The Egyptian sacerdotal order was very large, strongly hierarchical and divided according to the duties; there were, for example, “the priests of the dead”, priests who cared for the offers, for the mummification, for the funerals.
The cleargy was formed by “prophets” who had the highest hierarchical position, priests directly depending on the prophets, “orari” and priestesses.
The Egyptian called the prophets Itu Neter (divine fathers) or hemu neter (the god’s servants).
These prophets formed a hyerarchy at the head of which there was the great priest or the first prophet.
Anyway the clergy of some gods were instead directed by a “pontiff” (a title that went back to older epochs); so Aton’s great clairvoyant, at the head of Aton’s cleargy and the “Great Teacher” of the art (Ur Kherp hemat) was the first prophet in Ptah’s temple in Menfi. Representative of the pharaoh in the temple, the pontiff was in theory nominated by the god’s oracle but, actually, the sovereign chose him. The choiche could be a priest of the same god, of another divinity, or on a laic, member of the group of high functionaries of the court or on the chief-militaries. It was the pontiff who performed the ritual ceremonies in the sovereign’s name and it was he who practiced the “longa manus” on the administration o the properties of the temple. In case he had to leave, he entrusted his religious duties to the second prophet, who also cared about the administrative duties, such as the receiving of the foreign tributes the pharaoh gave to the temple and the administration of the funds and of the active laboratories.
The second prophet was helped by a third and by a fourth prophet and by simple prophets.
In the low clergy are included priests with various duties. Among these the “pure ones” (Uebu, singular ueb) were in charge of the maintenance of the objects, they kept the temples clean with sprinkling and they put make-up and dressed the god’s statue before the sacred ceremonies. For the processions they carried on their shoulders the god’s statue or the boat that held it. At the top of their hyerarchy there was the high priest Uebu or great priest Ueb who cared for the daily cult of the divinity to whom he was consecrated.
Some sacerdotal orders, as Osiride’s one in Abido, didn’t include the prophets and were directed by a great Ueb. The Uebu often had also civil duties.
The “reader priests” (Deriu-hebet) had the duty to organize the ceremonies according to the rituals and to recite with a loud voice the sacred hymns during the celebrations.
To them particularly the Egyptians attributed magic powers, exactly for their knowledge of the ritual formulas. The read priests were directed by a master, heri tep.
The “watch priests” were in charge of determining the time of the ceremonies through the observation of the diurnal run of the sun and of the night parabola of the stars.
The “horoscope priests” instead had the task of individuating, with astrological methods the good and bad days of the year.
The last category of priests was the one of the imiu-set of which almost nothing is known but it seems they were in charge of all the manual works required by the temple and manual works required by the temple and they must have been very similar to our labor-men.
All the members of the low clergy, as the ordinary prophets, were divided in four tribes that assumed for a month each in turn, the religious duties, living for the rest of the time in their own houses as laics, from whom they didn’t diffes for no particular duty.
It’s appropriate to not confuse them with the actual laics, who were called “orari” (unut) with no doubt because originally they were in service in the temple for an hour a day.
They were simple believers who lived outside the temple walls and entered only for their service.
In the Ancient Reign their role must have been very important, but only because the clergy wasn’t yet wall organized and regulated. During the middle reign, the “orari” priests are barely mentioned and in the new reign they aren’t mentioned at all.
Their duties, originally important, were later only simple manual tasks. Among the priests of the low clergy, we must remember also the musicians and the singers, who were generally blind, which is comprehensible in a society where each one had his own function and in which a blind man could hardly find means of support besides music.
The female staff in the temple was in theory directed by the queen, qho was the dynastic god’s bride.
In the low epoch, Ammone’s divine worshipper will substitute definitely the queen and will command, at least in theory, the teban clergy. The uebuit, women who lived in the temples, formed an actual female clergy. They were divided in tribes like the priests, they were in turn, in service for a month at a time and they appeared in the processions and in the pubblic ceremonies.
Next to these priestesses there were musicians, singers and dancers who had duties in the sanctuaries, but they were laics who were in service only for the ceremonies of the cult.
In the Ancient Reign, the priests didn’t differ from the laics concerning the clothing. In the following epochs instead, they continued to wear the thong, as if to emphasize their attachment to their archaic customs and their contempt for the styles of the moment that, at least, during their sacred duties, they loathed.
When they officiated, they always wore the leopard skin, symbol of their sacerdotal dignity.
Moreover they had to shave their head, be circumcised, purified and follow various alimentary and ritual prescriptions.