General Information

As we can see from the role of the King, government and religious function were closely linked. Even from the earliest times the priestly offices were often held by members of the royal family, and in the Middle Kingdom civil administrators like town mayors etc., acted as high priests. Such was still the case in the New Kingdom. The office of governor/mayor of the city and the overseer of gods servants were one and the same until the reign of Hatshepsut. Other functions attached to temples were overseers of the different levels of priesthood, of distribution of offerings, of goods, of foods, of various deliverances, etc.

There was a difference between ‘higher’ and ‘lower’ priesthood, and there was a difference between the priesthood and other temple personnel. The latter ones could only enter the outer parts of the temple, like just inside the temple wall or the outer courts. Priests were required to be ritually pure in order to enter the next area of purity: the temple building and the sanctuary, and to touch the offerings intended for the god, or eat them after they had been absorbed by the god. There was yet another step to priests of the highest level of hierarchy, who were entitled to advance into the innermost sphere of purity: to open the naos and tend to the god directly.

Appointment of Office

The highest priest was the King, who had the sovereign right to perform rituals at any and all temples. It was his duty to build and consecrate temples, to purify himself every dawn and appear before the shrine of the cult statue with incense and offerings and perform the ritual at sunrise. The appointed priesthood were all his deputies and already in the Old and Middle Kingdom, all men who had an important post with the administration or government, also served in a temple as priests for certain months each year. Here we can see how closely state and religion were knit together.

Theoretically all priestly appointments were done by the king, who handpicked persons for important posts like those at Mennefer (Memphis), Iunu (Heliopolis) and Waset (Thebes). He could also reward certain people with a priestly title, or condescend to give a post away to those who bartered for them. Otherwise, the tjatey (vizier), a high priest or a clerical assembly at an important cult center was delegated to take care of appointments. Further, it was frequent that a priestly office was handed down from father to son, once a family had been placed by Royal Decree as wardens of as specific cult. There are however no textual remains for a formal training for the priesthood from earlier times, beyond that of a scribe´s, and it is said that kings often complained about having to instruct priests in forgotten rites. A late period papyrus tells us that there was an examination to be done when applying for the priesthood. It is likely that there was some sort of theological training, as the rituals and the procedures in the temples were quite rigorous .

Working Time and Payment

Not all of the ancient priesthood worked full-time in the temples. This became common from the New Kingdom onwards as the clergy developed and grew in numbers, especially in the higher social hierarchy. When not serving their temple month they lived family life and tended their estates or other occupations.

Having a full time or even part time occupation in the priesthood meant a safe living for many. The temples were economically supported by the Crown, they received offerings and were sometimes vast landowners. Priests working part time could get payment in form of land allotments from the temple estates, daily rations of bread and beer etc. These allotments for part time priests were not big, so often they served at several temples to support themselves.

Added to that was the religious experience, which must have been profound for those working with rituals close to the cult statue. To behold the presence of the God as incarnated in the cult statue, must have meant an awe-inspiring sense of being in touch with the Source of Creation. It must too have gone beyond the practicalities involved in the office, to embrace also a spiritual ideal, grown out of, and defined by, the knowledge that life, happiness and success was due to the gods and their Presence.

Purity

Ritual purity was of utmost importance. Nothing ‘impure’ was to come before the god, it was not allowed into any part of the temple building. This effected both the clothing of the clergy and what it could eat, though of course the prescriptions varied through time and place, as well as between cult centers.

Another, more mundane reason for purity came out of the necessity for cleanliness. Egypt was a country where insect bites and heat could have disastrous results. It was thought that diseases of all kinds originated from evil spirits and demons and that cleanliness/purity was part of the cure to keep them at bay. Naturally, nothing impure could then be allowed in front of the god, wether human, animal or material of any kind.

A priest purified his whole body with water and natron before each service. This was done in the ‘sacred lake’ which was included at each temple precinct. Water was a symbol of Nun, the Primeval Water where all life had once originated. So the priest was ‘renewed’, with new life by this ritual. He then put on clean, white linen, his white sandals were purified, everything he touched from that point onwards, which he was bringing into the temple was purified - food, plates, jars, everything had been purified in advance by wa’ebs (priests responsible for purity).

At certain cults shaving off of all bodily hair and even eyebrows, was prescribed. Circumcision was also practised, at least it is reported in the Late Period but we don’t know for sure how far back in time this was in practise. This too had a practical side for reasons of cleanliness.

Another requirement was sexual abstinence during the period of temple service. Celibacy did not exist, but at least in later periods, before entering the temple, abstinence from women for several days was required for reasons of purity. We should remember here, that temple musicians and singers were often women, so it was not a question of women being impure but that the sexual act itself could transmit impurities into the temple.

Clothing

Priests were required to wear white linen garb and white sandals. Wool was considered as unclean and could not be worn as it came from live beings and could transfer impurity/uncleanliness. It seems that the priesthood had dressed in the same way since the earliest times, in some instances with specific details added, showing what function they filled. As examples: sem-priests (funerary priests) could be defined by the panther skin they wore, and in early dynasties (Dyn 3) they even wore a side lock-of-youth. Lector priests wore a sash across their chests, and the high priest at Mennefer (Memphis) had a specially formed collar and a side lock.

Food Restrictions

There were many restrictions regarding food, these too shifted through time and between localities. They also depended upon which deity was in question, and which was the sacred animal for this deity. In one cult fish was prohibited food and would never be offered, in another the same went for bulls. All these food restrictions were tied to events told about in myths, and were also tied to specific nomes and the deities which were worshipped there.