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Welcome to Voices of Ancient Egypt, the podcast for people who don't just want to learn about ancient Egypt, but want to understand it on a deeper, more meaningful level. I'm Melinda Nelsonhurst, an Egyptologist with a PhD in the field and years of experience teaching at the university level, working in Egypt, and training students around the world to read real ancient Egyptian texts. I've spent decades studying this civilization in a traditional academic setting, so you don't have to. And so you can access knowledge that's usually locked behind academic walls. This podcast brings ancient Egyptian history, beliefs, and language to life and shows you that learning hieroglyphs is possible no matter your age, background, or schedule. So whether you want to read hieroglyphs in museums, on social media, or on your next trip to Egypt, you'll find the tools, stories, and encouragement to make it real right here. Let's hear the voices of the ancient world together. Hello, hello, and welcome back to the podcast. We've got an exciting topic for you today. We're gonna delve into sort of sacred space in a different way than we did last week. If you missed that, we talked about tombs and what their function really was, what were the different parts for? So in this one, we're gonna talk about how did ancient Egyptians actually communicate with their gods? How did they pray for help or favor? What did they expect from the gods? And how did they expect to need to behave with the gods in terms of to get their attention? So when you think of places of worship or prayer, you might think of the ancient Egyptian temple as sort of equivalent to some of our modern houses of prayer and worship that are around the world today. But the reality is that actually most people were not allowed inside most of the parts of ancient Egyptian temples. Only higher-ranking priests and the king were allowed to go anywhere near the sanctuary where the god was envisioned as living. So the reality is actually that ancient Egyptian temples were not really houses of worship so much as were houses for the gods, like literal houses, the way that non-royal people, the king, everybody had their house, right, that they lived in, where they lived, they ate, drank, slept, etc. Or perhaps we could look at this more accurately, actually, as they were whole estates for the gods, because the temples were not simply just a house. They had workshops, bakeries, breweries, oftentimes a lot of farmland that was worked that provided for those places to be able to make the bread and the beer and so forth. And they were never really intended for the average worshiper. They were intended for the gods and for keeping the needed divine balance called Ma'at in the world and running right. So it was the job of every king to care for the gods, and this was part of his duty as the leader who is in charge of maintaining Ma'at, or what we could call divine order. And this required the support of the gods. The gods could decide to leave or ignore people anytime they wanted, or if they weren't properly cared for. So the gods were really a lot like people. You know, they wanted certain things, they needed certain things. They needed to eat and drink, and they liked fancy stuff too, like incense and perfume and nice clothes and so on and so forth. So, in practice, this meant that there were priests who did the day-to-day care of the gods, who were envisioned as living in a statue in the sanctuary deep in the temple. So they did everything there for the god. The priests did this in place of the king. The king was the one who was really envisioned as being the one who did this for the gods because that was his role in maintaining Ma'at. But of course, in reality, the priests were doing the day-to-day. And the day-to-day included a lot of different things, but for example, waking up the god, bathing and dressing the god, feeding the god three times a day, all of these things that, like I said, very much mirror the human world in terms of what the gods needed and wanted. The god, now, because the god resided in a statue that was within a shrine in a sanctuary deep in the temple, this is a place that's much further in from where most people were allowed. And so this was not a place where people came to worship. And one thing that I often think about, actually, when we think about things like this, as well as some like things like religious texts, for example, is that probably a lot more people actually enter these spaces today than ever did in ancient times. And it's kind of a mind-boggling thing when you think about it that way. It really was not used as the kind of space we often kind of think of. So that begs the question, of course, is then how did people communicate with the gods? How did they make their needs and wishes known? How did they make offerings for the gods or otherwise honor them? So this could be done in a variety of places, actually, and in different ways. One of those is at temples, just not deep in the temple, close to the god statue. Some parts of temples were accessible. Now, these are mostly like the outer walls of the temple. So you could encounter the god in art on the walls, carvings on the walls that were on those outer walls that were more accessible. And you could walk around the temple. When you walk, go in today. Sometimes there's a bigger enclosure wall around it. Those were often added pretty late in Egyptian history. And then once you're inside that, you can see the outer walls of the temples. You can still walk around and read the text there on those today. These are some of the things actually we read in my program scribal school. So if you're interested in reading those, stay tuned because there'll be more about that coming soon. So these are places where people could come and visit and have their prayers heard by the God. There's even some sections where you can see there are holes in the wall where they used to support some kind of additional structure that hung over the walls. We're not sure if it was like a wooden booth kind of box or maybe a frame with a curtain over it, but there seems to have been something on there that covered the sacred image so that people could access it during certain times, perhaps, or maybe for privacy when they wanted to talk to the god kind of thing. But there was some kind of enclosure that clearly shows some of these areas were more desirable than others in terms of visiting and talking to the gods. Some temples also had dedicated places around doorways, so you didn't have to enter all the way, but around the doors, or sometimes separate chapels where people could come and talk to the god. So some of these oftentimes are referred to as the chapel of the hearing ear. Sometimes they even have sculpted ears on them, sort of representing this idea that the god can hear you. And we also get temples that are specifically named for their function. So for example, at Karnak, there's one that is called, quote, Amun Rei who hears prayers, or rather, the god who's in this chapel, I should say, is called Amun Rei who hears prayers. And there's another one that was described by King Tatus III, who had it built, and he calls it a proper place of hearing for the god Amun. So there's this clear emphasis on these chapels that are sort of outside the main part of the temple, but still in the larger sacred space, that these were places you could come to talk with the god. So you have these sort of auxiliaries that aren't part of that main part of the temple. Now you also had some parts that are part of the main part of the temple. I mentioned you can't go deep into the temple for the most part. However, the very first courtyard that you would encounter when coming in through the main gateway was generally a more accessible place. So this is where a lot of statues would be set up, not just necessarily statues of the god, but actually statues of humans, uh, usually deceased, but sometimes they might be the current rulers, for example, or other uh officials who were pretty wealthy. And you could have these sort of statues that we refer to as intercessory statues. This means that they can intercede on your behalf. So these were statues you could come and visit and bring offerings to and let them know what your concerns were, your prayers, and they were going to take those prayers to the God for you because they had greater access to the God than you did. So you see this with certain non-royal individuals, like the man named Amunhotep, son of Hapu, who was an official who worked under Amunhotep III. And he had a bunch of statues of himself set up here, and they even say on them that you can come bring your prayers to him and bring an offering, and he will bring your prayers to the God because he has access. But a lot of the access that ancient Egyptians had to the gods was outside the temples. And I mean, a lot of people didn't live super close to a really big temple, right? So you had to have other ways to access the god. Now, if you did live near a temple, a large one, or even a smaller one, perhaps even some of the smaller chapels, you could have occasional festivals throughout the year. So some festivals were annual, just once a year. Some festivals happen on a regular, a monthly basis. It depends on the festival. And during these festivals, the god in the temple, or sometimes there's multiple gods in the temple, would come out and parade around as part of the festival proceedings. So there were times that this happened, and festivals were really a fun and quite complex affairs that included this procession that oftentimes also reenacted some of the mythology of the god. And people attended these because they were great communal experiences, as well as getting close to the god. You also would be out there with everybody from your local area. Some of these festivals and parts of these festivals are sort of similar to some of our modern festivals in different parts of the world. You could think of perhaps Carnival or Mardi Gras, the Day of the Dead, different festivals like that, Shamel Nessim in Egypt, for example. A lot of these have similarities with the ancient festivals as well. Now, during these processions, the gods statue would come out and be carried around in its shrine within a boat. The boat was typically carried, though. Sometimes these boats would actually ride on the water, but for the most part, they were carried by priests. And it's interesting because you could get really close to the god compared to usual in the temple, but the gods were still not visible. The statues themselves were inside a shrine with veiled cloth around them. We see this in depictions of festivals on temple walls, where there's always a curtain sort of covering the shrine here. But while the god was out, in addition to simply seeing the god process by, sometimes the god would stop and make oracular pronouncements, and you'd be allowed to address a question to the god, either during festivals, or sometimes the god statue came out at other times specifically to answer questions. And the god's boat would sway forward for yes or backwards for no. So these oracles could happen at a variety of times. And in fact, one letter that survives from a person is actually about how they are upset that the God hasn't come out for a while to give an oracle and decide on a case that this person had. So this person says, we don't know their name, but they say, When I was looking for you, meaning the God, to tell you some affairs of mine, you happened to be concealed in your holy of holies, and there was nobody having access to you to send into you. Now, as I was waiting, I encountered Hori, the scribe of the temple of Ramses III's mortuary temple, and he said to me, I have access, so I am sending him into you. See, you must discard seclusion today and come out in procession, in order that you may decide upon the issues involving seven kilts belonging to the temple of Horemheb, and also those two kilts belonging to the necropolis scribe. The vizier does not accept these garments, saying, quote, It is because you must make up their number in full, end quote. Now, as for the one who is in the same position as you, being in a place of seclusion and concealed, he sends forth his pronouncements, but you haven't yet communicated anything at all to me. See here, you let eleven garments accrue to the woman named Ise, your devotee, by your intervening on account of them. But now it happens that your pronouncements no longer come forth as though confined in the netherworld for a million years. Farewell. So as you can see, this is a fairly scathing letter that this person is writing. We're not sure if it's a man or a woman, perhaps a woman, and she's saying that she has this dispute over a number of kilts that's supposed to be delivered to these different temples and things, and the God won't come out to make a decision on who is right in this case. And she is admonishing him for that and the fact that he has done this for others, but he's not doing it now when she is in need. So you can see there was an expectation also between people and the gods that there would be this kind of relationship where the God is going to decide things. And you could have gods decide not just personal matters, but legal cases as well. So part of this is probably because to have the local God decide a legal case could avoid the social awkwardness of the humans having to decide a case where everyone really knew each other in the local area, and nobody necessarily wanted to accuse somebody else or have to testify. But everybody kind of knew, including the priests who were holding that shrine of the god when they were going to sway forward or back, right? So you might still call this really the humans deciding, depending on how you want to look at it, but it was a way of avoiding any kind of direct accusation and testimony. But they were asked about other things too, not just court cases about property or criminal uh issues. They were also asked about various things. So here's an example of a list of questions that were written out to ask the god when they came out to give an art oracle. So one says, remove him from the post of deputy of the gang, which is meant for a yes or no answer here. Then another one says, My lord, my good lord, he really said this? Or my good lord, shall we be given rations? This one's sort of acting as more of a asking for a prediction rather than a decision. Now another one asks for a property dispute decision. It says, as to the cattle that woman is claiming, does she have a share in them? So again, asking the God to decide in a legal property case. Another is referring to sort of more personal concerns where they say, as to the dreams that one sees, are they good? So they mean their own dreams. They're not just talking generally about dreams that one sees, but certain dreams that they've had, they want to know, are they meant to be a good sign? Another one says, Shall I burn it? Shall I not burn it? Another one related to property says, Will the place be given to Mena as she intends? So again, this seems to be probably some kind of inheritance dispute. A lot of times we don't really get the full context because people who had these questions and perhaps had them written down for a priest to ask, knew that the God would know what the circumstance was, right? You don't have to write out a whole long explanation about what's going on. The God is going to know. So they don't explain it. So unfortunately for us today who don't have the uh omnipotence of a God and the, you know, being able to see everything that's going on, we are not able to understand the full context of most of these issues. But it gives us a picture into how these oracles of the gods functioned and how people basically moved forward with their lives and in society and kept the peace to some extent by having the God decide these things. Now, people could also worship at home and also at various small shrines and stuff in the area. So in homes, we see certain small objects, such as figurines shaped like certain animals or certain gods, and sometimes even stely, these little slabs, either made out of wood or stone or other materials that were meant as sort of targets of worship, you could say. And some stele in homes even had ears carved on them so that the gods could literally hear them. I like this way that Emily Teeter has referred to these, where she says that they were like, quote, private lines to the god that could be activated at any time, end quote. So you had these various objects, people could use other places too. You didn't have to go to a temple or wait for an oracle for everything, right? You could appeal to the gods, bring offerings, say things to them, even from the privacy of your own home. Now, there were also numerous sacred locations at other places, such as small shrines for different gods, that the locations usually had something to do with the particular way that these gods were envisioned and what they were involved with. For example, one dedicated to Meret Segar, who was a desert goddess who was worshipped by people at Daryl Medina who built the tombs in the Valley of the Kings. She's envisioned as a cobra goddess. And she had a shrine carved into the rock in that area between the village of Daryl Medina and where the tombs were being carved in the Valley of the Kings. So a natural place for this to be in terms of her role in helping to protect them and provide for them. And it's also sort of on the way to that place. So you have certain local shrines like that, and sometimes you have them uh attached to other religious institutions as well, but they might be standalone kind of in the middle of nowhere, like that one. One in particular was dedicated to Hathor at the site of Daryl Bachri, also on the west bank of ancient Thebes or modern Luxor, where the excavator of the place uh named Corelli found what he called, quote, basketfuls worth of small votive objects in the shape of genitalia. The most common were especially male genitalia or phalli. And we don't know all the details of why people deposited these items or even exactly how, like were they deposited over time, or was it a group ritual where a lot of them were deposited at the same time? But these are considered votive offerings, along with a smaller number of ones that also were shaped like female figurines. And because of this, we think these votive offerings were probably associated with fertility. Now, votives could be shaped in a lot of different ways depending on the context. They're usually either shaped in a way that relates to the God that you're appealing to, or in a way that relates to what you might be asking for help for or thanking them for help for. So in this case, it seems like probably people were asking for help with fertility and/or thanking for help with fertility. Now, another type of votive that you might be familiar with and seen in museums, it's animal mummies. So, yes, these are a votive offering as well, of most of them. Now, there are some smaller number of animal mummies that were for different purposes, but most of the ones you're going to see in collections are these votive offerings. And this is because it became common practice in the first millennium BCE, so this is fairly late in ancient Egyptian history, for temples to raise animals that were a type of animal associated with the god of that temple. And they raised them for the purpose of then killing them and wrapping them up, sometimes fully mummifying them, sometimes not really so much, but just wrapping them, and then selling them to people who came to visit the temple and wished to leave a votive offering for the god. And by offering this animal that was associated with the god, they were, in a sense, returning this animal to the god, and the animal could then carry their prayer to the god for them. So this became a common practice in those later times. And votive offerings can come in lots of different forms, but this is probably the most common one you're going to encounter in museum locations. So the ancient Egyptians could encounter their gods in lots of different ways, lots of different places, all these ones I've mentioned. There's also sort of less intentional encounters with gods. So, for example, one might have a dream where the god comes to them. Those are usually positive. And also sometimes people thought of the gods as coming to them to punish them in some kind of ways for some kind of wrongdoing. So you see sometimes texts that were composed for people who had lost their sight, for example, and they think that it was due to having done something against the God. And sometimes they're actually writing these texts to thank the God for restoring their sight now, because they basically atone for what they did and appealed to the God and the God cured them. So you have these other ways that don't necessarily have to do with being in a specific location, but have something to do with some other circumstance in the person life person's life where the God intervenes in some kind of way, either positive or negative. So I hope this gives you something to think about the next time you see anything about ancient Egyptian gods or temples. And if this episode resonated with you, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. Come say hi to me on Instagram, I'm voices of ancient Egypt there, or reply to one of my newsletters that you get via email. I'm always love hearing what's resonating for you.