Like we said before: The decrees of pharaohs were law, those decrees were based on common sense in accordance with maat (cosmic order/justice), and those decrees were not standardized over time and written down (i.e., steal someone’s sandals and receive a fine). At the same time, because Egyptian spiritual life permeated everyday life, the gods required a lot of propitiation to maintain cosmic order. To this end, Egyptian priests and priestesses had loads of ongoing, maintenance type rituals to perform all the time, day after day. Their sole function boiled down to caring for the gods and keeping them happy, while everyday citizens dealt with what you’d expect: family, farming, commerce, leisure, etc.
Advertisement
While pharaohs like King Tutankhamun didn’t invent rules for Egyptian clergy to follow, Tut’s reversal of Akhenaten’s laws meant that he returned clergy to their original duties. One day, those clergy had to swap all their tasks for Akhenaten’s new religion around 1353 to 1351 B.C.E., and 17 years later after Akhenaten died they swapped back.
By King Tut’s decree, clergy returned to their traditional gods and jobs, including custodial staff, cooks, scribes, porters, musicians, dancers, astronomers, fortune tellers, doctors, various clergy responsible for festivals, funerals, pre-funeral organ extraction, oratory at public events, teaching other clergy — basically anyone who worked at a temple. These individuals followed highly-prescriptive rules developed over thousands of years and pre-dating 3,000 B.C.E. But, pharaohs didn’t invent these rules. Pharaohs were like high priests interpreting the gods’ will, and other priests carried out the pharaoh’s will, in turn.
Advertisement
