AePVIII_Vadas

Vadas, Réka,
ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest

The Making of antjw-myrrh Ointment in Ancient Egyptian Temples. A (Not So) Practical Guide
DOI: https://doi.org/10.71067/AePVIII-2022-247-254
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Aegyptus et Pannonia VIII, Acta Symposii anno 2021, Plants and Health from Ancient Egypt. to the Present Day.
Proceedings of the Conference held between 14th and 16th October 2021, Budapest; ed. by Hedvig Győry.
Published by The Ancient Egyptian Committee of the Hungarian-Egyptian Friendship Society, Budapest 2022.
ISBN: 978-615-6571-02-1; DOI: https://doi.org/10.71067/AePVIII-2022  
Soft cover. No Jacket. 1.st Edition. 6+348 pages (24x17), with colour pictures.

Abstract:
antjw-myrrh was one of the most common aromatic substances used in ancient Egypt. In temple rituals, it was used in different consistencies, as an incense for purification and as an oil or ointment for anointing the statue of the deity. Before and after rituals, the substances were stored in the temple laboratories which were one of the several types of sacristies characteristic of
the Graeco-Roman Period. The inscriptions on the walls of these chambers include several recipes, and the most complex of them all concerns the making of antjw-ointment.
Was this recipe a practical guide? Is there a clear structure hiding underneath the lengthy and complicated text? Could one make this ointment following the prescribed steps and methods? This article tries to answer some of these basic questions that must arise from the difficulties of understanding the hieroglyphic inscriptions, which were intended for only a small group of
priests to ever see