Egyptian Boat

kbs2244 · Post by **kbs2244** » Sun Jul 20, 2008 10:13 am

From today’s news page.
I think it may be interesting that the style of construction is noted as being from the east of Egypt.
Not the Mediterranean style.
But I don’t know of any source for cedar there.
The closest would be Lebanon.
Which, of course, is very Mediterranean.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/engli ... /?id=27003

Post by **Minimalist** » Sun Jul 20, 2008 12:54 pm

You know...I have a question for Zahi the Great. If the AEs wanted the pharaoh to be able to use the boat on his journey while did they disassemble it? If you are going to dig a big pit why not just dig it a bit bigger and put the boat in there intact so the poor pharaoh wouldn't have to put it together every night? Seems like a piss poor way to treat a great king.

Maybe the AE's were just stupid? Or maybe Zahi is allowing his personal prejudices to run wild again?

kbs2244 · Post by **kbs2244** » Sun Jul 20, 2008 1:54 pm

I just re-read the piece.
The boat is 142 feet long?
I do not belive that is a Nile boat.
And there is disscussion over weather it was a used boat or not?
I would love to see an anaylis of some of that wood.

Rokcet Scientist · Post by **Rokcet Scientist** » Sun Jul 20, 2008 9:16 pm

142 feet seems a very unwieldy Nile boat. So perhaps it wasn't.

Ishtar · Post by **Ishtar** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 10:29 am

This was not a sea-going vessel:

The 4,500-year-old vessel is the sister ship of a similar boat removed in pieces from another pit in 1954 and painstakingly reconstructed. Experts believe the boats were meant to ferry the pharaoh who built the Great Pyramid in the afterlife.

The boat or barque is a common theme in Egyptian mythology, and they are used for ferrying the souls of the dead. Secondly, Isis is often depicted in the 'solar barque' in later dynasties, replacing the earlier sun god who was said to traverse the heavens during the day in his barque.

War Arrow · Post by **War Arrow** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 10:37 am

You mean it was ornamental, for want of a better word?

Ishtar · Post by **Ishtar** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 10:47 am

War Arrow wrote:You mean it was ornamental, for want of a better word?

Er .... no, because the only person who'd be there to appreciate its ornamental nature would be dead!

It's a ritual object, a sort of talisman. The boat was to take the mummifed pharoah to the land of the dead in the symbolic sense. Of course, it didn't really literally happen that way. But I'd have to go loads into shamanism to describe how it actually does happen - and that will piss everyone off no end, especially you!

Post by **Minimalist** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 1:46 pm

The text that goes along with the image states:

The Festival Procession

Preparations for this festival meant gathering flowers for the making of boquets 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 meticulously prepared the statue of Amun and placed it carefully in an enclosed shrine which was then carried on a ceremonial boat or bark. People singing, dancing and making music with sistra and tambourines met the procession as it emerged out of the temple and started on its path. From the beginning Amun made this journey alone, but as time passed, he was joined by his spouse Mut and their son, Khonsu. The whole triad of Waset were thus partaking in the festival, each enclosed in separate shrines.

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. Here the gods in their shrines made visits to pharaoh´s mortuary temple (during Hatshepsut´s time Deir el-Bahri) and to the temples of other deities. Offerings and hymns were performed at each of these places. The whole procession then stopped at the necropolis where the concluding rituals for the deceased ancestors and family members would be performed .

Ishtar · Post by **Ishtar** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 1:58 pm

Min, where's this text from please?

Post by **Minimalist** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 2:06 pm

Shit...some Egyptian religion site. This is what happens when you copy the image.

Let me see if I can find the home page for you.

Post by **Minimalist** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 2:08 pm

OKay. This is the guy's homepage....it's in there somewhere.

http://www.philae.nu/akhet/

Ishtar · Post by **Ishtar** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 2:31 pm

OK, I got that ... you're posting something on a subject you know nothing about by Googling and then copying and pasting whatever you happen to land on in the lucky dip without even bothering to check its provenance.

Figures.

Post by **Minimalist** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 3:54 pm

The procession of the Opet (Apet) Festival is well-attested, Ish.

I don't really think it is necessary to journey to Karnak every time and make a new scraping off the reliefs. That is called re-inventing the wheel.

Ishtar · Post by **Ishtar** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 10:35 pm

It’s not attested, Min. There is no proof that this procession ever took place at Opet.

It has been just an assumption that the depiction of such an event on the walls leading to the inner sanctum of the temple at Luxor point to something that actually happened.

That's the equivalent of looking at Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of The Last Supper and concluding from that that the event actually happened.

I'm not re-inventing the wheel - I'm just saying that the axle is weak

I asked where the text came from - which is not the same as asking you to scrape the walls at Karnak as that wasn't where the text came from. If it was, you'd have your attestation.

Digit · Post by **Digit** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 6:39 am

There is no proof that this procession ever took place at Opet.

True! Most of the eye witnesses are dead!

Roy.