Per-Ankh

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 The Ancient Ways to find out more about the particular duties that these priests carried out, and see Female Priests and Their Duties for women and temple work.

Government and temple was closely linked. 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.

Servant of God:
Hem-netjer

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. The title of hem-netjer, though still frequently used, diminished in the Middle Kingdom.

Lector Priest
(kher-heb):

Kher-heb, meaning 'He Who Is Over the Festive Scroll', recited, sang or chanted rites directly out of the sacred books 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).

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 Dyn 2.

High Priest
(hem-netjer tepey)

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.

The highest priest was Pharaoh who could perform rituals at any and all temples. The appointed High Priests were his deputies, which should say something about the importance of the post.

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.

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.

Sources:
Temples of Ancient Egypt - ed: Byron E. Shafer Cornell University Press 1997
Daily Life of the Egyptian Gods - Dimitri Meeks and Christine Favard-Meeks, Cornell University Press 1996
The Priests of Ancient Egypt - Serge Sauneron, Cornell University Press 2000

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