THE LIBYAN PERIOD IN EGYPT

HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL STUDIES

INTO THE 21TH – 24TH DYNASTIES:
PROCEEDINGS OF A CONFERENCE AT LEIDEN UNIVERSITY,
25-27 OCTOBER 2007

G.P.F. BROEKMAN, R.J. DEMARÉE and O.E. KAPER (eds.)

NEDERLANDS INSTITUUT VOOR HET NABIJE OOSTEN

LEIDEN

PEETERS
LEUVEN
2009
 CONTENTS

Contents............................................................................................................................................ v
Introduction .................................................................................................................................... vii

David A. Aston,
Takeloth II, A King of the Herakleopolitan/Theban Twenty-Third Dynasty Revisited:
The Chronology of Dynasties 22 and 23. ......................................................................................... 1

Mariam F. Ayad,
The Transition from Libyan to Nubian Rule: the Role of the God’s Wife of Amun ..................... 29

Susanne Bickel,
The Inundation Inscription in Luxor Temple ................................................................................. 51

Helmut Brandl,
Bemerkungen zur Datierung von libyerzeitlichen Statuen aufgrund stilistischer Kriterien ........... 57

Gerard P.F. Broekman,

Takeloth III and the End of the 23rd Dynasty ................................................................................. 91

Aidan Dodson,
The Transition between the 21st and 22nd Dynasties Revisited..................................................... 103

Claus Jurman,
From the Libyan Dynasties to the Kushites in Memphis: Historical Problems
and Cultural Issues ....................................................................................................................... 113

Dan’el Kahn,
The Transition from Libyan to Nubian Rule in Egypt: Revisiting the Reign of Tefnakht........... 139

Olaf E. Kaper,
Epigraphic Evidence from the Dakhleh Oasis in the Libyan Period ............................................ 149

Kenneth A. Kitchen,
The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt: An Overview of Fact & Fiction................................... 161

Eva Lange,
The Sed-Festival Reliefs of Osorkon II at Bubastis: New Investigations .................................... 203

Marc Loth,
Thebanische Totenstelen der Dritten Zwischenzeit: Ikonographie und Datierung ...................... 219

Rita Lucarelli,
Popular Beliefs in Demons in the Libyan Period: The Evidence of the
Oracular Amuletic Decrees........................................................................................................... 231
José Lull,
Beginning and End of the High Priest of Amun Menkheperre .................................................... 241

Matthias Müller,
The “el-Hibeh” Archive: Introduction & Preliminary Information.............................................. 251

Brian Muhs,
Oracular Property Decrees in their Historical and Chronological Context .................................. 265

Andrzej Niwinski,
The Tomb Protection in the Theban 21st Dynasty: Unknown archaeological facts
gathered during the excavation of the Polish-Egyptian “Cliff Mission” at Deir el-Bahari
in the seasons 1999-2006.............................................................................................................. 277

Frédéric Payraudeau,
Takeloth III: Considerations on Old and New Documents........................................................... 291

M. Carmen Pérez Die,

The Third Intermediate Period Necropolis at Herakleopolis Magna............................................ 302

Robert Ritner,
Fragmentation and Re-integration in the Third Intermediate Period............................................ 327

Troy Leiland Sagrillo,

The Geographic Origins of the “Bubastite”Dynasty and Possible Locations
for the Royal Residence and Burial Place of Shoshenq I ............................................................. 341

Cynthia May Skeikholeslami,

The End of the Libyan Period and the Resurgence of the Cult of Montu .................................... 361

John H. Taylor,
Coffins as Evidence for a “North-South Divide” in the 22nd – 25th Dynasties ............................. 375

Anthony Leahy,
Dating Stelae of the Libyan Period from Abydos ........................................................................ 417

Discussions ................................................................................................................................... 441

Richard A. Fazzini,
Addendum to the Discussions on the Chapel of Osiris Heqa-Djet............................................... 446

Index of Place Names ................................................................................................................... 449

Index of Proper Names ............................................................................................................. …451
 POPULAR BELIEFS IN DEMONS IN THE LIBYAN PERIOD:
THE EVIDENCE OF THE ORACULAR AMULETIC DECREES

Rita Lucarelli

Introduction
One of the most interesting religious documents produced at Thebes during the first part of the
Libyan Period (21st and beginning of 22nd Dynasty)1 are the so-called Oracular Amuletic Decrees
(OAD). In the fourth series of the Hieratic Papyri in the British Museum, Edwards collected 21 of
them,2 while a few others (including oracle petitions and demotic self-dedications) were
published later in the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology.3
The main purpose of the OAD is magical, but these documents should be grouped apart from the
magical papyri stricto sensu. They would be better defined as sxr.w, “divine deliberations”,
which are emitted by an oracle, written down by the local priests of the temple and given to new-
born children to protect them from evil.
Oracles played a central role in the religious life of the theocratic State of Amun at Thebes;4 the
OAD are a product of this religious environment as far as personal religion is concerned. They
represent a different world of beliefs which is complementary to the official cult of Amun-Re,
praised in the hymnical literature of the period as the benevolent god who takes care of the world
and of the livings.5 Instead, in the OAD, a series of more practical needs are mentioned, which
have to be solved by divine intercession; the people employing the OAD were particularly
concerned about gaining immunity from diseases, avoiding dangers and injuries during travel,
and also protecting themselves at home against all kinds of possible hostile encounters, including
those with evil demonic beings. Although the OAD are often mentioned in current studies of
ancient Egyptian religion and magic, there is no in-depth investigation, yet, on the demons listed
in these texts, which in some cases corresponds to creatures mentioned in the mortuary papyri of
the same period.
As opposed to the owners of the illustrated mortuary papyri however, the addressees of the OAD
do not belong to the highest rank of the priestly circle of Amun but seem to be part of a lower

1 Only one document (L 7 in Edward’s edition, see footnote below) mentions the pharaoh Osorkon of the 22nd Dynasty;
from the orthographic point of view, most of these papyri can be dated to the 21st Dynasty.
2 I.E.S. Edwards, Hieratic Papyri in the British Museum. Fourth Series. Oracular Amuletic Decrees of the Late New
Kingdom, 2 vols., London 1960.
3 B. Bohleke, “An Oracular Amuletic Decree of Khonsu in the Cleveland Museum of Art”, JEA 83 (1997), 155-167
(pCleveland 14.723); H.-W. Fischer-Elfert, “Two Oracle Petitions Addressed to Horus-Khau with Some Notes on the
Oracular Amuletic Decrees”, JEA 82 (1996), 129-144 (pBerlin P 8525 and 8526); K. Ryholt, “A Pair of Oracle
Petitions Addressed to Horus-of-the-Camp”, JEA 79 (1993), 189-198; H. Thompson, “Two Demotic Self-dedications”,
JEA 26 (1941), 68-78. As a matter of fact, oracle petitions and demotic self-dedications are similar to the OAD in their
apotropaic aim of protecting the suppliant, through an address to the gods, from evil and adverse influences. Cf. also
the contribution of B. Muhs in this volume on the Oracular Property Decrees.
4 Cf. M. Römer, Gottes- und Priesterherrschaft in Ägypten am Ende des Neuen Reiches, ÄAT 21, Wiesbaden 1994,
133ff.
5 Cf. the recent studies of C. Knigge, Das Lob der Schöpfung. Die Entwicklung ägyptischer Sonnen- und
Schöpfungshymnen nach dem Neuen Reich, OBO 219, Göttingen 2006.
232 RITA LUCARELLI

class of the society.6 Moreover, differently from the deceased acting in the Book of the Dead, in
the OAD the recipient of the spells does not play an active role and has no requirement to gain a
secret knowledge of names and places in order to overcome danger. His need is primarily that of
“being kept safe” and the generic formula occurring in the spells of the OAD is the following:
iw=(i/k/n) Sd=f/s/N r.., “I/you/we shall keep him/her/N7 safe from…”, to which the mention of
the danger follows. We are dealing here with the “defensive magic”, which as opposed to the
“productive magic” characterizing most of the funerary spells of the Book of the Dead, does not
imply an initiation process.8
As a matter of fact, the OAD deal with dangers to be encountered in this life, which seem to be
more various and multiform compared to those of the beyond; therefore they need to be carefully
listed in order to be known and repelled by magic. This is clear in the stylistic form of the
amuletic decrees, which are made basically as a catalogue of misfortunes and negative mundane
experiences.9 The need to itemise dangers and compose these “apotropaic lists”10 makes the
grammatical structure of the sentences very simple; consequently, it is relatively easy to
individuate demonic names and epithets through the texts. Moreover, in the OAD, in a similar
way to the threat formulas, evil persons together with abstract dangers are brought to a symbolic
demonization as transgressors of the order in the created world; these type of references also
evoke parallels with eschatological and funerary texts referring to the punishment in hell and to
Apophis, whose production increases in late Pharaonic Egypt.11 On this basis, it is interesting to
see whether the demonic beings from which the owner of the amuletic papyrus must be kept safe
have names which also occur in funerary texts and if they refer to the same evil entities operating
in the beyond.

Types of Demons in the OAD

In this paper I will discuss a lexicographical sample of the demonic names and epithets, which
occur in the OAD and which sometimes also appear in other magical texts. I will focus on those
general terms which constitute the core of the apotropaic lists of dangers to avoid in the OAD,
and leave the specific occurrences of single beings which deserve a longer analysis in parallel to
the other magical and ritual sources of the ancient Egyptian religion.12
Let us start with the Ax. The OAD mention the Ax very often, also in its feminine correspondent
Ax.y/Ax.t, which indicates an evil spirit. A general formula mentioning the demonic akhu is:
Iw=i Sd=s r… Ax nb Ax.y nb, “I shall keep her safe from…every male spirit and from every female
spirit”;13 in a slightly different variant it is written: iw=n Sd=s r rA-a.w nb n Ax rA-a.w nb n Ax.t,
“we shall keep her safe from every action of a male spirit and from every action of a female

6 It is interesting to note the higher number of women among the 21 owners of the OAD published by Edwards: 14
were written for female individuals and only 7 for men.
7 N = name of the papyrus’ owner.
8 Cf. J.F. Borghouts, “Lexicographical Aspects of Magical Texts” in: Grunert, S./ Hafemann, I. (eds.): Textcorpus und
Wörterbuch. Aspekte zur ägyptischen Lexikographie, PdÄ 14, Leiden / Boston / Köln 1999, 149-177, in particular p.
151. In the funerary literature defensive magic exists as well although confined to a smaller group of spells aiming at
preventing evil influences of impure animals and demonic beings, while in the magical texts of daily life defensive
magic is more prominent.
9 Römer, op.cit., 266ff.; Borghouts, op.cit., 168.
10 Cf. D. Frankfurter, Evil Incarnate: Rumors of Demonic Conspiracy and Satanic Abuse in History, Princeton 2007,
18.
11 S.N. Morschauser, Threat Formulae in Ancient Egypt, UMI, Ann Arbor 1992, 310.
12 A complete analysis of the demonic beings mentioned in these and other magical texts of the New Kingdom and
Third Intermediate Period will appear in my study Demons in the magical and funerary papyri of the New Kingdom
and Third Intermediate Period (in preparation).
13 E.g. in L2, vso 34-35/L6 rto 99-100/P3 rto 100-101 (Edward’s edition). The same formula is also in a Demotic self-
dedication (pBM 10622) published by Thompson, op.cit., 70.
 POPULAR BELIEFS IN DEMONS IN THE LIBYAN PERIOD 233

spirit”.14 This variant makes explicit a quality of the Ax.w, which appears also in the funerary
texts, as noted already by R. Demarée in his study on the Ax iqr n Ra-stelae: they have an active,
dynamic power on earth, which might create obstacles for the livings and therefore needs to be
kept appeased.15
In general, the rendering of Ax as “evil spirit” may seem to contrast the meaning of this word in
the funerary texts, where it generally indicates the blessed dead in opposition to the mwt.w, the
damned ones. In the OAD instead, Ax.w and mwt.w are listed together among the evil beings to
avoid. As a matter of fact, already in the Coffin Texts we have mentions of evil Ax.w who may
damage the deceased;16 in the later funerary literature the occurrences of potentially dangerous
Ax.w become more frequent. For instance, latently dangerous Ax.w live in the mounds of the
netherworld described in Ch. 149 of the Book of the Dead. Two iA.w.t of the Ax.w are mentioned
(the 5th and the 7th mounds); the Ax.w of the 5th mound are described as “living on the shadows of
the Weary Ones”.17 Although there is no clear evidence that these dangerous Ax.w living in the
regions of the netherworld are the same spirits from which the livings seek protection in the
OAD, it is striking that only starting from the New Kingdom are they mentioned outside the
funerary literature in this negative sense.18 In the sources of the New Kingdom instead, the
blessed Ax.w are generally mentioned with the composite expressions Ax iqr and Ax Sps.19
Starting from the end of the New Kingdom, at the latest, the Ax.w who affected the livings were
believed to come from the beyond; they were probably seen as disembodied spirits of the dead,
similar to the mwt.w. As a matter of fact, the indications about the Ax.w as a sort of revenant dead
and ghosts are not missing also in the religious texts of the New Kingdom and later, as remarked
in a few studies on this topic.20 In particular, in the Calendars of Lucky and Unlucky days there is
an explicit mention of the importance of keeping the Ax.w satisfied in order to avoid them to
provoke damage. To this purpose the rituals of sHtp Ax.w, “appeasing the akhu” and of making
prt-xrw-offerings to them are mentioned;21 we also know a demotic “Book to conjure the
akhu”.22
It may also be noted that in the funerary spells, when the term applies to dangerous spirits, it is
always used in the plural form while single Ax and Ax.t occur more often as dangerous beings in
magical texts. Evil spirits named Ax.w (both in singular female and male forms as well as a

14 T1, vso 22.

15 R.J. Demaree, The Ax iqr n Ra-Stelae. On ancestor worship in ancient Egypt, Egyptologische Uitgaven 3, Leiden
1983, 269ff.
16 See references in M. Smith, The mortuary texts of papyrus BM 10507, Catalogue of demotic papyri in the British
Museum 3, London 1987, 51-52.
17 Cf. pNu in G. Lapp, The Papyrus of Nu (BM EA 10477), Catalogue of Books of the Dead in the British Museum 1,
London 1997, Pl. 83, col. 35: .. anx =sn m Sw.t nn.y.w. The nn.y.w, “the Weary Ones” are mentioned also in Ch. 5, 7
and 153 A of the Book of the Dead and seem to represent a category of inhabitants of the Realm of the Dead; in Ch. 7
Apopis is said to live on them while in Ch. 153A a fisher-demon wants to catch them; cf. my remarks in The Book of
the Dead of Gatseshen. Ancient Egyptian Funerary Religion in the 10th Century BC, Egyptologische Uitgaven 21,
Leiden 2006, 146. In one magico-medical papyrus the nn.y.w are mentioned as disease-demons (pHearst 14,8; cf. C.
Leitz, (ed.), Lexikon der ägyptischen Götter und Götterbezeichnungen, 7 vols, OLA 110-116, Leuven 2002
(henceforth: LGG), IV, 249.
18 The earliest source is the “Instruction of Ani”; cf. G. Posener, “Les 'afarit dans l’ancienne Égypte”, MDAIK 37
(1981), 383-401; Smith, op.cit., 125, quotes a parallel with the Coptic descendant iq: W.E. Crum, A Coptic Dictionary,
Clarendon Press 1939, p. 89a.
19 Demarée, op.cit., 194, 269-75.
20 Besides the already mentioned article of Posener in MDAIK 37, cf. also Y. Koenig, “Un revenant inconvenant?:
(Papyrus Deir el-Medineh 37), BIFAO 79 (1979), 103-119, which includes earlier bibliographical references.
21 See references in Demarée, op.cit., 272f.
22 In pBM 604 vso, II, 26; cf. references in LGG I, 41, F.
234 RITA LUCARELLI

collective) are prevented from entering the body in a few incantations of the magico-medical
pEdwin Smith;23 in the same papyrus the Ax.w are mentioned together with men and gods in the
passage: “Men, gods, Ax.w and dead ones, keep away from me! I am the Horror (bwt)!”24
As a matter of fact, any category of beings, from men to gods, and those standing in between (like
the Ax.w and the mwt.w), can be negatively characterized in situations of danger. In one spell
against nightmares of the Ramesside period, the Ax.w are mentioned together with the mwt.w and
the DAy.w, the “opponents”.25 Moreover, in a few demotic texts, the derivate form ixy is
employed to indicate malevolent Ax.w;26 also the Coptic iH for “demon, ghost”, seems to be
derived from the Egyptian Ax.27
In conclusion, we may say that the OAD occurrences of this term in a negative sense fit well in
the wider context of the late Pharaonic demonology, where categories of supernatural beings
already known earlier, like the Ax.w, seem to play a more influential role not only in the
netherworld but also on earth.
Another term much attested in the OAD and referring to demonic beings which play a similar role
to the Ax.w is wrt. The wrt are mentioned in various OAD and, like the derivative ixy from Ax, the
variant wry survives with a negative connotation in the demotic self-dedicatory texts.28 As
opposed to the Ax.w though, the wrt-demons do not occur in the mortuary texts.29 One of the rare
occurrences of this term outside the OAD occurs on a hieratic ostracon of the Ramesside Period
found at Deir el Medina and published by Černý: “May you make a wrt for me because the one
which you did has been stolen”.30 In this case it seems that to possess a wrt is useful, while in the
OAD their mention is always synonymous of danger. Moreover, the term without article and with
the female ending -t seems to apply both to the male and female manifestations of these spirits.31
Their mention in the OAD is generally associated with a place of provenance, which is often a
watery one (river, marshes, canal, lake, spring, etc.); yet, there are wrt belonging to the earth, to a
mountain and to the street; finally, we know too of a wrt of the sky. This sort of evidence recalls
what has been defined as the “topological classification of the demonic”, namely the folkloric
custom to feel the places of the local landscape as possessed by supernatural entities.32 In other
decrees the wrt can be attached to people, so we find a wrt of a man and one of a woman, and
even a wrt of a family. In one passage they are mentioned as a group as well, and the wrt of the
sky is said to be the first of these.33 The texts do not provide any other information about the
nature, iconography and specific role of these beings; only in one passage is it said that a wrt is

23 See pEdwin Smith XIX, 6; XVIII, 18; XIX 6; J.H. Breasted, The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, Chicago 1930.
24 J.F. Borghouts, Ancient Egyptian Magical Texts, NISABA 9, Leiden 1978, n. 16.
25 Borghouts, op.cit, nr. 6 (pLeiden I 348); cf. also n. 10 in the same volume (pCheaster Beatty VIII).
26 Thompson, op.cit., 76f.; Smith, op.cit., 51: “you will be safe from all spirits of the earth daily”.
27 See footnote 18.
28 Thompson, op.cit., 77; in pInsinger a tA wrt is the demon “who causes the end”: J.F. Quack, “Balsamierung und
Totengericht in Papyrus Insinger”, Enchoria 25 (1999), 27-38, in particular p. 28.
29 However, see CT VI, 36h, quoted by J.F. Borghouts, “Divine Intervention in Ancient Egypt and its Manifestations
(bAw)”, in R.J. Demarée (ed.), Gleanings from Deir el Medina, Egyptologische Uitgaven 1, 1982, 1-70, in particular p.
51, fn. 61.
30 J. Černý and P. Grandet, Catalogue des ostraca hiératiques non littéraires de Deir el-Médinéh/8: Nos 706 – 830,
DFIFAO 39, Cairo 2000, 251, quoted in Edwards, op.cit, XXII; Borghouts, Divine Intervention, 15-19, mentioning also
an occurrence on a libation basin from Deir el Medina.
31 Edwards, op.cit., XXII, notes that the rare male form wr, which occurs rarely in the OAD, seems to be a corruption
for wrt.
32 D. Frankfurter, op.cit., 18.
33 Edwards, op.cit, L2, rto 32-33: tA wrt tA pt tA HAt nA wr(w.)t.
 POPULAR BELIEFS IN DEMONS IN THE LIBYAN PERIOD 235

created by malevolent gods against a man.34 It seems that the owner of the amuletic papyrus is
not interested to know anything else but the name of these beings, while at the same time he is
very much concerned with being rescued from them. Therefore, the term seems to be a general
epithet for evil spirits inhabiting different places on earth and in the sky but also possessing
human beings or representing deceased relatives. In this case the beliefs in the wrt-spirits recall
the Western folklore of the ghost-stories, which describe disincarnated spirits appearing in
different places and sometimes entering the body of human beings.
It is also interesting to note that the determinatives of the word wrt in the OAD are the egg and
the cobra hieroglyphs, the cobra sometimes being replaced by the divine determinative of the
falcon on a standard. The same determinative applies to the term wrt, “uraeus” and it is used as
epithet for many female goddesses like Hathor, Isis and Sekhmet, especially in the Late Period,
besides being the name of the hippo-goddess (Thoeris).35
Moreover, a probable derivation of the epithet wrt with an ominous meaning may be seen in the
demotic epithet a.wy wry, “evil genius”, corresponding to the sixth house of the horoscope (the
Greek κακή τύχη).36 A probable Ramesside parallel to this astrological term occurs in a magical
spell on the epagomenal days in the Cairo Calendar of Lucky and Unlucky Days.37
This evidence shows how important, although often undervalued, was the influence of astronomy
both on the personal and the official religion of late Pharaonic Egypt. In this regard we should
also mention a passage of the OAD mentioning the nTr.w n pA hrw 10, “decan-gods”,38 as having
an evil influence on humankind.39
The above text mentioning the decans is not the only one in the OAD where the plural term nTr.w
is employed to indicate creatures with a dangerous attitude towards humankind. In one passage,
for instance, it is referred to a series of actions concerning different sorts of evil to be avoided
(illness, disorder, evil words, evil eye, evil glance, evil colour), which are provoked by the bAw of
local Theban gods (Amun, Mut, Khonsu, Montu, Maat and the deified Amenemope).40 These
gods seem to become dangerous since they “start a manifestation” (TAi bAw) against people. In
other passages protection is promised from “any god and any goddess who does wrong”41 and
“who create a poisonous substance”.42 The latter are the same as those who create a wrt-demon
against a man, as mentioned above;43 these malevolent gods creating evil spirits against
humankind recall those potentially dangerous deities who send demonic emissaries on earth, like
Sekhmet and Bastet.

34 Idem, L2 Vs. 84-85 : NTr.w nty.w Hr wrt r rmT.

35 For an analysis of the epithet tA-wrt in relation to Thoeris see J.F. Borghouts, Divine Intervention.
36 Thompson, op.cit., 77. Cf. also G.R. Hughes, “An Astrologer’s Handbook in Demotic Egyptian”, in L.H. Lesko
(ed.), Egyptological studies in honor of Richard A. Parker presented on the occasion of his 78th birthday, dec. 10,
1983, Hannover 1986, 53-69.
37 This is pCairo JE 86637, vs. 10, 2: “he shall not enter the house of the wry”; cf. J.F. Borghouts, Divine Intervention,
51, fn. 61.
38 L1, rto 66.
39 On the nefarious influence of the decans as xAty.w-demons see below; A. von Lieven, Der Himmel über Esna. Eine
Fallstudie zur Religiosen Astronomie in Ägypten am Beispiel der kosmologischen Decken- und Architravinschriften im
Tempel von Esna, ÄA 64, Wiesbaden 2002, 46-50. The decans can also have a protective function as amulets; in the
necropolis of Tanis they were depicted on the wristbands in a tomb of the royal necropolis; cf. P. Montet, La necropole
royal de Tanis, II, Paris 1947, 67-69.
40 L1 rto 32-34; for a list of occurrences on the bAw of the gods, cf. Borghouts, Divine Intervention., 56, fn. 102.
41 L2 rto 18: nTr nb nTr.t nb.t thi The verb thi with negative meaning occurs only in this passage and recalls the
Ptolemaic religious texts where it also indicates “to profane something holy in a cultic environment”; cf. P. Wilson, A
Ptolemaic Lexicon. A Lexicographical Study of the Texts in the Temple of Edfu, OLA 78, Leuven 1997, 1148.
42 T2 vso, 83-84: nTr.w nty.w Hr irt-a.
43 See fn. 34.
236 RITA LUCARELLI

Finally, among awkward deities are those “gods who give a man as replacement”44 and “the gods
who find someone in the fields and kill him in the town and vice versa”,45 suggesting that these
evil gods could indifferently inhabit deserted as well as crowded places,46 according to what has
been called a “topography of catastrophe”.47
A formulation against dangerous gods also occurs on a petition written on a statue of Osorkon II:
“You shall keep me safe from all (evil) decisions (sxd for sxr) of Amun, Ptah, Bastet, Osiris,
Harsiese, of every god, of every goddess of the sky and of the earth”.48 Therefore, at that time the
fear of divine wrath was not only a concern of the privates but also of the royal persons.
Moreover, we may think that these malevolent nTr.w are in fact demons hiding under the
appearance of gods. To name the demonic beings as nTrw may be a sort of perversion for not
speaking out their real demonic name. This evidence could be compared to a passage of the Tales
of Horus and Seth recorded in pChester Beatty I, where the term Hm, “majesty”, seems to be a
replacement for the negative term xft.y, “opponent”.49
As a matter of fact, the term nTr often occurs in magical spells within a list including Ax.w and
men; this suggests that the magic contained in the amuletic spells can defend the papyrus’ owner
from any dangerous being, whether this be a spirit or a god with evil intentions. Moreover, it is
interesting to note that most of the occurrences of the plural form nTr.w, indicating both
benevolent and malevolent gods, occur particularly in the magical and ritual texts of the Late
Period and even more during the Greco-Roman period.50 Very probably, the formulations of the
amuletic decrees announced a stylistic/religious trend which would have become more consistent
in the later periods, when minor gods and supernatural beings seem to multiply in the religious
experience of people and gain a more prominent position beside to the ever-lasting official gods
like Amun-Ra and Osiris.
Apart from the malevolent gods, there are other categories of demons in the OAD, which find
parallels in other magical and medical texts, and occasionally in funerary texts as well. Their
names seem to be interchangeable and the order in which three of them follow in the texts
(xAty.w, SmAy.w and wpwty.w) is always the same, with parallels in later texts.51 Nevertheless,
each of these bands possesses a few traits distinguishing them from the others.
First in the list are the xAty.w, “the slaughterers”, whose earliest occurrence is found in the
Pyramid Texts as part of the entourage of the dead king.52 The xAty.w are indeed of celestial
origin; it has also been suggested, as mentioned above, that they were the dead decan gods.53 As a

44 In P3 rto, 59-60 (LGG IV, p. 507): nTr.w nty.w Hr di.t rmT m Sb.
45 L1, rto 39-41, L4, 10-11: NTr.w nty.w Hr gm.t rmT m sx.t mwt xdb=f m pA dmy.t Ts pXr.
46 For a list of other epithets indicating ill-willing gods in the OAD see J.F.Borghouts, “Lexicographical Aspects of
Magical Texts”, in S. Grunert and I. Hoffman, Textcorpus und Wörterbuch, Leiden 1999, 149-177, in particular p. 173.
47 Cf. Frankfurter, op.cit.,14.
48 H.K. Jacquet-Gordon, “The Inscriptions on the Philadelphia-Cairo Statue of Osorkon II”, JEA 46 (1960), 12-23.
49 G. Posener, “Sur l'emploi euphémique de chefti(u) "ennemi(s)"”, ZÄS 96 (1970), 30-35 and J.F. Quack, “Sur
l'emploi euphemique de chefet "ennemi" en demotique", RdE 40 (1989), 197-198; I wish to thank J.F. Borghouts for
having brought this text to my attention.
50 Cf. for instance the entries for nTr.w in LGG.
51 Cf. for instance the occurrences in relation to Tutu master of demons: O.E. Kaper, The Egyptian God Tutu: A Study
of the Sphinx-God and Master of Demons with a Corpus of Monuments, OLA 119, Leuven 2003, 61 and fn. 2. See also
M.J. Raven, “Charms for Protection During the Epagomenal Days”, in J. van Dijk (ed.), Essays on Ancient Egypt in
Honour of Herman te Velde, Egyptological Memoirs 1, Groningen 1997, 275-291.
52 Cf. PT 1535 and Edwards’s L1 rto 48, L2 rto 62, L5 vso 9, L6 rto 48, T rto 44, P3 rto 99, NY rto 33. For a complete
list of occurrences of the xAty.w in the OAD and in other texts cf. LGG V, 635-637.
53 Cf. above fn. 39.
 POPULAR BELIEFS IN DEMONS IN THE LIBYAN PERIOD 237

matter of fact, in the OAD Horus-Sopdu, who is also the main god of the decans, is indicated as
head of the xAty.w as well.54
These demons are also often attested in the magical texts of the New Kingdom55 and in the
temple texts of the Ptolemaic period.56 In these non-funerary texts they are always described as
executors of the divine will and punishers on earth. Also in the OAD they fulfil this function and
generally manifest themselves as a collective,57 mainly in connection with Sekhmet in her
aggressive and potentially destructive aspect. However, as happens often with the terrifying
demons of the texts of the Late and Ptolemaic Periods, the slaughterers can also play the role of
protectors of the temple against evil. In pBremmer-Rhind the slaughterers of Ra threaten Apophis
and those of Sekhmet kill him, fill their mouth with his flesh and slurp his blood,58 while in Edfu
the same are explicitly mentioned as protectors of the temple and called xAty.w nxty.w, “the
strong slaughterers” in Edfu59 and xAty.w qn.w, “the powerful slaughterers” in Dendera.60
In the funerary texts dating back to the New Kingdom and later, and in particular in the Saite
redaction of the Book of the Dead, it is the dangerous aspect of the demons which is stressed,
very often always in connection to Sekhmet.61 This recalls the similarly negative function that, as
we have seen, the slaughterers have in most of the magical texts of the New Kingdom and in the
OAD above all.62
Apart from the OAD, there are only a few other occurrences of these beings in texts of the Third
Intermediate Period: a graffito from the cenotaph of Seti I, where the writer wishes to be saved by
the demons, and a Ptah-statuette, probably from Thebes, on which it is wished that they will not
importune anyone in their destiny.63 Therefore, the presence of the xAty.w in the OAD is one of
the rare sources attesting the active role of these demonic beings during the Libyan Period.
In the OAD the slaughterers are often listed together with the SmAy.w, “the wandering demons”.64
These are generally associated with Bastet in various occurrences in magical and ritual texts of
the Late and Ptolemaic Period; a curious iconographical representation occurs in the Book of the
Night, where they appear as a triad of beings, a woman in between two men, lying on their side.65
They could perhaps be paralleled to the Western folkloric figures of the gremlins because of their

54 L3, B22, T2 rt 49, C1 39-41 ; cf. Edwards, op.cit., 24, 64, 96.
55 Cf. C. Leitz, Tagewählerei. Das Buch HAt nHH pH.wy Dt und verwandte Texte, Ägyptologische Abhandlungen 55,
Wiesbaden 1994, 244-255; M. Bommas, Die Mythiesierung der Zeit. Die beiden Bücher über die altägyptischen
Schalttage des magischen pLeiden I 346, GOF IV/37, Wiesbaden 1999, 35-37.
56 Cf. von Lieven, op.cit., 50-55.
57 More rarely a single xAty is mentioned in the OAD and in ritual and magical texts of the Late Period; cf. LGG V,
635.
58 See references LGG V, 638.
59 Idem, 637.
60 Idem, 638.
61 For the role of the xAty.w in the Book of the Dead see my article: “Demons in the Book of the Dead”, in B. Backes,
I. Munro and S. Stöhr (eds.), Totenbuch-Forschungen. Gesammelte Beiträge des 2. Internationalen Totenbuch-
Symposiums Bonn, 25. bis 29 September 2005, SAT 11, Wiesbaden 2006, 203-212.
62 However, mention must be made of a singular demotic text of the Roman period which looks like a glorification of
the dead and contains an invocation to the xAty.w to welcome the deceased under their protection: cf. M. Chauveau,
“Glorification d’une morte anonyme. P. dém. Louvre N 2420”, RdÉ 41, 1990, 3-8.
63 A similar passage occurs in pAnastasi I of the New Kingdom; cf. H-W. Fischer-Elfert, Die satirische Streitschrift
des Papyrus Anastasi I : Übersetzung und Kommentar, ÄA 44, Wiesbaden 1986, 39.
64 L1 rto 48-49/68, L3 45, L5 vso 10, L6 rto 49, P3 rto 100, NY rto 34, P4, 12-13, T2 rto 82.
65 See occurrences in LGG.
238 RITA LUCARELLI

straying around, as the name itself indicates.66 As with the xAty.w, the SmAy.w may have been
related to astral bodies.67
In the OAD as well as in the magical and medical texts of the New Kingdom and especially in the
temple texts of the Ptolemaic period, the wandering demons are connected to the iAd.t rnp.t, “the
pestilence of the year”. The reason of their presence in the OAD is the same as for the xAty.w: the
people were concerned about the executors belonging to the aggressive goddesses, who could
arrive on earth and bring misfortune.
Among the bands of demons, a short mention must be made of the Hryty.w, demons “who cause
terror”,68 occurring in two decrees.69 Their occurrence in the OAD is unparalleled, but their name
may derive from the singular Hry, “horror”, occurring as the name of a being in the Book of the
Earth.70 Moreover, one Hryty, “the terrible one”, is attested in Edfu in a ritual scene of the killing
of Seth, with whom this epithet must be associated.
To conclude, in the OAD “every messenger of every god and of every goddess” are mentioned,
from which the owner of the papyrus must be protected. It seems therefore that the “messengers”
as a collective are meant, although the name occurs in the singular.71 An evil messenger also
occurs in Ch. 29 of the Book of the Dead, which is a spell to avoid the heart being seized by
demonic beings. At the beginning of the spell, the deceased says: “back, messenger of every
god”!72
Also the wpwty.w are often associated with Sekhmet both in funerary, magical and temple texts.73
In the funerary texts the messengers can also be connected to Osiris.74 Moreover, in Ch. 163 of
the Book of the Dead, a text occurring in the Late Period, it is written: “If this book is used on
earth, he (i.e. the deceased) shall not be seized by the messengers who attack those who commit
wrong in the whole earth”.75 As noted by Barguet,76 this passage refers to the messengers of
Osiris, who were related to the Judgement of the Dead and consequently one of their functions
was to punish the sinners in the realm of the dead. Thoth, god of wisdom and writer of the verdict
of the Judgement, can also take the epithet of “messenger”; it is probably not a coincidence that
the various pictorial representations of a single wpwty in the temples of Dendera and Edfu show a
baboon, which is an animal manifestation of Thoth that appears very often in the weighing of the
heart scene of Ch. 125 of the Book of the Dead.77
There is no mention of the judging role of the messengers in the OAD. However it may be
assumed that, as in the other cases of bands of demons mentioned in the decrees, their duties in
the netherworld were not incompatible with the negative influence they had on earth; on the
contrary, such an influence was considered to be even stronger because of their central role

66 See translation of SmAy.w as “gremlins” in Bohleke, op.cit., 158, l. 12.

67 Cf. Kaper, op.cit., 90, on the seven demons as the seven decans around the sun; Leitz, Tagewählerei, 246, advances
the hypothesis that they are the seven stars of the Great Bear.
68 An alternative translation of these epithet would be “those who are above”, from the preposition Hr, suggesting a
celestial origin of these beings.
69 L5 vso 8 and NY rto 28.
70 Cf. LGG V, 463.
71 Ipwty (variant for wpwty, “messenger, emissary”): NY rto 31-32, 34, L6 rto 50-51.
72 On this and other occurrences of the wpwty.w in the Book of the Dead cf. my article in SAT 11, op.cit.
73 See references in LGG II, 364f.
74 See CT III, 304f and V, 331g-h and Ch. 125 of the Book of the Dead, where the deceased asks Osiris, Lord of the
Atef crown, to be rescued from them.
75 Lepsius, op.cit., Pl. 77, ll. 17-18: ir ir=tw mDAt tn Hr tp tA nn kfA.tw=f in ipwty.w th nty(.w) irr(w) swAw n tA Dr=f.
76 P. Barguet, Le Livre des morts des anciens égyptiens, Paris 1957: 235, fn. 23.
77 The use of wpwty as epithet of Thoth is also attested on a hieratic ostracon of the New Kingdom and in the temple
of Dendera; in Kom Ombo and in Philae it occurs as wpwty nfr; cf. LGG II, 363.
 POPULAR BELIEFS IN DEMONS IN THE LIBYAN PERIOD 239

among the demonic inhabitants in the beyond.78 Last but not least, in earlier funerary texts such
as the Pyramid Texts, the Coffin Texts and also in the Book of the Dead, wpwty is an epithet of
the deceased in his active role of executer of the divine will. Considering the ancient Egyptian
beliefs in the revenant dead, which are attested in the OAD mentioning the Ax.w and the mwt.w,
we may conclude that the wpwty.w also corresponded to a category of dead people sent to earth
from the beyond.

Conclusion
The catalogue of demons and demonized dangers contained in the OAD, part of which has been
discussed above, was conceived within a programme by part of the temple authorities aimed at
revaluating the earthly influence of minor gods and supernatural creatures.79 Most of them have a
heavenly origin and were already known in earlier periods, especially for their role in the realm of
the dead.
The demons of the OAD were considered a cause of evil in daily life, which needed to be
repulsed by divine intercession. The priests and the temple authorities, by producing and
distributing the amuletic papyri, were the intermediaries with the gods who pronounced the
oracular decrees.
When publishing the OAD, Edwards stated a very short span of time for their production and use,
presuming that their popularity increased and decreased very suddenly. However, the attempt of
the Theban priests of the Libyan period to link the popular beliefs in demons to the local temples
did not cease with the OAD but continued in the Ptolemaic period with the increasing use of
protective amulets, which spread through the whole late antique Mediterranean world.
Lists of demonic beings are not a peculiarity of the OAD and of other ancient Egyptian magical
texts, but they can be found in other religious literature such as the Zoroastrian Vendidad and the
Babylonian exorcistic rites.80 This testifies to the broad spectrum of the ancient Egyptian
demonology as depicted in these documents, which could also be studied successfully using an
anthropologically-oriented approach.81

78 On the role of the wpwty.w as divine messengers in ancient Egypt see B.U. Schipper, “Angels or Demons?
Messengers of God in Ancient Egypt”, in: F.V. Reiterer, T. Nicklas and K. Schöpflin (eds.), Angels. The Concept of
Celestial Beings - Origins, Development and Reception (Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature Yearbook 2007),
Berlin / New York 2007, 1-19, in particular 10-14.
79 Cf. Frankfurter, op.cit., 15.
80 Idem, pp. 15-19.
81 An anthropological study of the OAD and in general of ancient Egyptian demonology is part of my current research
and has been the topic of a paper which I will publish in the near future.
 NEDERLANDS INSTITUUT VOOR HET NABIJE OOSTEN
THE NETHERLANDS INSTITUTE FOR THE NEAR EAST
INSTITUT NÉERLANDAIS DU PROCHE-ORIENT

Egyptological Publications
Series published by the Netherlands Institute for the Near East, Leiden

Volume 23

THE LIBYAN PERIOD IN EGYPT

Historical and Cultural Studies into the 21st-24th Dynasties.
Proceedings of a Conference at Leiden University, 25-27 October 2007
G.P.F. Broekman, R.J. Demarée and O.E. Kaper (eds.)
XIII, 457 pp.; ISBN 978-90-6258-223-5. € 80,– (excl. VAT)

This volume contains the Proceedings of
a conference held in October 2007 at Leiden
University on the Libyan Period in Egypt.
The study of the Third Intermediate
Period, and most notably its chronology, has
become stuck in controversies ever since
publications by David Aston, Anthony
Leahy, John Taylor and others raised doubts
as to the chronology presented in Kitchen’s
seminal study The Third Intermediate Period
in Egypt (1972). There had been only a
single conference held on the Libyan
dynasties before, organized by Leahy at the
School of Oriental and African Studies in
London in 1986 under the title Libya and
Egypt. There was clearly a need to discuss
the controversial aspects of the chronology
and culture of the period with all the parties
involved.
The timely nature of the conference was
confirmed by the enthusiastic response from
those colleagues who were invited to
participate. In the end, a total of 24 speakers
presented in front of an audience of some
120 scholars and students hailing from
fifteen different countries. It was thought
that the chronological issues surrounding
Dynasties 21-24, the Libyan Period, should
be the principal focus of discussion, because
it is here that the largest uncertainties still
remain. In addition, several scholars were
invited to present recent archaeological finds
from their own field work. Only by
considering new material may we hope to
solve the remaining problems, and new
insights into the Libyan Period are likely to
emerge from the combined study of a wide
variety of sources.
The topics of controversy lie mainly in
the realm of chronology. Apart from this,
several papers deal with the cultural
developments of the period. An interesting
joint theme that emerges from these is the
appearance of archaism in the art of the
second half of the Libyan period. Several
papers include comments on a newly found
interest in the proportions and iconography
from the classical periods of the past,
notably of the Middle Kingdom.

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