Abstract
THE ROYAL MAGICIAN IN ANCIENT EGYPT.— Attention has frequently been directed to parallels in the customs of the ancient Egyptians and of African races. Such a parallel has been suggested by Sir Flinders Petrie as an explanation of a frequent scene in the royal functions of ancient Egypt in which a king is seen rapidly striding or running and bearing certain objects. This performance has been termed by Hermann Kees Opfertanz; but, as Sir Flinders Petrie points out in Ancient Egypt for September, the action is that of running, not dancing. Nor is the purpose to sacrifice or make an offering. He suggests that these scenes represent a ceremony analogous to the rain-making ceremonies of the African chief. They are usually found at the ends of the lintels in great temples, but occasionally elsewhere. The general meaning is indicated by certain signs such as the three adeb signs signifying cultivated land, which connect the ceremony with the cultivated fields, a small female figure frequently accompanying the king, with the plant of Lower or Upper Egypt on her head, and inviting him to come and bring the inundation, and, frequently, a galloping bull representing the Nile. This invocation begins as early as the sixth dynasty. The origin of the ceremony is indicated by the flail which is shown. This appears to have been derived from the bull's tail, which was used as a fertilising lash before the artificial form took its place. Thus it appears that the king went round the fields ceremonially to drive away evil influences, fertilising them with the lash and leaving blessings behind him. Fans are also shown. These are divine symbols, and are the regular adjunct of African rulers down to the present day. Later ceremonies (eleventh dynasty) show the oar, and (eighteenth dynasty) two vases for pouring water in the hands of the king. It would therefore seem clear that Egypt had a king of that African type of which the principal function is to act as a magician who controls the rain. In Egypt, as there was no rain, it was his duty to bring the inundation which made fertile the cultivated lands.
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Research Items. Nature 116, 726–728 (1925). https://doi.org/10.1038/116726a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/116726a0