The double was-sceptre province, a study of cultual geography of ancient Egypt

Abstract

This paper presents the cultual geography of ancient Egypt through the diachronic study of the double was-sceptre province and its topographic (agricultural territory, irrigation canal and marshy terrain) and cult components. The methodology employed integrates data from different types of sources: geographical processions and hymns, encyclopedias and priestly manuals. Results of the analysis of the decorative program as well as the alterations in the naological syntax in the geographical processions at Dendara and Abydos are shown. From the proscription of the cult to Seth, its main god, onwards this sepat received a singular treatment in the sources. This fact reveals a certain interaction between the sacralised representation and the historical dynamics of the territory. The relocation of the capital and the metamorphosis of local cults are indicative of the Egyptian cultural resilience to a situation of religious and climatic crisis.

Keywords: Cultual geography, Middle Egypt, sepat, geographical processions, Seth, oxyrhynchus fish.