The Private Feast Lists of Ancient Egypt

Book excerpt: This volume covers the numerous small lists of feasts that occur mainly on stelae and in tombs. A chronological study is presented wherein the major phases of Pharaonic Egypt (Old Kingdom to the Ptolemaic Period) are covered. Questions of dating these inscriptions as well as reasons concerning alterations in the lists form a major part of the discussion. In particular, differences in arrangement of these private celebrations both within a specific time period as well as between eras provide causes for the alterations of religious patterns of a non-royal sort. Calendrical ideas are likewise surveyed although for the most part the aim of this study remains focused upon the religious events themselves.Material of an ancillary nature (including some data from royal inscriptions) will be found only when they provide light upon the private religious practices.