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Dining&Death: Interdisciplinary per spectives on the ‘funerary banquet’ in ancient art, burial and belief Paper 4, N. Harrington

The Eighteenth Dynasty Egyptian banquet: ideals and realities

Nicola Harrington

Abstract

In this paper I present an analysis of the iconography of banquet scenes in Egyptian

tombs dating to the 18th Dynasty (1550 –1307 BC), as well as a brief overview of

evidence for feasting in the tomb chapel and courtyard, and a discussion of the

content and meaning of the songs of harpers and other musicians that often

accompany the scenes. I also consider the use of alcohol and narcotics in accessing

gods and the dead, and examine some of the social aspects of feasting, such as

community identity, gender issues and the use of banquets as a forum for elitedisplay.

Introduction1

The 18th Dynasty banquet scene is one of the most well-known decorative

motifs in elite tombs, due to the striking imagery rarely found elsewhere in

Egyptian art. These depictions are generally found on the walls of

broad/transverse halls in Theban T-shaped tombs and the longitudinal halls of

tombs at Elkab.2 The banqueting guests face towards the tomb owner in the

west (away from the tomb entrance), and are seated in rows, on chairs, stools

or reed mats, and given floral collars, drinks and unguent by attendants, who

may also anoint them with oil. Male and female musicians playing lutes,

1 I would like to thank the organisers of the Dining and Death conference, Catherine Draycott

and Maria Stamatopoulou, for their invitation to participate. I am particularly grateful to Cathie

for her constructive criticism and for her patience. Thank you to the anonymous referees for

their comments and suggestions, to Natalie McCreesh and Cynthia May Sheikholeslami for

sharing their thoughts on unguent cones and festivals with me, and to Miriam Müller for

discussing feasting at Tell el-Daba and for kindly supplying a copy of her dissertation. Please

note the following abbreviation conventions employed in the paper: TT = Theban Tomb; EK =

Elkab; BM = British Museum.2 E.g. Paheri (no. 3), Renni (no. 7): Porter and Moss 1937, 180, (14) –(15); 183, (5) –(6). There

are exceptions at Thebes, such as Rekhmire (TT 100) and some tombs have more than one

separate banquet scene: placement does not seem to be directly linked to dates or features

within the tomb, such stelai, statues or false doors. There is insufficient space to elaborate onthese issues in this article.




harps, lyres, pipes and drums are often shown along with the lyrics of their

songs (Fig. 1). While musicians may be depicted in groups of mixed sex,

unmarried male and female guests are rarely shown seated together,

although it is not clear if such gender segregation would have occurred during

feasts or whether it is one of many artistic conventions that characterise these

scenes (such as the uniformly idealised appearance of the eternally youthful

celebrants).

Much has been made of oblique sexual references within banquet scenes3

and their relationship with the Festival of the Wadi,4 with less attention given

to the social aspects of feasting with the deceased and whether the images

painted on tomb walls were based on actual festivals where the dead and

living were thought to interact, or were merely symbolic of events in which the

tomb owner hoped to participate after death in a similar manner to the

representations of fishing and fowling in the marshes. Consideration to these

aspects is therefore given below.

Definitions of banqueting

Feasting may be defined as the celebration of significant occasions through

the formal ceremony of communal eating and drinking.5 The term ‘banqueting’

carries with it the expectation of food consumption, but in common with Near

Eastern depictions,6 Egyptian celebrants are most frequently shown with a

wine bowl or beer jar, and the emphasis of these scenes seems to be

drinking,7 in some cases to excess (see below). There are two types of

3 E.g. Manniche 2003; Derchain 1975; Westendorf 1967.4 Hb (nfr) n int , referred to variously as the ‘(Beautiful) Feast of the Valley’, the ‘Valley Festival’

etc. See Jauhiainen 2009, 147 –52, with references.5 Wright 2004, 133; Jennings et al . 2005, 275.6 E.g. Du Ry 1969, 53; Barnett and Wiseman 1960, 28 (‘Standard of Ur’). 7 This appears to be a common feature of feasting particularly in mortuary contexts: cf . Wright

(2004, 170) for Mycenaean examples; also Campbell-Green and Michelaki 2012, 16 (Bronze Age

Crete); Pollock 2003, 25 (Mesopotamia). Milledge Nelson (2003, 84) concludes from grave

goods of Late Shang Dynasty China that wine was perceived as more important to the ancestors

than meat. For the symbolic and cultural values of meat, see e.g. Wright 2004, 172; Steel 2004,282 –3. Food is shown before guests in several Egyptian banquet scenes indicating that these




banquet scene depicted in 18th Dynasty tombs: the funerary and the mortuary

feasts.8 While the words ‘mortuary’ and ‘funerary’ are often used

interchangeably, for the purposes of this paper ‘funerary’ will be employed

only in relation to the meal that broke the fast following the tomb owner’s

burial,9 and ‘mortuary’ will refer to all other feasts held in the presence of the

deceased including those associated with festivals. Post-funeral meals are

characterised by their rigid formality, the complete absence of the sense of

movement found in mortuary feast imagery, and the uniform seating of guests

so that they face the tomb owner and his wife (or mother): the focus is thus on

the dead rather than the living.10 Musicians and servants are rarely

depicted.11 The funeral banquet marks a new stage in the relationship

between the individual commemorated and their friends and relatives: it

establishes the tradition of feasting in the presence of the deceased tomb

owner, and the principles of dependence and reciprocity in which the living

have the greatest control. The dead were encouraged to ‘come at the voice’

for offerings, invited to participate in banquets, and expected to listen and

respond to requests for assistance, but their presence was not always

welcome. This relationship is also apparent in modern rural Egypt, where

‘much effort is normally undertaken to dissuade the soul of the departed to

are ‘feasts’ in the strict sense: e.g. Rekhmire (TT 100: Davies 1943, pl. 67). For an example of

guests holding food and drinking vessels to their mouths, see TT 254 (Mose: Strudwick and

Strudwick 1996, pls 28, 31), although this may be an Amarna period aberration.8 For an overview of differing interpretations of the types of banquet scenes, see Lichtheim 1945,

185 –7. It may be significant in this context that the word for ‘feast/festival’ (Hb) is the same as

that for ‘to mourn’ (Gardiner 1957, 580–1). Examples of funerary banquets include TT 112

(Menkheperreseneb: Davies 1933, pl. 24, lower register) and TT 82 (Gardiner and Davies 1915,

pl. 7).9 Frandsen 1999, 135 –6; cf . the Prophecy of Neferti: Parkinson 1991, 34 –5.10 This may be similar to the phenomenon of graveside feasting in early Chinese society (Late

Shang period), where enlisting the aid of the dead was considered to be of greater

importance than forming alliances with the living: ‘In other words, it seems that the deceased,

both the recently departed as well as the more ancient ancestors, were more powerful and

desirable allies than their earthly counterparts’ (Milledge Nelson 2003, 65).11

See, for example, the banquet in the tomb of Hery (TT 12): Galán and Menéndez 2011, fig.5.




return to the land of the living except for specific feast days and for specific

feasts.’12

It is worth noting that ‘mortuary’ feasts may have been held in or near the

tomb during the owner’s lifetime, as suggested by several texts:13

Sitting down to divert the heart ( sxmx ib) according to the practice of

existence on earth, anointed with myrrh (antyw), adorned with

garlands, making [holiday] (irt hrw nfr ) in his house of justification (mAa

xrw) which he made for himself on the west of Thebes.

These inscriptions accord with Andrey Bolshakov’s suggestion that mortuary

cults were established during the lifetime of those possessing tombs and

statues, and that such cults were thereby fully functional by the time of their

owners’ demise.14 It may thus be the case that the elite feasted in the vicinity

of their tombs prior to death, perhaps in several instances honouring those

who predeceased them (parents, grandparents, or children, for example) and

who were depicted or otherwise commemorated in the building.15 One of the

problems presented by harpers’ songs (discussed below) is the fact that theyare addressed to the tomb owner as though he is still alive. The song in the

20th Dynasty tomb of Inherkhau16 is particularly unusual in that it was

evidently not meant to be seen by visitors as it was painted in the tomb

chamber, which would have been sealed following the burial.17 The song

12 Wickett 2010, 130.

13 Amenhotep-si-se (TT 75): Davies 1933, pl. 4; Lichtheim 1945, 182. Cf . Djeserkareseneb (TT

38): Lichtheim 1945, 183.14 This practice was established in the Old Kingdom: the importance of setting up a mortuary

cult and provisioning funerary priests in advance was noted in the 5th Dynasty Instruction of

Prince Hardjedef, and reiterated in private monuments of the Middle Kingdom, for example in

the stele inscription of Sehetepibre (Lichtheim 1973, 58 –9, 127).15 For example, the tomb of Amenmose (TT 373) contained ancestor busts dedicated to his

parents (Habachi 1976, 84 –6).16 TT 359 (temp. Ramesses III –IV, c. 1163): Lichtheim 1945, 201.17

A similar situation may be seen in the 18th Dynasty tomb of Sennefer (TT 96: Porter and Moss1960, 202), where scenes of the tomb owner receiving offerings from his wife, some possibly




stands out because the hieroglyphs were inscribed onto a white background

rather than onto the yellow that covers most of the walls. Presumably the text

was intended as a focal point for the deceased rather than the living. While

the song may be addressed to Inherkhau during his lifetime, however, he is

introduced as ‘the Osiris’, implying that he was already dead when the burial

chamber was decorated. Such apparent contradictions are found throughout

the text, and may be indicative of the nature of the tomb as a meeting place

for the living and the deceased, as well as being reminiscent of the tomb

owner’s hope of regeneration.

The iconography of ancient Egyptian banquets

The term ‘banquet scene’ usually brings to mind the brightly painted images

on Theban tomb walls, but such scenes in full or abbreviated form are also

found in tombs at Saqqara and Elkab,18 on shrines at Gebel el-Silsila,19 and

on stelai, wooden cosmetic boxes, and the lintels of house and shrine doors.20

Egyptian texts indicate that the banquet had certain essential components,

whether that be as part of a mortuary meal or religious festival, as exemplified

by the ‘secular’ feast for King Amenhotep II depicted in the tomb of Kenamun

(TT 93):21

Diverting the heart ( sxmx-ib) and seeing good things, song, dance, and

music … perfumed with myrrh (antyw), anointed with oil, making

holiday (iri hrw nfr ), decked with garlands from your plantation, water

lily at your nostril, O King Amenhotep.

The main features of mortuary banquet scenes are the presence of musicians,dancers and attendants, as well as floral collars, water lilies, oil and unguent,

related to the Wadi Festival, were painted on the walls and columns of his burial chamber along

with other mortuary images.18 Zivie 1975, pl. 51; Tylor 1895.19 Caminos 1955, 52.20 Roth 1988, 140 –1, no. 80; Freed 1982, 203, no. 237; Jørgensen 1998, 312. Cf . the small

golden shrine of Tutankhamun: Harrington 2005/2007.21 After Lichtheim 1945, 182; Davies 1930, pl. 9.




and alcohol (beer and wine). It is unlikely to be coincidental that many of the

features in these scenes are related to the goddess Hathor.22 She was

associated with mortuary banquets, complete with musicians23 (including

harpists) and dancers, from at least the Middle Kingdom (2040 –1640 BC),24

and in 18th Dynasty banquets is invoked (if not always explicitly) through the

handing of sistra and menats to the deceased.25

The other major deity associated with banquet scenes is Amun, whose festival

(the Festival of the Wadi) is mentioned in a few cases and whose bouquet is

presented to the tomb owner, usually by his son (Fig. 2).26 The bouquet itself

is distinct from other floral arrangements; it consists of an open water lily

flower (with or without a central mandrake fruit) with buds on either side and

the stalks tightly bound into a long cylindrical shape (Fig. 3).27 A scene in the

22 Hathor was known as mistress of music, rejoicing, dancing, harpists, garlands and incense

(Schott 1952, 77 –8; 1950, 78). She may also be invoked through the cats sometimes shown

beneath the chairs of wives or guests, since it was in this form that she was worshipped at

certain sites (see e.g. the tomb of Nebamun and Ipuky, TT 181: Malek 2006, 61, fig. 35), in the

same way that Amun may be linked with the geese depicted in some tombs (e.g.Menkheperreseneb, TT 112: Davies 1933, pl. 24). Monkeys under chairs are considered by

some scholars to be representative of love and sexual fulfilment (e.g. Andrews 1994: 66;

Derchain 1976: 9), and may thus also be linked to the goddess Hathor.23 In 18th Dynasty banquets, some female musicians are depicted as though facing the viewer

instead of in profile, which provides an iconographic link with the goddesses Nut and Hathor, the

principal deities whose faces are shown frontally (Volokhine 2000, 37, 64 –5). Parkinson suggests

that the women may be depicted in this manner because they are seated in a circle (as in BM

Nebamun [BM EA 37984]: Parkinson 2008, 79, fig. 88), but this does not readily explain

musicians standing or in procession, unless they are turning while dancing and playing (e.g.

Horemheb, TT 78: Brack and Brack 1980, 84).24 ‘Exalted is Hathor (goddess) of love … when she is exalted on the holiday’: tomb of Senbi at

Meir: Lichtheim 1945, 190; Blackman 1914, 22 –3, pls 2 –3. See also Wente 1969, 89.25 E.g. Nebamun and Ipuky (TT 181): Lichtheim 1945, 182; Davies 1925, pls 4, 5, 18.26 As in the tomb of Nakht (TT 161: Hartwig 2004, cover), where the couple’s daughter also

presents ‘bouquets of Amun and Mut’. 27 In some cases the temple at which the bouquet was blessed is specifically named: in the tomb

of Menkheperreseneb (TT 86: temp. Thutmose III, c. 1479 BC), for example, bouquets arepresented to the deceased from the mortuary temple of Thutmose III, the chapel of Hathor at




tomb of Neferhotep (TT 49) illustrates the main stages in the process of

having the bouquet blessed at Karnak temple, with incense and burnt

offerings presented to Amun in his shrine and a bouquet bestowed by a priest

to Neferhotep who is purified with unguent and oils.28 Neferhotep

subsequently gives a bouquet of Amun to his wife waiting outside the temple

walls.

Siegfried Schott suggested that most, if not all banquet scenes represented

the feast held in honour of Amun, Mut and Khonsu when statues of these

deities in their barques were transported from the temple of Karnak on the

east bank of the Nile to the sanctuary of Hathor at Deir el-Bahri via the

mortuary temples on the river’s west bank.29 He stated that during this festival

(the Festival of the Wadi), in parallel with wine being offered to Amun by the

reigning king, and being consumed by celebrants, it was also offered to the

dead.30 Since the Festival is rarely mentioned in Theban tombs, however, this

undermines Schott’s supposition that all 18th Dynasty banqueting scenes

must relate to this particular event.31 In fact, tomb inscriptions often express

the wish for the deceased to be present at a range of festivals.32 Cynthia May

Deir el-Bahri, and the temple of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III at Medinet Habu (Schott 1952,

118; Davies 1933, pl. 17).28 Tomb of Neferhotep (TT 49): temp. Ay, c. 1323 BC: Davies 1933, pl. 61. This second bouquet

(consisting of a central papyrus frond between poppy flowers) is not the same as that presented

by Neferhotep to his wife (water lily flower with mandrake fruit and lily buds), suggesting that two

separate events may have been merged into one.29 In ‘joining with’ the goddess, Amun renewed the fertility of the land (Hartwig 2004, 12). By their

presence in the tomb, Hathor and Amun ensured the renewal of the deceased. This is unlikely to

be applicable to tombs beyond Thebes, such as Saqqara and Elkab, however.30 Schott 1953, 76.31 Schott 1953, 77. Tombs that mention the Wadi Festival or the bouquet of Amun in conjunction

with a banquet scene include TT 129 (name lost), TT 93 (Kenamun), TT 56 (Userhet), TT 247

(Simut), TT 112 and TT 86 (Menkheperreseneb), TT 84 (Amunedjeh), TT 49 (Neferhotep), TT

147 (name lost): Schott 1952, 122, 121, 123, 118, 109, 101, 99. Porter and Moss 1960, 244, 190,

111 –2, 333, 229 –30, 175, 168, 92 –3, 258.32 E.g. Paheri, EK 3 at Elkab: Tylor 1895, pl. 16; Lichtheim 1976, 16. The amalgamation of a

variety of feasts and festivals into a single pictorial scene is also attested in Mesopotamia, wherethe consumption of drink rather than food predominates as in Egypt: it has been suggested that




Sheikholeslami has recently questioned the assumption that all banqueting

was tied to the cult of Amun and the Wadi Festival, suggesting instead that in

many cases the Festival of Drunkenness, sacred to Hathor, was depicted.33

The discovery of a ‘porch of drunkenness’ in a chapel in the Mut complex at

the temple of Karnak, which was dedicated to Hathor by Hatshepsut, seems

to support the notion that such festivals were celebrated in Thebes during the

18th Dynasty.34

Unguent cones are frequently depicted on the hair/wigs of celebrants in

banquet scenes, including the tomb owner, his wife, and musicians (Fig. 4),

and they were also represented in three dimensions on figurines and rock-cut

statuary.35 The nature and function of the cones is still a matter of debate, with

some scholars considering them to be symbolic of (myrrh-based) perfume36 or

abstract concepts,37 and others suggesting that they were physical objects.38

Recent research and excavations have indicated that the cones were at least

drinking in these banquet scenes may symbolise or ‘summarize’ commensal occasions: Pollock

2003: 24.. 33

Sheikholeslami 2011. Hathor is associated with inebriation in the magical text known as TheDestruction of Mankind, incorporated into the Myth of the Heavenly Cow, first attested in the late

18th Dynasty (Spalinger 2000, 1993). According to this myth, danger and chaos were averted

through the judicious use of alcohol (specifically beer). The myth may be the origin of the Festival

of Drunkenness (Szkapowska 2003, 234). A festival dedicated to Hathor is depicted in the tomb

of Amenemhet (TT 82: Gardiner and Davies 1915, 95, pl. 19), with female musicians and

dancers. Bianquis Gasser (1992, 101) states that: ‘Wine is associated with two seemingly

contradictory aspects of human life … blood, fertility and human life, but also … with death and

the divine’, all of which Hathor encompassed in her varying roles. 34 Bryan 2005; Sheikholeslami 2011.35 E.g. Markowitz 1999, 206, no. 18; Hofmann 2004, pl. 9 (TTs 178, 196).36 Cherpion (1994, 81), following Bruyère (1926, 137).37 Joan Padgham, for example, concludes (2006) that the cones were iconographically linked to

the hieroglyph for a heap of grain (aHaw), and were representative of wealth and ‘abundant

offerings realised in the next life’ by the tomb owner, or were symbolic of the ‘transition of the

deceased between existence in the afterlife and a return to the world of the living [in ba form]

brought about by the possession of cult offerings’ (2010). See now Padgham, J. 2012.38

Simpson 1972, 73; Manniche 1987, 41. Cf. e.g. Papyrus Harris 500, I, 9: ‘My hair [is] ladenwith aromatic ointment (qmi)’ (Landgráfová and Navrátilová 2009, 195).




in some cases actual mounds of perfumed fat placed on the hair or wig,

though the practicality of such an object on the head of a bald man, a dancer,

or an attendant is questionable.39 Perhaps the importance of creating a

perfumed atmosphere within the restrictions imposed by two-dimensional

representation superseded realism in these cases. In banquet scenes, the

cones are shown being produced by moulding unguent directly onto the

hair/wigs of seated guests. The celebrants are also anointed with oil (Fig. 5),

which stains their white linen in a manner reminiscent of descriptions in love

poetry.40 Bicoloured clothing41 was introduced around the reign of Thutmose

IV (the same period as unguent cones: Padgham 2010) and continued into

the Ramesside period. Norman de Garis Davies asserted that the

discolouration was caused by unguent (1927, 44 –5), and Lise Manniche

(1999, 95) also suggests that scented oil was responsible for the shading,

noting that although linen does not absorb dye easily, ‘the fibres would absorb

the fatty matter and make them supple and shiny. The yellow colour is a

means for the artist to show that large amounts of scent have been applied. It

is a sign of wealth and opulence’. While this may be true to an extent, it does

not explain why the tomb owner is shown with bicoloured garments less

frequently than his guests.

The scenes in which coloured clothing is depicted are those of offering (where

it is often worn by the recipients), banquets, scenes of adoration, and fishing

and fowling. Essentially, bicoloured clothing is not a feature of ‘daily life’

scenes (such as farming and viticulture), and it is more commonly found on

women than men. The fact that the tomb owner may be shown in identical

39 McCreesh, Gize and David 2011. I am grateful to Natalie McCreesh for discussing her

research with me and for an advance copy of her co-authored article. Excavations at the South

Tombs cemetery at Amarna have revealed a waxy cone on the wig/hair of a female corpse (Ind.

150, I54, 13132: Kemp 2010, 3).40 E.g. O. DM 1266, O CGC 25218 (limbs soaked with camphor oil [tiSps]): Landgráfová and

Navrátilová 2009, 120, 141. Love poetry contains themes and imagery that closely parallel that of

banquet scenes, including intoxication, mandrakes, lilies, Hathor, oils and anointing, fine linen

and spending the day in festivity. It is noteworthy that the poetry dates to the Ramesside Period

when banquet scenes were no longer depicted in tombs.41 I.e. white linen stained with colours ranging from pale yellow to deep crimson.






restore and preserve the corpse,45 to protect the deceased from dangers in

the afterlife, and to endow the tomb owner and banquet guests with ritual

purity (Thompson 1998, 242 –3).46 The importance of perfumed substances

lies in their association with ritual purity, protection and divinity, because the

gods recognised one another by their scent,47 and purity was essential for

entering any sacred space, including temples and tombs.

Certain omissions are apparent in banquet scenes, particularly depictions of

children and the elderly.48 All participants are shown in the prime of life, in

accordance with the function of the tomb and the banquet scene in particular:

elite women assisted in their husband’s (or son’s) regeneration and rebirth in

the afterlife, and so were represented as youthful with the implication of

accompanying fertility.49 The tomb scenes reflect an alternate reality in which

ageing, illness and death are non-existent and everyone is captured in an

eternally perfect state.50 Captions sometimes designate certain guests (and

45 An inscription in the tomb of Mery (TT 95), for example, states: “Fill yourself with mDt which

comes forth from the Eye of Horus … it will join your bones, it will unite your limbs …”

(Thompson 1998, 232).46 The protective aspect of unguents may be relevant to the living as well, since the dead

were feared as much as they were revered. 47 Protection: Thompson 1998, 242 –3. Gods’ scents: f or example, in the Book of the Dead Spell

125b, Anubis announces to his entourage that the deceased possesses the necessary

knowledge of the underworld and states ‘I smell his odor as (that of) one of you’ (Allen 1974,

101).48 Children could participate in celebrations where alcohol was available, such as the Deir el-

Medina festival of the deified Amenhotep I: ‘Year 7 [of Ramesses IV or VI], third month of Peret,

day 29: the great feast of Amenhotep, the lord of the village. The work crew worshipped before

him for four whole days, drinking together with their children and their wives.’ (O. Cairo 25234:

Hagen and Koefoed 2005, 19, following Černý 1927, 183–4; McDowell 1999, 96; Kitchen 1983,

370). The absence of children (or pregnant women) places the emphasis in these scenes on

fertility and the potential for new life rather than subsequent progeny.49 Sweeney 2004, 67. There are several tombs where the tomb owner’s mother is depicted in the

place of a wife, e.g. Menkheperreseneb, TT 112 (Davies 1933, pl. 24), see further Whale 1989,

261 –3. 50

Primarily because such images could potentially harm the tomb owner. On alternate reality,see Sweeney 2004, 67.




less commonly, musicians) as ‘justified’, but in general there are no

iconographic distinctions made between the living and the dead.51

Evidence for banqueting in the vicinity of tombs

Elite tombs were divided into three main levels: the superstructure, courtyard

and subterranean burial complex.52 These levels also correspond with the

realms in which the blessed dead travelled – among celestial deities, mortals,

and the deceased and chthonic gods (Fig. 6). The middle sector is the area in

which the tomb owner could interact with friends and family members through

the media of false doors, stelai, and wall decoration. The focal point of

interaction would have been the statues at the end of the longitudinal hall,

which temporarily held the kas when they were summoned to meals, and

retained for posterity the images of the deceased in their blessed states.

However, given the size of Theban tombs it seems unlikely that guests,

servants and musicians could be accommodated in the manner suggested in

banquet scenes. While banqueters undoubtedly did visit tomb chapel statues

and present offerings to them, the narrow confines of the passageway leading

to the niche would have restricted seating and movement in a manner

incompatible with depictions of mortuary feasts. The courtyard with its shaft

leading from the burial chamber provided an open area that would have

facilitated dining, drinking and dancing, as well as providing free access for

the bas of the deceased to interact with the living and to supply corpses with

the nourishment provided by the banqueters.53

51 The deceased were often captioned mAa xrw, ‘justified’ or literally ‘true of voice’, i.e. found to

be innocent of wrongdoing in the divine afterlife tribunal. E.g. Amenemhet, TT 82 (Gardiner and

Davies 1915, pl. 16) – guests; Nebamun, TT 17 (Säve-Söderburgh 1957, pl. 21) – musicians and

guests. In the tomb of User (TT 21), the owner’s voice is said to be true against his enemies for

ever (Davies 1913, 27, pl. 19, 4), suggesting that maa-kheru may also have had a more general

meaning.52 Kampp-Seyfried 1998, 250.53

For an overview of the components of a deceased person, including the ka and ba, see e.g.Taylor 2001; Harrington 2013, 3 –7, 13 –5.




Earlier excavators’ priorities in the clearance of tomb courtyards left major

gaps in the archaeological record, as exemplified by the approach of Norman

de Garis Davies in his report of work at TT 110:54 ‘Its real doorway … is

deeply buried at present and, as the thicknesses of the entrance do not

appear to be decorated, little or nothing is likely to be gained by its complete

clearance.’ Davies noted that archaeologists at Amarna in the early 1900s

were equally selective in their treatment of finds:55 ‘heaps of sherds outside

the chief tombs … were thrown out by the excavators, and were already

broken for the most part.’ It is likely that much of the evidence for rituals

carried out in the vicinity of tombs has thus been irretrievably lost. However,

future excavations and even the careful study of archaeological reports for

remains of feasting in tomb chapels and courtyards (and in the vicinity of

graves/communal commemorative monuments in non-elite cemeteries) may

prove rewarding in terms of revealing patterns of mortuary meals and perhaps

their longevity.56 In the meantime, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that

offering rituals involving the presentation of food and drink, and, at certain

times of the year, communal feasting, as part of cultic activity centred around

deceased individuals (and their families) did take place at the tomb, though

the duration of mortuary rituals in the years following the death of the tomb

owner is unclear.57

54 1932, 279.55 1908, 14, n. 5.56 For example, the examination of a spoil heap created by the pre-2002 excavators of the

Middle Kingdom (12th Dynasty) tomb of Djehutyhotep at Deir el-Barsha (and containing

material from the tomb) has revealed a range of pottery types that may be related to feasting

as well as offerings for the dead, including plates, cups, bowls and jars (Op de Beeck 2006:

127). Some of these cups seem to have been reused for mixing paint, and the practice of

reutilising pottery in antiquity may be a significant factor in the apparent dearth of material

from some cemeteries. As Mary Dabney et al . (2004, 202), state, an important preliminary

question to ask when dealing with pottery is ‘whether it is reasonable to expect to find large

deposits of ceramics from feasts, since the vessels would retain their utility after the meal was

completed, and might continue in use afterward’. This may be true of some Egyptian wares as

those depicted with banqueters seem to be of the standard type used in everyday life.57

Such remains have been discovered at Tell el-Daba in the Delta, where a fusion ofEgyptian and Hyksos funerary traditions seems to have taken place, with graves being




Teodozja Rzeuska suggests that areas of scorched pavement in the vicinity of

tomb chapels in the Old Kingdom necropolis at Saqqara, with remains of

charcoal, plants, bones and ceramics, indicate that offerings were burnt for

the benefit of the deceased within the funerary complex.58 Such offerings

were collected into pottery vessels and deposited in tombs, a practice that

seems to have continued at this site into the New Kingdom.59 During the

funeral, vases apparently containing wine were deliberately smashed in a

ritual known as ‘breaking the red pots ( sD dSrwt )’.60 The destruction of the

remains of feasting and the vessels used may have marked the end of the

banquet, being a way of taking the food and bowls out of circulation,

transferring the essence of the victuals to the deceased and simultaneously

restoring the distance between the living and the dead.61 Evidence of the

practice of smashing pottery following funerary meals was found in 17th

Dynasty tombs at Dra Abu el-Naga, where sherds had been gathered and

placed into storage jars before final deposition near the burial chamber, or

ritually ‘killed’ by knocking holes into or near the base.62 Evidence of breaking

directly attached to houses and interaction with the dead occurring at the tomb doorway.

Excavators have discovered offering pits, remains of ritual meals, offering stands, and pottery

for libations in the courtyards (Miriam Müller, personal communication January 2013). For a

discussion of the pottery, see Müller 2012, 119 –82.58 2006, 295, 297. Similar remains in early Bronze Age Cretan cemeteries have been interpreted

as remains of feasting with the dead (Campbell-Green and Michelaki 2012, 17 –8).59 Rzeuska 2006, 297; Quibell 1907, 27, pl. 25.60 Van Dijk 1986; Willems 1990, 352.61 For discussions of breaking and burning in mortuary contexts, see e.g. Parker Pearson 1993,

204; 1999, 10; Barley 1997, 178; Pinch 2003, 446 (ancient Egypt); Müller 1998, 798 (Tell el-

Dab‘a, Egypt); Mbiti 1969, 154 (Abaluyia of Kenya); Naquin 1988, 43, 57 (China), Rutherford

2007, 226, 227 (Hittites and Mycenaeans); Collard 2012, 25 (Bronze Age Cyprus); Wright 2004,

169 (Mycenae); Dabney et al . 2004, 202 (Mycenae); Borgna 2004, 262, n. 63, 263 –4 (Minoan

Crete).62 Seiler 2005, pl. 4b. A similar practice was carried out in the cemetery at Sparta in the late

Hellenistic period. Vessels were pierced at the base so that they could not be reused, and were

therefore permanent gifts to the dead. Evidence for the ceremonial breakage and burial of

vessels was also found in the cemetery, as well as sherds from drinking cups used by relativesduring the funeral banquet (Tsouli, this volume).




pots and ‘cult ceramics’ in the vicinity of tombs in the 18th Dynasty was

discovered in enclosures K 91.5 and K 91.7 at the same site.63 The early 18th

Dynasty tomb of Djehuty (TT 11) at Dra Abu el-Naga has a pit in the courtyard

containing floral bouquets and apparently deliberately broken vessels, and

pottery jars used in funerary offerings at the South Tombs cemetery at

Amarna also bear ‘killing holes’ on the shoulders and bases.64

Directly in front of the 18th Dynasty tomb of Sennedjem at Akhmim,

excavators found layers of sand, rubble and broken pottery bowls, along with

fragments of a ceramic altar.65 The presence of the altar suggests that the

vessels may be associated with mortuary cult practices taking place in the

courtyard. Such practices evidently occurred in the forecourt of Tjanuni’s tomb

(TT 74), where fragments of pottery, reed mats and other debris associated

with feasting were recovered.66 Maarten Raven found evidence of an offering

cult in the forecourt of the 18th Dynasty tomb of Maya and Meryt at

Saqqara,67 including a pottery assemblage, offering stands, an offering table,

a basin and a votive tablet. Food preparation was carried out in at least some

Theban tomb forecourts, as is indicated by the presence of ovens;68 several

votive chapels at Deir el-Medina possessed ovens as well, indicating that

preparation of food took place in forecourts, perhaps on feast days.69

63 Seiler 1995, 187, 191.64 Lopez-Grande and Torrado de Gregorio 2008; Kemp 2009, 58 –9. Dabney et al . (2004, 202)

note that although ceramics might be smashed during a feast or afterwards, at large gatherings

the number of people combined with the consumption of alcohol virtually guarantees a number of

accidentally broken vessels, and those who had travelled a significant distance to participate

would probably discard bowls and cups before returning home. This may be true of large

festivals, such as the Feast of the Wadi, where people are known to have travelled from across

Egypt to observe the pageantry and celebrate at their families’ tombs (e.g. Harrington 2013,

138).65 Ockinga 1997, 5.66 Brack and Brack 1977, 60; Hartwig 2004, 12 –3, 43 –5.67 2001, 8.68 E.g. TT 63; Kampp 1996, 667, figs. 572, 573.69

Chapel 561, annexe 450 had an oven and a semi-circular enclosure that was possibly a nichefor a statue of Renenutet, goddess of food and harvests (Bomann 1991, 59). Chapel 535 also




Courtyards, whether of chapels or tombs, therefore, could have

accommodated food preparation, as seems to have been the case in Bronze

Age Crete, for example.70

Although evidence for cultic or communal activity from tomb chapels in the

form of pottery assemblages is often compromised (by tomb reuse, robbery or

inadequate recording), ceramics, depending on type and quantity, can

indicate the size and nature of offerings and meals held in and around the

tomb.71 In the New Kingdom, faience vessels decorated with black painted

designs of water lilies, tilapia fish, birds, marsh scenes, and Hathoric imagery

were produced, deriving mainly from tomb and temple contexts.72 If they were

drinking bowls, the liquid in them may have been magically imbued with the

essence of the subjects depicted within (most of the motifs are directly related

to regeneration), in the same way that drinking water that had flowed over

texts on a ‘healing statue’ were believed to confer their therapeutic properties

to the patient.73 The shallow red drinking bowls most frequently depicted in

banquet scenes were not differentiated in style or decoration from everyday

wares, in accord with the ideology and iconography of banquets that seemed

to emphasize community rather than individuality among guests.74 The tomb

had an oven (Bomann 1991, 67). Building 528 was associated with chapels 528, 529, 530, 531,

and contained an oven, a series of receptacles and a T-shaped basin, a combination that led

Bomann (1991, 61 –2) to conclude that it had been designed as a mortuary garden (see also

Kemp 1986, 21). 70 Campbell-Green and Michelaki 2012, 17.71 See, for example, Rose 2003 on pottery recording from the excavation of Theban tombs;

Hope 1989, 47 on material from the Ramesside tombs of Deir el-Medina. For comparable

ceramic assemblages from Prepalatial and Protopalatial Minoan cemeteries, see Borgna

2004, 257.72 Milward 1982, 141. Bowls of this type have been found in coffins near the face of the deceased

(Porter 1988, 138).73 Ritner 1993, 107.74 For a physical example from an 18th Dynasty tomb, and a beer jar similar to those depicted in

banquet scenes, see Bourriau 1982, 78 –9, nos 51, 52. Cf . Borgna 2004, 262 –3 (Middle Minoan

period Kato Syme); Pollock 2003, 27 (Mesopotamia). Community does not necessarily equate to

egalitarianism, however, as suggested by seating arrangements, where some people sat on thefloor while others were provided with chairs or stools.




owner, in contrast, is sometimes offered an elaborately decorated, gold-

coloured bowl, marking his higher status.75 In Late Shang Dynasty China

elaborate bronze containers were used for feasting at the graveside: ‘The

presentation was made important by the costliness of the serving vessels as

well as the food and wine itself’.76 The act of presenting these bowls in Egypt,

captured for eternity in tomb paintings, served to remind the viewer of the

tomb owner’s access to expensive commodities, but may also have raised the

status of the daughter presenting the bowl in a display of familial unity and

wealth. Metal vessels might have been more widely used than is apparent

from the archaeological record: gold bowls such as the one found in the tomb

of Djehuty77 are depicted being presented to the tomb owner and his wife (or

mother, as in the tomb of Nebamun and Ipuky) as part of the banquet

activities,78 and metal vessels are found in museum collections along with the

bronze wine strainers also shown in use in tomb scenes.79 The lack of

provenanced examples is probably largely a result of theft and reuse.80

75 E.g. the tomb of Nebamun and Ipuky (TT 181): Porter and Moss 1960, 278 (3). Comparethe restriction of precious metal drinking vessels in Bronze Age Mycenae and Crete that

suggest convivial habits favouring exclusion rather than cohesion according to Borgna 2004,

263. Wright (2004, 147) notes that the ‘practice of depositing valuable metal vessels in tombs

from the Late Middle through the Late Bronze Age in the Aegean indicates the value attached

both to the objects and to the activities they symbolize’. He also comments that the ‘presence

of drinking vessels in a tomb, especially of silver and gold (but also of bronze or “tinned” clay),

may refer to the status of the deceased as one who shares drinks with special companions’

(2004, 147).76 Milledge Nelson 2003, 86. Alcoholic beverages are in themselves an important element in

social display, with dissemination often strictly controlled by certain sections of society, as in

Late Cypriot society (Steel 2004, 292). Private production of wine is illustrated in many

Theban tombs (e.g. Nakht, TT 52: Shedid and Seidel 1996, 66 –7). 77 TT 11: Spalinger 1982, 119 –21, no. 107. See also the gold-coloured bowl with a statuette of

Hathor in the centre: Spalinger 1982, 121 –22, no. 108.78 TT 181: Davies 1925, pl. 5.79 See Poo 1995 for an overview of wine production and consumption in ancient Egypt.80

E.g. Tomb robbery papyri P. Mayer A and B (Peet 1915a, 177; 1915b, 205 –6), whichspecifically mention the theft of gold, silver, and bronze objects from elite tombs.




The functions of banqueting

The main purposes of feasting in cemeteries were ostensibly the

commemoration of the dead and communication with them: the role of feasts

in enhancing the status of the tomb owner and his family in this life and the

next along with the commensal aspects of banqueting are discussed below.

As Tim Campbell-Green and Flora Michelaki point out, while eating is a

routine activity, eating in a graveyard is not normal, and to dine in a cemetery

emphasizes the specialness of both the place and the occupation, which may

be associated with mnemonics and the concepts of remembering and

forgetting.81 Siegfried Schott suggested that barriers separating the dead from

the living were breached during festivals through the intoxication of the

celebrants.82 Although alcohol is clearly present in banquet scenes, the extent

to which it or its effects may have been strengthened by the addition of

narcotic substances has been the subject of much debate.83 Tomb owners’

daughters are depicted offering footed bowls with one hand and holding small

vessels in the other. This may be an allusion to the goddess Mut (who was

strongly associated with Hathor), who is said to ‘mix the drink in the cup of

gold.’84 If the intention of banquet participants was intoxication (as illustrated

by guests, both male and female, vomiting during the feast), it is plausible that

81 2012, 19. For the importance of remembering and forgetting in mortuary contexts see

Collard 2012, 30; Harrington 2013, 124 –6.82 Schott 1952, 76 –7. Also Daumas 1970, 65. Cf. Ogden 2001, xvii, in relation to Greek and

Roman necromancy; Sherratt 1991 for narcotic consumption in Later Neolithic Europe.83 Alcohol is described by Jennings et al . (2005, 276) as ‘perhaps the most ancient, the most

widely used, and the most versatile drug in the world’. The use of narcotics in rituals and feasts is

a cross-cultural phenomenon, and often restricted to the elite, for example the Aztecs and their

use of cacao (Smith et al . 2003, 245 –7). 84 Tomb of Horemheb, TT 78: Lichtheim 1945, 184; Brack and Brack 1980, pl. 32a. Alcohol

pacified the goddess in her anger (according to the myth of the Destruction of Mankind:

Szkapowska 2003, 235), which may be linked with the need to appease ( sHtp) the deceased,

who could also become enraged and threaten the lives and livelihoods of the living (see, for

example, the Instruction of Ani, Papyrus Bulaq IV, 22, 1 –3: Quack 1994, 114 –7, 182 –3, 324 –5

(plates); McDowell 1999, 104). Wine for heroic drinking was usually explicitly ‘mixed’ and served

in mixing bowls or craters in Homeric epic, the additive usually being water (Sherratt 2004, 325),but see note 108 below.




the contents of these small vials or double vessels when mixed into alcoholic

beverages was intended to increase their potency and thereby expedite the

process. Anthony Seeger notes that where music and dance accompany the

ingestion of stimulants, depressants, or hallucinogens, ‘the structures of the

movements and sounds may define the altered experience, or be created by

it, or both.’85 An overview of the potential use of narcotics is given below.

Mandrake

The fruit of the mandrake (Mandragora officinarum) is often confused with that

of the persea tree,86 although the mandrake has a distinct calyx covering the

lower part of the fruit.87 Newberry stated that mandrake fruits, sliced in half

and with the calices removed, were incorporated into the floral collarette found

on Tutankhamun’s third coffin.88 This would accord with texts such as the

harper’s songs from TT 50 and TT 359:89 ‘Put … garlands of water lilies and

mandrakes on your breast’. Mandrake root has intoxicating and narcotic

qualities, but as with opium, it is not clear to what extent these properties were

exploited in ancient Egypt. In Assyrian, Canaanite, ancient Greek and

European medieval cultures the mandrake was believed to induce and sustain

passion, and in the Bible it is said to cause sexual excitement.90 The scent of

the mandrake is unique, described by Fleisher and Fleisher as ‘intoxicating

85 Seeger 1994, 686.86 Mimusops laurifolia: Murray 2000, 625; Manniche 1989, 121; Germer 1985, 170 –1. See e.g.

Germer (1989, 52 –3) who rejects earlier interpretations of actual fruit (e.g. Newberry in Carter

1972, 233) and glass models from the tomb of Tutankhamun as mandrake, and identifies them

as persea. The glass fruits (Carter no. 585u; JE 61870 and 61871), one bearing a cartouche of

Thutmose III, were not photographed by Burton. Germer (1985, 148; 1990) mistakes mandrake

fruit for persea in the banquet scene in tomb of Nakht (TT 52) and elsewhere in her discussion of

floral garlands.87 Hepper 2009, 15. Mandrake plants were introduced from Syria and Palestine and established

in Egyptian gardens by the beginning of the New Kingdom (Keimer 1951: 391).88 In Carter 1972, 233. For faience collars incorporating imitation mandrake fruit, see for

example, Eaton-Krauss 1982, 234 –5, no. 308. According to Jakow Galil (in Bosse-Griffiths 1983:

66), the mandrake fruit cannot be dried for use in floral collars because it contains too much

water: perhaps the pulp was removed to aid the drying process.89

Neferhotep and Inherkhau, 18th and 20th Dynasties: after Lichtheim 1945, 178, 201.90 Fleisher and Fleisher 1994, 245, 250.






sleep,97 which may be significant if communication with the dead was

anticipated through dreams.

Water lilies (‘lotus’)

In the 18th Dynasty the mandrake and blue lily were combined in bunches,

with the yellow fruit visible between the lily petals.98 Two species of lily were

known to and depicted by the ancient Egyptians: Nymphaea cerulea Savigny

(blue) and Nymphaea lotus Linnaeus Willdenow (white).99 The three-day

flowering cycle of the blue lily came to symbolise rebirth and the passage of

the sun.100 Harer concludes that banquets must have taken place in the

morning because the flowers are shown open, and Ossian suggests that they

represented an ‘iconographic clock’.101 However, blue lilies are depicted

simultaneously in full bloom and as closed buds, often in the same stylised

bouquets, which gives the scenes in which they appear a timeless quality.

Aside from a pleasant scent, lily blossoms and rhizomes contain narcotic

alkaloids that are soluble in alcohol.102 Both Harer and Emboden have

97 P. Leiden I, 383: Harer 1985, 52. Cf . Simoons 1998, 113 –6. A First Intermediate Period letter

to the dead (Wente 1990, 215) suggests that people could sleep in tombs in order to

communicate with the deceased.98 Merlin 2003, 317. This arrangement, with or without the mandrake, was a common means of

depicting the bouquet of Amun or other bouquets that were presented in temples before being

offered to the dead, e.g. tomb of Pairy, TT 139 (Hartwig 2004, 254, pl. 4,1). According to Dittmar

(1986, 125), the bouquet obtained life-giving properties when it was placed before the god, being

transformed into a ‘bouquet of life’ (Lebenstrauß) that could give divine powers to the recipient.

For a discussion of the bouquet of Amun in Theban tombs, see Muhammed 1966, 96 –98.99 Irvine and Trickett 1953, 363 –4. The lotus (Nelumbo as opposed to Nymphaea) was not

present in Egypt in the New Kingdom. Nelumbo nucifera, the eastern sacred lotus, was

introduced from India in the Persian period: Germer 1985, 39 –40; Hepper 2009, 11.100 I.e. the flower opened and closed each day for three consecutive days, sinking below the

surface of the water in the evening: Ossian 1999, 50; Emboden 1978, 397; Szkapowska 2003,

226. In contrast to some of the other flowers depicted in banquet scenes, lilies blossom all year

(Ossian 1999, 52).101 Harer 1985, 52; Ossian 1999, 59.102

Harer 1985, 52. Counsell (2008, 208, 215) has challenged this research, however, andsuggests instead that the high bioflavonoid content would have provided health benefits.




suggested that lily flowers draped over or around wine jars indicate that the

blossoms had been mixed with the contents, and Papyrus Ebers 209 and 479

describe lilies ‘spending the night’ in alcoholic mixtures.103 If this is the case,

then the golden vessels passed to the tomb owner and his wife during

banquet scenes may be significant as they also have stylised blossoms

around the rim, suggesting that lilies were steeping in the liquid. Of the few

surviving examples of this bowl type, the Louvre example contains a figure of

Hathor in bovine form with a projection in the base through which flower stalks

may have been threaded.104 Emboden found lily extract to be a visual and

auditory hallucinogen when he tested it on himself, with possible dosage-

related emetic effects.105 That sickness from narcotics or alcohol poisoning

was anticipated is indicated by the presence of containers apparently provided

for the guests’ convenience (Fig. 8).106

Opium

Opium poppies (Papaver Somniferum, as opposed to corn poppies, Papaver

rhoeas) are not depicted in Egyptian tombs, but vessels that might originally

have contained milky latex extracted from the plant have been discovered in

mortuary contexts.107 Robert Merrillees’ belief that the ancient Egyptians used

103 Harer 1985, 54; 1978, 400, fig. 3; Szpakowska 2003, 227; Counsell 2008, 206. The

suggestions of Harer and Emboden are disputed by Sheikholeslami (personal communication,

2011).104 Spalinger 1982, 121 –2, no. 108; see Desroches-Noblecourt 1990, 20, or Hayes 1959, 206,

fig. 121 for a reconstruction.105 1981, 44, 55, 80. It is possible that plant chemicals, in addition to alcohol, were responsible

for at least some of the depictions of vomiting at 18th Dynasty banquets (for instance

Djeserkareseneb, TT 38: Davies 1963, pl. 6). Moldenke (1952: 137) notes that the mandrake ‘is

slightly poisonous … being principally an emetic, purgative and narcotic’, and the fruit may

therefore also have induced sickness in some guests.106 Probably pgs or bronze ‘spittoons’, from the verb pgs (old psg ) ‘to spit’: Janssen 1975, 429.

See also Davies (1925, 15), who mentions the use of a spittoon in the banquet scene of Tetaky

(TT 15).107 Hepper 2009, 16; Germer 1985, 44.




opium as both a sedative and narcotic has been widely criticised,108 though

his assertion that Cypriot Base Ring I ware juglets imitated scarified poppy

heads and hence probably contained juice from the capsules seems

reasonable: ‘illiterate or not, one would hardly expect to find anything but

tomato extract in a container shaped like a tomato.’109 He cites the discovery

of an unscored opium poppy head from Tomb 1389 at Deir el-Medina as

evidence for cultivation of the plant by the reign of Thutmose III (1479 –1425

BC),110 although because the grave was disturbed Joseph Hobbs has argued

that the capsule could be a later intrusive deposit.111 Based on the quantities

of Base Ring ware juglets from Cypriot tombs, David Collard (2012, 31)

suggests that: ‘the apparent popularity of the consumption of alcohol and

opium in Bronze Age Cypriote mortuary ritual may relate to the ability of these

substances to simultaneously reduce an individual’s grief and er ase their

memories of the deceased, allowing the living to focus upon resuming social

life without them.’ He also comments (2012, 30) that the addition of a liquid

solution of opium to alcoholic beverages would avoid the necessity of drinking

large quantities of wine to achieve the desired state. The effect of alcohol and

opium as sedatives, causing lethargy, loss of motor-control and impairment of

the senses (Collard 2012, 30; Milledge Nelson 2003, 67), may have been

understood as a means of communicating with the dead by imitating their

condition, since the Egyptian dead (and Osiris, the god of the underworld)

were said to be ‘weary’ or ‘weary-hearted’.

Ernesto Schiaparelli’s publication of the tomb of Kha includes a report

claiming that morphine, and therefore opium, was present in some of the

108 Merrillees 1962, 292. The medicinal value of opium was apparently recognised in ancient

Egypt, since it is cited in Papyrus Ebers (782) as a sedative for crying children (Bisset et al .

1994, 109). Critics: for example, Szpakowska 2003, 225; Counsell 2008, 198. In Homer’s

Odyssey, Helen mixes wine with ‘a sedative with euphoric effect’ (νηπενθὲς ἄχολον), thought to

be a liquid preparation of opium, given to her by Polydamna of Egypt (Sherratt 2004, 327).109 Merrillees 1974, 32.110

Merrillees 1968, 155.111 Hobbs 1998, 66.




excavated vessels.112 The findings were questioned by Norman Bisset and

others, who state that while there is insufficient evidence to suggest that the

vases contained opiates, opium may have formed part of the original contents,

which has degraded over time.113 The reuse of vessels makes identifying the

substances they initially contained problematic, and although Merrillees’

argument for the widespread use of opium is persuasive, particularly with

regard to the shape of Base Ring ware juglets, it cannot as yet be conclusively

proven that the Egyptians used the dried exuded latex of P. Somniferum as a

narcotic or hallucinogen.114

Rituals to protect banqueters from malevolent forces

Banquets were potentially dangerous times for both the celebrants and the

deceased, particularly when they continued through the night.115 Various

means were employed to ward off demons and the malevolent dead,116

including the use of unguents and oils (which were also used for ritual

cleansing),117 mandrakes,118 execration rituals (including breaking vessels;

112 Schiaparelli 1927, 154.113 Bisset et al .1994, 106. Collard (2012, 26) states that Base Ring ware juglets have been found

to contain opium alkaloid residues in early and late examples, and suggests that significant

quantities of opium were consumed in ceremonies conduced in the vicinity of Bronze Age Cypriot

tombs. 114 Merrillees 1968, 157. Cf. Krikorian 1975, 113.115 E.g. the Festival of Amenhotep lasted for four days (Hagen and Koefoed 2005, 19; Černý

1927, 183 –4) and the Wadi Festival for two (Hartwig 2004, 11), suggesting that they involved

night vigils in the same manner as the Festival of Drunkenness (Szkapowska 2003, 236).116 For an overview of malevolent entities, see Szkapowska 2009.117 Thompson 1998, 242 –3. It is probably significant in this context that Hathor was ‘Mistress of

Myrrh’ (Schott 1953, 78). Oils were also used to pacify and thus neutralise potentially

antagonistic spirits of the dead in Mesopotamia: see Dalley 1993, 20.118 Aside from its scent and association with sensuality, the mandrake had another role that

would have been equally significant in the context of rituals and feasts in the tomb: it was used to

‘expel the “influence (aAa )” of gods, the dead, adversaries, and other malign beings’ according to

Papyrus Ebers: Dawson 1933, 135; Wreszinski 1913, §182, 225 –8, 231, 236. Cf . Simoons 1998,117.




see above) and the creation of loud noises. The domestic dwarf-god Bes,119

protector of the vulnerable, including infants, pregnant women and sleepers,

was invoked through his association with frame drums (as used at banquets

and festivals) and musicians.120 The use of drums and other explosive sounds

used in life-crisis ceremonies in modern Afghanistan is thought to be

apotropaic, protecting people in liminal states when they are vulnerable to

attack from evil spirits.121 The rhythm of drums when played to accompany

dancing or in procession unites people in a collective consciousness and can

facilitate arousal and trance-like states,122 and it is likely that the use of frame

drums by musicians simultaneously invoked protective deities while defending

against demons.123

The economic and social implications of banqueting

As Susan Pollock (2003, 19), notes:

Commensality – the social context of sharing the consumption of food

and drink – is a pervasive feature of agrarian societies, and there are

typically strong rules that govern generosity and the sharing of beverages

and food … The ways that food and drink are prepared, presented, andconsumed contribute to the construction and communication of social

relations, ranging from the most intimate and egalitarian to the socially

distant and hierarchical …. How one consumes is related to who one is.

119 ‘Bes’ is the collective name given to a group of iconographically similar deities: see Romano

1989.120 For example the dancing lyre player in the tomb of Nakhtamun (TT 341), depicted with Bes

tattoos on her thighs: Davies and Gardiner 1948, pl. 28.121 Doubleday 1999, 103, 118.122 Doubleday 1999, 126.123 Drums were beaten during the night vigil as part of pre-burial rites (Assmann 2005, 295) to

protect the dead. An inscription in the temple of Medamud in describing the Festival of

Drunkenness states that the inebriated celebrants drum for Hathor ‘in the cool of the night’

(Quack 2010, 348; see also Darnell 1995, 49 –50, 54). Amun is also associated with loud noise

through the myth of the creation of the world where the silence at the dawn of time was brokenby a cry from the god in the form of a great goose: Szkapowska 2003, 232.




18th Dynasty tomb paintings indicate that men were in charge of wine

production, while beer, a staple part of the Egyptian diet, was probably mainly

produced by women, who were also responsible for bread-making.124 Beer

typically spoiled within a week and would therefore need to be produced in a

single batch shortly before it was due to be consumed, whereas wine

remained drinkable for up to five years and could be stored, transported, and

used as a tradable commodity.125 The limited shelf-life of beer would have

resulted in an intensive period of production prior to a major event, such as a

large banquet or festival, which along with related activities such as food

processing, unguent and oil manufacture, and the production of floral

garlands, reed mats and linen garments, would have required a large,

organised and skilled workforce and a substantial economic outlay.126

Feasting thus had the potential to enhance the status and profiles of the

officials responsible.

Despite the apparent gendered division of labour, the drinks themselves were

not distributed in a manner indicative of sexual bias:127 men and women at

banquets are equally depicted with wine bowls and beer jars and intoxicated

to the point of sickness.128 Elite women and men are sometimes represented

124 This is in accord with general anthropological trends: Sigaut 2005, 295. See also Sanchez-

Romero 2011, 16 –7 for a discussion of gendered activities. For an illustration of the division of

labour (including women grinding corn), see the tomb of Nebamun, TT 17: Säve-Söderbergh

1957, pl. 22.125 Jennings et al . 2005, 286.126 Jennings et al . 2005, 288; Spielmann 2002, 197.127 This is in direct contrast to Sanchez-Romero’s (2011, 18) observation that women are often

expected to drink less than (and in a different place to) men or to abstain from alcohol altogether.

See also Mandelbaum 1965, 282, who notes that drinking is usually considered more appropriate

for men than for women.128 Alcohol does not merely break down barriers between the living and the dead, but also

lowers inhibitions, allowing, for example, males to behave in ways that might otherwise be

considered inappropriate: ‘Their talk becomes more sentimental, their bodies more

expressive. They hug one another with greater freedom, laugh, cry, and dance in ways that

are said to express their true sentiments, their true selves’ (Gefou-Madianou 1992, 13). Thus

(sacred) gatherings where alcohol was consumed were important outlets for the expression ofsuppressed emotions and actions.




on separate registers, but they may be served by either female or male

attendants, and couples are frequently shown seated together. According to

David Mandelbaum, changes in drinking customs may provide clues to

fundamental social changes.129 It is not clear whether drinking practices

changed after the 18th Dynasty (when the mortuary banquet scene was

withdrawn from tomb decoration), but the Festival of Drunkenness continued

to be celebrated into the Greco-Roman period, so it may be suggested that

while images of alcohol consumption in the presence of the dead were no

longer produced, the practice itself continued.

The communal aspect of drinking is emphasised in texts where daughters130

seem to encourage their deceased parents to overindulge, uttering the phrase

often translated as ‘make merry’ (iri hrw nfr ),131 while offering a bowl probably

containing wine.132 An inscription above one such scene in the tomb of User

(TT 21) reads:133

For your ka

Drink, be happily drunk ( swri tx nfr ),

celebrate the holiday!

…

O dignitary who loves wine

and is the favourite of frankincense (antyw),134

may you never be lacking

concerning satisfying your desire

inside your beautiful house.135

129 1965, 288.130 The female figures are often uncaptioned, but when an inscription is provided the women are

usually identified as the tomb owner’s daughters, e.g. Nebamun, TT 90 (Davies 1923, pl. 23);

Djeserkareseneb, TT 38 (Davies 1963, pl. 6).131 Lorton 1975; Wiebach 1986, 277 –8.132 For examples see Schott 1950, 127 –30.133 Schott 1952, 82, no. 123; 1950, 127, no. 80; Davies 1913, 26, pls 25, 26. Similar themes may

be seen in hymns to Hathor, for which see Szkapowska 2003, 233 with references.134

Davies 1913, 26, n. 7: i.e. who is never without wine and incense. 135 [of eternity] – i.e. tomb.




In the tomb of Paheri at Elkab, one of the female guests turns to a servant and

requests 18 vessels of wine, stating that she wishes to become intoxicated

and is parched.136 The sharp contrast between enjoying alcohol during life in

the context of banquets and enforced abstinence in the afterlife is suggested

in harpists’ and lutists’ songs, where ancestors are described as those whose

‘view is unknown concerning celebrating the holiday: their hearts have

forgotten drunkenness’,137 and funerary laments, such as that in the tomb of

Mose:138 ‘he who liked to get drunk is now in a land without even water.’

These laments, inscribed above funeral procession scenes, sometimes in

tombs that also contain depictions of mortuary banquets, are superficially

similar to harpers’ songs in their apparently ‘heretical’ approach to death and

the afterlife.139 They are characterised by a subversive pessimism in which no

comfort counters the overwhelming negativity they express.140

The cyclical and recurrent nature of feasting meant that it was an ideal context

for the renewal of ideological messages, the perception of temporal continuity

136 EK 3, ‘My insides are (like) straw’: Schott 1950, 129, no. 86; Tylor and Griffith 1894, pl. 7. Cf.

the scene of apparently drunken guests being carried in the 18th Dynasty tomb of Senna, TT 169

(Murray 2000, 578, fig. 23.3).137 Lutist’s song in TT 158, Tjanefer, 20th Dynasty: Wente 1962, 126 –8; Porter and Moss 1960,

270 (16). Distinctions were also drawn between intoxication in secular and religious contexts:

drunkenness outside the bounds of festivals was socially unacceptable in Egypt (e.g. the

Instructions of Any: Lichtheim 1976, 137), as it was in many ancient cultures, (e.g. Aztec [Smith

et al . 2003, 24]; Greek [Sherratt 2004, 325]). Alcohol consumption occurred as part of collective

religious experiences and expressions of community solidarity, and in this sense may be

compared to modern Mediterranean views of drinking and drunkenness: ‘To eat and drink are by

definition acts which imply commensal relations. They cannot or rather should not take place

alone, individually. They are acts enmeshed within the collectivity’ (Dimitra Gefou-Madianou

1992, 14). Women in particular are stigmatised for being inebriated as it indicates a lack of self-

control, self-respect, and is ‘even regarded as dangerous, an indication of uncontrolled sexuality’

(Gefou-Madianou 1992, 16).138 TT 137: Sweeney 2001, 44; Lüddeckens 1943, 134, no. 64.139

E.g. TT 50, Neferhotep, temp. Horemheb: Porter and Moss 1960: 95 –6. Assmann 1977, 76.140 Sweeney 2001, 44 –5; Zandee 1960, 91.




and the sanctioning of the social order as the natural order.141 A sense of

community and a link with the past, including the ancestors and recently

deceased, were created. Music and dance are often passed on through oral

traditions, so a sense of belonging probably pervaded banquets, although this

may have been tempered by perceptions of distance, asymmetry and social

exclusion by those outside the tomb owner’s sphere of influence.142 While

feasting in the courtyard in theory would allow all to participate, including the

ritually impure (for example, menstruating women, people who had had recent

sexual intercourse, those with disabilities), social exclusion may still have

been a factor.143 One New Kingdom didactic text warns against excluding

peers from private feasts, however: ‘You should not celebrate your festival

without your neighbours (imi.k irt Hb.k nn sAHw.k ).; they will surround you,

mourning, on the day of [your] burial’144 The importance of banquets as a

means of reciprocation and of creating and maintaining relationships is

outlined by Louise Steel:145

‘Feasts are a major arena for public display. They are visual

pageants, occasions for music, dancing, recitation of epics and

shared consumption of the fruits of labour. The social and politicalfunctions of feasting are closely intertwined. Hospitality is used to

141 Jiménez and Montón-Subías 2011, 131, 146. Campbell-Green and Michelaki (2012, 19) point

out that ‘activity at the tombs repeated over many generations serves to reinforce the link

between the living and the dead, the past and the present – a link made all the more powerful if

the remains of these past activities lie literally at their feet’. 142 Belonging: Seeger 1994, 699. Exclusion: Jiménez and Montón-Subías 2011, 146.143 See for example prohibitions in the 6th Dynasty tombs of Khentika and Hezy: Zandee 1960,

34, 197; Sethe 1906, 260, 12; Silverman 2000, 13, 11.144 O. UC 39614/ O. Petrie 11: Hagen 2005, 144. See also Jauhiainen 2009, vii.145 2004, 283 Cf. Smith 2003, 54 (Egypt). Steel also distinguishes between ‘communal feasts’

that emphasise social cohesion and identity, and ‘patron-sponsored feasts’, exclusive events

where the patron invites participants to join the group (2004, 283). The limited number of

banqueters represented in tomb scenes seems to suggest the latter situation for mortuarybanquets in New Kingdom Egypt.






their places do not exist,

like those who never came into being.

No-one has come (back) from there

that he might tell (of) their condition,

that he might calm our hearts

until we go to the place they have gone …

Follow your heart (as long as) you exist.

Place myrrh on your head,

clothe yourself in fine linen,

anoint yourself with the true wonders of the god’s property.

Increase your pleasures.

Do not let your heart grow weary:

follow your heart149 and your happiness.150

Do your things on earth according to the commands of your heart.

To you will come that day of mourning.

The weary-hearted151 does not hear their wailing,

and their weeping will not rescue a man’s heart from the tomb.

Refrain:

Celebrate the holiday,

do not weary of it.

Look, it is not given to any man to make his property go with him.

Look, there is no one who has gone who will come (back) again.

The questioning of orthodox views expressed in this text has been attributed

to the religious upheaval of the Amarna period,152 since traditional afterlife

beliefs seem to have been suppressed under Akhenaten’s rule, although

149 Sms ib. ‘Heart’ here may have the sense of ‘conscience’ rather than ‘desire’. For a discussion

of this expression and its usage see Lorton 1968, 41 –54, although Fox disagrees with his

interpretations: Fox 1977, 410 –1, n. 25.150 nfrt , probably in a less restrained sense than Lorton’s ‘[moral] goodness’ (Lorton 1968, 46),

rather a physical and emotional enjoyment of the festivities.151 An epithet of Osiris, the god of the dead, possibly intended here in the sense of the deceased

in general. 152 For example Kákosy and Fábián 1995, 214; Fox 1977, 403.




parallels may also be drawn with Middle Kingdom didactic texts such as the

Dialogue of a Man and His Ba.153

The songs are found in association with funerary and mortuary banquets, and

are generally inscribed next to the image of the male harpist, or less

frequently, a female lutist. According to Patricia Bochi, the musician is an icon

‘for the wisdom that embodies the essence of the song’, but this analogy only

works for the image of the mature, seated harper, not for younger men or

women.154 The head of Maat, the goddess of truth, carved onto some harp

finials, including instruments held by women,155 may be another way of

conveying the wisdom contained in musician’s songs, as might the feather of

Maat in the hair of the female harpist in Paheri’s tomb.156 The blindness of

many shaven-headed harpists may be genuine or an artistic convention,157

perhaps depicted to enhance their status as skilful musicians. It is possible

that an image was included with the song to act as an ‘enlarged

determinative’,158 to draw visitors’ attention to the text or to indicate the

presence of the song for the illiterate who may have known of the content

through oral versions sung or recited during feasts. It may be the case that in

tombs with the image of a harpist but no related song, the figure acted as a

mnemonic device to remind viewers of the sentiments expressed in the poetry

found elsewhere (Fig. 9).159

Many harpers’ songs have a basic tripartite str ucture: an introductory passage

naming and praising the tomb owner, a central part concerned with the state

of tombs, the abandonment of mortuary cults and the apparent futility of

153 Assmann 1977, 65; Allen 2011.154 1998, 93.155 For example Rekhmire, TT 100: Davies 1943, pl. 66.156 EK 3 at Elkab: Tylor 1895, pls 11, 12.157 Bochi 1998, 95.158

Bochi 1998, 94.159 E.g. Nakht, TT 52: Shedid and Seidel 1996, 46.




funerary preparations,160 and a concluding section in which the tomb owner

(while alive) and visitors are encouraged to enjoy themselves and accept the

inevitability of death. It is therefore significant that with the exception of P.

Harris 500, all harpers’ and orchestral songs derive from tombs.161 Sentiments

similar to those expressed in harpers’ songs are found elsewhere in the New

Kingdom and later. For example, the biographical inscription on the temple

statue of Nebnetjeru dating to the 22nd Dynasty states:162

I spent my lifetime in contentment

without worry and without illness.

I made my days festive

With wine and myrrh …

(because) I knew the darkness of the valley.

Since the harpers’ songs often accompany figures of harpists, lutists and

groups of musicians in the vicinity of banqueters, it is possible that they were

intended to remind funeral, festival and banquet attendees of the brevity of

life163 and the need to celebrate in the company of their family and friends

both living and deceased before they too faced the ‘day of landing’, as in thetomb of Neferhotep:164

160 Cooney 2007, 297 –8 states that these texts only question functional materialism as it relates

to death, focusing on ritual activity in the context of life (dressing in linen, using myrrh) rather

than death (building tombs and coffins), and casting doubt on the effectiveness of the extent of

material production in preparation for the afterlife.161 Bochi 1998, 89.162 After Frood, in press. Lorton 1968, 43; Assmann 1977, 80.163 Neferhotep II (TT 50): ‘As for the span of earthly affairs, it is the manner of a dream’ :

Lichtheim 1945, 197. Cf . Ostracon Glasgow D.1925.69: McDowell 1993, 7. Herodotus recorded a

similar practice from his observations of Egyptian feasts (Histories, Book II): ‘In social meetings

among the rich, when the banquet is ended, a servant carries round to the several guests a

coffin, in which there is a wooden image of a corpse, carved and painted to resemble nature as

nearly as possible, about a cubit or two cubits in length. As he shows it to each guest in turn, the

servant says, “Gaze here, and drink and be merry; for when you die, such will you be.”’

http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/h/herodotus/h4/book2.html.164 TT 50, song I: Hari 1985, pl. 4.




Celebrate the holiday, o god’s father!

Put incense and fine oil

together to your nostrils

And garlands of water lilies and

mandrakes on your breast,

While your sister whom you love

sits at your side.

Put song and music before you.

Ignore all evil, recall for yourself joy,

until that day of landing comes

at the land that loves silence.

Jan Assmann highlights the contrast between the themes presented in the

songs and their context: the tomb with its promise of endurance and

contentment after death, versus the reality of the vulnerability of mortuary

monuments, uncertainties regarding the afterlife and the ‘inconsolable pain’ of

the widow.165 In this light, the songs may be seen as an outlet for cynicism

caused by the evident incompatibility between ideals and realities regarding

death and the hereafter.166

Conclusions

The 18th Dynasty elite tomb played an important role in the commemoration

of the owner (and to a lesser extent his family: Fig. 10), provided a link to the

past and assisted in the maintenance of social order through the feasts

celebrated within or adjacent to it. Equally, a grave is, by its nature, a liminal

space, occupying an ambiguous and unstable position between the worlds of

the living and the dead, because it is located simultaneously in the realm of

the living and the underworld.167 This liminality combined with the latent power

of the dead meant that the tomb complex acted as a space in which the living

165 Assmann 1977, 59, 84.166 John Baines 2003, 7 states (in relation to Middle Kingdom literature) that the oral sphere (from

which harpers’ songs are believed to originate) was the context in which the untoward and critical

would have been thematised and where concerns could be mobilised and positive elements in

them uncovered.167 Anderson 2002, 232 (in relation to Athenian tombs).




and the dead could come together. Here, through the creation of the

appropriate environment through ritual, music, dance and intoxication, the

borders between worlds became permeable and allowed the living to interact

directly with the dead.168 In these scenes, the depiction of alcohol is given

precedence over food, because it was through wine and beer (with or without

the addition of narcotic substances) that the celebrants gained access to the

realms of the gods and the dead.

Banquets were ritualised communal events that served to reinforce social

bonds through shared experience, though how inclusive these events were is

not clear: for example, they are likely to have been restricted on the basis of

kinship or class affiliation. A hierarchical pattern, embodying the social order,

is distinguishable in the manner in which the guests are seated in Egyptian

banquet scenes, some near the tomb owner on high-backed chairs, others at

a distance kneeling on reed mats.169 The significance of tomb decoration, of

which banquet scenes were a part, lies to a certain extent in its function as a

forum for elite display, an exhibition of wealth and the accompanying access

to skilled craftsmen. In commissioning the creation of an aesthetically pleasing

composition, the tomb owner also increased the prospective number of

visitors and thereby the chances of receiving a physical or voice offering. This

in turn would prolong his afterlife existence, even after the abandonment of

the tomb. The visual impact of decorative schemes on visitors is recorded in

168 For a discussion of tombs as places of family burial and commemoration, see Dorman 2003.169 Smith 2003, 47. Cf . Borgna (2004, 267, 270) on feasting as a means of social exclusion

and the attainment of power in Bronze Age Crete. As Thomas Palaima (2004, 220)

comments: ‘Commensal ceremonies are meant to unite communities and reinforce power

hierarchies by a reciprocal process that combines both generous provisioning by figures close

to the centre of power or authority and participation in the activities of privileged groups by

other individuals. Levels of participation mark status, but the fact of general collective

participation symbolizes unity’ – even if that unity is only of an elite group. Yet Susan Pollock

(2003, 25) notes that feasts both differentiated elites from ‘others’, and distinguished among

elites by gender, relative social position and age, implying a series of sub-hierarchies withinthis privileged matrix.




graffiti,170 some of which refer to the reinstatement of ritual activities following

a period of neglect.171 If banquets were held in or around the tomb prior to its

owner’s death, it would have potentially benefitted him, his family and the

wider community, as well as setting a precedent for future feasts in his

honour. In the words of James Wright (2004, 171): ‘… the sponsor of a feast

demonstrates the ability to bring together large groups (through coalitions and

alliances), to mobilize labor, and to command surplus and distribute it. The

sponsor gains in prestige through these activities and advances his family,

lineage, and allies both within and beyond the community.’172

It could be said that the mortuary banquet scene represents the culmination of

ideologies and social values, some of them conflicting. For instance, status-

related display based on traditional iconography, peer-pressure, and religious

conformity was at variance with concerns regarding the afterlife expressed in

harpers’ songs and observation-based realistic expectation of the

abandonment of mortuary cults and the tombs themselves when the burden of

ancestral duties conflicted with or were outweighed by the needs of the living.

Are 18th Dynasty banquet scenes merely aspirational images or are they

idealised versions of communal gatherings that did actually take place in

cemeteries? Archaeological remains from tomb courtyards indicate that meals

were consumed around, if not within, tombs, but the longevity of such feasts

with the dead following the tomb owners’ interment is much more difficult to

discern. In theory at least, the depiction of banqueting enabled the tomb

owner and his family to receive sustenance and entertainment when offering

cults and other activities involving interaction between the living and the dead

ceased.

170 Hartwig 2004, 43. For example ‘very beautiful’ was written beside a scene of female

musicians in the tomb of Kenamun (TT 93: Hartwig 2004, 45).171 Quirke 1986, 83, 85.172

See also Hendon 2003, 206 –7, 227, on the social aspects of feasting with particularreference to Maya culture.




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