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EGYPTIAN PYRAMIDS.
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Archaeological analysis of religious, symbolic & sociocultural significance of pyramids & funeral rituals for Old Kingdom Egypt, 2658 B.C. to 2135 B.C.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Archaeological analysis of religious, symbolic & sociocultural significance of pyramids & funeral rituals for Old Kingdom Egypt, 2658 B.C. to 2135 B.C.
Paper Introduction:
The overwhelming majority of archaeological data about life in ancient Egypt comes not from the remains of daily living quarters, but from the burial chambers of the dead, and associated objects, such as writings on burial chamber walls and the preserved corpses found within. This provenance is rather appropriate as, from what scholars can ascertain, life in ancient Egypt was all but completely focused on preparation for death and the afterlife. This paper will discuss how the religious, symbolic, and sociocultural role of pyramids and funeral rituals were of importance to Old Kingdom Egypt, and to the civilization’s conception of immortality.
Immortality was the most important goal in one’s life, especially the immortality of the king or pharaoh. The well-being of all his people depended upon the careful administration of funer
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Funerary cults were responsible for, and for the most partcarried out, an extremely professional daily administration. [xxii] Cyril Aldred, The Egyptians (London: Thames and Hudson, Ltd.,1987), 1 . Thisprovenance is rather appropriate as, from what scholars can ascertain, lifein ancient Egypt was all but completely focused on preparation for deathand the afterlife. [xx] Lehner, 2 . Trigger, Barry Kemp, D. Also in keeping withma'at, pharaohs were the reincarnation of Horus and were thus legitimateheirs to the throne: In the very earliest age the mythical history of Osiris was considered to be repeated in the experience of the Pharaoh. Royalburials took place in pyramids, structures which achieved the height oftheir development during the Old Kingdom, 2658 B.C. This involved evisceration through natural aperturesin the body or through incisions made by the embalmers, sprinkling thesurface and filling the cavities with perfumes and myrrh, sewing up theincisions, and steeping the corpse in natron for 7 days. London: Thames and Hudson Limited, 1987.Andreu, Guillemette. This theory would explain the reverence ofthe ancient Egyptians for the ben-ben stone, as well as the later reverencefor things of the sky; however, it has yet to be fully developed andsupported. This method indicates the wish to preserve the body in as intact amanner as possible (with the exception of the viscera, which would putrefytoo easily), but it has been suggested that intentional dismemberment mayhave been practiced upon the elite dead as well. Immortality was the most important goal in one's life, especially theimmortality of the king or pharaoh. Funerary cults were responsible for executing various daily activitiesin the pyramid temples; the specific purpose of these duties was to ensurethat the dead pharaoh led a well-appointed existence in the afterlife. Whether the pyramids symbolized stairs, sunbeams,or components of the constellation Orion, they were an instrument of theall-important transformation of the deceased into his astral form. [xxxiii] Ibid., 2 5-6. Menkaure'spredecessors, Khufu and Khafre, had built the two other pyramids; Menkaurewould presumably have had the ability to come up with adequate resourcesfor at least a comparable monument for himself. [xxviii] Ibid., 147. Compellingevidence suggests, however, that a whole group of pyramids, including thoseon the Giza plain and those in Dahshur, may have been planned as a "map" or"mirror" of the constellations in the nighttime sky. Because these transformations and cyclical exchanges betweensuccessive Osirises and Horuses took place within the pyramid, thestructure is considered by some to have acted as a "cosmic engine,"[xx]rather than as merely a shelter for the mummy and its treasures. This eliminated the preservative effectof the desert sand, so that new methods had to be devised for slowing theprocess of decomposition. According to the Pyramid Texts,writings inscribed in the Fifth Dynasty pyramid of Unas, "It was the king'sdestiny to 'go forth to the sky among the Imperishable ones' and to 'goaround the sky like the sun.'"[viii] Though they were "reborn" in every way into the celestial world - notonly spiritually but corporeally as well - pharaohs did not reappear onthis earth in bodily form, nor did they actually eat the food that was leftfor them in their temples. [xxxv] Ibid., 2 4. Cambridge: University Press, 1983.Wallis Budge, E.A. Thus, the ancient Egyptians wereprobably tolerant of the apparent inconsistencies within their system ofbeliefs regarding immortality. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1997.Baikie, Reverend James. What remains constant is the unifying theme of the dead living on in aparallel world of the afterlife. The arid sand acted as a highlyeffective preservative, and scholars speculate that this effect wasobserved when the corpses were exposed by desert animals.[xiii] As socialhierarchy became more highly differentiated, and pharaohs desired to showtheir status through sumptuous burials, they abandoned the shallow pits infavor of structures above ground. Triggerand others (Cambridge: University Press, 1983), 86. [v] Guillemette Andreu, Egypt in the Age of the Pyramids (Ithaca:Cornell University Press, 1997), 149. Once the son has helped his father toachieve "rebirth" as Osiris, and the ascent to the heavens, the son willhave achieved his own transformation into "Horus," or god-king on earth. The Great Pyramid of Khufu at Gizacontains several "air shafts" in its sides. [xxvii] Bauval and Gilbert, 86. New York: Crown Publishing, Inc., 1994.David, Rosalie and Eddie Tapp, eds. The annual cycle was a basic part of their way of life asfarmers; it probably had a bearing on their conception of the world'screation and its cycle of rebirth in a larger context. The Great Pyramid at Giza, covering13.1 acres, is made up of more than 2 million blocks of stone, eachweighing an average of two tons.[ii] Not all of these blocks were quarriedin the immediate vicinity of Giza: some of the stone came from Tura, acrossthe Nile, and some from as far away as Aswan, a distance of four hundredmiles.[iii] The number of people and the amount of time it took to completesuch a project are unknown, but even Egyptologists are amazed by theestimates regarding Khufu's Great Pyramid complex: [Assuming] a reign of 3 to 32 years [for Khufu], the estimated combined mass of 95,35 , cubic feet for his pyramid, causeway, two temples, satellite pyramid, three queens' pyramids and officials' mastabas means that Khufu's builders had to set in place a staggering 8,122 cubic feet of stone per day, a rate of one average size block every two or three minutes in a ten-hour day.[iv] Once construction of the pyramid was complete and the pharaoh wasentombed within, considerable resources were also devoted to the service ofthe monument. However, many scholarsbelieve that certain processes may have remained the same and that theinformation provides, at any rate, a glimpse into the ancient methods.[xiv] According to Herodotus, there were three methods of mummification,ranging in price from cheap to costly.[xv] Since this paper is concernedwith the treatment of deceased pharaohs, discussion will be limited to themost expensive method. These were typically written on clay offering-jars, cloth, or otherobjects, and placed in the tombs, and many asked for such mundane favors ascuring household servants of sickness.[ix] The tomb was a part of thehousehold, and the deceased had an obligation toward his survivors to helpmaintain the household, in exchange for dutiful worship of his tomb. This assertion is borne by details too numerous to be merecoincidence. Seth cut him into pieces and scattered the fragments all over theland. [xl] Aldred, 1 1. The reunion ofka and ba brought about the final transformation of the dead pharaoh toakh, "spirit state," or "fully resurrected, glorified form of the deceasedin the afterlife."[xi] Both the ba and the ka needed a well-preserved body in the tomb forsustenance, not a half-putrescent or decaying one, but one that couldeasily be recognized by its life force and soul aspects.[xii] Whether thisideological need for preservation of the corpse or the first cases ofmummification came earlier is difficult to say, but by Old Kingdom times,mummification was no longer accidental. [xiii] Ibid. Whether that celestial body was asingle star, the constellation of Orion, or the sun itself is at issueamong scholars, but any or all may have been adhered to at a given time bythe believers themselves. The "Star Correlation Theory," as it is called,[xxv] is based on thefact that Old Kingdom pyramids are almost perfectly oriented to true north,with the four corners aligned to the four cardinal points: "The deviationof any of the four sides of Khufu's pyramid...is...less than one-fifteenthof one degree."[xxvi] The two larger pyramids of the three at Giza are alsoprecisely aligned with one another on a diagonal, yet the third is offsetfrom that alignment. [xviii] Ibid., 343. Todo so, he needed to be brought everyday items like oils and fresh food.Other items essential for the afterlife would have been buried with himalready, such as toiletries, furniture, games and musical instruments,clothing and shoes, and weapons. In some cases, bodies mayhave been allowed to decompose, then reassembled prior to burial: "In thePyramid Texts spells call for the recomposition of the royal body, implyinga prior state of dismemberment."[xvi] If intentional dismemberment and recomposition did occur, it may havebeen in imitation or dramatization of the mythical fate of the god Osiris.According to myth, Osiris, the ruler of Egypt, was murdered by his brother,Seth. [xvii] James Baikie, The Story of the Pharaohs (London: Adam andCharles Black, 19 8), 341. This theory, while notwidely accepted by the academia, bears discussion. [xv] E.A. [vii] Ibid., 59. The well-being of all his peopledepended upon the careful administration of funeral rites for the deadpharaoh, and upon the careful arrangement of his resting place. This bird, auniversal symbol of "rising from the ashes," was already a symbol ofrebirth in the Second Dynasty, when it appeared perched on a ben-ben stonein a pyramid drawing.[xxiii] The depiction may have referred to Atum, inthe form of a phoenix, manifesting for the first time on the primevalmound. [xxx] Bauval and Gilbert, 237. The pyramid and its associated industries accounted for the singlelargest sector of the ancient Egyptian economy.[i] The building of thepyramid itself was a prodigious undertaking in a time when neither thewheel nor the iron chisel was known. The ba, on the otherhand, was a more individualized entity: akin to a personality, or a soul,the ba made the journey to the afterlife to rejoin the ka. No data survives on what techniques were used by Old Kingdomembalmers; the earliest accounts of the mummification process in Egypt arethose of Greek scholars like Herodotus, who lived during the 5th centuryB.C. Before Imhotep's revolutionary plan for Djoser's pyramid, pharaohs hadbeen buried in mastabas (Arabic word related to "bench"), so named fortheir structural likeness to benches. Once the corpse was mummified andplaced in the "rebirth chamber"[xix] of the sepulchre, he was ready to begiven new life as Osiris by his son's performance of the "opening of themouth" ceremony. After 7 days,the body was washed and wrapped in linen bandages, smeared with gum, andmade ready for the remaining burial rites. The ancient Egyptians witnessed the regular inundation oftheir valley and, afterward, the regular rising of earthen mounds from thewatery depths. A deadpharaoh's responsibilities were weighty, by virtue of the scale of his"household": his ka, or life force, contained the life force of all hisliving subjects.[x] His effectiveness in the afterlife had its consequenceson the lives of those on earth. Kemp, "Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom and SecondIntermediate Period," in Ancient Egypt: A Social History, by B.G. The son struck or cut open his father's mouth with a smallmetal adze, giving the deceased the ability to perform earthly functionslike breathing, talking, and eating, which were also necessary functions inthe parallel world of the afterlife. According to the theory, they form theHyades stars, which were historically associated with Seth, the brother ofOsiris.[xxviii] Some scholars point out, however, many other pyramids forwhich no star correlation can be found.[xxix] The proponents of the "Star Correlation Theory" present otherintriguing points for consideration. This paper will discuss how the religious, symbolic, andsociocultural role of pyramids and funeral rituals were of importance toOld Kingdom Egypt, and to the civilization's conception of immortality. The associations and underpinnings among the various myths and symbolsare tangled and numerous. - 2135 B.C, or theThird through Sixth Dynasties. Isis, the widow of Osiris, collected the fragments and put them backtogether, essentially reconstituting Osiris. One was the creation myth of the ancient Egyptians, which stated thatthe world emerged as a primeval mound out of watery emptiness, at whichtime the creator god, Atum, gave rise to the other gods out of himself.With a structure based on the primeval mound, the pyramid would then shareits connotation as a place of creation and rebirth. The root of "ben-ben," bn, along with the related bnnt, refers to "swelling" and "mound,"and thus the imagery repeats that of the creator and the primeval mound. The Egyptians. O'Connor, and A.B. Father and son, dead pharaoh andliving, were aspects of one entity, the immortal divine god-king whoassumed different forms as Osiris and Horus. "Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period." In Ancient Egypt: A Social History. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1984.Editors, Time-Life Books. The Story of the Pharaohs. [x] Lehner, 24. [ix] Andreu, 15 . Egypt: Land of the Pharaohs. The god, unable to continue life in the land of the living in hisrecomposed form, entered the parallel existence of the afterlife. If proven correct, itwould mean that, at least during the Fourth Dynasty, the stars may havetaken on a great deal more importance to the Egyptians than did the sun. Orion wastraditionally identified with Osiris in his astral form of Sahu, accordingto the Pyramid Texts.[xxvii] The claim further states that the pyramids at Dashour, a southernregion, can also be accounted for. Hiskingdom on earth was divided between his brother, Seth, and his son, Horus,who eventually battled for exclusive domain over the lands. Studies now showthat these shafts would have pointed precisely, when the pyramid wasbuilt,[xxxi] to the constellations of Orion, Ursa Minor, and what was thenthe pole star, alpha Draconis.[xxxii] Equally puzzling is the adze used in the "opening of the mouth"ceremony, which had the shape of Ursa Minor and was made of meteoriticiron, referred to as bja.[xxxiii] The Pyramid Texts state that "the king'sbones are iron (bja) and his limbs are the imperishable stars."[xxxiv] Thepyramids were built prior to the Bronze and Iron Ages, leading scholars towonder how these people obtained meteoritic iron. Close relatives oftenrequested assistance and advice from the dead, in the form of letters andnotes. They were nothing more than mounds ofmudbrick, perhaps embellished by mud-brick enclosure walls and imitationpalaces within. The multiplicity of beliefs within the Egyptian religious frameworkneeds to be considered when studying any individual aspect of it. Whatever the provenance of the ben-ben stone, experts agree that theNile Valley was seen by its inhabitants as a parallel world to the one inthe sky. He, too, reigned over men; he was slain by death; his son, like Horus, arose to take his place upon his father's throne. With these questions in mind, the proponents of the "star CorrelationTheory" sought alternative explanations for the orientation and alignmentof the three pyramids at Giza. [xvi] Lehner, 23. Yet another related word and concept is benu, which is Egyptian forphoenix, a central character in the creation mythology. Egypt in the Age of the Pyramids. [xxiii] Lehner, 35. [xiv] Ibid., 4. Only when all was satisfactory could the dead pharaoh ascend. [xxxvii] Ibid., 28. [xxix] Lehner, 1 7. Withinthis context, the theory that a number of the pyramids may have been laidout as a "map" of the heavens can easily coexist with the theory thatpyramids were built independently by individual pharaohs as monuments tothemselves. The reason for the mound shape may have been practical, orit may have been motivated by any of a number of concepts important to thebuilders. [viii] Lehner, 28. The sending off of the dead pharaoh was essentially a double ritualwith the coronation of the new one. At death, theka returned to the common body from whence it came. [xxi] Editors of Time-Life Books, 51. The ancient Egyptians themselves did not have a uniform theologicalsystem, but accepted a whole collection of beliefs that often contradictedone another: "...A single aspect [could not] suffice to explain theessential nature of the divine, which maintain[ed] a singularity ofcharacter within the multiplicity of its actions and forms."[xxxviii] The tolerance for such seeming ideological chaos may have arisen outof the worship of local deities in earlier times, such as Horus at Edfu,Ptah at Memphis, Min at Koptos, Khnum at Elephantine.[xxxix] As one city-state gained power and importance over the others, the multitude ofdivinities and beliefs were assimilated into the cosmogony of the dominantculture,[xl] apparently without any concern or frustration over theinherent conflicts in such a union. [xxv] Bauval and Gilbert, 125. In addition to these basic appointments,Djoser's Step Pyramid contained "4 , vases, bowls, and dishes made ofalabaster, quartz, marble, dolomite, and other valuable stone."[vi] Somepharaohs' pyramids even featured pits holding intact or dismantled boats,such as that of Khufu at Giza.[vii] The Egyptians believed that their rulers continued to live on afterdeath, but they believed it was in a parallel world to this one. During the Old Kingdom period, the pharaohwas believed to ascend to the heavens, where he became a celestial body tobe worshipped by the living on earth. Wallis Budge, The Mummy: A Handbook of Egyptian FuneraryArchaeology (London: KPI Ltd., 1987), 2 3. Soon after, the shape was abandoned for the true pyramidshape, perhaps more familiar to most people for its smoothly sloping sides.Though this shape, too, is symbolic of a mound, some have suggested that itwas intended to call to mind the rays of the sun. [xxxi] Researchers use precession calculation to determine the pastpositions of stars. [xxxii] Bauval and Gilbert, 238. [xxxviii] Andreu, 14 . The Mummy: A Handbook of Egyptian Funerary Archaeology. The overwhelming majority of archaeological data about life in ancientEgypt comes not from the remains of daily living quarters, but from theburial chambers of the dead, and associated objects, such as writings onburial chamber walls and the preserved corpses found within. Experts infer that techniques had evolved over the span of centuriesfrom the Old Kingdom to the time of Herodotus. In their new, parallel existence, the deceased were nonetheless ableto effect changes in this world of the living. Thedeceased ascended to the heavens, to ride in the sun god Ra's celestialboat, and became a celestial body himself. [xxxix] Baikie, 328. According to the evidence at hand, what was salient to the Old KingdomEgyptians was that, when a pharaoh died, he passed on into another form ofexistence, and his legitimate heir, usually his son, took his place in theunending cosmic cycle of Osiris-Horus. The food offerings provided spiritual sustenancein the parallel existence to which the pharaohs had passed. [xxxvi] Andreu, 144. Detailed records were kept of theadministrative life carried on within the pyramid temple, revealing that asignificant number of people were employed in the operation of funerarycults.[v] These records, as well as the very existence and scale of thepyramids, attest to the ancient Egyptians' preoccupation with theafterlife. In the earliest periods of Egyptian civilization, the dead were buriedin shallow pits in the desert, accompanied by grave goods appropriate totheir social stature before death. Some Egyptologists postulate that the original ben-ben stone may havebeen a meteorite, based on its reputed size, conical shape and black color.Since meteorites approach the earth from the east, like the sun,[xxxv] thearrival of a fiery meteorite might have been seen as the return of themythical phoenix/Atum figure. ...The king was identified with Osiris, and was believed to be raised to life again in the person of the god, and placed upon the throne of the underworld.[xviii] This eternal cycle was perpetuated by the careful performance ofburial rituals, which ensured that a dead pharaoh took his place in theheavens as Osiris, and his son assumed the embodiment of Horus on earth.Before the deceased could enter upon his everlasting life as Osiris, he wassubjected to divine judgment, just as Horus had been after the battle withSeth. [xxvi] Lehner, 212. Their claim is that, if an aerial map (orany scaled plan) of the Giza plain is juxtaposed with a map of theconstellation Orion, an exact correlation will be obtained. Burial grounds, the resting place and portal to the afterlife,were situated in the western reaches of the land, corresponding to wherethe sun sets every evening.[xxxvi] The imagery of the sky as a watery landcrossed on boats is an echo of the Nile Valley's own terrain, and thecelestial region known as the "Field of Reeds"[xxxvii] has its counterpartin the marshy area on the eastern edge of the valley. Related to this notion is the geological fact of the Nile River'syearly flooding. Horus emergedthe victor but was allowed to take the throne only after being judged bythe gods and deemed worthy.[xvii] Identification with Osiris and the myth of his death and rebirth arein fact a central theme of Egyptian kingship and its religious foundations.Unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under one ruler, as well as the rulerhaving to undergo divine judgment, were encompassed in the idea of ma'at,or "world order," the "right" way of the universe. [ii] Mark Lehner, The Complete Pyramids (London: Thames and HudsonLtd., 1997), 1 8. These "shafts" were so namedbecause early Egyptologists thought the shafts were made forventilation,[xxx] but that possibility has been ruled out. Thecentrality of the notion of immortality to their everyday lives is attestedto by the importance they accorded to funerary ritual, by the substantialdevotion of state resources to the funerary industry, and by the design,symbolism, and scale of the pyramids. Its sharply angled sidesdo, indeed, simulate the appearance of sunbeams, and in fact, the PyramidTexts do mention "the sun's rays as a ramp by which the king mounts up tothe sun..."[xxiv] The theories cited above assume that each individual pyramid wasraised for the glorification or use of an individual pharaoh. [xii] Rosalie David and Eddie Tapp, eds., Evidence Embalmed(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1984), 7. Alexandria: Time- Life Books, 1992.Kemp, Barry. Furthermore, according to the dominant explanations of pyramidsymbolism, these structures were built for the glorification of thepharaohs by whom they were commissioned. London: KPI Limited, 1987.----------------------- Notes [i] Barry J. Evidence Embalmed. [iii] Editors of Time-Life Books, Egypt: Land of the Pharaohs(Alexandria: Time-Life Books, 1992), 58. The notion of the nonphysical dimensions of a human being, one's ka,ba, and akh, is central to any discussion of Egyptian religious beliefs. [iv] Lehner, 1 8. In any event, by the end of the Third Dynasty,Djoser's chief architect had elaborated the "staircase" design for hispharaoh's tomb. BibliographyAldred, Cyril. [vi] Editors of Time-Life Books, 51. If that was the case, why wouldMenkaure, the pharaoh who built the third, smallest pyramid at Giza, becontent with a monument humbler than its towering neighbors? Certainly,Djoser's Step Pyramid at Saqqara was designed as a cosmic staircase for thedead pharaoh to climb to the heavens[xxi], an innovation for which hischief architect, Imhotep, was to be lauded and worshipped for centuriesthereafter. [xxiv] Ibid. Finally, there is the legend of the "ben-ben," a stone revered as thesymbol of the sun-god, which may also have been the site where Atum firstmanifested himself.[xxii] The "original" ben-ben stone was lost centuriesago, but its name is used for the capstone of a pyramid or point of anobelisk, and also refers to a conical or pyramidal shape. [xxxiv] Ibid., 2 3. [xix] Robert Bauval and Adrian Gilbert, The Orion Mystery: Unlockingthe Secrets of the Pyramids (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1994), 2 4. The Orion Mystery: Unlocking the Secrets of the Pyramids. By B.J. Such were the fundamental order of the ancient Egyptian universe, orma'at, and the underpinning of their rulers' claim to the throne. Dutiesincluded performing ceremonies in the pyramid temple, guarding andinspecting the equipment and premises, and accepting and distributing thedaily offerings, or temple income. London: Adam and Charles Black, 19 8.Bauval, Robert and Adrian Gilbert. Kareferred to one's life force, a generic aspect that was passed down to onethrough the family lineage, ultimately from the creator god. He made confessions regarding his behavior on earth, and whether hehad violated the "right" way of conduct, or ma'at; his heart was thenweighed on a scale against a feather, the symbol of Ma'at, the Goddess ofTruth. Lloyd. [xi] Ibid. Indeed, they may have seen these not ascontradictions, but as a necessarily multifaceted explanation of the worldorder. The builders clearly had the technology for accuracy,so why did they neglect it in the building of the third pyramid?
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