Egyptology

70 years after the discovery of the famous “Cave of
Swimmers” in the heart of the Libyan Desert by the “English
Patient” László Almásy, only 10 km further west
along the edge of the Gilf Kebir plateau, Massimo and
Jacopo Foggini detected another painted shelter which
– with its exceedingly rich and complex imagery – clearly
surpasses all comparable rock art sites in Egypt, if not
in the entire Sahara. About 8000 single figures, among
them numerous hybrid creatures that inspired its name,
“The Cave of Beasts”, offer unique insights into daily life
and spirituality of a so far unknown past cultural world of
about 8000 years ago and certainly range this shelter
among the most important prehistoric sites of the continent.

In order to make this extraordinary cultural heritage
broadly accessible for scientific studies as well as for the larger public, an interdisciplinary research project was
launched in 2009, financed by the German Research
Council (DFG), which aims at a comprehensive documentation
of the rock art as well as at its placement in
the archaeological context of the surrounding landscape.
In summer 2013, the first of three planned volumes will
be published, presenting on 220 double pages the complete
picture trove of Wadi Sura II in scale 1:2, based on
high resolution digital photography and straightened by
3D laser scanning. The volume will be supplemented by
13 articles dealing with the context of the pictures and
their archaeological setting.

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Malgré le fait que les études archéozoologiques montrent que la chasse n’avait qu’une importance marginale pendant l’époque prédynastique, les scènes de chasse représentent  néanmoins un élément important dans l’iconographie. Aussi bien la chasse dans le milieu nilotique que dans le désert sont représentés. Les scènes de chasse sont à comprendre en parallèle aux scènes de violence militaire et font partie du concept de l’établissement et du maintien de l’ordre sur le chaos. L’iconographie de la a chasse à l’hippopotame se laisse suivre dès le début du Naqada I, jusqu’à la période dynastique, quand elle deviendra partie du symbolisme royal. La chasse dans le désert faisait partie de la manière de vivre de l’élite et permettait celle-ci de se mettre en évidence, dans la vie réelle et dans les représentations visuelles qui de cette façon jouaient un rôle important dans la hiérarchisation sociale et la formation de l’état. 

Although archaeozoological studies show that hunting was only of marginal economic importance during Predynastic times, hunting scenes are nevertheless an important element of the iconography. Both hunting in the Nilotic and the desert environment are represented. The hunting scenes are to be understood in combination with scenes of military violence and are part of the concept of the maintenance of order over chaos. The iconography of hippopotamus hunting can be followed from the early Naqada I period until dynastic times, when it is part of royal symbolism. Desert hunting was part of the elite manner of living and allowed the upper class to show its importance in real life and through visual representations which in this manner became an important element in the development of hierarchic structures and state formation.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities have been collaborating on the Grand Egyptian Museum Joint Conservation Project (GEM-JC), and since 2016 this team carried out the scientific research of the ‘second state chariot’ (JE61990). In the course of the detailed  condition survey of the chariot, localized surface damage from where material had been anciently torn away from the corners and near the rear of the exterior sides of the chariot’s body was observed. Carter’s assistant Arthur Mace had noted this and assumed some metal elements had been wrenched off from these locations. Recently, the late Edwin C. Brock concluded that these remnants were fitting places of the four support poles of the canopy frame hitherto dubbed by Carter as Tutankhamun’s ‘travelling canopy’ (JE60705). Detailed measurements of both the chariot and canopy have now proved Brock’s hypothesis that the two items indeed made a canopied chariot. This paper also presents new discoveries and offers a tentative virtual reconstruction as support for the inclusion of virtual museum displays in galleries.

Shabtis, the small figures from Egyptian tombs which do the unpleasant work in place of the deceased persons in the hereafter, have a special charm because they are funny and often also very beautifully crafted works of art. The introduction gives a brief overview of the typology and dating, including shabtis of famous persons like Tutankhamun, Sety I, Merenptah, Siptah, Juya, Sennedjem. 64 pages with pictures. 3rd edition.
ASIN: ‎ B0B7XYPV18
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0B7XYPV18/

Given the growing awareness of the museum field's foundation in white colonial power, museums have started to take action, utilizing the word "decolonize" to expand community partnerships and removing sculptures that celebrate white domination while reanalyzing their own past/present collection practices. On the surface, public-facing façade, we have seen a movement toward change, with more inclusive language, accessibility, and programming, while acknowledging that our field has much more work ahead.

However, if museums are to truly understand and acknowledge their colonial history and connection, this self-examination must go beyond how they received their collections and explore how they continue to interpret them. This essay examines how museums perpetuate a colonial mindset in interpreting their collections. Specifically, by looking at ancient Egyptian collections, I will examine how museums have participated in creating a Western-based narrative that has appropriated ancient Egyptian history, thereby fragmenting Egyptian history, culture, and identity, and thus creating an incomplete and simplified narrative. The impact of this incomplete and simplified narrative can be seen in the over-valuing of ancient Egypt over modern Egypt, which in turn has real-world implications on tourism and even civic planning.

Colossal stone temples are one of the most immediately recognisable products of ancient Egyptian civilisation: distinctive in appearance, striking in sheer size and impressive in the skill shown in the carving and painting of their walls. This book looks at what is known about Egyptian temples, their chronological development, and the range of different religious structures referred to under the general heading of temples. Different chapters explain, with illustrations, the nature of Egyptian gods and why they needed temples to built for them, what went on within the buildings, and how priests, acting on behalf of the king, served the god on a daily basis and in regular festivals which involved the population as a whole. It explains the underlying ideas which result in Egyptian temples developing such a particular and peculiar appearance and why both architecture and decoration in Egyptian temples reflect different periods of temple building and different types of temple.

(Note: this was my initial inquiry into the interaction sphere of Nubia and Egypt done in 1994 - 1995; see Nubia and Egypt: 10,000 B.C. to 400 A.D. for the updated findings on this topic written in 2012 - 2013.)

The ancient kingdom of the Nubians, located in the area of northern Africa known today as Sudan, was called Kush by the ancient Egyptians: their paths crossed often. 

Through a mediation between the Egyptian dynastic chronology written by Manetho, an Egyptian chronicler of the 3rd century B.C., and more recent information on Nubia in antiquity from the chronologies of Steffen Wenig and Fritz & Ursula Hintze, I intend to develop a rich contextualization of the relations between these ancient empires.

A great deal is known about Egyptian pyramid quarry sites, tools used in their construction, transportation of stones from the quarries to the pyramids, and the leveling of stones. However, there is a dearth of information concerning the process of lifting of the blocks from the ground onto the pyramid’s superstructure. While ramps are the most widely accepted method, it is an incomplete approach because ramping cannot lift the blocks at the top of the pyramid. Most Egyptologists suggest that a form of a levering device should accompany ramps to form an amalgamated method. Unfortunately, there are no experimental tests demonstrating that a levering device, composed of materials and technology available to the pyramid builders, can function to lift a block in the limited space available at the top of the superstructure.
My study involved a levering device designed to work with ramps to construct the top of the pyramid. My objective was to construct and build a working lever, by encasing its design within the framework of technologies and materials available to the ancient xiii Egyptian pyramid builders. Testing this lever entailed the fabrication of many models; tests with weights greater than 5560 pounds; and a large-scale experiment that raised a 2530-pound block up one tier in under a minute.

ABSTRACT: This video re-enactment draws upon preserved late Dynasty 20 papyri and other data regarding robberies of royal tombs in the West Bank of Thebes and the Valley of the Kings, including official accusations of corruption within all levels of society from the pharaoh’s tomb builders (at Deir el-Medina), to other towns persons, the police, officials, priests, and even the mayor of West Thebes.  This documentary response sheet contains a series of sequential questions drawn from the video, TLC: Ancient Egyptians, episode 2: Tomb Robbers (shown in-class; also available online via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAqXqsXcTds [50 minutes]).  These sequential questions aim to maximize both student attention to various pertinent points made throughout the documentary and greater retention of the materials covered by the documentary.  In addition, the documentary has been vetted for overall content accuracy (albeit updated and/or corrected in-class), and selected to provide supplementary visual aids (e.g., images of regions, sites, finds, and other materials; re-enactments), and other data to aid in student comprehension of the course lectures and readings from the textbooks. REVISED: Adding time marker for each question, plus value for reflection question (March 2017).

Textbooks
Quirke, Stephen.  Ancient Egyptian Religion.  London:  British Museum, 1992.
Lichtheim, Miriam, trans.  Ancient Egyptian Literature, vol. 1: the Old and Middle Kingdoms.  Paperback ed.  Berkeley:  University of California Press, 1975.
________.  Ancient Egyptian Literature, vol. 2:  the New Kingdom.  Paperback ed.  Berkeley:  U. of California Press, 1978.

Lectures and readings
Readings are listed before the lecture (and discussion) to which they relate.  Some of the texts in Lichtheim appear more than once, since they are relevant to more than one lecture (e.g., obelisk inscriptions that relate to the cult of Amun and to divine kingship).  Reading ahead, particularly in Ancient Egyptian Religion, may be helpful; note that I have reversed chapters 4 and 5 in the reading list.  The student may wish to read the chapters in the original order, then review Chapter 4 before we talk about magic and medicine.

Examinations (2) will consist of short identifications and a choice of essay questions.

Week 1.  Introduction.  Outline of Egyptian history; Egyptian geography and resources; introducing the gods.  Defining terms:  religion, divinity, monotheism, polytheism, immanence and transcendence, syncretism. 

Readings.  Quirke, Introduction and Chapter 1:  "Power in Heaven."

Week 2.  Temple, town, nome, and nation:  theological geography of ancient Egypt.  Archaeological evidence for prehistoric and early dynastic religion.  The earliest shrines and temples; unification of Egypt.  Development of religious iconography.

Readings.  Quirke, Ch. 2:  "Power on Earth."
Lichtheim, vol. 1, "The Memphite Theology," pp. 51-57.  "A spell from the Coffin Texts," pp.131-133
Lichtheim, vol. 2:  "Two Hymns to the Sun God," by Suti and Hor, pp. 86-89.  "The Destruction of Mankind," pp. 197-199.

Week 3.  Cosmogonies.  Heliopolitan cosmogony; the "Memphite theology"; myth of the destruction of mankind.  Images of creation in temple design.  Ideas of time, eternity, and everlastingness.

Readings.  Quirke, Ch. 3:  "Preserving the Universe."

Week 4.  What is an Egyptian temple?  The temple as the god's earthly mansion, model of the universe, "power station", administrative center.  Daily cult; priestly duties through the day and night; offerings and reversions thereof.  Festivals:  the New Year's Festival, the Beautiful Festival of the Desert Valley, Feast of Lights, Opet Festival, royal jubilee, Sokar festival.

Readings.  Quirke, Ch. 5:  "Surviving Death."
Lichtheim, vol. 1:  Excerpts from the Pyramid Texts, pp. 29-50.
Lichtheim, vol. 2:  "The Prayers of Paheri," pp.15-21.
"A Harper's Song from the Tomb of Neferhotep," pp.115-116.
"From the Book of the Dead," pp. 119-132.

Week 5.  Funerary beliefs.  Osiris and other divine patrons of the necropolis; aspects of the human personality; preservation of the body; judgement of the dead.  Tomb paintings and funerary texts.

Week 6.  Funerary beliefs, part II.  The royal afterlife; the underworld books in the Valley of the Kings.

Readings.  Lichtheim, vol. 1:  "The Instruction of Ptahhotep," pp. 61-80
"The Instruction addressed to King Merikare," pp. 97-109.
Lichtheim, vol. 2:  "Chapter 125:  the Judgement of the Dead," 124-132.
"Instructions," 135-163.

Week 7.  Moral and ethical content of Egyptian religion.  Ma'at (truth, right order, and justice); wisdom literature; the virtuous person.  Personal piety.

Readings.  Lichtheim, vol. 1:  Stelae of Intef, Ikhernofret, and Sehetepibre, pp.120-129.
Lichtheim, vol. 2:  "The Great Hymn to Osiris," pp. 81-86.
"Horus and Seth," pp. 214-223.

Week 8.  Exam (90 min.)  Abydos, a holy city.  Elephantine, a border town:  its temples from the archaic period to Graeco-Roman times.  Memphis, the ancient capital:  temples to Ptah and Hathor; deities of the Memphite necropolis.

Readings.  Lichtheim, vol. 2:  "Obelisk inscriptions of Queen Hatshepsut,"  25-29.  "The Poetical Stela of Thutmose III," 35-39.  "Stela of Amenhotep III," 43-48.  "Three penitential hymns from Deir el-Medina," pp. 104-110.  Prayers to Amun and Amun-Re, pp. 111-112.

Week 9.  The gods of Thebes.  Theban temples:  the Karnak complex, largest religious structure in the world.  Temple of Mut in Asheru.  The "Southern Sanctuary" of Amun at Luxor.  "The West, She-Who-Is-Opposite-Her-Lord."  Deities of the Theban necropolis:  Hathor, Meretseger, Amenhotep I and Queen Ahmose-Nefertari.  Royal mortuary temples of Mentuhotep II, Queen Hatshepsut, Seti I, Ramesses II, and Ramesses III. 

Readings.  Lichtheim, vol. 1:  "The Instruction addressed to King Merikare," 97-109.  "A cycle of hymns to King Sesostris III," 198-201.
Quirke, ch. 3:  "Preserving the universe." 
Lichtheim, vol. 2.  "Inscriptions from royal monuments," 25-78.

Week 10.  Divine kingship.  Old Kingdom:  ruler as incarnation of the sun-god.  Changing views on kingship during the First Intermediate Period and the Middle Kingdom.  Religious restoration under the Thutmosid kings of the New Kingdom.  The son of Amun-Re as warrior, sportsman, and priest.  Amenhotep III and his deification.  Ramesses II; Ramesside cults of royal ancestors.  Decline of royal prestige after the New Kingdom.

Readings.  Lichtheim, vol. 2:  "The later boundary stelae of Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten", pp. 48-51.  "Hymns and prayers from el-Amarna," 89-100.
Quirke on Akhenaten, passim.

Week 11  The Amarna crisis.  Akhenaten's theology:  was the "heretic king" really a heretic?  Was he really a monotheist?  Temples to the Aten; the role of Queen Nefertiti in Amarna theology; Amarna art; private house-shrines; recent discoveries at the workmen's village.

Readings.  Lichtheim, vol. 2:  "Horus and Seth," pp. 214-223. "Hymns, prayers, and a harper's song," pp. 100-116. 

Week 12.  Evolution of solar religion in the New Kingdom.  Ramesside reactions to Amarna theology; personal piety in Ramesside Egypt; religious life in the workmen's village of Deir el-Medina.

Readings:  Quirke, ch. 4, "Preserving life."  Handout:  oracular decisions of Amenhotep I from Deir el-Medina.

Week 13.  Oracles and divination.  Oracles and the king; consultation of oracles by commoners; classical accounts of Egyptian oracles; Ammon of Siwa and Alexander the Great.  Magic and medicine.  Dreams and their interpretation.

Readings.  Quirke, Epilogue:  "Egyptian Deities Abroad."

Week 14.  Egyptian religion and the larger world.  Foreign cults in Egypt and Egyptian gods abroad; Isis and Serapis in the classical world.  Religion in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt; the recluses of the Serapeum and other temples; letters to the gods; Ptolemaic relations with Egyptian priesthoods; the Hermetic tradition.

Week 15.  Final exam (90 min.)  The influence of Egyptian thought on the Old Testament and on Christian iconography and belief.  Renaissance images of Egyptian religion.

The paper discusses a largely unpublished collection of model food offerings from an elite Middle Kingdom tomb at Dayr al-Barshā. Part of this set was found in 1900 and was assigned to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, while the remainder was excavated during the 2017 campaign of KU Leuven. The material contributes to a rare type of model food offering, made in a mix of fragile materials such as clay, linen and plaster, so far attested only at Dayr al-Barshā. The objects are brought together for the first time in this paper, and are discussed within the broader context of model food offerings of the Old and Middle Kingdoms.

_____Full reference: Long, G. (2021). A Well-stocked Kitchen. Model Food Offerings from the Middle Kingdom. In: W. Claes, M. De Meyer, M. Eyckerman & D. Huyge† (eds), Remove that Pyramid! Studies on the Archaeology and History of Predynastic and Pharaonic Egypt in Honour of Stan Hendrickx (OLA 305), Leuven: 759-806.

The terms Dt and nHH have often been treated as synonyms reflecting notions related to the vastness of time. However, from the study of original source material – the texts and iconography compiled over some three millennia, and authored by those who surely had complete understanding of their subject matter – it becomes clear that those modern interpretations are somewhat questionable. Clues to the connotations which may be ascribed to Dt and nHH are perhaps most clearly apparent in texts and imagery from the reign of Tutankhamun – a time of some political upheaval during which it was more than usually important to express traditional mores with some clarity so as to demonstrate a return to the well-established ideology underpinning pharaonic culture prior to the Amarna interlude. Testing those indications against the wider range of extant literary material confirms that Dt and nHH were neither synonyms, nor were they entirely temporal in nature, but rather referenced a duality of ontological conditions which together were fundamental to the fabric of pharaonic ideology. The reappraisal of this duality of conditions allows the many texts and iconographic depictions surviving from dynastic Egypt to be considered from a new perspective – one providing deeper insight into the character of pharaonic culture. Moreover, it becomes apparent that the influences of an ideology which evolved during times pre-dating the pyramid builders permeated the philosophical and theological treaties of the scholars of ancient Greece and Rome, and thence into more recent times. At least two great gods may live on.

An enormous amount of research and the synthesization of historical events and archaeological artifacts has led the author to verify Israelite residence in Egypt from 1876–1446 BC. This research is connected to the unexpected discovery of interconnecting archaeological, epigraphical, and iconographical evidence that attests to the presence of Israelites in Egypt over virtually the entire 430 years. By the sheer volume of verifiable evidence of complementary historical data—when comparing the biblical text and the artifactual and epigraphical record—the author attempts to demonstrate convincingly to objective readers that the biblical story of the Egyptian origins of the Israelite ‘nation’ is reliable as a factual account. Never again will students of the Bible have to listen to uniformed university professors denounce the story of Israelites in Egypt without a ready defense for its validity.

Shabtis, the small figures from Egyptian tombs which do the unpleasant work in place of the deceased persons in the hereafter, have a special charm because they are funny and often also very beautifully crafted works of art. The introduction gives a brief overview of the typology and dating, including shabtis of famous persons like Tutankhamun, Sety I. Merenptah, Siptah, Juya, Sennedjem…

Interpretation of symbols and glyphs found on 1st Dynasty BCE to 18th Century CE artifacts, are a means of tracing the transformational journeys of Bes, the Egypto-Nubian deity. The wanderings, which began in Nubia and Upper Egypt, continued north up the Nile into teeming markets and inns of port cities connected to the sea routes of the Mediterranean and Aegean and by land migrations west to Benin.
Beliefs based upon ancient Pygmy philosophy and tenets were incorporated into Bes as a divine representative. These views were spread by means of reciprocal gift systems, trade, migration and wars. The growing need for an accessible protector, healer and divine intermediary, spanning the distance from the Levant to the western Mediterranean was met by Bes, binding diverse communities into a common front against the external forces of disease and death.
As successive wanderings took place mostly in times of transition and upheaval, cultural contact between dissimilar populations malleably transformed images, names and myths associated with Bes  and Pygmy ancestors. These complex results are comprehensively examined in this paper to help us successfully transition into a new era.

Much may be inferred about item S.8391, a folding cubit rod that belonged to Kha (TT 8, 18 Dyn.), by analyzing the results of the measurement survey conducted in 2011 from the perspective of woodwork.
When Schiaparelli discovered the rod, it was folded inside a leather bag with handles. The extremely rare folding cubit rod was loved by Kha, who was the overseer of works in Deir el-Medina and its related sites, where it was in practical use. This rod folds in half with a simple bronze hinge at the center; there are absolutely no inscriptions. The carved tally marks are only rough divisions into palms and the digits, and compared with other rods, the cubit measure is somewhat long, so the rod’s precision was in doubt. However, a metrological argument concerning the differences in the values of the palms and digits is proposed based on the presumed manner in which the wooden rod was created and actually used.
The rod’s total length is 527.6mm, not greatly different from that reported by Senigalliesi in 1961. The size of each measurement interval, which Senigalliesi did not report, suggests how the rod was made. The tally marks are fine white lines; the left-hand palm is 75mm long, which is the common measurement of one palm, subdivided into four digits that vary little in size. Taking this into account, it is unthinkable that the makers lacked the ability to make tally marks accurately. The variations of values were supposedly caused by the process of creating the hinge. The center interval, including the hinge, is especially small, at (36mm + 36mm =) 72mm. For example, if we assume a play of about 3mm, a commonly used value, the center interval would become (36mm + 36mm) + 3mm = 75mm. The inclination of the lines and the variations in size, shown by arrows in Figure 3, indicates that tally marks were etched in the closed position. S.8391 can also be used as a half-cubit measure in a closed position, and the first palm on the left side can measure digits.
Traces of trial and error in remaking the hinge were found. In this study, I discovered that the clever hinge that makes this cubit rod possible satisfies two contradictory requirements to realize this rare folding rod. The appearance of this folding cubit rod, with no inscriptions and purely functional design, shows that it took incalculable effort to make it a prized instrument for the owner.
( JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 26580024)

"Writing as Material Practice grapples with the issue of writing as a form of material culture in its ancient and more recent manifestations, and in the contexts of production and consumption. Fifteen case studies explore the artefactual nature of writing — the ways in which materials, techniques, colour, scale, orientation and visibility inform the creation of inscribed objects and spaces, as well as structure subsequent engagement, perception and meaning making.

Covering a temporal span of some 5000 years, from c.3200 BCE to the present day, and ranging in spatial context from the Americas to the Near East, the chapters in this volume bring a variety of perspectives which contribute to both specific and broader questions of writing materialities.

The authors also aim to place past graphical systems in their social contexts so they can be understood in relation to the people who created and attributed meaning to writing and associated symbolic modes through a diverse array of individual and wider social practices."