A considerable number of texts deal with priestly knowledge in a systematic form. These may be divided into three main groups; general texts, cult-specific texts, and temple-specific texts. The texts presented below are selected on the basis of the number of attested copies on the assumption that the better-preserved compositions would generally be the more important.
Beginning with the general texts, the Book of the Temple assumes pride of place, with more than forty known copies, mostly in Hieratic though there are also a few in Demotic, one in Greek, and one in both Hieratic and Demotic (first-second century AD, a few perhaps late Ptolemaic; Quack 2000, cf. further Quack 2007a). The composition is divided into two halves, one a treatise on the ideal temple and the other a treatise on the temple personnel. By its very nature it must be assumed that this was a fundamental work present in all temple libraries. The Tebtunis temple library alone included nearly twenty copies, and there are also several copies of the text from Soknopaiou Nesos.
The so-called Book ofThoth (Jasnow and Zauzich 2005; Quack 2007b; 2007c) is a comprehensive initiation text for the temple scribe which takes the form of a dialogue between a divine figure and the pupil who is described as ‘‘he who loves knowledge’’ or ‘‘he who loves to learn.’’ It is attested in more than twenty Demotic copies, mostly from Tebtunis and Soknopaiou Nesos, and a single Hieratic version which is probably from Elephantine. Apart from a single Demotic papyrus of Ptolemaic date, the entire corpus dates to the first-second century ad.
The Book of Nut or, to use its ancient title, the Fundamentals of the Course of the Stars, seems to have been one of the main treatises on religious astronomy (v. Lieven 2007), with a text tradition spanning at least one and a half millennia. The oldest version of the text is found in the underground temple of Sety I at Abydos, and it is further inscribed in the tombs of Ramesses IV at Thebes and Mutirdis in the Asasif (seventh century bc). The Tebtunis temple library included six copies of the text; one Hieroglyphic and five Hieratic, two of the latter with Demotic translation and commentary.
The Priestly Manual is an extensive cult topographical composition. The main section of the text records essential information about each single nome; the name of the nome and its capital, the main deity and sanctuary, the titles of the main priests, the sacred barque, sacred water, sacred tree, sacred mount, etc., as well as the main festival dates and the local ‘‘taboos.’’ The text is preserved in at least three papyri from the Tebtunis temple library, one Hieroglyphic (Osing and Rosati 1998: 19-54) and two Hieratic (Osing 1998: 219-75). There is another Hieroglyphic papyrus from the Tanis temple (Griffith and Petrie 1889) and a monumental Hieroglyphic version inscribed on the walls of the Edfu temple.
The Mythological Manual is similarly a compilation of cultic information about every nome; it records an extensive number of local myths and is preserved in at least four Hieratic copies from the Tebtunis temple library (one published in Osing and Rosati 1998: 129-88; Osing 2000: 134-5). It is noteworthy that the local myths are interpreted in terms of the Osirian mythology, thus providing yet another example of the dominant status of the Osiris cult in the Late and Graeco-Roman Period. The ‘‘Brooklyn Library’’ includes a work of similar nature, but about 700 years older, recording myths related to the Delta in its extant parts (Meeks 2006).
The Votive Cubit is intended to preserve the integrity of the cubit measure so as to maintain order. Like the two previous texts it is also of national geographical concern insofar as it includes a list of the Egyptian nomes and their extent with precise measurements. The text is explicitly addressed to future generations and thus represents a canon. Attested through physical cubit rules since the reign of Amenhotep III, the Tebtunis temple library includes two versions of the text, one Hieroglyphic (Rosati 1990) and one Hieratic (Quack 2006c), and elements of the text also occur in the Priestly Manual.
In addition to texts of general relevance, a number of cult-specific texts are also attested. The best preserved composition of this type is the Book of the Fayum, a cult topographical treatise pertaining specifically to Sobek. It is attested in several copies from the Tebtunis temple library, one or two Hieroglyphic, four or more Hieratic, and two Demotic translations with commentary. Further attestations include a monumental version at the temple of Kom Ombo in southern Egypt (Beinlich 1991; Ryholt 2005a: 148-9; Quack 2006b: 3). The text accords the Fayum a special position in relation to the sun god and creation, and the Hieroglyphic versions include a schematic map of the region personified as the mother-goddess of the sun. Another well-preserved cult topographical treatise is the nearly nine metres long Papyrus Jumilhac (late Ptolemaic; Vandier 1961, Quack 2008a), written in hieroglyphs with occasional Demotic jottings, which pertains to the 17th and 18th Upper Egyptian nome. It covers much of the same basic information that is recorded in the Priestly Manual but adds a lot more detail and information.
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