posted
Lot of misleading wording in this treatment of "slaves" in the ancient Nile, almost trying to equate it to more modern systems of slavery. But the most interesting thing is how they claim to identify mitanni slaves in the tomb art because they are not easily distinguished from native Nile dwellers.
quote: The early to mid-Eighteenth Dynasty can be considered a transformational moment in Egypt’s social history. The first true northern empire was forged gradually over the course of a century first through the vengeful conquests of Ahmose, then through the ambitious and exploratory expeditions of Thutmose I, and finally via Thutmose III’s relentless annual campaigning. The last stage, perhaps already anticipated during the joint reign with Hatshepsut, 1 took place over the better part of two decades in the middle of the fifteenth century and occasioned such an influx of prisoners of war that the citizens of the imperial center at Thebes found themselves surrounded by foreign slaves.
Prior to the New Kingdom, slavery and systems closely akin to slavery were known in Egypt. As in most state societies, there were people who worked plots of land that they did not own but who were effectively tied to the land and were transferred along with it in royal donations or private wills. Such serfdom is not slavery per se, but inasmuch as it renders vulnerable individuals into transferable belongings, it comes close. Corvée labor is also not slavery exactly. Yet when the penalty for choosing not to participate in an assigned public work project was the permanent loss of one’s own freedom and the enslavement of one’s family, the differences seem mostly temporal. True slaves in Old and Middle Kingdom Egypt appear to have consisted in the main of tax-evaders, their unlucky families, and a motley assortment of those found deserving of punishment or irrecoverably in debt.
quote:The men under consideration are recognizable above all by their hairstyle, which usually begins at the midsection of the head and virtually always falls sloppily down around the nape of the neck. Where preserved the hair color is either blond or black. In addition to their unusual coiffure, these men may be distinguished by one or more of the following mostly un-Egyptian features: namely, a small tuft of hair protruding at the front of the head, a thin beard extending from the chin, and a particularly curvaceous manifestation of stomach fat, which swoops down over the belt in a manner previously restricted almost solely to fertility gods and the occasional overindulgent musician. As stated, these men are at their most recognizable — with half-shaved head combined regularly with beard and occasionally also with tuft and voluminous belly — in the tombs of Hatshepsut’s officials, particularly those of Puiemra, Senemiah, Amenemhat (TT 53), and Nebamun (TT 145) (figs. 15.1–4, 15.11, 15.14). Paheri’s tomb, which appears to date slightly later, also possesses figures that incorporate most of these features (figs. 15.5, 15.6, 15.12).
I have only seen two reproductions of Mitanni prisoners from the Amarna period. One with Akhenaten about to smite white, blonde haired Mitanni men and his wife Nefertiti doing the same with Mitanni blonde Mitanni women.
Posts: 26280 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Djehuti: I have only seen two reproductions of Mitanni prisoners from the Amarna period. One with Akhenaten about to smite white, blonde haired Mitanni men and his wife Nefertiti doing the same with Mitanni blonde Mitanni women.
Doug posted an article link with many pictures of what the author thinks are Mitanni, if not foreigners of some type (which Doug questions)
quote:Originally posted by Djehuti: I have only seen two reproductions of Mitanni prisoners from the Amarna period. One with Akhenaten about to smite white, blonde haired Mitanni men and his wife Nefertiti doing the same with Mitanni blonde Mitanni women.
I don't there there are reproductions of any king or queen smiting blonde haired people, I think you are mistaken
Posts: 42935 | From: , | Registered: Jan 2010
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quote:Originally posted by Doug M: Lot of misleading wording in this treatment of "slaves" in the ancient Nile, almost trying to equate it to more modern systems of slavery. But the most interesting thing is how they claim to identify mitanni slaves in the tomb art because they are not easily distinguished from native Nile dwellers.
quote: The early to mid-Eighteenth Dynasty can be considered a transformational moment in Egypt’s social history. The first true northern empire was forged gradually over the course of a century first through the vengeful conquests of Ahmose, then through the ambitious and exploratory expeditions of Thutmose I, and finally via Thutmose III’s relentless annual campaigning. The last stage, perhaps already anticipated during the joint reign with Hatshepsut, 1 took place over the better part of two decades in the middle of the fifteenth century and occasioned such an influx of prisoners of war that the citizens of the imperial center at Thebes found themselves surrounded by foreign slaves.
Prior to the New Kingdom, slavery and systems closely akin to slavery were known in Egypt. As in most state societies, there were people who worked plots of land that they did not own but who were effectively tied to the land and were transferred along with it in royal donations or private wills. Such serfdom is not slavery per se, but inasmuch as it renders vulnerable individuals into transferable belongings, it comes close. Corvée labor is also not slavery exactly. Yet when the penalty for choosing not to participate in an assigned public work project was the permanent loss of one’s own freedom and the enslavement of one’s family, the differences seem mostly temporal. True slaves in Old and Middle Kingdom Egypt appear to have consisted in the main of tax-evaders, their unlucky families, and a motley assortment of those found deserving of punishment or irrecoverably in debt.
you say: "Lot of misleading wording in this treatment of "slaves" in the ancient Nile, almost trying to equate it to more modern systems of slavery. "
yet looking at your quote that is supposed to support this by being an example of misleading equating to modern system instead your example says: "Corvée labor is also not slavery exactly."
quote:Originally posted by Doug M: the most interesting thing is how they claim to identify mitanni slaves in the tomb art because they are not easily distinguished from native Nile dwellers.
I have looked at the art examples and I don't see something consistent enough to distinguish Mitanni in particular
Slave status has to demonstrated in texts. I have seen some records of purchases so I think that element can be shown in certain texts
Posts: 42935 | From: , | Registered: Jan 2010
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posted
FWIW, some of those "blond prisoners" in the images look to me like native Egyptians with shaven scalps. As DJ has told me once, even dark-skinned people's scalps can appear lighter than the rest of their skin after recently shaving all their hair off.
posted
^ These weren't shaved heads but actual white skinned prisoners with long blonde or orange hair and blue eyes. I've only seen the reproductions and not the originals which were said to be badly damaged.
FYI, the Mitanni were Indo-Aryan speakers whose language was nearly identical to Vedic Sanskrit and represent the earliest known Indo-European presence Southwest Asia along with the Hittites.
-------------------- Mahirap gisingin ang nagtutulog-tulugan. Posts: 26280 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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quote:The men under consideration are recognizable above all by their hairstyle, which usually begins at the midsection of the head and virtually always falls sloppily down around the nape of the neck. Where preserved the hair color is either blond or black. In addition to their unusual coiffure, these men may be distinguished by one or more of the following mostly un-Egyptian features: namely, a small tuft of hair protruding at the front of the head, a thin beard extending from the chin, and a particularly curvaceous manifestation of stomach fat, which swoops down over the belt in a manner previously restricted almost solely to fertility gods and the occasional overindulgent musician. As stated, these men are at their most recognizable — with half-shaved head combined regularly with beard and occasionally also with tuft and voluminous belly — in the tombs of Hatshepsut’s officials, particularly those of Puiemra, Senemiah, Amenemhat (TT 53), and Nebamun (TT 145) (figs. 15.1–4, 15.11, 15.14). Paheri’s tomb, which appears to date slightly later, also possesses figures that incorporate most of these features (figs. 15.5, 15.6, 15.12).
I have only seen two reproductions of Mitanni prisoners from the Amarna period. One with Akhenaten about to smite white, blonde haired Mitanni men and his wife Nefertiti doing the same with Mitanni blonde Mitanni women.
In the Ellen Morris article of the OP is a larger part of the same scene, with more figures,
p 366
Figure 15.7. Tenant family of foreigners and the noble’s chariot, tomb of Menna, TT 69 (after Wilkinson and Hill 1983, no. 46)
^this could be a facsimile illustration not a photo, it says after Wilkinson and Hill. I don't' see any notable difference but the image is too small to get good resolution
The other little boy, who clearly possesses a short fuzz of blond stubble like that of his older compatriots, is found in the tomb of Menna following behind a couple who are quite probably his parents (fig. 15.7).
p 375:
It is perhaps to be wondered if such an intermarriage and acculturation of a prisoner of war is not in fact precisely what is being witnessed in the tomb of Menna, which dates to the time of Thutmose III’s grandson (fig. 15.7). In this tomb we find a blond man and his, to all appearances, Egyptian wife greeting a group of surveyors with presents. The scene of gift-giving by a tenant to a surveying party is not uncommon in Egyptian tombs, and the gifts may well have been an attempt by the tenant to butter up the officials who would soon reckon his taxes. In this agricultural scene, two other of our figures appear. One is the boy mentioned previously, and the second is a man in the lower register who offers Menna beverages, perhaps as a further goodwill gesture. Here, then, it is tempting to find a family of foreigners in the process of acculturation into Egyptian society. Bearing this possibility in mind, it should be noted that the hair of the tenant appears to have grown in significantly, while the heads of the other of our figures in the tomb are still covered with blond stubble. Given that the unusual hairstyle of these figures is their principal identifying marker, it follows that when this population acculturated and wore their hair as much like Egyptians as was possible, they become far more difficult to detect.
Are we looking blond people, perhaps tanned?
I'm not sure The wheat color is is yellower than there hair here. Of the two males enlarged here. I would describe the hair color or cap, whatever it is as pale whitish orange, I suppose if the blond theory is correct it might be closer to the "Strawberry blond" category, blond with some reddish qualities It should also be noted that nobody is described as slave here although the article is called "Mitanni Enslaved"
I think the article is overly speculative on some things, as Doug has pointed out
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posted
This is the core part of the underlying theory in the paper:
quote: In this essay, it is first argued thatamong the great mass of prisoners that entered Egypt at this time a distinct foreign population is indeed identifiable in these tombs. Second, the dissemination and eventual assimilation of this cadre of prisoners, turned slaves, is charted. Finally, the case is mustered that these me were, in all likelihood, Hurrian warriors fighting on behalf of Mitanni and that the commemoration of their enslavement reflected both a historical reality and at the same time a celebration of Egypt's newfound and hard-won position of dominance over its neighbors to the North.
The men under consideration are recoginizeable above all by their hairstyle, which usually begins at the midsection of the head and virtually falls sloppily down around the nape of the neck. Where preserved the hair color is either blonde or black. In addition to their unusual coiffure, these men may be distinguished by one or more of the following mostly un-Egyptian features: namely, a small tuft of hair protruding at the front of the head, a thin beard extending from the chin, and a particularly curvaceous manifestation of stomach fat, which swoops down over the belt in a manner previously restricted almost solely to fertility gods and the occasional overindulgent musician.
That description is very vague and ambiguous and does not really seem to be a distinct marker of foreign identity. Especially in the case of these Mitanni, who don't seem to be differently depicted than other native Nile dwellers. And I am specifically questioning the caption under the following image from the tomb of menna:
quote: Figure 15.7. Tenant family of foreigners and the noble's chariot, Tomb of Menna, TT 69
I am definitely not saying, however, that there are no depictions of foreigners in any of these tombs as prisoners or forced labor. What I am questioning is this particular attribution of hair hanging down the back of the head as being a marker of foreign identity. Especially when all of these groups are depicted with the same coloration as the natives.
Note:it is also odd you never see any of these so-called wretched "Nubians" depicted this way in any of these tombs that I know of.
Posts: 8896 | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Doug M: [QB] This is the core part of the underlying theory in the paper: [QUOTE] In this essay, it is first argued thatamong the great mass of prisoners that entered Egypt at this time a distinct foreign population is indeed identifiable in these tombs. Second, the dissemination and eventual assimilation of this cadre of prisoners, turned slaves, is charted. Finally, the case is mustered that these me were, in all likelihood, Hurrian warriors fighting on behalf of Mitanni and that the commemoration of their enslavement reflected both a historical reality and at the same time a celebration of Egypt's newfound and hard-won position of dominance over its neighbors to the North.
The men under consideration are recoginizeable above all by their hairstyle, which usually begins at the midsection of the head and virtually falls sloppily down around the nape of the neck. Where preserved the hair color is either blonde or black. In addition to their unusual coiffure, these men may be distinguished by one or more of the following mostly un-Egyptian features: namely, a small tuft of hair protruding at the front of the head, a thin beard extending from the chin, and a particularly curvaceous manifestation of stomach fat, which swoops down over the belt in a manner previously restricted almost solely to fertility gods and the occasional overindulgent musician.
That description is very vague and ambiguous and does not really seem to be a distinct marker of foreign identity. Especially in the case of these Mitanni, who don't seem to be differently depicted than other native Nile dwellers. And I am specifically questioning the caption under the following image from the tomb of menna:
quote: Figure 15.7. Tenant family of foreigners and the noble's chariot, Tomb of Menna, TT 69
Same, figures at top and includes chariot mentioned in caption >>
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