and practices were inseparable from daily life. Ancient Egyp-
tian rituals were very theatrical, taking place in dark temple
rooms with incense and recitations of sacred texts. Spells
were read aloud, which is theatrical in a sense, but whether it
qualifi es as drama is debatable; there is a diff erence between
ritual and more traditional forms of drama that presuppose a
script, actors, and predetermined stage actions.
Egyptologists do, however, call certain religious texts
“dramatic texts.” Known from papyri and temple walls, these
texts seem to be concerned with re-creating actions of the
gods from when time began. Th ey were probably not used
frequently or on a daily basis but rather at commemorative
events and festivals where their purpose was to inspire the
triumph of order and balance over chaos. Th ese texts were not
internally focused. Th ey show no interest in human psychol-
ogy, motivations, relationships, or emotions. Th ese “dramatic
texts” are extremely fragmentary and incomplete, which may
or may not have been intentional. Th ey would have been read
and acted out by the temple priesthood both within and out-
side the temple buildings. One wall of the Ptolemaic Dynasty
(304–330 c.e.) temple at Edfu contains such a text, known as
the “Triumph of Horus.” It features a linear plotline, there
seem to be stage directions, and the reliefs of the diff erent dei-
ties that accompany the text off er evidence of what the ritual
reenactment may have looked like.
Th ere are also dramatic ritual texts that celebrate the mys-
teries of the god Osiris. Th ese would have been performed at
Abydos, the supposed burial site of Osiris and thus the most
sacred place in Egypt. Th e Osirian rituals were performed at
Abydos from 2500 to 550 b.c.e. One papyrus has stage direc-
tions calling for two beautiful women to kneel on the ground
and bow their heads. Another gives similar stage directions
for the women playing Isis and Nephthys in a ritual for the
temple of Osiris Khentyimentiu at Abydos. Th is papyrus also
specifi es that the women were to be virgins without any hair
at all on their bodies, other than wigs, to signify purifi cation.
Th e papyrus shift s back and forth from fi rst person singular
to fi rst person plura l (from “I” to “we”), suggesting t hat some-
times one of the reciters spoke alone and other times the two
spoke in unison. Th ese virgins, holding tambourines, would
read the stanzas of the text in the presence of the deities. It
ca n be inferred t hat t he ta mbourines were used to accompa ny
this recitation.
Th ere are other so-called dramatic texts that focus on
other aspects of ancient Egyptian mythology and history.
For example, the so-called Memphite Drama relates the
myth of Osiris’ death and resurrection and the crowning of
his son Horus as his successor. Th e Dramatic Ramesseum
Papyrus features a ceremonial play composed to celebrate
the accession to the throne of Sesostris I of the Twelft h^ Dy-
nasty. Th e text is accompanied by illustrations at the bottom
of the papyrus that show the pharaoh appearing as Horus.
Th e Egyptian Book of the Dead might also be considered a
dramatic text. It is composed of many spells the dead must
recite as they move through the aft erlife. Many of these ut-
terances are dramatic in form, with the gods asking ques-
tions that the dead must answer from the Book of the Dead
in order to pass to the next station in the aft erlife. Th is call-
and-response format reads very much like dialogue, and one
could argue that Egypt’s most theatrical drama was reserved
for the dead, not the living.THE MIDDLE EAST
BY LYN GREEN
Th eater as we understand it in modern Western culture does
not seem to have existed in many societies of the ancient Near
East. Th is does not mean that performance art—and espe-
cially dance—did not play an important role in these civiliza-
tions. In fact, in ancient Phoenicia one of the gods bore the
name Baal Marqod, or “Lord of the Dance,” perhaps because
he was worshiped through dance. Dance was an important
part of the worship of many other gods and goddesses as well.
At diff erent times and in diff erent places it seems to have been
more common for one sex to dance within the temples than
the other. In Iron Age Israel, for example, there seem to be
more mentions and depictions of women and girls dancing
than of men.
Dances were also key parts of seasonal festivals associ-
ated with agriculture, where they reenacted important myths.
Some dances could put the participants into a trancelike state
in which they might receive religious visions. Dance was
closely associated with what anthropologists call “life crisis”
occasions such as birth, death, weddings, and coming of age.
It was especially closely linked to sexuality and courting.
From around the 15th^ and 14th centuries b.c.e. there are rep-
resentations of naked dancing girls done in a style strongly
infl uenced by contemporary Egyptian art. Dance was even
used in magic or healing ceremonies, both in and out of the
temple. Texts from ancient Mesopotamia describe personnel
from the temple of the goddess Ishtar as being part of rituals
in which dancers helped drive away the demons of illness and
possession.
Performances in which dancers mimed important activ-
ities such as hunting or played the roles of gods or goddesses
might be considered the ancient Near Eastern form of theater.
One of the most common myths to be acted out seems to have
been the “Sacred Marriage.” Th is myth, which tells of the
marriage of a fertility goddess, symbolizes the need to ensure
a good harvest and bountiful off spring for herds and fl ocks.
Although it may have been acted out between a high priestess
and high priest or between a queen and a king, musicians and
dancers were always involved in the ceremony.
Dance could also be used to celebrate great occasions
such as victory in battle. On the walls of the palace of Nim-
rud in northern Iraq the soldiers of an Assyrian king are
shown dancing to harps and drums while waving the de-
capitated heads of their enemies. Th e Old Testament contains
numerous mentions of dances in honor of military victory.
For example, aft er the escape across the Red Sea Moses’ sister330 drama and theater: The Middle East