Description

Inheriting a long tradition of veneration of the dead, the specific rite of the decadal theologies addressed to the deceased ancient Egyptian gods is the consecration of food (w3h jh.t) in conjunction with incens (sntr) and libation (qbhw). The verbal locution sfsf 3w(.t), which is the subject of this study, only emerged later and will remain more limited. It has long been associated with mortuary cult, particularly in the context of Theban decade rites, which flourished from the end of the 20th Dynasty to the beginning of the 21st Dynasty and developed further in the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. On the basis of a corpus of evidence, La lustration des offrandes sfsf 3w(.t) allows a better understanding of the specificities of this ritual act and its use by individuals and in divine temples. In the context of the pouring water acts (qbhw), the act sfsf 3w(.t) consists of purifying the (solid) offerings by lustration, i.e. sprinkling them with pure water.