Ken

Main article: Egypt

Cities

Kena is the regional center of the governorate of the same name.

Negada - "Golden City" on the caravan route, Greek Ombos

Main article: Dodinastic Egypt

During archaeological excavations in Negada in 1893-1894, Petri discovered the ancient city of Nbwt, also called Ombos, during the Ptolemaic dynasty. Nbwt means "gold" or "gold [city]," as it was the center of the developing gold trade from Egypt's eastern desert. Gold mining could also stimulate the development of the first organized proto-state structures in Egypt.

The town was located on the Wadi-Hammamat caravan route leading from the Nile Valley to the Red Sea coast.

The necropolis, which was also used in the 1st dynasty, is located about 28 kilometers northwest of modern Luxor.

Wadi Hammamat. Jean-Claude Golvin is an architect, archaeologist and researcher. For many years, he recreated the appearance of the city buildings of the Ancient World. Jean-Claude created more than 800 drawings of cities, ancient and medieval monuments. From 1992 to 2008, he was the research director of the CNRS (National Center for Scientific Research).

Burials, according to Kaiser, can be divided into three very precise cultural phases: Negada I, II and III.

Map of the location of cultural monuments of Negada I

Koptos (Gebtiu, Kift)

Main article: History of Ancient Egypt

Koptos (Greek, dr.-egip. Gebtiu, Arabic Kift) is a city on the eastern bank of the Nile, somewhat spaced from the river bank, just north of Thebes.

The main deities of Coptos were the itifallic god Ming, with an anthropomorphic appearance, his wife the goddess Isis and son Khor. Isis is sometimes referred to in the texts as Mina's mother. By the way, the cult of the same deities flourished in Ahmim (other Egyptian. Hent Men, Arabic Ahmime), which is located much north of Koptos. Some Greek authors called this city Hemmis (not to mix with the Lower Egyptian Hemmos), others called Panopolis (Min was called Pan by the Greeks). Ahmim's second name was Ipu.

In iconography, Ming was depicted as black (the color of fertility). The image of Min influenced ideas about Amon. Ming was considered a god of fertility, but, like the rest of the Egyptian deities, was multifaceted, diffuse. G. A. Wenright pointed out that Ming was to some extent also a heavenly god.

Ming was an influential deity in the eyes of many Egyptians. Since Koptos and Ahmim are quite distant from each other, different opinions have been expressed about which of these two cities is the original "homeland" of the Ming cult. This, however, does not change anything in the overall picture of Egyptian beliefs.

In Coptos, Mina was honored already during the Old Kingdom, his cult was maintained throughout the history of Ancient Egypt, up to and including the Roman emperors. Mina was served by a fairly numerous clergy, including female priestesses. In honor of Min, solemn holidays were held with a complex ritual, in particular those studied by Gauthier.

Dendera (Iun-ta-nechert, Tenthura)

The ancient Egyptian city of Iun-ta-nechert (Greek Tentura) was located just south of the modern city of Ken at a distance of one kilometer from it, on the very border of the Libyan desert with the Nile Valley. Two kilometers from this point (to the south) is the village of Dendera (the Greek toponym Tentur is preserved in the name). The concept is a distorted form of the last two components of the other. ta-no-hell, which means "goddess."

Hathor cult

Main article: History of Ancient Egypt

The main local deity in Dendera iskoni was the goddess Hathor, whose name (Ht-Hr) means "the dwelling of the [god] Choir."

The cult of Hathor, the "mistress of Dendera," dates back to ancient times, to the time of the "servants of the Choir" (according to the Egyptian written tradition), that is, to the era preceding the unification of Egypt. "

The image of the goddess Hathor is very complex. Her name attests to her close association with the god Horus. Representing a falcon soaring in the sky, the Choir personified the sun. Thus, the name Hathor ("the dwelling of the [god] Choir") was a metaphor for the "sky" ^[1].

Hathor was already mentioned in the "Pyramid Texts" as the goddess Dendera; the goddess was depicted as a woman with cow ears.

The goddess Hathor was prominent in the religious representations of the Egyptians. Since the time of the Ancient Kingdom, Pharaoh VІ the Pepi dynasty І calls himself "the son of Hathor, the mistress of Dendera." The pharaoh also calls himself the KhІ of the Mentuhotep dynasty І - Nebhepetra. It must be emphasized that this formula is included in the royal title instead of the traditional words "son of Ra." This testifies to the great authority enjoyed by Hathor among certain pharaohs.

From a very old time, Hathor was considered the wife of the god Choir of the neighboring Edfu temple. In Greco-Roman time, she composed a triad in Dendera: Hathor, the god Choir of Edfu (See Aswan) and their son, the god of music Iha. In Edfu, the son of this divine couple was not Ihi, but Khor-smataui ("Choir is the unifier of the Two Lands").

In its main functions, Hathor was the goddess of love, fun, dance and music. Her most common epithet is "golden." The Greeks associated her with their Aphrodite. In Dendera, a huge temple of Ptolemaic time dedicated to Hathor has been preserved.

Already during the Old and Middle kingdoms, the Hathor cult was widespread in many areas of Upper and Lower Egypt: in Memphis (here the goddess was called Nebt-Nekht - "the mistress of the Sycomore"), Kusa, Thebes, in Sinai, in Asyut, Beni Hasan, Abydos, Gebelen, Aswan, Tekhna (Akoris), Atfikha, not Bubaste,.

It must be emphasized that Hathor in different places and at different times was identified with different goddesses - then she is the goddess of the sky Nut, then the goddess Bubasta - Bastet (cat), then the fierce goddess of Memphis Sekhmet (lioness), then the goddess Saisa, the mighty Nate, then the goddess Tefnut, and, finally, at a later time she unites with Isis herself, whose cult arose in Dendera. Hathor was also identified with the goddess of the Phoenician Bibl ("mistress of Bibl") or with the goddess of the distant Punt ("mistress of Punt").

Dendera. Jean-Claude Golvin is an architect, archaeologist and researcher. For many years, he recreated the appearance of the city buildings of the Ancient World. Jean-Claude created more than 800 drawings of cities, ancient and medieval monuments. From 1992 to 2008, he was the research director of the CNRS (National Center for Scientific Research).

Fr. The house belongs to a very short but important study on Egyptian goddesses, the conclusion of which can be formulated as follows: Egyptian goddesses, despite all external differences, are hypostases of the same female deity of the mother goddess, the female goddess.

So, the essence and functions of goddesses are the same, although iconography and names are diverse. Different goddesses are just different aspects of the same female deity, hence the changes in iconography. In Dendera and many other places, the goddess performed in the guise of a woman with cow ears - the cow was the sacred animal of the goddess.

No special myths about Hathor survive, although they undoubtedly existed. One of them is the so-called "Tale of the Return of Hathor-Tefnut from Nubia." The myth is known from the demotic version and from Greek. Demotic writing is one of the forms of Egyptian writing used to record texts in the late stages of the development of the Egyptian language.

The demotic version was preserved much better, it was investigated and translated by H. Juncker, one of the luminaries of Egyptology. Its content is briefly reduced to the following. In those distant times when the god Ra himself reigned on earth, a quarrel arose between him and his daughter Hathor-Tefnut. An angry goddess in the form of a fierce lioness left Egypt and retired to Nubia. Ra missed his willful daughter and ordered the gods Shu and Thoth to find the goddess and return her to Egypt.

The gods travel to the distant country of Butem, but out of fear of the ferocious goddess, assume the guise of monkeys who are supposed to entertain her. The gods intend to tell the goddess about the beauties of the country where her father, the great god Ra, reigns, about the magnificent Nile, irrigating Egyptian lands, about flowering fields, about luxurious cities. The gods promise Hathor-Tefnut that temples will be erected in her honor, that daily sacrifices will be made to her and wine libations will be made that dispel longing. He treats the goddess with wine. After tasting the wine, the goddess agrees to return.

The gods organize a fun caravan accompanying the goddess. The caravan arrives in Filet, then in Kom Ombo, Edfu, Esne and, finally, in Dendera - the city of the goddess. Everywhere she is greeted with joyful celebrations, at which the god Ra himself is present. The holiday of "her return" is being established. God Shu and Hathor-Tefnut marry. The celebration of "her return" and marriage with the god Shu was bacchic, orgiastic. "The Egyptian calendars of the festival of Tefnut say that" this is the day of the vine and the fullness of the Nile, "that is, the heyday of the nature of Egypt and the joyful revival of the whole country. In full accordance with this, and the entire celebration of marriage and the return of Hathor-Tefnut was imbued with fun and joy. It involved the entire population, especially women. In honor of the goddess, they danced and sang songs, wine and beer poured in abundance.... "

"Songs and dances in front of the goddess in the temple took place mainly at night... Many musicians and singers of both sexes participated in these ceremonies. They bore the names: 'beautiful', 'perfect', 'curly', 'virgin', 'tender' and others whose meanings are unclear to us. Their dances to the whole accelerating rhythm of music led to a loss of self-control, they entered a state of ecstasy, which could be prepared by accepting wine. "

It is interesting to note that the dance by jumping in honor of the Hat Choir (ksks) exists in the form of a "zikr": an ecstatic religious dance of fellahs, which in the 1970s could still be observed in any Egyptian village.

Images of dances in honor of Hathor are also found in funeral buildings.

Faience. VII-VI centuries. BC e. London, British Museum

Such vessels in ancient Egypt were the most important symbols of the new year. In them, gifts were donated to the river at the time of the flood - honey, beer or milk, or they brought home the fresh water of the new Nile spill, which was considered healing and cleansing of any evil.

As Viktor Solkin noted, the vessel depicts the cow Hathor - the giver of well-being and the gracious form of the mother goddess, bringing with him to Egypt a new "good year."

The neck of the vessel is made in the form of a panicle of papyrus "uaj" - a symbol of prosperity, youth and life. At the base of the neck are two figures of baboons, in the appearance of which, according to legend, Shu and Toth pacified the angry form of the goddess and returned her to Egypt. Hieroglyphic texts of prayers by Amon-Ra and Isis are carved along the edges of the vessel.

Beginning with the "Texts of the Pyramids," Hathor is mentioned in a variety of funeral texts as a goddess who is favorable to the deceased and able to provide him with invaluable assistance in otherworldly life. Revealing the significance of the image of dances in funeral buildings, A. Gardiner writes: "The priestesses of Karnak undoubtedly went around house after house, bearing the blessing of Hathor, expressed in singing and dancing. From the east bank of the Nile, they could cross to the west, to the necropolis, in order to give the dead the same attention as was rendered alive. " This custom persisted until the recent past. The English archaeologist Mes reports that, conducting excavations near the modern cemetery, he observed how some time after burial, a group of women with tambourines and red headscarves appeared on the grave, they formed a circle and danced to a certain melody. Mes sees this as a relic of ancient times. One can hardly doubt the correctness of this conclusion.

History

55 thousand hp: The oldest human remains on the territory of Egypt in El Tarams

Main article: Dodinastic Egypt

As of 2023, the oldest human remains found in Egypt date back 55 thousand years. The find was made in the village of El Taramsa in the province of Kena.

Notes