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MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN PERSONAL RELIGION: LETTERS TO THE DEAD

A RESEARCH PAPER

SUBMITTED

TO DR. DAWN MCCORMACK

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

BY

KATIE STRINGER

MURFREESBORO, TENNESSEE

5 NOVEMBER 2010

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Ancient Egyptian religion is an incredibly complex subject with innumerable

paradoxes and logistical problems for modern Westerners. When broken down into selected

topics, study of religion becomes somewhat more manageable, though Egyptians believed in

varying and contradictory convictions without questioning the feasibility of those

inconsistencies. The aspects of magic as related to religion are still rather complex and

confusing, but the research undertaken in this paper relates to non-royal personal piety and

personal religion as related to death and the deceased who reside in the afterlife. In particular,

research undertaken in this article relates to many aspects of letters which were written to the

deceased by their living relatives or acquaintances.

Egyptians wrote letters, which will be investigated in more depth in the following

pages, to their dead ancestors and associates to intervene for the living certain situations on

their behalf either in the afterlife or in the world of the living. What religious beliefs affected

their ideas that this would happen, and did Egyptians believe that their letters would work?

Prior to the New Kingdom, religion mostly related only to funerary aspects of the elite or

royal people. John Baines, however, wrote several intriguing and informative articles on the

religious practices of non-royal people and their interactions with gods and religion, which

has been very beneficial to the writing of this essay.1 Other sources, such as the translations

of letters themselves, were advantageous to the study of Egyptian religion and beliefs.

Ancient Egyptian Religion and the Afterlife

Religion in Ancient Egypt was extremely complex and diverse; however, one

generalization that may be made is that the religion scholars know of today from the Old and

Middle Kingdoms comes mainly from the official religion of the kings and their mortuary

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temples, or the priests who were responsible for the state religion. It seems as if the king was

the responsible party for the religion of most ordinary people; he acted as the intermediary

between mankind and the gods as the religious figure of the state. 2 However, religion was

varied, and many different aspects of religion and religious beliefs coexisted together. As

Baines states, “Religion need not be a single, homogeneous mode of discourse, there is no

reason, apart from some overarching theory, for insisting that a single form of it pervaded all

of life from the beginning of history.”3 Egyptians did not worry themselves with

inconsistencies or contradictions that many Westerners who think in a linear way would find

troubling.

An explanation of the aspects of a person’s souls is essential to understanding how

Egyptians viewed the afterlife and their fate after death. Rosalie David’s Religion and Magic

in Ancient Egypt offers an explanation of those individual parts of a personality and the

purpose as well as characteristics of each. The ka could be most easily explained as a

person’s “double” which at death became a separate part of the personality which was neither

physical nor mortal. David describes this aspect as “the essential self of an individual, acting

as his guide and protector.”4 The ka received offerings from the deceased’s relatives.

The ba, which is sometimes translated by scholars as meaning “soul,” is considered to

be the “spiritual body” of the person who has died. After death, the ba and deceased person’s

body could come back together after death. The ba, which is depicted as a human-headed

bird, could also travel outside of the tomb to places the person went in life. To reunite with

the body, the ba had to be able to recognize the body, which is an explanation of

mummification of the deceased.5

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The akh was also an important part of a deceased person’s personality. David explains

that both the living and the dead could use the supernatural powers of the akh. Apparently,

the akh is the part of the soul that letter writers primarily focused on; as the glorified spirit of

the person, the akh could travel among the world of the living and the afterlife, as well as

intercede or help the living or the dead.6 Essentially, when a person died, the akh became like

the Western idea of a “ghost” and was able to interact with both the worlds of the living and

the dead.7 The akh could also participate in the afterlife tribunal on the behalf of living

people. This is almost in contrast to the living helping the ka as the akh helps the living; both

the akh and ka are parts of the same personality.

This may leave some room for interpretation by scholars today who have questions

about the afterlife. Was the ba like a ghost or spirit that could travel? Did others encounter

the ba on its travels, or is it on a different “plane?” So far there has been little research into

these questions. Geraldine Pinch’s Magic in Ancient Egypt offers explanations of religious

magic and practices among ancient Egyptians in more detail. The ka did not possess

personality, but the ba did maintain the deceased’s characteristics; the two were rejoined after

death. Once the afterlife was attained, after many tests and tribulations, the ba would, “attain

the status of an akh, a ‘transfigured’ spirit.”8 The author then explains that the ba of a person

is very rarely described as malicious or a threat to the living. However, she does mention that

“demon messengers” or “ghosts” did pose a threat to humans.9 The extent of these threats is

explored below, in relation to the letters to the dead.

The afterlife itself is complex as well. One aspect is the tomb itself as an extension of

life. According to Wente in an article on funerary beliefs Egyptian funerary texts included the

common statement, “the corpse to the earth, and the ba [soul] to heaven.”10

While the ba

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remained with the mummy and also returned to the afterlife, in the form of a bird, the

mummy, as the human remains, stayed in the tomb. The afterlife itself was an extension of

life on earth; shabtis, as a means to prevent an excessive workload in the afterlife, evidence

the idea that work was still performed in the afterlife. The system of time-keeping in the

afterlife was also probably thought of as an eternity or infinity, as the deceased joined the

gods in their duties. The afterlife and the lives of the gods were thought of as existing in

cyclical time, such as Ra and his daily birth and rebirth which are continuous and unending

cycles.11

Personal or Popular Relationships with Gods

Popular religion practices sometimes show the relationship that people had with the

gods. Prayers by non-royal people are shown to include requests for human wants or needs

such as, pleas for help, spiritual requests, material requests, and personal requests. Specific

examples of requests include access to the favor of the gods and desires for attaining the gods’

love.12

Material requests of the gods include food, clothing and housing; personal requests

include health, life and prosperity13

as well as the more specific requests for a good wife, the

satisfaction of personal pride, a good social and domestic life14

, or even such vain requests as

for good looks and a long life. These prayers are generally formulaic and follow standards,

similar to the Egyptian letters to the dead. Many of the letters to the gods come after the

period of time when letters to the dead were written, perhaps suggesting a shift in the belief

system and hierarchy of Egyptian religion.15

Relationships with the gods were also expressed through the naming of children.

Many names that are known from Ancient Egypt contain aspects of a god’s name. However,

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the names are not necessarily related to a specific interaction with the god, but instead the

names indicate the help or involvement of a god in the particularly difficult birth process.16

Personal Religion

John Baines also wrote a chapter titled “Society, Morality, and Religious Practice” in

Religion in Ancient Egypt: Gods, Myths, and Personal Practice which offers information

regarding the various religious practices of non-royal people. He begins the chapter by

explaining that the Egyptian language does not have a single term in its vocabulary that can

be translated to “religion,” which again demonstrates the complexity of what scholars of

Ancient History designate as “Egyptian religion.”17

Though the king may have been seen as the responsibly party during some time

periods for his subjects’ religious practice18

the Egyptian people surely had their own

practices and beliefs that they were capable of exercising themselves. However, since many

of the ordinary people probably did not have access to the same religious materials or

expensive tombs as the royal or elites, this information is much harder to find today, if it could

be found at all. Examples of worship of household gods, such as Bes, remain along with

other objects related to personal religion and ancestor cults discussed below.

Popular religion among ancient Egyptians included offerings to the gods, requests to

both the gods and the deceased such as intercession, pleas for help, and various processes of

divination.19

Though much information remains about the official religion, thanks to the

kings’ legacies and the remains of the elite as well as the desert’s preservation qualities,

scholars still struggle to decipher the mystery of popular religion.20

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Another aspect of personal or popular religion is the process of gift-giving for special

occasions. During times of celebration such as births or festivals, people would present each

other with food or other useful household gifts.21

Janssen’s article focuses mainly on the

process of gift-giving as an economic system, but the relationship between giving gifts to

living relatives and acquaintances may transfer over to letters to the dead. This may

especially be true since the gulf between the living and the dead was not perceived to be a

great hindrance to any type of communication but rather a matter of a physical distance.22

Magic and Religion

Robert Kriech Ritner begins his book, The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical

Practice with a definition of magic from Webster’s dictionary. The definition explains that

magic is, “the use of means (as ceremonies, charms, spells) that are believed to have

supernatural power to cause a supernatural being to produce or prevent a particular result (as

rain, death, healing) considered not attainable by natural means.”23

However, this definition

is problematic in the context of Ancient Egypt, because Egyptians did not consider magic to

be unnatural; indeed, Egyptians believed that magic was a part of nature and the natural order

of life.24

Religion and magic were an important and integral part of Egyptian culture from the

beginning of their culture. The first “magical” amulets found date to the fourth millennium

BCE, and the first magical texts appear around the third millennium BCE.25

Magic, or

Egyptian heka, was something that all the gods as well as some of the glorified dead

possessed. Another word for magical powers, akhu, was also thought to have been an aspect

of underworld deities and the “blessed dead.” These powers were not considered to have

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been either good or evil, but the dead did have the ability to use their powers to influence the

living or dead.26

An important part of heka, or magic, was writing.27

As discussed in course lectures,

the Egyptian word for hieroglyphs, medew netjer, means “the words of the gods” or divine

words, and shows their magical properties.28

Perhaps their belief in the power of words and

writing is a reason archaeologists and scholars today have physical letters that were written to

the dead. An oral tradition may have existed or accompanied the letters, particularly for the

literate population; however, perhaps the letters that were written were considered more

powerful or effective.

Magic among private individuals usually involved life crises, as mentioned in Baines’

article, as a type of “crisis management.”29

Rather than using magic only after a crisis,

Egyptians often employed preemptory, or prophylactic, magical defense as a means to prevent

trouble.30

The magic used by Egyptians did call on people or things that reside in the afterlife,

but the magic was not necessarily seen as evil or demonic.31

In most of Egyptian religion, “sweetness and light dominate official sources” rather

than concentrating on the negative or evil side of the world and underworld.32

The official

public documents from Egypt generally do not mention or regard any supernatural beings

other than gods and goddesses. However, in documents that are not related to the state, such

as magical texts, evil or negative forces are indicated. The natural order of life, or ma’at, was

sometimes disturbed, and some personal religious practices are probably related to those

disturbances. Life centered on several main events, such as birth, puberty, parenthood, and

death, and afflictions such as natural disasters, medical maladies, and unexpected death were

thought to have occurred for specific reasons.33

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“Observances” were often used to relate religion to the instabilities of life. People

would often try to please the gods or the dead as a preemptive measure towards disaster.

Other preventative measures included the wearing of amulets or the practice of superstitious

activities. These actions show how religion and magic were integral parts of Egyptian life,

both in the world of the living, as well as in the afterlife. Many of the magical practices of

ancient Egyptians are concerned with preventing or counteracting the disturbances

encountered in life.34

In Egyptian belief, magic was a “basic cosmic force” which was not considered, as it

is in many western cultures today, to be a disruptive concept on the periphery of the

mainstream culture. Everyone in Egyptian culture who had access to information regarding

magic, which may have included all levels of society, would have practiced magic to some

extent. Therefore, magic was not seen as a “black art” or an aberrant art.35

Ancestor Cults

Ancestor cults are another important aspect of personal religion. Stelae and offering

tables found at both houses and chapels in Deir el-Medina are dedicated to the “excellent

spirit,” or perhaps the akh of a deceased relative. The names and memories of the individuals,

who are now glorified spirits in the afterlife, are preserved on the stelae and offering tables.

Offerings were made to the spirit, as well as offerings of stone carvings of flowers.36

Apart from the offerings of food and drink to the dead person’s ka on a somewhat

consistent basis, on holidays and special occasions relatives would hold banquets or festivals

near the tombs of their ancestors. The meals that were shared with dead ancestors at these

picnics express the feeling that the dead relatives are still felt, and perhaps not really dead and

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gone, but instead dead and apart from a distance from the living.37

In many cultures in the

southern United States, as well as in Egypt today, many people still have a similar practice of

picnicking and tending to graves on weekends or holidays.

A further indication of ancestor worship is the presence of human-headed busts found

in niches of several houses in Deir el-Medina. These are likely associated with ancestor cults,

and prayers and offerings were likely offered to the dead to nourish the deceased in the

afterlife.38

Florence Friedman’s article on such busts, found at Deir el-Medina also gives

some interesting information regarding ancestor worship and how it may have related to

letters to the dead.39

The author proposes that the busts represent deceased relatives who

could affect the affairs of the living. Friedman believes that the letters to the dead were left in

chapels before statues much like the ones in the homes of workmen at Dei el-Medina.40

The

statues were perhaps in the homes for similar purposes; family members were responsible for

keeping their deceased relatives happy so as to prevent the dead from interfering negatively

with their lives. The busts of ancestors were probably used in a similar way to the letters to

the dead as well. Friedman claims that perhaps the statues were seen as intermediaries

between the living and the dead, and they could also prevent afflictions through their magic.41

Relationships Between the Living with the Dead

Many people who suffered misfortune or afflictions did not have a way to interact with

deities. Ordinary people had barely any interaction, if any, with the official religious practices

of the state. This resulted in an inequality of interaction with the gods and state religion for

ordinary, or non-elite and non-royal people.42

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Once a person entered the afterlife, he or she would desire a peaceful existence away

from the trouble of earthly life. However, in death many people were still called to assist

others from their role on earth. According to Baines, both the living and the dead existed in

the same community, and people who were deceased were capable of interacting with the

living either positively or negatively. The dead required their living relatives to assist them in

death through offerings or support in the afterlife such as food or drink, and this made an

impact on the living that were required to maintain their dead ancestors. However, after about

a generation, many ancestors were forgotten or no longer maintained.43

Sources from the Old Kingdom to the Late period explain that the dead were

supposedly capable of harming the living according to several sources listed by Baines in

“Practical Religion and Piety” which are related in this paper.44

Magic used among the

Egyptians does not seem to contain “evil witchcraft” or sorcery, though as Baines points out,

this belief could be based on a lack of sources that would explain such practices.45

Problems in life usually resulted in communication with the dead. If a person felt that

he or she had experienced unfairness in life, that person could ask a deceased person for help

after traditional means were unsuccessful. Deceased relatives were expected to help their

relatives. However, the dead were not always cooperative in the eyes of the living; many

times the deceased relative was thought to have been unhappy with their living relatives either

for something that they experienced in their life, or from a lack of attention given to them by

those who were still alive. If the person was unhappy with their relative, their discontent

could cause problems with litigation in the afterlife as well as personal problems for the living

relative.46

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Curses by the deceased, often found in tombs, are another example of the relationship

between the dead and the living. If a tomb was destroyed or damaged by a living person, the

person whom the tomb belonged to could harm the demolisher either in their life or the

afterlife. Another malady that could befall the person who carelessly destroyed the tomb of

the deceased could be the prosecution of the destroyer by a tribunal in the afterlife. Almost

always, the deceased won the case, and the wrongdoer would, “suffer hideously, either in this

life or when attempting the transition to the next.”47

These examples show the influence that

the dead could still have upon the living; in the case of curses, the effect was a negative

though arguably deserved persecution.

Snakes, crocodiles and scorpions are often mentioned in texts as the threats that people

who violated tombs would encounter. The person who violated the tomb would also answer

to a god in the afterlife, or would sometimes be made to answer to the deceased’s spirit.

Whether the confrontation would take place in the person’s earthly life or in the afterlife is

unclear.48

Along with seemingly “deserved” problems caused by the dead, the living also

thought that the dead were responsible for other problems that befell them. Superstition

dictated that events which may have a very natural explanation (Baines gives the example of a

hyena attacking a person’s animals) were actually the result of a malicious dead person’s

actions. In order to avert such “natural” occurrences, the living gave offerings to the dead to

keep them happy and prevent offense.49

Texts are unclear on who exactly these “spirits” are;

some seem to list the spirits separately from the “dead.”50

However, the malicious “dead” are

probably considered those in the underworld who did not pass the test of entry and were

instead damned.51

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Egyptians believed that contact with the dead was normal and expected. There were

several ways to communicate, but one of the most important systems of communication was

through letters to the dead. Living people who believed that someone had wronged them or

that they had “suffered an injustice” asked for help through a letter that was written to

someone who existed in the afterlife.52

Letters to the Dead

Letters to the dead are, fundamentally, a form of communication between a person and

his or her deceased relatives or acquaintances. The letters are written in much the same way

any other letter was formed to a living person, with a greeting and request. Edward Wente

published several letters to the dead in his 1990 book Letters from Ancient Egypt. He

introduces the letters with general information regarding the letters. Because the afterlife is

considered a continuation of earthly life, Wente does not regard communication with the dead

as unexpected.53

The letters are written on various types of material. There has been at least one letter

found which was written on papyrus. Other than that example, at least one, The Cairo Letter,

has been found to have been written on linen. The other examples of letters to the dead

appear on pottery vessels or bowls. The letter N3500 is also on papyrus, and may be the

earliest example of a letter to the dead.54

The time period from which the letters come varies. Letters are found from almost all

periods of Egyptian history, from the Old Kingdom to the New Kingdom.55

This paper

explores letters from the Old Kingdom, First Intermediate Period, and New kingdom.

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Reasons for the seeming termination of the letters to dead are also explored below, as part of a

shift in religion to letters to gods instead of to dead relatives.

Few letters exist today, and many of the letters are probably from the portion of the

population that was literate.56

However, the question remains of whether or not individuals

could hire scribes to write the letters for them. Additionally, there may have been an oral

tradition that accompanied or sometimes superseded the writing aspects of the letters. The

letters scholars have today are found in tombs near offering tables where the deceased person

would certainly see and read them.57

Another possibility for the reason scholars have so few

letters is that they were written on a perishable item that was unable to last throughout the

millennia and elements.

The letters presented within are illustrations only of the elite. As Baines states, “only

by extension can such practices be posited for the rest of the population.”58

However, it is

also interesting to note that both men and women have been found to be authors of letters to

the dead. The role of men versus women in the afterlife as well as the role they play in

“haunting” relatives is somewhat complex and will be explored in more detail after an

explanation of the letters themselves.

Many of the correspondences from the living to the dead were written because in some

instances, the living believed that the dead were intentionally impairing or hindering their

lives. The example of a letter written by a man to his deceased wife is a great example of

such an occurrence, and that letter is explored in greater detail below.59

Many of the letters to

deceased relatives remind the dead that they are not at fault while also prompting the reader to

believe that the living had done everything he or she could for the deceased person while they

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were alive, as well as now after the deceased’s earthly life. Additionally, the letter is often

accompanied with an offering to appease the deceased’s spirit.60

Baines explains in Shafer’s Religion in Ancient Egypt that the letters may have had a

spoken component as well as written, but obviously there is no archaeological evidence for

oral tradition.61

Perhaps if such an oral tradition existed, it may have been easier for the

normal or ordinary and uneducated people to practice.

Letters imply a judgment system in the afterlife which may impact either the living or

the dead- which it affects is not clear from the letters. Aside from judgment and litigation

regarding inheritance and other legal matters, letters also ask the deceased to stop essentially

“haunting” the living.62

Examples of each with further commentary are seen below. Baines

also reveals that letters to the dead are rather rare when one considers that less than twenty

have been discovered from a period of time which covers more than 1000 years.63

The letters are generally written after the writer has suffered a misfortune or injustice

to a recipient who is either responsible for the misfortune or who can act on their behalf.

Letters often mention litigation or an afterlife tribunal where spirits of the deceased could deal

with cases involving the dead and living. The deceased person is expected to either stop

harming the living or prevent the other deceased, akh, from harming their living relative.

Most letters contain an explanation of the actions of the living relative, both during the

deceased’s life and death, to assist and praise the deceased.64

Letters seem to have been

addressed to the akh aspects of a person, rather than the ka. In effect, the ka was the aspect of

an individual’s personality that the living were responsible for maintaining, and in return, the

akh was responsible for helping the family members or friends who were still alive who were

assisting the ka.65

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Letters to the Dead with Commentary

The following section will chronologically detail several of the letters to the dead with

commentary and interpretation of the translations.

Letter 1: Letter from a Wife and Son to her Deceased Husband, Dynasty 6

This is the first example of a letter from Dynasty 6. The letter is found on the Cairo

Linen CG 25975. The letter is one of the only known letters written on linen rather than

pottery. The letter is, in part, as follows:

It is a sister (i.e. wife) who addresses her brother (i.e. husband), and it

is a son who addresses his father.

Your condition is like that of one who lived innumerable times. May

Ha, lord of the West, and may Anubis, lord of burial, help you, as we

both desire.

This is a reminder of the fact that Behezti’s agent came for leather

while I was sitting by your head, when Irti’s (i.e. my) son Iy was caused

to be summoned to vouch for Behzti’s agent and when you said, “Keep

him hidden for fear of Iy the elder! May the wood of this my bed which

bears me rot should the son of a man be debarred from his household

furniture.”

Now, in fact, the woman Wabut came together with Izezi, and they both

have devastated your house. It was in order to enrich Izezi that she

removed everything that was in it, they both wishing to impoverish

your son while enriching Izezi’s son. … she is taking away all your

personal menials after removing all that was in your house. Will you

remain calm about this? I would rather die and be by your side than to

see your son dependent upon Izezi’s son.

Awaken your father Iy against Behzti! Rouse yourself and make haste

against him! You know that I have come to you here about litigating

with Behzti and Aai’s son anankhi. Rouse yourself against them, you

and also your fathers, your brothers, and your relations and overthrow

[them].

Recall what you said to Irti’s (i.e. my) son Iy, “They are the houses of

ancestors that need to be sustained,”… may your son maintain your

house just as you maintained your father’s house.66

The letter is a great example of many of the letters as it follows what seems to be a

formulaic system of the letters, which will be obvious as more letters are explored. The writer

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begins with an introduction of who is writing and to whom. The writer asks the deceased to

intercede and to help his wife and son. The letter is a “reminder” of a situation involving

others who “devastated your house” and “removed everything that was in it, they both

wishing to impoverish your son while enriching Izezi’s son.” The letter next asks the

deceased to remember the situation and urges her dead husband to rise up and defend herself

and their son.

From this letter, the reader can learn about typical disputes regarding property and

debts. The living wife and son have probably exhausted all resources they know to consult,

and when none of those methods worked, the wife and son wrote to their former head of the

house, who is now deceased, to help them through his connections in the afterlife.

Letters 2 and 3: A Son to His Deceased Father and Son to His Mother, late Old Kingdom

This letter was found written on the inside of a late Old Kingdom Kaw Bowl. The

son, Shepsi, addresses his father Inekhenmut. This letter follows much of the same formula

as the previous with an introduction, reminder, synopsis, and request for help. In this

situation, Shepsi complains of his brother, who had at the time of writing passed into the

underworld where their parents reside. Shepsi claims innocence for any wrong-doings, and he

instead accuses that his brother, “had done what ought not to have been done.”67

Shepsi

seems to believe that because his father’s inheritance was left to himself instead of to the now

deceased brother, the brother is upset in the afterlife and is causing trouble for Shepsi who is

still living. Shepsi asks his father to intervene with the brother and explain the situation as

well as prevent the brother from causing any more trouble for Shepsi.68

Interestingly, the same Shepsi wrote to his mother, also in the afterlife, regarding the

same situation. He reminds his mother, Iy, of all the things he did for her in life, and he then

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explains his plight. He even describes what may be considered an ultimatum: Shepsi writes to

his mother that if he dies because of these problems no one will be left on earth to make

offerings on her behalf. Shepsi asks his mother to choose between himself and the brother,

Sobekhotep, whom he respected and helped both in life and in his afterlife. He claims that he

is being injured wrongfully, and requests that his brother be prevented from creating such

afflictions. He also adds that such wrongdoings are disgusting to the gods.69

These two letters follow the patterns and formulas of other letters to the dead. The

author is again requesting help from the dead, this time with another relative who is in the

afterlife.

Letter 4: A Son to His Deceased Father, Dynasty 9

This letter is another example of a son, Heni, writing to his deceased father, Meru.

The letter is from the time of Dynasty 9, and it is written on papyrus.70

This letter is the one

of the only letters that has been found or published that is written on papyrus instead of

pottery or linen.71

Again, a formula is in place for this letter to the deceased relative. In this

example, the deceased is asked to assist his son in preventing the person Seni from appearing

to him in dreams.72

Again, the writer explains that he was not responsible for the death of Seni, though it

seems from the letter than the dead Seni believes it was Heni’s fault that he was wounded.

The author admits that what happened to Seni did happen in his presence, but he should not

be held accountable. Heni requests that Meru prevent Seni from creating the disturbances

through dreams by guarding him until the dream visits cease once and for all.73

Letter 5: A Son to His Deceased Father, First Intermediate Period

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This letter addressed to a father from his son dates to the First Intermediate Period and

was found on a red pottery vessel. The vessel was different than most others found with

letters inscribed though, as it is a jar stand without a bottom, and it contains a lip at the top.74

The formula of the other letters is again revealed: a summary of the problem, the naming of

the person who is causing the problems, and a request for help. The letter also contains a

different aspect from the other letters explored here: the writer asks for a healthy son to be

born to his wife, as well as to his sister.

The letter is somewhat more confusing than the others as well. The author says, “Now

I have brought this jar stand over which your mother should institute litigation. May it be

agreeable for you to support her.”75

The “mother” can be assumed to be the paternal

grandmother of the writer, though the request made to her is unclear. This will be explored in

more detail below.

The letter then explains that there is an affliction being caused by two serving maids,

Nefertjentet and Itjai, though it is unclear whether the two women are dead or alive;

additionally, the author does not explicate the problem in detail. Because it is unclear whether

the serving maids are dead or alive, it is difficult to ascertain how the dead will help the

living. These details raise many questions that cannot be answered readily answered.

The letter closes with a request of a second healthy son for “your daughter,” assumed

to be the sister of the writer. This raises the question of the role the deceased played in the

afterlife: is the deceased capable of causing the woman to become pregnant, or does the dead

relative go to the gods with the author’s request? In the first part of the letter the author

claims, “let a healthy son be born to me, for you are an able spirit.”76

This may suggest that

the deceased is in fact responsible and capable of creating the pregnancy, though it is unclear

20

if the spirit has a direct role in this or an indirect role through appeal to the gods in the

afterlife.

Interestingly, Gardiner’s article about this letter to the dead mentions a figurine that

was found near the letter. The figure is of a woman who seems to be holding a male child.

Inscribed upon the figure is the statement, “may a birth be given unto thy daughter.”77

This

seems to be directly related to the letter, and it may have been given as an offering at the same

time as the letter. This reemphasizes the hope that the deceased father will use his influence

in the afterlife to bring a son to his daughter, the author’s sister.

Letter 6 – A Grandson to his Grandmother, First Intermediate Period

This letter has not yet been discovered, but scholar Jiří Janák writes of the letter which

may have been written at the same time as the one above, by the same author to his

grandmother.78

Janák claims that the letter above references another letter, which

archaeologists have not yet uncovered. In the letter to his father, the author says, “Now I have

brought this jar stand over which your mother should institute litigation.”79

This reference to

another letter was reconstructed by Janák in his article, “Revealed but Undiscovered: A New

Letter to the Dead.”

Janák believes that the letter was probably inscribed on a bowl, during the First

Intermediate Period as the letter above was. The letter to the author’s father is likely a

reinforcement of the letter to his grandmother which was probably a request for litigation with

a person in the afterlife who was causing him trouble, possibly the serving maids, Nefertjentet

and Itjai.80

Though this letter has not been found, it is an interesting theory which Janák has put

forth. Should the letter be found, it would be fascinating to see whether or not the theory

21

would hold. Additionally, the letter would possibly provide more information on the problem

between the author and the people who were causing the problems. The letter would also

possibly provide more information about the figurine which was found with the first letter,

regarding the request of a son for both the author and his sister.

Letter 7: From a Man to His Deceased Wife, Dynasty 19

This letter from the Nineteenth Dynasty is from a man to his dead wife. He believes

that she is haunting him for some wrongdoing that occurred while she was living, and he

explains to her in the letter what a great husband he was. He believes that because he

completed all the duties a good husband is supposed to, she has no reason to haunt him. From

the Leiden Papyrus of the 19th

Dynasty, translated in Pestman’s Marriage and Matrimonial

Property:

What have I ever done against you? I have taken you as my wife,

when I was a young man; you were still with me, when I filled all

offices; you were with me, I have not repudiated (you), I have not

injured your heart. I did it when I was a young man and I filled all

(kinds of) important offices for the Pharaoh – Life, Prosperity,

Health! – without repudiating (you), saying: she must always be

with (me), so did I speak. Everything I made come to me, was at

your feet did not I receive it on your behalf saying: ‘I live up to your

heart’? but behold, you do not leave my heart in peace, I will litigate

with you and they will distinguish wrong from right… I did not hide

anything from you during your day of life; I did not make you suffer

pain in all I did with you as (your) master; you did not find me while

I deceived you like a peasant, entering… I did not make a man steal

all I acquired with you. When they placed me in the post where I am

now, and I was in the situation in which I could not go out according

to my habit, I did what somebody like me does, while he is at home

concerning your oil and bread and your clothes: it was brought to

you, I did not let it be brought to another place. . . I have not

deceived you. Behold, you do not know the good I did to you, I

write you in order to make you see what you are doing. When you

were ill with the illness which you had I fetched the chief physician

and he treated you and he did everything of which you said do it.

22

When I followed the pharaoh on the journey to the south and you

fell into this condition (when you died) I spent the period of eight

months without eating and drinking as people do. And when I

returned to Memphis I begged leave of pharaoh and went to the

place where you were and cried very much with my people before

my residence. I have dresses and clothes to wrap you in. I had many

dresses made and I left nothing good undone in order not to let it be

done for you. Behold, I have lived alone since for three years

without entering a house, although it is not suitable that such a one is

compelled to do that. Behold I have done it for your sake. Behold

you do not know right from wrong, one will judge between you and

me. Behold , the women in the house, I had no intercourse with any

of them.81

This very long letter lists out the very aspects a good husband was expected to exhibit during

life. For example, from this letter we learn that men were expected to stay with their wife,

provide for her, be honest with her, take care of her when she is sick, and be faithful. The

man writing the letter lists the great things he did for his wife in an effort to stop her from

haunting him. This letter explains a lot about how men were expected to behave, but also

shows a sort of vengeance that women were capable of in haunting and torturing their dead

husbands. The man also mentions litigation with his dead wife, which will extinguish the

misfortune she has forced upon him.

Observations

Early letters seem to ask for intercession on the writer’s behalf, but the latest letter we

have asks the dead person to act as an intermediary to the gods for the living person.82

Letters to the dead are rare, but they seem to have been replaced with letters to the gods by the

Graeco-Roman periods.83

A letter to a god dates from the same dynasty as the letter above

from a husband to his dead wife, Dynasty 19. The letter is addressed to Amun-Re, and the

author requests the god’s favor. Similar to the letters to the dead, the writer promises a gift to

23

the god in exchange for his help. The author does not explicably state his request, only

requesting success. In exchange, the god will receive “an amphora of date-brew” as well as

beer and bread.84

The conversion from letters to relatives could be a result of more

integration of personal religion and ancestor worship to more people recognizing the official

religion of the state. Additionally, scholars or archaeologists may not have found letters to the

dead from this period that may have originally existed.

Another interesting question regarding these letters to the dead relates to the people

who were writing the letters. The letters that exist today represent a group of people who

were considered elite and literate. As mentioned previously, an oral tradition may have

accompanied the letter, but there is no archaeological or other record of such a practice. It

may be reasonable to hypothesize that peasants or any people lower than these represented

elite on the hierarchical chain of Egyptian society may have practiced a similar ritual through

oral communication. As Baines astutely states, “is this interaction [elite letters to the dead]

between the living and the dead the literate tip of a non-literate iceberg?”85

Archaeologists

and scholars may never know, but this is not a subject that can be ignored.

Additionally, because so many of the letters seem to subscribe to a type of formula, it

may be possible that scribes were hired to write the letters as they were transcribed by the

author according to the formula. There is currently no research to certainly determine this,

but it may be a theory that should be further explored. However, this raises the question of

why there are not more letters to be found if others could write them for the author, though the

cost of hiring a scribe may have been prohibitive as well.

Further questions that may never have definitive answers remain prevalent in the study

of Ancient Egypt. There is no evidence that can be found to demonstrate whether or not the

24

writers or other Egyptians believed that the letters achieved the desired actions. One may

infer that, because letters continued to be written over the years from the Old Kingdom until

the New Kingdom, Egyptians did believe the letters to be effective. However, the change

from letters to the dead to letters to the gods may be an interesting clue to this as well.

Perhaps by the time of the alteration of addressees Egyptians did not believe that ancestors

had the same powers in the afterlife as the gods.

Moreover, while the akh was the part of the spirit that could interact with other dead

on behalf of the living, the questions remain of the purpose of the ba. If the ba, like a ghost or

spirit that could travel, did go to the places that the living person went while alive, could

others meet the ba on its travels? This remains unanswered, but the ba may have been

responsible for causing the problems for the living person.

Also intriguing is the role that men and women play in the writing of letters, as well as

their respective roles in the afterlife. Letters are written to both men and women in the

afterlife to request assistance, as seen in Letters 2 and 3 above from a son to both his mother

and his father. Additionally, both men and women in the afterlife seem to have been regarded

as potential threats to the living, as seen in Letter 1 regarding the man Behzti and in Letter 5

about the two serving maids Nefertjentet and Itjai.

However, Letter 7 from a man to his deceased wife shows another aspect of the role

that women could play in the afterlife. According to the author of that letter, the wife seems

to be maliciously haunting him as revenge for his treatment of her in life. This could be

related to the idea that women are isfet and cause chaos and problems. This is questionable,

however, since men in the afterlife seem to also cause problems among the living. Another

25

possibility is that men were generally more literate, and their examples are therefore more

readily found by archaeologists.

Letters to the Dead and Public History

The question of why these letters matter to Egyptologists and people today still

remains. Aside from the intrigue of reading the words of Ancient people, why do these letters

have any importance to people living in the modern world? As seen in the husband’s letter to

his dead wife, these letters give a personality and life to those people who lived so long ago

and seem incredibly disconnected from people today.

The letter to a dead wife presented above is an interesting look into the every-day life

of Ancient Egyptians and their relationships. The words and pleas are personal, even if a

formula has been followed, and one can understand the problems the man seems to be having,

which he attributes to his dead wife. This letter could serve as an example in any exhibit or

public history presentation regarding the daily life of Ancient Egyptians that many modern

people could relate to. The translated words could be easily spoken by any grieving husband

or wife today, even if the words are not meant to be relayed in a “magical” sense.

As a person reads the pleas and requests from an individual, who walked, breathed,

ate, and simply lived thousands of years ago, the person reading those appeals today may feel

a connection with the person who was having every-day problems similar to those faced

today. The letters can provide a bridge from the past to today. In addition to learning about

Egyptian beliefs in the afterlife and death, scholars and those who are interested in the past

can learn of the peoples’ everyday lives.

26

Sources Cited

Baines, John. “Practical Religion and Piety.” Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 73 (1987): 79-

98.

Baines, John. “Society, Morality, and Religious Practice.” In Religion in Ancient Egypt:

Gods, Myths, and Personal Practice, edited by Byron E. Shafer, 123-200. Ithaca, NY:

Cornell University Press, 1991.

Baines, John. “Display of magic in Old Kingdom Egypt” In Through a Glass Darkly: Magic,

Dreams, and Prophecy In Ancient Egypt, edited by Kasia Szpakowska, 1-32. Swansea,

Wales: The Classical Press of Wales, 2006.

David, Rosalie. Religion and Magic in Ancient Egypt. London: Penguin, 2002.

Friedman, Florence. “On the Meaning of Some Anthropoid Busts from Deir el-Medina.”

Journal of Egyptian Archaeology (1985): 82-97.

Gardiner, Alan H. “A New Letter to the Dead.” Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 16 (1930):

275-277.

Janák, Jiří. “Revealed but Undiscovered: A New Letter to the Dead.” Journal of Near Eastern

Studies 62 (2003): 275-77.

Janssen, J. J. “Gift-giving in Ancient Egypt as an Economic Feature.” Journal of Egyptian

Archaeology 68 (1982): 253-65.

Pestman, P. W. Marriage and Matrimonial Property in Ancient Egypt: A Contribution to

Establishing the Legal Position of the Woman. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1961.

Pinch, Geraldine. Magic in Ancient Egypt. London: British Museum Press, 2006.

Ritner, Robert Kriech. The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice. Chicago: The

Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1993.

Sadek, Ashraf Iskander. Popular Religion in Egypt During the New Kingdom. (Hildesheim:

Gerstenberg, 1987), 218.

Simpson, William Kelly. “A Letter to the Dead from the Tomb of Meru (N 3737) at Nag ed-

Deir.” Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 52 (1966): 39-52.

Wente, Edward F. “Funerary Beliefs of the Ancient Egyptians.” Expedition 24 (1982): 19.

Wente, Edward F. Letters from Ancient Egypt. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990.

27

1 John Baines, “Practical Religion and Piety,” Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 73 (1987): 74.

2 Baines, “Practical Religion,” 80.

3 Baines, “Practical Religion,” 80.

4 Rosalie David, Religion and Magic in Ancient Egypt (London: Penguin, 2002), 117.

5 David, Religion and Magic, 118.

6 David, Religion and Magic, 118.

7 Edward F. Wente, “Funerary Beliefs of the Ancient Egyptians,” Expedition 24 (1982): 19.

8 Geraldine Pinch, Magic in Ancient Egypt (London: British Museum Press, 2006), 147.

9 Pinch, Magic, 148.

10 Wente, “Funerary Beliefs,” 19.

11 Wente, “Funerary Beliefs,” 22.

12 Ashraf Iskander Sadek, Popular Religion in Egypt During the New Kingdom (Hildesheim: Gerstenberg, 1987),

218. 13

Sadek, Popular Religion, 221. 14



Baines, “Practical Religion,” 95. 17

John Baines, “Society, Morality, and Religious Practice,” in Religion in Ancient Egypt: Gods, Myths, and

Personal Practice, ed. Byron E. Shafer (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991), 123. 18

Baines, “Society,” 128. 19

David, Religion and Magic, 282. 20



J. J. Janssen “Gift-giving in Ancient Egypt as an Economic Feature,” Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 68

(1982): 276. 23

Robert Kriech Ritner, The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice (Chicago: Oriental Institute of the

University of Chicago, 1993), 8. 24

Ritner, Mechanics, 8. 25

Pinch, Magic, 9. 26

Pinch, Magic, 12. 27

Ritner, Mechanics, 71. 28

Ancient Egypt Lecture notes, September 13, 2010. 29







Baines, John, “Display of magic in Old Kingdom Egypt,” in Through a Glass Darkly: Magic, Dreams, and

Prophecy In Ancient Egypt, ed. Kasia Szpakowska (Swansea, Wales: The Classical Press of Wales, 2006), 1. 36


Wente, “Funerary Beliefs,” 19. 38


Florence Friedman, “On the Meaning of Some Anthropoid Busts from Deir el-Medina,” Journal of Egyptian

Archaeology (1985): 94. 40

Friedman, “Anthropoid Busts,” 94. 41

Friedman, “Anthropoid Busts,” 97. 42








Baines, “Society,” 152.

28

50




Edward F. Wente, Letters from Ancient Egypt (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990), 210. 54

William Kelly Simpson, “A Letter to the Dead from the Tomb of Meru (N 3737) at Nag ed-Deir,” Journal of

Egyptian Archaeology 52 (1966): 40. 55

Wente, Letters, 210. 56










Wente, “Funerary Beliefs,” 19. 66





Simpson, “A Letter,” 39. 71

Simpson, “A Letter,” 40. 72



Alan H. Gardiner, “A New Letter to the Dead,” Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 16 (1930) 19. 75



Gardiner, “New Letter,” 19. 78

Jiří Janák, “Revealed but Undiscovered: A New Letter to the Dead. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 62

(2003): 276. 79


Janák, “Revealed,” 276. 81

P. W. Pestman, Marriage and Matrimonial Property in Ancient Egypt: A Contribution to

Establishing

the Legal Position of the Woman (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1961), 53. 82




Baines, “Practical Religion,” 87.

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