The author of the article studies the symbolic meaning of dancing women in the rituals of the ancient Egyptian feast of Opet in the epoch of Khatshepsut (1490-1468 B.C.). Studies heve shown that the image of a female dancer is apparently connected with the motif of the birth and renewal of the Sun and the deceased, with the fruit-bearing forces of nature, with the process of breathing. At the time of Opet the dancing women performed also the function of protecting the pharaoh and god Amon-Rah from evil forces. The objects of the analysis are the reliefs of the Red chapel of Khatshepsut, the reliefs of the Kheruf tumb and the monuments of small plastic arts (a toilet little spoon "female bather" at the A.S. Pushkin Moscow State Museum of fi ne arts and a mirror at the Brooklyn museum).