Anointing

====Egypt====
[[File:Ancient Egyptian King.jpg|thumb|Anointing of Pharaoh in [[Ancient Egypt]]]] According to scholars belonging to the early part of the twentieth century (Wilhelm Spiegelberg,<ref>1 W. Spiegelberg, "Die Symbolik des Salbens im A.gyptischen," Recueil de travaux relatifs... (RT) 28 (1906): 184-85</ref> Bonnet,<ref>10 H. Bonnet, Reallexikon der dgyptischen Reli gionsgeschichte (Berlin, 1952</ref> Cothenet,<ref>" E. Cothenet, "Onction," in L. Pirot, A. Robert, H. Cazelles, eds., Dictionnaire de la Bible, Suppld ment, vol. 6 (Paris, 1960</ref> Kutsch,<ref>12 E. Kutsch, Salbung als Rechtsakt (Berlin, 1963), pp.</ref> Martin-Pardey<ref>13 E. Martin-Pardey, "Salbung," LA, vol. 5, cols. 367-69</ref>) officials of ancient Egypt were anointed as part of a ceremony that installed them into office. This assumption has been questioned by scholars like Stephen Thompson, who doubt such anointing ever existed:
"After a review of the evidence for the anointing of officials in ancient Egypt as a part of their induction into office, I must conclude that there is no evidence that such a ceremony was ever practiced in ancient Egypt. Attempts to trace the origin of the Hebrew practice of anointing kings to an Egyptian source are misdirected. The only definite case in which an Egyptian king anointed one of his officials is that of EA 51. In this instance, it is probable that Thutmosis III was engaging in a custom common among Asiatics, rather than that he was introducing an Egyptian custom into Syria-Palestine"
<ref name="thompson-egypt">{{cite journal |last1=Thompson |first1=Stephen E. |title=he Anointing of Officials in Ancient Egypt |journal=Journal of Near Eastern Studies |date=1994 |volume=53 |issue=1 |page=25 |doi=10.1086/373652 |jstor=545354 |s2cid=162870303 }}</ref>

Anointment of the corpse with scented oils was however a well attested practice as an important part of [[mummification]].<ref name="mccreesh-ritualAnointing">{{cite thesis |type=PhD |last1=McCreesh |first1=N.C. |title=Ritual anointing: analyses of hair and coffin coatings in ancient Egypt |date=2009 |website=The University of Manchester Library |url=https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/uk-ac-man-scw:161030 |access-date=1 February 2019}}</ref>
<!-- In inscriptions from [[Ancient Egypt]], especially from the [[New Kingdom]] onward, anointing is often depicted in intimate scenes between husband and wife, where the wife is shown anointing her spouse as a sign of affection. The most famous example of this is on the [[throne]] of [[Tutankhamun]]. This appears to be taken from this non-academic source: https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0738751731 {{citation needed|date=June 2015}} -->