fl. Twenty-second Dynasty (c. 945–712 B.C.E.)

Chief Dancer of Bastet

Priest and Dancer.

Horihotep lived some time during the Twenty-second Dynasty. Only a small, pyramid-shaped stone, roughly 22 inches tall, that once capped the façade of his tomb, attests to his life. His title, Chief Dancer of Bastet, suggests that this goddess required dance to be part of her regular worship. The title also suggests that male dancers might have had a greater role in temple worship than was obvious from other evidence available for study. The mystery of who Horihotep was and what exactly he did can only be solved with further discoveries of chief dancers of gods.

Sources

Jan Quaegebeur and Agnes Rammant-Peeters, "Pyramidion d'un danseur de Bastet," Studio Paulo Naster Oblata (Leuven, Belgium: Uitgeverij Peeters, 1982): 179–205.