On the 3 and 5 November 2006 the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities of Toronto, Canada, organized another Scholars’ Colloquium in which egyptologists of several countries read papers dealing with their current research.
The 3 November session took place in the Glass Room of the Royal Ontario Museum and the 5 November one in one of the classrooms of the Department of Near Eastern Studies of the University of Toronto.
More than two hundred people attended this event which was open to students, scholars and also to the public interested in these subjects, and which for the first time had to be extended over two days by the number of speakers that were invited this year.
As usual, I will provide here a Report on this meeting so that all those who may be interested in any of the subjects covered by the Colloquium will be able to have a basic idea of what was said, at least as I perceived it. For more details or clarifications, it is relatively easy to reach the speakers using the email listings provided by the International Association of Egyptologists.
I would also like to thank the organizers for inviting me to present a paper in this Colloquium (and in future ones, which I consider a great honour but doubtful in the short term due to financial reasons) and for the efficiency and attention to detail that made it a great success.
Although this has nothing to do with egyptology, I feel I must warn colleagues who may be travelling. I made my trip using American Airlines, which I thought was a good company. While at Toronto and not being a young man anymore, I felt rather exhausted and decided to cancel part of my trip and head straight home. I wanted no refund and they could sell my unused ticket with a nice profit to standby travellers, which I knew they had, but I was told by an American Airlines employee that I had nevertheless to pay a fine of almost U$S 300. I had little choice, therefore I agreed and everything was settled or that is what I thought at the time. When I went to check in at the airport, another employee told me that there had been a mistake and that the fine was in fact U$S 1,300, approximately the amount I paid for the whole trip. I refused to pay such an abusive sum and went on travelling as it had been originally booked. On my way back to New York, at Heathrow, American Airlines forced me to check in my hand luggage, which had been accepted as such in all the first few flights of my trip, with the result that it arrived broken and useless due to extremely rough handling. When I complained and asked for compensation, I only received a flat refusal. I wrote to the CEO of American Airlines Mr. Gerald Arpey, making him aware of what had happened, but I got no reply. So, if you contemplate travelling in the near future, you may wish to keep my bad experiences in mind and avoid an airline that can lead you to similar unpleasant situations.
CLICK HERE FOR THE SCHEDULE OF THE COLLOQUIUM AND THE ABSTRACTS
FRIDAY 3 NOVEMBER
G. CRUZ-URIBE – On the nature of demotic tour guides: The Roman Period Valley of the Kings – After the 20th Dynasty the Valley of the Kings was not used for royal or other high status burials and we can’t say either that its tombs were used later on for reburials as the private tombs nearby were. But the finds made in the Valley of the Kings of demotic ostraca makes one think whether some activity in this direction might have taken place in spite of the lack of modern other evidence for that. Many of the demotic graffiti in Valley of the Kings tombs are not in very good state of conservation but they suggest that something was going on here during the Graeco-Roman period, perhaps a pilgrimage route was set up that took people during their holidays to the temple of Isis at Philae, the Memnon colossi and other local sites, and some made side trips to the Valley of the Kings which was probably considered to be the place where the tombs of the Memnonia were to be found. An individual named Djed-Hor appears mentioned in graffiti in several of the tombs, his scribblings were usually found further inside them than those of other people and we know that he was a low rank priest who probably led people in their visits to the tombs that at the time were open for such a purpose. In one of the inscriptions of the Roman Period 72 people making one of these visits are mentioned in a graffito, such large number of people at one time can perhaps be best explained within the context of a pilgrimage. Among the about 200 graffiti found here so far, curiously the name of the god Amun is found only once, the names of the gods Montu and Khonsu are those most frequently present in this West Bank evidence. Coptic graffiti were also found in the tombs at the Valley of the Kings, showing that these tombs were used at the time probably as shrines commemorating Christian martyrs. It was interesting to note that the Greek graffiti were placed anywhere, without any respect or consideration for anything at all, but the demotic ones were more respectful and tried not to overwrite hieroglyphs or indulge in what they might have called, blasphemous practices.
J. GEE – The export of the Egyptian scribe – The speaker pointed out that contrary to what many may think, ancient Egyptian was to some extent also a lingua franca in the ancient Near East, besides Akkadian, Aramaic and other languages. Some Assyrian sources seem to imply that they employed Egyptian scribes as well as those fluent in other contemporary languages. During the period in Egypt in which there were rival dynasties to which kings like Seshonq III and Osorkon III belonged, there were no clear attempts to export the Egyptian way of life abroad or of carrying out military campaigns in Asia. The ancient Egyptian scribes at the time were not merely secretaries, but rather scholars as well and were most probably used as interpreters by the Assyrians. The word papyrus appears mentioned in Neo-assyrian texts (niaru, niari) listing a number of scribes, some of them bearing Egyptian names. The same situation is found in ostraca found in what is today Israel, some of them written in hieratic, which display anachronistic variations in the signs. There is also evidence to show that kings of Israel may have used Egyptian scribes drawing from the long standing and reputable scribal schools of the ancient monarchies in order to help in the administration of their kingdom. This survey provides more questions than answers but the several instances suggesting the presence of Egyptian scribes in the Near East makes further research along these lines desirable.
S. LARKMAN – Woman-man: The gender re-assignment of Hatshepsut – The speaker mentioned ancient and modern aspects of this subject of transgender experiences. In the case of Hatshepsut he found three stages in the process: a first one of female image, a second of a transitional nature and a third one of a male image. In the first case, she was represented as a King’s Daughter or Sister, Great Wife and God’s Wife, in the second her body began to change, still being portrayed as a woman but wearing male paraphernalia (kilt, etc.), but her figure started to approach a male shape, finally, all female characteristics disappeared and some of her images at this stage are practically undistinguishable from those of Tuthmosis III, this is even more remarkable when we see them portrayed side by side. The process was complex and was probably carried out in an attempt to legitimize her position as well as to conform with ancient Egyptian ideals of kingship. To a question, he replied that the transition corresponds chronologically to stages according to the date of each representation, so it appears to be well founded at least from this point of view. He also replied to another question that the defacing of her monuments belongs to the latter part of Tuthmosis III’s reign or early Amenophis II, and it was not an immediate action taken by her nephew after becoming king.
G. MUMFORD – Clarifying Egypto-Levantine relations during the Late Ramesside to Saite Periods – Due to the time limitations for each paper, he spoke and showed tables very quickly, which made it difficult to take detailed notes. What follows is what I could write down. Previous and even current approaches to this subject imply, among other characteristics, more reliance on the textual-pictorial record than on the archaeological one and on quantitative evaluations of the available data, which reveal a rather different picture. The speaker gave detailed lists of Egyptian exports and imports from Asia during this period as well as other types of interactions. The textual-pictorial record for this period exhibits several biases which he mentioned and also that the archaeological record presents as well some deficiencies. For his study he took a sample of 24 sites, mostly in Palestine, dealing with several aspects of the material cultural assemblage in each case, quantifying all items per published location. For example, for the period between 1150 and 1000 BC he dealt with basically 12 strata covering Egypto-Canaanite relations. He found a decrease of the number of Egyptian objects in mortuary contexts as well as in the occupation ones and also in the shrines. During this period a dispersion of Egyptian or egyptianizing objects was probably due to the Phoenician trade, among other causes. The decrease in the Egyptian percentages of objects is higher the farther north we move in Palestine, which was to be expected, less the farther from Egypt. Later on, 925 to 595 BC, the trend is reversed in some aspects, but in 716 to 595 BC, at the beginning there is an increase in Egyptian influence, but in an overall context of decreasing Egyptian influence over this region. In 595 to 525 BC the trend showing this decrease continues to the point of practically disappearing, for example, in the mortuary context. The picture that emerged from previous approaches was one of fluctuating but expanding Egyptian influence in Asia, this other one is quite different, at least in what concerns Palestine.
J. J. CASTILLOS – The beginning of class stratification in early Egypt – Using current archaeological, anthropological and sociological evidence and theoretical approaches, the speaker tried first of all to show that the Badarian-Naqada I transition in Predynastic Egypt implied significant changes that went far beyond the commonly assumed basic continuity between these two cultures, providing detailed evidence for the purpose, then he tried to explain the appearance of hereditary chiefdoms in Upper Egypt by means of the actions of ambitious individuals (aggrandizers) in contexts that relaxed the social pressure that inhibited accumulation of resources by some members of those early communities. Such individuals by means of coercion, manipulation and reciprocity debts changed the nature of their communities leading them to expand and absorb other less favoured ones, whose members became serfs under the new social conditions and the members of the original community, a ruling elite over the expanded group. Examples from many regions were quoted in an attempt to determine the situations that favour or inhibit the birth and development of social complexity with the result that the speaker felt confident to identify several of the necessary conditions that make these changes possible and the probable three basic stages in the process that took the Upper Egyptian early chiefs from their precarious beginning to their more stable rule as god-like regional kings and then, after replacing kinship links by wider affiliations, as the first pharaohs of a politically unified Egypt.
M. AYAD – A heb-sed celebration for a God’s Wife of Amun? – The American Journal of Archaeology 55 (1951) included mention of a fragment of a stone block representing the heb-sed of a God’s Wife of Amun. Other fragments belonging to this scene show 3 falcon headed figures, probably Souls of Pe, wishing her all god things, an individual in front of her makes a gesture the speaker interpreted as of protection and a smaller figure, probably a steward of the God’s Wife of Amun, stands facing the previously mentioned person. The speaker showed other examples with a similar scene but involving a king. The blocks first discussed here were recovered from a ramp in front of a monumental gate in the Temple of Montu at Karnak. Other blocks also recovered there are related as well to a heb-sed ceremony. Archaeologists through epigraphic, archaeological and architectural work have been able to partially reconstruct the façade of this temple and place the blocks in their original context. This seems to be one of those cases in a chapel in which only the God’s Wife of Amun is mentioned, without mention or participation of the ruling king at the time. Because the blocks were inscribed on both faces, one side belongs to the façade of the building and the other to one of the inner walls. In the same building other statues have been found, like one of Montu protecting a kneeling figure of Amenhotep III wearing a heb-sed costume. Also in a chapel of the God’s Wife of Amun at Karnak Amenirdis I appears receiving many heb-seds. The fact that the God’s Wife of Amun receives heb-seds does not at all imply a loss of authority by the ruling king. The speaker said that although Amenirdis I may have been wished many heb-seds, a daughter of Piye, Shepenwepet II, seems to have actually celebrated one. Being this ceremony an enabling one, among other things, to carry out priestly functions, it is not surprising that Ankhnesneferibre, daughter of Psametik II, is also depicted as a High Priest(ess) of Amun.
D. KOLOS – The story of Horus and Seth, an alternate interpretation – Facing and surviving a life threatening situation was part of coming of age transitions and this paper attempted to present a theory about this, interpreting the Horus and Seth story in a different way than other interpretations and outlining a methodology for the study of this passage. In a series of challenges and tactics Horus strives to reclaim his father’s status and position, establishes dominance, proof of semen production, winning the contest, acknowledgement of such a victory, public humiliation of the loser and the attainment of his claim, confirming Horus’ new identity as the successor of Osiris. The satire of the trades also seems to involve such a passage since the scribe shows his dominance over all others without having to face a challenger. Akhenaten also made this coming of age passage, the priests of Amun-Ra would have been his challengers, whom he annoyed by buiding temples to Aten within their main temple at Karnak, winning the contest by the abandoning Karnak and building Akhetaten, emerging as full king. Not every teenager went through these rites of passage, but those that can be identified, went through these stages. To a question whether this paper is not bringing up a fashionable anthropological theory and try to force it onto ancient Egypt, the speaker replied that in ancient Egypt these situations happened and there are examples of boys opposing one another where we can find elements of these rites of passage, so it did not seem to him that it was a case of forcing a theory onto anything.
P. ROBINSON – The location significance of scatological references in the Coffin Texts – These texts try to protect the deceased from things that he should not confuse with nourishment such as faeces, urine and filth. He considered for this study texts from Asyut and Bersha, for instance, CT 155 to 1014, grouped in main blocks of texts like CT 184-208, 213-220, etc., the allusions to scatological references are sporadic and scattered in the Coffin Texts. A total of 66 spells contained scatological material that could be traced to 68 individual documents, including wall reliefs. Then the speaker gave a detailed account of the frequency of Coffin Texts dealing with this subject from coffins in both Upper Egyptian sites. Most were found to be references to faeces (66), fewer had to do with urine (34) and even less frequently with filth (26). Most of these spells are usually on the mid front, lower back or foot surfaces of coffins. To a question whether the distribution of the spells on certain parts of the coffins had any meaning or purpose, the speaker replied that he did not have an answer for that yet.
N. STRUDWICK – The early display of Egyptian sculpture in the British Museum – The speaker emphasized the importance of Samuel Birch’s slips for the identification and other details concerning objects that were poorly or incorrectly documented later on. For example, a statue of Sennefer (BM EA 48) in the British Museum was dated as entered in 1829, which seemed incorrect since it did not correspond with any of the lots of antiquities that Salt disposed of or that were sold after his death. Then, after consulting several documents, the "Synopsis of Contents" of 1821 corroborated that the statue of Sennefer was one of the first antiquities belonging to Salt that was added to the British Museum collections. The description there although misrepresenting it as "a statue of Isis", it nevertheless fits Sennefer. In the 1835 Synopsis it was renumbered as No. 48, which is still retained in today’s EA 48, but in this instance at least it was described as "a male statue". This kind of research can be applied to many other objects that have rather doubtful descriptions or records at the British Museum. A stone boat was thought to have entered the collections in 1843, but it must have entered them in the early 1820s. Other objects, like EA 75, a Tutankhamun/Horemheb grey granite statue, can be traced by the descriptions to the first Salt collections. There are therefore many opportunities to correct and improve descriptions of objects in the British Museum by means of some of the early records there. This work is important because until Petrie got his Chair of Egyptology these British Museum collections were all the egyptology there was in the United Kingdom and it is desirable to establish their background as accurately as possible.
V. TOBIN – Egyptian religion: The final centuries – It is usually assumed that in the first centuries of our era paganism no longer offered people valid answers and thus the way was paved for christianism. The speaker pointed out that in Roman times the ancient Egyptian religion was still firmly established and would not be very easily dislodged and replaced. The vigour of the ancient religion is shown by its influence on early Christian coptic religion and also in more recent religious manifestations in Egypt. Even after christianism was imposed onto Egypt, the ancient religion continued to exist, at least at the local level. Such local cults of Isis, Seth, Bes, etc. persisted to such an extent that in some locations their images were vandalized in order to help suppress the continued pagan beliefs of the local people. The oracles also persisted and brought about action by Christians in order to try to eradicate them. In the first centuries AD a decline set in the ancient religion as temple support and funding became increasingly a local affair under Roman rule. For a time pagan beliefs competed with Christian beliefs and a syncretism between both began to take place until it was stopped by imperial action that put an end to it. Since Christian beliefs satisfied the needs of the local people, the replacement of one religion by another was not so difficult in a development in which the parallels and resemblances helped to speed up the process in which the Christian monks carried out the struggle leaning on the decrees of their bishops against paganism. The old temples were centres of community life, full of a sort of magical or supernatural power and had to be converted to serve as vehicles for the new religion, a process that continued, but not without some resistance. The ancient Egyptian religion did not die smoothly and quietly but put up a good fight which it lost due to Christian beliefs having become the state religion. Besides, the new religion rescued many elements of the old one and incorporated them into it, making it easier for it to be embraced by the people.
J. REVEZ – The royal succession in the 25th Dynasty: A response to a recently published article – A statement has been made that in the 25th Dynasty the Kushite succession was patrilineal, in agreement with ancient Egyptian practices, rather than the fratrilineal (brother-brother) or matrilineal alternatives. The speaker proposed an approach that he feels is more in tune with African practices. He quoted examples of the XIII Dynasty in which king’s brothers were princes considered eligible as potential successors to the ruling pharaoh. Nevertheless, the title sn nsw or king’s brother or even king’s father are not attested (while king’s sister or mother are), perhaps because it would imply a rival to the king, which was not acceptable for the ancient Egyptians. However, in the Napata period the title of king’s brother is attested several times and comprises people from among which the next king could be chosen. The Napatans did not copy the ancient Egyptian practice and the fratrilineal line of succession, that was exceptional in ancient Egypt, in Napatan times had apparently become the norm. So, at that time the king’s brothers were almost as great as the king himself and he was a sort of primus inter pares. Classical sources quoted by the speaker support the view that the most able or the stronger men were chosen as kings in Sudan, although they are not described in them as king’s brothers. In Napata the rivalry between brothers was not confused with the Horus-Seth rivalry in ancient Egypt that contributed to the absence of such a practice there, but the absence of prominence of Seth in Napata perhaps explains why they did not share the ancient Egyptian prejudice about it.
SUNDAY 5 NOVEMBER
S. TREVISANANTO – The king is naked: Stripping Apopi of Hyksos and Egyptian propaganda – Although many people do not accept it, the Santorini eruption happened during the Hyksos period and radiocarbon data shows this to be the case due to the deposits that this eruption left in Egypt. The speaker went then into great detail regarding the period of fallout that the eruption caused (acid rain or deposits, weather anomalies, freak storms, higher humidity). He quoted the Rhind mathematical papyrus as evidence for this phenomenon. Also the Ipuwer text in Leiden Papyrus I, 344 which according to him mentions events related to the eruption as well as medical papyri that deal with treating people affected by the consequences in Egypt of the eruption (acid burns, intoxication, etc.). He also stated that the XIII, XV and XVII Dynasties were simultaneous and the disasters described in Josephus Contra Apionem were not caused by the Hyksos but rather that they took advantage of the disaster brought about by the Santorini eruption. He also said that some of the propaganda he tries to disprove is that Apopi was to the Egyptians like a devil but according to the Hyksos he was chosen by his god to rule Egypt, but events and the evidence point otherwise.
H. EVANS – The chronological sequence of Second Dynasty kings – The speaker discussed the evidence from the Palermo Stone and showed that this evidence seems to be at odds with other ancient Egyptian sources, which she also discussed describing the implications of each for the succession of Second Dynasty kings, mentioning the inconsistencies present in such king lists when compared and contrasted with one another. Manetho’s list is also questionable since we have only copies of part of his work that also differ and are not very consistent. Since ancient Egyptian kings had several names, this also complicates the general picture. Although the succession of the first Second Dynasty kings is rather secure in view of the contemporary archaeological evidence, there are considerable discrepancies with the kings at the middle of this dynasty. Then she discussed at length the current theories and evidence for the succession of these kings, which according to how the evidence is interpreted, pushes the position of some of these kings in one or other direction. At the end she clarified that there are currently five different chronologies for the Second Dynasty and even a sixth possibility is none of them, so for her choice of what is the most likely line of succession, we will have to wait until her dissertation on the subject is finished.
C. GEISEN – The lost coffin of Queen Mentuhotep dating to the XIII Dynasty: The earliest known witness for the Book of the Dead – This is the subject of her MA thesis. Consulting materials at the Bodleian Library at Oxford University changed the direction of her research, centering it on the inscriptions on the coffin of the Great Royal Wife Mentuhotep of the XIII Dynasty, which was discovered in the early XIX century but that is lost today. We know little of this object, whether it was a coffin or a sarcophagus or if it is a combination of both. The text on it, as it was recorded at the time, is in vertical columns and a horizontal line. The inscriptions belong to the Coffin Texts attested elsewhere and those on the inner side contain spells from the Book of the Dead. This coffin differs from other contemporary ones and resembles later coffins. In spite of other interpretations, she prefers a XIII Dynasty date for this object. She has not been able to find instances of these Book of the Dead spells earlier than Queen Mentuhotep’s coffin and it should be seen as an early instance of the transition from the Coffin Texts to the Book of the Dead.
V. ANGENOT – A ‘Horizon of Aten’ in Memphis? – Although the evidence for the title of this paper is limited, the speaker said that we should not automatically assume that every mention of Akhetaten refers to the better known city in Middle Egypt. A talatat that Aldred suggested came from Memphis because it was carved from limestone while the Theban ones were made of sandstone, does not seem to be correct anymore because limestone talatats have been found at Thebes. The speaker also said that we should differentiate between the words Akhetaten and Akhet-n-Aten, the former meaning the horizon of Aten and the city found by Akhenaten and the latter a royal residence. Recent discoveries at Sakkara caused difficulties because a text in one of the statues described the person as an official in Memphis and at Amarna, but the speaker sees this as mentioning a place in Memphis itself, since it would be unlikely for this person to have had his career taking place simultaneously at both Memphis and Amarna. Another individual in a recently found tomb also at Sakkara (Bub. I 27) includes mention of an Akhetaten that if interpreted that the official was situated in Memphis but carrying out functions at Amarna, implies an awkward situation and would be more appropriate if it refers to an Akhetaten in Memphis. The speaker also mentioned other textual evidence that would support that those officials were not working outside Memphis and all references had to do with a Memphite location.
K. GOEBS – On (a theory of) relativity in Egyptian symbolic language – The main attraction of this paper is its suggestion that we should not take every mention of colour in ancient Egypt at face value, but rather as of changing significance according to each particular case. Royal iconography and religious texts were the main sources for this paper. For instance, in the study of the nemes, the speaker mentioned its uses in ancient Egypt and its meaning, as well as the red crown, described by the ancient Egyptians as the red one, the green one and even the black one, which underlines the different colour-related names they used when they wanted to refer to it. Red, for instance, could be ‘negative’. But also ‘colour of the sun’, ‘powerful’ and ‘reviving’. But it has been pointed out that in dark backgrounds red can be perceived as green, which explains mentions of a ‘green sun’ or ‘green stars’ in ancient texts. Some royal names of pharaohs clearly referring to the luminous sun god might imply different intensities of the divine light. The speaker mentioned differences in colour intensity between the white and the red crowns and that ‘black’ could mean ‘non-coloured’ and red ‘coloured’. The red crown could be named using words that mean a fresh or dark shimmering light or colour, such as that of meat or blood, and also as the dark crown linked to the moon and its decreasing luminosity, due to the word also meaning a fading of colour. The meaning of the red crown stands thus in relation to the white crown and it should be interpreted within the context in each case.
WORKSHOP
P. ROBINSON – Ancient Egyptian coffins and Coffin Texts
The speaker outlined the history of coffins from the predynastic to pharaonic times and their purpose, as well as how ancient societies have disposed of the dead. Then he described the evolution of funerary practices in Egypt and then the Osiris myth in which he was placed (tricked) into a box, that in a way preserved his life until Isis found him at Byblos, the land of cedar wood. He mentioned that the earliest coffins were made of matting or reeds, then wooden coffins were used in the Pharaonic period. In the Middle Kingdom we see bigger and better made coffins in the shape of rectangular boxes. The deceased instead of being laid to rest contracted as in predynastic times, were placed in the coffins with their body in an extended position. In this period some say that a ‘democratization’ took place in which people appropriated royal prerogatives, others see it as the appropriation of royal rituals and other attributes that the kings no longer needed and that had been replaced by other means to the same end. Anthropoid coffins appeared in the Middle Kingdom, which represent the dead as ‘living’ and perhaps were more easily recognizable by the ba of the deceased than the previous box-like ones. In the Late Period cartonnage increased its popularity perhaps to prevent re-use by others. Later on, Ptolemaic and Roman coffins imply a further change with their lifelike painted portraits of the dead person, a change from the more idealized depictions of people in earlier times. Then the speaker moved on to his main subject: the Coffin Texts placed on coffins of the First Intermediate Period and the Middle Kingdom, which present regional variations and not all these texts are found in all coffins, but rather they appear to have been selected individually from some master collection. The power of the tomb reanimated the dead and everything else inside, it was also a house for the deceased, complete with (false) doors and various rooms, it was like a complete cosmos for the occupant, with stars on the ceiling, fields, etc. Dangerous animals had therefore to be ‘killed’ or ‘crippled’ or shown without teeth or fast asleep, so they couldn’t threaten the deceased. Then the speaker listed all the main items that made a tomb and the purpose they played for the deceased (models, coffin, decoration, texts, other various objects, etc.). The texts on the outside of coffins formed protective bands around the deceased, they are usually offering formulae (hotep-di-nesw) and are dedicated to specific gods. They also have friezes depicting royal regalia, weapons, clothes, food, etc. Usually things appropriate for the head were at that end of the coffin and things for the legs or feet were placed at that end. Coffins had a (false) door so the deceased could leave it at will, so they were like a house to him. Eyes painted on the coffin allowed the deceased to look out of the coffin, towards the land of the living, and even some mummies were placed on their side, with their face towards those painted eyes. The Coffin Texts are in all about 1,185 and are usually found on the inner walls of the coffin, to be used by the deceased. Other spells were placed on the joints of the coffins, as if hidden from him, according to the speaker in order to prevent the dead from using them and have full power over the afterlife, which in the case of an evil entity would create havoc there. These Coffin Texts were meant to place the dead in the afterlife, to be guide books for them and also to bring them back to life, they sometimes register the rituals that took place at the funeral, also to protect the deceased from dangerous animals and other creatures of the afterlife and to provide the dead with eternal life. They also fed and clothed the deceased as well as prevented them from eating or drinking wrong things (faeces, urine, filth). The goddess Nut and stars were depicted on the lid and the floor of the coffin represented a garden or had references to land or earth, so that the dead could not be placed upside-down, as the evil or condemned or defeated or detested ones. Ferryman texts assured the dead a safe passage through the netherworld as well as others allowed them to open doors, gates and barriers they had to go through. The Coffin Texts were then in a way Guides to the Hereafter. Much work still remains to be done for a better knowledge and understanding of the Coffin Texts.
Posts: 13012 | From: Chicago | Registered: Jan 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
Still surprising from the details of the conference participants of this conference and others that 99%--exception a few Egyptians like Fekri Hassan, etc.--of all academic researchers on Egypt are of European extraction.
Is it a question of resources--that other groups lack?
Posts: 5492 | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
quote: Still surprising from the details of the conference participants of this conference and others that 99%--exception a few Egyptians like Fekri Hassan, etc.--of all academic researchers on Egypt are of European extraction.
Is it a question of resources--that other groups lack?
Yes. Fields like anthropology, area studies generally and especially Egyptology are fields where the majority of researchers have to have considerable financial resources of their own, or sponsorship by foundations and rich groups/individuals.
As a result few Afro-Americans have been able to enter these field. If you remember Diop's work is basicaly a content analysis of the research literature relating to Egypt.
.
-------------------- C. A. Winters Posts: 13012 | From: Chicago | Registered: Jan 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
J. REVEZ – The royal succession in the 25th Dynasty: A response to a recently published article – A statement has been made that in the 25th Dynasty the Kushite succession was patrilineal, in agreement with ancient Egyptian practices, rather than the fratrilineal (brother-brother) or matrilineal alternatives. The speaker proposed an approach that he feels is more in tune with African practices. He quoted examples of the XIII Dynasty in which king’s brothers were princes considered eligible as potential successors to the ruling pharaoh. Nevertheless, the title sn nsw or king’s brother or even king’s father are not attested (while king’s sister or mother are), perhaps because it would imply a rival to the king, which was not acceptable for the ancient Egyptians. However, in the Napata period the title of king’s brother is attested several times and comprises people from among which the next king could be chosen. The Napatans did not copy the ancient Egyptian practice and the fratrilineal line of succession, that was exceptional in ancient Egypt, in Napatan times had apparently become the norm. So, at that time the king’s brothers were almost as great as the king himself and he was a sort of primus inter pares. Classical sources quoted by the speaker support the view that the most able or the stronger men were chosen as kings in Sudan, although they are not described in them as king’s brothers. In Napata the rivalry between brothers was not confused with the Horus-Seth rivalry in ancient Egypt that contributed to the absence of such a practice there, but the absence of prominence of Seth in Napata perhaps explains why they did not share the ancient Egyptian prejudice about it.
Regardless, even patrilineage is found in other areas of the Nile Valley and Africa in general as well.
Interesting how they try to propose an African model for the Napatans but what about the Egyptians. They were as much African also.
Posts: 26311 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
| IP: Logged |
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic