page_title: Deir el-Medina
section_title: Popular piety
hierarchical_section_title: Deir el-Medina / Historical texts of Deir el-Medina / Popular piety
caption_attribution_description: English: Offering table of Penrenu (Penrenut), servant in the place of truth. 19th Dynasty. From Deir el-Medina, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London. With thanks to the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, UCL.
context_page_description: Deir el-Medina, or Dayr al-Madīnah, is an ancient Egyptian village which was home to the artisans who worked on the tombs in the Valley of the Kings during the 18th to 20th Dynasties of the New Kingdom of Egypt The settlement's ancient name was Set maat "The Place of Truth", and the workmen who lived there were called "Servants in the Place of Truth". During the Christian era, the temple of Hathor was converted into a church from which the Egyptian Arabic name Deir el-Medina is derived.
  At the time when the world's press was concentrating on Howard Carter's discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922, a team led by Bernard Bruyère began to excavate the site.
  This work has resulted in one of the most thoroughly documented accounts of community life in the ancient world that spans almost four hundred years. There is no comparable site in which the organisation, social interactions, working and living conditions of a community can be studied in such detail.
  The site is located on the west bank of the Nile, across the river from modern-day Luxor.
context_section_description: The excavations of the royal artisans community at Deir el-Medina have revealed much evidence of personal religious practice and cults. State gods were worshipped freely alongside personal gods without any conflict between national and local modes of religious expression.
  The community had between sixteen and eighteen chapels, with the larger ones dedicated to Hathor, Ptah and Ramesses II. The workmen seem to have honoured Ptah and Resheph, the scribes Thoth and Seshat, as patron deities of their particular activity. Women had particular devotion towards Hathor, Taweret, and Bes in pregnancy, turning to Renenutet and Meretseger for food and safety. Meretseger ("She Who Loves Silence") was perhaps locally at least as important as Osiris, the great god of the dead.
  The villagers held Amenhotep I (c. 1526–1506 BCE) and his mother, Queen Ahmose-Nefertari, in high regard over many generations, possibly as divinized patrons of the community. When Amenhotep died he became the centre of a village funerary cult, as "Amenhotep of the Town". When the Queen died, she also was deified and became "Mistress of the Sky" and "Lady of the West". Every year the villagers celebrated the Festival of Amenhotep I, where the elders acted as priests in the ceremonies that paid honour to their own local gods who were not worshipped anywhere else in Egypt.
  Prayers were made and dedicated to a particular deity as votive offerings, similar in style to the Penitential Psalms in the Tanakh, which express remorse and thanksgiving for mercy. Steles record sorrow for human error and humbly invoke a god for forgiveness and mercy. In one instance Meretseger is petitioned to bring relief to one in pain. She answer the prayer by bringing "sweet breezes". On another stele, a workman writes, "I was a man who swore falsely by Ptah, Lord of Truth, and he caused me to see darkness by day. Now I will declaim his might to both the ignorant and the knowledgeable.” Amun was considered a special patron of the poor and one who was merciful to the penitent. A stelae records:
  [Amun] who comes at the voice of the poor in distress, who gives breath to him who is wretched..You are Amun, the Lord of the silent, who comes at the voice of the poor, when I call to you in my distress You come and rescue me... Though the servant was disposed to do evil, the Lord is disposed to forgive. The Lord of Thebes spends not a whole day in anger, His wrath passes in a moment, none remains. His breath comes back to us in mercy... May your ka be kind, may you forgive, It shall not happen again.
  Dream interpretation was very common.
  A book of dreams was found in Scribe Kenhirkhopeshef's library that was old even in his time. This book was used to interpret various types of dreams. These interpretations lacked precision and similar dreams often had different meanings. In many cases the interpretation was the opposite of what the dream depicted, for example a happy dream often signified sadness, a dream of plenty often signified scarceness etc.
  Examples of how the dreams are interpreted include the following:
  If a man sees himself dead this is good; it means a long life in front of him.
  If a man sees himself eating crocodile flesh this is good; it means acting as an official amongst his people. (i.e. becoming a tax collector)
  If a man sees himself with his face in a mirror this is bad; it means a new life.
  If a man sees himself uncovering his own backside this is bad; it means he will be an orphan later.
  Also in the temple to Hathor, a few of the craftsmen built stelae in honour of her. One such stela is the stele of Nefersenut, in which he and one of his son's kneeling and giving offerings to her in human form.
caption: Offering table of Penrenu, servant in the place of truth. Nineteenth Dynasty. From Deir el-Medina, Egypt. Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London
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