Abstract
In ancient Egypt, as today, textile a material of importance with a wide range of applications. Next to its use in daily life or as part of the funeral equipment of the deceased, it also played an important part in many temple rituals, often in combination with oils and unguents.
This is for instance the case of the daily temple sanctuary ritual, the ritual of the Opening of the Mouth, performed both on the statues in the temple as on the temple as a whole, or the rite of consecrating the meret-chests. In my paper, I intend to focus on the function of linen in temple rituals of the Ptolemaic and Roman period.
Based on inscriptions and iconography from the temples of Edfu and Dendera, but also taking into account others temples of this period, I will focus on both its religious significance as well as some of the deities connected with it, like Tayt, Hedjhotep, Serket and others.