Notes on Ōn’s Identity, Attributes and Name in The Coffin Texts

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Ancient Egyptian Archaeology, Faculty of Archaeology, Ain Shams University, Egypt

Abstract

In the Coffin Texts, whose main concern is the destiny of the deceased and where divine and funerary beliefs overlap, Ōn could be identified with the necropolis, the tomb, or the burial place inside the tomb. In this context Ōn is referred to by such attributes as n´.t ‘Town (of Re-Atum)’, Iwn.w dSr.t ‘Ōn of Reddening’ (= the sun) and |wo ‘Inheritance (of Re-Atum)’. As a n´.t ‘town’, Ōn’s name (though masculine in structure) is supposed to be grammatically treated as feminine, but the Coffin Texts treat it as masculine, in its attestations where the gender is clearly indicated, apparently in keeping with old tradition, and perhaps because Ōn is sometimes thought of, not particularly as a n´.t ‘town’ (f.), but simply as a bw ‘place’ (m.). Rarely, the Coffin Texts use Iwn.w’s feminine counterpart: Iwn.t ‘Ōnet’ (alone or as a substitute to Ōn) to indicate Dandara, sometimes rightly (i.e. in consistence with context), and some-other-times arbitrarily (i.e. context requires Ōn specifically).

Keywords

References

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