult of the sun did not only consist of execration rituals.
For the most part the worship of the sun will have taken the same form as
A name of Osiris.
28
for other gods, namely offerings of food, clothing, make-up and jewellery,
as is described in the Daily Temple Ritual and the Offering Ritual.30 These
rituals consisted of a fixed sequence of fumigations and libations, while in
between the god received a full menu of different food and drinks, until
finally he was clothed, anointed and his eyes painted. All these rites were
performed in the innermost part of the temples on statuettes made of pre-
cious metals without any public audience. The statuettes were usually about
one cubit, i.e. 52 cm high. Only under the reign of Akhenaton were food
offerings performed in open courts, as Aton’s only “idol” was the real sun
in the sky. Accordingly, there were no rites of clothing and suchlike at all.
Another rite performed in the sun temples every morning was the greet-
ing of the rising sun by the solar monkeys. The Egyptians’ keen observa-
tion of nature had led them to notice that at sunrise the baboons started
to screech excitedly. They concluded that this must be a pious greeting of
the god in a secret language – in fact, the secret speech mentioned in the
“King as Sun Priest” is precisely that. Hymns mention that the king as well
as private adorants become a part of the jubilating group of monkeys. For
example a high official says about himself in prayer “I have joined the ju-
bilating monkeys, I am one of them” (de Meulenaere 1967–68, pp. 2–4, pl.
I). That this monkey screeching was indeed imitated by priests in the cult
is proven by the Book of the Temple, a handbook of the Egyptians on how
an ideal temple should be built and run. One of the three main sections is
concerned with the temple staff, from the highest-ranking priest down to
the last handmaid in the temple kitchen. In the entry on the head teacher
it is also prescribed which styles of singing he has to teach the priests-in-
training. Among them figures the song technique “screeching”. The word
used is indeed the same as the one used for the noise made by the jubilating
baboons and this surely is not by chance (Quack 2002a, pp. 161, 163–164).
Apparently, the official cult of the sun god possessed many facets. Apart
from that it also played an important part in the personal piety of the nor-
mal population. These people did not know the esoteric texts and rituals,
but they will surely have known their local variant of the basic myths. The
30
Once complete edition of the daily ritual: Moret 1902 (in dire need of updating), a com-
plete study of the offering ritual (Tacke 2002) is unfortunately still unpublished.
2. “The soul of the sun permeates the whole world.” 55
visible rising and setting of the sun and its beneficial activity also was of
great importance to them. For the lowest strata of society sources unfor-
tunately are lacking, but for the middle class, for whom a good number
of monuments are available, one can see that the sun god is often vener-
ated on stelae or in tombs. On pyramidia different forms of the god such
as Khepri, Re and Atum are a favourite decoration on the different sides,31
while a kneeling figure of the tomb owner in a niche with raised hands
worships the real sun in the sky.
Hymns also deal with the effects of the sun on the earth:
“You have taken your shape as Re to illuminate the Two Lands for that which you created as
a plan of your heart when you were alone. … You created mankind, small and large animals,
all that came into being and all that exists. Every face looks at its companion, they jubilate
because of you, they exult because of your Ka,32 they worship you according to the way you
created them, they kiss the earth for you because you created them, they speak to you with
their mouth, glorifying you with ‘Praise, praise’! Be greeted, you who has created all this!
The nobility and the people worship you, for you jump the animals of the desert, they un-
derstand how you take a lot of trouble with them.” (Bakir 1943; Assmann 1975, pp. 208–209)
Further evidence for the popularity of the god Re comes from the number
of personal names with his name as a theophorous element.33 For kings it
is more or less obligatory in at least one of their names, usually the throne
name. This also holds true for all the foreign rulers including the Hyksos,
who were maligned by later Egyptian propaganda as supposedly “ruling
without Re”. But Re-names are popular in all walks of society, as far as can
be seen. While kings’ names often contain a political programme, private
names usually contain a statement about its owner’s relation to the deity in
question. Thus, kings have throne names like Neb-hepet-Re “The lord of
the rudder is Re” (Menthuhotep II) or User-maat-Re “Strong is the truth of
Re” (Ramses II), while non-royal persons are called Ramses (i.e. Re-mesi-
su) “Re has born him”, Re-hotep “Re is content” or Meri-Re “Beloved of Re”.
The cult of the sun in Egypt only ends with the end of Pagan religion after
the triumph of Christianity. The preceding phase of strong Hellenization,
31
Rammant-Peeters 1983 (exemplarily Doc. 6, pls. IV–V).
32
The life force.
33
Ranke 1977, pp. 82–86; Lüddeckens 2000 (private personal names); von Beckerath 1999
(royal names).
56 Pandanus ’10
on the other hand, did not diminish it in any respect, even though Egyp-
tian Re sometimes is fused now with Greek Helios. A particularly striking
example for this is an architrave where a bust of Helios with a halo of rays
looks down from the winged sun disk, which traditionally was depicted
above doorways (Beck, Bol, Bückling 2005, pp. 616–617, Cat. 31.195).
The vitality as well as the appeal of Egyptian religion in general and sun
worship in particular is demonstrated in an exemplary way by an inter-
esting textual example. In the 5th century A.D. the Roman author Martia
nus Capella wrote his rhetorical manual De nuptiis Mercurii et Philologiae
(Dick 1969, p. 74; Stahl, Johnson 1977, p. 59). In the first part he presents
an extensive allegory, the marriage of Mercury and Philology, from which
the book also got its title. Although the gods involved mainly derive from
Greco-Roman mythology, nevertheless there are a not insignificant number
of references to Egyptian religious concepts to be noted. For example, while
ascending to heaven, Philology sees the solar boat with some animals of the
Dodekaoros (II 183). In view of the divine light she lauds the sun god with
a hymn containing not only the Latin Sol, but also 12 other names, four of
which are directly Egyptian – Serapis, Osiris, Horus und Ammon34 – and
a fifth – Typhon – is only explicable via Egyptian mythology. Behind Ty-
phon hides, of course, the Egyptian Seth as helper of the sun. After this an-
other name follows, the mysterious presentation of which is very reminis-
cent of the true and secret name of Re in Egyptian tradition. Philology says:
“Hail to you, true face of the gods, idol of the father, your number is 608 and the letters of
your name form the sacred name and the sign of the spirit”.
This slightly esoteric praise is to be explained by the fact that each letter
of the Greek alphabet also has a numerical value. Thus, behind the num-
ber 608 the word φρη is hidden, which again forms a word play with φρήν
“spirit, mental capacity”. The word φρη of course is nothing else but an aspi-
rated Greek rendition of the Egyptian Pre, i.e. the name of the sun god Re
with the definite masculine article, as is usual in the Late Period. So, for the
Roman rhetorician of Late Antiquity Martianus Capella, the true name of
the sun god was not the Greek Helios or Latin Sol, but the Egyptian P(h)re!
I.e. Amun.
34
2. “The soul of the sun permeates the whole world.” 57
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