English (United Kingdom) 
Russian (Russia) Among the royal festivals, the central place was taken by Heb Sed (Hb-sd, ‘Sed Festival’, also called ‘jubilee’). Every king coming to the throne was perceived as an earthly embodiment of god Horus. Heb Sed was established to renovate the royal power and authority; according the idea, Sed was to be celebrated in the 30th year of a reign, and then every three or four years. In reality, it was not rare, when the festival was celebrated a bit earlier the estimated time and was held in a symbolical form, and rulers only performed ceremonies as a depiction, not taking part in them in body. In the course of Heb Sed, the king was identified as Osiris passing the steps of his death and resurrection and, finally, giving his throne to his son Horus.
It is known that the festival has been celebrated since the predynastic period till the Ptolemaic epoch. There were two periods in the establishing of the Heb Sed programme: the Early Kingdom (I-II dynasties), the time of shaping the state — and the Old Kingdom (iii-VI dynasties), the epoch of centralization of the power and of the economical and cultural flourishing of the land. Those times, monuments providing us important sources of information on the Heb Sed programme were executed. Interpretation of the depiction of the festival is still an object of discussions in professional literature. It is particularly noteworthy for the scenes from the temple of Osorkon II in Bubastis (XXII dynasty). In general, there were the following episodes in the Heb Sed programme: coming of gods’ statue by a barque for participation in the festival, coming of the king in a barque to the temple for visiting the sanctuaries of gods, ritual purification of the king, ritual running of the king, ceremonies of the funeral cult held in closed sanctuaries, setting the pylon djed, coronation of the king, shooting four arrows to the four corners of the world.
In the pyramidal complex of Djoser (III dynasty) they made an ensemble of buildings for the festival; they were located around the open wsxt-yards and performed in a symbolical way various palace constructions, where the rule could hold rituals connected with the royal cult. In the space of the Heb Sed yard, there were from 25 to 30 sanctuaries of the South and the North; there were, perhaps, statues of gods inside. On the walls of the corridors under the Djoser Pyramis, there are depictions of the ruler running in the course of the Sed festival. It was a key ritual of the festival; it served a manifestation of the renewed power of the king and his ability ro provide flourishing and well-been to the country. The runner was, most likely, not the king himself, but one of the performers of the ritual. It is also possible, that there was no running at all and only a depiction was made as a formula of restoration the power of the king and hia authority over his subjects. In the Heb Sed scenes of Hatshepsut from the Red Chapel in Karnak (XVIII dynasty) it is seen, that the ox of Apis could be presented at the running ceremony —the ox embodied the concept of fertility, life-giving force which could be passed from him to the king. That rite was connected to the ceremony of ‘Fruiting of the Field’ meaning the renewal of the life-giving forces of the soil.
The main events of the festival took place in the space of and open yard, where a double kiosk with Heb Sed statues of the king were set; they performed the ruler as a swaddled figure, sitting on the throne, with a crown on his head. It was an image of the king as a dead ruler who bequeathed the power to himself. The disposition of statues inside the kiosk was following: the statue in the crown of Upper Egypt faced to the front stairs, the statue in the crown of Lower Egypt — to the back stairs. They kept either attributes of power (staff and whip), or a palm bow in their hands; it symbolized long years of the reign. The ritual running took place before those statues, meaning the acceptance of himself as his own dead predecessor by the king. In the conclusion of Heb Sed, perhaps, there were ceremonies of setting the pylon djed, coronation of the ruler, and shooting the arrows. The meaning of those ceremonies were in the assertion of authority of the king, resurrected as Osiris (setting the pylon djed, a symbol of the spine of Osiris) and came to the throne as Horus (coronation rite), able to rule the land and to protect it from enemies (the rite of shooting the arrows).
The Heb Sed kiosk of Senusert III (XII dynasty; Cairo Museum) (drawing by Daniel O. McClellan) (прорисовка Daniel O. McClellan)
Bibliography
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Matie M.E. Heb-sed: iz istorii drevneegipetskoi religii (Heb Sed: from the history of Ancient Egyptian religion) // Vestnik drevnei istorii. 1956. Iss 3. P. 7–28.
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Barta W. Die Sedfest-Darstellung Osorkons II. im Tempel von Bubastis // SAK. 1978. Bd. 6. S. 25–42.
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Bonhême M.-A. , Forgeau A. Pharaon: les secrets du pouvoir. P., 1988.
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Hornung E., Staehelin E. Neue Studien zum Sedfest (Aegyptiaca Helvetica, 20). Basel, 2006.
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Uphill E. The Egyptian Sed-festival Rites // JNES. 1965. Vol. 24. P. 365–383.
Tags: Ancient Egypt, Alexandra V. Mironova, Articles, Festivals