Contexts of Appearance of Water in the Pyramid Texts An Introduction

Author: Joanna Popielska-Grzybowska | Pages: 157–167

Abstract

The author collected in her paper introductory remarks concerning the occurrences of water in the Pyramid Texts. The article outlines main issues which appear to be assumed by the ancient Egyptians the most vivid while thinking about water and its role in Egyptian religion of the Old Kingdom. In the world oldest religious texts it may be evenly observed that water was a way to travel both on Earth and in the sky as well as to transport goods in both realities. The above-mentioned and the ways of transport confirm watery nature of the hereafter. Water could have both good as well as bad, involving peril, connotations. Furthermore, it appears – that water was perceived as a sacralised sphere, the one of primordial value. However, in the Pyramid Texts more emphasis was put on its purifying and rejuvenating qualities.

References

Allen, J.P. 1989: The Cosmology of the Pyramid Texts, [in:] Simpson, W.K. (Ed.), Religion and Philosophy in Ancient Egypt, Yale Egyptological Studies 3, New Haven, 1–28
Allen, J.P. 2005: The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts, Writings from the Ancient World 23, Atlanta
Altenmüller, H. 1972: Die Texte zum Begräbnisritual in den Pyramiden des Alten Reichs, Ägyptologische Abhandlungen 24, Wiesbaden
Amenta, A., Luiselli, M.M., Novella Sordi, M. (Eds) 2005: L’acqua nell’antico Egitto: vita, rigenerazione, incantesimo, medicamento. Proceedings of the First International conference for young Egyptologists, Italy, Chianciano Terme, October 15–18, 2003, Rome

Bickel, S. 2005: Creative and destructive waters, [in:] Amenta, A., Luiselli, M.M., Novella Sordi, M. (Eds), L’acqua nell’antico Egitto: vita, rigenerazione, incantesimo, medicamento. Proceeding of the First International conference for young Egyptologists, Italy, Chianciano Terme, October 15–18, 2003, Rome, 191–200
Borges Pires, G.C. 2015: Sentir e narrar o sagrado: em torno da sacralização do(s) espaço(s) terrestre(s) e aquático(s) no Egipto Antigo, unpublished MA thesis, Universidade Nova de Lisboa
Borges Pires, G.C. forthcoming a: Rotas de aproximação à temática da sacralização do espaço no Egipto Antigo, [in:] Largacha, A. (Ed.), Atos de Congreso de Egiptologia Iberica, Cuenca
Borges Pires, G.C., forthoming b: Aquatic Symbolism in Ancient Egypt: A Complex Issue, [in:] Popielska-Grzybowska, J., Iwaszczuk, J. (Eds), Thinking Symbols – Interdisciplinary Approaches, Acta Archaeologica Pultuskiensia VI, Pułtusk

ElSebaie, S. 2013: A Study on the End of the World as Viewed by the Ancient Egyptians, [in:] Popielska-Grzybowska, J., Iwaszczuk, J. (Eds), Studies on Disasters, Catastrophes and the Ends of the World in Sources, Acta Archaeologica Pultuskiensia IV, Pułtusk, 91–102

Faulkner, R.O. 1969: The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts. Translated into English, Oxford

Grieshammer, R. 1982: Nun, [in:] Lexikon der Ägyptologie IV, Wiesbaden, 534–535
Grimal, N. 2012: L’eau en Égypte ancienne, [in:] Jouanna, J., Toubert, P., Zink, M. (Eds), Colloque L’eau en Méditerranée de l’Antiquité au Moyen Âge. Actes, Cahiers de la Villa « Kérylos » 23, Paris, 15–33

Haikal, F. 1994: L’eau dans les métaphores de l’Égypte ancienne, [in:] Menu, B. (Ed.), Les problèmes institutionnels de l’eau en Égypte ancienne et dans l’Antiquité méditerranéenne, Colloque AIDEA Vogüe 1992, Bibliothèque d’étude 110, Le Caire, 205–212
Hoffmeier, J.K. 1985: Sacred in the Vocabulary of Ancient Egypt. The Term Dsr, with Special Reference to Dynasties I–XX, Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 59, Freiburg-Göttingen

Kaplony, P. 1992: Wasser, [in:] Lexikon der Ägyptologie VII, Wiesbaden, 16–44

Mercer, S.A.B. 1952: Pyramid Texts IV, New York-London-Toronto

Oestigaard, T. 2011: Horus’ Eye and Osiris’ Efflux: The Egyptian Civilisation of Inundation c. 3000–2000 BCE, British Archaeological Reports, International Series 2228, Oxford
Otto, E. 1975: Erde, [in:] Lexikon der Ägyptologie I, Wiesbaden, 1263–1264

Pépin, J.-P. 1989: Quelques aspects de Nouou dans les Textes des Pyramides et les Textes des Sarcophages, [in:] Schoske, S. (Ed.), Akten des vierten Internationalen Ägyptologen Kongresses München 1985. 3: Linguistik, Philologie, Religion, Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur Beihefte 3, Hamburg, 339–345
Piankoff, A. 1968: The Pyramid of Unas, Egyptian Religious Text and Representations 5, Bollingen Series XL:5, Princeton
Popielska-Grzybowska, J. forthcoming a: Eternity, everlastingness and Nu in the Pyramid Texts, [in:] Popielska-Grzybowska, J., Tomorad, M. (Eds), Proceedings of the Seventh European Conference of Egyptologists. Egypt 2015: Perspectives of Research, Oxford
Popielska-Grzybowska, J. forthcoming b: Some Remarks on the Sky in the Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts, [in:] Campion, N. (Ed.), The Marriage of Heaven and Earth: Images and Representations of the Sky in Sacred Space, Bath

Rotsch, H. 2005: The Primeval Ocean Nun and the Terminology of Water in Ancient Egypt, [in:] Amenta, A., Luiselli, M.M., Novella Sordi, M. (Eds), L’acqua nell’antico Egitto: vita, rigenerazione, incantesimo, medicamento. Proceeding of the First International conference for young Egyptologists, Italy, Chianciano Terme, October 15–18, 2003, Rome, 229–239

Spiegel, J. 1971: Das Auferstehungsritual der Unas-Pyramide, Ägyptologische Abhandlungen 23, Wiesbaden
Steiner, R.C. 2011: Early Northwest Semitic Serpent Spells in the Pyramid Texts, Harvard Semitic Studies 61, Winona Lake

Tatomir, R.-G. 2005: Coincidentia oppositorum et conjunctio oppositorum: the mental category of water in the ancient Egyptian universe, [in:] Amenta, A., Luiselli, M.M., Novella Sordi, M. (Eds), L’acqua nell’antico Egitto: vita, rigenerazione, incantesimo, medicamento. Proceeding of the First International conference for young Egyptologists, Italy, Chianciano Terme, October 15–18, 2003, Rome, 181–187