Council of The Thirty and its tasks in ancient Egypt

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Lecture of Archaeology and ancient Egyptian civilization, Faculty of Arts, Minia University (Egypt)

Abstract

Council of The Thirty MabAyw, It is a judicial council consisting of thirty judges, they were chosen, as Diodor mentioned, from three cities: Heliopolis, Memphis, and Thebes, where ten were chosen from each city. Some have mentioned that the number of members of this council is thirty-one, because the thirty when they were meeting, they used to choose from among them the head of the council, and the city sends another judge instead of him, and therefore their total number was thirty-one. And there was the terrestrial Council of the Thirty, which was under the control of the king and the Vizier, The deities used to give the king, the thirty in the texts of the Maat offering, and it may be understood from this that it will help in the preservation of justice. There was also the spiritual council of thirty gods. Many gods were associated with the Council of Thirty, such as the god Khnum who bore the title nb mabAyw "lord of the Thirty", many other deities held the same title, such as Osiris, Horus, Anubis, Ptah, Isdes. The council was also led by goddesses, such as the goddess Hathor, who bore the title hnwt mabAyw (mistress of the thirty). The deceased wanted to join this council and be one of its members, as this also came in the texts of the game of senet, which contained many references to the Council of Thirty, and that the player wanted to enter the Thirty Hall and become the thirty-first god, as the senet board consisted Of thirty squares, and that the ancient Egyptians considered that these thirty squares of the game are similar to the spiritual council of thirty gods and that by passing the squares, the player (deceased) passes through the hall of thirty. 

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References

 
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