Welcome to an Egyptian history podcast mini episode, The Dances for God, a short tale of some special performers in Egypt and the entertainments of cultured folk.

Our music for this episode is provided by Michael Levy, composer of ancient melodies on recreated instruments, and Keith Ziza, whose music provides much of the background for the podcast.

There is no one who returns from beyond, that he may tell of the deceased state, that he may tell of their lot, that he may set our hearts at ease,

until we make the journey, to the place where they have gone. So rejoice your heart,

absence of worry is good for you. Follow your heart as long as you live, put myrrh on your head,

dress yourself in fine linen, anoint yourself with the exquisite

ointments, the ones which are only for the gods.

The Song of the Harper, New Kingdom

Travel west of modern-day Luxor, Egypt, into the desert foothills, and you will come

to the vast cemeteries of the ancient Theban necropolis.

Here, among sand dunes, cliffs and valleys, lie the hidden tombs of pharaohs and queens,

but also of nobles, artisans, craftsmen, and scribes.

These are the relics of a people whose lives, while harder than our own, were no less

filled with music, celebration, dancing and joy. If you visited Western Thebes around

150 BC, you would have come across a hive of activity. Artisans working day in, day out on dozens of hidden tombs.

They dug secret corridors, carved secluded chambers into the bedrock, and then made way for

the artists and painters who turned dusty holes in the ground into comfortable Peru jet, or

houses for eternity.

These were the eternal residences of men and women who went to their deaths hoping,

praying that the afterlife would provide them with the comforts and joys they had experienced in their own lives.

In that quest, they made sure that any tomb paintings included the things they most desired.

Wealth, sustenance, a home, servants, and especially celebration.

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