Professor Butter Beard and Re-Harakhty
“Hail to you, Re.
When you set in life.
You have appeared on the west side as Atum in the sunset.
Those in the underworld rejoice,
When they see their lord with broad stride,
Amun-Re lord of mankind.”
- “Song to the Sun,” often inscribed in New Kingdom tombs
Everything is coming up Re.
The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), whose central staircase opens immediately onto a view of the Giza pyramids, held its opening ceremony on November 1st, more than 30 years after plans for the museum were first announced. While some of the museum collection (housed in a building larger than nine football fields) had already been accessible to visitors, the GEM had been waiting to open its crown jewel, The Tutankhamun Gallery, until the official inauguration.
For those who might desire a “just a little somethin’ closer to home,” the Metropolitan Museum of Art just this month also opened their fall blowout show – “Divine Egypt.”
“Each year,” writes Max Hollein, Director of the Met, “we welcome millions of visitors who come to admire and learn more about The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art, one of the most recognizable in the world. ‘Divine Egypt’ arose from this fascination, inviting all of us to challenge our preconceptions about ancient Egyptian religious practice and to consider how this ancient people grappled with life’s challenges and complexities through an intense engagement with the divine.”
And, at the center of it all, is Re.
For the ancient Egyptians, Re (or more commonly named Ra), the sun itself, was central to their belief system and was also the ultimate source of creation. According to Adela Oppenheim, curator of “Divine Egypt,” solar meaning was conveyed through a myriad of iconographic, architectural, and textural references, including perhaps the most resonant Egyptian monuments, pyramids and obelisks.
Re was most frequently joined with the falcon deity Harakhty to form Re-Harakhty, usually translated as “Horus of the Horizon,” but, according to Oppenheim, perhaps more subtly intended to connect Horus to a place of transition. The combination of the god could then be easily equated to the rising sun.
Re-Harakhty is frequently depicted in ancient Egyptian relief and painting, generally with a male human body, a falcon head, and a sun disk head ornament that is sometimes encircled by a cobra. The solar disk, the most common symbol associated with all aspects of ancient Egyptian cults of the sun, was naturally incorporated into the head ornaments of a deity (and later adopted by Christians to signify their holiest beings).
It has been commonly suggested by art historians that Re-Harakhty simply refers to the sun's journey from horizon to horizon as Re, or that it means to show Re as a symbolic deity of hope and rebirth. Multiple solar barques (boats) are depicted on Egyptian burial chambers carrying manifestations of Re on his perilous day and night journeys which involved the navigation of waterways, towing across sandy environments and occasionally even entering the body of a serpent.
A multitude of other deities accompany Re on his voyages, along with divine companions who embody essential Egyptian concepts, all working together to overcome the hostile forces threatening their joint mission of sunrise and sunset. Kings and nonroyal individuals who hope to join the sun god after death are sometimes also depicted offering gifts, prayers or just an encouraging look towards the goal line.
One of my favorite pieces in the exhibition is this stela – a standing stone slab used in the ancient world primarily as a grave marker but also for dedication, commemoration, and demarcation. This stela is one of four found near the doorway of a brick chapel built during the 22nd Dynasty (c. 800 BCE) in the courtyard of a usurped tomb of Dynasty 11. According to the exhibition curators, the painted panels belong to family members and associates of a wab (purification) priest named Siah.
Painted in green, red, yellow and black on a white ground, Djedbastet, son of Penby, raises his arms in adoration before the falcon-headed Re-Harakhty. The inscription identifies Djedbastet as a wab priest of Amun and a Scribe of the [House of the] Divine Votaress of Amun. Unfortunately, Djedbastet's relationship with the Siah family is not made clear in any found records to date.
Earlier this week, when one of my youngest friends asked to see what I was writing about for Prof BB, my entire soul smiled when I heard, “Dad, look! Michael’s Bird-Man has a peanut butter cookie on his head. Can you get Michael to bake some?”
Mission accomplished, my young explorer-in-the-making. To bring them up to be “worthy of the Divine,” I incorporated the sunrise warmth of Chinese Five Spice and the sunset glow of orange zest. This recipe creates a bounteous basket of cookies, hopefully enough to inspire Re to reward us all with another glorious sunrise.
Professor Butter Beard’s Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies
5 Dozen Cookies
2 cups chopped peanuts, toasted with 1 tsp Kosher salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp Kosher salt
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp Chinese Five-Spice Powder
1 cups dark brown sugar
Zest of one orange
16 Tbsp (two sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup smooth peanut butter
4 Tbsp honey
2 whole eggs and 2 additional egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla paste
Garnish: additional Kosher salt
1) In a cast iron pan, toast the chopped peanuts with the salt, tossing often, until peanuts are shiny and aromatic. Set aside to cool.
2) In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda and Chinese Five-Spice.
3) In a standing mixer with the paddle attachment, mix together the brown sugar and orange zest until evenly distributed. Scrape the sides of the bowl. Add the butter, peanut butter and honey. Mix until smooth. Add the honey, eggs, additional yolks and vanilla paste. Mix until smooth again, stopping often to scrape the sides of the bowl.
4) Add the dry ingredients and mix into a dough. Add the cooled peanuts and mix to incorporate evenly.
5) Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a cookie scoop, portion the dough into 5 dozen balls. Chill on the sheet in the refrigerator for at least one hour.
6) When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper. Evenly place 16 cookies on the first sheet, make classic indentations with a fork, and then bake for 7 minutes, rotate the pan and bake for 4 minutes more – just until the edges are beginning to brown.
7) Remove the pan and sprinkle the tops of the cookies with additional Kosher salt while still hot. Let the cookies cool on the sheet for 5-7 minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.
8) Let the oven come back up to temperature before baking the second sheet.
