Cannibal Hymn: A Cultural and Literary Study (Liverpool University Press - Liverpool Music Symposium)

287 Pages·2002·1.5 MB·English

by  Christopher Eyre

The Cannibal Hymn:
A Cultural and Literary
Study
Christopher Eyre
LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY PRESS
The Cannibal Hymn
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The Cannibal Hymn
A Cultural and Literary Study
Christopher Eyre
LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY PRESS
First published 2002 by
Liverpool University Press
4 Cambridge Street
Liverpool
L69 7ZU
Copyright © Christopher Eyre 2002
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the
publishers.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A British Library CIP record is available
ISBN 0 85323 696 8 cased
ISBN 0 85323 706 9 paperback
Typeset by Northern Phototypesetting Co. Ltd, Bolton, UK
Printed in Great Britain by Bookcraft, Bath
Contents
List of Illustrations page vii
List of Abbreviations ix
1 Introduction 1
2 Translation 7
3 The Textual Transmission of the Cannibal Hymn 11
4 The Reconstruction of a Ritual 25
5 The Literary Format of Ritual Texts: Performative Literary
Form 31
6 The Pictorial Format of Ritual: Iconic Representation 36
7 Text Corpus and Placing on Wall 41
8 Occasion of Performance: The Mythologisation of Reality 48
9 Butchery and Offering Ritual 52
10 Literary Form: Ritual Context and the ‘Deritualisation’ of
Texts 58
11 The Text of the Cannibal Hymn 76
Cataclysm, and the Introduction of the Bull 76
The Power of the Bull over the Slaughter 85
Throat Cutting and Decapitation 89
Blood and Dismemberment 97
Cooking and Feasting 105
The Service of the Heavens 119
Acceptance and Authority in the Heavens 126
Transformation by Cannibalism of the Gods 131
12 The Mythology of the Cannibal Hymn 137
13 Cannibalism: Symbol and Reality 153
14 The Economics of Rearing Meat 175
15 Facilities for Slaughter 181
16 Personal and Ritual Consumption 191
vi Contents
17 Meat-Feasting 202
Appendix:Hieroglyphic text 208
Bibliography 229
General Index 254
Indexof Passages 265
Illustrations
Figures
1 King roasting duck. Temple of Luxor. From Brunner,
Südlichen Räume, Taf. 140 page38
2 The flow of blood at slaughter. Tomb of Iti, Gebelein.
Redrawn after Donadoni Roveri, La vita quotidiana, fig. 78 92
3 Butcher scene, showing removal of entrails and portioning
of carcass. Tomb of Ankhmahor, Saqqara. From Kanawati
and Hassan, Teti CemeteryII, pl. 49 98
4 Hieroglyphs illustrating offering tables:(a) brazier and
(b) standard table. Tomb ofAmenemope, Luxor. Redrawn
from Assmann, Amenemope, Taf. 38 108
5 King fanning meat on brazier. Temple of Luxor. From
Brunner, Südlichen Räume, Taf. 141 109
6 Cooking scenes. Tomb of Iymery, Giza. From Weeks,
Mastabas of Cemetery G6000, pl. 35 112
7 Slaughter and cooking of game on the desert margins.
Tomb of Two Brothers, Saqqara. From Moussa and
Altenmüller, Grab des Nianchchnum and Chnumhotep,
Abb. 8 116
8 Cooking of the dead in the underworld:(a) shadows and
bas, and (b) heads and hearts. Book of Qererets, Osireion,
Abydos. Redrawn after Frankfort, Cenotaph of Seti I,
pl. 39, 37 120
9 Cooking scene. Tomb of Two Brothers, Saqqara. From
Moussa and Altenmüller, Grab des Nianchchnum and
Chnumhotep, Abb. 12 122
10 Heka-hieroglyph. Tomb of Neferseshemre, Saqqara.
Redrawn from Kanawati and Abder-Raziq, Teti Cemetery
III, pl. 63–64 165
viii Illustrations
11 Butchery for the household. Tomb of Antef, Luxor. From
Jaroš-Deckert, Grab des Jnj-jti.f, Taf. 18 182
Plates
1 Lassoing the bull. From the mastaba of Hetepherakhet,
Saqqara. Photo courtesy of the Leiden Museum(F.1904/31) 87
2 Cooking in the slaughterhouse: rendering fats. Tomb of
Meketre, Luxor. Photo Bill Barette, courtesy of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art(MMA 20.3.10) 113
Abbreviations
ÄA Ägyptologische Abhandlungen
ÄAT Ägypten und Altes Testament
ACE Australian Centre for Egyptology
ADAIK Abhandlungen des Deutschen Archäologischen
Instituts Kairo. Ägyptische Reihe
AEO Alan H. Gardiner, Ancient Egyptian Onomastica, 3
vols, Oxford, 1947
ÄF Ägyptologische Forschungen
An Äg Analecta Äegyptiaca
Ani J. F. Quack, Die Lehren des Ani. Ein neuägyptischer
Weisheitstext in seinem kulturellen Umfeld, OBO
141, Freiburg and Göttingen, 1994
An Or Analecta Orientalia
AoF Altorientalische Forschungen
AOS American Oriental Series
ARAW Abhandlungen der Rheinisch-Westfälischen
Akademie der Wissenschaften
ÄS Ägyptische Sammlung
ASAÉ Annales du Service des Antiquités de l’Égypte, Cairo
ASAW Abhandlungen der Sächischen Akademie der
Wissenschaften zu Leipzig
ASE Archaeological Survey of Egypt
AV Archäologische Veröffentlichungen. Deutsches
Archäologisches Institut. Abteilung Kairo
BdÉ Bibliothe`que d’étude
Bibl Aeg Bibliotheca Aegyptiaca
BIFAO Bulletin de l’Institut Franc,ais d’Archéologie
Orientale, Cairo
Bi Or Bibliotheca Orientalis, Leiden