V. TOBIN – Egyptian religion: The final centuries – It is usually assumed that in the first centuries of our era paganism no longer offered people valid answers and thus the way was paved for christianism. The speaker pointed out that in Roman times the ancient Egyptian religion was still firmly established and would not be very easily dislodged and replaced. The vigour of the ancient religion is shown by its influence on early Christian coptic religion and also in more recent religious manifestations in Egypt. Even after christianism was imposed onto Egypt, the ancient religion continued to exist, at least at the local level. Such local cults of Isis, Seth, Bes, etc. persisted to such an extent that in some locations their images were vandalized in order to help suppress the continued pagan beliefs of the local people. The oracles also persisted and brought about action by Christians in order to try to eradicate them. In the first centuries AD a decline set in the ancient religion as temple support and funding became increasingly a local affair under Roman rule. For a time pagan beliefs competed with Christian beliefs and a syncretism between both began to take place until it was stopped by imperial action that put an end to it. Since Christian beliefs satisfied the needs of the local people, the replacement of one religion by another was not so difficult in a development in which the parallels and resemblances helped to speed up the process in which the Christian monks carried out the struggle leaning on the decrees of their bishops against paganism. The old temples were centres of community life, full of a sort of magical or supernatural power and had to be converted to serve as vehicles for the new religion, a process that continued, but not without some resistance. The ancient Egyptian religion did not die smoothly and quietly but put up a good fight which it lost due to Christian beliefs having become the state religion. Besides, the new religion rescued many elements of the old one and incorporated them into it, making it easier for it to be embraced by the people.
J. REVEZ – The royal succession in the 25th Dynasty: A response to a recently published article – A statement has been made that in the 25th Dynasty the Kushite succession was patrilineal, in agreement with ancient Egyptian practices, rather than the fratrilineal (brother-brother) or matrilineal alternatives. The speaker proposed an approach that he feels is more in tune with African practices. He quoted examples of the XIII Dynasty in which king’s brothers were princes considered eligible as potential successors to the ruling pharaoh. Nevertheless, the title sn nsw or king’s brother or even king’s father are not attested (while king’s sister or mother are), perhaps because it would imply a rival to the king, which was not acceptable for the ancient Egyptians. However, in the Napata period the title of king’s brother is attested several times and comprises people from among which the next king could be chosen. The Napatans did not copy the ancient Egyptian practice and the fratrilineal line of succession, that was exceptional in ancient Egypt, in Napatan times had apparently become the norm. So, at that time the king’s brothers were almost as great as the king himself and he was a sort of primus inter pares. Classical sources quoted by the speaker support the view that the most able or the stronger men were chosen as kings in Sudan, although they are not described in them as king’s brothers. In Napata the rivalry between brothers was not confused with the Horus-Seth rivalry in ancient Egypt that contributed to the absence of such a practice there, but the absence of prominence of Seth in Napata perhaps explains why they did not share the ancient Egyptian prejudice about it.
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