The proposition of addressing ancient Egyptian religion in one volume can only be described as a daunting one. Ancient Egypt as we currently define it encompasses a vast timeframe of more than 3000 years of varying political and social conditions, yet it is often assessed in scholarship in terms of a relatively homogenous religious structure. The author, Stephen Quirke, professor of Egyptology at University College London, makes this point very clear from the outset and has chosen to limit his topic to the period between state formation in the late fourth millennium to the conquest of Egypt by Persia in the sixth century bce. This slightly contracted timeframe still embraces 2500 years of religious practice, but judiciously avoids discussion of Persian, Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt, each of them representing vast topics in isolation.
The volume has a brief preface outlining the intentions of the author and introducing the basic difficulties of assessing early religious practice while employing contemporary western language systems and concepts, and by this both consciously and unconsciously imposing subjective values upon the evidence. The first chapter, ‘Belief without a Book’, functions as an introduction to the intentions of the volume and naturally includes an historical overview and the physical context. The chapter is aptly titled and sets the stage for the entire work by deftly leading the reader into the intrinsic contrast between pharaonic Egypt and modern, specifically western, culture. The Egyptians, in fact, were not compelled to put their religious ideas in print and therefore had no formal book of teachings to structure their belief and dictate the nature of their actions.
In this way commentators on ancient Egypt are already on unsteady ground, and the scholarly debate over the last century over the existence of narrative myths from Egypt is an example of this issue. Quirke addresses this coherently with emphasis on the stumbling blocks of language and on three major obstacles to exploring and understanding Egyptian culture adequately. These are the inherent Eurocentrism of the study of Egypt; the overemphasis in scholarship on the written evidence; and finally the lack of theoretical reflection when interpreting the evidence, the latter representing the need for further interdisciplinary and holistic approaches to both archaeology and text. In this context, Quirke is also quick to emphasize his own inherent bias as a philologist.
Chapter 2, ‘Finding the Sacred in Space and Time’, expands on this premise with the simple but obvious issue of how to define and identify sacred spaces and things in antiquity. This challenging proposition includes a conceptual range from potentially narrow levels of sacredness to universal sacredness, where all human experience might be interpreted as influenced by the divine. His examination begins with emphasis on the need for anthropological and ethno-archaeological approaches in order to improve understanding of the extant evidence from Egypt.
Quirke is also quick to emphasize the intellectual baggage that derives from modern religious thought, such as the notion of a clear dichotomy between official cult and personal practice. From this he introduces a timely discussion of the representation of the divine in Egypt as an illustration of a multivalent value system, incidentally refuting the tired cliché that the ancient Egyptians worshipped their gods in animal personifications. Rather, he argues that the ‘quality’ of a god could be represented by multiple forms, inclusive of animal icons. The chapter closes with the caution that Egyptians did not narrate their divine world, nor did they employ terms equivalent to those we currently employ to describe religious functionaries.
Chapter 3, ‘Creating Sacred Space and Time’, turns from abstract ideas to the physical dimension of religious experience and focuses on the spatial aspect of Egyptian religion, examining the architectural and performative levels of state and private cult. This involves an overview of the chronological development of Egyptian sacred architecture, illustrating only too well the imbalance of data that is currently skewed towards state cult. From this, he moves to the core function of sacred space, which was as environments for offerings to a limited repertoire of recipients: the gods, the king or the blessed dead. This is in stark contrast to the modern notion of sacred space as places of assembly and worship. The rest of the chapter elaborates on the roles, rituals and festivities associated with these sacred spaces.
The following chapter, ‘Chaos and Life’, broaches the underlying principle of Egyptian culture: Ma'at. This was the necessity for every member of society to contribute to maintaining universal harmony. The core actor within this world view was the Egyptian ruler, who was considered a liminal being situated between the divine and human realms. As such, the king functioned as the primary narrator of cult, defender of order and interlocutor with deities. This pivotal role was expressed publicly with monumental iconography of his figure suppressing the forces of chaos and making offerings to the gods. The notion also expanded out to a construction of the royal family as a ‘gendered machine’ for prosperity and harmony.
In the fifth chapter, ‘Being Good’, Quirke approaches how guaranteeing social correctness through the notion of ‘right’, or Ma'at, was translated into everyday practice. It includes a discussion of the use of this term in scholarship, again an important issue to raise regarding clarity in contemporary discourse. However, I am hesitant to advocate a one-on-one translation, as the semantic range of vocabulary is rarely identical, and Ma'at is a complex value in Egyptian religious thought. This abstract idea of correctness, or right, is approached by him through the extant evidence for social inequalities, and is sourced from legal documents and literary teachings.
Chapter 6, ‘Being Well’, discusses human strategies for maintaining physical harmony and wellbeing. In this chapter, Quirke examines the indivisible relationship between ancient Egyptian religious belief and personal health, inclusive of approaches to hygiene, disease and the problematic area of medicine and medicinal practices. The latter is primarily an issue for modern commentators again due to our narrow terminologies and categorizations, such as our clearly distinguishing between medicine and folk healing, and the roles of physicians, shamans and healers.
Equally, our terms for protective objects restrict our reading of the archaeological record, with vocabulary such as ‘amulet’, ‘pendant’ and ‘bead’ being inadequate for expressing the ancient value and function of these objects. In the absence of convenient texts to identify use and value, Quirke emphasizes the risks of casting broad judgements. In addition, there is no reason to assume mutual exclusivity for any of the above in ancient Egypt. He also includes examples of the use of the written word to guarantee an individual good health. The chapter winds up with brief mention of the ‘intangibles’ of protection and healing practice, inclusive of dream interpretation and various oracular practices.
In the final chapter, ‘Attaining Eternal Life’, Quirke deals with the strategies in place in Egypt for honouring, providing sustenance and transformation for the dead. This quest for assuring eternal life for an individual was achieved through a variety of means. The foremost of these was the careful maintenance of the physical shell, the body and its organs, through both embalming practices and funerary rituals. Sustenance of the deceased was provided by funerary offerings and rituals performed by family members and religious officials. Finally, the housing of the body and the accessories considered suitable for effective rebirth are another means for archaeologists to identify the nature of both funerary belief and offering cult over different timeframes and economic conditions.
For this reason, a sizeable proportion of the chapter is devoted to the physical practicalities of burial architecture, funerary assemblages and the arrangement and treatment of the deceased. In addition, the textual liturgies that were crucial to the transformation of the deceased are also placed in their conceptual and chronological frameworks. To close the chapter and the volume, Quirke concludes with re-emphasis on the Egyptian king as the primary focus for cult for all strata of Egyptian society, and provides a reiteration of the need for further cross-disciplinary studies to flesh out our understanding.
The many illustrations in the book are sourced from the original excavation publications and from private photographs; however, there are some images of unprovenanced pieces. I find it inconvenient that he does not cite museums for artefacts, rather he cites the original publication, with the exception of a few objects from the Cairo or Petrie museums. There are also three minor errors with illustration captions, which are an understandable outcome of the volume of data involved in producing the book.
Nonetheless, Exploring Religion in Ancient Egypt is an articulate overview of the complexities of ancient Egyptian religion. Stephen Quirke is a meticulous writer, quick to cite the potential flaws in current scholarship and promote broader, more holistic studies that embrace multidisciplinary fields. Considering the complexity of this topic, he has done a masterful job of honing down both theory and the material evidence to basic issues without simplifying the outcome. While he cautions that he is biased by philology, I found his balance between text and archaeology to be more than adequate. However, this is not a text for a reader seeking an introduction to Egyptian divinities and narrative: these are readily available elsewhere. But it is, rather, a sound scholarly overview and critique of our current understanding of ancient Egyptian religion.
