The Sed-festival: renewing kingship

The Heb Sed is the Egyptian name for the king's royal jubilee. It is one of the oldest feasts of ancient Egypt. There is clear evidence for early pharaohs celebrating the Heb Sed: such as the pharaoh Den of the First Dynasty and the pharaoh Djoser of the Third Dynasty. Some kings have built a whole new festival temple dedicated to this purpose, while others reconstructed a festival hall on already existing temples.

It is noteworthy to know that this festival was a replacement of an ancient ritual of killing the king who became incapable of running the country effectively because of ageing. Becoming an ancient Egyptian King was no joke!

Motivation behind the festival:

The festival aimed to renew the reigning king's power which was depleted over time, endangering the continued existence of the state. It proved that the king was still capable of running the country. It was celebrated by the king after 30 years of his rule. 

Unfortunately, there are no surviving manuscripts or inscriptions with a clear outline of the festival. The main sources are pictorial, presenting episodes but without giving specific timing or sequence.
The thing that still baffles us till today is that the surviving inscriptions and monuments associated with this festival seem to show that many kings whose entire reigns were much shorter than thirty years have left evidence of the celebration of their Sed festivals. 

The possible interpretation of this: 

Either many kings celebrated the Sed festivals before the requisite thirty years had elapsed, or they ordered the depiction of the ritual in anticipation of the actual event happening later in their reign.


Heb Sed temple at Djoser's funerary complex
These dummy chapels presented the whole of Egypt united. Notice the duality of elements.

The rituals presented in the festival:

The festival mostly seemed to include a ritual offering to the gods from the king. Then he was seated and crowned on a raised platform provided with two thrones (one represented Upper Egypt and the other represented Lower Egypt. After that was a race alongside the Apis Bull which the pharaoh ran around (some Egyptologists support the opinion that the bull was doped before the race). The court where the king raced was bounded by two sets of cairns symbolising the borders of Egypt to prove his dominion over the whole kingdom, dedicating it all it to the gods at the same time. In doing so, he proved that he was still physically able to rule the country. Other ceremonies also took place during the Sed festival, such as the act of homage to the king by the "Great Ones of Upper and Lower Egypt". 

It is interesting to know that Amenhotep III celebrated three Sed-festivals (years 30, 34, and 37) and descriptions of the ceremonies testify that they took place on the great artificial lake he built at Malkata.

These unusual constructions are mostly believed to be the court markers the King raced around which is, in turn, symbolic of the borders of the Ancient Egyptian Kingdom.




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