A lector priest was a priest in

ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

who recited spells and

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' d ...

s during

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

rituals and official ceremonies. Such priests also sold their services to laymen, reciting texts during private

apotropaic Apotropaic magic (From ) or protective magic is a type of magic intended to turn away harm or evil influences, as in deflecting misfortune or averting the evil eye. Apotropaic observances may also be practiced out of superstition or out of tr ...

rituals or at

funerals A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...

.Ritner, Robert Kriech (1993). ''The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice''. pp. 220–222 As such, they were some of the most prominent practitioners of "

magic Magic or magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces ** ''Magick'' (with ''-ck'') can specifically refer to ceremonial magic * Magic (illusion), also known as sta ...

" (''heku'') in ancient Egypt. In

ancient Egyptian literature Ancient Egyptian literature was written with the Egyptian language from ancient Egypt's History of ancient Egypt, pharaonic period until the end of Egypt (Roman province), Roman domination. It represents the oldest Text corpus, corpus of Lite ...

, lector priests are often portrayed as the keepers of secret knowledge and the performers of amazing magical feats.Doxey, Denise, "Priesthood", in Redford, Donald B. (ed) (2001). ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt''. Vol. III, pp. 69–70 The highest-ranking lector priest in a temple, the chief lector priest, managed the temple's archives of ritual texts. The term ''lector priest'' is usually used to translate the

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

title, ''ẖrj-ḥꜣb'' (''kheri-hab''), which literally means "the carrier of the book of ritual".Collier, Mark, and Bill Manley (1998). ''How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs''. p. 33 The term for a chief lector priest, ''ẖrj-ḥꜣb ḥrj-tp'', was so closely associated with magic that, in

Late Egyptian language The Egyptian language, or Ancient Egyptian (; ), is an extinct branch of the Afro-Asiatic languages that was spoken in ancient Egypt. It is known today from a large corpus of surviving texts, which were made accessible to the modern world ...

, the shortened form ''ḥrj-tp'' became a general term for "magician". Lector priests wore a sash across the chest that indicated their position.

References

Ancient Egyptian titles {{AncientEgypt-stub