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cession system»,
55
replaced each other in the office of
sistrum player (in their capacity of Amun’s priestess,
the most important function of a king’s wife) having
«their priestly role in the renewal of the royal power
of their husbands».
56
The priesthood of each of the «queens», Török
maintains, corresponded to the period of kingship
of her wife, the procedure of induction into the prie-
stess’ office, like the one described in the Dedication
Stele, corresponding to the procedure of enthrone-
ment of the king. He concludes with the statement
that «in Kush the office of the king’s wife as sistrum-
player of Amûn was modeled on the institution of
the Theban God’s Wife of Amûn», although in some
aspects «the priesthood of the royal wife functioned
<…> similarly to the priesthood of New Kingdom
queens».
57
In general Török’s considerations appear
to be strongly influenced by the elaborate study Pat-
terns of Queenship by Lana Troy,
58
yet the attempts
to fit the Kushite material into the Egyptian models
(sometimes rather debatable themselves), upon clo-
ser investigation, do not seem altogether successful.
First, it must be stressed that it is only Madiqen,
one of the three royal ladies referred to in the Dedi-
cation Stele, who may be supposed (but not asserted)
to have been admitted into the office of sistrum-
player of Amun of Sanam at about the time of an
enthronement of a king of Kush (Anlamani, Aspelta’s
predecessor). The time and circumstances of this
event are known only very roughly, the only source
being one passage in the text of the Gematen stele of
Anlamani stating that: «His Magesty gave/placed his
4 sisters as sistrum-players - one to Amun of Napata,
one to Amun-Re of Finding the Aton, one to Amun
of Pnubs, one to Amun-Re, Bull of the Land of the
Three-Curved Bow - (in order) to rattle the sistrum
before them, to pray for life, soundness, health (and)
a long life for the king, every day» (Kawa VIII, lines
24-25).
59
Because this statement has something in
common with those of the Dedication Stele (refe-
rence to King Anlamani, to (the temple of) Amun
of Sanam and to the dedication of a «king’s sister»
as sistrum-player) scholars usually identify Madiqen
with the last of the four sisters «given» to the gods.
60
55 Török, ‘Adoption Stela’, p. 268.
56 Török, ‘Adoption Stela’, p. 267.
57 Török, ‘Adoption Stela’, p. 268.
58 Cf. L. Troy, Patterns of Queenship in ancient Egyptian
myth and history (Uppsala, 1986), p. 132 (II.7).
59 Macadam, The Temples of Kawa, pls. 15-16.
60 It is noteworthy that although the text refers to four hypo-
stases of Amun, these are verbally treated as different gods,
since both the word nTr «god» in line 24 and the relevant
pronoun of 3rd pers., replacing it in line 25, are used in
plural.
The problem with Török’ hypothesis, however, is
the fact that it is impossible to ascertain the time when
the described dedication took place. The reference to
the king’s sisters’ consecration is in the closing part
of the text of Anlamani and is preceded not only by
a) an account of his council with «friends», in which
some probable hints at (but not explicit references
to) his enthronement may be found (lines 2-7), but
also by: b) an account of the king’s journey through
his kingdom (lines 7-9); c) an account of his visit to
Gematen (lines 9-10), establishing a new priestly
office of the «Third god’s servant» in the Amun
temple there (lines 9-10), and celebrating the «First
Festival» of Amun (lines 11-16); d) an account of
the military expedition to the land Bulahau, and its
returning with rich spoils and captives (lines 16-21);
and e) an account of the queen-mother’s arrival to the
royal court, escorted by the king’s «friends» sent to
fetch her (lines 22-24).
From this list it is clear, first, that in the eyes of the
chronicler, the four king’s sisters’ consecration to the
gods was by no means the most important event in
the life of the kingdom (as it is mentioned even after
the reference to the introducing of a new position of
the «Third god’s servant» in Gematen), and, second,
that it is practically impossible to date this event,
because the beginning of the text is destroyed. Thus,
any link between this consecration of sisters (which,
according to Török’s logic, implied their marriage
with the king, which would also have taken some
time) and the enthronement procedure of Anlamani
needs to be verified. In fact, these events could be
separated not only by months, but even by years, as
some analogies (e.g., the visit of the queen-mother
- which is often considered as an element of the
enthronement procedure - in the 6th (!) regnal year
of king Taharqa) in the royal annals of Kush.
As for the other two royal ladies referred to in the
Dedication Stele, the information about their conse-
cration to gods in their capacity of temple musicians
is scanty. Unfortunately, no relevant information is
available about queen Nasalsa, but it is interesting
to note that in the relief on the Anlamani Stele she is
depicted, with a sistrum in her hand, standing, tog-
ether with the king, before Amun-Re of Gematen.
61
On the Election Stele of her son Aspelta she rattles
the sistrum before Amun-Re of Napata,
62
and on
the Dedication Stele,
of the same period, she plays
to Amun-Re of Sanam. Because the Kushites seem
61 Macadam, The Temples of Kawa, pls. 15-16.
62 N-C. Grimal, Quatre stèles napatéennes au Musée du
Caire. JE 48863-48866. Textes et Indices (
Études sur la
propagande royale égyptienne, II; le Caire, 1981), pls.
V-Va.