The Material Evidence for Domestic Religion at Amarna and Preliminary Remarks on its Interpretation

Abstract

The archaeological record at Amarna offers scope to enhance current understanding of domestic religion at this site. The material evidence suggests that conduct undertaken included offering rituals and the use of magic and amuletic images, and involved the royal family and Aten, some 'traditional' deities and private ancestors. Domestic religion appears to have interacted with daily, secular conduct and to have been subject to influence by a variety of factors. The picture of domestic religion at Amarna presented here has potential relevance for domestic religion in general in New Kingdom Egypt.THE creation of theoretical subsets of religious conduct can be an important stage in the analysis and comprehension of ancient religions, whether in broad groupings, such as state or funerary religion, or more specific subsets, of which domestic and fertility religion can be considered examples. Domestic religion, defined here as religious conduct undertaken strictly within the confines of the house.' is a particularly useful subset for scholars using archaeological data. In this case, the basis upon which conduct is grouped-a common household environment-has a relatively direct archaeological correlate in the physical remains of the house and its contents. The potential of archaeological data to enhance understanding of domestic religion in ancient Egypt is illustrated particularly well at Deir el-Medina. The structure of domestic religion remains poorly understood, however, and the potential of the archaeological record to provide information on this realm has not been exhausted.Amarna provides an appropriate context in which to explore domestic religion and is a site where the archaeological evidence is particularly significant, given the overall lack of direct textual and epigraphic sources. Archaeological evidence has certainly not been excluded from previous studies of 'non-state' religion during the Amarna Period * This article derives from research being undertaken towards a PhD dissertation on the material evidence for non-state religion at Amarna in the Centre for Archaeology and Ancient History, Monash University, Melbourne. I would like to thank Colin Hope and Olaf Kaper for their very helpful comments on versions of this paper and 10 Aitken for proofreading a draft. I am also grateful for the advice I received from the lEA reviewers; their observations have had a significant impact on the structure and scope of this article. I wish to thank the Egypt Exploration Society, Barry Kemp and the Agyptisches Museum und PapyrussammJung, Berlin, for permission to discuss a number of objects that are previously unpublished, or published in limited detail. Gratitude is also expressed to the EES, the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft and the Deutsches Arcbaologisches Institut for permission to reproduce the figures in the text.I Conduct undertaken outside the house, including that which occurred in the garden or house compound, is excluded.

Personal Piety in Ancient Egypt

“…123ff., Luiselli , pp. 229–231) and mobile and immobile cult installations set in private houses (Stevens , , p. 4–6 with final catalogue, Weiss ). Moreover, medical concerns were also regarded as directly linked to divine intervention (Stevens , p. 2), being sometimes referred to in prayers, and partly resolved by means of magical spells.…”

“…Thus, following this path, the actual search for the closeness to the divine during life can be traced back at least in the Middle Kingdom during the Osiris festivals in Abydos (Luiselli , p.16–18; Baines ), although numerous rock inscriptions from Elkab dating to the end of the Old Kingdom reveal the existence of great processions for the vulture goddess Nekhbet already at that time (Seidlmayer , p. 104). The investigation of votive offerings (Pinch ; Pinch & Waraksa ) and of installations for domestic cult performances (Stevens , , ; Weiss ) has contributed tremendously to the reconstruction of personal piety (the way it is used in the present paper) during the New Kingdom. From the Third Intermediate Period (1069–664 BC) onwards, although the sources decrease in terms of general quantity, the patterns developed in the past appear to be kept (Adderley ): the gods were being offered to in shrines and at home, they were prayed to, their nature was proclaimed, the closeness to them and the role played in their cult were a relevant part of public self‐presentation (Exell , pp.…”

“…With respect to methodologies, philological work still prevails in the research on personal piety; because of the higher informative value of texts and the doubtless relevance and numerical superiority of sources dating to the Ramesside Period, this focus has very much influenced the research. Nonetheless, new attention has been given to the visual display of personal religious practices (Luiselli , ; Exell ), on material culture and archaeological remains (Sadek ; Pinch ; Stevens , , ; Pinch & Waraksa ; Weiss ), helping to widen the perspective, by shifting the attention to aspects like domestic religion, gender, ritual performances, etc. Starting from the relevance given in other studies to the cultic context of personal piety Ramesside stelae (Kessler , ; Adrom ), the recent application of theories of agency and identity has emphasized the meaning of personal piety experiences, understood as religious practice (Weiss , p. 201), in daily life.…”

Límites del culto estatal y alcances del culto popular en el-Amarna (Egipto)

“…Si bien en estos trabajos constaba la adoración de deidades tradicionales en el centro dedicado al Atón, no profundizaban en cuándo, cómo y por quién esos dioses fueron adorados. A partir de las excavaciones dirigidas por Barry Kemp, iniciadas en 1977, se incluyeron nuevos hallazgos, permitiendo continuar las interpretaciones sobre la práctica religiosa desarrollada en Amarna (Shaw 1984 ;Kemp 1995bKemp , 2012Stevens 2003Stevens , 2006Stevens , 2009Stevens , 2011Stevens , 2012Bickel 2003, entre otros).…”