Ancient Egyptian Theatre

(4000 - 500 BCE)

INTRODUCTION
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
• Information on ancient Egypt mostly comes
from the hieroglyphics, decorations, and
artifacts preserved in the great pyramids built
as tombs for the pharaohs and in the temples
dedicated to the numerous Egyptian gods.
Egyptian God Osiris
• Many of these remains relate in some way to Egyptian myths about
seasonal and life cycles - birth, maturity, death, and rebirth.

• These patterns are embodied in stories of gods who engage each other in
battles, are killed, and resurrected. Theses stores of the gods are, in turn,
associated with the pharaoh, the gods’ representative on earth.

• Overall, the myths show the triumph of continuity and order over chaos
and disruption in both the divine and human realms.
 Extant Material on Ancient Egyptian Theatre

• Depending on how one defines "theatre" and interprets

ancient records, it can be claimed that the Egyptians
preceded Greeks in the public performance of shows,
which were mostly pageant-like, religious, and ritualistic.
Anubis mask, the only
surviving ancient
Egyptian helmet mask

• There are a few extant sources that have been interpreted by scholars
as theatrical, such as The Dramatic Ramesseum Papyrus, the
Memphite Drama, the Horus Festival Inscriptions in the Edfu
temple, and the Ikhernofret Stone, which contains Ikhernofret’s
description of a festival play.

• There are also the travelogues of visiting foreign writers, who since
Herodotus attempted to describe the strange culture of Egypt, and
refer to extraordinary scenes occurring during festival performances.
Extant Material on Ancient Egyptian Theatre

• Egyptian myths provide a basis for speculation about the performative aspects
of those rituals with which they were associated, but they do not provide
specific information about the rites themselves.

• Scholars disagree over the Egyptian acrobatic dancers.

Note how the hair is
degree to which these texts weighted and how the
should be considered dramatic. figures at left seem to be
For instance, the more than providing a clapping
accompaniment. Relief
fifty surviving pyramid texts sculpture from a tomb at
(approx. 2800-2400 BCE). Saqqara, Egypt.

• Some scholars have argues that these texts are dramas and were enacted by
priests at regular intervals to ensure the well-being of the dead pharaoh and to
show the continuity of life and power.
– Argument based on the presence of occasional passages of dialogue and
indications of action (similar to what is seen in epic poems and the Bible).
– No definitive evidence that they were intended to be acted out.
The Myth of Osiris
• The Myth of Osiri was one of the most
important and powerful in Egyptian
mythology.

• Set, the god of evil, becomes jealous of

his brother, Osiris. Tricking Osiris into a
coffin, Set nails it shut and throws it into
the Nile. Isis, the wife of Osiris, finds the
coffin and buries her husband; but Set
digs him up, dismembers the body, and
scatters the body parts all over the earth.
Isis and their son, Horus, collect the
pieces and bury them again. Osiris is
then resurrected and becomes King of
the Dead, ruling over those mortals who
ascend to heaven.
Egyptian God Osiris
The Dramatic Ramesseum Papyrus (approx. 1980 BCE)

• The Dramatic Ramesseum Papyrus (approx. 1980 BCE) is the oldest known surviving
illustrated papyrus roll.

• It has been interpreted by some scholars as a ceremonial play written to celebrate the accession
to the throne of Senusret I of the Twelfth Dynasty.

• In this text, the pharaoh is associated with Horus, who in mythology succeeded his father,
Osiris, as ruler. The papyrus roll describes a series of ritualistic scenes performed at various
places in Egypt, with the new ruler thereby symbolically taking possession of his kingdom.

• The text of the roll is in linear hieroglyphs written in narrow, vertical columns. The text
occupies the top four-fifths of the scroll and the illustrations are at the bottom. The scenes are
arranged in a manner similar to a modern comic strip with the Pharaoh, in the role of Horus,
appearing multiple times.

• It is essentially a script of the ritual in which

the king took part. It contains, among other
things, illustrations of the scenes, the words
spoken by the actors representing the various
gods and explanatory remarks.
The Dramatic Ramesseum Papyrus

• German Egyptologist Kurt Sethe believed that

the papyrus consisted of scenes composed in a
regular pattern.
1. The scenes began with stage directions. These directions
began with the phrase, “It happened that …”

2. The following sentence was an interpretation of the religious

meaning of the stage directions.

3. Then the formula “words spoken by …” followed with the

dialogue.

4. Finally, the scenic marks included the names of gods, actions,

or places.
 The Dramatic Ramesseum Papyrus

• The following scene follows this pattern:

It happened that the royal bull burnt-offering was made. Horus

is the one who is angry and his eye takes when the (falcon)
with the great breast of Thoth comes and when the one who
empties the eye during the making of the burnt-offering of all
sacrificialcattle. Words spoken by Isis to Thoth: “Your lips are
those which have done it.” Thoth. Making the burnt-offering
and chaining the sacrificial cattle for the first time. Words
spoken by Isis to Thoth. “Open your mouth again.” Thoth.
Slaughtering of the sacrificial cattle.
- Translated by Edward Bleiberg
 Memphite Drama (approx. 2500 BCE)
• Another text, called the Memphite Drama, appears to have been performed each
year on the first day of spring. It tells of the death and resurrection of Osiris and
the coronation of Horus.

• Some historians interpret this as a drama in which Horus, symbolizing the

regenerated year spirit, was impersonated by the pharaoh.

(15a) Geb's words to the Ennead : "To his heir,

(15b) Horus, my inheritance."
(16a) Geb's words to the Ennead : "To the son of my son,
(16b) Horus, the Jackal of Upper Egypt ---”
(17a) Geb's words to the Ennead : "The firstborn,

Memphite Drama as it appears in the Shabaka Stone, Line 15a-17a

 Horus Festival Inscriptions
• One of the texts accompanying temple reliefs at Edfu describes aspects of a
New Kingdom religious drama performed during the Horus festival while
the statue of the Egyptian goddess Hathor was carried from her temple at
Denderah to the festivities at Edfu.

• This text contains what has been interpreted as staging instructions

concerning the actors for a grandiose play where a great number of
performers including supernumeraries, props such as statues, and backdrops
were used. Symbolic dances which may have been holy rituals and ballet
scenes formed part of the performance.

• According to accounts, Set (Osiris’ evil brother),

represented by a live hippopotamus, was killed on
stage by a priest or even by the king himself in the
role of Horus. The final annihilation of Set occurred Horus temple at Edfu
when a hippopotamus cake was carved up and eaten.
The Abydos Passion Play
• The most important performance event is often referred to as the Abydos
Passion Play, a title which deliberately links it to European religious dramas
of the Middle Ages.
• This event concerns the death and resurrection of the god Osiris.
• At Abydos, the most sacred spot in Egypt
(the burial site of Osiris), some kind of
performance relating to Osiris occurred
annually from about 2500 until about 550 BCE.
Passion plays in his memory were also annually
performed in Busiris, Heliopolis, and elsewhere. The Great Temple at Abydos

• They were held in the last month of the inundation, the fourth month of
Akhet (early November - early December).
• The exact procedures are largely unknown. It is believed that there were great
celebrations among people combined with secluded, sacred rituals performed
by the priesthood inside the temple.
The Abydos Passion Play
• Inside the temple enclosure, secluded rituals were performed, with the priests and godservants playing
the parts of the different gods, and occasionally the King himself partook. The celebrations went back
thousands of years, tradition bringing the sense of stability and eternity.

• Part of these rites were public, and the processions which emerged from the temple were attended by
masses of commoners. Perhaps the most important reason for the widespread popularity of the Cult of
Osiris was the promise of eternal life to each and everyone, commoner and king alike.

• Thousands of pilgrims assembled yearly at Abydos near the great temple to celebrate the mysteries. It is
believed that people in the town divided up into two camps and acted out the murder of Osiris by Set,
Isis´sorrow and anger, her wanderings to find her dead husband, the funeral and, finally, his resurrection
as the Lord of the Dead (the story of the dismemberment did not enter the picture until the Late Period,
when the Greek historian Plutarch set it down).

• They focused on the resurrection of Osiris and how he became the ruler of
the kingdom of the deceased (the Field of Reeds), where the dead lived the
same life as on earth.

• The cult of Osiris helped celebrate and maintain the power of kingship. By
acknowledging Osiris as the king of the dead, and Horus, his son and heir as
king of the living, they sought also to ensure the return of the yearly
inundation, a plentiful harvest and, in fact, the perpetuation of Egypt on two Pharaoh offers to Osiris.
planes - for the dead and for the living.
The Abydos Passion Play
• No part of its text remains. What we know if it is deduced from an
account left by Ikhernofret, a participant in the Abydos Passion Play,
sometime between 1887 and 1849 BCE.

The events have

beend divided
into acts by a
modern scholar.

Ikhernofret Stone
 The Abydos Passion Play
• The bearer of the royal seal Ikhernofret, who was sent to Abydos to supervise
the renovation of the temple of Osiris, described his experience at the Mysteries:

“I organized the going forth of Wepwawet when he proceeded to avenge his father; I
drove away the rebels from the neshmet-barque; I overthrew the enemies of Osiris; I
celebrated the great going forth. I followed the god at his going, and caused the ship to
sail, Thoth steering the sailing. I equipped the barque with a chapel and affixed (Osiris's)
beautiful adornments when he proceeded to the district of Peqer. I cleared the ways of
the god to his tomb before Peqer. I avenged Wennefer that day of the great fight; I
overthrew all his enemies upon the sandbanks of Nedyt; I caused him to proceed into the
great barque. It raised up his beauties, I making glad the people/tomb owners of the
Eastern Desert, creating joy amongst the people/tomb owners of the Western Desert;
they saw the beauties of the neshmet-barque when it touched land at Abydos, when it
brought Osiris-Khentyamentiu to his palace; I followed the god to his house, I carried
out his purification and extended his seat and solved the problems of his residence
[...and amongst] his entourage.”

- The Ikhernofret Stone

The Abydos Passion Play
• Some scholars argue that this was the most elaborate dramatic spectacle
ever staged.
– They suggest that major events of Osiris’ life were reenacted with much
spectacle (battles, processions, and burial ceremonies), the principle roles
being taken by priests - who wore masks, representations of the gods - and
the crowds being portrayed by the people.

– They suggest that each section of the play was

performed at different locations and perhaps over
several weeks or months.

• Other scholars dispute the event as a passion play and, instead, that the
ritual took on the characteristics of a royal funeral.
 The Abydos Passion Play
• The Greek historian Herodotus (484-425 BCE) recorded
his observations of the passion play in Histories II:

“Here too, in this same precinct of Minerva at Sais, is the burial-

place of one whom I think it not right to mention in such a
connection. It stands behind the temple, against the back wall,
which it entirely covers. There are also some large stone obelisks in
the enclosure, and there is a lake near them, adorned with an edging
Herodotus
of stone. In form it is circular, and in size, as it seemed to me, about
equal to the lake in Delos called the Hoop [ …] On this lake it is
that the Egyptians represent by night his sufferings whose
name I refrain from mentioning, and this representation they
call their Mysteries.” [2.170.1 - 2.171.1]
 The Abydos Passion Play
• The involvement of the public during these public displays was at times enthusiastic and the acting was
quite realistic, for later Greek historians tell us that many actor-warriors died of the wounds received in the
"sham" battles between the enemies of Osiris and the forces led by his son, Horus:
“[…] at Papremis they do sacrifice and worship as elsewhere, and besides that, when the sun begins to go
down while some few of the priests are occupied with the image of the god, the greater number of them
stand in the entrance of the temple with wooden clubs, and other persons to the number of more than a
thousand men with purpose to perform a vow, these also having all of them staves of wood, stand in a
body opposite to those: and the image, which is in a small shrine of wood covered over with gold, they
take out on the day before to another sacred building.
The few then who have been left about the image, draw a wain [wagon] with four wheels, which bears the
shrine and the image that is within the shrine, and the other priests standing in the gateway try to prevent it
from entering, and the men who are under a vow come to the assistance of the god and strike them, while
the others defend themselves. Then there comes to be a hard fight with staves, and they break one
another's heads, and I am of opinion that many even die of the wounds they receive; the Egyptians
however told me that no one died.
This solemn assembly the people of the place say that they established for the following reason:--the
mother of Ares, they say, used to dwell in this temple, and Ares, having been brought up away from her,
when he grew up came thither desiring to visit his mother, and the attendants of his mother's temple, not
having seen him before, did not permit him to pass in, but kept him away; and he brought men to help him
from another city and handled roughly the attendants of the temple, and entered to visit his mother. Hence,
they say, this exchange of blows has become the custom in honour of Ares upon his festival.”

- Herodotus (Histories II)

 Other Extant Dramatic Texts
• The Heb-Sed Jubilee (or the Coronation Jubilee) was one of the oldest feasts of ancient
Egypt, celebrated by the king after 30 years of rule and repeated every 3 years thereafter.

• It is believed that the ceremonies represented a ritual

reenactment of the the events of the king’s reign as
well as the unification of Egypt.

• According to wall reliefs and paintings, the king first presented

offerings to a series of gods and then was crowned, first with the
white crown of Upper Egypt and then with the red crown of
Lower Egypt. Finally, the king, dressed in a short kilt with an
animal’s tail in back, danced and ran a ritual course four times
(to prove that he was still physically able to rule the country and,
in doing so, was rejuvenated and reborn) and was then carried
Wall relief from the Heb-Sed court
away in a great procession to visit the chapels of the gods of in the Step Pyramid complex of
Upper and Lower Egypt. Djoser, in Ṣa qqārah
 Other Extant Dramatic Texts
• The Ra Plays
– Plays that feature the Egyptian sun god
Ra and his nocturnal fight with Apophis,
the snake god of the underworld.
– Apophis was always defeated.

Apophis, the serpent

of darkness, is slain by
the sun-god Ra in the
form of a cat.
Egyptian sun god Ra
Other Extant Dramatic Texts

• The Medicinal Plays

– Evolved around the idea of
magical healing.
– Sample plot: Isis (the goddess of
simplicity, protector of the dead
and the goddess of children)
heals her son from a scorpion bite
by using a magical cure.
Other Extant Dramatic Texts
• There are other texts thought by some Egyptologists to
constitute dramas, including parts of the Coffin Texts, parts of
the Book of the Dead, the Metternich Stele, the Papyrus
Bremner-Rhind, and the Louvre Papyrus 3129.

• The lack of agreement on which texts constitute drama leads

to difficulties in studying drama as a distinct class of text.

Papyrus from the Book of

the Dead tells the story of
the scribe Hunefer in the
waiting room of the
afterlife: of how his fate
hangs in the balance as
his heart is weighed
against a feather upon the
scales of Maat, the scales
of eternal justice, by the
jackal-headed god
Anubis.
The Near East
• In addition to Egyptian texts, others from the Near East -
Sumerian, Babylonian, Hittite, Canaanite, and so on - date
from 2500 BCE onward and show that the number of gods
worshipped by the people of that region was enormous.

• The texts are for the most part concerned with the seasonal
patters of birth, growth, maturity, death, and resurrection.

• Some scholars seek to establish that these

texts were full-fledged dramas.

Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic

 The Influence of Egypt and the Near East

• Egypt maintained an advanced civilizations for some 3000 years (a period

longer than the one that separates us from the beginnings of Greek drama).

• Contacts among the civilizations of the eastern Mediterranean were constant.

• Greeks acknowledged considerable indebtedness to the Egyptians, Phoenicians

(from whom they borrowed the alphabet), and others.

In the Tomb of Rekhmire (1450 B.C.) wall paintings show Aegean’s giving tributes to Pharaoh.
 The Influence of Egypt and the Near East

• The Greek historian Herodotus after visiting Egypt around 450,

noted two performances there and commented that Dionysus, the god
in whose honor plays were presented in Greece, was another version
of Osiris.

– "For no Gods are worshipped by all Egyptians in

common except Isis and Osiris, who they say is
Dionysos; these are worshipped by all alike."
- Herodotus, The Histories, 2.42

– "Osiris is he who is called Dionysos in the Greek tongue."

- Herodotus, The Histories, 2.144
• Many historians have minimized the influence of Egypt and the Near
East on Greece, motivated by racism and anti-Semitism, and the
desire to maintain European superiority.
 5th Century B.C.E.
• Egyptian deities were worshipped under Egyptian names- and followed
Egyptian rituals- throughout Greece, the East Mediterranean and later the
whole Roman world.
• It was only after the collapse of Egyptian religion in the 2nd century C.E.
that other Eastern cults (Christianity) began to replace it.
• By the fourth century, Amon (Egyptian ram
god) was being worshiped in Athens.
• Alexander the Great considered himself to
be the son of Amon (Osiris/ Dionysus)
and was buried in Egypt.
Osiris and Dionysus
• Critics sees this only as ‘Egyptomania’,
which deluded the Ancient Greeks’ understanding of history.
 Greek Nationalism
• Persian War, early 5th century B.C.E.
• After the Persian War, there was a rise in hatred of ‘barbarians’ (non
Greeks) among many Greeks. This caused Greeks to downplay cultural
influences of Near East and invent new stories of colonization and
civilization (myth of Danaos?)
• Many Greeks, such as Aeschylus and Plato, were offended by the legends
of colonization because they put Hellenic culture in an inferior position to
that of the Egyptians and Phoenicians.
• This may be why writers such as Thucydides did not mention these legends.
• The Egyptians and Phoenicians were despised and feared, but respected for
their religion and philosophy.
• Phoenicians were the most powerful part of the Persian army.
 Needing the Egyptians
• Egypt was considered the cultural ancestor to Europe.

• In 1798 C.E., Napoleon commanded a large scientific and cultural assessment of Egypt
and tried to claim its past for France.

• The Freemasons (a secret fraternal and aristocratic organization) used Egyptian signs in
ritual ceremonies.

• In 1820 C.E., began Egyptology and reading of the hieroglyphics.

• Europeans thought they would find the secret of the universe, or something like Greek
philosophy.

• Instead, extant artifacts suggested to Europeans that Egyptians were not intellectuals,
philosophers or artists, but craftsmen who had different preoccupations than the Greeks.

• The idea of Egyptian ancestry fell from grace.

• Since Egypt was eclipsed, scholars reassessed the other half of the
ancient model, Phoenicia.

• There was a rise in anti-Semitism toward Phoenicians (who were

seen as the Jews of the ancient world). Therefore, they could not
be a part of European ancestry.

• During the later 19th century C.E., Europeans obsessively sought

to define what was unique and superior about them, so they
needed the Greeks.
Needing the Greeks (18th century C.E.)
• The Enlightenment: during the Enlightenment, science and progress were the
new ideals.
• A new race science developed which tried to prove that blacks were only
slightly more evolved than apes.
• Zenith of perfection was the white man, shown as Greek god Apollo.
• King Louis XIV of France associated his rule with Apollo, the Sun King, as a
metaphor for his divine right to be king, and
to establish himself as a central figure of power.
• Scientific proof was used to justify the massive
exploitation that was occurring in Africa.
• Africa, therefore, could never have been part of the
European civilization.
Needing the Greeks (18th -19th century C.E.)
• Romanticism: there was a strong reaction against the imitative Romans and
a great love for the original Greeks.

• Romantics had an aesthetic vision of the

Greeks.

• The Romantics loved the idea of a childhood

free from the corruption of later life. Greece
resembled the pure childhood of Europe.

The Twelve Olympians by

Monsiau
 Needing the Greeks (20th Century C.E.)
• Modern nation states called on the Greek ideal to call their troops to war in
WWI. The Peloponnesian War, part II.
- The British adopted Athens as their mascot ancient Greek City.
- The Germans picked Sparta.

• In the 1930’s, Nazis claimed ancient Greece for themselves.

- Racially cleansed of impure Semitic and
African ancestries
- Greek civilization confirmed superior and
destiny of Aryan race.
 The Influence of the Greeks

• The Greek colonists brought with them to Egypt their own theatrical
traditions, which were part of the cult of Dionysus.
New Comedy mask
made of terracotta

• Under the Ptolemies some regions of Egypt became hellenized, most famously parts
of the western Delta and the Fayum, and the settlers followed the customs of their
forefathers, little influenced by native Egyptian usages.

• The theatre at Oxyrhynchos could hold more than 10,000

spectators. According to papyri found in tombs, they watched
the same plays as did the Greeks all over the Mediterranean.
Plan of the Roman
theatre at Oxyrhynchos

• Some of these plays were preserved partially or fully on papyri found in Egypt:
Menander's Dyskolos and The Man from Sikyon, The Persians by Timotheus of
Miletus, Euripides' Hypsipyle, or the satyr play Ichneutai by Sophocles.