The image of a private tomb’s owner of Old Kingdom Egypt as a subject of worship

Abstract

The article analyses big images of the owner as a priest-reader (heriheb) from private tombs of the Old Kingdom of Egypt. It was found that in the production scenes the host appeared both as the recipient of the goods and the organizer of the work. The owner in the guise of a priest-reader often was the main protagonist and organizer of the pictured regular priestly service. During the reign of the kings of IV-V Dynasties the painters tried to include the owner’s image into the overall context of the scene of the service in the chapel. Later, with the emergence of big chapels it became possible to carve detailed priestly scenes there and the images of heriheb became analogues of the whole scene and were positioned in the actual places of the ritual - at the entrance to the tomb, in the aisles from one chamber to another, on the columns. However, the scenes of the service had been replaced by one image of the priest before. It is no coincidence that Egyptian artists portrayed noblemen in the guise of heriheb. While reading a list of products and the names of other priests’ actions, the heriheb was giving them names, therefore was attaching a new quality to the things and actions. After that he sent all the collected gesture on the altar through the false door  to the addressee, e.g. himself. Thus, heriheb was the only one among priests who had the opportunity to contact directly with the world of Ka and to serve as a connecting link. The images of an owner-heriheb themselves in appropriate places have pointed out that the tomb was open for contacts with the world Ka.