Types of intermediaries in popular religion

Abstract EN

This article deals with a topic entitled “Types of Intermediaries in the popular Religion” during the New Kingdom.

Following the discussion of specific points in the introduction such as the definition, the Ancient Egyptian term and the data-sources of the intermediary, the paper will present six documents including three votive stelae, intercessory statue, graffito and a letter to the livings with full transcription, transliteration and translation.

The paper aims to prove that there were three different types of intermediaries in the popular religion of ancient Egypt during the New Kingdom.

The first type is the divine intermediary represented in the sacred bulls such as the Mnevis bull of Heliopolis and the popular god Thoth for example.

The second type was the royal intermediary best represented in the King who was the major intermediary in the popular religion of all time whether alive or dead.

The third type was the individual intermediary who was in most of the cases one of the high officials such as the vizier, the high priest or son of King in Kush but other data indicate that officials such as royal scribes acted as intermediary.

The notion of the individual intermediary was known as well between the community members such as the family members.

The paper will use a descriptive historical method through analyzing the cited data to come out with conclusions.