Dance in Ancient Egypt

Author(s): Patricia Spencer

Source: Near Eastern Archaeology, Vol. 66, No. 3, Dance in the Ancient World (Sep., 2003), pp.
111-121
Published by: The American Schools of Oriental Research
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3210914 .
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ncient Egypthas left a rich and variedtextual legacy.Nevertheless,evidence

on dance perse from literarysources is rare, since the ancient Egyptianssaw no
need to describe in words something that was so familiarto them. There are a

numberof termsthat were used for the verb "todance,"the most commonbeingib3.
Other termsthat describespecificdancesor movementsare knownbut unfortunately
theseoftenoccursimplyas "labels"to scenesor in contextswheretheysaylittleor nothing of the natureof the dancein question.Fromcasualreferencesin literatureor administrative

documentsit is, however,possibleto learnsomethingaboutdanceanddancersin ancient

Egypt,theirlives and the attitudesof the ancientEgyptianstowardsperformers.
.

-: .oo :

- . .

?N

*~....'~~

~ ~ ~

~.

The "Scorpion" mace head, depicting dancers

performing at a royal ceremony. Three dancers (there may
have originally been more) are shown with braided hair.
They have one leg raised and would seem to be clapping
their hands as they perform.These dancers accompany a
scene of the king (named "Scorpion") ritually breaking soil
and were therefore performing in a ceremonial context.
Drawing by Richard Parkinson after Marion Cox.

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111

~~
~~ ~
r

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A~~~~~~
.~
& 4

,?

tp

Dancers performingat the Festival of Opet, during which the state god, Amun-Re,traveled in his barque from his home at Karnakto Luxor
temple. Photo courtesy of the author.

In the popularculture, dance was somethingpeople took for

granted and rarelydescribed.This is, of course, not unique to
Egypt in antiquity-references to dance in Egypt from the
Byzantine period to the eighteenth century CE are scarce but
this does not mean that dance had ceased to exist. It was only
when European travelers started to visit Egypt and the Near
East and to record the dance that they saw performed in
private salons, at parties or in the context of weddings or street
festivals, that Egyptian or other "oriental" dances were
described in any detail.
There are many obstacles to attempting to understand the
purpose of dance and the contexts in which it took place in
ancient Egypt and especially in attempting to reconstruct any
of the movements involved. The same is true of any historical
period for which one has to rely on textual and decorative
evidence, but is especially so for ancient Egypt where the
conventions for depicting the human form were so stylized
and, essentially, static, that any accurate representation of
movement was difficult, if not impossible.
Virtually all representations of dancers from ancient Egypt
are two dimensional. They come from the walls of temples or

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The god Bes dancingand

playinga tambourine.
Bes, probablya god of
Africanorigin,was
usuallyshownas a lionheaded dwarfand was
associated
particularly
withthe warding-offof
evil spiritsand thus with
the protectionof the
motherand childduring
childbirth.The Egyptians
believedthat his dancing
and musicwoulddrive
awayevil spiritsand offer
protectionto his
charges.Reproduced
courtesyof the Trustees
of The BritishMuseum.

r
I

?
(I/
Ia IIii

.Ac

Scenefromthe tomb of Intefat DraAbu'lNaga.This

tomb scene showswomenwearingcalf-lengthdresses,
braceletsandanklets,andwithwhitefilletstied around
theirlongflowinghair,dancingin pairswitha wide range
of movements,some moreelegantlydepictedthan
others.AfterPetrie(1909: frontispiece).
Reproduced
courtesyof the PetrieMuseumof Egyptian
Archaeology
ColleqeLondon.
University

I.

tombsor fromdepictionson ostracaand papyrus,

and they were governed by the artistic
conventions of ancient Egypt, which required
that the human form be depicted in accordance
with a strict canon that left little room for
flexibility or for the artist to use his imagination

l
It
'^I

I II
IH

I; Il

I'"

'Iii~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~11
,m
1

and skill to try and show three-dimensional

movement with any degree of accuracy.There is
also the additional problem that the dance
scenes that have been preserved from ancient
Egyptwere not intended to informviewersabout
dance, its natureand context, but were carvedor
painted on the walls of tombs or temples for
purposes that are not always obvious or even

Banquetscene fromthe tomb of Nebamun.Twogirls are shown dancingaccompaniedby a group of female musicians.The two dancers are
depicted with much more freedom than was possible for earlierartistsand their bodies are almost entwined as they dance and snap their
fingersto the beat of the music.Reproducedcourtesyof the Trusteesof The BritishMuseum.

66:3 (2003)
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113

A funeraldance scene fromthe tomb of Niunetjerat Giza.Threeof the dancersholda throw-stickintheir left handswhileshakingsistra.(Thesistrum
is a musicalinstrumentwithsmallmetaldisksthreadedhorizontally
to forma kindof rattle.)Throw-sticks
were used by the Egyptiansin hunting,to
AfterJunker(1951: Abb.44).
bringdown birds,andtheiroccurrencein dance scenes mayindicateoriginsin a ritual"hunting-dance."

intelligible to modern eyes-for

example, to demonstrate devotion
to a cult, to facilitiate entry to the
next world or to show activities
that, hopefully, would occur in
perpetuity once the deceased had
attained his eternal goal. Most of
the scenes were never intended to
be seen by more than a handful of
cult
devotees, whether of a god or
,
a deceased individual.
_* IfoWith these privisos in mind,
however,it is possibleto surveywhat
is known of dance in ancient Egypt,
even if a full understanding of its
nature and its context must remain
tantalisinglyunattainable.It should
also be borne in mind that the
ancient Egyptiancivilizationlasted
j

for over three thousand years and,

while it is deservedly regarded as

having been a very "conservative"
Acrobaticdancers in the tomb of Kagemniat Saqqara.The young women are shown standing on one

culture,

there must have been

(withthe otherleg andboththeirarmsraised)to anextentthatwouldbe

leg andleaningbackwards

changes and developmentsin dance

in real life. Reproducedcourtesyof the EgyptExplorationSociety.

impossible
physically
a
-

during that time.

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4-,

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The earliest depictions of dance in Egyptare found in rockart and on predynasticvessels and are describedin Garfinkel's
contribution to this issue. Egypt became a unified kingdom
about 3100 BCEand the political and military stability that
followed unification led to the flourishing of the distinctive
pharaonic civilization and the establishment of the artistic
conventions to which all representations of dance in ancient
Egypthad to conform. The "Scorpion"mace head showing an
Upper Egyptian king of the period just before unification
providesan earlyrepresentationof dancersin accordancewith
dynastic Egyptianartistic conventions. On the mace head the
dancersare shown takingpartin a royalceremonyand the vast
majorityof depictionsof dancersfrom ancient Egyptalso come
from ceremonialreligiousor funeraryscenes.

Dances
Funerary

the next seriesof dance depictionscomesfrom

Chronologically,
tomb-scenesof the Old Kingdomwhere dancersand singersare
shownperformingduringthe funeralprocessionor at the entrance
to the tomb.In this period,these entertainersseem to have been
groupsof, presumably,professionalmusiciansand dancerswho
wereattachedto temples,funeraryestatesand importanttombsor
cemeteries.The collective name for such a groupduringthe Old
and Middle Kingdomswas the hnr and they would performat
importantfestivalsas well as funerals.Initiallyall the membersof
the hnrseem to have been female, with women labeledin tomb
sceneswith titlessuch as "overseerof the hnr"or "inspectorof the
hnr"showinga high degree of organizationand professionalism
within the group. One Fifth Dynasty lady,Neferesres, had the
titles"overseerof the hnrof the king"and "overseerof the dances
of the king."The female dominance of the hnr seems to have
ended towards the close of the Old Kingdom when male
startto be depictedand maleofficialsarenamed(Nord
performers
1981: 29-38). Usually the dancersdepicted in these scenes are
female,thoughtherearealsomen and occasionallya dwarf,as in a

'^ss.

Dancersdepicted in the tomb

of Antefikerat Thebes. After
de GarisDavies (7920:
pls. 23, 23a).

scene fromthe
well-preserved
tomb of Niunetjer at Giza.
The dancers are described
collectivelyas ib3wtand they
are accompanied by a
kneeling group of three
female singers (hswt) who
are marking the beat by
clapping.The costumeof the
dancers in this tomb is
typical of the period, with
short skirts and crossed

bands across their chests.

...................,::: .
The three dancersare led by
a fourth who carries a
sistrumbut no throw-stick,and are followedby a female dwarf,
who also plays a sistrum. Another three dancers face in the
oppositedirectionand have neither throw-sticksnor sistra.The
entire groupmay be an attempt to represent(in so far as it was
possible for the Egyptian artist within the prevailing
conventions) seven women dancing around the dwarfin their
midst (Anderson1995: 2563).
Similar scenes, though the details vary, are found in many
Old Kingdom tombs. The dancers are often shown in rows
(though this, of course, may simply reflect Egyptian artistic
conventions) and their dance would appearto have been very
stylized with a limited number of movements. Many of the
movements depicted are "acrobatic"in nature, as in the scene
from the tomb of Kagemni.Here the dancersare accompanied
by women clapping (and probablysinging) as in so manyother
funerarypaintingsof dancers.In these Old Kingdomtombscenes,
male dancerswearwhat mightbe regardedas "everyday"
clothes
with a short kilt. Femaledancers,however,at a time when most
womenweredepictedwith long ankle-lengthdresses,usuallyalso
wore short skirts, probably to free their legs for the dance.
Occasionallytheyaredepictedas if naked,orwithjusta beltaround
their hips. Male dancershave short hair and often so do female
dancers,thoughsomeworetheirhairlongandtiedbackwith a disk
at the end of the "pony-tail"
to weighit down and makethe hair's
movement more dramatic.There are tomb scenes which show
couplesdancingtogether,oftenholdinghands,but thesearealways
twomenor twowomen-men andwomenneverdancetogether.
One of the most uninhibited depictions of dance to have
survivedfrom ancient Egyptfeaturespair-dancers(see p. 113).
The scene originally came from the tomb of Intef (Second
Intermediateperiod,ca. 1795-1550 BCE)at Dra Abu'l Naga on
the west bank at Luxorbut is now preservedin the Ashmolean
Museum, Oxford. The relaxation of rigid state control that
always occured during an "Intermediate period" (when
centralizedgovernment broke down in Egypt)has allowed the

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115

.f "\ n

Muudancers, with their distinctive

headresses, as shown in the tomb of
Antefikerat Thebes. These headdresses
were made of woven papyrusstalks
and recalleddwellers in the marshyNile
Delta where the cites of Sais, Pe and
Dep were located. AfterNorman de
GarisDavies (1920: pl. 22).

p2,---ffJ-

r-l
(

--

1i::u

i~~~~~Zi

6/
./

r
//

artist of this scene the freedom to depict the dancers' evident

enjoymentof their performance.
In the MiddleKingdom(ca. 2135-1985 BCE) funerarydances,
as depicted in, for example, the tombs at Beni Hasan, Meir and
Deir el-Gebrawi, also often included movements that would
seem to our eyes to be more "acrobatic"than representativeof
"dance"but we should not assume that the ancient Egyptians
made the same distinction between "dancers"and "acrobats"
that we do. One interestingscene in the TwelfthDynastytomb
of Antefiker and his wife Senet at Thebes shows three women
clappingwhile two groupsof dancersmove towardseach other,
in front of the clappingwomen. Both groups,each made up of
two dancers, are female but, unlike the clapping women who
wear long shifts, they are simplydressedin short kilts and floral
collars.The dancersapproachingfrom the righthave short hair
while the paircoming towardsthem fromthe left both have long
pony-tailswith the weighteddisk at the end.
Perhapsthe most importantof the funerarydances was that
of the Muu dancers, which is attested in scenes from the Old

Dancesof the Gods

\ /_ Kingdom to the end of the New

X
Kingdom(ca. 1069 BCE). They were
\
\
\\
iY
\\~
often (though not always) shown
\'~X
J
N,j
wearing distinctive headdresses,
)_) J
which make them instantly
recognizable.
The storyof the TwelfthDynastyofficialSinuhe offersa good
descriptionof an Egyptianfuneralinvolvingthe Muu dancers:
A funeralprocessionwillbe madeforyouon the dayof burial,
with a gold coffin,a maskof lapislazuli,heaven aboveyou, you
beingplacedin the portableshrine,with oxen pullingyou, and
singersgoingbeforeyou.The danceof the Muuwillbe performed
at the entranceto yourtomband the offeringlist shallbe recited
foryou.(Sinuhe,
lines 194-195)
There were also dancers who would seem to have been
permanentlyattached to the headquartersof the embalmers.A
demotic story of the Ptolemaic period lists "dancers, who
frequent the emblamingrooms"among those to be summoned
for a royalfuneral(Spiegelberg,quoted by Lexova 1935: 67-68).
Dancers also played a major role in the funerary rituals of
the most importantof the sacred bulls of Egypt.The Apis and
Mnevis bulls were accorded royal and divine honors during
their lives and were given elaborate burials in special
cemeteries on their deaths. Their funerals must have rivaled
those of members of the royal family and would have been
processionalin nature with dancers employed along the route.
The dwarf Djeho, who lived during the Thirtieth Dynasty,
describes himself on his sacrophagus (Egyptian Museum,
Cairo CG 29307) thus:

Certaingodsand goddesseswereparticularly
withdanceinancientEgypt.Thegoddess,
associated
Hathor,
was,withhersonIhy,associated
forexample,
I am the dwarfwho dancedin Kemon the dayof the burialof
wereoftendescribed
withmusicanddanceanddancers
the Apis-Osiris... andwhodancedin Shenqebehon the dayof the
eternalfestivalof the Osiris-Mnevis... (Spiegelberg1929:76-83;
as havingbeenperforming
in herhonor.Sometimes
see alsoDasen1993:150-55andpl. 26, 2).
instruments
dancers
areshowncarrying
musical
(sistra
or menatandclappers)
orobjects(suchas mirrors
The presence of ritual dancers at a funeral, whether for a
Another
collars)thatweresacredtoHathor.
Egyptian king, a sacred bull or a private individual, seems to have been
god,thepopularBes,wasoftenshowndancingand
very important to the ancient Egyptians.The dancers helped
withBes
musical
instruments.
Thisassociation
the mourners to'bid farewell to the deceased and also
playing
his passinginto the next world.
celebrated
in
the
dwarves
account
of
Egyptian
for popularity
may
dancescenes. Dwarves,as we have seen, were
Dances
at thefunerals
showndancing
ofindividuals, Temple
frequently
An early textual reference to a "divine"dance in dynastic
andtheywereinvolved
intemple
dances.
Egyptcomes from the well-known letter written by the six-year
old king Pepi II (ca. 2087 BCE)to his official Harkhufwho had

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Muudancers performingat the Delta shrines.Scene from the tomb of Rekhmireat Thebes. The Muudancers originallyrepresentedthe
ancestors of the deceased who greeted the funeralcortege after it had made a sacred pilgrimageto the ancient Delta cities of Sais, Pe and
Dep. Whetherthe deceased had actuallybeen taken on the pilgrimageor was just regarded as havingdone so magically,the Muuperformed
when the funeralprocession reachedthe tomb. AfterNormande GarisDavies (1943: pl. XCII).

led an expedition into what is now Sudan to bringback to the

court at Memphisa dwarf,in this case possiblya pygmy,for the
"dances of the gods." Harkhuf's success in acquiring the
"dwarf" earned him a personal letter of thanks from the
excited young king which Harkhufproudlyhad carved on his
tomb walls:
Youhave said in this letter of yoursthat you have broughta
dwarffor the dances of the god ... come north to the palace
immediately ... bring this dwarfwith you ... alive prosperousand

healthyforthe dancesof the god,to distractthe heartandgladden

the heartof the Kingof Upperand LowerEgypt... MyMajesty
wishes to see this dwarfmore than the produceof the mining
regionorof Punt.
We don't know exactly what the "dancesof the gods"were,
but presumablythey took place in a religiouscontext, probably
within a temple precinct. Most Egyptiantemples seem to have
had dancers and musicians on their staff. A papyrusfrom the
TwelfthDynasty temple of Senwosret II at Lahun describesin
tabular form the occasions on which dances were performed
with the name and nationalities of the singers and
dancers/acrobats concerned. From this we learn that the
temple employed Asiatic and Nubian performers,in addition
to Egyptians.These dancers were paid to performat religious
feastivals to mark the end of the old year, the New Year,the
coming of the annual inundation, the full and new moon and
the feasts of specific gods (Griffith1898: 59-62).
Most of the ritualsof Egyptianstate religiontook place within
the temple itself, to which only the priests and the king were
allowed entry, so the temple singers and dancers would have
performedonly forthe eyes of the priestsand the godswhom they
served.HoweverordinaryEgyptianswereableto watchdancesfor
the gods on the occasionof publicreligiousfestivals,which often
took the formof processions.It was standardpracticeat Egyptian

cult templesforthe divineimageto be broughtout of its shrineand

carriedout of the templeat the time of importantfeasts.Usually
placed in a sacred barque and carriedon the shoulders of the
priests,the divineimagewouldprocessaroundthe god'slocalarea,
orbe takento visitothergodsin neighboringtowns.The procession
as in
accompanyingthe sacredbarqueincludeddancers/acrobats
the importantfestivals at Thebes (modern Luxor) in the New
Kingdom (ca. 1550-1069 BCE). In addition to the "Festivalof
Opet" there was the "Festivalof the Valley"when Amun-Re's
imagecrossedthe riverNile to visit the royalmortuarytemplesof
the west bank. Scenes of both festivals, depicted in tombs and
the procession.
temples,showdancers/acrobats
accompanying
The occasions on which dancers, musicians and singers
performedwithin an Egyptiantemple would, presumably,have
been very formal and, one imagines, somewhat sedate in
nature. The entertainers would have been called upon to
praisethe god or goddess at particularfestivalsthroughoutthe
year and their performances would have been witnessed by
only a small select group of priests and temple officials.
However, when the divine image was taken out of the temple
at the time of more public feasts, then the entertainers,
including dancers and acrobats,who performedas part of the
god's procession would have been seen by the large crowds
who gathered to watch what must have been one of the most
impressive occasions in the local calendar. Dancing on such
occasions, in the open air,might well have been less inhibited
than it normallywas inside the peacefulsanctityof the temple.

Dancein Everyday
Life

Although most of the depictions of dance which have

survived from ancient Egypt relate to funerary or religious
rituals,there is sufficientevidence to show that dance was not
confinedto ritualcontexts and playeda veryreal,and important,
role in the life of ordinary Egyptians. Ancient Egypt had no
theatricaltradition,with the possibleexception of mythological

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117

playsperformedat religiousfeasts,and any publicentertainment

as such must have been limited in scope at a time when most
people probably rarely strayed far from their home town or
village.Entertainmenton festiveoccasionswouldhave been to a
large extent "homemade"and provided either by membersof
the celebrant'sfamilyor by hiringprofessionalperformers.
In additionto scenes of funeraryand temple cult dances, the
Egyptiansalso showed dance as it occured in secularsituations,
particularly in the New Kingdom, essentially at private
entertainments, and it is from these depictions, less rigid in
style and convention than those in formalreligiousor funerary
scenes, that we can learn most of the context of dance in the
lives of ordinarypeople in ancient Egypt, and can attempt to
reconstruct the situations in which dance occurred and the
natureof the dance itself. It must, however,alwaysbe borne in
mind that even these "domestic" scenes served a funerary
purposesince most of them arefound on the decoratedwallsof
tombs and depict an idealisedview of the next world-a world
in which good living and entertainmentwas to be anticipated.
Dance in a domestic context is shown in scenes from the
Old Kingdom to the end of the New Kingdom. Its absence
from later tomb decoration is a reflection of the different
nature of funerarydecoration after the New Kingdom, when
the "dailylife" scenes that previously had been regarded as
essential,were replacedby more religiousthemes.
Dancersin tomb scenes at privatebanquetsare often shown
with accompanying musicians clapping hands or playing
instruments. The most elaborate of these scenes is that from
the tomb of Nebamun at Thebes, now in the BritishMuseum.
Both dancersshown are virtuallynaked wearingonly a narrow
belt around their hips, and jewelry.In the register above the

dancersand musiciansis their audience, who would, of course

have been on the same level as the dancers-Egyptian artistic
convention could not show them all in one register, as this
would have obscured parts of or whole figures. Dancers in
these New Kingdom tomb scenes are usually women and the
musicians are also often women, though men can be found
playingto accompanyfemale dancers.The Egyptiansseem not
to have had any form of musical notation so we cannot know
what ancient Egyptianmusic sounded like, any more than we
can reconstructdance movementswith any degreeof accuracy,
but percussiveinstrumentscertainlyplayeda majorrole. In the
earlier periods, most dancers were accompanied only by
percussiveinstrumentsor by clapping.The introductionin the
New Kingdom of a greater variety of stringed instruments,
such as the lute and the lyre, would have increased the range
of music available and may in turn have influenced the
movementsof dancers.
Although in earlier periods dancers were usually shown
wearing skirts or dresses, by the New Kingdom they are more
scantilly dressed, often with just a scarf or band around their
hips, though sometimes with what would seem to be a
diaphonous robe on top-their bodies are clearly visible
through the transparentcloth. Their hair, or a wig, is usually
long and loose and the dancer's head could be topped by the
cone of scented beeswax, which the Egyptians liked to have
melt over their heads duringentertainment. Dancers are also
usuallybejeweled, with heavy floral collars, bracelets, anklets
and long dangling earrings. Their eyes are always heavily
outlined with kohl. The impression is certainly given that
these are professional performers, dressed for their part.
Nubians (from the very south of Egypt or from what is now
northernSudan) were
(_
often shown dancing
>
5
.t
\,_
with other Egyptian
A- /
dancers or musicians,
the difference in skin
tones being accurately
depicted. These Nubians probably performed a different,
perhapsmore African,
dance which may
have seemed more
exotic to Egyptian

Musiciansand a Nubian
dancer as shown in the

tombof Djeserkaresoneb.Thelittle

*t

-odancer,

r
;,
.,,+ilii
S \

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who seems
totally absorbed by her

is naked
performance,
apartfrom herjewelry
and floralcollar.
Courtesyof the Egypt
ExplorationSociety.

eyes. A famous scene (now

nearbyhouse, fell to his death

(p xy 475; 182 CE).
Itinerant performers are

Scenes
1CIersinTomb
The Depiction of Darnci

destroyed)fromthe tombof

Djeserkaresoneb at Thebes
shows a small Nubian girl
found in manycultures and
Dancers were often delpict
ted, accordingto Egyptian
with
a
of
dancing
group
are known to have existed
artistic conventions, i n (one register while their
female Egyptian musicians.
in
ancient Egypt.A story
audience was shoun in c)th
erregisters.The audience
about the divine births of
The scene was a copy of one
the kings of the Fifth
could be made up both o,fn en and women,but they
in the
the nearby
tomb of
nearby tomb
were seated and grouped sep
,arately,with the exception
Dynasty describeshow some
Amenhotep-Siese (Davies
This
es.
cot
married
1923: pl. V), illustrating the
goddesses
and a god
should,
course,
of
of prominent
upl
in
which
themselves
as a
as with the celebratec is cene from the tomb of
disguised
way
Egyptian
artists often worked from
group of traveling musicians
Nebamun (page 113), beinterpretedas a scene of
with
little
"patterns"
dancersand musiciansin themidstof a party,probably and dancers. They carried
with them clappers and
freedom of choice as to
7
th dby bys
ree
sides
the
dierssistra.
matter
and
Although the group
style.
subject
in
did
not
the
the
actually perform in
Interestingly
copy
the story, they did assist at
tomb of Djeserkaresoneb is
the birth of the triplets who would become the first three
more skillfully executed than the original.
Dancers would also have performedout of doors (as indeed
kings of the Fifth Dynasty and were rewarded by the
in
modern
where
there
was
more
do
grateful father with a bag of grain, which they asked to be
they frequently
Egypt)
A
is
shown
in
the
Theban
tomb
outdoor
scene
kept safely for them until they returned from their travels.
space. less-rigid
Since there was no currency in ancient Egypt, itinerant
of Huy (reign of Tutankhamun) where a group of women is
shown dancing to welcome Huy home fromhis travels.
performers, like everyone else in the country, would have
In
however
lead
to
been
out
of
doors
could
Performing
problems.
paid "in kind." Even by the Graeco-Roman period,
after money had been introduced into Egypt, payments to
the narrowstreets of an Egyptianvillage, spectators (again as
dancers were still made partly in kind.
can be seen today) would have crowded into any vantage
from
of
stories
or
Can we say anything of the social status of professional
often
the
windows
watching
upper
point,
near
This
led
to
a
at
the
of
entertainers, including dancers, in ancient Egypt? Today,
village Senepta,
tragedy
roof-tops.
out
from
a
when
an
old
slave
leaning
Oxyrhynchus,
eight-year
professional dancers, though they may be admired for their
roof to watch the "castanetdancers"who were performingat a
skills, are not accorded high status in Egyptianvillage society.
They travel around, often in the
r /L?CIC?I'I?C
I*?l----IC*?IICC
..
of men to whom they
.^
....company
,Yi la
c :~-%
are
not
related
and may stay away
?^:
,o,
Si*\t
d rr c rr rr rr rrr rr rr IIII1LI.-Il*-IJ
- - I ?from
home
at
night-behavior on
... ......
which
society frowns. The fact
/S J
1
.i
that
r^-?
performersin ancient tombare sometimes identified in
1~\
dt
Xscenes
Ir5;-s""I,
a\
h
r~
the
accompanying texts as
;\/e-:_.7
of the tomb-owner's
I< AS {fmembers
family might suggest that to be a
musician or a dancer was socially
(it ' but in such cases,
++>>acceptable,
are
these
S
unlikely to be
/ll\
\
A-.t,
professionalperformers.They are
:
relations of the deceased dancing
for him in private in both his

i
Ix?c`??r
$C

C ^

Aii\\\j
'/ |V

|DI
\

i
|

3ii>

-*ii

\
\

Dancers welcoming Huy home. Scene

in the tomb of Huy at Thebes. At this
time, at the end of the Amarna Period,
artistic conventions were more relaxed
and the artist took advantage of this to
try and give more of an impression of
the movements of the dancers. After
Nina de Garis Davies (1926: p. XV).

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119

ProfessionalDancersof AncientEgypt

artabasof barleyand24 pairsof breadloaves,andon condition

orgoldornaments
arebrought
down,we
furtherthat,ifgarments
willguardthesesafely,and thatwe willfurnishyou withtwo
donkeyswhenyou comedownto us and a likenumberwhen
1924: 134-44)
yougo backto thecity.(Westerman

The best evidence for the lifestyle of professional

dancerscomesfrom late in ancientEgyptianhistory.
A papyrus found at the Graeco-Roman city of
Arsinoe describes how a "castanet dancer"
A similarpapyrus,writtensomethirtyyearsearlieralso
(krotalistria) named Isidora was engaged by a
theengagement
describes
(thistimecalled
of entertainers
woman called Artemisia to performin her village,
orchestriai) from Arsinoe to performin the city of
togetherwith anotherdancer:
Bacchias, interestinglyfor the same rate of pay (36
ToIsidora,castanetdancer,fromArtemisiaof thevillageof drachmasa day) as thatofferedto Isidoraa generation
thatthisdailyrateseems
Philadelphia.I requestthatyou, assistedby anothercastanet later.It shouldbenoted,however,
withthedailyaveragerate(lessthan3
dancer-total two-undertaketoperformat thefestivalat my generous
compared
that
laborers
receivedat thetime.The higher
houseforsixdaysbeginning
withthe24thof themonthof Payni drachmas)
accordingto theold calendar,you (two) to receiveas pay 36 rateof payfor dancersandsingersprobably
reflectedthe
drachmasfor each day, and we to furnishyou in addition4 parttime
anduncertain
natureof theiremployment.
earthly and his eternal home and they should not be
equated with public performers, just as modern Egyptian
women will dance in the privacy of their own homes for
their family but would never performfor strangersin public.
We must also remember that these tomb scenes were not
intended ever to be seen, except by family membersbringing
offerings to the tomb chapel.
Templeperformers-dancers, musiciansand singers-would
have been accordedhigh status in line with their dedicationto
the service of the gods but it is possible that professional
performersmight not have been so highly regardedin ancient
Egyptiansociety.

HasAncientEgyptian
DanceSurvived
Times?
intoModern
Egypt, as noted above, is a very "conservative" country
and many similaritieswith ancient activities can still be seen
in Egypt, even today. Dancing, with or without engaging
professionalentertainers, was certainly important as a means
of celebration in ancient Egypt as it is in modern Egypt.Only
a drum is needed or, if no instrument is available, a flat
surface, for someone to mark the beat and people will start
dancing. Can we make any attempt to interpret the
movements and steps of ancient Egyptian dance, and if so,
can they be compared with those that can be seen today? In
1935 Irena Lexova, the daughter of a Czech Egyptologist,
attempted this exercise and her interesting little book on the
subject has recently been reprinted.She makes an important
point that must always be borne in mind when trying to
assess Egyptian dancing scenes in that the draughtsmen
must often have selected for portrayalthose movements and
steps that were the simplest to draw or the most easily
represented in accordance with the conventions of Egyptian
art. As in the case of the Theban tombs of Amenhotep Si-

120

A professionaldancer with the bride'sfather at a village wedding in

the Nile Delta in 1993. Anyone who has seen Egyptiansdancingfor
sheer pleasureat village weddings or at street festivals will know
that, even if the musicis differentand the movements have changed,
the Egyptianjoy of the dance, whichfirst developed over five
thousand years ago, is stillthere for all to see. Photo by PennyWilson.

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66:3 (2003)

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ese and Djeserkaresoneb,they also would have worked from

"patterns"of typical scenes so that there was a limit to the
sponteneity possible for the Egyptianartist. Lexova had little
admiration for or sympathy with the dances of "modern"
(1930s) Egypt as witnessed by her and her father, and
dismissed any similarity between the dances she had
reconstructed from ancient depictions and what she
described as the 'angular movements in bending of limbs,
witnessing to jerky movements" and "those tasteless
movements and postures" of dance as practiced in Egypt in
the twentieth century. Certainly in its most obvious and
commercial form, usually known as "belly-dancing," dance
in Egypt today can seem far-removedfrom the graceful lines
of New Kingdomdancers.
Could anything have survived in Egypt today of the
dance depicted on the walls of ancient temples and tombs?
This is really impossible to say, though some of the ancient
dancers have similarities to performers of "modern"
Egyptian or oriental dancing (raqssharqi).The emphasis on
hip-movements, as shown by the many depictions in
antiquity of dancers with scarves or belts around their hips,
for example, is one of the essential similarities between
ancient and modern Egyptian dancing. However the
relationship between the hieroglyphic script and
accompanying scenes must always be borne in mind.
Figures in Egyptian wall scenes often served as a kind of
pictographic determinative to the accompanying text. The
intention of the artist would, therefore, have been to show
a figure that was recognizably "dancing" rather than to
depict accurately specific movements as made by genuine
performers. Thus dancers were shown in distinctive
"dancing"poses, with their arms raised and often with one
leg bent, or one foot resting on its toes as if the dancer was
about to move. The actual steps and movements of ancient
dance in Egypt might have been quite different from those
depicted in tomb or temple scenes.
Since the time of the pharaohs,Egypthas been subject to a
great deal of outside influence and modern raqs sharqihas
developed over several centuries. In its present form, it
reflects the merging of the ancient traditions with those of
the Arab world, introduced after the coming of Islam to
Egypt (641 CE). In recent centuries dance in Egypt, and
throughout the near east, has also been influenced by contact
with "western"music and movement.
Ancient Egyptian art was possibly the least effective
medium for showing the spontaneity of dance and the
enjoyment of its participants. Dance just for the pleasure of
it was hardly ever depicted, but ancient Egypt would have
been a strange and unusual country if dancing for pleasure
had not existed and despite the conventions of Egyptian
art, this love of dancing does sometimes show through.
Even the Egyptian artist, governed by his formal
conventions and rigid grids, could not totally obscure the
spirit of the dance.

References
Anderson,R.
1995 Music and Dance in Pharaonic Egypt. Pp. 2555-68 in
Civilizations
of theAncientNear East,Vol. IV,edited by Jack
M. Sasson.New York:Scribner's.
Dasen,V
1993 Dwarfsin AncientEgyptandGreece.Oxford:Clarendon.

deGarisDavies,Nina
1926

TheTombof Huy,Viceroyof Nubiain theReignof Tutankhamun

(No. 40). London:EgyptExplorationSociety.
de GarisDavies,Norman
1920 TheTombof Antefoker
I andof HisWifeSenet
Vizierof Sesostris
(No. 60). London:EgyptExplorationSociety.
1923 TheTombsof TwoOfficialsof Tuthmosis
theFourth(Nos.75 and
90). London:EgyptExploratioinSociety.
Griffith,E LI.
1898 HieraticPapyri
fromKahunandGurob.London:Quaritch.
Junker,H.
1951 GizaX. Vienna:RudolfM. Rohrer.
Lexova,I.
1935 Ancient Egyptian Dances. Prague: Oriental Institute.
(Reprinted:Mineola,New York:DoverPublications2000).
Nord,D.
1981 The Termhnr:"Harem"or "MusicalPerformers"?
Pp. 29-38
in Studiesin AncientEgypt,theAegeanandtheSudan:Essaysin
Honorof DowsDunham,edited by W. K. Simpsonand E. S.
Meltzer.Boston:Museumof FineArts.
Petrie,W.M. F
1909 Qumeh.London:Schoolof Archaeologyin Egypt.
W.
Spiegelberg,
1929 Das Grabeines GroBenunde seines Zwergesaus der Zeit des
Nektanebes.Zeitschrift
furAltdgyptischen
Sprache64: 76-83.
Westerman,W.L.
1924 The Castanet Dancers of Arsinoe. TheJournalof Egyptian
10: 134-44.
Archaeology

a^^^^^
Patricia Spencer is Secretary
General of the London-based
Egypt Exploration Society and
Editor of the Society's magazine
EgyptianArchaeology. She is the
authorof The Egyptian Temple:
A Lexicographical Study and
Amara West I and II. Since 1982,
she has been a member of the
BritishMuseum'sexcavationteam
Patricia Spencer
in Egypt, at el-Ashmunein, Tell
Belim and (currently) at Tell elBalamun. It was while attendingvillage weddingsin Egypt
that Dr. Spencerbecameinterestedin Egyptiandance (both
ancient and modern) and she participates regularly in
amateurRaqs Sharqiperformances
in theLondonarea.

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121