Who was Sameref?

inboundbird

Very widespread theory in Hungary that the source of tarot is Egypt. According to this idea some papyrus or stone tables are found in a Egyptian tomb of a priestess called Sameref. I would like to ask the readers of this forum to share any information or thoughts about this topic. I have the following informations (mainly from the Tarot book of Fatima Kazanlar, who is the daugther of Dr. Emil Kazanar, the author of Kazanlar Tarot):

- Sameref was an Isis priestess
- she has been buried at 30-40 BC in the Velley of The Kings, in Egypt
- her tomb was revelaed in the XVIII. century
- the artefacts were delivered to Paris, and bought by Antoine Cour de Gebelin
- today the artefacts can be seen in a museum in Paris
(i think in "Musée national des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie" or in a similar one)
- also i found the name "Sameref" in second card of "Tarot de la Transicion" deck
(http://carrodetriunfo.blogspot.com/2010/10/tarot-de-la-transicion.html)

Thanks for anyone who write here or try to look after.
 

Bernice

Hello inboudbird,

First let me Welcome you to the forum :)


The only connection between cards and Egypt that I know of is the 52 card Mamluk deck which found it's way to the continent.

The 'courts' (which wern't courts as we know them) were subsequently altered and then later attached to Trump images which were separately created. This very first 78 card deck is known as the Viconti-Sforza.

There have been many attempts to 'discover' a link with ancient Egypt, but it seems more likely that the link may be be with ancient China, minus the trump cards.


Bee :)
 

inboundbird

Thanks for the informations. I didn't know that Malmuk deck may has African roots. The Chinese origin also very interesting - t think it is not impossible. I like to read more about this.

However i also would like to know anything about this "Sameref Tomb". Is it a total speculation? Is there any artifact exists? I tried to search on Internet, but without valuable result (I got many hit to Sameref from Egyptian Book of Death, but that is a different thing). I thought maybe somebody, a forum reader living is Paris and already saw something in museums, or so :)
 

Bernice

inboudbird :)

There are many discussions here about the mamluk cards, here are just four threads that came up when I searched for "mamluk";

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=124128&highlight=mamluk

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=109344&highlight=mamluk

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=96758&highlight=mamluk

Discussion about Mamluk Images here.
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=14201&highlight=mamluk

Please feel free to post to any of them - they arn't 'dead', just waiting for someone to contribute to them :)


However i also would like to know anything about this "Sameref Tomb".

Unfortunately I know nothing of it, but other members might! So I hope they will post here with their assessment.



Bee :)
 

numerology4U

egyptian priestess

Sameref was not the name of a person or a special person...
it was a priestess or better a kind of ministrant called SAMEREF working in funeral ceremonies...especially in a ceremonie that was called "book of opening the mouth" the main priest was called: Kher-heb, the asisstant priestess Sameref, Sem, Smer, Am-as, Am-khent, and the assistants called Mesentiu.
So this ceremonies first took place in the pyramid times that means more than 1000 years earlier than the grave in the kings valley... so the grave was from a Sameref priestess but not from a special person named sameref :)

Andreas
 

Teheuti

A priest called Sameref is mentioned in E.A. Wallis Budge's translation of the Egyptian Book of the Dead (Coming Forth by Day):

http://www.scribd.com/doc/55210206/9/THE-PRIESTS-ANMUTEF-AND-SAMEREF

This may be where the idea came from.

No one has ever been able to find a shred of actual evidence for ancient Egypt as the source of the Tarot. The Mameluk (Muslim) playing cards are probably based on earlier Persian ones, which were probably based on Chinese and/or Indian cards.

While there are some interesting 'archetypal' links to Egyptian imagery, similar links can be made to many other cultures.

Here's of my favorite images from the healing site of Kom Ombo. It is uncannily like the World card with Ma'at surrounded by the four winged figures representing the four fixed signs/directions/elmements/etc.

komombo.jpg
 

inboundbird

This picture is very beautyful. Ma'at examined the heart of the individuals, and allowed only the pure hearted persons to enter into the ethernal world. In this context (as a happy end :) she could be the main figure on the XXI. card.

I also not found any profound article about Sameref yet. Sameref was a priest in the 3rd dynasty also. Later his name introdured into the Book of Death.

Also according to this wikipedia article, the Valley of The Kings is used for burying between 16th to 11th century BC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_of_the_Kings), and not between 40-30 BC.

However the first mentioned tarot deck (Tarot of Transition) is interesting, because the second card shows a woman called Sameref. Where these pictures and labels are comeing from? Is anybody have this deck? The box should contain a small booklet as i think ... may be some information are in this booklet. Also i don't know who was the author of these cards. Any info?
 

numerology4U

the author is C.Mundi
published 1983 by Königsfurt Urania but not available anymore
you can find used decks on Amazon.com
Andreas
 

Teheuti

The US Games edition of this deck and its booklet has no mention of the artist, nor anything about the Priestess Sameref other than a general High Priestess interpretation.