A collection of papers from the Egyptologists' Electronic Forum (http: //welcome.to/EEF) on a variety of Egyptological topics, of interest to both professionals and laypersons. Five broad themes may be discerned: royalty in ancient Egypt, scarabs and funerary items, archaeology and early Egypt, Egyptology - past, present and future, and ancient Egyptian language, science and religion
From the introduction: “When we speak of ethnicity, we bring into view a particular kind of sentiment about group identity wherein groups of individuals view themselves as being alike by virtue of their common ancestry. It is something of a truism to point out that ethnicity has played an important role in the history of Judaism, both in the postbiblical era and prior to it....The reason for this interest is twofold. First, in virtually every discipline of the humanities, there seems to be a general unhappiness with the superficial way that scholars have handled the issues of culture and identity. More specifically, with respect to ancient Israel, recent biblical scholarly activity—both literary and historical—has raised serious doubts about the supposed origins and antiquity of Israelite ethnicity.” With this agenda in view, Kent Sparks provides a summary of current studies in ethnicity and ethnic identity, then moves to a discussion of Israel’s ancient Near Eastern context and expressions of ethnic identity in the written remains from surrounding nations. Turning next to ancient Israel itself, he examines texts generally considered early in Israel’s history for information relevant to Israel’s ethnic identity. Sparks then investigates the witness of the prophets and the historical materials relating to the Judean monarchy and the exilic period, looking for expressions of ethnic sentiment. His research will likely prove to be the foundation on which future study of the topic will be built.
This massive 2 volume set contains 200 papers from the Congress, held in Grenoble, 6-12 Sept 2004. These papers cover the whole field of the present egyptological researches, from the Origins to the Graeco-roman period.
This book presents an in-depth analysis of the architecture of tomb security in Egypt from the Predynastic Period until the early Fourth Dynasty by extrapolating data on the security features of published tombs from the whole of Egypt and gathering it together for the first time in one accessible database.
Berenice II Euergetis (267/6-221 BCE), the daughter of King Magas of Cyrene (Libya) and wife of King Ptolemy III of Egypt, was queen at an important juncture in Hellenistic history. This collection of four essays focuses on aspects of chronology, genealogy and marital practices, royal ideology and queenship.
Focuses on physical, social and applied athropology, archaeology, linguistics and symbolic communication. Topics include hominid evolution, primate behaviour, genetics, ancient civilizations, cross-cultural studies and social theories.
The ancient Egyptian tomb evolved rapidly over a period of about 2,500 years, from a simple backfilled pit to an enormous stone pyramid with complex security arrangements. Much of this development was arguably driven by the ever-present threat of tomb robbery, which compelled tomb builders to introduce special architectural measures to prevent it. However, until now most scholarly Egyptological discussions of tomb security have tended to be brief and usually included only as part of a larger work, the topic instead being the subject of lurid speculation and fantasy in novels, the popular press, and cinema. In Securing Eternity, Reg Clark traces in detail the development of the Egyptian royal and private tombs from the Predynastic Period to the early Fourth Dynasty. In doing so, he demonstrates that many of the familiar architectural elements of the Egyptian tomb that we take for granted today in fact originated from security features to protect the tomb, rather than from monumental or religious considerations. Richly illustrated with more than 150 photographs and tomb plans, this unique study will be of interest to students, specialists, and general readers alike.
Though Greece is traditionally seen as an agrarian society, cattle were essential to Greek communal life, through religious sacrifice and dietary consumption. Cattle were also pivotal in mythology: gods and heroes stole cattle, expected sacrifices of cattle, and punished those who failed to provide them. The Cattle of the Sun ranges over a wealth of sources, both textual and archaeological, to explore why these animals mattered to the Greeks, how they came to be a key element in Greek thought and behavior, and how the Greeks exploited the symbolic value of cattle as a way of structuring social and economic relations. Jeremy McInerney explains that cattle's importance began with domestication and pastoralism: cattle were nurtured, bred, killed, and eaten. Practically useful and symbolically potent, cattle became social capital to be exchanged, offered to the gods, or consumed collectively. This circulation of cattle wealth structured Greek society, since dedication to the gods, sacrifice, and feasting constituted the most basic institutions of Greek life. McInerney shows that cattle contributed to the growth of sanctuaries in the Greek city-states, as well as to changes in the economic practices of the Greeks, from the Iron Age through the classical period, as a monetized, market economy developed from an earlier economy of barter and exchange. Combining a broad theoretical approach with a careful reading of sources, The Cattle of the Sun illustrates the significant position that cattle held in the culture and experiences of the Greeks. Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions.
Dreams and nightmares have long puzzled and fascinated, yet this is the first book to explore such visions in the Ancient Egyptian world. The author traces the evidence from the first half of Egypt's long history, the Old Kingdom through the New Kingdom, a time-span of over 1,000 years. The book is arranged thematically, with chapters devoted to the literary use of dreams, to the political use of divine visions, to the technology used to ward away terrorizing nightmares. It also explores the Ramesside Dream Book, a unique text that reveals the desires and anxieties that could inspire an Egyptian's dreams, with images of sex and power, of gods and the dead. All the relevant passages are conveniently translated in an appendix.
