Egyptian body magic

[Apech]

 

 

Ok.  I'm going to talk through this and the next two stages (from the papyrus of Khonshu-mes).  Sorry about the title I couldn't think of anything better.

 

It's from a papyrus written in the 21st Dyn. in Thebes for the priest Khonshu-mes.  It is one of the so-called mythological papyri which were produced in this late period which consist of almost entirely illustrations with little or no text. 

 

We are starting in the West which means the body.  With death and mummification.  Sorry the pic is a bit blurred but I probs with the image capture and getting it big enough.  I'll go through what it shows and try to explain what it means in subsequent posts.  Questions welcome (but please try to stay on topic if at all possible). 

[Nungali]

The 'object' 2nd from the right  ( to the left of the far  right figure  ... a skin and ...  ?  )  looks interesting  .   Looks like a nome 'totem'  ?  

[Apech]

4 hours ago, Nungali said:

The 'object' 2nd from the right  ( to the left of the far  right figure  ... a skin and ...  ?  )  looks interesting  .   Looks like a nome 'totem'  ?  

 

Yes it is called Imy-wt which can be translated as 'he who is in his wrappings' or 'one who is in his skin' - although the literal translation which I prefer is just 'in the skin' (imy means 'in, between' and wt means skin or wrappings.) It is also a title of Anubis and a symbol for mummification.  It is a pole from which hangs an animal skin which has been stuffed.  In my view it is the most important thing in the whole scene as it depicts how we are to view the body.

 

 

[Nungali]

I have seen them occasionally and wondered what they were  ?   I assumed a totem or ' standard ' of a Nome  or God . 

 

 

 

[Apech]

33 minutes ago, Nungali said:

I have seen them occasionally and wondered what they were  ?   I assumed a totem or ' standard ' of a Nome  or God . 

 

 

 

I think it was more than to remind us of mummification.  I think it was a meditative symbol for a certain state of being.  

[Nungali]

Would you say the term 'fetish ' ( in anthropological sense ) would describe this ? 

 

A fetish is described as ;  something to house a spirit or ancestor ,  something power like a charm or sacred object , something a special function ; protection, healing , etc . 

 

The Imy-wt is said to predate the 1st dynasty ?    I wondering if it is one of those early 'throwbacks ' to some of the African traditions that entered the Nile Valley  ( as the ank symbol might be ?  ) 

 

( the name fetish was given to the magical objects  encountered in west Africa  - Portugese  >  ' fetico  '  > 'charm / magic '  . . . originally ' made for  / as art ' . )

 

 

[Apech]

1 hour ago, Nungali said:

Would you say the term 'fetish ' ( in anthropological sense ) would describe this ? 

 

A fetish is described as ;  something to house a spirit or ancestor ,  something power like a charm or sacred object , something a special function ; protection, healing , etc . 

 

The Imy-wt is said to predate the 1st dynasty ?    I wondering if it is one of those early 'throwbacks ' to some of the African traditions that entered the Nile Valley  ( as the ank symbol might be ?  ) 

 

( the name fetish was given to the magical objects  encountered in west Africa  - Portugese  >  ' fetico  '  > 'charm / magic '  . . . originally ' made for  / as art ' . )

 

 

 

 

Yes a fetish as in a cult object of Anubis.  In the funerary cult they used deities and symbols in a special way - all relating to the immortality project (you might call it) (as we mentioned in the Stele thread.). So here I believe it has a specific meaning - while elsewhere it might be used as a general cult object relating to Anubis and so on.

 

When we get to the goddesses Isis and Nephthys you might see this clearly - that while say Isis has a whole form of worship of her own and all sorts of attributes etc. here she is used specifically for a 'technical' reason as part of the funerary process of transformation into an akh and/or 'living after death'.