In dancing in honour of their gods and goddesses, therefore, the Egyptians were employing a method of honouring which they imitated from the gods themselves; and this seems to have been the case, at one time or other, of their religious history, with most, if not all, races, so far as the evidence enables us to judge.
As to processional dances Blackman says that
there is some reason for supposing that at Thebes and elsewhere, on the occasion of the annual festival of Ḥatḥor, that goddess’s priestesses, when the temple service and the subsequent procession were ended, paraded the streets, and, in company with the Iḥwy-priests, stopped at one house after another in order to bestow Ḥatḥor’s blessing upon the inmates. This they did by dancing and singing and holding out to their audience—perhaps that they might touch them—the emblems of their goddess, the sistra and mnit-necklaces[66].
Again, according to Apuleius, there was a sacred dance in connexion with the worship of Isis. On stated days there was a great procession held in honour of this goddess which went through the streets of the city; the column was headed by a band of dancing masqueraders. He describes this procession of the Isidis Navigium minutely; among other details he mentions that in one part of it there were musicians, playing on pipes and flutes, followed by a chorus of chosen youths, clad in snowy white garments; behind them came more musicians playing on pipes, and many other men jingling on bronze, silver, and even golden sistra[67].
Another kind of procession, namely of barges, in which dancing also took place, is described by Herodotus in speaking of the religious festivals of the Egyptians. He says:
Now, when they are being conveyed to the city of Bubastis, they act as follows,—men and women embark together, great numbers of both sexes in every barge; some of the women have castanets which they play, and the men play on the flute during the whole journey; the rest of the men and women sing and clap their hands together at the same time. When in the course of their passage they come to any town, they lay their barge near to the land and do as follows, some of the women do as I have described ... some dance, and others stand up and pull up their clothes. This they do at every town by the river-side[68].
Mention may be here appropriately made of a kind of ritual dance, though not processional in the strict sense, which seems to be represented by a scene very often portrayed on the doors of Egyptian temples. Here the king is seen hastening towards the deity while performing a curious dance-like running step in which only the fore-part of the foot touches the ground. Kees has shown that this frequently occurring representation on Egyptian temple-doors does in fact record a ritual dance in honour of the god which was performed by the king when making his offerings[69].
Other types of the sacred dance among the Egyptians will come before us later. It may be remarked here, however, that, in regard to the sacred dance in general, it was, in the more ancient periods, of a staid and measured character, if we may judge from the inscriptions. From the time of the new empire onwards it assumed a form more like that of modern times. As to the apparel worn for the sacred dance and the mode of its performance, what held good of dancing in general applies also to this, as may be gathered, again, from the inscriptions. In most representations the women, like the men, wear quite short tunics, the former being decked with all kinds of ornaments; sometimes long transparent robes are worn, but this is exceptional. The women hold tambourines which they strike with the open palm, others have castanets which they click. Mostly they appear whirling about, evidently in quick time. The representations show that there was much bending and other movements of body and limbs[70].
V
Among the Greeks dancing has from the earliest times been associated with gods and goddesses. Thus, for example, Apollo, Ares, Dionysos, Pan, are all described as dancers. Artemis dances with her companions, and even Zeus and Hera do not disdain it. The “Pyrrhic Dance[71],” accompanied by flute-players, which was performed during the festival of Panathenaia[72], was said by some to be have been invented by the Dioscuri[73], according to others it was originated by Athena. The Muses danced on the Helicon around the altar of Zeus[74]. In the train of Dionysos were the satyrs with their special dance, the Sicinnis[75].