Assmann Death and Initiation

Originalveröffentlichung in: W.K.Simpson (Hrsg.), Religion and Philosophy in Ancient Egypt, Yale Egyptological Studies 3, 1989, S. 135-159

DEATH AND INITIATION IN THE FUNERARY RELIGION OF ANCIENT EGYPT* Jan Assmann 1. Introduction The idea of interpreting the ritual and conceptual structure of the funerary religion of Ancient Egypt in the light of the anthropological topic of initiation is certainly not new. Thirty years ago, in a fine study on the Egyptian background of the Magic Flute,1 Siegfried Morenz expressed the view that a central aspect of Ancient Egyptian burial ceremonies lay in a sort of priestly initiation to the realm of the dead. Twenty years later, his former student R. Grieshammer was able to substantiate this general hypothesis by capitalizing on one crucial element, the "Negative Confession" in "The Judgement of the Dead," 2 thereby elevating it to the realm of fact. In 1956, in his article entitled "Zergliedern und Zusammenfugen," 3 Alfred Hermann had drawn attention to numerous parallels from initiation rituals throughout comparative religious history which could be related to an archaic Egyptian, albeit only sporadically attested, burial custom, as well as to the admittedly much later documented myth-constituent known as "the dismembering of the body of Osiris." Yet again twenty years later, G.R.H. Wright arrived independently at the same conclusion, obviously without any knowledge of Hermann's work, though he was now able to draw extensively on the material which Mircea Eliade 4 had since gathered and interpreted. In his opinion, the shamanistic initiation rites originated from a funerary context and were modeled after the pattern of ancient funerary ceremonies. This * T ranslated by M. Grauer and R. Meyer. T he German version appeared in H. P. Duerr (ed.), Sehnsucht nach dem Ursprung. Zu Mircea Eliade, Frankfurt 1983, 338-359. 1

See Morenz 1952.

2

Grieshammer 1974; cf. Merkelbach 1987.

3

Hermann 1956.

4

Wright 1979, cf. Eliade 1975, 470 s.v. "Initiationszerstiickelung". For the motif of dismemberment in the Cretan Zagreus Myth see also B. Gallistl 1981, with references to the Egyptian embalming ritual. B. Gladigow 1976 traces the topic of dismemberment back to hunting rituals and places the theme in the broader context of ethics and immortality.

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hypothesis c o m b i n e s prior contributions o n this subject while f o l l o w i n g in the s a m e v e i n . R . G r i e s h a m m e r ' s c o n c l u s i o n s , h o w e v e r , l e a d to t h e i n v e r s e l y f o r m u l a t e d p r e m i s e t h a t t h e i n i t i a t i o n rites, a n d n o t v i c e v e r s a , f u r n i s h e d t h e p r o t o t y p e s of Egyptian f u n e r a r y religion: a view w h i c h has so f a r b e e n treated with great reserve. 5 O u r intention here is to e x a m i n e , u n d e r the specific aspect of initiation, a n u m b e r of w a y s in w h i c h the general idea of "the passage f r o m this world into the n e x t " w a s e x p r e s s e d in the E g y p t i a n f u n e r a r y l i t e r a t u r e . T h e s e f u n e r a r y t e x t s are p r i m a r i l y k n o w n as the Egyptian " B o o k of the Dead," 6 a late canonized corpus of spells w h i c h first a p p e a r e d o n p a p y r u s - s c r o l l s , in v a r y i n g o r d e r a n d c o m b i n a t i o n , in the t o m b e q u i p m e n t of deceased persons at the beginning 16th century B.C. ( N e w K i n g d o m ) . Q u i t e a f e w of these spells can b e f o u n d centuries earlier, in an older and usually better version, on M i d d l e K i n g d o m c o f f i n s ( 2 1 5 0 - 1 7 5 0 B.C.). T h e s e and m a n y others are k n o w n as the " C o f f i n Texts." 7 A m o n g them, a basic stock can b e traced back e v e n as f a r as the Old K i n g d o m , where, together with other spells subsequently omitted by f u n e r a r y tradition, they w e r e used to inscribe the walls of royal burial c h a m b e r s f r o m the end of the 5th dynasty o n (ca.2450 B.C.). 8 T h e s e " P y r a m i d T e x t s " represent the o l d e s t s u b s t a n t i a l c o r p u s of r e l i g i o u s t e x t s k n o w n t o m a n k i n d . A p a r t f r o m t h i s f u n e r a r y literature, w h i c h w a s placed in the t o m b of the deceased so that h e m i g h t secure his existence in the next world through c o m m a n d of the appropriate k n o w l e d g e and w h i c h should b e qualified as " e s o t e r i c " in the sense that it w a s not m e a n t to b e seen by the e y e s of m o r t a l s a n d t h e r e f o r e did n o t s h a r e in the p r o c e s s of literary c o m m u n i c a t i o n , there exists yet another category of f u n e r a r y literature which might be d e s c r i b e d as " e x o t e r i c . " S u c h texts, the i m p o r t a n c e a n d extent of w h i c h g r a d u a l l y i n c r e a s e d in t h e c o u r s e of t i m e , t o o k t h e f o r m of i n s c r i p t i o n s , a c c o m p a n i e d b y representations, in those parts of the t o m b accessible to visitors. W e shall d r a w o n texts f r o m both these sources for the p u r p o s e of our analysis; f r o m which source in particular need not, as a rule, concern us here, since both s e e m largely to concur in their respective treatment of "the passage f r o m this world into the n e x t . " T h e general idea of "transition" underlying all concrete f o r m u l a t i o n s of this t h e m e is of o n t i c n a t u r e : it is c o n c e i v e d as a t r a n s f o r m a t i o n f r o m o n e state of b e i n g to another w h i c h the deceased m u s t undergo. T h e E g y p t i a n language has a specific w o r d f o r this " o t h e r " state of being: 3h (akh), w h i c h is u s u a l l y r e n d e r e d as " s p i r i t " and " s p i r i t - s t a t e . " T h e p h o n e t i c r o o t (j)3h c o n v e y s t h e b a s i c m e a n i n g s of " l i g h t , " " b r i g h t n e s s " and " r a d i a n c e . " T h e f e m i n i n e f o r m Sht (akhet) designates that "radiant p l a c e " in the h e a v e n s w h e r e the sun rises and sets, but also the " l a n d of the b l e s s e d " to 5

Besides the work of Morenz 1952, which is representative of the general attitude, cf. Bonnet 1952, 494-496; J.G. Griffiths, in: Lexikon der Agyptologie

IV (1980), 276. Especially careful is C.J.

Bleeker 1965, but he ignores or excludes the evidence on which this study is based. 6

The latest translations are due to R.O. Faulkner 1985.

7

de Buck 1935-1961; translations: R.O. Faulkner 1973-1978; P. Barguet 1986.

8 S ethe 1935-1922; latest translation: R.O. Faulkner 1969.

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which the de ce ase d j o u r n e y afte r de ath. "Radiant p l a c e , " in the Old K i n g d o m , is also t h e n a m e of t h e k i n g ' s p y r a m i d - t o m b , an i n d i c a t i o n t h a t h i s e n t o m b m e n t is t h e p r e f i g u r a t i o n or the e quivale nt of his asce nt to the he ave ns. 9 T h e A K H - s p h e r e is a world of "mythical" 1 0 value s and re alitie s which, in the course of the O l d K i n g d o m , gradually ove rlaye d an e ve n more ancie nt world of tangible cultic obje cts and rituals." T h e s p o k e n word provide s the ide al m e a n s of transposing the re alitie s of " y o n d e r " w o r l d into this w o r l d of s y m b o l i c o b j e c t s and rituals, b u t also of t r a n s f e r r i n g the d e c e a s e d to t h e b e y o n d , w h i l e e n a b l i n g h i m to r e t a i n h i s e a r t h l y c a p a c i t y . T h e Egyptian de scribe s this function of the spoke n word with the causative de rivation of the phone tic root (j)3h, thus arriving at s-3h " t o transfigure ." It is this basic bipolar structure of Egyptian re ligious te xts in ge ne ral, but m o r e spe cifically of the fune rary lite rature , of the re lationship be twe e n this world of visual re alitie s and yonde r world of m y t h i c a l r e a l i t i e s w h i c h s h a l l c o n c e r n u s a g a i n a n d a g a i n in t h e f o l l o w i n g discourse . Within this ontic distance be twe e n the " h e r e " and " y o n d e r , " be twe e n visual and mythical re ality, lie s the initiatory and mystical characte r of the Egyptian fune rary re ligion. T h e world of mythical re ality stands f o r a ce rtain k n o w l e d g e , to which the de ce ase d is initiate d, f o r a cosmic sphe re , to which h e is transfe rre d, and f o r a state of be ing, which he must attain. Le t us distinguish, for the sake of clarity, b e t w e e n two variants f o u n d in the formulations and illustrations of the " p a s s a g e " f r o m this world to the ne xt: firstly, those conce rne d primarily with the spatial aspe ct ("transition") and se condly, those pre se nting a more biomorphic m o d e l ("re birth"). That both variants in n o w a y e xclude one anothe r, but actually stand in a c o m p l e m e n t a r y re lationship and in m a n y w a y s o v e r l a p , n e e d s n o e x p l a n a t i o n . A r e w e n o t , a f t e r all, d e a l i n g w i t h me t a p h o r s of an ontic transformation which can ne ithe r be de picte d nor f o r m u l a t e d ?

2. The "Biomorphic" Models of Tra nsforma tion 2.1 Dismemberment a nd Rejoining D i s m e m b e r m e n t of the corpse is atte ste d in Egypt both arche ologically, i.e . in burial practice s, and in fune rary lite rature , whe re it re pre se nts a ce ntral aspe ct of re ligious thought. Arche ological and lite rary e vide nce , howe ve r, are se parate d by a long span of time and are , f o r a n u m b e r of furthe r re asons, difficult to re late to e ach othe r. E v i d e n c e of the burial practice spans the time f r o m the Early Dynastic Pe riod to the be ginning

9

Cf. the widesprea d pa ra phra se for the funera ry procession: "to let the g o d a scend to his horizon" (Luddeckens 1943, 5 5 f f . , # 2 1 ) , proba bly o f roya l origin. This text is o b v i o u s l y quoted a t the beginning o f Sinuhe (R 7) a s a description of a roya l funera l.

10

I a m using here the term "mythica l" in the s e n s e of "referring to the divine world"; cf. A s s m a n n 1977a , 7 - 4 2 , where I proposed to distinguish b e t w e e n this broa d s e n s e o f the term, w h i c h is the usua l o n e in E g y p t o l o g y , a nd a more strict o n e restricted to myth a s a kind of na rra tive.

11

Schott 1945; A s s m a n n 1984, 1 0 2 - 1 1 7 .

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of the 4th dynasty, though i t always represents an excepti on to the rule and an exclusi ve prerogati ve of hi gh standi ng i nd i v i duals. 12 The custom di sappears i n the wake of the development and general adopti on of embalment and mummi fi cati on, 13 and must rank as i ts predecessor. As a li terary moti f, the concept of d i smemberment clearly appears i n an exclusi vely negati ve context:14 i t i s ei ther one of the dangers i n the netherworld, whi ch must be avoi ded at all cost,15 or a metaphori cal i llustrati on of the i ni ti al state of want, whi ch the mani fold resuscitation ri tes of the funerary cult take up i n the sense of a restitutio ad integrum* The concept of di smemberment appears here solely as the logi cal prerequi si te of ri tual acts, whi ch are concei ved as a rejoi ni ng of the body. In the context of the myth of Osi ri s, the di smemberment of the god's body has dual functi on and meani ng, to whi ch corresponds a dual tradi ti on. Seth has not only ki lled hi s brother Osi ri s, but also, i n a second act of vi olence, cut hi s corpse to pi eces and thrown these i nto the water. So far, all versi ons of the myth agree. For the one tradi ti on, however, thi s di smemberment represents nothi ng else but a catastrophic state of want, preci sely as the funerary texts descri be i t. This state now becomes the starti ng poi nt of restorati ve acts, the goal of whi ch i s to cure the condi ti on of death. The rejoi ni ng of the li mbs of Osi ri s, found only after a long search, became the prototype for the "overcomi ng" of death and furni shed the mythi cal precedent17 for embalment. Embalment and mummi fi cati on, i n the li ght of the myth of Osi ri s, are equated wi th the restorati on of li fe to the body, whi ch had by no means to be ri tually di smembered beforehand, since i ts li felessness alone was mythi cally i nterpreted as di smemberment. Di smemberment i s thus a symbol for the di si ntegrati on of a li vi ng enti ty and a mythi cal i mage for the condi ti on of death i tself.18 In the other tradi ti on, thi s same mythi cal epi sode becomes an eti ologi cal myth explai ni ng the spreadi ng of the cult of Osi ri s throughout Egypt. The water has carri ed away the pi eces of Osi ri s' body and washed them ashore i n 14 di fferent places i n the country, where they were preserved as holy reli cs and formed the nucleus of the Osi ri s-cult.19 Only the fi rst of these tradi ti ons shall concern us here. The embalmi ng process, to whi ch i t refers, is related to the topi c of i ni ti ati on i n manifold ways. It i s conceived not so much as a preservation of the corpse, but rather as its transfiguration to a new body:

12

See Hermann 1956 and G.R.H. W right 1979.

13

For Egyptian mummification techniques, see David 1979. For the purpose of the present study,

14

In this respect I agree completely with Griffiths 1980, 5Iff.

15

Cf. Zandee 1960, esp. p. 147ff.

Sethe 1934 is still valid.

16

Cf. Assmann 1973, 121-125.

17

For this term cf. van der Leeuw 1933,161-180; Eliade 1954/58,194-204.

18

Cf. Assmann 1973.

19

See Beinlich 1984.

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one "fille d with magic," 20 the pe rishable substance s of which have be e n re place d by e ve rlasting one s,21 re sting in the mummy-cove r as if it we re a kind of magic garme nt. The Egyptian word for mummy, sch, also me ans "nobility," "dignity" and de note s the e le vate d sphe re of e xiste nce to which the de ce ase d has be e n transfe rre d and initiate d in the course of the proce ss of e mbalme nt. The mummy-case itse lf gradually e volve d into increasingly lavishly de corate d stucco-cartonnage and woode n anthropoid coffins, whereby the pictorial motifs and de coration patte rns me re ly re pre se nt an iconographic formulation of the e xact same AKH-sphe re which is e xpre sse d in fune rary lite rature by me ans of the spoke n and writte n word. 2.2 Reb irth 2.2.1 Placement in the coffin as regressus ad uterum In accordance with the principle of "transfiguration," as the corre lation of this world's symbolic obje cts and actions with yonde r world of value s and re alitie s, the coffin becomes the body of the sky- and mothe r-godde ss, thus e nabling the "placing of the body in the coffin" to be transfigure d into the asce nt of the de ce ase d to the he ave ns and the re turn to the mothe r-godde ss {regressus ad uterum).22 In Egypt, the sky is conce ive d as a fe male e ntity, which me ans that we are not de aling with "mothe r-e arth," but with "mothe r-sky." The sky-godde ss is the Egyptian manife station of the Gre at Mothe r. A ce ntral aspe ct of this be lie f is the fact that the Egyptians imagine d the de ce ase d as be ing the childre n of this Mothe r-of-all-Be ings. This mothe r-child re lationship could be attaine d in de ath only, through absorption into the godde ss: "The mother of millions, who receives hundre ds of thousands." 23 "She love s the entering, she loathe s e me rging; the entire land longs to be the re ."24 "The ir mother is she, who cre ate d the m all: the y e nte r he r, all (of the m)."25

20) For some exx. of this formula see Assmann 1969, p.196, n.22. 21

Cf. similar motifs in the context of the shamanistic initiatory dismemb erment, see Eliade 1975.

22

Cf. Rusch 1922; Assmann 1972, 115ff.; id., in: Lexikon der Agyptologie IV (1980), 266-271.

23

Davies 1933, pi. 55.

24

Pap. Dub lin 4, ed. Pierret 1874, pp. 83 ff.

25

Cairo, Sarcophagus of Haremhab (Late Period) ed. Piehl III, 67ff.

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O thou we tnurse , into whom it is good to e nte r, O thou, into whom e ach and e ve ryone e nte rs, day afte r day! O Gre at Mothe r, whose childre n are not de live re d!" 26 The te xts unde rline the indissolubility of this bond, or more pre cise ly of the e mbrace into which the de ce ase d, whe n laid in his coffin, e nte rs with the sky- the mothe rgodde ss, the godde ss of the de ad. The conce pt of re birth, howe ve r, still plays an important role . "I shall be ar the e ane w, re juve nate d," e xclaims the sky-godde ss to the de ce ase d in one of many such te xts inscribe d on or in ne arly e ve ry coffin and tomb.27 "I have spre ad myse lf ove r the e , I have born the e again as a god." Through this re birth, the de ce ase d be come s a star-god, a me mbe r of the AKH-sphe re , a ne w e ntity. This re birth, howe ve r, doe s not imply a de -live ry, a se paration, but take s place inside the mothe r's womb, inside the coffin and sky.28 The conste llative re lationship of the de ce ase d and the mothe r-godde ss, as shown in pictorial re pre se ntations and te xts, is inte rpre te d and activate d in the se nse of affiliation and re birth. It doe s not re pre se nt a transitional state , but the e te rnal, unalte rable basis for a ne w and highe r form of e xiste nce . By transfiguring the act of "laying the de ce ase d in the c o f f i n " to a regressus ad uterum, the path of life is give n a cyclic orie ntation. The de ce ase d thus gains acce ss to a re alm of e xiste nce inside he r body and is allowe d to take part in the cyclic e te rnity of the stars, the rising and se tting of which the Egyptians inte rpre te d as an eternally re pe ate d e nte ring and being born in the sky-godde ss. 29 2.2.2 Coronation and Rebirth The d e c e a s e d , now r e b o r n t h r o u g h the s k y - g o d d e s s as a god h i m s e l f , is subse que ntly bre ast-fe d by divine nurse s and e le vate d to the he ave ns. This "sacrame ntal inte rpre tation" 30 has its roots in a diffe re nt se t of rite s than those surrounding the "laying of the de ce ase d in the coffin," notably in the "burning of ince nse " 31 (the rising fume s be ing a symbol of the asce nt to the he ave ns) and in

26

Pap. Louvre 3148, XI. These and other quotes from Lexikon der Agyptologie

27

For a very incomplete compilation of these texts see Rusch 1922. About 70 different texts in among

IV , 268ff.

1000 variants are known to me. 28

In one of these texts the mother and sky-goddess asserts: "I shall never give birth to thee", see Schott 1965, 8 1 - 8 7 . The Egyptian desired to "rejuvenate in the coffin" (cf. e.g. the tale of the Shipwrecked

Sailor).

29

For the terminology of time and eternity see Assmann 1975.

30

"Sakramentale Ausdeutung," for this term see Assmann 1977a, 15-28.

31

E.g. Otto 1960, scene 64.

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libation32 (fluids being a symbol of divine milk). It should be noted that sacramental interpretations such as "rebirth through the sky-goddess" or "the rejoining of the limbs," in their capacity of events taking place in the divine or AKH-sphere, often enough belong to completely different sets of cultic actions than those connected with the "laying of the deceased in the coffin." A secondary application of one of the aforementioned sacramental interpretations, for example, may be found in the context of the rite of anointment, which might be accompanied by the words: "Thy mother Nut has born thee on this day."33 Where the action is concerned with the rearing of the child-god, a conspicuous role is played by the two goddesses personifying the crowns of the Egyptian double Kingdom. On the basis of this function, the Greeks even identified one of them with Eleithyia, the Greek goddess responsible for helping women to give birth.34 W e can therefore hardly go wrong in assuming that the rites explained as the "nursing of the child-god" originated in the royal coronation ritual.35 Seen under these aspects, the famous cycle of representations known as "the myth of the divine birth," which, in some New Kingdom temples, depicts the announcement, begettal, birth, nursing and circumcision of the royal child,36 appear:, in a different light. Until now, it had always been interpreted as an elevation of the actual birth of the king to a mythical sphere. 37 It seems to me, however, that a reference to the coronation or, better yet, to an initiation to kingship preceding the coronation in the sense of a "naissance mystique"38 would be much nearer to the mark.39 It is admittedly not the sky-goddess, but the actual earthly mother of the child-king who appears as protagonist in the cycle of divine begettal and birth. In the nursing scene, however, the action is taken over by the cow-shaped manifestations of the sky-goddess, the exact same ones, in fact, from which the deceased wishes: "Oh, that I may again come into being under her udders."40 It is precisely this mythical icon of the child-king suckling under the Hathor-cow which became the primary cult image in the Hathor temple of Hatshepsut in Der el-Bahri. The concept of an "initiation to kingship" brings us, without any doubt, to the heart of the problem. If such an initiation truly existed and actually took the form of a

32

See e.g. ibd., scene 63.

33

Otto, op.cit., scene 55A. T he following sentence seems to refer to the idea of initiation (the

34

Heerma van Voss 1980, 366.

translation is not completely certain): "Thou art made into one who knoweth the unknown". 35

See Leclant 1951, 123-127.

36

See Brunner 1964.

37

Brunner 1964; for the interpretation as a ritual (of birth), see Barta 1975.

38

Eliade 1958.

39 T his interpretation is explained in Assmann 1982. 40

Book of the Dead 148. Cf. es-Sayed 1980.

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"naissance mystiq ue" with subseq uent nursing and elevation to the heavens, 41 then, and only then, may we consider the initiation ceremony to be the source and the prototype of the corresponding funerary beliefs. In this case, the initiation ceremonies of living human beings could not possibly have originated from the rites surrounding the "passage to the next world." It would, on the contrary, seem more logical, if the initiation rites of "this" world had been transposed, together with their corresponding sacramental interpretations, into the next world. Unfortunately, this happens to be a very disputed area of research, where evidence is not only sparse, but also extremely difficult to interpret. The aforementioned correlations can in no way be considered to be established fact. They are, however, far less bold than those formulated in another contribution to the topic of "rebirth." I mention it here — without going into detail — because it has begun to exert considerable influence in the field of Egyptology. It is the eighth chapter of Chr. Desroches-Noblecourt's book on Tutankhamun, in which the hardly disturbed findings of his tomb are interpreted with remarkable, if somewhat overstrained sensitivity as a complex of funerary eq uipment meant to insure the rebirth of the deceased king.42

41

The idea of the ascent to heaven is not realized in the birth cycle, but expressed in a coronation text of Thutmosis III, which has obvious initiatory associations: He opened for me the door-leaves of heaven and unfolded the gates of his horizon. I rose to heaven as a divine falcon and saw his secret im age in heaven. I worshipped His Majesty (...) I beheld the transform ations of Akhti on his secret ways of heaven. Re himself established m e by distinguishing m e with the crowns on his head, his Uraeus rem aining at my forehead. I was furnished with his