Milk Vessels in Ancient Egypt | ||||
| International Academic Journal Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management | ||||
| Article 1, Volume 3, Issue 3, 2017, Page 1-46 PDF (3.12 MB) | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/ijaf.2017.95523 | ||||
 View on SCiNiTO | ||||
| Authors | ||||
| Manal Hammad* ; Yasmin Mohamed | ||||
| Guidance Department, Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| Milk in ancient Egypt was referred to using terms like; iAtt 1and HD,2 but the most frequently used term was irtt.3 In addition, terms like HsA4 and bsA5 were mostly used in Religious texts. Milk was widely used by the ancient Egyptians not only in their daily life diet,6 but also in medicine.7 It was also frequently mentioned in the religious books; Pyramid texts, Coffin texts and Book of the dead, as a symbol of purity, purification and rejuvenation thus it played an important role in the ancient Egyptian religion. It was defined as white, light and sweet liquid8 or water in the breasts of women.9 It was closely associated with sacred water and its different terms such as; flood, inundation, swishing of the lake and primeval waters of the ocean.10 According to the religious books, it was considered as a substance responsible for forming the flesh of the body,11 making the dead king greater than the god and making his limbs mightier than those of the gods.12 It was a purification substance that purifies the mouth,13 the whole body of the dead king and the deceased14 as well as the outfits of the tomb.15 Moreover, milk was perfect nourishment for the dead king to live on in the afterlife to the extent that he will never feel hungry or thirsty.16 It makes the dead king capable to rejuvenate himself and reborn as a young child in the afterlife where he will be a complete being. It helps the dead king ascend to heaven to be among or as one of the gods.’17 It was also a means to make the deceased a milk-brother of the gods in the afterlife.18 Milk was presented in the opening of the mouth rituals,19 the six day festival20and at the seven gates of the underworld.21It played an important role not only in the liturgy of the royal ancestors' ritual,22 but also in the quenching of flames ritual.23 Moreover, it was used in divine festivals like the Opet festival24 and Soker festival25 to purify the roads in front of the sacred barks. In the Beautiful Feast of the Valley,26 milk was used to rejuvenate the powers of both god Amon and the ruling king. | ||||
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