HANDOUT FOR LECTURE 7: 1500 BC: AFTER THE CATACLYSM
CONCEPTS:
Interaction Zone
Production Culture versus Trade Culture
Minoans
peak sanctuary
saffron
Minoan column
Hypostyle Hall
Reed bundle
Pylon
Ritual Procession
Amun /Amen Ra
Chons: Egyptian Moon God
Mut: Mother Earth Goddess
The Beautiful Festival of the Valley
Opet Festival
PLACES:
BMAC (The Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex)
Gonur (2500 – 1500 BCE)
Mohenjo-Daro (ca. 2600-1900 BCE) - Great Bath
Harappa (ca. 2600-1900 BCE)
Mohenjo-Daro (2600-1700 BCE)
Lothal (2000-1600 BCE)
Mari Palace: (2900 BCE – 1759 BCE)
Knossos: Crete (built: 1700 and 1400 BCE)
Iuktas peak sanctuary
Great Temple of Amun, Karnak (begun ca. 1391–1351 BC)
Luxor Temple (begun: ca.1400 BCE)
Hatchepsut’s Tomb (ca. 1450 BCE)
EGYPTIAN HISTORICAL PERIODS:
2686-2125 BCE
Old Kingdom
2160-2055 BCE
First Intermediate Period
2055-1650 BCE
Middle Kingdom
1650-1550 BCE
Second Intermediate Period
1550-1069 BCE
New Kingdom
MINOAN HISTORICAL PERIODS
Early Minoan 3300-2300 BCE
Palatial Minoan 2300-ca.1600 BCE
Santorini Explosion ca. 1600 BCE
Late Minoan ca.1600-1150 BCE
The Beautiful Feast of the Valley and the Opet Festival: Egypt
Of all the 60 festivals that were celebrated locally in Thebes during the New
Kingdom, there were two that brought the god out of his temple twice each year;
the Opet Festival and the Beautiful Feast of the Valley.
The Feast of the Valley was a celebrated reunion between the living and the dead
and the deities who watched over them. It was celebrated in the second month of
Shomu, in the harvest season before the flooding of the Nile. The occasion was
not only a social event, but centered around the fundamental core of belief both
for the individual and society. Preparations for the festival meant gathering
flowers for the making of bouquets and garlands, which were to be worn and
offered to the god as well as at the tombs of the deceased. Early in the morning,
the priests prepared the statue of Amun and placed it in an enclosed shrine
which was then carried on a ceremonial boat. People singing, dancing and
making music met the procession as it emerged out of the temple and started on
its path. Amun was “joined” by his spouse Mut and their son, Khonsu whose
statues were also prepared and removed from their shrines forming a triad of
deities. Starting out from Karnak, the shrines were carried in procession down to
the river accompanied by a throng of people. They were set on board barges,
which were towed across the river to the western side to visit the various
mortuary temples of the pharaohs. Offerings and hymns were performed at each
of these places. Tombs of more wealthy people had shrines attached for the
performing of rites for the dead. These were now entered, food and drink were
set out, people prepared themselves for meeting with their deceased ancestor
during an all night vigil. The garland made of petals from fresh flowers
symbolizing regeneration was given to all participants, dead as well as living
with the purpose to bring the deceased nearer to the living. This was followed by
a boisterous feast with wine, beer, music, drumming, dancing.
The Opet festival was connected to the fertility symbolism of the rising Nile with
Amun and his consort visiting his southern precinct at Luxor. This festival was
celebrated in the second month of Akhet, the season of the flooding of the river
and linked to the symbolic fertility of the rising of the Nile. This was when
people did not have a great workload. From eleven days celebration in the times
of Thutmose III, it grew to cover most of one month during the reign of Ramesses
III. At first the procession went from Karnak to Luxor. Amun-Re, carried on a
veiled bark by waeb priests, made a visit to the 'inner chambers' (Opet of the
South, Ipet-resyt) to Amun at Luxor. Later, the journey went by the river both
ways. There were also Oracles performed for the people. The barge would stop
and people could come forward and ask simple questions which could be
answered with a 'yes' or a 'no'. The priest would then tip the barge forward for
'yes' and backwards for 'no'. The reason this renewal was important, was that the
ancients believed that during the course of a year, the gods grew weary and their
power diminished. So did also the powers of the earth and the king. The rituals,
performed correctly, would ensure that the power of the Cosmos would return
and renew gods and king.