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Learn about the importance of the pharaoh and of the priests in ancient rituals, and understand the influence of temples in ancient Egyptian society.
During rituals and festivals, the god was carried on a solar barge between the areas of a temple, or the temples of different cities.
Funerary carvings and paintings covering thousands of years as well as the Book of the Dead, depict the same ship and oar design.
Solar barges have been uncovered near or within several pharaohs' tombs.
They were intended to carry the pharaoh into the afterlife.Ancient Egyptians believed that Ra, the sun god, traveled the skies in a boat known as the solar barge. The solar barge was believed to cross over to mythological lands.
The god Ra believed mankind was conspiring against him. He ordered Sekhmet, the lion-headed war goddess, to kill all humans. To his chagrin, Ra quickly realized that with all humans gone there would be no one left to worship him. In order to stop the rampaging Sekhmet, beer was brewed and dyed red with pomegranate juice to resemble blood. Sekhmet drank every drop of the brew she could find, eventually passing out drunk. When she awoke, she was calmer, and her lion visage had changed into Bastet. The Festival of Drunkenness was celebrated in honor of that myth.
Unlike the daily rituals that took place in the temple and were performed by priests, festivals allowed the entire population of the city to participate. Festivals helped mark the passing of the seasons in the agricultural calendar. In reflecting the cycles of life, festivals offered a sense of consistency and structure for the regular citizens, thus reinforcing the sense of order that pharaohs were to provide for the citizens of Egypt as part of their godly duties.
The importance of these festivals is demonstrated by their longevity. Records show that Osiris festivals occurred for more than 2000 years. Some festivals served to reinforce state control, and promote the king's reign. Both the Opet and Sed jubilee festivals were specifically intended to celebrate the renewal of the king's power.
The temple hierarchy consisted of high priests, several types of priests, scribes and servants. The high priest was known as the prophet. Some divinities had up to four prophets, and they were the ones to perform the most advanced and complex rituals.
Egyptian priests were not confined to solely religious tasks, and in fact had crucial roles in Egypt's administration, most of which served to reaffirm the pharaoh as the proper vessel for the gods. Their focus within the temple was centered on the proper conduct of daily divine rituals, rather than as custodians of dogma or the indoctrination of individuals.
Scribes were custodians of the sacred sciences. Some priests were associated with the funeral rites and were considered the group with medical knowledge. The servants of the ka were low-ranking priests who carried food and offerings in funerary rituals. Lector priests were distinguished by their ability to read, and their main duty was to recite specialized religious texts in both temple and funerary rituals.
Priests and all the officials who served the temple worked only three months a year, with each period separated by a quarter of inactivity, at least within the temple compund. Each outgoing group handed over the temple and their tools to the newcomers. Only the high priesthood remained in permanent office within the temple.
(Behind the Scenes) The most sacred part of the temple was referred to as djesr djesru, the “holy of holies.” The most sacred inner sanctuary was where the shrine to the temple deity was located. Only priests were allowed within. Offerings were given, and rituals unseen by even the pharaoh were performed. While the team chose to allow any character access to this space in some game temples, normally it was reserved for priests alone.
Pharaohs and their priests often chose the site of these sacred temples because of some mythological connection, or an alignament with the cardinal points and certain stars. Once selected, a foundation ritual was performed.
The pharaoh was required to complete 10 steps in the ritual, which required a mix of offerings as well as specific construction techniques.
Once the temple was complete, construction of the chamber containing the shrine, or naos, began.The naos was where the god statue stood. The representation of the deity was usually in stone or wood and decorated with gold, silver and precious stones. Smaller temples had only one naos, while larger complexes such as the temple of Karnak had many chambers to honor gods such as Amun, Ptah, and Osiris. Each statue was believed to be a receptacle for the presence or essence of the god's ka, enabling it to take a physical form. Through the statue, the god came to the shrine to eat, drink, and communicate with the pharaoh, or with the priests standing in for the pharaoh.