The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice

322 Pages·2008·21.62 MB·english

by  Robert K. Ritner

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STUDIES IN ANCIENT ORIENTAL CIVILIZATION * No. 54
THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
THOMAS A. HOLLAND, Editor
Richard M. Schoen, Assistant Editor
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Internet publication of this work was made possible with the
generous support of Misty and Lewis Gruber
The Mechanics of Ancient
Egyptian Magical Practice
by
Robert Kriech Ritner
Is it not a silly sort of argument to reckon by the same works
that one man is a god whilst his rivals are mere "sorcerers"?
Celsus. On the True Doctrine
R. J. Hoffmiann 1987, p. 66
THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
STUDIES IN ANCIENT ORIENTAL CIVILIZATION * No. 54
CHICAGO * ILLINOIS
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Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 92-61830
ISBN: 0-918986-75-3
ISSN: 0081-7554
The OrientalI nstitute, Chicago
© 1993 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.
Published 1993. Printed in the United States of America.
SECOND PRINTING 1995
(with minor corrections on pages 67, 69, 100, 140, 141, 152, 153, 204, 206, 231, 245, 275,293, 303, and 320)
THIRD PRINTING 1997
(with minor corrections on pages 44, 195, 211, and 320)
FOURTH PRINTING 2008
(with minor corrections on pages 59, 114, 1 15, 1 16, 193, 194, 198, 253, 282, 303, 304, 316, 317. and 320)
Winner of the 1994 Heyman Prize for Outstanding Scholarly Publication in the Humanities,
Yale University
REVIEWS
Robert Steven Bianchi. Journalo f the American Oriental Society 114 (1994): 513-14.
Bob Brier. KMT: A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt 4:4 (1993-94): 86-87.
Heinz Felber. Enchoria 21 (1994): 119.
Ogden Goelet. The Egyptian Book of the Dead ( 1994): 171.
Willem Hovestreydt. Annual Egyptological Bibliography 1993 (1995): 214-16.
LAszl6 Kikosy. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 31 (1994): 223-25.
Jean Vercoutter. Revue d'lgyptologie 46 (1995): 247-48.
COVER ILLUSTRATION AND FRONTISPIECE
Seth Bound and Stabbed before Osiris at Dendera (see fig. 14g, p. 167).
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TO MY PARENTS
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ix
FOREWORD ................................................................................................
LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................... xi
LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................... xiii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................ xv
INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................. I
14
1. TOWARD A DEFINITION OF MAGIC.................................................................. 3
HEKA.
.. .. .. .. .. .................... ........ .... .... ... .... ... ..................... ..... ....... ....... .. .... ..... ......
2. THE VOCABULARY OF MAGIC......................................................................... 29
iwv....... .............................. ....... ..................................... ... ................. 30
RITE
MAGIC AS SPEECH, PROPERTY, AND ............................................................ 35
ENCIRCLING ............................................................................................. 57
A DEFINITION OF MAGIC................................................................................. 67
3. SPITTING, LICKING, AND SWALLOWING ........................................................... 73
SPITTING AND SPITVLE................................................................................... 74
75
Creation by Spittle ..................................................................................
Spittle as Remedy.................................................................................. 78
Spittle as Corruption, Curse, and Weapon ......................................................... 82
Blowing ............................................................................................. 88
Continuity and Christianization..................................................................... 89
LICKING ................................................................................................. 92
SWALLOWING ........................................................................................... 102
4. IMAGES AND INTERMEDIARIES ..................................................................... Ill
THE BOUND PRISONER MOTIF........................................................................... 113
Trampling Underfoot ............................................................................... 119
THE EXECRATION TEXTS ............................................................................... 136
Binding ............................................................................................. 142
vii
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MAGICAL
viii TH-E MECHANICS OF ANCIENT EGYPTIAN PRACTICE
BREAKING THE RED POTS................................................................................ 144
Red ................................................................................................ 147
Breaking ....................................................................................... 148
THE M IRGISSA DEPOSIT ................................................................................ 153
Sand .......................................................................................... 155
Incineration ......................................................................................... 157
Figurines ...................................................................................... 159
Human Sacrifice ................................................................................ 162
Knives ........................................................................................ 163
Decapitation and Reversal ...................................................................... 168
Burial ......................................................................................... 172
DEAD..................................................................................
LETTERS TO THlE 180
PRIVATE VERSUS STATE MAGIC.................................................................. .. 183
5. PRIESTS AND PRACTITIONERS ...................................................................... 191
THE;E HARIM CONSPIRACY ............................................................................... 192
Papyrus Rollin....................................................................................... 193
Papyrus Lee, Column I ................................... ,.................................... 195
Papyrus Lee, Column 2 ........................................................................... 198
TI)I -/unWl.............................................................................................2.1 4
THE IDENTITY OF TIlE MAGICIAN ...................................................................... 220
6. FROM IiH'T O 2IK: QUEASNTDIO NS OF DEFINITION AND DECLINE .................................. 235
RELIGION, MAGIC, HEKA ...................................................................... 236
REFERENCES CITED ................................................................................. 251
INDICES
................................................................................................... 307
GENERAL INDEX..........................................................................................
307
311
Egyptian Words................................................................................
Coptic
Greek WWordosr.d..s.. ................................................................................. 331314
.............. .. ...... .. ...... ............ .......... . ......................... ...
TEXTS OBJECTS 315
INDEX OF AND CITEt) .................................................................
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FOREWORD
The present publication is a revised and expanded edition of my 1987 doctoral dissertation at The
University of Chicago. Chapter 3 is a wholly new addition, using material originally gathered for the earlier
work. Other modifications in the body of the text are relatively minor; the passage of five years has entailed
no changes in the original analyses or opinions but has necessitated an expansion of the footnotes to
incorporate subsequent bibliography. The manuscript was closed as of May 1992, and only sources available
to me by that date have been included. The reader may be struck by an apparent inconsistency in the use of
hieroglyphic fonts throughout this volume. The use of "Normalschrift" fonts has been confined only to generic
references to individual words and signs. In contrast, whenever a specific textual passage or edition is
excerpted (whether in hieroglyphic, hieratic, or Demotic script), an attempt has been made to reproduce the
original text or edition by computer scanner. It is hoped that any loss in aesthetics will be counterbalanced by
an increase in accuracy.
In the preparation of this study, I have benefited from the sagacity, experience, and endurance of many,
and it is a pleasure to acknowledge their contributions. The original dissertation committee comprised Drs.
Klaus Baer, Robert D. Biggs, Janet H. Johnson, and Edward F. Wente, chairman and early source of
inspiration. As teachers and colleagues, they have contributed to the fruition of this project in countless ways.
In particular, Janet Johnson has continued to provide unflagging support, and our association on the Chicago
Demotic Dictionary Project has been of primary importance for my scholastic development. Her invaluable
computer skills have also enabled the use of textual scans in this volume. The untimely death of Klaus Baer
has deprived Egyptology of a singularly rigorous scholar and irreplaceable teacher. His insistence on
precision in methodology and detail has shaped the themes of my own work, from our first lessons in the
Egyptian language. His enthusiasm for the present study remains a source of pride. Dr. George R. Hughes,
who came out of retirement to guide my initial study of Demotic, has been a constant source of
encouragement-especially helpful on days when the thought of researching yet another footnote was
unendurable. Additional thanks are due to colleagues and students who offered support, advice, or
information: William Brashear, Hans D. Betz, Susan Clark, Walter Farber, Richard Jasnow, Charles Jones,
Joe Manning, John Nolan, Martha Roth, Terry Wilfong, and the late David Wilmot. Proffered suggestions and
references are acknowledged individually within the relevant footnotes; responsibility for all other
phraseology, opinions, and citations remains exclusively that of the author.
Family and friends have been unstinting in their support. Chief among them are my parents, Robert and
Margaret Ritner, and my brother and sister-in-law, Richard and Jody Ritner, and their family. My parents, to
ix
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THE MECHANICS OF ANCIENT EGYPTIAN MAGICAL PRACTICE
whom this work is dedicated, have been instrumental in its completion, for without their exhortations to
"finish the dissertation" I would still be inserting additional references to my discussion of phr. For enduring
the brunt of my daily bouts with academia, an additional dedication is made to Dr. Neil J. Krakauer and
Finghin. Neil in particular acted as a sounding board for each thought as I conceived it, each sentence as I
penned it. His relief at the completion of this task can be no less than my own.
To John Larson, Oriental Institute Archivist, I am especially indebted for the photographic material
which accompanies this work. His efforts have been thorough, tireless, and far above the requirements of
duty and friendship. Further thanks are owed to my dissertation editor, Joan Hives, who patiently labored with
this manuscript in various incarnations through the endless petty tomfoolery of bureaucracy and computer.
Her Herculean efforts have rendered the subsequent publication a simple matter.
For overcoming the ultimate technicalities of publication, I wish to thank the Oriental Institute's
Publications Office directed by Tom Holland, and especially my careful editor, Richard Schoen. A final, but
heartfelt gratitude, is owed to my graduate students at Yale, Jennifer Houser, Mark Stone, and Pascale
Teysseire, who assisted me in the laborious but crucial task of proofreading the completed manuscript. Dw?- i
n (1I Itr.