#EGYPTIAN PHARAOH SERIES#

After he died, offerings were made to the divine Pharaoh in temples that formed part of his tomb complex-allowing the worship of his departed spirit in the tomb where his body resided.ДЇunerary cults provided offerings for all those who died by preparing their bodies to enter the afterlife through mummification and the ceremony of the вЂњOpening of the Mouth.вЂќ All those dead who were believed to reside in the kingdom of Osiris received the offerings of the funerary cult. Rituals were also celebrated in honor of the divine Pharaoh, during both his life on earth and after his death. During the night, they were used to drive away threats from the forces of chaos. Mostly, they were aimed at purifying the godвЂ™s shrine. In addition to this primary daily ritual, other, routine rituals were commonly performed, not only in temples but in other sacred spaces as well during the day. At the end of the ceremony, the priests replaced the statue in its shrine, shut the doors of the shrine, and then left the temple while the chief priest closed and locked the doors behind them, bringing the ceremony to an end for the day. This provided an opportunity for the statue to partake of the spiritual essence of the food. During this ritual, the statue was also presented with the dayвЂ™s offerings. Then, it would be dressed again in fresh ceremonial clothing and invested, once again, with the symbols of its divine power. The statue was then decorated and anointed with oil. The cult statue would be stripped of the previous dayвЂ™s clothing, while the shrine itself was washed and purified. The statue in the shrine of the temple was not only a representation of the god, but a dwelling place for the presence and active consciousness of the god in his temple. Learn more about how Sneferu learned to build a true pyramid Religious Icons and RitualsДЄlthough we are used to seeing colossal representations of the Pharaohs and the gods in ancient Egyptian remains, most of the cultic statues were, themselves, relatively small-around two feet tall, on average-and they might be made of stone, wood, or metal. After the purification, the doors of the godвЂ™s shrine were then opened, and the cultic statue that represented the god of the temple was removed. The temple would be purified with water and incense in preparation for the opening of the door to the godвЂ™s shrine. At dawn, the priests of the temple would unlock and open the doors of the temple, just at the moment the sun rose. The main temple ritual would take place in the morning, coinciding with the dawn, considered the rebirth of the sun god. After the Old Kingdom, only men served as priests, although women might serve in other functions within the temple estate. In addition to these two orders of priests, there were other cultic functionaries-musicians, singers, and dancers, both men and women-who had their place and their proper duties in the temple. They carried the shrine that contained the godвЂ™s image, during rituals, and they poured out water offerings and performed other duties in the temple. Supporting them was the lower order of priests, who were responsible for supervising the craftsmen and the servants of the temple estate.

#EGYPTIAN PHARAOH SERIES#

This is a transcript from the video series Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World. Their duties involved interpreting oracles or prophetic messages that might be sent from the god.

The higher order of priests performed rituals focused on caring for the image of the god in the temple. There were two orders of priests who were responsible for different aspects of worship. The temple was surrounded and supported by an estate, which provided everything necessary to supply the worship of the temple and the required assets this included agricultural land, pens for sacrificial animals, and housing for the personnel who served at the temple and in the temple estate. Priests conducted worship on the PharaohвЂ™s behalf.

Egyptian pharaoh