Some Aspects of Sport in Ritual and Religion in Ancient Egypt

Abstract

Ritual and religion are connected to the sport of Pharaoh. During the jubilee festival, the ageing king had to demonstrate his fitness in a running ritual which also gave him new powers. In the New Kingdom, Pharaoh is compared with Month, the god of war, when practicing sport, a qualification for assuming the mantle of ruler. Enscribed on the Sphinx-stela of Amenophis II, the longest Egyptian text depicting sport, the gods Month (six times), Amun (five times) and Atum (three times) are mentioned, whereas Astarte, Geb, Horus, Maat, Ra, Reshef and Seth are only mentioned once each. Further, it may be surprising to discover that the right to rule among the gods was disputed twice by means of sporting competition, as is the case in the mythological story entitled “The Conflict of Horus and Seth”.