Zinn, Katharina

Katharina Zinn

Crossref

Magic, Pharaonic Egypt

University of Wales Trinity Saint David

Magic, Pharaonic EgyptKATHARINA ZINNIn the modern mind, magic is often seen asopposite to religion or, at best, an early stage ofreligion. Magic describes actions or knowledgerelating to the supernatural or the demonic,but not the divine. The ancient Egyptians,however, did not perceive it as “black art” or“sorcery,” in conflict with “white” or “pure”religion (Ritner 1992: 189–92). It took sometime before Western scholars could accept howstrongly religion, magic, and the sciences, likemedicine, were intertwined in ancient Egypt.Book titles such as “Religion and magic inAncient Egypt,” chosen for an overview of allaspects of ancient Egyptian religions (David2002), would not have been possible in theearly years of Egyptology.Magic was inherent to overall Egyptianthinking and a regular part of religion at alllevels of Egyptian society (Taylor 2001: 186), asis seen by the importance of the native termheka. Heka was a cosmic and divine powerexisting as a force in the universe, personifiedas the male anthropomorphic god Heka, whorepresented the tenth hour of the day and, assuch, accompanied the sun god in his daybarque (Wilkinson 2003: 83, Te Velde 1970,Ritner 1993: 14–28). Both the concept hekaand the deity Heka are attested from the OldKingdom up to the Coptic period, with theearliest mention of the god in the funerarytemple of Sahure (5th Dynasty) and bothnamed in the Pyramid Texts (spells 472 and539). In funerary papyri, Heka is depictedstanding together with MAAT behind the throneof OSIRIS, holding serpent wands (GreenfieldBook of the Dead of Nestanebtasheru, sheet 88:black line vignette of deceased before Osirisenthroned on mound). Here he is calledpekhty-netjer-nefer – power of the good god.Heka could also be described as the soul ormanifestation (ba) of Re (Pinch 2006: 10).Another word for magic as the power of godand connected with heka is akhw. This idiomcovers the performative character of heka,mainly in the form of verbalized spells.Magic existed from the first moments of cre-ation, empowering the whole process. ThereforeHeka could be seen as one of the creator gods.Another explanation is that heka as power orconcept was conceived by the creator god’sheart at the beginning of time, enabling himto start the creation process (Ritner 1992: 192).Heka appeared even before the creative wordHu, the first creation of Re-Atum, the creatorgod; therefore magic was already in the worldwhen the gods and the cosmos were shaped.This primordial aspect is stressed in theCoffin Text spell 648 (Ritner 1993: 17). In theInstruction for king Merikare (First Intermedi-ate period, 10th Dynasty – HerakleopolitanDynasty), heka is described as given by thecreator god to mankind to help fight offenemies and preserve their existence, one argu-ment for the understanding of magic as defen-sive (Lichtheim 1973: 97–109, especially 106;Pinch 2006: 17; Ritner 1993: 20). Nevertheless,hekawas also understood as having destructivepotential, as is made clear in the medical Pap.Ebers, where it is said to be necessary to driveheka out of the bodies of patients in order toallow them to recover.Originally,Hekamight have been seen as the“Lord of kas” (the life-force belonging to eachperson from birth), as mentioned when headdressed the gods of the Egyptian pantheonin the Coffin Text spell 261. This spellexplained how to “become the god Heka” andthe fact that gods created after him were infe-rior to him (“Down, you who have come after-ward. I amHeka.” Ritner 1992: 192). Due to hismighty power, he was feared by other gods(Pyramid Texts 472), who felt threatened byhim. This is stated in papyrus Berlin 3048,which could have been a hymn for PTAH (Wolf1929: 40–1) or a cultic text compiled frommany originally independent pieces (Knigge2006: 163): “Everybody shakes when his [i.e.,the creator’s] ba comes into being, Heka, whohas power over the gods” (P. Berlin 3048,11.8–9). The ba is a major component ofThe Encyclopedia of Ancient History, First Edition. Edited by Roger S. Bagnall, Kai Brodersen, Craige B. Champion, Andrew Erskine,and Sabine R. Huebner, print pages 4227–4231.© 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.DOI: 10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah152501human and divine beings, often imperfectlytranslated as “soul” or “personality,” mainlyactive in the afterlife (Taylor 2001: 20–3).Because of his power, Heka is able to protectOsiris in the underworld, and therefore heplayed a role in the afterlife. Interestingly, alldeities or kings had their own heka, seen asa creative power and part of them, like theirnames or bodies.Though Heka was of paramount impor-tance, similar to many other deities represent-ing the cosmos, a regular cult did not developaround him (Wilkinson 2003: 110). However,he was given public recognition in shrinesdedicated to him in Lower Egypt and theexistence of the title “prophet of Heka”(hem-netjer Heka) indicates priesthood(Pinch 2006: 11). A “Mansion of Heka” wasassociated with Heliopolis, as well as with theMemphite necropolis (Ritner 1993: 26).The name Heka may derive from hwj-ka,meaning “the one who consecrates spirits/imagery” and was later explained as “the firstwork” (TeVelde 1970: 179–80), indicatingvery complex ideas behind the concept heka.Knowing this, it is clear that heka cannot be inopposition to ancient Egyptian religion, as it isthe essence of it and animates each and everyaspect of it. Therefore, all rituals and cultactivities, all knowledge and wisdom, arebased on heka (Ritner 1992: 194). In thePapyrus Westcar, the wise man and magician,Djedi, can heal severed heads and bring injuredanimals back to life, and he knows the secretsand hidden chambers of THOTH. With his skillsand knowledge, he can foresee the future whiletalking to the king (Berlin 3033: 7,1–9,20:Lichtheim 1975: 217–20). This shows thatboth skills and knowledge were based on orconnected with magic. Only the literate elitehad access tomagical texts, showing that magiccould not have broadly existed outside theelite (and therefore “orthodox”) religion. Inaddition to the sacred, divinatory, and medicaltexts collected and stored by the libraries, i.e.,the Library of the House of Life (per-ankh),magical texts were also found among therecords of the administration and temple-cult.Temple-priests acted locally as magicians,while off-duty from their temple rotation(Ritner 1992: 194). Consequently, privatemagical practice was quite similar to that ofpublic ceremonies or divine.Since the private magician and the culticpriest were the same, magical spells and ritualor medical texts were composed, compiled,and used by the same group of professionals(Ritner 1993: 2). Therefore, it becomes evenclearer why there was no differentiationbetween religion, magic, and medicine. Magicin medical treatment was represented by thelion-headed goddess Sekhmet, embodying hermalignant power, both dangerous and destruc-tive, as well as her protective and healingabilities. Both aspects are covered by hername, which meant “the female powerfulone,” and she was seen as a daughter of Re(Wilkinson 2003: 181). Physicians, as priestsof Sekhmet, were trained in the House of Life,both in magic and practical medicine (Allen2005: 11–12). They were skilled in the use ofmagical spells to empower their diagnosis andprescriptions. Preventive medicine was alsoprimarily based on magic, as the “Amulets ofhealth” tell us (Pinch 2006: 142). Furtherexamples of concern for public health are thetemple statues called cippi, featuring HORUSon a crocodile. One of the most famous is theso-called Metternich Stela, providing narrativespells that combine the fear of scorpion orsnake bites with a description of their healingand a myth of the poisoning of the infantHorus (Pinch 2006: 144–5; Ritner 1993: 34).Working on the associative principle of magic,tools used in medical treatments utilized thesymbolic power of amuletic characters. In thisway, water poured from a simple libationdish with the hieroglyphs ankh ( life) and ka( life-force) absorbs life from the symbols onit (Libation dish MMA 19.2.16, 1st Dynasty;Allen 2005: 48–9).Magic in ancient Egypt covered both whatwe would describe today as white and blackmagic (Baines 2006: 1). One of the few exam-ples where Egyptian texts speak of “blackmagic” is the trial against the plotter in the2harem conspiracy against Rameses III in the20th Dynasty (Ritner 1992: 194), wherethe legal documents dealing with the trialstate that one of the conspirators had accessto a bad magic text belonging to the king(Pinch 2006: 64). This is more or less the onlyexample of a trial of sorcery in ancient Egypt(Ritner 1993: 13). While the Turin JudicialPapyrus delivers a kind of legal transcript ofthe trials, Pap. Rollin and Pap. Lee focus ona more detailed description of the plot itself.Pap. Rollin gives an account of the magicalpractices involved (with a parallel in Pap.Lee 1,4): “It happened because writings weremade for enchanting, for banishing, for con-fusing – because some ‘gods’ were made intowax and some men (also) – and (furthermore)for enfeebling the limb(s) of men and these(writings) were placed in the hand ofPay-bak-kamen” (Goedicke 1963: 72). Thishas been interpreted as a reference to the useof wax figures in the use of magic against otherpeople. The Coffin Texts (CT1, 157a) describesuch customs, complete with detailed instruc-tions on how to make wax figures of enemiesand which spells to recite. This idea is alsoexpressed in an episode in Pap. Westcar(2,23ff.). Pay-bak-kamen had been identifiedas a leader of the conspiracy, a fact confirmedby the Turin Judicial Papyrus (IV, 2). However,each text or object used against the king wouldhave been damned in the same way, indepen-dent of its magic power.Coffin Texts (spells 75, 87, and 88) alsospeak directly of “evil magic” (heka djw),expressing this term from the perspective ofthe deceased, who wants to escape the malev-olent doings (heka djw) of underworld demonsor sorcerers, after they refuse to obey thesedemons (Ritner 1993: 21). This should notbe understood as a kind of “black magic.”A similar type of hostile magic is mentionedin Dream Books (Pap. Chester Beatty 3,col. 7/18), where a dream of being bitten bya dog would predict the use of magic.Magic was integrated into all of Egyptian lifeand was used by members of all classes ofsociety. Magic was connected with myth, usedby demons and spirits, and employed by magi-cians and priests in written form, in the sameway as the use of magical techniques, magicfigurines, statues, and amulets. Amulets andjewellery made in the shape of or bearingamuletic features functioned on the principleof sympathetic magic, attracting powerfulforces to give the wearer of the charm assis-tance or good luck. Some of these pieces wereeven regarded as universally potent, like theSacred eye of Horus (udjat, linked to rebirth),the ankh-sign (symbolizing life), or the djed-pillar (connected with the death and resurrec-tion of Osiris) (David 2002: 175–6). Magic wasused as a solution for problems in this world(fertility magic; medicine; hostile magic fromlegal handling of images made out of wax orclay by priests in rites for cursing gods, men,enemies, and demons; love charms (Smither1941); magical spells to warn off snakes) andin the world of the dead (funerary textsused in the funeral or mummification process;funerary ceremonies where the dead andmourners were linked with the archetypaldivine family of Isis, Osiris, Horus, andNephtys; magic bricks), or the connectionof both worlds (protective spells againstreturning bas and kas of the dead or to fendoff the dangerous dead, called mut; Letters tothe dead as an appeal for help or accusation ofevil behavior against the living) (Pinch 2006).Magical practices comprised circumambula-tion, spitting, blowing, licking, swallowing,use of images, superposition, trampling, bind-ing, breaking, burning, use of colors (especiallyred or gold), use of sand, numerology,piercing, burial, and oracular consultation, tomention just a few (Ritner 1993: 1–2).Magic bricks, an example of funerary andafterlife magic and made of unbaked mud,were placed in tombs during the New Kingdomto protect the deceased from enemies of Osiris.They were placed at the cardinal points andcontained amulets (a mummiform figure, adjed-pillar, a jackal, and a torch) to ward offdamaging forces that could have entered theburial chamber. Their function was explainedin the added speech, taken from spell 151 of the3Book of the Dead (set of magic bricks of theChantress of Amun Henutmehyt, BM EA41544–41547; Taylor 2010: 107, 119; 2001:207–8). Further examples for safeguarding ofthe deceased are magical figurines of protectivedeities, seemingly only used in royal burials,such as BM EA 61283 (human headed) andEA 50699 (hippopotamus-headed). By placingthese figurines in the royal tombs, these deitieswere sent by Osiris to help and protect the kingon his journey to the Afterlife (Taylor 2010:200–1).Another area underlined by heka was thefield of oracles or, as the Egyptians called it,the “miracle” (bjajt). A special example thatwas part of the regular religious life of theEgyptians from the New Kingdom onwards isthe “petitioning of the gods” (peh-netjerw)when, during festivals, common people couldask questions about their fate or seek advice fordecision making. These divine decrees wererecorded in writing and rolled up and could beworn as amulets (Pinch 2006: 35–37, 117–8).We have evidence for the performance anduse of magic and magical rituals in materialculture, but interestingly the artifacts (wands,grain-mummies, amulets) are not described inthe formularies and magical texts. Instruc-tions, literature describing (fictional) magicalperformances, and archaeological evidenceshow slightly different objects (Dieleman2008: 19: Centrone 2006: 35), so text andobject do not always agree. However, in somecases, we can rely on both groups of sources.Serpent wands are one example. Heka isdepicted holding them in the aforementionedsheet 88 of the Book of the Dead of Nestane-btasheru (Pap. BM EA10554/88, 21st Dynasty),suggesting that these wands had an apotropaicconnotation. Such serpent wands, made ofbronze or copper alloy, have survived, andexamples are now in the British Museum,London (early 18th Dynasty; Taylor 2010: 40)and the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge(E.63.1896; Middle Kingdom). Both objectswere found as part of funerary equipment:EA 52831 was wrapped in the shroud of amummy, found in a re-used tomb near Deirel-Bahari (Asasif). E.63.1896 was found in alate Middle Kingdom tomb (Tomb 5) of alector priest, below the magazines of theRamesseum at Thebes, next to a box togetherwith the Ramesseum Papyri, containing mag-ical papyri for healing incantations, togetherwith tales (Eloquent peasant, tale of Sinuhe),hymns, the Dramatic Ramesseum papyrus,and administrative papyri. The lid of the boxwas inscribed with a jackal sitting on a chest,readable as the title of a priestly magical prac-titioner: “overseer of secrets” (kheri-seshta,Ritner 1993: 231–2). The tomb also held anivory herdsman, dolls and human hair, animalfigurines, amuletic knives depicting BES andBeset brandishing snakes, as well as a bronzestatuette of the goddess Beset holding twocobra serpents, which closely resembles thesnake-wands (Ritner 2006: 206). Snake wandsin general might represent a goddess calledWeret Hekau, the “great of magic.” She is usu-ally shown as a cobra and acted as a kind offoster-mother to the divine kings, staying withthem as a power present in the imagery of thePharaonic crowns (Pinch 2006: 11).SEE ALSO: Atum; Cults: divine, Pharaonic Egypt;Dream books, Pharaonic Egypt; Heliopolis, AinShams/Matariya; Ka; Libraries, Pharaonic Egypt;Literacy, Pharaonic Egypt; Literature andpoetry, Pharaonic Egypt; Medicine, PharaonicEgypt; Oracles, Pharaonic Egypt; Re and ReHorakhty; Religion, Pharaonic Egypt.REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGSAllen, J. P. (2005) The art of medicine in AncientEgypt. New York.Baines, J. (2006) “Display of magic in Old KingdomEgypt.” In K. Szpakowska, ed., Through a glassdarkly: magic, dreams, and prophecy in ancientEgypt: 1–32. Swansea.Centrone, M. (2006) “Corn-mummies, amulets oflife.” In K. Szpakowska, ed., Through a glass darkly:magic, dreams, and prophecy in ancient Egypt:33–45. Swansea.David, R. (2002) Religion and magic in AncientEgypt. London.4Dieleman, J. (2008) [online] [Accessed December23, 2010.] “Review: Through a glass darkly:magic, dreams, and prophecy in ancient Egypt.,K. Szpakowska, ed.”Aestimatio 5: 15–22. Availablefrom http://www.ircps.org/publications/aestimatio/pdf/Volume5/2008-01-03_Dieleman.pdf.Goedicke, H. (1963) “Was magic used in the HaremConspiracy against Ramesses III?” Journal ofEgyptian Archaeology 49: 71–92.Knigge, C. (2006) Das Lob der Scho¨pfung: DieEntwicklung a¨gyptischer Sonnen- undScho¨pfungshymnen nach dem Neuen Reich.Freiburg.Koenig, Y. (1994) Magie et magiciens dans l’E´gypteAncienne. Paris.Lichtheim, M. (1973) Ancient Egyptian literature,vol. 1: The Old and Middle Kingdom.Berkeley.Pinch, G. (2006) Magic in Ancient Egypt. London.Ritner, R. K. (1992) “Egyptian magic: questions oflegitimacy, religious orthodoxy and social devi-ance.” In A. B. Lloyd, ed., Studies in pharaonicreligion and society in honour of J. Gwyn Griffiths:189–200. London.Ritner, R. K. (1993) The mechanics of AncientEgyptian magical practice. Chicago.Ritner, R. K. (2006) “And each staff transformed intoa snake: the serpent wand in ancient Egypt.” InK. Szpakowska, ed., Through a glass darkly:magic,dreams, and prophecy in Ancient Egypt: 205–25.Swansea.Smither, P. (1941) “A Ramesside love charm.”Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 27: 131–2.Taylor, J. (2001) Death and the afterlife in AncientEgypt. London.Taylor, J. (2010) Journey through the afterlife:ancient Egyptian book of the dead. London.TeVelde, H. (1970) “The God Heka in Egyptiantheology.” Jaarbericht van het Voorasiatisch-Egyptisch Genootschap Ex Oriente Lux 21: 175–87.Wilkinson, R. H. (2003) The complete gods andgoddesses of Ancient Egypt. London.Wolf, W. (1929) “Der Berliner Ptah-Hymnus(P. 3048, II–XII).” Zeitschrift fu¨r A¨gyptischeSprache und Altertumskunde 64: 17–44.5

http://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/570/1/Magic%2C%20Pharaonic%20Egypt.pdf

Magic, Pharaonic Egypt

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Crossref

University of Wales Trinity Saint David