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97

PROPHETS, INITIATION AND THE EGYPTIAN TEMPLE

John GEE

ABSTRACT
The daily temple liturgy from Karnak distinguishes between rituals which can be performed by a
priest (wab) and others which must be performed by a prophet (Hm-nTr). The distinction demarcates
which areas of the temple may be entered by which grade of priest. The distinction between the
grades of priests is made clear by records of initiation that come from the same time and place and
whose phraseology interlocks with the temple liturgy. The same phraseology interlocks with certain
passages in the Book of the Dead seen as relating to initiation. This enables us to reconstruct
something of the temple initiation and its practical importance to every day life in the temple.
KEY WORDS
temples, initiation, priests, cults, temple ritual, wab-priest, prophet, liturgy
Portions of the daily temple liturgy exist for Karnak,1 Abydos,2 Edfu,3 Denderah,4 and Deir
el Medineh.5 While the rituals of Karnak and Abydos have always been seen as closely related, a
number of rituals appear at the beginning of the Karnak liturgies that do not appear in the Abydos
liturgy.6 Moret thought that the absence could be explained because the rituals soprait dans une
autre partie du temple, et avant darriver aux sanctuaires.7 The Edfu and Denderah rituals are
streamlined versions of the ones at Karnak and Abydos.8 The rituals for Amenhotep I from Deir elMedineh, on the other hand, are very different, even if some of them appear among in the rituals on
the third pylon at Karnak.9 The interrelationships of these rituals has been dealt with elsewhere.10
Because the liturgies were repeated on a daily basis, they would have been one of the most familiar
texts to ancient Egyptian priests, who are usually presumed to be the only literate members of
Egyptian society,11 and thus deserve more careful attention from Egyptologists. In particular, the
Karnak ritual, as the only complete ritual with an unambiguous order, rewards close study.
At the beginning of the daily temple liturgy at Karnak, during the ritual of taking the incense
burner,12 the officiant says, ink wab iw=i wab.kwi I am a priest and I am pure.13 Later in the
liturgy, during the ritual of undoing the white cloth,14 the officiant says ink Hm-nTr in ny-sw.t wD
wi r mAA nTr I am a prophet; it is the king who has commanded me to see the god.15 Two similar
assertions are repeated in the ritual for going out to the throne,16 in the first the officiant says ink
Hm-nTr sA Hm-nTr m rA-pr pn I am a prophet the son of a prophet in this temple17 and in the second
the officiant also says ink Hm-nTr ii=i r ir<t>=w18 nn ii.n=i is r tm iry oA imn-ra-nb-ns.t-tA.wy Hr s.t=f
wr.t oA psD.t aA.t Hr s.t=sn I am a prophet, who comes to perform them. I do not come to not
perform the exaltation of Amon-Ra lord of the thrones of the two lands on his great throne and the
exaltation of the great ennead on their thrones.19 Both the priest (wab) and the prophet (Hm-nTr) are
grades of priest but the distinctions between their various rights and duties has been inadequately
explored. The translation of both terms comes from the Rosetta Stone where Egyptian title Hm-nTr
is translated into Greek as profhthH20 and thus is conventionally translated into English as
prophet, while the Egyptian title wab is rendered iereuH and thus conventionally translated as

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priest.21 Kees asserted that the priest served on phyle rotation and thus only served part time, while
the prophet was a full time position.22 He also concluded, on the basis of a single papyrus
reference,23 that the prophet was paid on average twenty times what a priest was paid.24 Gardiner,
in his study of the problem, concluded that all genuine priests were ipso facto members of the class
of wabw, and that out of these the prophets (Hmw-nTr gods servants) were selected25 and that the
Egyptian priests were often credited with the attributes of their god, whose spokesmen (profhthH)
they accordingly were.26 A careful analysis of the context of these statements from the daily temple
liturgy, however, provides insight into the functional differences between the two grades of priest,
at least at Karnak.
Priestly Grades in the Daily Temple Liturgy
Between the ritual of taking the incense burner and the ritual of undoing the white cloth is
the ritual of crossing to the holy place (bw Dsr).27 This ritual explicitly mentions a change of
location, from wherever the ritual of taking the incense burner occurred to the bw Dsr, the holy place,
a sanctuary or a shrine, ... the place where the god lives28 Given that the remainder of the liturgy
after crossing to the holy place takes place in the sanctuary with the divine statue, the location of the
latter portion of the liturgy can be determined with some confidence. Since all the references to the
individual performing the ritual in the sanctuary are to his being a prophet, the sanctuary was the
domain of the prophet (Hm-nTr) and that of the priest (wab) somewhere outside.
If the sanctuary is the domain of the prophet, where then is the domain of the priest? If we
can reconstruct the path of the priest through the temple we might be able to figure out where he
started, as the text does not say where the starting point of the daily liturgy was. Since the daily
liturgy is a Third Intermediate Period document, we can start with the assumption that the Ptolemaic
portions of Karnak were not standing but that all of the New Kingdom places were. Following the
principle of Wandrelief ist Raumfunktion,29 the location of scenes of the daily liturgy in the temple
should give an indication of the route used. The appearance of scenes from the daily liturgy on the
hypostyle hall in Karnak on the wall of the third pylon,30 would seem to indicate that during the
Third Intermediate Period the daily liturgy moved through the hypostyle hall on its way to the
sanctuary. This would mean that the domain of the wab-priest was outside the temple or in the
hypostyle hall.
At this point, we can take stock of the daily temple liturgy by means of the following table:31
Number

Ritual

Translation

Location

Personnel

P.Berlin3055

rA n sx stA

lighting a lamp

[outer court]

[wab]

1/2-5

rA n TA sHtpy

taking the incense

burner

[outer court]

wab

1/5-8

[rA n] wAH
Aaabw Hr sHtpy

placing the coal on

the incense burner

[outer court]

[wab]

1/8-2/2

rA n rdit
snTr.w Hr sD.t

placing the incense

on the fire

[outer court]

[wab]

2/2-4

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Number

Ritual

Translation

Location

Personnel

P.Berlin3055

rA n nm r bwDsr

crossing to the holy

place

[hypostyle
hall]

[Hm-nTr]

2/4-7

ky rA

another

[temple]

[Hm-nTr]

4/7-3/3

rA n sd iAd.t

breaking the net

[sanctuary]

[Hm-nTr]

3/3-5

rA n sd sin

breaking the seal

[sanctuary]

[Hm-nTr]

3/5-8

rA n sfx HD

unloosing the white

garment

[sanctuary]

Hm-nTr

3/8-4/3

10

rA n wn Hr

revelation

[sanctuary]

[Hm-nTr]

4/3-6

11

rA n mAA nTr

seeing god

[sanctuary]

[Hm-nTr]

4/6-7

12

rA n sn tA

kissing the ground

[sanctuary]

[Hm-nTr]

4/7-9

13

rA n rdit Hr X.t

placing on the belly

[sanctuary]

[Hm-nTr]

4/9-5/2

14

rA n rdit Hr X.t
n dwn

placing on the belly

and standing up

[sanctuary]

[Hm-nTr]

5/2-6

15

rA n sn tA iw
Hr m Xr

kissing the ground

with the face down

[sanctuary]

[Hm-nTr]

5/6-8

16

ky

another

[sanctuary]

[Hm-nTr]

5/8-8

17

ky

another

[sanctuary]

[Hm-nTr]

6/1-3

18

rA n dwA imn

praising Amun

[sanctuary]

[Hm-nTr]

6/3-6

19

rA n dwA imn

praising Amun

[sanctuary]

[Hm-nTr]

6/6-7/2

Authority and Authorization

The statements ink wab I am a priest32 and ink Hm-nTr I am a prophet33 and ink Hm-nTr sA
Hm-nTr m rA-pr pn I am a prophet the son of a prophet from this temple34 identify the position of
the individual and his authority to act in a particular ritual. This is particularly clear in the rite of
going out to the throne where the prophet says ink Hm-nTr ii=i r ir=i=w I am a prophet, who comes
to perform them.35 The statements of authority use the first person singular independent pronoun
although we might expect a different construction, one that indicates an acquired attribute rather
than a permanent property.36
A number of other statements of authority occur in the temple liturgy:
ink Hm anx n ra I am the living servant of Re37 in the ritual of taking the incense
burner.38
ink Hr Hry p.t nfr Sfy nb nrw aA Sfy oA Swty aA m iAbd I am Horus, who is over heaven,

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the beautiful one of dread, lord of awe, great of dread, lofty of feathers, chief in Abydos in
the ritual of crossing to the holy place.39
ink bs nTr.w I am an initiate of the gods40 in the ritual for breaking the seal.41
ink bA mnx anx imy Hw.t-nny-ny-sw.t dd kA.w dr isfy I am the effective living soul
who is in Heracleopolis, who gives offerings and who subdues evil in the ritual labeled
another42 meaning another ritual of kissing the ground with the face down.43
ink DHwty sA ksw.k I am Thoth the protector of your bones44 in the ritual of entering
the temple.45
In some of the statements of authority, the officiant states his earthly offices that allow him to
perform the ritual, in others he takes on not only the attributes of his god but his persona as well, thus
becoming that gods literal representative in the ritual.46
In addition to these statements of authority, there are also statements of authorization. One
such authorization statement is in ny-sw.t wD wi r mAA nTr it is the king who has commanded me
to see the god.47 which is repeated twice, once in the ritual of undoing the white cloth,48 and
another time in the ritual of seeing god.49 The authority of the office of prophet alone is
insufficient to allow the officiant to perform the ritual, he must be specifically authorized as well.50
So seeing the god required at least royal authorization.51 In other cases it could require divine
authorization, such as in the autobiography of Rome-Roy: wdd nTr xpr Ds=st bsy ir.w=f Hr-a the god
who created himself commanded that I be initiated into his forms immediately.52
Initiation
The fact that the daily temple liturgy discusses how the officiant is an initiate of the gods53
before mentioning the position as prophet54 is significant as the initiation separates the priest from
the prophet. In an exceptional case, Thutmosis III discusses his ability to be m rA-pr=f n xpr[t] bs=i
r Hm-nTr in his temple before my initiation as a prophet because of his status as kings son.55 Yet
Thutmosiss statement case clearly shows that one is initiated as a prophet and that being a prophet
was expected for entry into the temple. Bakenkhons illustrates another difference between the priest
and higher priesthoods when he says sbA=i r wab m pr imn m sA Xr dr.t it=i . . . Sms=i sw m bw mAa.t
bs.kwi r it-nTr mA=i xpr.w=f nb under my father I was instructed to be a priest in the temple of
Amun. ... I followed him into the place of truth since I was initiated as a divine father so that I might
see all his forms.56 Thus priests are trained, while divine fathers (it-nTr) are initiated, just like
prophets are initiated; some have argued that the two titles are absolutely equivalent for each
other.57
Bakenkhons and Rome-Roy specifically mention seeing the forms of god as a purpose of the
initiation as does the daily temple liturgy, and several texts from the temple walls themselves. In one
of these texts, at the entrance to the hypostyle hall in Medinet Habu, Montu tells the king: bs=i tw
wHm=i tw r Ax.t mA=k nb nTr.w let me initiate you, and announce you into the horizon so that you
may see the lord of the gods.58 On the opposite side of the wall, inside the hypostyle hall, HorusKhentekhtay tells the king: bs=i tw r Hw.t-aA.t [n it=k] imn nb nTr.w smn=f n=k sxmty Hr-tp=k let
me initiate you into the great temple [of your father] Amun, lord of the gods.59 Similar scenes are
found in the hypostyle hall of the Temple of Khonsu,60 and outside the entrance to the hypostyle
hall.61 In all cases the king faces inward toward the door and the god faces outward from the door.
These scenes and inscriptions suggest that initiation was required for admission into the hypostyle

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hall and for proceeding to see the god. The following chart shows the pattern that emerges:
Area

outside the hypostyle hall

inside hypostyle hall

Type of priesthood

wab priest

Hm-nTr prophet

Initiation status

uninitiated

initiated

Rituals

preparatory rituals

sanctuary rituals/ seeing god

The pattern can be confirmed by records of the initiations preserved in the back of the temple
of Karnak.
Year 29, first month of Shemu, day twenty-six of the king of Upper and Lower
Egypt, lord of the two lands, and son of Re, Sheshonq, son of Bastet, beloved of Amon, may
he live forever, when the first prophet of Amonrasonter, overseer of Upper Egypt, and chief,
Osorkon [son of king] Takelot, beloved of Amun, may he live forever, was in Thebes
celebrating the feast of Amon, ... on this day of initiation of him of the curtain, judge, mayor,
vizier, and chief of the Ma, Harsiese, ..., to the great and noble throne of Amon, which is
heaven, unequaled, unattainable, and incomprehensible.62
Year 8, first month of Shemu, day nineteen, of the son of Re, Pedubast, the day of
initiation of the prophet of Amonrasonter, mayor, vizier, him of the curtain, and judge, mouth
of Nekhen and prophet of [Maat ...] good example for sinners, ... Pentefonch, possessor of
veneration, ... into the great and noble shrine of Amun by the first prophet of Amon and
overseer of Upper Egypt, Harsiese, ... that he might see Amon in this sacred image of his
which is more hidden than the gods.63
As Pentefonchs initiation makes clear, one purpose of the initiation was to see the god,
which is part of the daily temple liturgy. Seeing god also plays a role in the Book of the Dead. The
opening rubric of Book of the Dead 125 says that the text is Dd.wt xft spr r wsx.t tn nt mAaty pxA N
m xw.w nb ir.n=f mAA Hr.w nTr.w what is said when entering the hall of the truths and purging N
from every evil that he has done, so that he might see the faces of the gods.64 Grieshammer and
others have previously connected Book of the Dead 125, most famous for its negative confession,
with initiation.65 The initiation element is most clearly seen in the vignette in the Papyrus of
Neferwebenef, where Neferwebenef enters a shrine and emerges with shaved head and dressed in
linen.66 Seeing god and sacred or secret things is also involved in the initiation described in the
Coffin Texts:67 wn n=k aA.wy p.t sn n=k sbA.w Hr.t smn.tw Xkr.w=k r=k ao=k Hr nTr aA imy kAr=f
mA=k ra m irw=f mAa may the doors of heaven open for you, may the gates of the sky open for you;
may your insignia be established on you, so that you may enter to the great god who is in his shrine
and see Re in his true form.68 Since the shrine is equated with heaven,69 all of this may be seen as
Egyptian temple imagery.
The standard initiation sequence, as illustrated in temples, for example, on the exterior of the
bark shrine at Karnak is washing, establishing regalia or insignia, and finally induction into the
presence of the god in his shrine.70 Those steps also appear in Book of the Dead 125, where after
the first declaration of innocence, the deceased discusses his purity beginning with iw=i wab.kwi I
am pure,71 the same phrase that appears after the authority declaration of the priest in the daily

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temple liturgy.72 The donning of regalia and insignia is not described in the texts but the final rubric
says that the ritual is to be performed when he is pure and clean, after he has put on his raiment, is
shod with white sandals and anointed with myrrh, and has presented a young bull, fowl, incense,
bread and beer, and vegetables.73 After a second declaration of innocence, the individual passes
through the gateway, naming the parts of the gate while passing through to be announced to the
god.74 Thus the general actions described in the text coincide with the general actions depicted in
ceremonies depicted on temple walls explicitly described as initiations.
Objections occasionally surface to the use of the English term initiation to describe the
activities covered by the Egyptian term bs because it seems too close to the terms used by classical
writers which are seen as misleading. Perhaps, it is suggested, induction would be a better term.
The use of the term initiation, however, is common in Egyptological parlance.75 Two Roman
period texts from a temple archive in Thebes76 are explicitly called initiations (teleth).77 The
Theban initiations follow the standard initiation sequence with purification,78 establishing insignia,79
and the god appearing.80 These two Roman period texts would have been written by bilingual scribes
who knew both Egyptian and Greek81 and who deliberately chose the Greek term teleth to describe
the activities known from their Egyptian texts as bs, which suffices to justify our use of the English
term initiation not induction to describe the same process.
Conclusions
The titles wab priest and Hm-nTr prophet are not equivalent. In addition to previously
noted differences of time on duty, and remuneration between the two priestly grades, a careful
examination of the daily temple liturgy shows differences in preparation, function, sphere of activity
that make the distinction between them significant. The event that makes the difference between the
offices is an initiation which consists of washing, establishing insignia, and finally induction into the
presence of the god. The initiation provides the prophet with the authority to do more than the priest.
To the Egyptians, the most important of the differences in function between the two offices is the
opportunity the prophet has to see the god.

Institute for the Study and Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts

Brigham Young University

NOTES
1. For the Karnak versions, one for the temple of Amonrasonter (P. Berlin 3055) and one for the
temple of Mut (P. Berlin 3014+3053), see Rituale fr den Kultus des Amon und fr den Kultus
der Mut, Hieratische Papyrus aus den Kniglichen Museen zu Berlin 1 (Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs,
1901); Alexandre Moret, Le rituel du culte divin journalier en gypte (Paris: Ernest Leroux,
1902); Ernst Kausen, Das tgliche Tempelritual, in Rituale und Beschwrungen II, Texte aus
der Umwelt des Alten Testaments. Band II: Religise Texte. Lieferung 3 (Gtersloh: Gtersloher
Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn, 1988), 391-405.

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103

2. See Moret, Le rituel du culte divin journalier; A. Rosalie David, Religious Ritual at Abydos (c.
1300 BC) (Warminster: Aris & Phillips, 1973); idem., A Guide to Religious Ritual at Abydos
(Warminster: Aris & Phillips, 1981).
3. See Maurice Alliot, Le culte dHorus Edfou au temps des Ptolmes, BdE 20 (Cairo: IFAO,
1959), 59-98.
4. See mile Chassinat, Le temple de Dendara I (Cairo: IFAO, 1934), 1: pl. LI, LXII.
5. Alan H. Gardiner, Hieratic Papyri in the British Museum, Third Series, Chester Beatty Gift, 2
vols. (London: British Museum, 1935), 1: 78-106; 2: pls. 50-61; Ernesta Bacchi, Il Rituale di
Amenhotpe I (Turin: Museo di Torino, 1942); Harold H. Nelson, Certain Reliefs at Karnak and
Medinet Habu and the Ritual of Amenophis I, JNES 8 (1949): 201-232.
6. David, A Guide to Religious Ritual at Abydos, 77.
7. Moret, Le rituel du culte divin journalier, 10.
8. David, Guide to Religious Ritual at Abydos, 81-82.
9. Nelson, Certain Reliefs, JNES 8:201-232.
10. Moret, Le rituel du culte divin journalier; David, Religious Ritual at Abydos (1973); David,
Guide to Religious Ritual at Abydos (1981).
11. See John Baines, Literacy and Ancient Egyptian Society, Man 18 (1983): 585; John Ray,
Literacy and language in Egypt in the Late and Persian Periods, in Literacy and power in the
ancient world, ed. Alan K. Bowman and Greg Woolf (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1994), 64-65 and n. 31.
12. P. Berlin 3055 1/5-6, in Rituale fr den Kultus des Amon und fr den Kultus der Mut, pl. I.
Hereafter cited as P. Berlin 3055 followed by column and line numbers.
13. P. Berlin 3055 1/7. The statement in Jean-Marie Kruchten, Les annales des prtres de
Karnak (XXI-XXIIImes dynasties) et autres textes contemporains relatifs linitiation des prtres
dAmon (Leuven: Departement Orintalistiek, 1989), 177: il apparat clairement que toutes les
oprations constituant le culte journalier taient accomplies exclusivement par le prophte
needs to be modified.
14. P. Berlin 3055 3/8.
15. P. Berlin 3055 4/2-3.
16. P. Berlin 3055 10/1.
17. P. Berlin 3055 10/2-3.

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18. The expression is written r ir=i=w which would be unique because (1) the infinitive
normally follows r for a purpose clause rather than the subjunctive although a parallel can be
found in the Book of Breathings Made by Isis 1, in Michael D. Rhodes, The Hor Book of
Breathings (Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 2002), 52, and
(2) normally one not two suffix pronouns are attached to a word. I propose that the graphically
similar hieratic sign for the seated man has been written for hieratic -t because it eliminates both
problems.
19. P. Berlin 3055 10/3-5.
20. Franois Daumas, Les moyens d'expression du grec et de l'gyptien compars dans les
dcrets de Canope et de Memphis (Cairo: IFAO, 1952), 181-83.
21. Daumas, Les moyens d'expression , 180-81.
22. Hermann Kees, Zur Organisation des Ptahtempels in Karnak und seiner Priesterschaft,
MIO 3/3 (1955): 336-37.
23. P. Rylands IX 13/6-8, in F. Ll. Griffith, Catalogue of the Demotic Papyri in the John Rylands
Library Manchester, 3 vols. (Manchester: Manchester University Press, and London: Bernard
Quaritch, and Sherratt and Hughes, 1909), 1: pl. XXXV, 3: 90 and n. 5; Gnther Vittmann, Der
demotische Papyrus Rylands 9, 2 vols. (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1998), 1: 54, 158-59; 2:
490.
24. Kees, Zur Organisation, MIO 3/3:336. Thus even if a priest were working full time, he
would only earn a fifth what a prophet earned.
25. Alan H. Gardiner, Ancient Egyptian Onomastica, 2 vols. (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1947), 1: 49*.
26. Gardiner, Ancient Egyptian Onomastica, 1: 52*.
27. P. Berlin 3055 2/4.
28. Penelope Wilson, A Ptolemaic Lexikon (Leuven: Peeters, 1997), 312; Wb. I 45.2; James K.
Hoffmeier, Sacred in the Vocabulary of Ancient Egypt: The Term DSR, with special Reference to
Dynasties I-XX (Freiburg, Switzerland: Universittsverlag, 1985), 172-77, 206-207.
29. Dieter Arnold, Wandrelief und Raumfunktion in gyptischen Tempeln des Neuen Reiches
(Berlin: Bruno Hessling, 1962), 5.
30. PM2 2: 45-46.
31. Some disagreement exists in the extent of the daily temple liturgy. The chart uses the short
version while the longer version is sometimes used in the article where it might be relevant.

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105

32. P. Berlin 3055 1/7.

33. P. Berlin 3055 4/2, 10/3.
34. P. Berlin 3055 10/2-3.
35. P. Berlin 3055 10/3.
36. Alan H. Gardiner, Egyptian Grammar, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Griffith Institute, 1957), 41 38.
37. P. Berlin 3055 1/7.
38. P. Berlin 3055 1/5-6.
39. P. Berlin 3055 2/4; Moret, Le rituel du culte divin journalier, 21.
40. P. Berlin 3055 3/7. The citation in Kruchten, Les annales des prtres de Karnak, 177 n. 7
needs to be corrected.
41. P. Berlin 3055 3/5.
42. P. Berlin 3055 6/2.
43. P. Berlin 3055 5/6.
44. P. Berlin 3055 8/9.
45. P. Berlin 3055 8/5.
46. Cf. the remarks in Robert K. Ritner, The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice
(Chicago: Oriental Institute, 1993), 248-49 and n. 1142.
47. P. Berlin 3055 4/2-3, 4/6-7.
48. P. Berlin 3055 3/8.
49. P. Berlin 3055 4/6.
50. Erik Hornung, Idea into Image (New York: Timken, 1992), 123.
51. Cf. Kruchten, Les annales des prtres de Karnak, 177. Evidence of royal authorization can
also be seen in the Persian period practice of having the satrap (as representative of the Persian
king in Egypt) approve priestly appointments; P. Berlin 13540, in George R. Hughes, The Socalled Phrendates Correspondence, in Grammata Demotika, ed. Heinz-J. Thissen and Karl-Th.
Zauzich (Wrzberg: Gisela Zauzich Verlag, 1984), 78.

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52. Louvre C 219 = KRI IV 209; Kruchten, Les annales des prtres de Karnak, 180.
53. P. Berlin 3055 3/7.
54. P. Berlin 3055 4/2.
55. Urk. IV 157, correct with Kruchten, Les annales des prtres de Karnak, 178.
56. Urk. IV 1409; Kruchten, Les annales des prtres de Karnak, 179.
57. G. A. Gaballa, Nufer, Third Prophet of Amun, MDAIK 26 (1970): 52-54 with further
bibliography.
58. The Epigraphic Survey, Medinet Habu V, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 19301970), pls. 290-291, 457, 489.
59. The Epigraphic Survey, Medinet Habu V, pl. 313.
60. The Epigraphic Survey, The Temple of Khonsu II (Chicago: Oriental Institute, 1981), pl. 182.
61. The Epigraphic Survey, The Temple of Khonsu I (Chicago: Oriental Institute, 1979), pls. 43,
47.
62. Karnak priestly annals, fragment 7, in Kruchten, Les annales des prtres de Karnak, 59-62.
63. Karnak priestly annals, fragment 2, in Kruchten, Les annales des prtres de Karnak, 36-37.
64. BD 125, in Charles Maystre, Les dclarations dinnocence (Livre des morts, chapitre 125)
(Cairo: IFAO, 1937), 10-11.
65. Reinhard Grieshammer, Zum Sitz im Leben des negativen Sndenbekenntnisses, in
XVIII. Deutscher Orientalistentag (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1974), 19-25; Reinhold
Merkelbach, Ein gyptischer Priestereid, ZPE 2 (1968): 7-30; Ludwig Koenen, Die
Unschuldsbeteuerungen des Priestereides und die rmische Elegie, ZPE 2 (1968): 31-38; Jan
Assmann, Death and Initiation in the Funerary Religion of Ancient Egypt, in Religion and
Philosophy in Ancient Egypt (New Haven: Yale Egyptological Seminar, 1989), 135-59; Robert
K. Ritner, The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice (Chicago: Oriental Institute,
1993), 150 n. 678; John Gee, The Requirements of Ritual Purity (Ph.D. dissertation, Yale
University, 1998), 51-311.
66. Suzanne Rati, Le Papyrus de Neferoubenef (Louvre III 93), BdE 43 (Cairo: IFAO, 1968), pl.
XVII.
67. Jan Assmann, Altgyptische Totenliturgien. Band 1: Totenliturgien in den Sargtexten des
Mittleren Reiches (Heidelberg: C. Winter, 2002), 322-24.

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68. CT 492 VI 71-72 (all manuscripts from Bersheh); Assmann, Altgyptischen Totenliturgien,
323.
69. Karnak priestly annals, fragment 7, in Kruchten, Les annales des prtres de Karnak, 59-62.
70.Moret, Le rituel du culte divin journalier, pl. I.
71. BD 125 A, in Maystre, Les dclarations dinnocence, 51-55.
72. P. Berlin 3055 1/7.
73. BD 125 c T 2, in Thomas G. Allen, The Book of the Dead or Going Forth by Day (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1974), 100.
74. BD 125 c S6-8, in Allen, Book of the Dead, 99-100.
75. See, for example, Grieshammer, Zum Sitz im Leben des negativen Sndenbekenntnisses,
19-25; Assmann, Death and Initiation in the Funerary Religion of Ancient Egypt, 135-59.
76. Garth Fowden, The Egyptian Hermes: A Historical Approach to the Late Pagan Mind, 2nd
ed. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993), 168-74; Robert K. Ritner, Egyptian Magical
Practice under the Roman Empire: The Demotic Spells and their Religious Context, in ANRW
II.1.18.5 (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1995), 3333-79; William M. Brashear, The Greek Magical
Papyri: An Introduction and Survey; Annotated Bibliography (1928-1994), in ANRW II.1.18.5,
3380-684; John Gee, Abracadabra, Isaac and Jacob, Review of Books on the Book of Mormon
7/1 (1995): 35-46.
77. The texts are PGM IV 475-829, XIII 1-343 and duplicate in lines 343-646, in Karl
Preisendanz, Papyri Graecae Magicae: Die griechischen Zauberpapyri, 2 vols. (Leipzig:
Teubner, 1928-31), 1: 88-101, 2: 87-117; and Reinhold Merkelbach, Abrasax: Ausgewhlte
Papyri religisen und magischen Inhalts: Band 3: Zwei greichisch-gyptsiche Weihezeremonien
(Die Leidener Weltschpfung, Die Pschai-Aion-Liturgie) (Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag,
1992).
78. PGM IV 783-85; XIII 4-6; 347-50.
79. PGM IV 813-24; XIII 38-40; 96-102; 383-86; 650-57.
80. PGM IV 576-728; XIII 210-11; 702-18.
81. See especially the remarks in Ritner, Egyptian Magical Practice under the Roman Empire,
3358-71.