The Rituals of Love in Ancient Egypt: Festival Songs of the Eighteenth Dynasty and the Ramesside Love Poetry

Ancient Egyptian love poetry from the Ramesside Period, set against festival and religious imagery, reveals a rich tapestry of human affection intertwined with divine rituals. This corpus, with its bucolic and marshy settings, suggests that romantic and even orgiastic elements were integral to certain New Kingdom Theban celebrations. Parallels between these texts and those celebrating divine love hint at a shared performance template, potentially offering insight into the context of the Song of Songs in the Old Testament. The study draws on Eighteenth Dynasty festival songs from Theban tombs, which depict mortal love within the framework of godly festivities involving ritual drunkenness, providing a comparative lens to understand the evolution and cultural significance of these poetic traditions.

Darnell, J. C. (2016). The Rituals of Love in Ancient Egypt: Festival Songs of the Eighteenth Dynasty and the Ramesside Love Poetry. Die Welt Des Orients, 46(1), 22–61. https://doi.org/10.13109/wdor.2016.46.1.22