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UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology

UCLA

Peer Reviewed

Title:

Music and Musicians

Author:

Emerit, Sibylle, Institut franais d'archologie orientale

Publication Date:

2013

Series:

UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology

Publication Info:

UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, UCLA

Permalink:

http://escholarship.org/uc/item/6x587846

Keywords:

music, performance, musicians, instruments, Egyptology, Material Culture Studies, History;

Local Identifier:

nelc_uee_8415

Abstract:

Iconographic, textual, and archaeological sources show that music played an essential rolewithinancient Egyptian civilization throughout all periods. Music was of utmost importancein ritualsand festivals. Different forms of music with multiple functions existed for public or

privaterepresentations, profane or sacred, interpreted by male or female musicians acting asprofessionalsor amateurs. Consequently, from religious celebrations to entertainment, the rangeof types of musicand musicians was very large.

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MUSIC AND MUSICIANS

Sibylle Emerit

EDITORS

WILLEKEWENDRICHEditor-in-Chief

Area Editor Material Culture, Art, and ArchitectureUniversity of California, Los Angeles

JACCO DIELEMANEditor

University of California, Los Angeles

ELIZABETH FROODEditor

University of Oxford

JOHN BAINESSenior Editorial Consultant

University of Oxford

Short Citation:Emerit, 2013, Music and Musicians. UEE.

Full Citation:Emerit, Sibylle, 2013, Music and Musicians. In Willeke Wendrich (ed.), UCLA Encyclopedia ofEgyptology, Los Angeles. http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/viewItem.do?ark=21198/zz002h77z9

8415 Version 1, July 2013http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/viewItem.do?ark=21198/zz002h77z9


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Music and Musicians, Emerit, UEE 2013 1

MUSIC AND MUSICIANS

Sibylle Emerit

Musik und MusikerMusic et musiciens

Iconographic, textual, and archaeological sources show that music played an essential role withinancient Egyptian civilization throughout all periods. Music was of utmost importance in ritualsand festivals. Different forms of music with multiple functions existed for public or privaterepresentations, profane or sacred, interpreted by male or female musicians acting as professionalsor amateurs. Consequently, from religious celebrations to entertainment, the range of types of musicand musicians was very large.

. . ..

he sources concerning Egyptianmusic represent various types oficonographic, archaeological, and

textual documents from different locations.They cover the entire Egyptian history, fromthe Predynastic to the Roman Periods, i.e.,from 3100 BCE to the fourth century CE.The principal information comes fromrepresentations on the walls of private tombs

(fig. 1) and temples (fig. 2). There are alsonumerous depictions of musical scenes oncoffins, papyri, ostraca (fig. 3), and on objectslike spoons, plates, and boxes, etc. In addition,many three-dimensional representations suchas statues and statuettes, terracottas, andamulets of musicians are extant.

Adding to the iconographic evidence arenumerous, most often concise inscriptions in

hieroglyphs, hieratic, Demotic, and Greek,which are found not only on papyri, stelae,statues, and musical instruments, but also aslegends for the representations on the wallsof tombs and temples. In the New Kingdom,the textual evidence is particularly rich: wehave the so-called Harpers Song(Osing 1992),love songs (Mathieu 1996), or certain ritualtexts, which were supposed to be chantedand were often accompanied by one or severalinstruments. These sources allow theidentification of the names of musicalinstruments, titles of musicians, andvocabulary of musical actions, which describerepertoires as well as techniques for playing.The translation of these terms remains,however, difficult since one lexeme can have

T


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several meanings and an object several names(Emerit 2008a: 429 - 438).

Archaeology has also provided us withtraces of various musical instruments, from

the simple percussion object to the morecomplex cordophone. For most of theseobjects the provenance remains unknownsince they entered the museums as early as thesecond half of the nineteenth century afterhaving being purchased from the art market(Anderson 1976; Sachs 1921; Ziegler 1979).In spite of the richness of the documentation,our knowledge of Pharaonic music remainslimited: without theoretical treaty, or musicalscore, it is indeed particularly difficult to doan archaeology of music.

Figure 1. Tomb of Nikauhor, Saqqara S. 915.Relief in New York, MMA 08.201.2.

Figure 2. Temple of Medamud.

Historiography

The importance of the documentation onPharaonic music has stimulated the interest ofresearchers since the early nineteenth century,

and the bibliographic data on the subject isabundant. An analysis of the historiographyshows, however, that a number of aspects ofancient Egyptian music remain unexplored.

The field of research is subdivided intoseveral disciplines, and the musicologicalapproach has always been more importantthan the Egyptological approach. The maininterest of these studies was to add animportant chapter to the universal history ofmusic and to define how the music of ancientEgypt may have contributed to the genesis ofmusic in the West. Researchers like VictorLoret, Curt Sachs, or Hans Hickmann wereseeking to rediscover the musical system ofthe ancient Egyptians. Lacking musicalpartitions and treatises on music, they hopedthat organology (the study of the history ofmusical instruments) and comparativemusicology would allow them to reach thisaim. Based on aerophones (wind instruments),they tried to define the used scales, but thestage of conservation of the instrumentsneither allowed for reliable results nor torecover melodies (Emerit 2006b: 36). Then,

Figure 3. Ostracon Deir el-Medina.


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some researchers hoped to discover the echosof the Pharaonic music in todays folk music(Borsa 1968), developing the idea of amusical heritage that has been passed on over

several millennia.The way of promoting research in

musicology has progressed considerably sinceJaap Kunst created a new science in 1950:ethnomusicology (Kunst 1950). According tohim, it is not sufficient to be interested in asingle tonal system or in the use of differenttypes of musical instruments in a civilizationfor the understanding of the potential place,role, and function of this artistic expression ina given culture. Music is intrinsically subject tothe social, cultural, religious, political, and

economic framework of a community and cantherefore be approached from differentperspectives. Whenever ethnomusicologistshave studied the music of modern societies,their approaches have been an inspiration forthe study of music, which has disappeared,and gave birth, in the eighties, to what onemight nowadays call the archaeology ofmusic.

Musical Instruments

1. Cordophones. Three types of stringed

instruments were known by the ancientEgyptians: harp, lyre, and lute.

The harp has been attested in Egypt sincethe 4thDynasty in the musical scenes depictedin the private tombs (fig. 1). It was the favoriteinstrument of the ancient Egyptians, but thisobject and its representation seem to havedisappeared from the Nile Valley with theadvent of Christianity. From the NewKingdom on, several forms of harpscoexisted (fig. 4). They led to complextypologies (for instance, the ladle-shaped,

boat-shaped, and crescent-shaped harp), butin spite of the large variety, the Egyptian harpwas always a vertical type, generally archedand sometimes angular (fig. 2). Thefundamental difference between arched andangular harps is that the first one is built froma single wooden piece while the second onerequires two (Duchesne-Guillemin 1969: 60 -68).

Figure 4. Blind musicians. Tomb of Meryra, el-Amarna.

The lyre was imported from the Near Eastduring the Middle Kingdom. It is representedfor the first time in the tomb of KhnumhotepII in Beni Hassan, carried by a foreigner (fig.

5). This portable instrument, of asymmetricor symmetric shape, became fashionable fromthe New Kingdom onwards. At that time,mainly women played this instrument, holdingit horizontally or vertically, except in Amarna,where men are depicted playing a hugesymmetric lyre, placed on the floor or on abase (fig. 6). Two musicians play quatremain(playing the lyre at the same time) in astanding position. They wear special clothes: aflounced skirt, a small cape on the shoulders,and a pointed hat, which seem to indicate aCanaanite origin.

Figure 5. Tomb of Khnumhotep II, Beni Hassan.

The lute, which was introduced in Egypt atthe beginning of the New Kingdom (fig. 7),

was also imported from the Near East. Thisinstrument became very popular throughoutthe Nile Valley and sometimes replaced theharp in depictions accompanying the famousHarpers Song. Played by male as well as femalemusicians, it was an instrument with a longneck connected to a sound-box. The lute andthe lyre could be played with a plectrum,while the harp could not.


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Figure 6. Musician with a giant symmetric lyre.Tomb of Huya, el-Amarna.

2. Aerophones. In Egypt, one can distinguishthe long flute, the double clarinet, and thesimple or double oboe, but it is, however, verydifficult to differentiate with certainty thesefour instruments, which are individualizedfrom an organological point of viewby thepresence or the absence of a simple or doublereed. When the instruments survived, thesetiny reeds have generally disappeared, andthey are never visible in the iconography.

The oldest representation of a windinstrument is depicted on a mudstone paletteof the Predynastic time: it is the long flute(Quibell and Green 1902: pl. XXVIII). Cut ina reed with a large diameter, it possessed onlya small number of holes in its lower part. Inthe Old Kingdom, this flute occupied adominating place in music scenes in theprivate funerary chapels (fig. 1). Only menused it during this period. In the MiddleKingdom, the fashion of this instrumentstarted to fade.

The double clarinet has been attested sincethe 5th Dynasty. During the Old Kingdom, itwas the most frequently representedaerophone (fig. 1). It is a simple reedinstrument with two parallel pipes tiedtogether by string (fig. 8). The musician playsthe same tune on both pipes, but since theholes spacing is not strictly parallel, theobtained note is slightly dissonant.

Figure 7. Singers (Hsw) playing lute. Temple of

Luxor, Opet-procession.

Figure 8. Two clarinets. Cairo Museum, CG 69837and 69838.

The oboe appeared during the New

Kingdom (fig. 3). It consisted of one or twolong, thin pipes, which separate starting fromthe mouth of the musician to form an acuteangle. The melody is only played on one ofthe pipes, the other one giving a held note.This instrument, mainly played by womenduring that period, supplanted the long fluteand the double clarinet. According to thepictorial record, the latter two instruments didnot disappear from the musical landscape andwere played until the Roman time. With thearrival of the Ptolemies, a new type of oboe

was attested in Egypt: the Greek aulos.The trumpet was used in Egypt since the

New Kingdom, mainly in a military context.This instrument did not look like the pistontrumpet invented in the nineteenth century,which is capable of giving all the notes of thescale. The Egyptian trumpet, straight andshort, produced only the harmonic series of anote. It served especially for passing on orders


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as is indicated moreover by the name of theinstrumentalist Dd-m-nb: The one whospeaks on the trumpet. In the tomb ofTutankhamen, two trumpets were discovered,

one made of silver and the other one ofcopper (Manniche 1976).

In the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods, newinstruments were introduced to enrich theinstrumentarium with, on the one hand, theintroduction of the panpipes by the Greeksand, on the other hand, the invention of thehydraulic organ in Alexandria during the thirdcentury BCE. Terracotta figurines showmusicians playing these instruments.

3. Membranophones. The two mainmembranophones used by ancient Egyptianswere the single membrane drum mounted ona frame and the barrel-shaped drum with twomembranes.

The single membrane drum is attested inthe Old Kingdom in a scene carved in thesolar temple of Niuserra in Abu Ghurab(Bissing and Kees 1928: pl. 3, no. 118). It is avery large-sized round drum, which was usedduring the Sed Festival. In the New Kingdom,a small-sized model, the round tambourine,

was depicted to be exclusively played bywomen in a context of ovations. A so-calledrectangular tambourine (but ofquadrangular shape, fig. 9) was also used bythe musicians, but only during the 18thDynasty (Manniche 1975: 5 - 6).

The barrel-shaped drum has been attestedfrom the Middle Kingdom onwards. Theinstrument, suspended round the neck of themusician, was struck with the hands. The useof drumsticks seems to have been unknownin Egypt. In the New Kingdom, this

instrument was only played by men and moreparticularly by Nubians during military orreligious processions (fig. 10). In the LatePeriod, depictions are found of a small-sizedbarrel-shaped drum in the hands of somewomen (fig. 2). The existence of a vase-shaped drum is still debated (Ziegler 1979:71).

Figure 9. Women making ovations and beatinground and rectangular tambourines. Tomb ofMeryra, el-Amarna.

Figure 10. Nubians playing drum. Temple ofErmant.

4. Idiophones. Clappers, sistra, menit-necklaces, cymbols, bells and rattles were usedas idiophones.

The first percussion instrument known inthe Nile Valley was the clapper. It has beenattested since prehistoric times, in theiconography as well as in archaeologicalremains. Made of two wooden or ivory sticks,either straight or curved, they are struckagainst one another by the musician with oneor both hands; the presence of a hole made itpossible to tie them together (fig. 11). Variousornamental motives decorate theseinstruments, varying according to the periodthey were in use: Hathor, either human oranimal headed (fig. 12), a hand, a humblepapyrus, or a lotus flower.


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Figure 11. Clappers. Cairo Museum, CG 69217.

Figure 12. Percussionists(jHwy) playing clappers.Tomb of Amenemhat, Thebes.

Figure 13. Women shaking sistrum and menit-necklace. Tomb of Ukhhotep, Meir n B2.

Sistra and the menit-necklace were also usedas percussion instruments. This use has beenattested from the Old Kingdom to the RomanPeriod. Two types of sistra coexisted, thesistrum in the form of a naos and thearched sistrum. In both cases, it is a kind ofrattle formed with a handle and a framecrossed by mobile rods, sometimesembellished with metal discs. The swishingsound made by the menit-necklace was causedby rows of beads, shaken by the musician,which would be the counterweight part of thecollar (fig. 13).

Cymbals, bells, and crotals (small metalrattles) were introduced more recently inEgypt, probably during the Ptolemaic Period.

In the study of the idiophones, it is also

necessary to consider the cadence led by thehands or the feet, which always played adominant part in the music and the dance ofancient Egypt as is apparent from theiconography (fig. 4).

Musical Notation

In the 1960s, Hans Hickmann claimed to havediscovered a system of musical notation basedon chironomy or gesticulations (Hickmann1958: 96 - 127, 1963: 103 - 107). Indeed, hesaw in the variations of the positions of thehands and the arms of the singers depicted inmusic scenes in Old and Middle Kingdomprivate tombs a way to indicate to themusicians the musical intervals of fourth, offifth, or octave. This idea met with a deepinterest, but it is widely questioned todaybecause this body language is not reallycodified (Dominicus 1994: 165 - 167).

More recently, von Lieven (2002: 497 - 510,2006a: 9 - 38, pl. 1-4A) suggested a system ofmusical notation indicated with dots and red

crosses placed above a Demotic text datingfrom the first or the second century BCE,which was discovered in Tebtunis (PapyrusCarlsberg 589). These signs of an extremesimplicity could transcribe, according to her, arhythmic punctuation intended to be playedby a percussion instrument. She based thisinterpretation on the fact that this papyruscontains an Osirian liturgy and that drumscould be used in this ritual context. However,this interpretation may be going too far,because research on text metrics shows thatthe literary and religious texts, intended to berecited, were composed in a rhythmicstructure. Red dots aided the pupils inlearning how to recite and to remember thescansion (Servajean 2003: 75 - 76). Accordingto the Deir el-Medina ostracon 2392, thisrecitation could be moreover accompanied bya musical instrument (Mathieu 1996: 22, 139 -140, pls. 22 - 25). The notation in P. Carlsberg589 differs from the usual signs because apart


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from the dots also several crosses wereinscribed over the text. Hoffmann (2008: 75 -76) interpreted these signs as an aid for thepriest in charge of the declamation as to how

to accentuate a group of words.It seems surprising that the Egyptian

civilization, which developed an elaboratesystem of writing very early on, did not find ameans to record musicbut many cultureshave lacked such a system. Musical notation isnot indispensable for the transmission ofmusical knowledge. Its use matches a specificcultural need, such as, for example, thesharing of the musical pieces. In addition, theancient Greek musical notation was inventedat the end of the sixth century or at the

beginning of the fifth century BCE, andseveral Greek musical papyri of Hellenisticand Roman time were discovered in Egypt.Apparently, the Egyptians did not adopt thistechnique for their own music.

Musicians

In Pharaonic society, both men and womencould choose to devote themselves entirely tomusic. Among them were musicians offoreign origin, children, and dwarfs. From thebeginning of the ancient Egyptian civilization,

the musical art was also the privilege of somedivinities. However, the iconography ofmusician gods developed especially in Greco-Roman temples. In this context, Hathor,Mistress of music, was depicted playingtambourine, sistrum, and menit-necklace,often in the form of the seven Hathors(goddesses of fate who are present atchildbirth). Hathors son Ihy shakes thesistrum and menit for her. Meret (fig. 14),Mistress of the throat, was represented as aharp player (Guglielmi 1991: 78 - 90). Bes and

Beset were depicted dancing while playingtrigon harp, lute, or tambourine. Priests andpriestesses played the role of the gods inrituals. For example, in the Osirian liturgy, twoyoung women were chosen to personify Isisand Nephthys and play tambourine for thegod (Faulkner 1933: 1, l. 1, 2 - 4). Lastly,animals playing musical instruments are aniconographic theme known continuously

from the Old Kingdom to the Roman Period(figs. 3 and 15). For instance, a monkey with adouble oboe, a crocodile with a lute, a lionwith a lyre, and an ass with a harp are depicted

in the Turin Erotic Papyrus (no. 55001; Omlin1973: pls. II, XI, XII).

Figure 14. Meret playing harp. Temple of KomOmbo.

Figure 15. Monkey playing lute. Temple of Philae.

Musical Specialties

One of the paradoxes of the ancient Egyptiandocumentation is that there is a discrepancybetween the number of musical specialtiesexpressed in the iconography and in thevocabulary. The iconographic sources allowthe identification of at least 12 categories of


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artists: singers, harpists, players of lute, lyre,long flute, double clarinet, oboe, double oboe,trumpet, and tambourine, as well aspercussionists and rhythmists.

The number of musicians titles is, on theother hand, more difficult to establish,because for some of them the translation ishypothetical (to the extent that it is evenuncertain whether they are musicians),whereas the names of other professionsremain unknown (Emerit 2006a).Furthermore, if titles such as jHwy,percussionist (fig. 12), or Dd-m-nb,trumpet, describe a single musical specialty,others such as Hsw, maw, and xnw/d-xnwindicate musicians who can play several

instruments and, sometimes, who can alsodance. Thus, the Hswis above all a singer whocan accompany himself by clapping in hishands or by playing a stringed instrument:harp, lute (fig. 7), or lyre. The lute can also beplayed by the dancer Tnf (fig. 2). The mainfunction of a xnw/d-xnw is marking thecadence by clapping hands or with apercussion instrument; this rhythmist is alsoable to use his voice to punctuate itsinterventions, probably by the scansion.Finally, the mawstrikes the cadence with his

hands (fig. 16), sometimes by carrying out adance step or by singing, using in exceptionalcases a harp. The dividing line between musicand dance is not always clear. An analysis ofthe terms related to the semantic field ofmusic also reveals the importance of rhythmin the concept of this art in ancient Egypt(Emerit 2008a, 2011).

The titles Hsw, maw, xnw/d-xnw, or jHwyare used for men and women, but they do notcover exactly the same artistic activities andvary by gender. Other titles like Dd-m-nband

sbA,flutist, are attested only for malemusicians, whereas sxmyt,jwnty, and nbtyareknown only for female musicians.

Through the contact with other antiquecultures, new instruments were adopted inEgypt, giving birth to new musical specialties.For example, the introduction of the doubleoboe during the New Kingdom was followed

by the creation of the title wDny, doubleoboe player. Some titles were increasinglyfashionable, as Hsyt and mayt, whichdeveloped especially from the New Kingdom

onwards to become particularly popular in theThird Intermediate Period (Onstine 2003: 25).Despite the evolution of musical tastes, it isnecessary to underline the perpetuity of theharpist figure from the Old Kingdom to theRoman Period, whether in the iconography orthrough the title of Hsw, which remains themost common in the documentation.

Organization

The musicians titles reveal that theirprofessions were more or less structured and

organized into a hierarchy according to theirmusical specialty, the most complex bodybeing the Hsw. Also, they indicate very oftenthe name of the deity to which the musicianplays and/or the place where he practices:usually in the palace or a temple.

During their career, certain artists couldattain high ranks, such as sHD (inspector),xrp (director), jmj-rA (overseer; fig. 17),

jmj (director), and Hrj (superior).However, it is difficult to understand howthese levels worked together and to whichtypes of skills they referred. On the otherhand, it is certain that these ranks were notpurely honorary because their holdersgenerally led a group of persons or oversawthe music in a precise area (palace, temple) ora whole region. Female musicians rarelyreached this high level (for Hryt mayt, seeOnstine 2003: 68), but their hierarchicalorganization did not apparently follow thesame pattern as that of the men, especiallyfrom the New Kingdom onwards when theirnumber continually increased. Connected to

the service of a temple, they were distributedwithinphylesas common priestesses. It is likelythat they were subordinated to the wrt xnrt(the great one of the institution-kheneret) or tothe Divine Adoratrices, but this link is notsufficiently explicit in the records (Onstine2003: 68). If most of the Hsyt, Smayt, andjHytreally were exercising their art, it seems certainthat these titles also had a honorary character.


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Finally, from the New Kingdom onwards,there was a choir (spt d-xnw) that broughttogether men as well as women (fig. 16).

It is not unusual that a male musician or a

female musician used several titles inconnection with the music. For example, inthe Old Kingdom, Temi was at the same timesbAand Hsw(Labrousse and Lauer 2000: I, 22,II, pl. 26 a-d.), whereas in the ThirdIntermediate Period, Henouttaoui was maytand wDnyt(Kees 1964: 53 - 54).

Musicians titles also indicate that they oftenoccupied other functions in Egyptian society.It was usually a position in the priestlyhierarchy, but they could also attain offices inthe royal administration. For example, in theOld Kingdom, Ptahaperef was Inspector ofthe craftsmen of the palace (Hassan 1936:212, 214, figs. 232, 235) and Raur wasOverseer of linen (Hassan 1932: 66 - 68, pl.XLIV 1).

Place of Performance and OrchestrasComposition

Music was performed in several types ofspaces, public and private: inside the temple(fig. 2), the palace, during religious

processions (fig. 16), military parades (fig. 10),during burials to maintain the funerary cult, oralso during private festivities (fig. 1). Access tothese spaces reveals the status of the artistsand the music. Musicians, such as singers,exercised their profession in practically allsocial spheres, whereas the musical practice ofother artists was limited to a particular contextor event, such as the military and royalcontext in which the trumpet was used.

Depending on the period, the orchestrascomposition evolved. In the Old Kingdom

banquet scenes, the bands include singers,rhythmists, harpists, and long flute and doubleclarinet players. In the New Kingdom, newinstruments appeared: tambourines, lutes,lyres, and double oboe enter henceforth themusical groups. Some artists played solo, suchas harpists and lute players, whether it was tointerpret the Harpers Songor to play in frontof a divinity. The trumpeter was the only

musician to follow the sovereign to war, whilein the royal escorts, drummer and rhythmistswere also present. According to the context,music had different functions. For instance, in

the temple ritual it was used to gladden thegod and to pacify him, whereas in a funerarycontext it could help the rebirth of the dead.A few rural scenes also show singers andflutists entertaining the workers in theagricultural fields (Cleveland 30.736; Berman1999: no. 77, 46, 137 - 138).

Figure 16. Choir (spt d-xnw) of female and malemusicians (maw). Akhmenu, Temple of Karnak.

Training

The existence of a hierarchical organizationof the musicians profession raises thequestion of the training in their discipline.

Although very rare, some documents allow usto assert that music schools existed (BM10246 recto 3, l. 7 - 8; Mathieu 1996: 137,139) and that some sort of institutionalteaching was given within the court or thetemples. In the Old Kingdom, severalinstructors are known with the title sbA, whotaught music and dance. In the MiddleKingdom, Khesu the Elder is depicted in histomb giving lessons to female musicians insistrum playing and hand-clapping (Silverman1988: figs. 31 and 35d). Roth (1995: 42)

showed that part of the palace musiciansbelonged to the xntj- group, which broughttogether royal attendants. Musicians wereapparently recruited from among thesepeople. The learning of music certainly beganwithin the family. Indeed, by comparing titles,it is clear that it was not uncommon fornumerous members of a lineage to all bemusicians (Emerit 2005: 11).


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Socio-Economic Status

Several elements within the documentationallow us to understand the social andeconomic status of an individual and torecognize his uniqueness compared to othermembers of society. The status markers formusicians are of two kinds: archaeologicalremains and titulary. The nature ofarchaeological remains is related to thequantity of monuments and objects, whichbelonged to the musicians, or where themusicians are mentioned or represented.Indeed, a musician known by his inscribedtomb does not have the same economic andsocial status as the musician who could only

erect a stela or statue in a sacred place.Nevertheless, most musicians did not possessa funeral chapel, but simply a monument orcommemorative object with their name, suchas a false-door, stela, rock inscription, statue,shabti, box with shabtis, libation basin,offering table (fig. 17), textile, or seal. Othersare known only from the evidence in thetomb or on the stelae of a personality of highrank, their names being sometimes onlyenumerated in lists of temple employees, inletters, or official documents. The titulary of a

musician reveals his social and economicstatus. It is composed of several elementsincluding titles, epithets, and sentences oflaudatory character, the names of the person,and affiliations. It therefore allows us to placethe individual in an enlarged familial andsocial frame. It is not uncommon to see amusician involved in other functions insociety that may have been a source ofsupplementary income or prestige.

Sources show that the economic and socialstatus of the musicians varied a lot according

to individual and gender. From a quantitativepoint of view, the female musicians occupy amore important place in the iconographic andtextual records. Some of them even belongedto the royal family. Since the Old Kingdom,the role of sacred musician, shaking sistra andmenit-necklaces for the Hathor cult or otherdivinities, was devolved to queens and girls ofroyal blood (Troy 1986: 83 - 88). However,

their status and function cannot be comparedto those of a musician who played music toearn his subsistence. Nevertheless, the malemusicians social recognition seems superior

to that of the female musicians because somemale musicians possess their own tomb,which is a sign of royal favor. Thus, thisprivilege was not restricted to persons incharge of religious, administrative, political, ormilitary tasks. The economic and social statusof female musicians (Hsyt, mayt, and jHyt)seems to rather be determined by that of theirspouse, especially from the New Kingdomonwards (Fantechi and Zingarelli 2002: 32).Often married to a high dignitary, they arerepresented or named with him on theirmonuments (be this tombs, stelae, or statues).Some objects, however, were dedicated bythese women and used as memorial in placesof pilgrimage, as Abydos. However, aprosopographical documentation is specific tothe female musicians who lived during the 21thDynasty: the sarcophagi from the Deir el-Bahari Cachette and the funerary papyri.

Figure 17. Offering table of Sneferunefer,Overseer of singers of the Great House. CairoMuseum, CG 1328.

Since the musician did not produce hissubsistence, he was dependent on anemployer, who was in charge of his livingcosts. Those who were attached to the palaceor a temple were privileged and comparable toother functionaries. If a few musicians areknown to us by a title or a name, we should beaware that a large part of the artists involvedin the musical life in ancient Egypt definitely


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is not known to us. Most of them remainedanonymous, because they could not afford toleave an epitaph, or their monuments did notsurvive the ages. That is what the East

Cemetery of Deir el-Medina dating to the18th Dynasty seems to testify. The study ofthe non-epigraphic material from thesetombs, in which numerous musicalinstruments were discovered, reveals that thepersons buried in this place belonged to amodest social class attached to the service oflocal noblemen. Among them were apparentlymusicians of both genders (Pierrat-Bonnefois2003: 49 - 65). It is probable that theirfunction was not limited to music and thatthey also participated in domestic tasks.

The Greek papyrological documentation ofthe Hellenistic and Roman Periods containssome examples of contracts for hiringmusicians (Perpillou-Thomas 1995: 226 -227). It was possible to rent these artists toanimate religious or private festivities. That isalso shown in a Demotic papyrus of the firstor second century CE in which the adversitiesof a poor talented harpist are related, whogoes from place to place, begging for his mealin exchange of his art (Collombert 2003: 29 -40; Thissen 1992). This type of punctual

hiring, which was certainly common previousto the Ptolemaic Period, reveals the precariousstatus of the itinerant musician compared tothe one who was attached to the court or tothe temple. We find an echo of this practice inthe Papyrus Westcar where three goddesses,dressed as musicians/dancers-xnywt, offertheir service to Redjedet to help her give birth(P. Westcar 9.27-11.4).

Clothing

Generally, musicians never wear ceremonial

dress or distinguishing features connected totheir profession, even when they performtheir art. The only identifying feature is theparticular instrument they hold. In P. Westcar,the husband of Redjedet identifies thegoddesses as musicians/dancers-xnywtbecause they show him their sistrum andmenit-necklaces. An unusual feature should benoted in Amarna: in the iconography,

musicians are dressed with a hat of conicalshape, a flounced skirt, and a short cape, butthese clothes are probably linked to theirforeign origin and are not stage clothes (fig.

6).Certain musical specialties seem to be

reserved for a particular ethnic group, as, forexample, the barrel-shaped drum, which isusually struck by Nubians (fig. 10). This is not,however, a generality, because this instrumentis also played by Egyptians. The Nubians areperfectly recognizable in the iconographywhether it is by their facial features or theloincloths they wear.

Physical characteristics differentiate theEgyptian musician from the others in theiconography. In the Middle and NewKingdom, the harpists are often representedobese and old, whereas their eyes are generallyclosed (fig. 4). It has long been consideredthat these artists were blind; however, thischaracteristic is certainly more symbolic thanreal (Manniche 1978: 13 - 21). In the 19thDynasty funerary chapel of Reia, this is clearlyan iconographic topos:when this overseer ofthe Hsw-singers is depicted playing the harp,he is blind, while in the other scenes of histomb he is not and is depicted as an ordinary

noble (Martin 1985: pls. 22, 24).

Conclusion

The nature of the archaeological remains,their quantity and quality, inform us about theimportance of musical art in ancient Egyptiansociety, either through iconographic study,textual evidence, or the discovered extantinstruments. The study of these sourcescontributes to the knowledge of the functionof this music. An analysis of the context inwhich the music is exercisedreligious

celebration, funerals, war, work, dance, games,or entertainmentreveal different musicallanguages.

As a powerful vector of the cultural identityof a population, music also reflects thefunctioning of human society, in particular itscomposition with respect to sex, age, andsocial hierarchy with numerous implications as


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to the religious, political, economic, and socialfields. The type of instruments used duringthe musical entertainment allows us torecognize technical capacities of the musician

and to determine whether he had the benefitof education in music. A natural result of

such an organized education is the emergenceof a corporation, with its own hierarchy, ascan be attested in ancient Egypt.

Bibliographic Notes

For a bibliography on the subject, see the numerous encyclopedic articles in the Lexikon dergyptologie written by E. Hickmann, and more recently Lawergren (2001). The book by Manniche(1991) is the only synthesis written on music and musicians, but unfortunately without referencesto the sources in footnotes. Specific studies on musical instruments have been published byManniche (1975), Krah (1991), and Sourdive (1994), with a focus on the use of instruments inparticular contexts by Emerit (2002, 2008b). The challenges posed by the interpretation of musical

sources is treated by von Lieven (2004). The social standing of musicians in Egyptian society hasbeen discussed by Sourouzian (1999) and von Lieven (2006b). Recently Koch has made a newanalysis of the Smayt, Hsyt, andjHytand their link with the institution of the Divine Adoratrice. Shealso focuses on their hierarchical organization and their social status (Koch 2012: pp. 185 - 199).The recent doctorate thesis of Kinney (2008) deals with dance and dancers and their connectionswith music.

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Image CreditsFigure 1. Tomb of Nikauhor, Saqqara S. 915. Relief in New York, MMA 08.201.2. (After Quibell 1909:

pl. 64.)

Figure 2. Temple of Medamud. (After Drioton 1927: 25, fig. 8.)

Figure 3. Ostracon Deir el-Medina. (After Vandier dAbbadie 1959: pl. CXVII, no. 2846.)Reproduced by permission of the Institut Franais dArchologie Orientale du Caire.

Figure 4. Blind musicians. Tomb of Meryra, el-Amarna. Photograph by the author.

Figure 5. Tomb of Khnumhotep II, Beni Hassan. (After Newberry 1893: pl. XXX-XXXI.)

Figure 6. Musician with a giant symmetric lyre. Tomb of Huya, el-Amarna. (After Davies1905:pl. V.)

Figure 7. Singers (Hsw) playing lute. Temple of Luxor, Opet-procession. Photograph by theauthor.

Figure 8. Two clarinets. Cairo Museum, CG 69837 and 69838. Photograph by the author.

Figure 9. Women making ovations and beating round and rectangular tambourines. Tomb ofMeryra, el-Amarna. Photograph by the author.

Figure 10. Nubians playing drum. Temple of Ermant. Photograph by the author.

Figure 11. Clappers. Cairo Museum, CG 69217. Photograph by the author.

Figure 12. Percussionists(jHwy) playing clappers. Tomb of Amenemhat, Thebes. (AfterDavies and Gardiner 1915: pl. XX.)

Figure 13. Women shaking sistrum and menit-necklace.Tomb of Ukhhotep, Meir n B2. (After Blackman1915: pl. XV.)

Figure 14. Meret playing harp. Temple of Kom Ombo. Photograph by the author.

Figure 15. Monkey playing lute. Temple of Philae. Photograph by the author.

Figure 16. Choir (spt d-xnw) of female and male musicians (maw). Akhmenu, Temple ofKarnak. Photograph by the author.

Figure 17. Offering table of Sneferunefer, Overseer of singers of the Great House. CairoMuseum, CG 1328. Photograph by the author.

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