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why the ritual can be considered to be part of the royal cult. This guaranteed the Roman emperor’s
ability to rule as a pharaoh. This can therefore be seen as a way for the Roman emperor to
religiously legitimise his rule. He does this by performing the relevant rituals, shown in the ritual
scenes such as the pole-raising scenes for Min. He proves with this that, despite not being
Egyptian, he was the high priest able to sustain order (maat) and protect the people of Egypt as
their pharaoh (de Meyer and Minas-Nerpel 20013, 153-154).
The eastern exterior wall
In the scene on the eastern wall Min is associated with fertility. This scene depicts Claudius offers
lettuce to Min and Harpokrates (the Child god Horus), seen in figure 7. The king seems to be
wearing the Nemes headdress. Behind Min the cult chapel and the pole crowned by horns can be
seen, identical to the scene of the raising-of-the-pole scene on the west wall. Where on the west
wall the pole climbers are shown, the child god Horus is shown in this scene. The texts
accompanying this scene also dominantly describe the theme of fertility (de Meyer and Minas-
Nerpel 2013, 156-157).
The explicit connection between lettuce and the raising of the pole ritual however can only be
seen in one other instance, at Dendera. The two scenes together bring out two aspects most
important to the royal ideology: fertility and victorious power (de Meyer and Minas-Nerpel 2013,
157).
Fig. 43 Sketch of scene on east wall king giving lettuce to Min
Fig. 44 Sketch of scene on east wall king facing Isis
(de Meyer and Minas-Nerpel 2013, TAFEL XXIII)
(de Meyer and Minas-Nerpel 2013, TAFEL XXIII)