The Priesthood of Amun, or Keep It in the Family!

The blog post for this week is written by Jeanne Whitehurst, who has completed her Certificate of Egyptology from the University of Manchester. She moved to Egypt over ten years ago, just before the revolution. Initially, she lived in Luxor, overlooking Karnak Temple, but now she lives in Aswan overlooking the First Cataract. She was extremely fortunate to have worked with Ted Brock on the sarcophagus of Merenptah (KV 8) as a volunteer.

The magnificent Karnak Temple in modern-day Luxor named ipet-sut (“The Most Select of Places”) was the cult temple of the main god Amun, who was worshipped there along with his wife Mut and their son Khonsu. Together, they formed the Theban Triad. Karnak has many temples inside its mudbrick walls besides those dedicated to the Theban Triad. It is said to be one of the largest religious sites in the world.

Throughout Egypt’s history, the priesthood would serve a vital role in maintaining religious beliefs and traditions with male priests known as hem-netjer (Servants of the God). There was a hierarchy in the priesthood from the High Priest (hem-netjer-tepy, “First God’s Servant”) at the top and the wab-priests lower down. The wab-priests carried out the essential but mundane tasks of taking care of the temple complex and performing whatever function they were called upon, such as helping to prepare for festivals. There was a First God’s Servant (High Priest), a Second, Third and Fourth God’s Servant. However, it doesn’t necessarily follow this order of importance, as can be seen with the Fourth God’s Servant, Montuemhat, leading a procession while the First God’s Servant is behind him (fig. 1). They were then divided into four phyles, a sub-division of twenty priests. There are many interesting titles, including “chief of the manufacturer of wigs of Amun in Karnak”. Nefermenu held this title and several other titles including “scribe of the treasury of Amun”, “master of the divine seal”, “keeper of the balance of Amun” and “opener of the doors of the sky”. The latter was specific to Karnak and there has been much speculation as to its meaning, including that it might relate to the responsibility to the opening of the shrine.

Fig. 1: The Saite Oracle Papyrus (Brooklyn Museum 47.218.3a-j https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/60645)

At Karnak, the male priests lived inside the temple, at least during the First Millennium BC. Not all priests of Amun (fig. 2) worked in Karnak though as there is evidence of High Priests of Amun at Tanis during the Twenty-first Dynasty (1069–945 BC). During the reign of Rameses III, the labour force consisted of more than 81,000 people while the temple comprised of 3 orchards, 421,000 heads of livestock, 65 villages, 83 ships, and 46 workshops with hundreds of acres of farmland (according to the Great Harris Papyrus). One of the reasons they accumulated this wealth was by being exempt from paying taxes from the end of the Old Kingdom, which allowed the priests of Amun to become very powerful with vast estates and wealth. It is thought that one of the main reasons why Akhenaten moved his capital to Amarna was because the priests had become too powerful and were challenging his reign. Other pharaohs such as Thutmose III tried to stem this power by removing the hereditary rights of the priests.

Fig. 2: Shabti of the Prophet of Amun, Ankhwennefer (W660)

 

Evidence, perhaps slightly one-sided, is found through their burial goods, tombs, statues, stelae, temple reliefs, letters, annals, decrees, and graffiti, showing these high priests wielded great power and could affect the course of history and even rival the pharaoh himself. One example of this, which began in the New Kingdom with the regular Opet Festival, involved the oracle of Amun. The priests had the power to interpret the responses of the god, giving their answers with a yes (forward movement) or no (back movement) answer. Civil and criminal cases, matters of policy, domestic issues, and building policies were all decided at Thebes by these senior priests of Amun. An example of this is when the royal tomb builders at Deir el-Medina went on strike during the reign of Ramesses III by striking. Priestly dynasties were established as a father’s offices were passed down to his sons, and members of distinguished families intermarried to consolidate and improve their social positions. Eventually, at the end of the Twentieth Dynasty a semi-autonomous state emerged in the Theban area, ruled over by these priests. Some even styled themselves local monarchs with their names in cartouches on the walls of Karnak (fig. 3). How widespread their influence was is uncertain, but it does emphasize the power of the High Priests of Amun at this time.

Fig. 3: The High Priest Herihor depicted as a Pharaoh

Below are just a few High Priests of Amun with their very short biographies.

Hapuseneb: Reign of Hatshepsut (1473–1458 BC) from year 2 to 16: Tomb TT 67 (Sheikh Abd El Qurna).

In addition to being High priest and Vizier of the South, he was also responsible for the building of a ship, a gate, a shrine, door wings, and buildings besides the production of temple equipment. He was also the “Overseer of the construction of a royal tomb, although it is not clear whether KV 20 is meant. In the passage of his tomb, Hapuseneb’s parents are mentioned. His father, Hepu, was a Third Lector Priest of Amun.

Nebwenenef: Reign of Ramesses II (1279–1213 BC): Tomb TT 157 (Dra’ Abu el-Naga).

Nebwenenef was appointed at the beginning of the long reign of Ramesses II. In an oracle interpreted by the king when he went to Thebes to celebrate the great annual festival of Amun, the god himself insisted that of all the candidates only Nebwenenef would satisfy him. Nebwenenef was at that time High Priest of the god Anhur at Thinis and High Priest of the goddess Hathor of Dendera. In his tomb, Nebwenenef depicts this story and in a famous relief, shows his audience with the King and Queen Nefertari at the palace for his formal installation. Neb­wenenef died less than seventeen years later (fig. 4). However, Nebwenenef was afforded the rare privilege of having his own mortuary temple, near the temple of Seti I. During the whole of the New Kingdom, only one other commoner, Amenhotep Son of Hapu, is known to have been honoured in this way.

Fig. 4: Shabti of the High Priest of Amun Nebwenenef (WK28)

Bakenkhonsu (I): Reign of Ramesses II: Tomb TT 35 (Sheikh Abd el-Qurna).
Bakenkhonsu was descended from a family of priests. His father was the First and Second Prophet of Amun whilst his mother was a Singer of Amun. He started his career under the pharaoh Seti I and continued under Ramesses II, initially as a wab-priest before progressing to Second, Third, and Four Prophets of Amun. Eventually, he because High Priest. He lived to at least seventy, but experts differ as to exactly how old he was when he died. There is a block statue of him in Munich Museum where he addresses future generations and gives a detailed account of his career.

Fig. 5: Statue of Bakenkhonsu in Munich (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakenkhonsu#/media/File:Statue_of_Bakenkhonsu_2017-09-12.jpg)

 

Ramessesnakht: Ramesses IV–Ramesses IX: Tomb: TT 293.
Ramessesnakht (fig. 6) was married to Adjedet-Aat and had at least two sons and a daughter Tamerit. She was married to the Third Prophet of Amun, Amenemope (TT 148). It is known that Ramessesnakht went on a quarrying expedition to the Wadi Hammamat during the reign of Ramesses IV and secured gold and galena (for eye paint). A rock-cut stela in the Wadi Hammamat records his expedition reporting in year 3 of Ramesses IV that the High Priest Ramessesnakht lead an expedition consisting of some 8,368 men, including a fully organised division of the Egyptian army.

Fig. 6: Ramessesnakht offering to the gods

Herihor: Ramesses XI: Tomb not known.

Herihor served as High Priest and was also General. He was married to the lady Nodjmet, who may have been a sister of Ramesses XI. Herihor was the first of the High Priests to assume royal powers. During his reign, some tombs were found to be in need of “renewing the burial”. The tombs of Ramesses I, Seti I, and Rameses II required “renewing” after pillaging.

Pinudjem II: 990–976 BC. Buried in DB 320 (Deir el-Bahari cache)

His titles included High Priest of Amun-Re, Great Chief of the Army, and Overseer of the Treasury (fig. 7). More importantly, he was the de facto ruler of the south of the country. His tomb was shared with his wife Nesikhonsu, his niece Nesikhonsu (the daughter of the High Priest of Amun), and other family members. Following his death, many of the royal mummies of the New Kingdom and Twenty-first Dynasty were placed in his tomb for safekeeping.

Fig. 7: Pinedjem II before Osiris (British Museum EA 10793)

Priests maintained their position, with greater or lesser degrees of success, through the Ptolemaic Dynasty (332–30 BC) and even into Roman Egypt. However, by the time of the rise of Christianity in the fourth century AD, they had lost most of their power and prestige, leading to the replacement of the old faith with the new one.

This blog has only been able to show a snapshot or a clerestory window of the power, prestige, and importance of the priesthood of Amun on Egyptian history from the New Kingdom onwards.