Akhet - The Horizon

General

As far back as before the inhabitants of Kemet were taught by Djehuty how to read and write, there was a priesthood, at least there were persons chosen to honor the deities at their shrines. While the priesthood cared for the most important citizens of Egypt, the gods, the average Egyptian could live safe in the knowledge that everything was taken care of, that the gods were treated with the utmost attention and therefore stayed on in the land, thereby keeping it safe and prosperous.

Worshipping has always meant the recitation and singing of hymns, and this knowledge was handed down from generation to generation, until there were hieroglyphs and scribes clever enough to put these abstract concepts into writing. The Kemetic mythologies were probably evolved at religious centers, where learning was recorded and kept in sacred libraries.

Government and temple was closely linked and from earliest times, the priestly offices were often held by members of the royal family, since it had been the head of the clan or group, who acted as an intermediary between the deties and humans. This developed into the king being considered as divine and soon the theocratic state developed. In the Middle Kingdom civil administrators like town mayors acted as high priests.

This was still the case in the New Kingdom. The office of governor or mayor of the city and the overseer of godservants were one and the same until the reign of Hatshepsut.

As time passed, the priesthood grew and many other functions became attached to temples, like overseers of the different levels of priesthood, of distribution of offerings, of goods and deliverance of food, of maintenance and enlarging of the temple buildings etc.

Few of the ancient priesthood worked full-time in the temples, though this was usual especially in the higher hierarchy. Otherwise they kept on with family life and other occupations. Being in the priesthood meant for many a safe way of living, the temples received offerings and were landholders. To that came the religious experience, which certainly must have been profound for those working with rituals close to the cult statue.

Levels of Priesthood

In ancient Egypt there were several levels of priesthood. They varied throughout the different time periods as the priesthood developed and grew, and as more cult centers were built and competed for power. They also varied between the cult centra.

See Female Priests and Their Duties for women and temple work.

Government and temple was closely linked and from earliest times, the priestly offices were often held by members of the royal family, since from the earliest times it had been the head of the clan or group, who acetd as an intermediary between the deties and humans. This developed into the king being considered as divine. In the Middle Kingdom civil administrators like town mayors acted as high priests.

This was still the case in the New Kingdom. The office of governor or mayor of the city and the overseer of godsservants were one and the same until the reign of Hatshepsut.

As time passed, the priesthood grew and many other functions became attached to temples, like overseers of the different levels of priesthood, of distribution of offerings, of goods and deliverance of food, of maintenance and enlarging of the temple buildings etc.

Few of the ancient priesthood worked full-time in the temples, though this was usual especially in the higher hierarchy. Otherwise they kept on with family life and other occupations. Pharaoh was the highest priest and in fact a living god, who could perform rituals at any and all temples. The appointed High Priests were his deputies.

Being in the priesthood meant for many a safe way of living, the temples received offerings and were landholders. To that came the religious experience, which certainly must have been profound for those working with rituals close to the cult statue.

Priesthood Offices

This is the oldest clerical title, known from the 1st Dynasty. They prepared and carried forward offerings to the god and assisted at ceremonies and processions. They had access to the sanctuary and controlled the entrance to the temple. Some of the large cult centers with a great number of Servants of God had Overseers or High Priests of the priesthood too. The title of hem-netjer, though still frequently used, diminished in the Middle Kingdom.

The title of Kher-heb, meaning 'He Who Is Over the Festive Scroll', goes back to the Old Kingdom. He recited, sang or chanted rites directly out of the sacred books or from carvings on the temple walls, at ceremonies and processions and was responsible that they were performed correctly. He also recited formulae and prayers to invoke the gods and for the benefit of the worshippers (the Shemsu). The reciting had to be done exactly as the texts had been written, to safeguard against making any mistake, which might offend the gods.

There could be several lector priests at each greater temple, taking turns in performing the function. At the same time they could also hold other clerical titles. This title is known from the Second Dynasty.

High Priest

This title also goes back to the Old Kingdom. At this time period High Priests or Overseers (imi-r3 hemw-ntr) were organized in five groups (Gr: phyle), each with two subgroups which were lead by an inspector, shd. Each of these ten subgroups worked in the royal cult complex rotating shifts each thirty days. When not doing temple service, they worked their lands or held their jobs in the state administration etc.

It was not regarded as important to spread teachings about the god's superiority, nor was it the hem netjer´s task to see to the people's spiritual or moral welfare. His job was to take care of the god and the god's needs, to act as a servant of the god. By treating the god as an important citizen of Egypt, it was ensured that the god would live on and care for the people of Egypt. The highest priest at all times was Pharaoh, who acted as a servant to all the gods, in all the various religious centra throughout the land. He appointed High Priests to act for him at the different temples, their number depending on the size of the temple and the cult's popularity. This appointment to High Priest was both a religious and a political one and sometimes it was held within a powerful family for several generations.

In the Old Kingdom there were also women holding the title of high priest, but never later in history. See Female Priests and Their Duties about this.

At large temple complexes like Karnak, there was often titles like First Servant of God, Second Servant of God, which in essence was the same as high priests. (Note that the word Prophet, which is often seen, is Greek and was not used until the Greek period).

Wa´eb Priest:

The Wa´eb Priest or the "Pure One" assists the hem-netjer, and performs lesser tasks in maintaining the temples and rituals. He assures the purity of the ceremonial rooms, persons, instruments and tools. This is a basic and important function, a priest is trained in this at the beginning of his priestly career and can later always act as a "pure one", no matter how high he may rise.

Female Servants of God

Sem Priest:

These mortuary priests were not associated with the temple cults. Instead they served the tomb cultuses, performing the elaborate rituals at mummification and burials. Since the oldest times it was the son of the king who took care of his deceased father, and later the practice was taken up by any first son in non-royal families. In this capacity he was called a Sem-priest, but there were also other kinds of mortuary priests.

Other Templeworkers:

Apart from the above mentioned priestly offices, there were a vast number of other temple workers. As the temple with precincts, accessory buildings, land etc, often was a large enterprize, it took a large organisation to keep it functioning. This included all kinds of workers, from those who kept the premises in order, like gardeners, painters, builders, stone masons, carpenters, to those who worked closer to the cult, like preparing the offering meals or keep stocks well supplied and in order. Caretakers of animals had a place at such temples where sacred animals were kept. There were also scribes keeping records of everything coming into or leaving the temple, and overseeing land tenants and their work.

Another category of templeworkers are singers, dancers and musicians whose task it was to assist the rituals in entertaining the god by playing music, singing or dancing before the cult statue.

The number and complexity of temple organisation varied according to the importance or status of the temple, and location in the country. Great temples such as Karnak could count thousands of employees while small village or town temples were maintained with a handful of priests or perhaps even kept on a voluntary basis.

God's Father

When in the temple, ritual purity was of utmost importance. Each temple had its own lake where the priests purified themselves and the ritual vessels that were used in ceremonies, and from where water was taken for the libation offerings. Priests could only wear white linen and sandals made from papyrus, all animal products were considered unclean. The priest who held the leading role in a procession or other ceremony, used the cheetah- or leopard skin robe draped across his back. But that one might also have been an imitation.

During temple duty, a priest had to shave off all his bodily hair, even the eye brows and was expected to abstain from sexual activity. Outside of temple duty, they could marry, raise families and live normal lives.

Then food and drink was put before the god. This was a display of the best that could be found; joints of meat, roasted fowl, bread, fruits, vegetables, beer, wine, and everything in large quantities, out of the temple's own kitchens, gardens and farms, and of superior quality. The meat came from animals that had been slaughtered out of the sight of the god, and overseen by a priest who had ensured it was fit to put before the god. No blood or unsightly scenes were allowed before the god.

The offerings always included flowers, bound in garlands and in large temples there were gardens with gardeners and florists to ensure the supply and prepare the offerings.

Over these offerings the priest poured libations of water, and in a spoon-like saucer, shaped like a forearm with an open palm holding a small pot, incense was burned. Incense was considered the "Perfume of the gods" and as the intention was to stimulate all the senses of the gods, it played an important part in the rituals. Food and drink meant taste, music and singing meant sound, and flowers were added to make the offering beautiful and presentable. So while the god's ka was believed to be absorbing these offerings, musicians, singers and dancers entertained him. The text of the hymns was simple, with many repetitions of the god's attributes and names, and the music could be rattling of the sistrum or menat, percussion, and for special occasions, harp, flute, drums and cymbals.

When the god had "consumed" all he wanted, the food was taken away and shared among the temple workers and the priests. In the larger temples it was probably put at lesser deities before it went on to the workers and priests. And in the evening, the god's vestments were taken away and the statue was put back in the shrine, while the Evening hymn was sung. After each of these ceremonies, the priest put the bolts back and sealed the door, and while bowing, he traced his footsteps backwards from the shrine carefully sweeping the floor to obliterate any trace of his footprints. One never turned his back to the god.

The larger temple centers were like veritable cities and employed all kinds of workers. There were temple bakeries and breweries, and some temples had a fleet of boats and fishermen, hunters and stables with donkeys, there were farms or tenants of land. The produce arrived daily to fill the god's storehouses and everything was recorded and kept in books by the temple scribes. On top of that the temple employed craftsmen like stonemasons, painters, carpenters, weavers, scribes and administrators, not to mention the priests. It was a huge organization and as an example there is Karnak, with a list of more than 81.000 employees!

Wages

The temples celebrated regular festive days, the First of the Month and the New Moon. The god's statue was then paraded around the temple grounds, and at certain places the procession stopped for offerings. These "resting places" of the god usually had something in common with the particular festival.

Then there were the larger religious festivals where the god was carried outside the temple precinct in front of the people. As they were not allowed inside the temple, this was a popular occasion, the god carried on his bark, although veiled from the direct look of the commoner, and the sacred books carried on the shoulders of a priest walking in front of the procession. Priests fanned and sheltered the god from the sun with ostrich plumes or fans made from palm fiber. Incense was burned and offerings were made at the resting places along the route. Some of these were permanent little temples, others were erected just for the event. Here, the bark was set down on an "altar" while the rituals were performed. At some occasions the bark was put on the god's own bark from the temple quay and was towed further along the Nile, escorted by a flotilla of boats, sometimes even the royal family was present to watch. These were great occasions, in which everybody took part and they usually lasted for several days, when eating and drinking was abundant.

Festivals could also be shared between two temples, like the commemoration of the Sacred marriage of Heather and Hours at Denderah. All these celebrations had to be held at the right time and day and it was the task of the temple star watcher to keep track of the religious calendars.

Some festivals of weight:
The Passion Plays of Osiris
The Opet Festival
The Beautiful Feast of the Valley
The Festival of the Beautiful Reunion

The temple was considered the home of the god and only members of the priesthood was allowed to enter beyond the outer court. The ordinary worshipper had to stop there, and when he brought offerings, it was taken care of by a priest who carried it into the temple. All temples were surrounded by a wall and in the outside of this there were a hole or a window to which worshippers could come and whisper their prayers or questions or leave a note with some words scribbled on it. The priest who was on duty then took care of the note in order to bring the words in front of the god.

In the remote corners of the land, far away from the great religious centers, the gods were as ardently revered. Maybe offerings were not as lavish, nor the priesthood as many or as prosperous, but in those villages or little towns where there was no temple, a shrine was erected out in the open. It was often taken care of by the community people, perhaps led by a priest currently not doing temple duty, so the services were performed and the gods attended to in due order.

In the homes there were small shrines and very commonly statues of local deities and of Bes and Tawaret, helpers and protectors of children and women, especially for pregnancy and childbirth. Amulets in the form of sacred symbols were in frequent use for a multitude of purposes

Religion played an important and vital part in daily life and every Egyptian could be said to be a priest even when he made a simple offering like a piece of bread at the family shrine. There were gods for almost every aspect of life, even down to the most common of chores, like putting on your makeup. The people relied on the gods being honored and attended to every day in all the temples, so the priesthood was vital to the survival of Egypt. A society without gods was unthinkable to the Egyptian mind. That would upset the law of Ma´at which wold mean that life itself was threatened.