Ancient Egypt
Elements of its Cultural History

  by Sjef Willockx

11. Lotus and papyrus in art and architecture: the symbolism involved

As we have seen in the descriptions of the individual lotus species, the Egyptians perceived a variety of aspects in the lotus that linked it with the divine. Its beauty, its purity, and its fragrance all revealed its connection to the world of the gods. Its association with the daily course of the sun served as an affirmation for the Afterlife, the sun god was thought to have emerged from a lotus flower, and there even was a god-of-the-lotus-flower: Nefertem. And yet we should beware against overstressing the symbolic implications of the depictions of lotus flowers that we see in tombs and temples. It is true that tomb reliefs were made at least partly for ritual purposes. For the dead, these reliefs had to perpetuate life in its most intense, most blissful, most perfect manifestation. They were however also quite emphatically meant to be seen by the living, both before and after the funeral (for more on this, see the chapter about Anubis in Three Egyptian Gods: Amentet, Andjety & Anubis, elsewhere on this site). And to the living, these reliefs spoke of life as a wonder, a wonder to celebrate: delighting in its insuppressible resilience, relishing its bubbly buoyancy. Lotus and papyrus, as characteristic elements of Egyptian daily life, could simply not be absent from these depictions. So the pictures of banquets should primarily be understood as snapshots from daily life: when we see a lady sniffing a lotus flower, we’d best regard this as an image of pleasure and joy, not as a pointer towards hope for resurrection.

Likewise, the lotus flowers that are so frequently depicted on the walls of both temples and tombs, decorating heaps of offerings, are just a further embellishment, a devise to add a dimension of beauty to one of affluence.

Although in domestic architecture, elements such as lotiform columns may have had a symbolic or apotropaic (protective) connotation, we can probably safely assume this to have been secondary to esthetic considerations. The gaily painted wooden house models from the Middle Kingdom certainly suggest this. Still, the presence of lotus columns in some Middle Kingdom private tombs may have been prompted by the connection of the lotus to eternal life.

Whether or not a given item is wholly, partially or not at all meant as symbolic is in some cases just not really clear-cut. Our only guides in such matters are our common sense, and our understanding of ancient Egyptian attitudes in general. A thing to consider though, is that the Egyptians themselves were not nearly as mindful of their own culture a the average modern Egyptologist is (and should be).

For most uses of papyrus in the arts, a symbolic implication is even less apparent than for the lotus. On the walls of offering chapels in Old Kingdom mastabas, the scenes of daily life in the Delta literally abound with papyrus. Its depiction there is however purely descriptive, not symbolic. Papyrus was after all a major characteristic of Delta landscapes. In one other area though, an added symbolic component is quite probable: that of the use of papyrus columns in temples.

Papyrus columns come in many types: as bundles of papyrus stems, or as single stem, with capitals in the form of one bud, a group of buds, or an open flower. They may be refined and elegant (Hatshepsut, Tuthmosis III), gigantic and massive (Ramesses II), or downright plump (Ramesses III) - but together they make up more than half of the columns in Egyptian temples.

Lotus columns however never appear in temples*). This can hardly be accidental. In the Visual Story about columns, a theory is put forward to explain the abundant use of papyrus columns in temples. If this theory is correct, it may have reinforced the use of papyrus columns in temples to such an extent, as to virtually inhibit the use of lotus columns.

*): We will shortly see a granite pillar, adorned with the heraldic plant of Upper Egypt in high relief. It stands - together with a pendant piece, carrying a motif of papyrus flowers - in front of the bark shrine at the Amun temple of Karnak. A lotus column however is a column in the form of a bundle of lotus stalks; the pillar at Karnak is neither a column, nor does it have the shape of a bundle of stalks.

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