31; For a similar treatment albeit in slightly more detail, see Tyldesley, J. , Judgment Of The Pharaoh: Crime And Punishment In Ancient. Egypt, Phoenix: London ...
Impalement in ancient Egypt
Ahmad Abo el Magd Minia University
Abstract: Impalement – as a type of capital punishment in ancient Egypt- has been a much debated subject. Supported by a number of documents dating to the Middle and New Kingdoms, this paper argues that impalement, namely putting on stick or tree as a penalty, was a method of execution for some crimes in ancient Egypt.
Keywords: Impalement – Execution – capital punishment- crimes.
Introduction : Ancient Egypt was known for some of the severest kinds of capital punishments. The ancient Egyptians understood the necessary deterrent that these punishments provided. It appears that punishment in ancient Egypt became more severe with the times, particularly with the advent of the New Kingdom Period. The punishments during the New Kingdom Period were very brutal and included beating, mutilation, impalement, and slavery.
Physical punishment was also mutilation punishment by cutting off hands, tongue, nose and or ears, castration as well as beatings in the form of 100 or 200 strokes, often with 5 bleeding wounds, occasionally with 10 burn marks. Sometimes also the part of the body, e.g. the soles of the feet, which had to be beaten.(1) Among others we find mutilation, mutilation and deportation to forced labour in Ethiopia, just deportation to forced labour in mines, impaling (tp-ht), punishment in form of 100 beatings and adding 50 wounds, punishment in form of 100 beatings and
1
Boochs, W., "Strafen" in W. Heck & E. Otto, LÄ VI, 1986, Otto Harrassowitz: Wiesbaden, Columns 68-69.
2
withdrawal of part or all of the disputed assets, punishment in form of 100 beatings and payment of twice the value of the matter in dispute, asset liability, cutting off of the tongue, loss of rank and transfer to the working class, handing over to be eaten by the crocodile and finally living in the outbuildings of the house.(2)
Definition Impalement, or in other more modern term crucifixion, is the act of piercing with a sharpened stake as a form of punishment or torture.(3) Encyclopaedia Britannica defines impalement as: an important method of capital punishment, particularly among the Persians, Seleucids, Carthaginians, and Romans from about the 6th century BC to the 4th century AD. Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor, abolished it in the Roman Empire in AD 337, out of veneration for Jesus Christ, the most famous victim of crucifixion. ... In 519 BC Darius I, king of Persia, crucified 3,000 political opponents in Babylon. (4)
The Oxford Companion to the Bible defines "Crucifixion" as: The act of nailing or binding a person to a cross or tree, whether for executing or for exposing the corpse.(5) Similarly, the Anchor Bible Dictionary defines "Crucifixion" as: The act of nailing or binding a living victim or sometimes a dead person to a cross or stake (stauros or skolops) or a tree (xylon).(6) The New Catholic Encyclopedia defines "Crucifixion" as:
2
Lurje, I. M., Studien Zum Altägyptischen Recht Des 16. Bis 10. Jahrhunderts v. u. Z., 1971, Hermann Böhlaus Nachfolger: Weimar, p. 146. 3 www.thefreedictionary.com/impalement. 4 "Crucifixion", Encyclopaedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004 DVD, © 1994 – 2004 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. 5 "Crucifixion", in B. M. Metzger and M. D. Coogan (Eds.), Oxford Companion To The Bible, 1993, Oxford University Press: Oxford & New York, p. 141. 6 O'Collins, G. G., "Crucifixion" in D. N. Freedman (Editor-in-Chief), Anchor Bible Dictionary, 1992, Volume I, Doubleday: New York, p. 1207.
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Crucifixion developed from a method of execution by which the victim was fastened to an upright stake either by impaling him on it or by tying him to it with thongs... From this form of execution developed crucifixion in the strict sense, whereby the outstretched arms of the victim were tied or nailed to a crossbeam (patibulum), which was then laid in a groove across the top or suspended by means of a notch in the side of an upright stake that was always left in position at the site of execution. (7)
Crucifixion then can be understood as the act of nailing, binding or impaling a living victim or sometimes a dead person to a cross, stake or tree whether for executing the body or for exposing the corpse. Crucifixion was commonly practiced from the 6th century BC until the 4th century AD, when it was finally abolished in 337 AD by Constantine I. It was intended to serve as both a severe punishment and a frightful deterrent to others and was unanimously considered the most horrible form of death.
Discussion Compared with other ancient civilizations, Egyptian law has yielded little evidence of its institutions. It was clearly governed by religious principles: Law was believed to have been handed down to mankind by the gods on the First Occasion (the moment of creation), and the gods were responsible for establishing and perpetuating the law, which was personified by the goddess Ma’at who represented truth, righteousness, and justice and maintained the correct balance and order of the universe. Egyptian law was essentially based on a concept of justice that was opposite to falsehood and injustice. (8) Theoretically the god-king was the sole legislator with power of life and death over his subjects, but in reality his freedom in legal matters, as in other areas, was determined by precedent. As chief official of the judiciary the king was a priest of Ma’at, and the vizier, as the king’s delegate, was head of the courts of justice. Officials of the judiciary were also priests of Ma’at.(9) 7
"Crucifixion", New Catholic Encyclopedia, 1981, Volume IV, The Catholic University of America: Washington, p. 485. 8 Shupak, N., “A New Source for the study of judiciary and law in ancient Egypt, The tale of Eloquent Peasant”, JNES 51 (1992) , p.15. 9 McDowell, A. G., Village Life in ancient Egypt, Oxford University Press, 1999, p. 166.
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The concept of Maat allowed everyone, with the exception of slaves, to be viewed as equals before the laws, regardless to wealth and social position. The opposite of Maat was isft
or wrong, incorrect, antisocial behaviour, disorder,
falsehood and injustice.
According to the ancient Greeks, the ancient Egyptians had a working legal system and laws; Diodorus Siculus(10) mentioned that the Greeks went to Egypt to "gain knowledge of its noteworthy laws and customs" and that the Egyptians promulgated "the best laws", ancient Egypt could not prospered for thousands of years if it did not posses "the most excellent laws". (11)
Emphasizing their association with Maat, the kings issued detailed legal edicts regulating the status and behaviour of individuals; like the Nauri Decree of Seti I.(12) The continued legitimacy of the King depended on his fulfilling the mandate assigned to him by the gods, the most important of which, from the legal perspective, was the duty to the just and to uphold justice.(13) The king's main responsibility was to maintain Maat through royal decrees and edicts, new laws were created and existing legal stipulation were reformed.(14) In texts, this duty is summarized by the phrase "Putting Maat in place of isft (injustice)" and on the temple walls by images of the King presenting the symbol of Maat to the gods.(15) The King was the highest legal authority in ancient Egypt, the right to make legal decisions was often delegated to lower authority by the King.(16)
10 Diodorus Siculus, Diodorus on Egypt, Tran. Murphy E., Diodorus Siculus' Historical Library, Book II, Jefferson: McFairland & Co., 1985, p.91. 11 Gardiner, A., Egypt of the Pharaohs: An introduction, London, Oxford University press, 1961, pp. 5-6. 12 Westbrook , R., History of ancient Near Eastern law, Vol. 1, Leiden, 2003, p. 294. 13 ibid., p.26. 14 Morschauser, S. N., “The ideological basis for social justice / responsibility in ancient Egypt”, in Irani K. D. and Silver, M. (eds.), Social justice in the ancient world, Westport, greenwood Press, 1995, p. 103. 15 Allen, J. P., Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the language and cultures of the hieroglyphs, Cambridge University Press, 2004, p. 117. 16 Shupak, N., “A New Source for the study of judiciary and law in ancient Egypt, op .cit, p. 5.
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The vizier, as the supreme judge, and the judges of local courts throughout Egypt, were equipped with laws and instructions that were given directly by the King.(17)
Capital punishment in ancient Egypt A society's values may be negatively exhibited in its punishments for the crimes it most detests. The more serious the punishment, the more the offense represents the negation of what the society holds most dear. On this logic, those crimes for which the offender is put to death represent the most blatant rejection of the common values. In ancient Egypt, as in other ancient civilizations, such violence used against the criminals served to uphold the concept justice and correct order, known as Maat. Most violence in the service of order was aimed at the destruction of chaos, or isfet. This type of violence remained a feature of Egyptian society throughout its ancient history.(18) Human beings, even criminals, were ultimately considered to be under the watchful eye of the divine and were not to be killed on a whim(19) Royal power was therefore limited by divine injunction. This was the widely held tent of ancient Egyptian morality. Recent scholarship has expressed some disagreement about capital punishment in ancient Egypt. For example, David Lorton writes that capital punishment was only carried out for high treason.(20) Hans Goedicke similarly infers such,(21) and Renate Müller-Wollermann believes that the treason and royal tomb robbery were the only
17 Bedell, E. D., Criminal Law in the Egyptian Ramesside Period, PhD Dissertation, Brandies University, 1985, p. 20. 18 Muhlestein, K., Violence in the Service of Order: The Religious Framework of Sanctioned Killing in Ancient Egypt, PhD dissertation, University of California at Los Angeles, 2003, p. xxi. 19 Morschauser, S. N., “The ideological basis for social justice / responsibility in ancient Egypt”, op. cit., p.104. 20 Lorton, D., "The Treatment of Criminals in Ancient Egypt", JESHO 20 (1977), p. 11, 15-18. 21 Goedicke. H., Königliche Dokumente aus dem alten Reich, Ägyptologische Abbandlungen Bd 14, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1967, p. 218.
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crimes that were punished by death sentence.(22) beside the crimes against the king and the state, Laure Bazin adds desecration of a sacred place to the list of potential capital offenses.(23) The literature about the capital punishment in ancient Egypt helped to establish that the different types (e.g. burning,(24) drowning(25) or decapitation(26)) were general feature of ancient Egyptian culture. What is missing is an investigation of a specific type of punishment over time and the general tendencies of a defined historical context that we will be able to come to a more firm conclusion regarding any certain type of capital punishment.
1- The damaged text of Senusert I from Tod: The single and most important historical inscription of the Middle Kingdom is the damaged text of King Senusert I from Tod.(27) The inscription records that Senusert I found the temple of Tod in a deplorable state. It had become overgrown with weeds, its seals had been broken, portions of the temple wall had been broken down, and apparently fire had been set to sections of the structure.(28)
It is recorded that:
22
Müller-Wollermann, R., Vergehen und Strafen: zur Sanktionierung abweichenden Verhaltens im alten Ägypten, Leiden, 2004, p.196. 23 Bazin. L., “Enquête sur les lieux d’exécution dans l’Égypte Ancienne”, in Égypte, Afrique et Orient 35 (2004), p. 33. 24 Burning appears to have a common practice, but used with greater frequency in the Middle Kingdom and in 19-26 Dynasties: Leahy, A., “Death by fire in Ancient Egypt”, JESHO 27.2 (1984), pp.199-206. 25 Muhlestein, K., “Death by Water in Ancient Egypt: The Role of Water in Ancient Egypt’s Treatment of Enemies and Juridical Process”, in L’Acqua nell’aantico Egitto: Vita, rigenerazione, incantesimo, eds. Alessia Amenta, Michela Luiselli and Maria Novella sordid, Rome, 2005, pp. 173-9. 26 Decapitation was a consistent method of capital punishment but was more popular in the earlier periods: Capart, J., Note sur la décapitation en Égypte, In ZÄS 36(1898), pp. 125-6. 27 Eyre, C., "Crime and Adultery in Ancient Egypt", JEA 70 (1984), p. 431. 28 Lines X+28-30: Redford, D. B., "The Tod Inscription of Senwosret I and Early 12th Dynasty Involvement in Nubia and the South", JSSEA XVII, no. 1/2 (1987), p. 42 and fig. 2; Muhlestein, K., “Royal Executions: Evidence bearing on the Subject of Sanctioned Killing in the Middle Kingdom”, in JESHO LI (2008), p.189.
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"[(as for) those who had cast] fire and flame on the temple, and those who had trespassed in this house, [ My Majesty made a great (?) slaughter among them (?) men and women, the valleys filled with the flayed (srHw) and the hills with the impaled (ptHw)"(29) As for the word ptHw Redford noted that the determinative used in this text is four upright stakes bound together.(30) He argued that given the context, the determinative and the Semitic cognate pHt which means to impale that here pHtw likely means to impale and transfix.(31) The desecration of sacred land, whether tombs or temples, was deemed a capital offense(32) and this inscription of King Senusert I at Tod is considered a prime (though somewhat problematic) example. Despite whatever exaggeration nature of part of the text, it provides a window into the types of punishments that were considered part of the King’s arsenal.(33) Senusert I, when enacting a great massacre against those who desecrated the temple of Tod, continually used the term xrwy or enemy which especially denoted the an enemy to the King(34), who would be a rebel. The abstract form of this noun is defined as enemy, rebellion or revolt(35); hence Senusert I was stressing on the nature of those victims as being rebellious enemies of the King as a justification for killing.
2- Theban Account Papyrus (Papyrus Boulaq 18) (Pl.I)
Papyrus Boulaq 18 is dated to the early Second Intermediate Period and especially to the reign of Chendjer / Sobekhotep II; both of them kings from the 13th Dynasty.
29 ibid. 30 ibid, n. 68. 31 ibid. 32 Even today, the violation of religious norms is one of the leading causes of execution in the world: for a general discussion of capital punishment across cultures, see Otterbein, K. F., The Ultimate coercive Sanction: A Cross- Cultural study of Capital Punishment, New Haven, 1986, especially p. 107. 33 Muhlestein, K., “Royal Executions: Evidence bearing on the Subject of Sanctioned Killing in the Middle Kingdom”, op.cit, p.189. 34 Wb III, p. 325. 35 Hannig, R., Die Sprache Der Pharaonen Großes Handwörterbuch Ägyptisch - Deutsch (2800-950 v. Chr.),op. cit., p.615 defines it as “Streit, Krieg, Rebellion, Revolte”.
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This part(36) of the text reads: a blood bath (?) had occurred with (by?) wood (?) ... the comrade was put on the stake (tp-xt), land near the island ...; waking alive at the places, may he live, be prosperous and be in health ...(37)
3- Buhen Stela of Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten): (Pl. II) A stela set up by the viceroy of Kush Djehutymose at Buhen and a nearly identical text at Amada, both quite damaged, record a war sparked by the rebellion of the Akuyati tribe.(38) The date of the conflict is also damaged, but the traces of the year date suggest that the events occurred during year twelve of Akhenaten's reign.(39) According to the fragmentary stelae, a messenger reported directly to Akhenaten (probably in Akhetaten) that troubles were brewing in Nubia. Akhenaten chose to delegate the conduct of a punitive expedition to his viceroy Djehutymose.
36
Heck, W., Historisch-Biographische Texte Der 2. Zwischenzeit Und Neue Texte Der 18. Dynastie, 1975, Otto Harrassowitz: Wiesbaden, p. 10. 37 Scharff, ., "Ein Rechnungsbuch des Königlichen Hofes Aus Der 13. Dynastie (Papyrus Boulaq Nr. 18)", Zeitschrift Für Ägyptische Sprache Und Altertumskunde, 1922, Volume 57, p. 62. Scharff left the "tp-xt" untranslated. He compares it with Papyrus Abbott and says "where it signifies possibly "stake", ibid. 38 Smith, H. S., The Fortress of Buhen: The Inscriptions (London: Egypt Exploration Society, 1976), 124-129 (no. 1595), and pI. 29 and 75; Wolfgang Heick, "Ein 'Feldzug' unter Amenophis IV gegen Nubien," SAK 8 (1980): 117-126; Murnane, Amarna Period, 101-103; Schulman, A.,"The Nubian War of Akhenaton," in L'Egyptologie en 1979 (Paris: Editions du CNRS, 1982). 39 Schulman, in L'Egyptologie en 1979,301 and n. 16.
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The text gives no indication why the Nubians did not continue their desert retreat or whether it was their choice to give battle at the wells. Similarly, we can only guess at the precise tactics used by the opposing forces, but the Egyptian documents leave no ambiguity as to the result of the battle: Djehutymose carried off 145 live captives, including 12 children, with a total of 225 enemy casualties; additional booty, probably 361 head of cattle, also is recorded.(40) The text reads: List (of the enemy belonging to) Ikayta: living Nehesi 80+ ?; ... | ... their (chiefs?) 12; total number of living captives 145; those who were impaled (nty.w Hr
xt).(41)... | ... total 225; beasts 361.
The treatment of the prisoners by Akhenaten is anything but normal. Both texts record that some of the captured Akuyati tribesmen were "placed atop a stake," the Egyptian idiom for impalement. Interestingly, ancient Egyptian texts from later in the New Kingdom might explain why Akhenaten used such extreme measures against the Akuyati nomads. According to the Kuban stela from the reign of Ramesses II, the southern land of Akuta contained "much gold"(42) since Kuban is the Nile terminus of the main desert road leading to the gold-mining region in the Wadi Allaqi and considering the further content of the stela, Akuta appears to refer to the Wadi Allaqi itself, formerly one of the richest gold-mining areas in north-eastern Africa.(43) Then the main reason of such awesome punishment that troublesome tribe was near the precious gold mines, which would have provided Akhenaton with a motivation for supplying a particularly harsh
40
Darnell, J. C. and Manassa, C., Tutankhamun's armies: battle and conquest during ancient Egypt's late 18th Dynasty, Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey, 2007, p.118. 41 Smith, H. S. , The Fortress Of Buhen: The Inscriptions, Forty Eighth Excavation Memoir, Egyptian Exploration Society: London (UK), 1976, pp. 124-125 and Pl. 29; Schulman, A. R., "The Nubian War of Akhenaton", in L'Egyptologie en 1979. Axes prioritaires de Recherches. Vol. II, Centre National de la Recherche sceintifique, Paris, 1982, pp. 301-2. 42 Kuban Stela of Ramesses II, KRI II, 355, I. 3. 43 Dietrich Klemm, Rosemarie Klemm, and Andreas Murr, "Ancient Gold Mining in the Eastern Desert of Egypt and the Nubian Desert of the Sudan," in Egypt and Nubia, ed. Friedman; Karola ZibeliusChen, "Die Kubanstele Ramses' II und die nubischen Goldregionen," in Hommages aJean Leclant, vol. 2; Hikade, Expeditionswesen, 69-71; Jean Vercoutter, "The Gold of Kush," Kush 7 (1959): 120-153; Redford, From Slave to Pharaoh, 49-53.
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and grisly warning to any who might attempt to tamper in any way with Egypt's gold supply.(44)
Impalement would have had a profound psychological effect even on those who did not join the Akuyati revolt, and the fragmentary stelae suggest that the gruesome display produced the desired result. The stelae preserve part of a speech of loyalty delivered by Nubian rulers who vow to strip their own lands for the pharaoh, presumably so he will not come and do it for them, and perhaps engage in impalement as a by-product.(45)
4- Nauri Decree Of Seti I at Nauri.
Upon the building of a cenotaph of Osiris at Abydos, known as Osireion, Seti I issued a royal decree to exempt a large estate from taxes and other burdens. Seti I carved this decree on a cliff at Nauri, between the 2 nd and 3rd cataract, in Nubia. As a procedure of organization of theses estates, Seti I added a legal portion in the form of a royal laws to prevent the mistreatment or misappropriation of the goods and personnel dedicated to the Osireion. Seti I outlined a number of punishments for a number of possible crimes. Lines 75-79 of the text reads: ... Now as for any superintendent of cattle, any superintendent of donkeys, any herdsman belonging to the Temple of Menmare Happy in Abydos, who shall sell of any beast belonging to the Temple of Menmare Happy in Abydos to someone else; likewise whoever may cause it to be offered on some other document, and it not be offered to Osiris his master in the Temple of Menmare Happy in Abydos; the law shall be executed against him, by condemning him, impaled on the stake, along with forfeiting(?) his wife, his children and all his property to the Temple of Menmare Happy in Abydos, ... 44
(46)
Darnell, J. C. and Manassa, C., Tutankhamun's armies, op. cit., p.119. ibid 46 KRI I, pp. 55-56. 45
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It is clear that only the embezzling and mis-offering of cattle by a keeper of cattle, a keeper of hounds, or a herdsman, demanded impalement as a penalty. It is not clear through the text the reason of that punishment while the other crimes relating to the cult of Osiris at Abydos were punished by wounds and blows: anyone who took any people from serving Osiris
(47)
anyone stopping the estate's boats
(48)
, those who
attacked the estate's hunters, those who stole goods or those who assaulted the estate's herdsmen and cut off his ears and relegated to hard labor: anyone who moved the boundary of the land(49). Lorton argued that the sever punishment by impalement because the property had been both stolen and alienated to a third party.(50) Edgerton thought that perhaps cattle held a special place in the Osireion rites, accounting for the harshness of the penalty.(51) It can be argued that this harsh punishment was because of the combined betrayal of trust and sacrilege. The other part of the Nauri Decree of concern, lines 107-108(52), is the mention of the procedures against those who were officials and had inferred with the proceeds or had embezzled them. These people were to be punished by having the goods recovered.
"But his Majesty has avoided causing [he who molested them to be thrown to the ground and] impaled (Hr-tp-xt), desiring to let him be convicted in any council (qnbt)(53) of any city to which they go".(54)
This part of the text refers to that these officials, while they were judged in front of their local courts, they were to enact with impalement after the approval of the King since the death penalties could only come from the King.(55)
47 KRI, I, pp. 52-53. 48 KRI, I p. 53. 49 KRI, I, p. 54. 50 Lorton, D., "The Treatment of Criminals in Ancient Egypt", JESHO 20 (1977), pp. 26-28. 51 Edgerton, W. F., "The Nauri Decree of Seti I, A Translation and Analysis of the Legal Portion", JNES 6 (1947), p. 230. 52 KRI, I, p. 57. 53 Louire, L., "A Note on Egyptian Law-Courts", JEA 17 (1931), pp. 62-4; McDowell, A. G., Jurisdiction in the Workmen's Community of Deir el-Medina, Leiden, Nederlands, 1990, pp.143-178. 54 Griffith, F. Li., "The Abydos Decree of Seti I at Nauri ", JEA 13, no. I-IV (1927), pl. XLIII.
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5- Amada wall-stela of Merenptah: King Merenptah also mentioned the impalement as a penalty in an inscription on the left thickness of the entrance of the temple of Amun-Rea and Rea-herakhty at Amada, between the 1 st and 2 nd cataracts.(56) Amada wall-stela vividly relates the pharaoh's treatment of his defeated Libyan enemies and that the king slew a great number of them and then the text records:
KRI IV, 1.6 The remainder were impaled (lit. put on top of stakes) to south of Memphis As shown in the inscription of Amada, the determinative of the word "Hr-tp-xt , impaled" shows a pointed stake with a person stuck on it, legs hanging to one side, arms to the other, apparently face down. The inscription on Amada wall stela of Merenptah puts an end to the debate about the meaning of the expression Hr tp-xt put on top of stakes.
Although impalement is a particularly gruesome and extreme form of execution, the impalement of Libyans south of Memphis served a concrete military goal as a military scare-tactic or " Psychological warfare " as an effort to instill terror into an enemy army by increasing the perceived force of the military, despite their actual strength and also to prevent future incursions or rebellions against the king.(57)
55 McDowell, A. G., "Crimes and Punishment", McDowell, A. G., "Crimes and Punishment" in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, ed. Donald B. Redford, London, Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 223. 56 PM, VII, p. 67 no. 5; KRI IV , p. 1, lines 5-6. 57 Manassa, C., The Great Karnak Inscription of Merenptah: Grand Strategy in the 13th Century BC, Yale Egyptological Studies 5 edited by William Kelley Simpson, Yale University, 2003, p. 100.
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6- The Great Tomb Robberies
There are many documents dealing with the Great Tomb Robberies of the end of the 20th Dynasty and through these documents we can get a good idea about the penalties connected with perjury and tomb robberies.
1- Impalement in the oaths: Most of the oaths were to tell the truth during the questioning contained penalties for perjury within the oath. Lorton who studied these oaths mentioned that nine times impalement is described as a penalty to be meted out the offenders, though four of these are in informal oaths that were uttered in the process of testimony.(58)
Here are two examples of these papyri dealing with Great Tomb Robberies connected with the impalement as a potential punishment.
It is clear that the oath includes mutilation before the actual impalement.
The Abbott Papyrus (BM 10221):
(59)
The Abbott Papyrus details the investigations by Ancient Egyptian officials into tomb robberies that occurred about the sixteenth year of the reign of King Ramesses IX. The papyrus, was purchased from a Dr Abbott in Cairo in 1857, now resides in the British Museum.
58 Lorton, "The Treatment of Criminals in Ancient Egypt," JESHO 20 (1977), pp. 33-36. 59 KRI VI, 475 5:5 – 5:8.
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... The notables caused this coppersmith to be examined in most severe examination in the Great Valley, but it could not be found that he knew of any place there save the two places he had pointed out. He took an oath on pain of being beaten, of having his nose and ears cut off, and of being impaled, saying I know of no place here among these tombs except this tomb which is open and this house which I pointed to you...(60)
Papyrus BM10052:(61)
This is also an account of the Great Tomb Robberies of the 20th Dynasty in the New Kingdom Period. Notice that the oath includes mutilation before the actual impalement.
60 Peet, T. E., The Great Tomb Robberies Of The Twentieth Egyptian Dynasty: Being A Critical Study, With Translations And Commentaries, of The Papyri In Which These Are Recorded, 1930, II Plates, The Provost & Fellows Of Worcester College At The Clarendon Press: Oxford, Plate III, Papyrus Abbott No. 5, 7; Id., The Great Tomb Robberies Of The Twentieth Egyptian Dynasty: Being A Critical Study, With Translations And Commentaries, of The Papyri In Which These Are Recorded, 1930, I Text, The Provost & Fellows Of Worcester College At The Clarendon Press: Oxford, p. 40; KRI VI, p. 475, 5:5- 5:8. 61 KRI VI, p. 799, 14:14 – 14:15.
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The scribe Paoemtaumt was brought. he was given the oath not to speak falsehood. He said, As Amun lives and as the Ruler lives, if I be found to have had anything to do with any one of the thieves may I be mutilated in nose and ears and placed on the stake. He was examined with the stick. He was found to have been arrested on account of the measurer Paoemtaumt son of Kaka.(62)
2- References to death as penalty for tomb robbery: There are many references in the Papyri of Great Tombs Robberies that the penalty for royal tomb robbery during this time period was impalement. It is also clear that this was common knowledge at the time.(63)
One man accused of tomb robbery uses, as his defense, the reasoning that he "saw the punishments, oh, that were done to the thieves ( sbAw .i ir.w n nA
iTAw) in the time of the Vizier Khaemwese. Is it that I go to seek death when I know it?" (Sm r wxA pA mwt iw .i rx sw )".(64) 62 Peet, T. E., The Great Tomb Robberies Of The Twentieth Egyptian Dynasty: Being A Critical Study, With Translations And Commentaries, of The Papyri In Which These Are Recorded, 1930, II Plates, op. cit., Plate XXXIV, Papyrus BM10052 No. 14, 24. Translation: Id., The Great Tomb Robberies Of The Twentieth Egyptian Dynasty: Being A Critical Study, With Translations And Commentaries, of The Papyri In Which These Are Recorded, 1930, I Text, op. cit., p. 156. 63 Lorton, D., "The Treatment of Criminals in Ancient Egypt", JESHO 20 (1977), pp. pp. 33-36. 64 Papyrus BM 10052, 8.19-20: KRI VI, p. 787, 8:19-20; Peet, T. E., The Great Tomb-Robberies of the Twentieth Egyptian Dynasty vol. 2 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1930), pl. XXX; McDowell, A. G., Jurisdiction at Deir el-Medina, pp. 192 and 223.
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Another man maintained that he had warned a friend not to become involved in tomb robbing. He testified "I quarreled with him and I said to him, you will be put to death (iw .i Dd n .f iw Xdb .k ) for the thefts which you committed [in] the Necropolis" (Hr pA iTAw iri.k [m] pA xr ).(65)
Impalement in ancient Egypt Having presented the available documents concerning the punishment by impalement during Middle and new Kingdoms, the task now is to present a more concrete data about impalement.
Impalement in Egyptian language: The determinative
is one of rare used determinatives in Egyptian
language. Through this determinative, it can be concluded that the preferred method of execution was by impaling on a stick. The determinative (Pl. IV) shows a man suspended by the centre of his torso on the point of a pole, the man lies face down so that his arm and legs dangle towards the ground. Death would have been quick if the spike pierced the heart or a major blood vessel. If not, the condemned faced a long, excruciating demise.(66)
Ancient Egyptians expressions for impalement as punishment: The ancient Egyptians used many expressions for impalement, the most
(rdi) tp-xt place on the stick as a
famous of theses expressions is
65 Papyrus B.M. 10052, lines4. 9-10, KRI VI, p. 776, 4: 9-10; Peet, T. E., op.cit, pl. XXVII. 66 Tyldesley, J., "Crime And Punishment In Ancient Egypt", Ancient Egypt: The History, People & Culture Of The Nile Valley, 2004 (June/July), Volume 4, Issue 6, p. 31; For a similar treatment albeit in slightly more detail, see Tyldesley, J. , Judgment Of The Pharaoh: Crime And Punishment In Ancient Egypt, Phoenix: London, , 2000, pp. 64-66.
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penalty.(67) Beside this famous term, under the term pfahl, i.e. stake or pole and pfählen, i.e. impalement, Hanning(68) mentions other interesting expressions:
mnit impalement as punishment. xt place on the top of the stick as penalty. tpt stake, top of the stake. dpx give to the impalement (for execution), rdi Hr dpx probably identical to tp-xt. It also means fenced in, enclosed, execution block.(69)
According to the impalement determinative and the many terms for impalement, it would be very clear that criminals were condemned by impalement on stakes in ancient Egypt. Brunner believed that the condemned was tied to a stake before his execution, and then his head was then mounted on a pole literally according to expression (Hr-tp-
xt).(70)
The reasons for impalement: Because murder was considered to be a crime and a kind of illegal violence, it was necessary that the King must have a reason or a “justification” to impose such death penalty. King Horemheb provides an example of such justification to be violent against those criminals, rebellious and enemies as an attempt to “expel isfet and destroys falsehood (dr isft sHtm grg ). His Majesty’s plans were a potent refuge, repelling violence (HD Abw)”.(71) 67
Hannig, R., Die Sprache Der Pharaonen Großes Handwörterbuch Ägyptisch - Deutsch (2800-950 v. Chr.), Kulturgeschichte Der Antiken Welt - 86, Verlag Philipp Von Zabern: Mainz, 2000, p. 964. 68 ibid. 69 Lesko, L., A Dictionary of Late Egyptian, vol. II, Second edition, B. C. Publications, Fall River Modern printing, USA, 2004, p. 247. 70 Brunner, H., Das Fragment eines Schutzdekretes aus dem Nauen Reich, in MDAIK 8 (1939), p. 162; Capart, J., Note sur la decapitation en Egypte, In ZÄS 36(1898), p. 125. 71
Pfluger, K., “The Edict of Haremhab”, JNES 5, no. 4 (1946), pl. 1, Line 11.
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Also included in the negative confession among things people had not done, that statement: “I have not slain (n smA .i)”, “I have not ordered to slain (n wD .i smA )”, “I have not slain people (n smA .i rmTt )”.(72) It is interesting to mention that Spell 125 of the Book of Dead which contains the previous negative confession, started to be used in the royal tombs from the reign of King Merenptah, who was one of the Kings who used impalement and other types of capital punishment against his enemies.(73) The continuous use of the negative confession by the kings of the New Kingdom would seem that they felt that it was inappropriate to kill or to order someone to be killed. Despite the use of Spell 125 of the Book of the Dead occurred in royal tombs where the King denied to kill or ordered someone to be killed but certainly he did killed and ordered someone to be killed so there must be a reasonable justification to use such license or the right of life and death. Some of the literature regarding the reasons and types of capital punishment has sparked response, leading to academic discussions that have been enlightening and helpful.(74) Since the purpose behind this study is to establish that impalement was a type of capital punishment in ancient Egypt, the researcher tries to answer the question: what were the reasons for impalement? Or in other words: what were the crimes that were punished by impalement?
Desecration of sacred place.
The desecration of a sacred place, whatever temples or tombs, was considered a capital offense.(75) This case of the use of impalement, beside flaying, burning and decapitation, is represented in the Tod inscription of King Senusert I who found the temple in a
72
Gee, J. L., The Requirements of Ritual Purity in Ancient Egypt, PhD Dissertation, Yale University, 1998, pp. 255-6. 73 Hornung, E., The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife, trans. David Lorton, Cornell University Press, 1999, pp. 13-4. 74 Lorton, D., "The Treatment of Criminals in Ancient Egypt", pp. 2-64; Leahy, A., “Death by fire in Ancient Egypt”, pp.199-206; Muhlestein, K., “Royal Executions: Evidence bearing on the Subject of Sanctioned Killing in the Middle Kingdom”, pp. 181-208. 75 Otterbein, K. F., The Ultimate coercive Sanction: A Cross- Cultural study of Capital Punishment, op. cit. p.106 where argues that, even today, the violation of religious norms is one of the leading causes of execution in the world.
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deplorable state. It had become overgrown with weeds, its seals had been broken, portions of the temple wall had been broken down, and apparently fire had been set to sections of the structure (Doc. no. 1). Here the reason is very clear and the use impalement, flaying, burning and decapitation against the guilty perpetuators, either Egyptians or foreigners, was a process used by the king to show his people his cautiousness to restore order (mAat) and destroy chaos (isft). Such an act may have been part of violence that must have been enacted by Senusert I as he strengthened his hold on the throne in the face of whatever the rivals who were responsible for the assumed assassination of his father Amenemhat I.(76) Decapitation and burning are attested before and after the Middle kingdom Period but the only known reference to flaying and the first attestation of impalement.(77)
Hostile or rebellious actions against Egypt.
The king was justified in using all possible means to put down rebels or threats against his country. During all periods of Egyptian history, the majority of the texts where the King used violence was in the context of war when the King is subjecting enemies and rebels without any connotations.(78) This is to be expected from the theoretical point of reasoning because rebellion was a chaotic behaviour of one who should be trusted to act according to MAat, so rebellions and the threats of war were a very embodiment of chaos (isfet). Emily Teeter suggests that to act against the king was to risk the stability of the cosmos.(79) while Anthony Leahy suggests that: attempts to overthrow the established political order, embodied in the person of the king, echoed parallel mythological assaults on Maat ... Rebellion was thus inevitably a crime with strong religious connotations.(80) Senusert I, when justified the different severe types of capital punishment in facing the desecration of the temple of Tod, continually used the term xrwy , or
76
Muhlestein, K., Royal Execution, op.cit., p. 192. ibid., p. 193. 78 Gee, J. L., The Requirements of Ritual Purity in Ancient Egypt, op. cit., p. 271; Muhlestein, K., Violence in the Service of Order, op. cit., pp. 306, 310. 79 Teeter, E., “Ma’at”, in Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, ed. Donald B. Redford, London, Oxford University Press, 2001, vol. II , p.319. 80 Leahy, A., “Death by fire in Ancient Egypt”, JESHO 27.2 (1984), p. 201. 77
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enemy. This word especially denotes an enemy to the king,(81) who would be a rebel. The abstract form of this noun is defined as war, rebellion, or revolt; thus, Senusert I was repeatedly stressing the nature of the guilty victims as being rebellious enemies of the king.(82) In the similar actions of Akhenaten against Nubian prisoners of war (Buhen styela – Doc. no.3), those who were impaled were specifically designated as having plotted rebellion (sbit).(83) Merenptah, also, impaled, after the successful battle of Perire, great numbers of both Libyans and Kushites.(84) (Amada wall Stela – doc. no. 5) These groups were under Egyptian hegemony, and were specifically labeled as rebels. Clearly rebellion against the king harmed the cosmos itself. Such was the case largely because of an absolute reliance on the king as the mediator who could establish Maat for both the gods and mankind. Because both groups depended on the king's efforts to uphold Maat, any interference with the king's ability to perform his duties was a crime against the entire cosmos. Rebellion against the king was rebellion against mankind, the gods, the cosmos, and Maat.(85) So rebellion was an act that thoroughly identified the perpetrator with Isfet, and thus had to be dealt with the most effective and immediate means available to the king. The textual evidence presented above which designates rebellion as the major reason for impalement, coupled with theological reasoning just outlined, leads to the conclusion that rebellion was the leading reason for impalement.
Stealing or damaging state or temple proprieties.
Stealing from the sacral sphere was a capital offense because it went so strongly against the correct order, something that the Egyptians may or may not have labeled as rebellion. The same supposition can be made for the unauthorized 81
Wb III, p. 325. Muhlestein, K., “Royal Executions: Evidence bearing on the Subject of Sanctioned Killing in the Middle Kingdom”, op. cit., p. 189-190. 83 Schulman, A., "The Nubian War of Akhenaton", in L'Egyptologie en 1979, op.cit., pp. 302-3, esp. n. 27. 84 KRI IV , p. 1, lines 5-6; Manassa, C., The Great Karnak Inscription of Merenptah: Grand Strategy in the 13th Century BC, op.cit., p. 100. 85 Boochs, W., "Religöse Strafen", in Religion und Philosophic im Alten Agypten, ed. Ursula Verhoeven and Erhart Graefe (Leuven: Uitgeverij Peeters, 1991), p. 58, who argues that offenses directed towards the king or state concerned both the legal system and the divine cosmic order. 82
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conscription of corvee laborers from their properly appointed service to a specific god.(86) Seti I commanded impalement, in the Nauri Decree (Doc. no. ) , for the embezzling or mis-offering of cattle by a keeper of cattle, a keeper of hounds, or a herdsman, and for nothing similar. Perhaps the betrayal of trust evidenced in those who were supposed to care for such animals by their misuse of the animals constituted a sufficient breach against Maat that capital punishment was inevitable. McDowell argues that both selling embezzled sacrificial animals and reassigning them for sacrifice to another god involve alienating the animals for their dedicated purpose, but does not venture this as a reason for the harshness of the penalty.(87) Tyldesley thought that the punishment of those officials by impalement was because of the breach of official duty.(88) It can be argued that this harsh punishment was because of the combined betrayal of trust and sacrilege.
Tomb robberies:
While stealing was not a capital offense, it seems that stealing royal property, or perhaps property used for royal tombs, was capital. The ancient Egyptian considered tomb robbery as one of the most heinous crimes that could be committed and held that the death could be imposed for this crime. From the sources and literature about the tomb robberies of the late Ramesside Period (Doc. no. 6) it is clear there was a logical connection between perjury and tomb robbery. Perjury was also a capital offence because the oath taken in the court was sworn on the life of the Pharaoh and to swear falsely meant that the Pharaoh was
86
Muhlestein, K., Violence in the Service of Order: The Religious Framework of Sanctioned Killing in Ancient Egypt, op. cit., p. 320. 87 McDowell, A. G., "Crimes and Punishment", op .cit., p. 317. 88 Tyldesley, J. A., Judgment of the Pharaoh: Crime and Punishment in Ancient Egypt, London, 2000, p.29.
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prejudiced and the condemned or the witness acknowledged the penalty for his testimony.(89) As noted above, impalement was described nine times as potential punishment, though four of these are in informal oaths that were uttered in the process of testimony and calling for impalement in the oath may be tantamount to admitting that if the testator was lying, he was guilty and would thus be executed. (90) As non royal tombs were plundered and were considered as a part of the tomb robberies investigations, it can be concluded that the robbers of the non royal tombs were also punished by impalement.(91) The study of the tomb robberies shows that the condemnations came from the
knb.t,
(92)
but apparently were referred to the king for a final decision. This is
discernible in many cases, but is most transparent in Papyrus Amherst, where it is stated that the vizier and his commission put the condemnation in writing and sent it to the king for approval.(93) This conclusion of the king had to give the final approval for death penalty can also be traced in the Nauri Decree of Seti I where the false officials, while were judged in front of their local councils (courts) qnbt , the king’s approval to be punished by impalement was necessary.(94)
It is apparent that the penalty of the tomb robbery under the Ramessides was impalement may be as a reaction to the unstable conditions that prevailed towards the end of the 18th Dynasty as apparent through the Decree of Horemheb,(95) who was in many ways a precursor to the Ramesside Period. On the other hand, also, the robbers were acting as obstacles to Maat, who should be faced in the most severe way.
89
Lorton, D., "The Treatment of Criminals in Ancient Egypt", JESHO 20 (1977), p. 32. ibid., pp. 33-6. 91 Capart, J., Gardiner, A. H. and Van de Walle, B., "New Light on the Ramesside Tomb-Robberies," JEA 22 (1936), p. 171. 92 Louire, L., "A Note on Egyptian Law-Courts", JEA 17 (1931), pp. 62-4; McDowell, A. G., Jurisdiction in the Workmen's Community of Deir el-Medina, Leiden, Nederlands, 1990, pp.143-178. 93 Peet, T. E., The Great Tomb Robberies Of The Twentieth Egyptian Dynasty, op. cit., pl. V. 94 McDowell, A. G., "Crimes and Punishment", op. cit., p. 223. 95 Pflüger, K., "The Edict of King Haremhab." JNES 5 (1946), pp. 260-276, pl. i-vi. 90
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Treason:
Treason or conspiracy against the king was a capital offense punishable with death because it was a clear threat for MAat as the king was the mediator who could establish Maat for both the gods and mankind. While treason was considered as the only reason for execution(96) for which there are greatest abundance of evidence from all periods, when examining the data available for the Middle and New Kingdoms, treason does not take such a primary position. Although The Harem Conspiracy was obviously a rebellion against the king in its purest form and a lot of details are preserved in the trial documents connected with the assassination attempt against Ramesses III(97) and “the greatest punishment of death was applied to him” and the mention that , 22 people were executed, almost surely by impalement while there is no reference to implement being used as type of death
penalty although, as suggested, impalement was the favourite method for the capital punishment in the Ramesside Period. The absence of a reference to impalement may be because of the high status of the conspirators, including minor wives, concubines and high officials in the court also may be to avoid political turmoil due to the powerful families of the people involved.(98)
Impalement as an afterlife penalty: One wonders why the Egyptians during the Middle and New Kingdoms used such a cruel method of execution ?
The reason is probably that the impalement, as in other jurisdictions, in addition to the deterrent effect of punishment, It played an important religious role. For the Egyptians, death was a transition from this world into the realm of Underworld. The Ba, his soul, leaves the deceased’s body, which remained in the
96
Lorton, D., "The Treatment of Criminals in Ancient Egypt", JESHO 20 (1977), p. 15-18. Devéria, T., "Le Papyrus judiciaire de Turin et les papyrus Lee et Rollin," Journal Asiatique 10 (1867); Goedicke, H.,"Was Magic Used in the Harem Conspiracy Against Ramesses III?” JEA 49 (1963), pls. X and XI; deBuck, A., "The Judicial Papyrus of Turin," JEA 23, no. 2 (1937), 154. 98 Muhlestein, K., Violence in the Service of Order: The Religious Framework of Sanctioned Killing in Ancient Egypt, op. cit., p. 218. 97
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form of the real, mummified corpse in the tomb or the underworld. For the sake of keeping the identity of the dead and his physical existence in the afterlife, his Ba was free to return each night and reunited with the body.(99) The greatest danger threatening the deceased in the afterlife, was the second death by obliteration of his individual existence. This second death threat in particular the destruction or the capture of Ba and shadows that would be prevented from using, to unite with the body.(100) The ancient Egyptians probably had the idea that killing by spearing the body by the fixed pole, the impalement, not only punish the offender but held at the same time his soul and his shadow to the ground so the Ba and shadow lost the ability to leave the body of the offender, which was a precondition for his afterlife.(101) The criminal purpose of the impalement was clearly not only the killing of the offender, but also the annihilation of his individual existence through capture of his Ba's and its shadow.(102)
Impalement in the funerary literature of the late New Kingdom: The new funerary literature of this period, such as The Book of Gates, The Book of Caverns, The Book of the Night, and other afterlife books, contain a variety of punishments which could be inflicted. (103) Decapitation is well represented in these afterlife books as the preferred type of afterlife punishment, while it is not encountered elsewhere in the Ramesside Period as type of punishment. Decapitation is more attested in other sources from the era immediately preceding the Ramesside epoch, and since many of these new books appear at the beginning of the 19th Dynasty, they may have existed from before this time, or have carried into their composition a history of practices which had largely died out. (104)
99
LA I, col. 553. LA I, col. 255; Hornung, E., Altagyptische Hollenvorstellungen (AbhLeipzig 59, 1968, fascicle 3), p.30. 101 Boochs, W., "Uber den Starfzweck des Pfählens", in GM 69 (1983), p. 8. 102 ibid., p.9. 103 Hornung, E., The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife, op. cit., pp. 91-95, 106-109, and 126128. 104 Muhlestein, K., Violence in the Service of Order: The Religious Framework of Sanctioned Killing in Ancient Egypt, op. cit., p. 232. 100
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An ideological reason existed for doing this. Impalement does not seem to carry the connotations of complete destruction that decapitation and burning did. Since the afterlife books were concerned with depicting complete destruction, they would rely more heavily on punishments which accomplished this purpose than other types of punishment.
Impalement in ancient Assyria: The researcher argues that the use of impalement as a deterrent punishment used against some guilty criminals, rebels or enemies condemned in some crimes was not pure ancient Egyptian tradition but impalement was used in other ancient civilizations. The researcher chose the ancient Assyrian civilization because of the direct and profound contacts between ancient Egypt, especially during the New Kingdom Period, and the ancient Assyrian civilization. Having examples of impalement in the Assyrian Civilization, the researcher had the two sides of the fact: the texts dealing with the act of impalement, like the Egyptian sources, and the pictorial sources depicting the exact meaning of impalement which cannot be found, until now, in the ancient Egyptian sources. The earliest reference to impalement in ancient Assyria is found in the Code of Hammurabi (c. 1700 BC).(105) It says: If a seignoir's wife has brought about the death of her husband because of another man, they shall impale that woman on stakes.(106) With reference to the Code of Hammurabi, Ford considered this as the first documented instance of the crucifixion by impalement of women in antiquity. He said: Crucifixion (impalement) is found in the Code of Hammurabi. The punishment for breaking through a wall in a house was death followed by impalement. Impalement after death reflects the crime; he pierced the wall, so his body is pierced. But another, even grosser punishment is inflicted upon an adulterous woman who instigated the 105
While the earliest documented reference to impalement in ancient Egypt was the Tod Text of Senusert I (1962-1928 BC). 106 Meek, T. J., "The Code Of Hammurabi" in J. B. Pritchard (Ed.), The Ancient Near East: An Anthology Of Texts And Pictures, 1958, Princeton University Press: Princeton (NJ), p. 155.
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death of her husband for the sake of her lover. In Code of Hammurabi, 153 we read: “If a woman has procured the death of her husband on account of another man, they shall impale that woman.”(107) Perhaps one of the best examples of the variation of crucifixion in the form of impaling the enemies108 comes from the times of the Assyrian ruler Shalmaneser III (859 BC - 824 BC). Figures 1 and 2 show people being impaled or suspended by a stake through their private parts and chests, respectively. (Figs. I-II)
It is interesting to note that the example of crucifixion given in early Assyrian times was nothing but impalement. In spite of the evidence of crucifixion by impalement in the Code of Hammurabi and in Assyria, many authors wrongly refer to Herodotus' (5th century BC) writings to claim that the earliest references of crucifixion comes from Persia.(109)
107
Ford, J. M., "The Crucifixion Of Women In Antiquity", Journal Of Higher Criticism, 1996, op. cit., pp. 293-294. 108 In war context similar to the Buhen stela of Nubian war of Akhenaten and the Amada Wall stela of Merenptah. 109 The earliest reference to crucifixion comes from the Code of Hammurabi as we have seen earlier. For those who claim that the earliest evidence of crucifixion comes from Persia see Burke, D. G., "Cross" in G. W. Bromiley (Gen. Ed.), The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 1979 (Fully Revised, Illustrated), Volume I, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company: Grand Rapids (MI), p. 828; "Cross, Crucifixion" in A. C. Myers (Ed.), The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary, 1987, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company: Grand Rapids (MI), p. 246; G. R. Osborne, "Crucifixion" in W. A. Elwell (Gen. Ed.), Encyclopedia Of The Bible, 1988, Volume I, Marshall Pickering: London, p. 555; G. G. O'Collins, "Crucifixion" in D. N. Freedman (Editor-in-Chief), Anchor Bible Dictionary, 1992, Volume I, op. cit., p. 1207.
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Conclusion
There is no representation of impalement in ancient Egyptian pictorial sources and only few examples in texts, mainly from the Middle and New Kingdoms, nevertheless the available textual evidence is strong enough to prove that impalement was an active method of capital punishment in the Middle and new Kingdoms and became popular in the Ramesside period.
With the exception of Senusert I’s Tod inscription and the account of Akhenaten’s Nubian campaign, the practice of impalement is unattested except in the Ramesside period. While it is unlikely that the practice was so narrowly unused prior to Seti I, the trend is so drastic that we must conclude that this form of punishment was relatively inactive except under the Ramessides, for whom it was apparently the punishment may be as a reaction to the unstable conditions that prevailed towards the end of the 18th Dynasty as apparent through the Decree of Horemheb, who was in many ways a precursor to the Ramesside Period. (Figs. 3-4).
Impalement was a deterrent punishment used against some guilty criminals, rebels or enemies condemned in some crimes as desecration of sacred place, hostile or rebellious actions against Egypt, stealing or damaging state or temple proprieties, tomb robberies and treason.
All these crimes represent, theoretically, a chaotic behaviour and an embodiment of the chaos (isft) and because the king was the mediator who should establish Ma at for both the gods and mankind. Because both groups depended on the king's efforts to uphold Ma at, any interference with the king's ability to perform his duties was a crime against the entire cosmos.
The textual evidence designates that rebellion was the overwhelming reason for impalement because rebellion against the king was rebellion against mankind, the gods, the cosmos, and Ma at. So rebellion was an act that thoroughly identified the perpetrator with Isfet, and thus had to be dealt with the most effective and immediate means available to the king.
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Despite the use of Spell 125 of the Book of the Dead, which contains the negative confession where the King denied to kill or ordered someone to be killed, from the reign of King Merenptah on, would seem that the kings felt that it was inappropriate to be kill or to order someone to be killed so they should present as a reasonable justification to use such license or the right of life and death.
The only description of the expression Hr tp xt putting on the stick, or the process of impalement was through the determinative
which shows a
man, on a stick, suspended by the centre of his torso on the point of a pole, the man lies face down so that his arm and legs dangle towards the ground. Death would have been quick if the spike pierced the heart or a major blood vessel. If not, the condemned faced a long, excruciating demise.
The criminal purpose of the impalement was therefore clearly not only the killing of the offender, but also the annihilation of his individual existence through capture of his Ba's and its shadow.
Impalement is not attested as a type of afterlife punishment in the funerary literature, even in those appeared in the Ramesside Period, probably because impalement does not seem to provide the afterlife complete destruction that decapitation and burning did.
Non-afterlife texts, which are heavily skewed towards the juridical side of society and punishment, attest almost exclusively impalement as the type in use for death penalty. The afterlife books attest almost exclusively the method of burning or decapitation. These books may be skewed heavily towards these punishments because of their connotations of complete destruction.
Although impalement is a particularly gruesome and extreme form of execution, the impalement of Nubians and Libyans by Akhenaten and Merenptah served a concrete military goal as a military scare-tactic or 2
"Psychological warfare" as an effort to instill terror into an enemy army by increasing the perceived force of the military, despite their actual strength and also to prevent future incursions or rebellions against the king.
The king had to give the final approval for death penalty, as concluded from Nauri Decree of Seti I and papyri of tomb robberies where the false officials, while were judged in front of their local councils (courts) qnbt, the king’s approval to be punished by impalement was necessary.
Impalement was not an exclusive ancient Egyptian tradition of capital punishment but was used in other ancient civilizations like the ancient Assyrian civilization which provided pictorial representation for the process of impalement.
There is a great deal of literature of the punishment of enemies, law decrees, juridical and court system and criminal law in ancient Egypt. What is missing is an investigation of a specific type of punishment over time and the general tendencies of a defined historical context that we will be able to come to a more firm conclusion regarding any certain type of capital punishment.
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Figures and Plates
(Pl. I) Part of Buhen Stela of Akhenaten mentions impalement of Nubian
Smith, H. S. , The Fortress Of Buhen: The Inscriptions, Forty Eighth Excavation Memoir, Egyptian Exploration Society: London (UK), 1976, pl.29.
(Pl. IV) impalement determinative on Amada stela of Merenptah after Tyldesley, J. A., Judgment of the Pharaoh: Crime and Punishment in Ancient
Egypt, London, 2000, p. 65.
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Fig. 1: Shalmaneser III's campaign in north Syria: town of Dabigu (top), impaled inhabitants of Syrian town (below). Also notice that the inhabitants have been impaled by a stake through their private parts. Pritchard, J. B., The Ancient Near East In Pictures Relating To The Old Testament, 1954, Princeton University Press: Princeton (NJ), No. 362, p. 126 for picture and p. 292 for text.
Fig. 2: Attack of the walls of a town by a seige-engine supported by bowmen protected by shields. The bodies of the three townsmen are impaled outside the wall. Here the stake went through the chest ibid., No. 368, p. 128 for picture and p. 293 for text..
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Fig. 3 Evidences of impalement by dynasty Muhlestein, K., Violence in the Service of Order: The Religious Framework of Sanctioned Killing in Ancient Egypt, PhD dissertation, University of California at Los Angeles, 2003, p. 275, fig. 9.6.
Fig. 4 Evidences of impalement by dynasty as learned from textual sources ibid., p. 276, fig. 9.6 a
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_______, The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife, trans. David Lorton, Cornell University Press, 1999.
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