Biographical Texts from Ramessid EgyptThe Ramessid period in Egypt (ca. 1290-1075 B.C.E.) corresponds to the Late Bronze Age, a time of great change both in Egypt and the Near East. This period of empire, dominated by the figure of Ramesses II, witnessed crucial developments in art, language, and religious display. Biographical Texts from Ramessid Egypt offers insights into these cultural transformations through the voices of forty-five priests, artists, civil officials, and military men who served under the kings of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties. Sixty-five biographical texts, which were inscribed in tombs, on statues and stelae in temples, and exceptionally on temple walls, give details of their careers and character. The metrically arranged translations are introduced by descriptions of the texts monumental contexts and, where possible, summaries of the careers of their owners. The volume provides an introduction to the historical background of the Ramessid period, drawing together key themes and interpretive issues raised by the texts and their contexts. These include the representation of relationships to deities and the king, the thematization of the priestly life, and implications of changes in the texts media, including new decorative programs of nonroyal tombs. This integration of text with context sheds light on the meaning of biographical writing in ancient Egypt as a whole. |
Contents
5 | |
The Priesthood and Related Offices | 35 |
3AD | 46 |
4 | 59 |
8 | 77 |
Other Priesthood and Temple Staff in Thebes | 84 |
12AB The Tomb of Djehutyemheb Overseer of Fieldworkers of | 91 |
The Abydos Priesthood | 97 |
The Stela from Bilgai | 177 |
35AB Two Scribe Statues of Amenmose High Steward of | 183 |
6 | 189 |
The Stela of the Marine Standard Bearer Khetef | 195 |
The Door Jambs of the Overseer of the Army Nehesy from | 200 |
The Stela of the sekofficer Ramose from Wadi elSebua | 211 |
Texts from Deir elMedina | 219 |
The Stela of the Sculptor Qen | 227 |
16 | 103 |
Artists | 117 |
20AB The Saqqara Tomb of the Chief Goldsmith Amenemone | 129 |
22AB The Theban Tomb of Nakhtdjehuty Chief of Craftsmen | 136 |
The Tomb of the High Steward Nefersekheru at Zawyet Sultan | 143 |
26AB Temple Monuments of Prehotep Northern Vizier | 156 |
The Freestanding Stela of the Overseer of the Treasury Tia | 162 |
The Standing Statue of Huy Great Mayor of Memphis | 170 |
Notes | 233 |
the Eighth Pylon | 235 |
Sources | 257 |
Glossary | 263 |
273 | |
291 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Abydos adoration Amenemone Amenhotep Amun-Re back pillar Bakenkhons barque bears beloved biographical text biography caption cartouche chapel chief city governor column lost cult Deir el-Medina deities depicted divine domain of Amun Dual King Egyptian Eighteenth Dynasty Ennead epithet favor figure front god's father goddess gods gold groups lost Hathor heart high priest Horus hymn inscribed inscription Isis jamb Karnak keeper of secrets Khonsu king gives Kingdom Lands lord lower register Maat meters monuments motif necropolis Nekhen Nineteenth Dynasty nonroyal offering Osiris overseer Panehsy Paser Penniut perfect Pharaoh Prehotep priest of Amun priest of Osiris Ptah Ramesses II Ramessid period reign of Ramesses rest of column royal scribe Samut Saqqara says scene Setau Sety shrine Sokar statue stela temple Theban Thebes Thoth titles tomb translated treasury true of voice upper register Userhat Usermaatre Setepenre vizier wab-priest wall Wenennefer Wepwawet
Popular passages
Page 5 - Narrative discourse does not simply reflect or passively register a world already made; it works up the material given in perception and reflection, fashions it, and creates something new, in precisely the same way that human agents by their actions fashion distinctive forms of historical life out of the world they inherit as their past.
Page xiii - JARCE Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt. JEA Journal of Egyptian Archaeology. JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies. LA Lexikon der Agyptologie, ed. Wolfgang Helck, Eberhard Otto, and Wolfhart Westendorf, 7 vols. (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1972-).
Page xiii - BSEG Bulletin de la Societe d'Egyptologie de Geneve BSFE Bulletin de la Societe Francaise d'Egyptologie CdE Chronique d'Egypte...
Page 6 - Western cultures, foregrounds the social implications of a "written death" as "a substantially and profoundly 'political' practice aimed at celebrating and recording the power and social presence of the group, corporate or familial, to which the deceased belonged and ... directed at consolidating its wealth, prestige, endurance over time, vitality, and capacity for reproduction and expansion.