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Dancing for Hathor:
Nubian Women in Egyptian
Cultic Life
Solange Ashby
In the non-literate and nomadic C-Group culture of Lower Nubia, ritual and worship were not organized around a sacred text, nor were they carried out in a temple. 1 Rather, many important rites of passage and worship were heavily associated with communal per- formance of dance and music. In such rituals the power of music and movement were harnessed to transport the worshipper into an ecstatic encounter with the Divine. Worshippers, engaged in noc- turnal rituals for the goddess Hathor, sought this type of ecstatic encounter. It appears that the ecstatic nature of the dancing per- formed for the goddess and the spiritual “drunkenness” that it in- duced were valued in the ritual context of celebrations for Hathor: goddess of music, dance, love, and fertility. Women were the essen- tial performers of the nocturnal dances in the rites. While Egyptian women comprised the majority of the priestesses of Hathor, Nubian women are attested over several millennia as dancers in the celebra- tion of the cult. Earlier Egyptologists reveal a racism that disparaged the type of dance performed by the Nubian women as “wild” and de- scribed the women as wearing “barbarous” clothing. Brunner-Traut suggested that, “only as an exception, though, do Negro girls dance in a way that assimilates Egyptian sophistication.” 2 Nubian women appear as Hathoric dancers from the Middle Kingdom (2000–1700 bce) through the Roman period (30 bce– ce). Representations of priestesses of Hathor sporadically, but re-
1 Yellin, “Nubian Religion,” p. 125. The C-Group is attested archaeologically as an indigenous population of Lower Nubia from the Egyptian Old Kingdom (ca. 2685 bce) through the Egyptian occupation of Lower Nubia (1550 bce). While the C-Group people did not disappear from Lower Nubia, their archaeological artifacts became highly Egyptianized: Näser, “The C-Group in Lower Nubia,” p. 351. 2 Brunner-Traut, Der Tanz im alten Ägypten, p. 223. See fn. 62 for the full quote.
Ashby, Solange. “Dancing for Hathor: Nubian Women in Egyptian Cultic Life.” Dotawo 5 (2018): pp. 63–90.
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peatedly, included Nubian^3 women dancers, singers, and musicians engaged in religious celebrations of the Beautiful One, the Gold, the Lady of Dance, the goddess Hathor. Tattooed priestesses of Ha- thor, preserved as mummies from the Eleventh Dynasty (Middle Kingdom), bore designs otherwise found only on contemporane- ous C-Group women of Lower Nubia. Beginning in the New King- dom (1550–1070 bce), Nubian women appear in Egyptian tomb and temple art that depicts banquet scenes where those women act as musicians and dancers. In the Ptolemaic period (323–30 bce) temple at Medamud, the hieroglyphic text of a hymn to Hathor describes the dancing Nubians who accompanied the goddess on her return from Nubia in her manifestation as Tefnut, the Eye of Re. Perform- ing sacred dances for Hathor, Nubian dancers, musicians, and ac- robats were a recurring theme in representations of Hathoric rites, jubilees, and banquet scenes for millennia.
Lower Nubian Religion
In the non-literate societies of Nubia, religious practices would have been performed communally and preserved orally. 4 In contrast to the Egyptian tradition of temples decorated with hieroglyphic texts and scenes of the gods, Nubian religious rites of the C-Group (con- temporary with Middle Kingdom Egypt) centered on communal celebrations performed in sacred places, often located on hilltops or in caves. Processions^5 associated with pilgrimage to sacred sites involved large groups of lay worshippers^6 who engaged in feasting^7 and ritual consumption of sorghum beer,^8 which was likely accom- panied by song and dance performed for the gods. Although this practice bears superficial resemblance to the Egyptian incorpora- tion of music and dance into their religious worship, these elements seem to have been central to the religious practices of C-Group peo- 3 I assume these women were of Nubian background based on their depiction with dark brown skin in contrast to the standard Egyptian depiction of women with light brown/ yellow skin. There is no need to assume these Nubian women were not resident in Egypt. With a long history of immigration in both directions, both Nubia and Egypt were very heterogeneous societies. 4 I refer to Nubian popular religion as opposed to the elite religion of Nubia during the Napatan and Meroitic periods, which were highly Egyptianized. 5 Yellin, “Nubian Religion,” pp. 136, 141. 6 The addition of porches to temples in the Late Period was closely linked to changes in the composition of processions during the Kushite (Nubian) 25th Dynasty, when laymen joined the priests in procession. See Arnold, Temples of the Last Pharaohs , pp. 282–84. 7 Smith, “Pharaohs, Feasts, and Foreigners,” pp. 49, 55–56. Feasting is mentioned in Nubian prayer inscriptions at Philae and Dakka. See, Griffith, C atalogue of Demotic Graffiti of the Dodecaschoenos, vol. 1, pp. 26–31 (Dak. 30) and pp. 114–119 (Ph. 416). Mentioned twice in each graffito, the celebratory feasting occured in conjunction with processions and festivals. See also Ashby, Calling Out to Isis, pp. 19, 168, 232. 8 Edwards, “Sorghum, Beer and Kushite Society,” pp. 74–76. For evidence of the continuing cultural importance of sorghum beer, see Rekdal, “Money, Milk and Sorghum Beer,” pp. 368–373, esp. p. 370.
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the first century ce may depict the same dance, emphasizing the southern origins of this type of dance. European travellers in 19th century Egypt and Sudan commented on the unique dances that they witnessed being performed for important community events. It is asserted here that a continuous method of worshipping the divine is manifested in the Hathoric dances, music, and religious iconography associated with Nubian women worshippers from the Middle Kingdom to the Roman period.
Mythological Description of Hathor’s Return from Nubia
In the Tale of the Sun’s Eye,^12 an enraged Tefnut, in the form of a bloodthirsty lion goddess, stalked the Earth devouring humanity, which had rebelled against her father Re while he reigned as king in Egypt. 13 The Egyptian gods Shu and Thoth travelled to Bougem, in southeastern Nubia,^14 where they transformed into monkeys to safely approach the lion goddess. The two gods danced, plied the goddess with copious amounts of wine, and spoke magical spells to pacify and beguile Tefnut so that she might be calmed and enticed to travel to Egypt. Soothed by the dance of Shu and the magical words of Thoth and thoroughly intoxicated on the wine they offered to her, Tefnut was convinced to make the journey from Nubia to Egypt. At the border between the two lands, the flames of the goddess’ wrath were cooled in the waters at the source of the Nile that emerge in the vicinity of the island of Philae at the First Cataract, site of a Ptole- maic-period temple. At this initial point of entry into Egypt, Tefnut was transformed by the cool waters and became Hathor, the goddess of music, dance, love, and drunkenness. Her arrival and transfor- mation at the temple complex on Philae would have been celebrated with singing, dancing, and rejoicing to mark the return of the “Dis- tant Goddess” from her sojourn in Nubia. 15
Nubian Priestesses of Hathor
The central social, financial, and cultural importance of cattle to C-Group Nubians, who were East African cattle pastoralists, would have made the imagery of Hathor, portrayed as a cow or a woman with cow ears, appealing.^16 From the kings of Kerma, buried un- der tumuli surrounded by thousands of cow skulls, to the Napatan kings who offered long-horn cattle and hundreds of milk jugs to 12 Spiegelberg, Ägyptische mythus von Sonnenauge, pp. 1–8; Spiegelberg, “Sonnenauge, Demotischer Mythos vom.” 13 Daumas, “Hathor,” p. 1026. 14 Inconnu-Bocquillon, Le mythe de la déesee lointaine à Philae, pp. 201–203. 15 Daumas, “Hathor,” p. 1026. 16 Hafsaas, Cattle Pastoralists in a Multicultural Setting, pp. 12–23.
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the temples at Napata (4th Cataract), cattle and milk had long been prominent in Nubian religious and funerary rituals. For C-Group worshippers, the goddess Hathor may have been assimilated to their own cow goddess. In this way, C-Group people, living in a culturally heterogeneous Nile Valley, came to be participants in the Egyptian cult of Hathor. C-Group women participated in the worship of Hathor by engag- ing in traditional Nubian dances, which were viewed by the Egyp- tians as exotic and erotic. A close examination of Egyptian depic- tions of Nubian women dancing reveals the characteristics of the women’s dance and provides the Egyptian name for their style of dance. The ksks-dance was acrobatic, involving leaps and flips. The women performed wearing leather skirts, cowrie shell girdles, and bore tattoos on their breasts, abdomens, and thighs. Each of these attributes is well attested in the C-Group funerary assemblages. Women^17 who bore the titles royal wife, priestess of Hathor, and “Sole Royal Ornament” were buried in six individual, underground tombs surmounted by private chapels on the platform of the funer- ary complex of the Eleventh Dynasty king, Nebhetepre Mentuhotep II (c. 2000 bce).^18 Their richly decorated sarcophagi and shrines in- dicate the elevated positions of these royal wives and Priestesses of Hathor. Additionally, three mummified women who bore multiple tattoos were discovered in the adjacent triangular courtyard north of Mentuhotep II’s funerary complex. 19 One woman’s name was pre- served – Amunet – along with her titles “Priestess of Hathor” and “King’s favorite ornament.” 20 Her left shoulder and breast bore a row of dots encased in two lines; on her right forearm nine rows of dot- ted marks form another tattoo. 21 The abdominal region contained two separate tattoos: just above the navel and below the chest were two rectangular shapes composed of vertical patterns of dots and dashes, while a series of horizontal lines covers her lower abdomen and suprapubic area. Multiple diamond (lozenge) shapes made of
17 Not all scholars agree that the three tattooed mummies found at Deir el-Bahari were Nubian women, as I suggest below. 18 Naville, The XIth Dynasty Temple at Deir el Bahari, vol. 2, pp. 6–9; Winlock, Excavations at Deir el-Bahari 1911–1931, pp. 36–46; Morris, “Paddle Dolls and Performance,” pp. 77–79; Gillam, “Priestesses of Hathor,” p. 231. 19 Winlock, Excavations at Deir el-Bahari 1911–1931, pp. 36–40, fig. 3 (plan of “The Nebhetepetre Temple”). Knowledge of the precise location of Amunet’s burial has been lost, but scholars believe that it may have been in tomb 4 or 5, on the north side of the king’s complex or, perhaps more likely in the triangular north courtyard: Morris, “Paddle Dolls,” p. 79; = Roehrig, “Two Tattooed Women from Thebes,” p. 531. 20 Amunet’s second title Xkr.t nisw.t wat.t “King’s Favorite Ornament” has also been translated as “Sole Lady in Waiting.” See Graves-Brown, Dancing for Hathor, p. 115. 21 Amunet’s left arm may have been tattooed as well. It is not visible because the mummy rests on the left side: Tassie, “Identifying the Practice of Tattooing in Ancient Egypt and Nubia,” p. 90.
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[T]he fact that more mummified remains with tattoos dating to early periods come from the most northerly part of Lower Nubia, an area known as and settled by the Wawat tribe, it may be that they developed the practice of tattooing to culturally identify themselves from the Egyptian civilization to the north and the growing Kerma (Kushite) civilization to the south in Upper Nubia.^28
The lozenge-shaped pattern found on the tattooed women from Deir el-Bahari also decorates figurines with truncated legs found in both funerary and settlement contexts. Formerly called “concubines of the dead” they are now referred to as fertility figurines.^29 Fertility figurines share many stylistic features with paddle dolls interred as funerary equipment: cross-bands worn over the chest, cowrie shell girdles, accentuated pubic triangle, and ornately dressed hair.^30 Morris posits that the paddle dolls represented Hathoric dancers, buried with the deceased in order to perform the proper rites in the funerary context.^31 These two types of figurines are heavily repre- sented at Deir el-Bahari, an area associated with Hathor as the god- dess of the West.^32 Fertility figurines are often associated with buri- als in Nubia.^33 Winlock confirms Derry’s earlier description of these women as Nubian: “Derry had already noticed that the features of the tattooed dancing girls buried in the Neb-hepet-Re temple showed marked Nubian traits and that Nubian blood had probably flowed through the veins even of such ladies of the king’s harim as aAshayet and
28 Ibid., p. 93. 29 Morris, “Paddle Dolls and Performance,” pp. 71–72. 30 Ibid., pp. 89, 92, 93, n. 105, 94. The cross-bands, cowrie shell girdles, and hair dressed in locks are attested as the traditional attire of Nubian women. See images in Keimer, Remarques sur le tatouage dans l’Egypte ancienne, figs. 12, 12a, Pl. XIV, XV. 31 Morris, “Paddle Dolls and Performance,” pp. 86, 102–103. “The faience truncated figurines in particular frequently bear the diamond-shaped tattoo marks common to the dancer and the paddle doll alike. […] These female figurines should be interpreted as the sacred performers that gladdened the heart of the goddess (Hathor) and raised her radiant father (Re).” 32 Each of the three royal funerary complexes located at Deir el-Bahari (Mentuhotep II, Hatshepsut, and Thutmose III) are assumed to have had shrines dedicated to the goddess Hathor. Shrines dedicated to Hathor were associated with the funerary temples of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III. While no shrine dedicated by Mentuhotep II has been found, scholars surmise that such a shrine existed due to the high-status burials of Priestesses of Hathor in the king’s funerary complex and due to the large amount of votive objects dedicated to Hathor which have been found in and around the funerary complex. See Pinch, Votive Objects to Hathor, p. 22. 33 See Figure 3: clay figurine found in Cemetery T in Adindan. It is noteworthy that of the six areas on which Pinch concentrated her study of votive offerings to Hathor, five are located outside of Egypt proper and two are in Nubia: Faras and Mirgissa. Associated with the wilderness and areas beyond the Nile Valley, Hathor was rightly worshipped at the turquoise mines of Sinai (as nb.t mfkA.t “mistress of turquoise”) and at Egyptian fortresses located in Nubia. Each of the Nubian shrines was built by a local administrator atop an older Nubian shrine where Hathor was worshipped by the local community (Faras – Hathor of “Lady of Ibshek,” Mirgissa – Hathor, “Lady of Iqen.”): see Pinch, Votive Offerings to Hathor, pp. 26, 42.
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Figure 2. Tattooed figurine belonging to Neferhotep the Bowman © Musée du Louvre, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais.
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Henhenit. Furthermore, the pictures of aAshayet on her sarcopha- gus gave her a rich chocolate Nubian complexion, and her compan- ion Kemsit was painted on hers an actual ebony black, just like these little figures.”^34 Winlock’s frank description of these priestesses as Nubian makes Pinch’s efforts to deny a Nubian connection for the fertility figurines excavated in the same area highly suspect. While Pinch notes that the figurines found in Mentuhotep II’s funerary complex bear markings paralleled on C-Group fertility figurines, she refers to the mummies of the priestesses of Hathor described above to declare that neither the figurines nor the priestesses were Nubian women:
This need not mean that the Egyptian figurines represent Nubians, since three 11th dynasty mummies of light-skinned women with tattoos on their thighs, stomachs, and shoulders were recovered from the precincts of Akh-isut (funerary complex of Neb-Hepet-Rea Mentuhotep II).^35
Pinch’s assertion that the mummies themselves were “light- skinned” is ludicrous. The melanin that provides skin color does not survive mummification and burial for 4,000 years undamaged and unchanged. However, the depiction of the women in their funerary chapels does indicate that they showed marked Nubian features. A more balanced interpretation of the possible ethnicity of these women is found in Ellen Morris’s discussion of Middle Kingdom paddle dolls:
The visibility of Nubian styles in the court of Nebhepetre has been much discussed, and this co-occurrence of bodily decoration in the Theban court and in Nubia need not be a coincidence.^36
Indeed, if the performances in the Hathor temple re-enacted this goddess’ return from Nubia and subsequent mollification by her devotees, Nubian dancers would have been particularly appropriate performers in such a celebration. While no evidence of tattooed Egyptians has been found before or during the Middle Kingdom,^37 several contemporary tattooed fe- male mummies have been found in C-Group burials in Lower Nubia and at Hierakonpolis in Upper Egypt. Even earlier depictions of tat- tooed women have been found in Nubia and Sudan.
34 Winlock, Excavations at Deir el-Bahari 1911–1931, pp. 129–130. 35 Pinch, Votive Offering to Hathor, pp. 212–213. Emphasis added. 36 Morris, “Paddle Dolls and Performance,” pp. 80–81. 37 Tassie, “Identifying the Practice of Tattooing in Ancient Egypt and Nubia,” p. 92.
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Rare figurines of tattooed or cicatrized steatopygous women are also associated with burials of the Nubian A-Group and Sudanese Kadada cultures. Figures with even more exaggerated features and tattooing appear in Saharan rock art as well as Nubian C-Group pot- tery drawings and figures.^38
Firth discovered a tattooed woman in Cemetery 110 near Kubban, across the Nile from Dakka, in Lower Nubia ( Wawat ).^39 This area was the northernmost of three traditional C-Group population centers in Lower Nubia. 40 Three tattooed women were excavated in the Middle Kingdom Nubian cemetery at Hierakonpolis (HK27C), discovered in 2001.^41 A sizeable, reasonably prosperous, C-Group community resided at Hierakonpolis. Its members were not the typical settlements of Nu- bian mercenaries; the community consisted of entire families. Of those 100 individuals excavated thus far, three women have been found to have tattoos. One of the tattooed women was buried with a brightly colored and intricately perforated leather garment, prob- ably a skirt.^42 Such skirts have been found in burials in Kerma and at the C-Group site of Kubbaniya, 70 kilometers south of Hierakonpo- lis, near Aswan at the First Cataract. Finds at Deir el-Bahari suggest that this skirt, part of C-Group woman’s traditional attire, was as- sociated with the performance of dancing and musical rites for Ha- thor. Winlock described figurines found at Deir el-Bahari that wore a similar type of skirt:
These figures obviously represent negro slave girls from far up the Nile, jet black and wearing strange skirts covered with barbarous designs in gaudy colors, and many colored beads around their fore- heads and necks.^43
Friedman notes the appearance of such articles of clothing in the C-Group cemetery at Hierakonpolis:
38 Kendall, “Ethnoarchaeology,” p. 655 with references. Images of tattooed C-Group figurines are found in Wenig, Africa in Antiquity, vol. 2, pp. 124–125, 127–128. The practice of tattooing is attested in Meroitic Nubia at Aksha at the 2nd Cataract, not far south of Abu Simbel and Faras, where male and female mummies exhibited blue tattoos in similar positions to those on the C-Group mummies. Some mummies at Aksha also bore face and hand tattoos: Vila, Aksha II. 39 Firth, The Archaeological Survey of Nubia, p. 54. The tattooed female was buried in cemetery 110 near the village of Kubban (grave 271). 40 Ibid., 48–50, 62–63, 163. The largest cemeteries from north to south are located in those three areas at Dakka, Aniba, and Abu Simbel/Ballana/Adindan. 41 Pieri & Antoine, “A Tattooed Trio at HK27C,” pp. 28–29; Friedman & Paulson, “More Tattoos!” p. 26; Hafsaas, Cattle Pastoralists, p. 64; Friedman, “The Nubian Cemetery at Hierakonpolis, Egypt,” p. 47. The tattooed women were found in graves 9, 10, and 36. 42 Friedman, “The Nubian Cemetery at Hierakonpolis,” pp. 49–50. 43 Winlock, Excavations at Deir el Bahri 1911–1931, p. 129.
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Thebes (TT 113)^47 contains a wall painting of four female dancers, three of whom were daughters of Ki-nebu. The fourth dancer, a black woman, bore the Egyptian name Rekhtoui-em-Mut.^48 Dressed, like the daughters of Ki-nebu, in a diaphanous full-length gown, which fully reveals her body through the sheer fabric, Rekhtoui- em-Mut alone wears earrings and bracelets, her forearms decorated with tattoos.^49 In each of several scenes, the dancer raises her right arm, her left arm extended down behind her. A dancing girl depicted in a similar pose, with both arms extend- ed, one up and one down behind her, decorates a leather drumhead found in Akhmim. There, the small girl dances on a platform be- fore the goddess Isis while a woman plays the tambourine behind the dancer. Although the text before the seated goddess identifies her as Isis, the face of Hathor, identifiable by her tresses and cow ears, decorates the wall above the scene. Another dancer is depicted performing the same dance in a rock tomb in Debeira, 20 kilome- ters north of Wadi Halfa near the Second Cataract in Nubia. The im- age decorates the upper half of the north wall, where a banqueting scene includes the image of the dancer surrounded by five female musicians. The tomb belonged to Djehuty-hotep, who was “Chief of Teh-khet” (wr tHxt – Serra, north of the Second Cataract), xrp of the queen, and “scribe of the south.” 50 He is thought to have lived dur- ing the reign of Hatshepsut in the early Eighteenth Dynasty when Egypt was reestablishing its rule over Nubia.^51 Kneeling before the dancer, three women clap the beat, while to the right a woman plays the double flute and to the left another woman plays a long, nar- row drum with two heads (barrel drum) suspended by a cord over her shoulder. While the five musicians are painted light-brown, the central dancer is a very dark color, almost black. She strikes a pose
47 Porter and Moss, Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Statues, Reliefs and Paintings, 1:231. 48 Wild, “Un danse nubienne d’époque pharaonique,” pp. 81–83. The inscription above the dancer identifies her as a family servant (Hm.t). 49 See ibid., pl. XIX which contains two scenes featuring the Nubian dancer, one of which is reproduced here as Figure 5. 50 Säve-Sönderbergh, “The Paintings in the Tomb of Djehuty-Hetep in Debeira,” pp. 27–29; Wild, “Un danse nubienne,” 76. 51 Ibid.
Figure 5. Dancers from Tomb of Ki- Nebu TT 113. From Henri Wild, Kush 7 (1959): pl. XIX.
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similar to the dancers described above – her right hand extended upward before her while her left hand extends down behind her. The name of the dance described in each of the scenes above is preserved in the tomb of Ki-nebu in Thebes. Called the ksks-dance,^52 this relatively rare term is found in an inscription from El-Kab and on a papyrus containing the Rituals of Mut. The El-Kab inscription states, “The krw dance (Ab<iAb), the kwr dances (ksks).” 53 Both Egyp- tian words for “dance” (iAb and ksks) describe the action of a differ- ent performer. Krw, interpreted by Wild as “baboon” 54 may refer to the gods Shu and Thoth who transformed themselves into primates to dance before the raging goddess Tefnut. The kwr who performed the ksks-dance was the king of Kush, kwr being an Egyptian render- ing of the Meroitic word qore, meaning king.^55 Indeed, in a hiero- glyphic text at Edfu, the king is said to have danced in the role of the god Shu before the returning goddess.^56 In the Esna inscription the ksks-dance was associated with the king of Kush. His Nubian sub- jects also performed the dance.^57 Brunner-Traut credits the imperial expansion of Egypt during the New Kingdom with the introduction of new foreign dances into the country, noting, however, that Egypt had already been exposed to Nubian dances as early as the Middle Kingdom’s expansion into Nubia and Kush.^58
The Neck Dance
Kendall has undertaken an ethnographic study that includes a dis- cussion of dance as depicted in Meroitic art and its similarities to 52 Erman & Grapow, Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache, 5: pp. 141–142, 5 ksks.t as a Middle Kingdom woman’s title Tanzerin. Brunner-Traut, Der Tanz im alten Ägypten, pp. 79–80; id., “Tanz,” p. 216. “ksks (Sprungtanz, lebhaft bis wild, besonders für nubische und Negertänze, libysche Tanz).” Darnell, “Hathor Returns to Medamud,” p. 66. 53 Wild, “Un danse nubienne d’époque pharaonique,” p. 86. 54 Ibid. Dancing primates feature prominently in the Hymn to Hathor inscribed in the kiosk of the Ptolemaic temple at Medamud, which will be discussed at length below. See Darnell, “Hathor Returns to Medamud,” pp. 80–84 where kyky and kri apes are said to praise the goddess with spn-staves and ssndm-sticks in their hands. Darnell refers to the lute-playing ape depicted in the temple of Hathor at Philae in ibid., n. 190. 55 The term Kwr was also used as a toponym. See Wild, “Un danse nubienne d’époque pharaonique,” who defined the word Kouri as follows: “région qui constitua ‘pendant une longue période la marche méridionale de l’empire égyptien,’ ou bien le souverain du royaume de Koush.” For the embedded quote, see Leclant & Yoyotte, “Les obélisques de Tanis,” p. 72. For Kwr as reference to the king of the region, see Sauneron & Yoyotte, “La champagne nubienne de Psammétique II et sa signification historique,” fig. 1, p. 185. This Meroitic word for king ( qore ) has an equivalent in the Fur language of Darfur in Western Sudan aba kuri = sultan. See Arkell, “An Egyptian Invasion of the Sudan in 581 B.C.,” p. 94 and id., “Kur,” pp. 123–124. 56 Junker, Der Auszug der Hathor-Tefnut aus Nubien, pp. 31, 45–46, 70–72; id., Die Onurislegende, pp. 100–101; Brunner-Traut, “Tanz,” p. 224 n. 103. 57 “Insistons bien […] que c’est encore le terme ksks qui désignerait ainsi la saltation du souverain de Napata, come il désigne la danse nubienne du tombeau de Ki-nébou et les mimiques des babouins venus de Koush.” Wild, “Un danse nubienne d’époque pharaonique,” p. 87. 58 Brunner-Traut, “Tanz,” p. 223, n. 84; id., Der Tanz im alten Ägypten, p. 46.
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ers is compelled at least to go through this once, and the nearer the relationship so much the more frequently is it repeated.^64
Lepsius’s lengthy description could just as well refer to the funer- ary dance performed by the black woman depicted in the Debeira (Nubia) rock tomb of Djehutyhotep, the drum face from Akhmim or in the Theban tomb of Ki-Nebu: in each case the dancer exhibits twisted shoulders and outstretched arms – one up and one down. The same dance is performed at Nubian wedding ceremonies where it is the bride herself who dances while wedding guests hold apotro- paic palm fronds.^65 Brunner-Traut identified ksks as the “national dance” of “die Neg- er,”
Die Neger haben aber wie die Libyer auch ihren Nationaltanz: Sie drehen bei senkrechter Haltung den Oberkörper und trippeln dabei ganz rasch mit den Füssen an der gleichen Stelle […]. Soweit es die grossen Fasstrommeln, Holzkeulen und Tierschwänze in den Ar- men zulassen, mache die Neger lebhafte Sprünge und ausfahrende Gesten […]. Negertänze sind durch ihre Instrumente und Schmuck- geklirr lärmvoll […]. Nur ausnahmsweise tanzen auch Negermäd- chen, aber in einer der äg. Kultivierheit angeglichenen Weise.^66
64 Lepsius, Letters from Egypt, Ethiopia, and the Peninsula of Sinai, p. 184, quoted in Kendall, “Ethnoarchaeology,” p. 660. 65 Crowfoot, Popular Rites in the Northern Sudan, pl. 67a, 68b. 66 Brunner-Traut, “Tanz,” p. 223.
Figure 6. Performance of the “Neck Dance” depicted on the pylon of a Meroitic royal burial (Beg. N 11).
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Negroes, like the Libyans, also have their national dance. They twist their upper bodies in perpendicular position and scuttle with their feet very rapidly in one place […]. With the large barrel drum, the wooden club, and animal tails worn on the arms, the Negroes perform lively jumps and expansive gestures […]. Negro dances are noisy on account of their instruments and clanging jewelry[…]. Only as an exception, though, do Negro girls dance in a way that as- similates Egyptian sophistication. (My translation.)
Brunner-Traut’s description of “Negro dances” resembles Kend- all’s description of the “neck dance,” which consisted of rapid foot movements in one place and violent swinging of the upper body, ac- companied by the beat of the barrel drum and men carrying wood- en clubs. The description also sounds very much like what Lepsius witnessed at Sennar: small movements of the feet accompanied by dramatic twisting of the shoulders and upper body accentuated by dramatic extension of both arms. While the body movements could not be captured in the tomb paintings of Ki-nebu, Djehutyhotep, or on the drum face from Akhmim, each painter sought to capture such movement by depicting the twisted shoulders and the outstretched arms. The erotic and ecstatic nature of the dance cannot be missed: topless women swinging their heads and hair while thrusting their breasts up and forward combined with the pounding of the barrel drums would have created an atmosphere of heightened sexual en- ergy and religious ecstasy.^67 These are the very characteristics as- sociated with the celebratory festivals performed for the return of Hathor, the goddess of love, music, and dance.
Hathor Returns to Medamud
Contemporary with the early Meroitic period, the Ptolemaic Temple of Hathor at Medamud, near Karnak, contains the most detailed de- scription of Nubian dancers – men and women – arriving to Egypt with the returning Distant Goddess. Built under Ptolemy VIII (170– 116 bce), the temple stands on the site of an earlier, walled sacred grove established during the Old Kingdom and a Middle Kingdom temple, which had been situated on a circular mound. The extant temple of Medamud was connected to the precinct of Montu at Kar- nak by a row of sphinxes that stretched 8 kilometers between the two sites in Thebes.
67 Kendall, “Ethnoarchaeology,” p. 660. Nubian Muslims have been encouraged to discard this tradition. Orthodox leaders of many Nubian communities prohibit the performance of this ancient dance, because it seems “a sacrilegious desecration in the sight of God.” See Kennedy, Nubian Ceremonial Life, p. 226.
Dancing for Hathor 81
Nubians at Philae
A unique telling of the Myth of the Distant Goddess at Philae in- dicates the Nubian focus of the rites performed in that temple. In most versions of the Myth of the Distant Goddess, it was Shu, con- sort of Tefnut, and Thoth who journeyed to Nubia to entice the god- dess back to Egypt. However, the myth as it was depicted in text and temple reliefs at Philae, credits Arensnuphis and Thoth Pnubs with having guided Tefnut back to Egypt.^79 Both Arensnuphis^80 and Thoth Pnubs 81 were gods worshipped in Nubia and Kush; they are not depicted in Egyptian temples north of Philae. Nubian temple inscriptions engraved in the early Roman period (mid-first cen- tury ce) cluster around images of Tefnut, Arensnuphis and Thoth Pnubs, which are prevalent on the columns and walls of the temple forecourt and date to the Ptolemaic Period. This concentration of inscriptions seems to indicate that worship of Tefnut, Arensnuphis and Thoth Pnubs increased in this period.^82 During the reign of Ptol- emy VI (180–145 bce), the area before the temple of Arensnuphis (at the southern end of the forecourt) was expanded. A cult association added a porch to the front of the temple.^83 An upsurge in worship- pers, either Egyptian, Nubian, or both, participating in the rites per- formed for these three gods would have necessitated the structural changes made to this area of the temple complex at Philae. Annexa- tion of Lower Nubia and construction of temples in the area by the Kushite kings Arqamani II and his successor, Adikhalamani, during the Theban Revolt (206–186 bce), which began in the reign of Ptole- my IV and ended under Ptolemy V, would have provided the opening and the impetus for an increased Nubian participation in the rites performed at Philae.
inscriptions in which the word appears. For the expression “bending the arm” (xbe n=t rmn(=i)), see ibid., 121 graffito Ph. 421, line 3. 79 Inconnu-Bocquillon, Le mythe de la Déesee Lointaine à Philae, p. 336. 80 Wenig, “Arensnuphis und Sebiumeker,” pp. 130–150. 81 Boylan, Thoth, pp. 168–172; Sauneron & Yoyotte, “La champagne nubienne de Psammétique II et sa signification historique,” pp. 163–167; Kurth, “Thoth,” pp. 510–11; Junker, Die Onurislegende, pp. 7–11. 82 Heany, “A Short Architectural History of Philae,” p. 223, Fig. 3. Cruz-Uribe has suggested that the Kiosk of Nectanebo, relocated in the late Ptolemaic period, served as a shrine dedicated to Thoth Pnubs. See Cruz-Uribe, The Demotic Graffiti from the Temple of Isis on Philae Island, p. 11. 83 See Bernand, Les inscriptions grecques et latines de Philae, vol. 2, pp. 116–121 (inscription IGP 11). The Greek inscription commemorated work on the temple of Arensnuphis undertaken by a cult association. The inscription may refer to the addition of the porch, which is no longer standing. See also Haeny, “Short Architectural History of Philae,” p. 220, n. 4.
82 Ashby
Roman Period
Doctoral research on the Nubian inscriptions engraved in Egyptian temples of the Dodecaschoenos suggests that worshippers contin- ued to travel to Philae in the early Roman period (mid-first century ce) to perform rites in celebration of Hathor, which coincided with the delivery of the first fruits of the harvest during the season of Peret.^84 This assumption is based on the contents, location, and ref- erences to ritual acts in the texts of the inscriptions,^85 which record- ed “agreements” by cult association members to journey annually to Philae from temples in the southern Dodecaschoenos. The annual journey may have been timed to coincide with the first day of a festi- val celebrating the return of Tefnut to Egypt, which was celebrated at Denderah on 19 Tybi, the first month in the season of Peret. Several Nubian inscriptions make reference to wives, daughters, and “all the people who belong to me” being present at the temple with the (male) writer.^86 I suggest that the wives and daughters who accompanied the Nubian worshippers, priests, and cult association members would have been the women who performed the sacred dances for Hathor that are attested for the earlier pharaonic period: the ksks-dance of the C-Group people of Lower Nubia. Inscribed in Egyptian Demotic in the forecourt, the columned area leading up to the temple that was typically used for public cel- ebration, the gathering of cult association members, and drinking,^87 one agreement recorded a promise to celebrate rites on a specific evening every year.^88 Another agreement in the same area made ref- erence to the “procession of the cult association of Thoth Pnubs.” 89 A prayer inscription, Ph. 28, engraved in 34 ce on a column of the 84 The Egyptian calendar was divided into three seasons: Akhet Ax.t “Inundation,” Peret pr.t “Growing,” and Shemu Smw “Harvest;” each season consisted of three months of thirty days each. While the final season was called “Harvest,” the collection of “first fruits” occurred in the season of Peret as demonstrated by the traditional name of the first month of Peret, Sf-bd.t “swelling of Emmer-Wheat.” Furthermore, presentation of a grain offering at the temples of Esna and Edfu occurred on 8 and 9 Mechir, respectively. Mechir was the second month of Peret. See Altenmüller, “Feste,” p. 177. 85 I have suggested that Nubians wrote five early Roman period inscriptions found on the dromos at Philae: Ph. 11, Ph. 15, Ph. 24, Ph. 25, and Ph. 36. See Ashby, Calling Out to Isis, pp. 94–112. Three of these five inscriptions are dated to the season of Peret. See ibid., pp. 50–113. A calendar of feasts at Denderah indicates that the return of Hathor from Nubia was celebrated with a daily procession from the first day of Tybi (first month of Peret ) – 4th day of Mechir (second month of Peret ). 86 Ph. 254, Ph. 255, Ph. 289, Ph. 411, and Ph. 416. See Griffith, Catalogue of Demotic Graffiti of the Dodecaschoenos, vol. 1, pp. 84, 90, 113–119. 87 See Badawy, “The Approach to the Egyptian Temple in the Late and Greco-Roman Periods,” p. 80. 88 Ph. 24 inscribed in 31 ce; the rites were to be performed on day 24 in the third month of Peret, the Egyptian month of Phamenoth. See Griffith, Catalogue of Demotic Graffiti of the Dodecaschoenos, vol. 1, p. 45. 89 Ibid., 48. Graffito Ph. 36 was inscribed in 46 ce. “Procession of the cult association of Thoth Pnubs” in Egyptian PA xa tA sn.t DHwty pA nbs. Griffith transliterated the term for “council” as qnb.t, while Hughes read the Demotic word as sn.t. Both scholars translated the term as “cult
