“If one considers this in terms of the natural cycles associated with the two offerings, the solar cycle was in crisis at sunrise and sunset(as the incense ball was thrown from the king’s fingers and as it landed in the censer); the lunar cycle during the blacked-out moon (when incense was waiting to be lit); and the seasonal cycle at the transition between the dry, harvest season and the inundation (when liquid was being transferred from storage containers to libation vessels and from libation vessels to consumption units).”¹  Katherine Eaton, “Ancient Egyptian Temple Ritual: Performance, Pattern, and Practice,” 168.

 

In a previous article, I discussed some modifications that could be made based on ancient Egyptian ritual movements. The main source was a work by Katherine Eaton. In Ancient Egyptian Temple Ritual: Performance, Pattern, and Practice, Eaton examines patterns of representation in posture, gesture, and movement in the ritual scenes from the monuments of Sety I, Ramesses I, and Ramesses II.² The archaeological evidence that was included in the study mostly dates from the early Nineteenth Dynasty period. In her book, Eaton also discusses the ancient Egyptian view of transitional times. Some of the focus of elements of ancient Egyptian ritual practice dealt with transitional times. I will explore some of these elements and their importance to the understanding of the daily periods chosen to do rituals. 

Eaton explains how the daily rituals of ancient Egyptian temples fit Egyptian cosmology. She connects incense burning and libations to the cycles of the sun and moon, and the Nile flood.³ Each day the sun was reborn.⁴ The symbolism of incense burning fit the sun’s journey through the sky and the darkness of the new moon. The unburnt incense represented the darkness of the moon. And the throwing of incense into a cup and the act of burning it was related to the burning of the sun. The various acts of pouring liquids in a ritual manner paralleled the change of the seasons and the Opening of the Year, as it symbolized the flooding of the Nile.⁵ For ancient Egyptian temples during the New Kingdom, it was most important to have overlapping rituals that could be relied upon during dangerous points. The danger points were the transitional times, such as morning and evening, based on the sun’s daily rising and setting, the dark moon occurring once every 29 days, and the flooding of the Nile, which usually occurred in the summer and coincided with Sirius’s heliacal rising. Egyptian priests believed they were saving the sun and bringing back cosmic forces. Therefore, the scheduling of rituals fit the view that these critical, dangerous times for the sun, moon, and the year were necessary ritual times, and the symbolism within the rituals and their implements addressed the situation.⁶

The rituals that the temples engaged in were meant to sustain and protect Egypt and the world by extension. The ancient Egyptian temple system and its approach to worship and rituals was meant to obtain propitious results for the continuity of the sun, moon, and year. It was timed especially during dangerous and evil times associated with endings and destruction. It was meant to obtain perpetuity and continuity while averting disasters and misfortune and even the end of the cosmic pillars of life on earth, the two luminaries of light.⁷  

The ancient Egyptian system acted upon some of the most obvious transitions, ones that are far removed from the causality of daily life. An individual’s concerns for personal wishes, be it success, wealth, health, and safety are not directly and obviously affected by the year continuing, the sun returning, or the moon gaining her light. With the contemporary understanding of things and how they work in the modern world, a person would not connect such major causal forces to their own individual lives and wellbeing. Yet, there is wisdom in the thinking behind the temple rituals and the way they tried to ensure life continued in transitional times.

The success of the ancient Egyptian model can be linked to the longevity of ancient Egyptian civilization. Compared to most civilizations, ancient Egypt had incredible staying power and resilience. Cambridge University researcher Luke Kemp compiled a list of empires and their duration in 2019, and his statistics show that the Ancient Egyptian Old Kingdom lasted for 505 years, the Middle Kingdom for 405 years, and the New Kingdom for 501 years. In 1070 BCE, the New Kingdom ended. Numerous dynasties ruled afterwards, as well as foreign invaders such as the Persians, Macedonians, and the Romans. Ancient Egyptian cultural continuity lasted in the years after the New Kingdom, and even during the period that the Land of the Nile was incorporated in the Achaemenid Empire, Ptolemaic Egypt, and the Roman Empire. The ancient Egyptian Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, and New Kingdom, together stand at about 1,400 years. Egyptian culture and civilization continued to exist, in various forms, for the ensuing 1,500 years of fractured native rule and foreign occupation that followed these periods. Each of the major imperial eras of ancient Egypt were longer than the average empire, which lasted about 336 years.⁸ Ancient Egypt, as a cultural force, had almost legendary endurance and permanence.

Looking to ancient traditions, there are pieces of information that can aid in making certain ways of engaging with the gods more effective and sacred. Knowledge of ancient traditions can inform the creation of modern-day rituals. A ritual practitioner can choose times like sunrise, sunset, the new moon, and the new year for their ritual practices. The material from Eaton’s study is of interest to anyone interested in ancient Egyptian religion and the various forms of spirituality akin to it.

 

 

Notes

1. Eaton, Katherine, “Ancient Egyptian Temple Ritual: Performance, Pattern, and Practice,” (Routledge Studies in Egyptology, 2013, Taylor and Francis), 168.
2. Eaton, “Ancient Egyptian Temple Ritual: Performance, Pattern, and Practice,” 125.
3. Eaton, “Ancient Egyptian Temple Ritual: Performance, Pattern, and Practice,” 48.
4. Eaton, “Ancient Egyptian Temple Ritual: Performance, Pattern, and Practice,” 53.
5. Eaton, “Ancient Egyptian Temple Ritual: Performance, Pattern, and Practice,” 54.
6. Eaton, “Ancient Egyptian Temple Ritual: Performance, Pattern, and Practice,” 160.
7. Eaton, “Ancient Egyptian Temple Ritual: Performance, Pattern, and Practice,” 160.
8. Kemp, Luke, “The Lifespans of Ancient Civilizations,” (BBC, February 20, 2019), Last accessed August 18, 2022, <The success of the ancient Egyptian model can be linked to the longevity of ancient Egyptian civilization.>

 

Bibliography

1. Katherine Eaton, “Ancient Egyptian Temple Ritual: Performance, Pattern, and Practice,” Routledge Studies in Egyptology, Taylor and Francis, 2013.
   
2. Luke Kemp, “The Lifespans of Ancient Civilizations,” BBC, February 20, 2019. Last accessed August 18, 2022, <The success of the ancient Egyptian model can be linked to the longevity of ancient Egyptian civilization.>

 

Photo Credits

1. Incense rises around an altar to the Sun god. Photo by Midjourney. Prompt: altar and incense smoke rising before Harpocrates the sun god. @david.k9
2. Incense rises around an altar to the Sun god. Photo by Midjourney. Prompt: altar and incense smoke rising before Harpocrates the sun god. @david.k9