6

NIGHTMARES

Alas! neither by day nor by night knew I the blessing of rest any more! During the former the creature left me no moment alone, and in the latter I started hourly from dreams of unutterable fear to find the hot breath of the thing upon my face, and its vast weight – an incarnate nightmare that I had no power to shake off – incumbent eternally upon my heart!

Edgar Allan Poe, ‘The Black Cat’

While the evidence for rituals connected with good dreams remains scarce, methods and devices designed to ward off bad dreams are more readily apparent. For these, we must turn our attention away from formal stelae and look instead at spells and compositions on more perishable materials. It is not surprising that the stelae which mention dreams should focus on those good dreams that emphasize the dreamer’s positive relationship with those in the farworld. The events and deeds recorded in hieroglyphs on stone were meant to last forever and were carefully selected to promote a positive memory of the deceased, and to emphasize his role as a righteous member of Egyptian society. But other sources provide less filtered insights into everyday life and these leave no doubt that the Egyptians were aware of the darker side of dreams. The fact that detailed descriptions of bad dreams are generally lacking has sometimes led to the erroneous conclusion that the Egyptian’s dreamlife was happy and anxiety-free.1 In fact, it was the fear of bringing bad dreams to permanent life that led to the reluctance to express their content in writing. Oppenheim explains that, ‘evil dreams remain ... anonymous; their individual manifest content remains hidden behind the (grammatical) plural in which they are consistently referred to in Akkadian,Hebrew and Egyptian’.2 But, there survives much prophylactic material, both textual and non-textual, showing that the fear of bad dreams or nightmares was common in ancient Egypt. Before examining these materials, it is worth considering the modern definitions of ‘nightmare’, and how they compare with ancient perceptions.

One way modern researchers define sleep stages is by measuring the amplitude of brain waves.3 There are two ‘alert’ stages which are associated with the EEG patterns seen as the subject relaxes and becomes drowsy. Four further stages are associated with non-REM sleep, and one with REM (an abbreviation for ‘rapid eye movement’ – a physical manifestation of this stage of sleep which distinguishes it from Stage I non-REM sleep). The first part of the night is characterized mostly by Stage IV and Stage III, with brief ascents to REM sleep. The rest of the night is spent alternating between Stage II, and ever-lengthening episodes of REM sleep. It is during REM sleep that many researchers claim the majority of narrative dreams take place, and it is these dreams, those that occur closest to waking, that are usually remembered.⁴ In addition to distinguishing the phases of sleep in which dreams occur, psychologists also distinguish the phenomenon of ‘nightmares’ (also called ‘REM anxiety dreams’⁵ or simply ‘bad dreams’) from ‘night terrors’.⁶ The latter phenomenon (also called ‘pavor nocturnus’) is actually classified as a disorder of arousal rather than sleep,⁷ occurring not during the REM stage of sleep, but amid the early hours of the night during stage III and IV sleep (also called Slow Wave Sleep or Delta-wave Sleep). The disorder is characterized by sudden vocalization followed by abrupt awakening of the sleeper. Sleepwalking, abrupt movements, sharp increases in the breathing and heart rate,⁸ and subsequent severe confusion, usually follow. Attempts to fully awaken or console the individual at the time of the episode usually fail, and in the morning there is commonly amnesia regarding the entire event, including the trigger and any dreams or dream images. If any dreams are remembered, they usually consist of a single fleeting image or scene, in contrast to the usual narrative content of dreams. This disorder is usually suffered by children with a decrease in frequency in adulthood, or by adults who have been subjected to severe psychological trauma.⁹

The following chart summarizes the research of Herrera and Spielman on the differences between a night terror and a nightmare.¹⁰ A classic ‘nightmare’ thus occurs during the REM portions of sleep which gradually lengthen as the sleep session continues, and is characterized by feelings of ‘intense dread, paralysis, and oppression on the chest’.¹¹ Modern psychology classifies these nightmares as a form of ‘REM anxiety dream’¹² synonymous with a ‘bad dream’, and it is this phenomenon that we find mentioned in the Egyptian texts. Nightmares were called either ‘bad dreams’, rsw.t ḏw.t, or they were associated with other disturbing phenomena of the night (such as ‘terrors in the night’, snḏ.wt m grḥ).Although the Egyptian term ‘terrors in the night’ does appear in spells, this should not be thought to refer specifically to the phenomenon discussed above and known in modern psychology as ‘night terror’ – for one thing, these are not remembered by the sleeper. In addition, the characteristics of the Egyptian bad dreams and terrors in the night closely correspond to the characteristics of the classic nightmare.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF NIGHT TERRORS VS. NIGHTMARES
Feature	Night Terror	Nightmare
Sleep stage	III, IV	REM
Intensity: vocalization, fright, movement	+	-
Mental confusion	+	-
Ability to arouse	-	+
Time of night (‘+’ = later)	-	+
Mental content	-	+
Amnesia	+	-
Frequency in adults	-	+

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Ancient Egyptian nightmares

The earliest references to dreams qualified as ‘ bad ’ are found in the Middle Kingdom ‘execration texts’.13 These consist of hieratic texts which were inscribed on bowls or on human figurines usually composed of clay, stone, such as limestone or travertine, alabaster, or occasionally wood. They have been discovered in regions as diverse as Mirgissa in the south, and Sakkara in the north. They have been discovered in neither royal temple nor royal funerary contexts, but rather around military fortresses and in secular cemeteries,¹⁴ which might suggest that they were created privately. The formulae used are so similar across most of the surviving material, that they were evidently sanctioned and standardized at the state level.¹⁵ The texts begin with a list of foreign rulers hostile to Egypt (mainly Asiatic and Nubian), followed by a list of peoples of individual regions, then ‘potentially hostile classes of Egyptians’,¹⁶ and the names of selected dead individuals, and finally a catalogue of menacing forces. It is the latter group which is of particular interest to us here, for at the very end of this list dreams are finally mentioned. The inventory of hostile forces is as follows:

all bad speech, all bad projects, all bad conjurations, all bad plots, all bad conspiring, all bad fighting, all bad disturbances, all bad plans, all bad things, all bad dreams in all bad sleep (rsw.t nb.t ḏw.t m qdd.w nb.w ḏw)¹⁷

The content of these ‘bad dreams’ is left to our imagination, but their appearance at the end of this list may help to show their status in Egyptian thought. In contrast to the preceding registers of specified rulers, peoples, and individuals, all of the forces in this final section are incorporeal and intangible. The target of these forces (such as speech, projects, plots, and plans), is not necessarily any individual Egyptian; instead, they threaten Egypt as a whole. Ritner suggests that these may have been perceived as potential ‘magical assaults’ by hostile foreigners,18 which, if true, suggests that a living individual could actually cause others to see bad dreams. Whether these dreams and other uncontrollable forces were directed assaults or were general maleficent powers without a specific source, the execration rite would ensure their immediate prevention.¹⁸ The rite itself included the very inscription of the sinister entities and forces, sometimes in potent red ink, followed by possibly binding, breaking, or burying the inscribed item, thus rendering the listed peoples and forces powerless and dead.²⁰ The inclusion of bad dreams in these lists suggests that, to the Egyptian estimation, this intangible phenomenon could be powerful,frightening, and potentially damaging to individuals and the state, like physical encounters with a military foe.

Other textual sources reflect an alternative understanding of bad dreams and their source, which could be treated in a similar way to diseases and ailments. The eighteenth-dynasty London Medical Papyrus includes a spell to prevent an ill woman from seeing dreams (tm m⫖⫖B rsw.t)²¹ amongst other spells againt excessive bleeding and miscarriages.²² The text employs the generic term ‘dreams’ (rsw.t) which does not specify the nature of the dreams at issue, but obviously they must have been bad dreams or nightmares. The cause of these was often seen as the malice of demons or the dead, andan example of the dead instigating a bad dream can already be found in the First Intermediate Period.²³ The earliest known treatment specifically designed to combat bad dreams appears in the private cache of texts known as the Ramesseum Papyri.²⁴ Discovered under the Ramesseum on the west bank of Thebes, this late Middle Kingdom assemblage is comparable to that of the New Kingdom Chester Beatty Papyri, containing a similar assortment of religious texts, belles-lettres, historical texts, medico-magical papyri, and an onomasticon, along with various ritual materials. One of these papyri, P. Ramesseum XVI, contains a number of magico-medical spells written in the hieratic typical of the Hyksos Period.²⁵ The papyrus is in fragmentary condition, and only short passages can be read with any confidence. Two of these passages (pls. LVI, LVII) appear to be prophylactic spells against ‘all bad dreams seen in the night’, rsw.t nb.t ḏw.t m⫖.tm grḥ (line 21.1), while the term ‘every little dream’, rsw.t nb.tššrj.t (lines 18.5–6),26 is barely discernible in another portion of this composition.²⁷ The frequent references to protection (nḥm and nḏ), as well as instructions on when and how to speak the utterance (r⫖ pn) show that we are dealing with a series of practical spells to protect the invoker from various harmful things, including dreams.

A more complete treatment against bad dreams is found in the previously discussed New Kingdom Dream Book, in the verses separating the first set of dream interpretations from the dreams of the Followers of Seth.²⁸

Words spoken by a man who wakes up on his place:

(Dreamer):

‘Come to me! Come to me <my> mother Isis!

Behold, I see something far away from me, as something

that touches me’.²⁹

(Isis):

‘Here I am, <my> son Horus.

Do not divulge that which you saw,
(in order that) your numbness may be completed,
your dreams retire,
and fire go forth against that which frightens you.

Behold, I have come that I may see you,
that I may drive out your bad things,
that I may eliminate all the ailments.’

(Dreamer):

‘Hail, o you good dream,
which is seen <in> the night and in the day.

Drive out all the ailments and bad things
which Seth, son of Nut, created.

As Ra is vindicated against his enemies, I am vindicated
against my enemies.’

This spell is to be spoken by a man who wakes up on his place, after he has first been given pesen bread and some fresh herbs, (which have been) marinated in beer and incense.

The man’s face should be rubbed with them; all the bad dreams that he has seen will be driven out.

This spell provides us with details on bad dreams in ancient Egypt including their characteristics, their source, and effective treatments. According to the title of the text, the spell is to be spoken by a man ‘who wakes up on his own place’ (s rs=f ḥr st=f). This seemingly straightforward passage offers an immediate challenge to the reader for a number of renderings are possible. Borghouts translates rsw as the noun ‘nightmare’ and reads ‘Words to be said by a man when he has a nightmare in his (own) place’.30 But in this text, the substantive rsw. t consistently appears aswhile rs. w is a distinct form of the verb ‘to awaken’, a circumstantial acting as a virtual relative clause. According to the available evidence, the word for ‘dream’ appears only as a substantive, and never as a verbal form. Thus tempting and convenient though the translation ‘nightmare’ may be, it is questionable. The phrase, then, may refer to a man who awakens literally on his own ‘seat’, meaning that he drifted off to sleep on his own chair, or the ḥr may refer back to the location where the spell is to be spoken; in other words, wherever the dreamer awakens (in his bed, on a mat, for example) he is to speak the spell from that spot, rather than from another area.³¹ Groll suggests that the meaning is ‘literally “occupying only the exact space of his own body”, i.e. “immobile”, or “rooted to the spot”. This phrase implies that the dreamer, even on awaking, is overwhelmed by the shock of his nightmare.’³²

Other characteristics typical of what we call nightmares can be found in the subsequent lines. The patient describes his dream as a vision of something far away from him, while he remains in his own environs. Thus without going anywhere he is able to see things in the distance – a feat impossible in the waking world, but characteristic of dreams. Whatever he sees petrifies him with fear, and line 12 promises to relieve the patient of his feeling of being sḫ, ‘deaf, numb’³³ or perhaps even ‘blocked, unbalanced, in shock’.³⁴ In terms of emotions, the three classic characteristics of nightmares are ‘intense dread, paralysis, and oppression on the chest’.³⁵ The Egyptian word sḫ may in this instance be referring to that very inability to move and seeming paralysis common in nightmares. The same passage alludes to using fire against that ‘which frightens you’ (ssnḏ tw) – an emotion which corresponds to the ‘intense dread’ mentioned above. Borghouts notes that the same term is used in another spell against nightmares (P. Leiden I 348 v. 2, discussed below), where they are called ‘terrors in the night’ (snḏ.wt... m grḫ).³⁶ In view of this comparable use, it may be appropriate to translate the Chester Beatty passage with the stronger term ‘terrorize’, that more clearly expresses the idea of a force which seems to be directed toward the victim.

The passages which follow provide an insight into the source of the bad dream itself. The spell will drive out (dr) the evil things (ḏw.wt) and will eliminate (wḥs) all the ailments (ṯms.w nb.t). This final term ṯms.w remains ambiguous. Gardiner suggested that it was ‘a word not uncommon in magical texts, apparently meaning literally what is soiled or smeared with dirt cf. Coptic “bury”.’37 This meaning for the word has been adopted by Groll, who suggests that the ‘words dw.wt and tjms may perhaps be a punning reference to the story of Horus and Seth. LES 50.11 jw.t (ḥr) tjms.w ḥr p⫖ ḏw. And he (Seth) buried them (Horus’ eyes) on the mountain.’³⁸ This lexeme also had the meaning of ‘red’,³⁹ but this use seems to have been restricted to the writing without the sparrow sign. In this text, and in other religious texts of the time, it seems to refer to some kind of affliction or hurt that could be perpetrated on an individual, but that also could be driven out or removed.⁴⁰

In the case of the Chester Beatty spell, it is these ailments ( ims.w)and evil things (ḏw.wt) which must be driven out of the dreamer in order to treat his condition successfully. These two afflictions are said to have been created by Seth, the son of Nut (jrj.n Stḫ s⫖ Nw.t). Rather than being the source of nightmares, Seth is here the creator of the elements out of which spring the visions, the sense of paralysis, and the terror which make up the nightmare.

The structure of the invocation follows the model found in medical texts where the healer plays the role of Isis, and the patient her son Horus.Nordh argues that ‘the mythic key scenario of Horus as the patient was the Isis and Horus story, in which the mother Isis shields her fatherless son Horus against suffering and dangers’.⁴¹ This is certainly fitting in this instance, where Seth, the quintessential enemy of Horus, is ultimately blamed for the bad elements afflicting the sleeper. To ensure the efficacy of the treatment, the patient compares his ensuing triumph over his afflictions – which themselves are anthropomorphized into ‘assailants’ – with the vindication of Re over his many enemies. Allusions to Re’s perpetual battles and triumphs can also be found in the passage concerning the protection against dreams in P. Ramesseum XVI, but unfortunately its fragmentary state does not disclose more details.⁴²

An essential element of this therapy is contained in lines 10.11–12 which can be translated in two ways; Isis either orders the patient to talk about the dream, or she orders him not to talk about it. This passage m prj.t h̲r m⫖.n=k can be translated as an imperative or adverbial adjunct commanding or encouraging the dreamer to reveal what he has seen.43 It can also be treated as a negative imperative:⁴⁴ ‘do not divulge⁴⁵ that which you saw’ – an interpretation I favour for the following reason. While recounting the contents of a nightmare or other traumatic memories may be a common feature of modern psychology, this would not have been a common practice in ancient Egypt, where the power of the spoken and written word was taken seriously. Just as the recitation of an offering formula could activate the listed offerings and magically nourish the deceased, so a recitation of malignant forces could potentially bring them into existence. This suppression of malefic dream content is not unknown elsewhere; it is found, for example, in Indian culture. A comparable injunction against telling the contents of a ‘sinister dream’ can be found in India as explained by O’Flaherty.⁴⁶ The dreamer is encouraged to forget his dream and not to relate its contents, for if he does, the dream will have the force of reality. This reluctance to voice bad dreams can be found in Islam as well, where nightmares were attributed to Satan, and the Prophet is said to advise the dreamer to be silent regarding them.⁴⁷

Similarly, whatever visions the Egyptian dreamer saw, they were not to be revealed, for verbalizing them would only increase the chances that they would be remembered and become a part of the waking world. The patient is encouraged to remain silent, so the dreams and other bad things will be expelled (dr and wḥs) and presumably be forced to withdraw from the victim and return back to their source. This creates a welcoming medium for good dreams (rsw.t tn nfr.t) to replace the bad ones, and helps rid the patient of his unwholesome elements.

The phrase following the welcoming of the good dream (‘Hail, o you good dream’) can be interpreted in two ways. The most popular reading, followed by Gardiner, Sauneron, and Groll among others, is ‘which is seen <in> the night and in the day’, m⫖⫖ <m> grh m ḥrw. In this rendering good dreams are specified as visible in the night and in the day (as were the dreams of Thutmosis IV and Ipuy), with an underlying suggestion that bad dreams are seen only in the night, though this last point remains doubtful. An alternative interpretation is offered by Borghouts, who reads ‘May night be seen as day!’, m⫖⫖ grh m ḥrw.⁴⁸ Part of the spell, then, would function to dispel the darkness, perhaps with the aid of the fire that is mentioned earlier in the text. As we shall see, fire was an important tool for dispelling frightening entities and nightmares.

In this section of P. Chester Beatty III, the bad dreams should not be confused with the dreams whose interpretations are bad, described in the remainder of the papyrus. Here, the ‘bad dream’, rsw.t ḏw.t, displays the characteristics of nightmares: the seeming inability to move, unpleasant visions, and intense fright. They are somehow associated with the bad things and the deep-rooted iniquities or ailments which were created by Seth. The cure consists of a spell which attempts to drive out the bad dreams, as if they were invaders, while a poultice of bread, herbs, beer, and myrrh is rubbed on the dreamer’s face. This combination of contextualizing the cure within the mythical realm, and the use of physical components is characteristic of medical spells.

Another spell to ward off nightmares dating to approximately the same period can be found in P. Leiden I 348 v. 2.49 The text introduces itself literally as ‘THE BOOK OF DRIVING OUT TERRORS which come in order to descend upon a man in the night’, mḏ⫖.t n.t dr snḏ.wt nty ḥr jj.t r h⫖y.t ḥr m grḥ. It should be noted that the Egyptian term used for ‘descend’,⁵⁰ means literally ‘to fall upon’. This feeling of being crushed, often by something monstrous or demonic coming down on top of the sleeper is a feature of nightmares, and indeed is the common semantic concept for expressing ‘nightmare’ in many languages. For example, in Arabic: KABUS ‘terrible vision, phantom, bugbear’, derives from KaBaSa ‘to exert pressure, press, squeeze’.⁵¹ In Estonian luupainaja means ‘something that lies heavy on the bone’, Proto-Eskimo *uqimangiR ‘to have a nightmare’ stems from *uqimangit ‘to be heavy’,⁵² in Swahili jinamizi derives from the verb ‘to twist, bend, curve, bow, (act of) bending over/bowing’,⁵³ in German Alptraum/Albtraum = alp + traum, where alp is a ‘small, often mischievous fairy, that weighs heavily upon the sleeper...that exerts pressure on the sleeper‘s chest and takes his breath away’.⁵⁴ Even certain East Asian languages include the concept of an external villain in their word for nightmare, such as the Japanese word ‘unasareru’ which includes in it the radical for ‘demon’.⁵⁵ The English word ‘nightmare’ shares the Indo-European root mer with many Romance languages. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, it derives ‘from Old English mare,mœqre, goblin, incubus, from Germanic *maron-, goblin’.⁵⁶ These examples should suffice to make clear the widespread notion that these nightmares originate not from within, but from some external demon or monster.

Pharaonic Egypt, however, was a land without any monsters in the realm of the living; rather, its monsters were often emissaries of beings in the beyond, or the very dead themselves crossing over from the farworld. The P. Leiden spell provides us with more details on the forms of these terrors in the night:

BOOK OF DRIVING OUT TERRORS which come in order to descend upon a man in the night:

‘Put <your> face backwards, when you raise your head, together with your ba, your shapes, your corpses, your magic, together with your shapes, your forms.

Oh male akhs, female akhs, male dead (mwt), female dead, male adversaries (ḏ⫖y), female adversaries in the sky and in the earth:

You shall contemplate and look!
It is the Lord of All, and it is Those who are,
it is Atum, it is Wadjet: the Lady of Dread in the great bark,
   it is the Child,
     it is the Lord of Truth,
     it is the Lord of Truth,
   it is the figure of Atum on the upper road,
  it is the consuming flame by Sia, Lord of Heaven.

The earth is on fire, the sky is on fire, the people and gods are on fire.
You say you are hidden against it (but) ‘it is come’ – as is its name
in truth.

Beware of the flame which comes forth from the Two Horizons!’

Words to be said over the image which is in drawing, made upon a choice piece of linen, to be placed (on) the throat of a man until he is seen to be quiet.

From this text we learn that the blame for the terrorizing nightmares is also shared by the denizens of the land of the dead, and the generic hostile enemies. Not being precisely sure of which particular being was responsible, the spell lists the usual suspects: ⫖ḫ.w, mwt, ḏ⫖y, whether they be in the sky or on the earth, and whether they be male or female. Of note is that the initial method of repulsing the particular evil entity responsible for this nightmare, is to command him to turn his head or face backwards, away from the dreamer. This injunction against facing the sleeper reappears in another spell against nightmares: ‘he will not go forth face forwards’.57 Borghouts explains this as the patient’s need to avoid falling victim to the effects of the ‘evil eye’,⁵⁸ which has been discussed above as having the ability to adversely affect a sleeper. In other texts, the demon is described as already having his face turned around in order to remain incognito, as in the ‘Spell for a Mother and Child’⁵⁹ where the demon is described as ‘one who came in the utter darkness, who entered creeping – his nose is behind him, his face turned back‘. To ensure that the demonic glance will not possibly hurt the sleeper, all of the demon’s potential manifestations are also prohibited from facing forward: his ba, his shape (appearance), his body in the flesh, his magical power, or any of his transformations.60

These beings wreak such havoc on the dreamer, that a number of primordial deities – Osiris (‘Lord of All’), Those who Are, Atum, Wadjet, the Child, the Lord of Truth (possibly Thoth), and Sia – must be called upon to repulse the invaders. Borghouts suggests that while the titles of some of these divine beings are obscure, they are likely to be identified with those deities who participate in the nightly journey of the sun bark.⁶¹ Indeed, the text includes an illustration of the bark, which Borghouts notes resembles the nsmt bark of Osiris. Because Osiris is indirectly referred to, and his myth plays such a crucial role in many of these types of invoca- tions, the bark of Osiris would not be out of place here, and indeed it can function as a divine being itself.⁶² Because the liminal zone of dreams lies at the borders of the farworld, and the nightmare-inducing demons originate in that sphere, it is natural that the sleeper would call upon the gods of the farworld for help.

As in the case of the P. Chester Beatty III spell, a ritual accompanies the recitation which involves covering the man’s throat with a piece of linen upon which the spell is written, until he has settled down, and his sleep is once again peaceful. It might be inferred that the patient here has woken up in some state of agitation from his terrifying visions, and again, there is no importance laid on his expressing details of his experience, but on his regaining a quiet state. Although the remedy here is based upon written words, even the illiterate patient could have availed himself of this spell. Such rituals are described by Frankfurter as ones ‘in which people “tap” the letters or words of inscribed spells by pouring water over them’.⁶³ In this specific case, the letters are not washed off, but absorbed into the throat of the victim, rendering his nightmare harmless.

Fire

Perhaps the most effective counter-agent against nightmares is fire. In the P. Leiden spell, the fire is described as a massive conflagration of the entire cosmos – including the earth, the heavens, people and the gods themselves – against which the sinister demon cannot hope to hide. Even the name of the flame, ‘it is come’, expresses the inevitability of its arrival and the futility of attempting escape. As with all Egyptian spells, the ‘power of the spells inhered in the very names and letters’,64 and the very act of writing or speaking the words had the effect of bringing them to life. Here the source of the fire is said to be ‘Sia, Lord of Heaven’ (sj⫖ nb p.t), who Borghouts suggests might actually be identified with the sun god Ra, or alternatively the sj⫖ should be read simply as ‘falcon’.⁶⁵ Another passenger in this protective bark is the cobra goddess Wadjet. One of her aspects is that of the rearing cobra or ‘uraeus’ ready to strike and kill with her piercing gaze, spitting flames with her fiery breath.⁶⁶ She is featured prominently in another Ramesside spell against nightmares, O. Gardiner 363.⁶⁷

(Oh) male adversary, [female adversary...] be far [from...] dead male,
dead female, without coming.

He will not go forth face forwards, limbs as [sound] limbs, (since) his
heart is for the evening-meal for the One in the Moment of Striking.

NN born of NN has [extracted] your hearts, (oh) dead ones.
[He has] seized your hearts (oh) dead males and dead females.
He has offered them to the Striker [for] his sustenance of this limbs.
You all, you will not live!
Your limbs are [his(?)] offering cakes.

You will not escape from the [4 Noble Ladies] from this fortress of Horus who is in Shenit.

TO BE SAID [over] the 4 Uraei made of PURE CLAY AND FIRE IN THEIR MOUTHS.

ONE IS PLACED ON [EACH] CORNER [OF EACH ROOM(?)]
IN WHICH THERE IS A MAN OR A WOMAN [...] SLEEPING WITH A MAN [OR WOMAN(?)]

The ‘Striker’, or more literally ‘striking power’, in this spell is the uraeus itself, as Ritner has explained.⁶⁸ The sleepers in this prescription will be protected from the hostile demon (again described as one whose face is turned backwards) by the careful placement of four uraei, the Egyptian fire-spitting cobras, which were to be made of clay, and placed in each corner of the bedroom containing a sleeper.⁶⁹ Ritner explains that the ‘specific use of the four uraei to designate the cardinal directions is suggested by the vignette of Book of the Dead spell 150, attested from the eighteenth dynasty, and by the contemporary scenes of the tenth hour of night according to the Book of What is in the Duat in which the solar bark is preceded by four goddesses bearing serpents on their heads’, who light the way for Ra.⁷⁰ The fourth hour of the Book of Gates also features a ‘Lake of uraeus-serpents’ whose flames glow and fire burns against the enemies of the Sun–god.71 The popularitye flames glow and fire burns against the enemies of the Su of this choice of weapon against hostile entities is explained by Hornung, who notes that fire is the most effective and visible method for destroying the enemies of order. Indeed, ‘in the Egyptian version of the flood, the myth of the Celestial Cow, not a flood, but the fire of the sun’s eye, destroys rebellious men’.⁷² It is not surprising, then, that fire would be employed to lighten the night and to prevent the invasion of terrifying nightmare-causing fiends under the cover of darkness.⁷³ In ancient Egypt, fire and fire-breathing cobras protected the living from any dead, demons, or what are known by the Arabic-derived term ‘afarits’⁷⁴ who attempted to gain access and terrify the living who are asleep, in a state that is halfway between life and death. While these demons can cause a variety of afflictions, it is highly likely that in the case of P. Leiden I 348 v. 2 which specifically refers to the ‘terrors which descend upon a man in the night’, and O. Gardiner 363 which is designed for sleepers, the condition they cause is what we call a nightmare. There is no doubt that this is the affliction the P. Chester Beatty III spell, which conveniently refers to ‘bad dreams’, was designed to combat. Elements such as the backwards-facing creature or intense dread appear in other spells as well, but it is unclear whether they specifically refer to nightmares or to other non-dream-related disorders.⁷⁵ While fire was an important weapon in the fight against nocturnal enemies, it was not the only one.

Headrests

Additional prophylactic weapons against nightmares and other agents of chaos may have been apotropaic bedposts, inlaid headboards, and headrests. Although the inscriptions on these artefacts do not refer directly to dreams or nightmares, but rather to the closely related state of sleep, they may offer another perspective on the Egyptian attitude towards dreams.

Both the ancient Egyptian bedposts and the related inlaid decoration of headboards were sometimes chiselled in the form of the dwarf Bes- image.⁷⁶ This native Egyptian god⁷⁷ is instantly recognizable by his squat form, bowed legs, and leonine hair. He is often depicted wearing a leopard skin symbolic of his liminal nature, sometimes carrying an instrument such as a tambourine, and is portrayed in full-frontal view frequently with a protruding tongue.⁷⁸ Because a number of other minor deities share visual characteristics with the specific god Bes, and because it is difficult, if not impossible, to determine which of the gods is represented unless it is named, the term Bes-image will be used in this discussion when referringto any of these deities.79 Because the happier aspects of life, such as music and dance, were under his purview, the Bes-image was particularly popular in households. But he also played a vital role protecting the inhabitants of the house, particularly women and children, from a wide assortment of enemies and conditions ranging from childbirth and childhood diseases, to unwelcome nocturnal visits.⁸⁰ Indeed, in the Ptolemaic Period, Bes himself acquired a firm reputation as a god of dreams.⁸¹ Not surprisingly the bedroom and its furniture were primary locations for posting the Bes- image. It can be found on bedposts, thus offering constant protection to the vulnerable sleeper from any tormenting demon coming from any direction, as well as on headboards and lamps as part of the decoration.⁸² If the sleeper continued to be plagued by nightmares, he or she presumably had recourse to even more aggressive armament, such as the ritual of O. Gardiner 363.

Although the particular time of day that a dream was seen was not of great concern to the ancient Egyptians, dreams seem to have been associated with sleeping events, rather than with waking visions. In the Eloquent Peasant,⁸³ we read that

It is the eater who tastes; the one who is addressed will answer
It is the sleeper who sees the dream.

The meaning here is that one cannot taste without eating, answer without being spoken to, or see a dream without sleeping. By sleeping, one might be able to see a dream, but there is no guarantee that the dream will be a good one. To guard oneself against the potentiality of seeing nightmares while asleep, headrests decorated with apotropaic images or spells could be used.⁸⁴

Archaeologists have discovered new and unused specimens in tombs, probably meant for use in the farworld, but well-worn headrests have been found as well, indicating that they were used in daily life as pillows – a use which is consistent with other cultures in Africa, India, ancient China, and Oceania.⁸⁵ These headrests had multiple functions in addition to being comfortable pillows; they served to protect the head of the sleeper from contact with the soil, were an important element of funerary equipment for intermediary support between death and the afterlife, and – with the exception of the headrest in pharaonic Egypt – they facilitated the coming of dreams, in particular dreams which aid in making important decisions, frequently by accessing the ancestral dead.86 In pharaonic Egypt, however, although headrests may be inscribed with spells expressing the hope for a peaceful sleep,⁸⁷ there is no indication that they were used to entice good dreams. Rather, there are a number of headrests inscribed with the figures of helpful deities.⁸⁸ These depictions can be found on the top of the base of the headrest, on the supporting pillar, and on the underside of the top curved portion which actually supports the individual’s head.⁸⁹

Commonly, these deities can be identified as the Bes-image, as a griffin, as a hippopotamus goddess, or as fantastic creatures containing the most recognizable portions of powerful animals such as crocodiles, lions, panthers, hippos, hawks, and the Seth-animal. A composite deity with typical features is here illustrated.⁹⁰

Along with their frightening appearance, these deities rely on weapons such as short knives, spears, and even snakes (possibly representing the fire wielding uraei) which they hold in their hands and on their feet to protect their wards from nightmare-causing spirits. They, along with Bes, often appear in leopard- or panther-garb emphasizing their affiliation with the wilderness, thus enhancing their power over enemies of order. The goddess Neith makes a rare appearance as the guardian of sleep on an interesting headrest from the Saite Period, which depicts her shooting her arrows at an enemy who had presumably intended to bother the sleeper.⁹¹ In general, however, the deities represented on the headrests are not the major gods of the Ennead or their entourage, but hybrids similar or identical to the ones who appear on the magical ‘wands’ used to protect pregnant women.⁹²

Ancient Egypt was not the only culture to apply charms on headrests to withstand the many dangers of the night. In ninth-century China ceramic pillows and headrests began to be designed bearing zoomorphic forms to ward off hostile spirits. Lions and tigers were particularly popular, as they were believed to possess ‘supernatural powers’, and could protect the vulnerable sleeper,⁹³ while in other areas of Asia tapirs were the guardian of choice.⁹⁴ In Japan, a hybrid creature called ‘baku’ , whose ‘body is like a bear, its nose like an elephant, its eyes like a rhinoceros, its tail like anox, and its legs are like a tiger’ was credited with consuming bad dreams.⁹⁵ In a tradition reminiscent of Egypt, at times the neckrests would be unillustrated and decorated with the name ‘baku’ only, to avoid giving too much life to the ferocious beast.

So far, the discussion has focused on headrests designed for the use of the living. However, similar spells and demon-fighting genies appear on headrests apparently designed for use in the farworld, such as the limestone headrest of Qenherkhopshef (the owner of P. Chester Beatty III).96 This reflects the concept of sleep as a state of alternative consciousness similar to that of death; in both states people are vulnerable to dangers from the farworld. The appearance of spells for good sleep and nightmare-fighting deities on headrests designed for use in the farworld, implies that bad dreams could also affect the sleeper in the afterlife.

However, with a single possible exception, dreams are not referred to in compositions related to the farworld.⁹⁷ This one exception occurs in the Book of the Dead spell 65. In this ‘;Spell of Going Forth in the Day and Overpowering the Enemy’ the deceased speaks before Re, and proclaims that he has never been a part of the confederacy of Seth. In Allen’s translation, the deceased claims that it is ‘for I cause <Horus to go forth triumphant> against Seth, [the Night Watch, the Upper Egyptian kings of his Night Watch, the crocodile, and them whose faces are hidden]’.⁹⁸ The word for ‘watch’ or ‘guard’ in these texts is written differently in each version. In the tomb of Amenemhat⁹⁹ it appears as with the determinative suggesting a reading of ‘watchmen’.¹⁰⁰ In the papyrus belonging to Nu,¹⁰¹ the lexeme in this passage is written as: with the eyeand night determinatives indicating that the lexeme could be read as ‘dreams’ rather than ‘watchmen’. In this case, Borghouts’ alternative reading of the text places the dreams of Seth and the crocodiles as part of a sequence with Seth: ‘May you cause that Osiris comes out triumphantly against Seth, the dreams of Seth and the dreams of the crocodile.’¹⁰² Although there are numerous references to sleeping gods in the books connected with the farworld, there are no other references to the dreams of gods, or to seeing dreams in the afterlife. The only indication of the possibility of seeing bad dreams after death are the funerary headrests decorated with apotropaic spells and deities.

Summary

The textual evidence consistently reveals certain characteristics of the ancient Egyptian perception of nightmares through the New Kingdom. The descriptions, even though they are inexplicit and vague, seem to match the symptoms of what are currently called common anxiety dreams or nightmares The typical elements of ancient nightmares consisted of ‘bad things’ (ḏw.wt), ‘red/buried things’ or ‘ailments’ (ṯms.w), and a desperate feeling of terror (snḏ.wt). The cause of nightmares was not ascribed to any particular demon, but rather the hosts of hostile dead and other denizens of the farworld who were blamed for a variety of ailments and conditions. Spells could be used both prophylactically and as a remedy to combat nightmares, but are generally difficult to distinguish from other magico- medical spells, and the Egyptians themselves did not feel the need for such a distinction. The need to protect the vulnerable sleeper from nightmares is reflected in the fashioning of bedposts, headboards, and headrests decorated with apotropaic spells or protective genies. Fire was particularly effective, for it not only brightened the night, but destroyed the chaotic enemies of order.

The ancient Egyptians did not incorporate a god of dreams into their pantheon,103 neither as a deity personally responsible for the nocturnal antics of his minions, nor as a specific protective deity responsible for protecting the sleeper from nightmares and for sending good dreams. By the Greek Period, the god Bes had acquired a reputation for facilitating dreams,¹⁰⁴ but during the time in question the Bes-image was used purely as a weapon-wielding deity to ward off bad dreams.

Notes

¹ Gnuse 1984, 30.

² Oppenheim 1956, 231.

³ Based on Van de Castle 1994, 231–5.

⁴ For a summary of recent research concerning dreams occurring in both NREM (non-REM) and REM sleep see Kahan 2001, 338–9.

⁵ It is during the REM stage of sleep that many researchers claim the majority of narrative dreams take place.

⁶ The following is a summary of the research by Fisher et al. 1970, 747–82, and Spielman and Herrera 1991, 25–80.

⁷ See also Van de Castle 1994, 347.

⁸ The severity of the physiological changes is described as follows: ‘The severe stage 4 night terror consists of perhaps the greatest heart rate acceleration possible in man (in a typical severe arousal, heart rate accelerated from 64 bpm to 152 bpm within 15–30 sec) with screams of enormous intensity, cursing, motility, increases in respiratory rate and especially amplitude, and a sharp increase in skin conductance’ (Kahn, et al. 1991, 438).

⁹ The studies of Spielman and Herrera 1991, 64–5, indicate that the 2% rate of occurrence in childhood previously projected is too low, and that a rate of 33% is more realistic.

10 Adapted from Spielman and Herrera 1991, 64, table 1.2.

¹¹ Kahn, et al. 1991, 446–7.

¹² See for example Fisher et al. 1970, 757.

¹³ The most important sources for these texts as they relate to the study of dreams are Sethe 1926; Vila 1963; Posener 1966b; Koenig 1990; Ritner 1993, 140–55.

¹⁴ Posener 1966b, 399.

¹⁵ Ritner 1993, 140–1.

¹⁶ Ritner 1993, 140.

¹⁷ The reading of ‘in’ is indicated by the consistent use of the preposition ‘m’ in the Mirgissa assemblage as indicated by Posener 1966b, 283.

¹⁸ Ritner 1993, 140.

¹⁹ Posener 1966b, 401.

²⁰ For a discussion of the possible details of this disputed rite see Ritner 1993, 142–55, and Assmann 1994b, 53–5.

²¹ Now in the British Museum as EA 10059, commonly known as the London Medical Papyrus 40 (13.9–14) in Grapow 1958, 482–3 , Westendorf 1966, 145. See now Leitz 1999, 69.

²² Westendorf 1999, vol. 1, 40.

²³ Although not described specifically as a ‘bad dream’, rsw.t ḏw.t, there is no doubt that the dream of Heni in Letter to the Dead, Nag ed Deir 3737, was a bad one (see Chapter 2).

²⁴ The papyri under discussion were published in Gardiner 1955.

²⁵ Gardiner 1955, 16.

²⁶ Quack (personal communication) suggests that this too is to be read rsw.t nb.t ḏw.t, ‘every bad dream’.

²⁷ I would like to express my gratitude to Diane Magee and the Griffith Institute of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, for graciously providing a copy of Smither’s and Gardiner’s notes on this papyrus.

²⁸ P. Chester Beatty III r. 10.10–19. In this translation I have indicated the role of the speaker in italics.

²⁹ I would like to thank J.F. Borghouts for this translation, and for his insights regarding this chapter in general.

³⁰ Borghouts 1978, 3.

³¹ This seems to be the interpretation of Sauneron, ‘A réciter par un homme à son réveil, au lieu même où il se trouve’ (1959, 21).

³² Groll 1985, 81–2.

³³ Wb IV 228 which refers the reader to sh Wb III 473–4; Hannig 1995, 74.

³⁴ Groll 1985, 83.

³⁵ Kahn et al. 1991, 446–7.

³⁶ Borghouts 1971, 32.

³⁷ Gardiner 1935, 19.7. See also his remarks in 1925, 73–4.

³⁸ Groll 1985, 84.3.

³⁹ Eventually, tmš replaced the more common term for red,dššr, (Lefebvre 1949b). Note also in a medical text (P. Edwin Smith case 39) a reference is made to the production of pus and redness (tmš.w), which appears in a gloss as red things (jh.t dšr) (Westendorf 1999, 309, 135.)For other sources and a short discussion of tmš.w in possible reference to execration texts, see Ritner 1993, 110 n. 181.

40 DZA no. 31243830 (DZA = Digitalisierte Zettelarchiv des Wôrterbuches der âgyptischen Sprache, online: http://aaew.bbaw.de/dza/index.html; cited 9/9/02.)

⁴¹ Nordh 1996, 51. The identification of the patient with Horus appears as well in another nightmare-related spell: P. Deir el-Medina 40.

⁴² Gardiner 1955, 16.

⁴³ See Gardiner 1935, 19, nn. 5, 6 where he suggests deleting the m preceding prj.t; Sauneron 1959, 21; Borghouts 1918, 3; McDowell 1999, 116.

⁴⁴ Groll 1985, 82.5. While the Middle Egyptian negative imperative more often takes the form of m + negatival complement, Gardiner does mention that the latter can appear with the .t ending after the 18th dynasty. This translation is also favoured by Leitz 2000, 223.

⁴⁵ The combination of prj + hr can have the connotation of betraying (a secret, for example) Wb I 520.1–9; Hannig 1995, 283.

⁴⁶ O’Flaherty 1984, 23.

⁴⁷ Hermansen 2001, 15.

⁴⁸ Borghouts 1918, 4.

⁴⁹ Published with a crucial and profound commentary by Borghouts 1911, 32–3, 116–86.

⁵⁰ h£j, Wb II 412–4; Hannig 1995, 485–6.

⁵¹ Wehr 1961, 949. For this and the following see the archives of the Linguist List 1.1491, a discussion on dreams vs. nightmares summarized by Rene Schneider, [cited October 23, 1996]. Online: http://www.ai.univie.ac.at/archives/Linguist/ Vol-1–1400–1499/0093.html.

⁵² Fortescue, Jacobson et al. 1994, 319.

⁵³ Rechenbach 1961, 154.

⁵⁴ Rene Schneider, [cited October 23, 1996]. Online: http://www.ai.univie.ac.at/ archives/Linguist/Vol-1–1400–1499/0093.html. See also Kluge, Etymologisches Worterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 24–5; 833.

⁵⁵ Jasmine Polanski (personal communication).

⁵⁶ ’mer-’ The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edn, Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 2000. http://www.bartleby.com/61/; 14/12/01.

⁵⁷ O. Gardiner 363.

⁵⁸ Borghouts 1911, 116–8.

⁵⁹ P. Berlin 3021, C 1,9–2,6 in Erman 1901. Translation in Borghouts 1918, 41, #65.

⁶⁰ For a discussion of each of these elements and their potential for harm, see Borghouts 1911, 118–80. S0rensen interprets this as a part of a magical argument where ‘just as the magician may be identified with a god who is able to overcome the evil, his antagonist, the demon, the enemy, the illness, may be named a being that is not part of the ordered world and according to its principles shall not exist at all’ (1984, 14).

61 Borghouts 1971, 32. These followers are briefly discussed in Eschweiler 1994,

67–8.

⁶² Kitchen 1975–92, I, 620; and see Coffin Text 409 for an example.

⁶³ Frankfurter 1994, 196.

⁶⁴ Frankfurter 1994, 196.

⁶⁵ Borghouts 1971, 182–4.

⁶⁶ This combination of the protective power of the snake and the burning fire can be found as early as PT 273 (Pyr. 396b–c), ‘His gods are on his head, his uraei are on his brow; the guiding serpent of Unas is on his forehead: that which perceives the ba, useful, it burns.’

⁶⁷ HO 109, 1; see the translation and commentary by Ritner 1990.

⁶⁸ Ritner 1990, 31–2.

⁶⁹ The role of clay uraei excavated in Amarna, Memphis, Sakkara, and other sites is the subject of my current research to be published in a separate volume.

⁷⁰ Ritner 1990, 36.

⁷¹ Hornung 1994, 114.

⁷² Hornung 1986, 24.

⁷³ Fire was an important means of defence against bad dreams in an variety of cultures. For example, among the Kagwahiv people of Brazil (who believed that the presence of demons indicated nightmares) bad dreams are related while sitting close to a fire in order to cancel and drive away any ominous prediction, while good dreams are related away from the fire, so as to retain their positive prediction (Kracke 1987).

⁷⁴ Posener 1981.

⁷⁵ P. Deir el-Medina 40, for example, is thought to be a spell for keeping away demons causing epilepsy (nsy) and dread (nr.w), but it is unclear whether the dread is related to nightmares as has been suggested (Koenig 1981a, 29–37; KRI VII 258, §89.2).

The ‘Spell for a Mother and Child’ refers to a creeping demon of darkness whose head is turned backwards (P. Berlin 3027, C 1.9–2.6), as does a spell written by Qenherkhopshef (EA 10731), who also owned P. Chester Beatty III. This demon prefers to attack people while they are asleep. The spell is illustrated in Parkinson 1999a, 138, fig. 43; for a translation see Borghouts 1978, 17, #22.

⁷⁶ The important literature on this deity includes Ballod 1913; Michaeilidis 1963–4, 53–93; Romano 1989 and 1998.

⁷⁷ Although often thought to be of foreign origin, the native origin of Bes was amply demonstrated by Ballod in his dissertation (1913), and has been reiterated by Romano 1989, 11–12.

⁷⁸ His form, however, does change significantly over time as outlined by Ballod 1913 and Romano 1989.

⁷⁹ These images were called zwerghafte Gotter by Ballod 1913, but I follow Romano’s simpler term. Aside from Bes, no fewer than twelve of these separate entities have been identified: ten were identified by Ballod 1913, 13, and two more by Romano 1989, 12–13 n. 49.

80 Michaeilidis 1963–4, 53–93.

⁸¹ Michaeilidis 1963–4, 70–3.

⁸² Malaise 1987, 54. The decoration could also include images of other apotropaic creatures which will be discussed below.

⁸³ B1 246–9 using the numbering system of Parkinson 1991a.

⁸⁴ I would like to thank Milena Perraud for allowing me to read her Ph.D. thesis Les appuis-tête de l’Egypte ancienne: typologie et significations, which is to be published as a monograph. Her manuscript includes an important discussion on the etymological connection between the word for dream rsw.t, awakening rs, and headrest wrs.

⁸⁵ Petrie in his early study on headrests, 1927, 33–6, conceded that they were cool and comfortable to sleep on in a hot climate. See also Perraud (forthcoming) for a discussion on the history of the use of headrests.

⁸⁶ Falgayrettes 1989; Nettleton 1990; Dewey 1993.

⁸⁷ Headrest Heidelberg #290 for example is inscribed with the following formula which is also found on two other artefacts: ‘Sleep well, the nose be joyful. When the day dawns, may Amun see the Chief of Weavers, Kener.’ Schott has shown that this was more likely to have been a spell to protect the living, rather than a funerary inscription (Schott 1958). For a list of the types of inscriptions found on headrests see Perraud (forthcoming).

⁸⁸ To cite just a few examples: Gurob #40 in Petrie, Objects of Daily Use; Heidel- berg #290 in Schott 1958; Pushkin Museum #5016 in Pavlov and Khodzhash 1959; the Malloui headrest in Michaeilidis 1963–4; Hannover #2890 in Agyptens Aufstieg zur Weltmacht, 1987; Louvre N 3736a and British Museum 35807 in Seipel 1989; Louvre E 4231 + E 4293 in Perraud 1998.

⁸⁹ The following illustrations are both based on the headrest published in

Schott 1958.

⁹⁰ This figure is a compilation of the salient characteristics of demons appearing on headrests, courtesy of J. Malcolm Jarrett.

⁹¹ Journal d’entrée n. 41476 and 34545 discussed in Daressy 1909–10,

177–9.

⁹² Altenmuller 1965 and 1986; Polz 1999, 390–9.

⁹³ McCallum 1993, 151.

⁹⁴ They were apparently believed to eat bad dreams (Falgayrettes 1989, 108).

⁹⁵ McCallum 1993, 160.

⁹⁶ British Museum EA 63783, HT 12.

⁹⁷ I am indebted to Angela McDonald who collated these instances in the course of her own research on the Seth sign as a determinative.

⁹⁸ Allen 1974, 60; Budge, BD 146.6 ff.

⁹⁹ Davies 1915, pl. 38, 6–7.

¹⁰⁰ Wb II 450–1.

¹⁰¹ The findspot of the text is uncertain; it was possibly found in Sheikh Abd el-Gurnah, and is believed to date to the 18th dynasty (Lapp 1997, 15–18). The passage is found in P. Nu, pl. 42, 5–6.

102 This is the reading preferred by Borghouts 1911, 32. The Nu version also differs from the others in naming Osiris, rather than Horus, as the victor.

¹⁰³ In contrast, for example, with Mesopotamia, where the trouble was dealt with in part by establishing a ‘Lord of Dreams’, as explained in Oppenheim

1956, 232.

¹⁰⁴ Michaeilidis 1963#x2014-4;, 70–3.