The cult statue of the god was the focus of the daily offering ritual. We have a wealth of pictorial and textual information about this ritual. The eastern interior walls of the Hypostyle Hall at Karnak, the chapels of the Temple of Seti I at Abydos (Fig. 18), the sanctuary of the Temple of Horus at Edfu, and
Inside the Temple
The southern part of the Luxor Temple are all covered with scenes showing the ritual, although the order in which they are to be read is sometimes unclear. A remarkable papyrus, Berlin 3055 (Dynasty 22), contains the complete liturgy for the daily offering service for Amun, and two others (Berlin 3014 and 3053) have a similar liturgy for Mut. We also have many detailed lists of food and other materials that were required for the ritual, as well as economic texts that detail where the goods for the rituals came from and record their transfer from one temple or government agency to another.
The daily offering ritual was performed in every functioning temple three times a day, in imitation of human meal times. Texts are very clear about the timing and intent of the rituals: "Three offerings are conducted for them [the statues] daily, at every rising of the sun over the mountains."21 The offerings given to the god are specifically referred to as "meals."22 The offering ritual is known from the Old Kingdom, from the Pyramid Texts and the economic records of Neferirkare at Abu Sir, and it continued to be the essential temple ritual throughout Egyptian history.
The ritual consisted of the physical maintenance of the god, followed by the presentation of food and drink. All ritual actions were made in the name of the king, and it is he who is shown in the temple reliefs, although in reality a priest acted in his stead. Each morning as the sun rose, the temple staff would assemble for duty. The daily ritual involved a variety of ranks of priests - wabs, lector priests, and God's Fathers are specifically mentioned. The Chief Priest would be specially purified in a section of the temple called the per duat or "the house of morning."23 There, he washed his body with water, was purified with incense, and rinsed his mouth with natron. Texts record, "There was performed for him all ceremonies that are performed for the king," transforming him from a priest into a proper surrogate for the king. He then joined the other priests, who had also undergone purification. They gathered the materials needed for the ritual and proceeded to the temple's sanctuary. Before entering, they began a series of recitations that accompanied their preparations - the utterance for lighting the fire,- the utterances for taking the incense, putting the brazier on the censer (?), and putting incense on the fire, and, finally, the "utterance for advancing to the holy place." The sense that the ritual was in theory performed by the king is evident in the Chief Priest's first ritual words: "It is the king who sends me."
Each step of the ritual was highly symbolic, referred to mythic events, and was accompanied by a set liturgy. To begin the ritual, the priest awakened the god who slept in the sealed shrine. Holding a candle, he
The Daily Offering Ritual — 47 —
Entered the sanctuary, chanting, "Awake in peace! May your awakening be peaceful!" He broke the seals of the door bolts of the shrine, and drew back the bolts - an action that was equated with removing the fingers of Seth from the eye of Horus. The priest then "opened the sight of the god" as he swung open the doors of the shrine, and he "kissed the ground," prostrating himself before the god's shrine. Each ritual step was punctuated with a specific recitation and an offering of incense and adoration of the deity. In preparation for removing the god from his shrine, the priest scattered pure white sand on the floor of the sanctuary, symbolizing the mound of creation from which all life sprang. He then recited a liturgy for "Laying Hands Upon the God," and removed the statue from the shrine, placing it on the sand. After more purifications, the priest removed the deity's outer linen garment and jewelry and wiped away the unguents from the previous day's ritual. Once the statue was suitably cleansed, the priest offered the god lengths of red, white, and green cloth that symbolized the blood of Isis, the uraeus, and fertility. This was followed by the presention of green and black eye cosmetics. The god was adorned with bracelets, a broad collar, and anklets, and given the appropriate scepters and headdress. The statue was then wrapped in his "great garment," probably a linen wrapper such as those that were found with the divine statues in the tomb of Tutankhamun.24
Now fully awakened and ready for the day, the god was presented with flowers, food, and drink. Economic texts specify that the food offerings consisted of grain, vegetables, wine, and cuts of meat and fowl. When the god was considered to be done, an interval that is not specified in the texts, the food was taken away and the god was readied for sleep. After further purifications, the god was returned to his shrine, the doors closed and sealed. As a final ritual, the king performed the "Bringing of the Foot," in which he grasped a broomlike had-plant and backed out of the sanctuary, sweeping his footprints from the room. This procedure not only left the sanctuary in good order, but, it was believed, also prevented evil from approaching the god, presumably by following the footprints of the priest-king.
A version of this ritual was repeated at midday and in the evening. The evidence for how elaborate these other two daily rituals were is inconclusive, but it is clear that the morning service was the most complete. The evening service may have been essentially food offerings, but the shrine was not opened, and the activity took place in the antechamber rather than directly before the god.
Inside the Temple
Figure 19. Temple to the Aten at the city of Akhetaten. Because the Aten was a noncorporeal sun god, his temples were open to the sky, allowing the sun's rays to pluck offerings off the hundreds of small altars in the courtyards. Dynasty 18. Courtesy of the Egypt Exploration Society.
The daily offering service was such a fundamental part of Egyptian religion that it continued during the Amarna Period, although in a slightly modified form (see Chapter 10). Because the Aten, the god of Akhenaten, had no corporeal form, there was no cult image to maintain. Since the Aten was the sun and its light, the ritual moved from the dark sanctuary of a god to the open courtyards of the Aten temples, which were filled with hundreds of offering tables on which food and flowers were placed to be "consumed" by the rays of the sun (Fig. 19). The ritual also became more public. The traditional images that showed the king performing the service alone were
The Daily Offering Ritual
Figure 20. Gods often left their sanctuaries during festivals and for other purposes. The statues of the deities are inside the veiled shrines on the boats. The gods can be identified by the texts and by the heads on the bow and stern. The upper boat is Khonsu's and the lower is Mut's, his mother. These vessels, joined by those of Amun and of the king, would process around and outside the temple. Medinet Habu. Dynasty 20. Photo: Emily Teeter.
Inside the Temple
Replaced by scenes of the king and the queen, or even of larger groups that included their daughters, ladies-in-waiting, dwarves, and other court officials, laying food on the altars. During this period, flowers became a more prominent feature of the offerings, perhaps because the Aten was a more abstract deity, who, it was thought, was not able to actually consume food offerings.
World History
