erpati hati’o The ancient Egyptian term for the nobil-
ity of the NOMESor provinces of the nation, in some eras
women inherited the rights and rank of this class.
Esna (Iunit, Enit, Letopolis) A site 34 miles south of
LUXORin the Upper Kingdom. Tombs from the Middle
Kingdom (2040–1640 B.C.E.). Second Intermediate Period
(1640–1550 B.C.E.), and New Kingdom (1550– 1070
B.C.E.) were discovered there. Esna is noted, however, for
the Ptolemaic Period (304–30 B.C.E.) temple. It served as
a cult center for the god KHNUMand the goddess Nebtu’u.
There was also a necropolis for the sacred Nile perch
(Lates niloticus)at Esna.
The temple stood at a crossroads of oasis caravans
from the Nubian (modern Sudanese) region. Construc-
tion began in the reign of PTOLEMY III EUERGETES
(246–221 B.C.E.) and was completed in the mid-first cen-
tury. Twenty-four columns, with various capitals, de-
signed as imitation palms and other plants, form a stone
forest in the shrine. Highly decorated, the temple of
Khnum and NEITH(1)was adorned with Ptolemaic sym-
bols and architectural styles. The ceilings have astronom-
ical decorations, and CROCODILES and rams figure
prominently. Predynastic sites, dated to c. 13,000–10,000
B.C.E., were also found in Esna.
Essarhaddon (Assur-Akh-Iddina)(d. 669 B.C.E.)King
of Assyria and ruler of Egypt
He reigned from 681 B.C.E. until his death. His Assyrian
name was Assur-Akh-Iddina,which was Persian for “the
God Ashur Has Given Me a Brother.” He was named the
heir by King Sennacherib and inherited when Sen-
nacherib was slain. Essarhaddon marched on the rebels
who had assassinated the king and then was crowned in
NINEVEH. In 657 B.C.E., he attacked the frontier outposts
ofEgypt and took the northern capital of MEMPHIS. In 671
B.C.E., TAHARQA, the Egyptian ruler of the time, fled to
NUBIA, abandoning his wife, AMUN-DYEK’HET, and their
son, USHANAHURU, who were taken as slaves by the Assyr-
ians. Two years later, Taharqa returned to Egypt to regain
his throne. Essarhaddon died on his way to defeat
Taharqa and was succeeded by his son ASSURBANIPAL.
Esye An Egyptian deity of wisdom and somewhat mys-
terious being, Esye was mentioned in a document from
the reign of SENWOSRET I(1971–1926 B.C.E.) in a HELIO-
POLIStemple inscription.
eternity This ancient Egyptian concept gave impetus
to the mortuary rituals and to the religious philosophy of
every period on the Nile. Early in their history the people
of the Nile Valley determined that the earth reflected the
cosmos, a vision glimpsed nightly by the astronomer-
priests and incorporated into spiritual ideals. This led to
the concept of timeless order called eternity. Two basic
concepts were involved in this awareness of eternity: (1)
that eternity was changeless existence and (2) that eter-
nity was continued renewal. Time was thus viewed in
terms both linear and cyclical, an important element in
the reenactment of ancient ceremonies. The deity AMUN
represented changeless existence, and OSIRIS depicted
daily renewal, thus uniting the concepts in cultic terms.
Egyptians feared eternal darkness and unconscious-
ness in the afterlife because both of these conditions
belied the orderly transmission of light and movement
evident in the universe. They understood that death was
in reality the gateway to eternity. The Egyptians thus
esteemed the act of dying and venerated the structures
and the rituals involved in such human adventure. HEH,
called Huh in some eras, the god of eternity, was one of
the original gods of the OGDOADat HERMOPOLISand rep-
resented eternity—the goal and destiny of all human life
in Egyptian religious beliefs, a stage of existence in which
mortals could achieve eternal bliss.
Eternity was an endless period of existence that was
not feared by any Egyptian because it carried with it ever-
lasting renewal. One ancient name for it was nuheh,but
eternity was also called the shenu,which meant round,
hence everlasting or unending, and became the form of
the royal cartouches. The astral term “Going to One’s ka,”
a reference to the astral being that accompanied humans
through earthly life, was used in each age to express
dying. The hieroglyph for a corpse was translated as “par-
ticipating in eternal life.” The tomb was “the Mansion of
Eternity” and the deceased was an akh,a transformed
spirit. The PYRAMID TEXTSfrom the Old Kingdom Period
(2575–2134 B.C.E.) proclaimed that the akhwent to the
sky as the mortal remains went into the earth.
While the concept of eternity provided the impetus
for the rituals and ceremonies of the mortuary rites, the
arts and architecture benefited from the same vision of
the afterlife. The surviving monuments of Egypt are
mostly related to MORTUARY RITUALSbecause they were
made of stone and raised as insignias of the Egyptian
contemplation of eternity. The PYRAMIDSrising out of the
sand at GIZA were symbols of everlasting power and
transformation in death. The elaborate TOMBSand TEM-
PLESwere introductions into the supernatural ways of the
realm beyond the grave, called TUATin passage. This con-
cept was also the foundation of the role of the rulers of
Egypt. Each pharaoh was the god RÉwhile he lived upon
the earth. At his death, however, he became OSIRIS, “the
First of the Westerners,” the “Lord of the Dead.” Thus
rulers were divine and destined for eternal happiness.
UNIS(r. 2356–2323 B.C.E.), of the Fifth Dynasty, declared
in his tomb in SAQQARAthat “the stars would tremble
when he dawned as a soul.” Eternity was the common
destination of each man, woman, and child in Egypt.
Such a belief infused the vision of the people, challeng-
ing their artists to produce soaring masterpieces andeternity 133