In search for understanding the ancient Egyptian beliefs about the afterlife, most modern Egyptologists tend to focus on either the search for heaven and its variety of bliss or the search for hell and its many types of torments, but they have not searched for purgatory. Hence, this paper deals with a hypothesis that sinners…
The Representation of “Humans” and Gods in the So-Called Satirical Ostraca and Papyri from Deir el-Medina
The article addresses the subtle differences between how anthropomorphism of animals is used to represent humans and human behavior versus divine behavior. By examining the different types of anthropomorphism used at Deir el-Medina as a starting point, this study considers the multiple manifestations of Egyptian deities and how these manifestations may be dependent on the context…
Ptah, South of His Wall, Lord of Ankhtawy
Ptah has been the main god of the ancient Egyptian state since its unification. The unity of the pharaoh and the god is clearly manifested in one of the names of Ptah—“Ptah, south of his wall,” where the word “the walls” is the name of the royal fortress, which played the role of the first…
Time of Creation, Creation of Time: Notes on the Making of Time in Six Religious Hymns of the New Kingdom (ca. 1539–1077 BCE)
New Kingdom private Theban tombs are funerary monuments understood as houses of eternity, where the deceased could live forever after his death. But these tombs are also liminal spaces where the borders of the realm of the living and that of the dead could be erased so the dead, the living, and the gods could get into…
New Kingdom Private Theban Tombs: Places of Interaction between the Living, the Dead and the Gods
New Kingdom private Theban tombs are funerary monuments understood as houses of eternity, where the deceased could live forever after his death. But these tombs are also liminal spaces where the borders of the realm of the living and that of the dead could be erased so the dead, the living, and the gods could get into…
Self-Presentation in the Ptolemaic-Early Roman Period: Looking at Non-royal Portraiture
In the Ptolemaic–Early Roman Period, the Egyptian elite still managed to play an important ideological role and to keep itself culturally relevant by being represented in texts and images. They continued to be depicted in statues produced according to the traditional Egyptian style, but they also decided to be represented through portraits characterized by realistic facial features….
To “Osirify” Royal Mummies in the Theban Necropolis
The aim of the present study is an evaluation of the sources related to the “osirification” (rdit r Wsir) carried out on some royal mummies in the Theban necropolis at the beginning of the Third Intermediate Period. Under the pontificate of Paynedjem I, the osirification becomes a “phenomenon,” not only historical but also political, to reaffirm…
Remarques préliminaires sur le rôle des grands prêtres ramessides d’après leurs textes autobiographiques et leurs titres
This article aims to study the role of the Egyptian high priests with respect to the gods during the Ramesside era. Firstly, it studies how they themselves described their function. It particularly shows the use of the terms jr.t Aḫ.w, nfr(w), mnḫ, and sḥtp. Then, the nature of the “useful things” that high priests were doing is discussed. They consisted of…
Everything Is Not What It Seems: A New Examination of a Purported Naos Fragment from the 4th Century BCE in Verona
The author makes three observations about a purported naos fragment from the 4th century BCE, now in the Museo Archeologico in Verona. First, he refutes the long-held assumption that it represents a naos. Second, he observes that the cartouche on its front face does not belong to Nectanebo I. Third, he argues that its original…
The Anointment of the Mummy by Anubis on Funerary Equipment from Roman Egypt
Depicted on a vast variety of media, the scene of Anubis anointing the mummy is one of the most popular scenes in the funerary repertoire of pharaonic Egypt since the New Kingdom. During the Roman Period, the scene remained in use, while keeping its main iconographic components: Anubis standing behind a lion-shaped funerary bed, anointing…
Le langage des dieux
Various elements, such as the wish of the deceased, in the Coffin Texts, to acquire documents and books and to become a scribe to various deities, suggest that in the afterlife, the upside-down world and domain of the gods, another language is used. Thoth or Ra are occasionally referred to as interpreters, respectively, in chapter 125 of…
The Concept of the Desert Embodied by the God Ha, “Lord of the West”: The Meaning of the Words zmj.t, zpA.t, XAz.t, and jmn.t in the Sources Mentioning Ha
The god Ha, “Lord of the West,” is usually referred to as the god or the personification of the Western Desert. Even though Ha bore his symbol, the three-peaked mountain ridge sign, on a standard on his head, referring to his name, his relationship with the desert as a physical environment is not necessarily clear from the…
Génétique humaine versus génétique divine dans l’ancienne Égypte d’apres les Textes des Pyramides: un système métaphorique de substitution
Analyzing Pyramid Texts allows us to provide clues concerning the way the ancient Egyptians conceived of the divine body of the deceased, which was radically different from the human body. A metaphorical substitutive system can be highlighted through which every part of the human body is replaced by a divine one. More precisely, according to the Egyptian…
A Priest, His Gods and His Depiction: Creation, Execration, and the Roles, Texts, and Vignette of Hor of Karnak
Hor of Thebes possessed the earliest known and datable copy of the Book of Breathings Made by Isis. He was a priest who performed rituals for three gods in Karnak. Some of these rites were apotropaic in nature, while others were creative. There is a conceptual and ritual tie between these concepts. His funerary text also…
Between Humanity and the Gods: Sacred Animals and Their Place in Popular Region at Saqqara
This study draws on recent work at North Saqqara and considers how the many thousands (arguably millions) of sacred animals buried there might have been procured, prepared, and presented to the deities concerned. Evidence from recent work suggests that the votive animals would have been required in huge numbers which must have had a significant impact…
A Brief Insight into the Cult Practice of a Family of Deir el-Medina: The Qaha Example
The article presents some preliminary remarks on the foreman of the left side Qaha (i) and his religious practices through a look at a number of his stelae. The divinities to which these stelae are dedicated are part of the divine world of Deir el-Medina, including the main ones of the Egyptian pantheon, as well…
The Intimate Religion of Greco-Roman Brides in Documentary Papyri: Some Observations about Aphrodite Statuettes
Documentary papyri enable us to recreate some intimate religious aspects of daily life, particularly concerning women. The case study presented on this topic is based on papyrological and archaeological documentation of Aphrodite statuettes. Aphrodite; documentary papyri; (intimate) religion; Greek lexicography
Egyptian Avian Artifacts in the Collections of the “Vasile Pârvan” Institute of Archaeology of Bucharest
The present article continues the series of presentations of some of the unpublished (in major part) Egyptian artifacts in the collections of the “Vasile Pârvan” Institute of Archaeology of Bucharest, Romania. Focused on avian artifacts with funerary destination and context, the study will show the relationship between various avian species, the Egyptian assigned symbols, the…
The Children of Montu: Harpara and Horus-Shu in Ptolemaic and Roman Times
Child gods were special members of the ancient Egyptian pantheon whose cults culminated during the Greco-Roman period. Many temples across Egypt, but especially in the Theban sacred landscape, housed a local child deity. This article sets out to present two of them, namely, Harpara and Horus-Shu, who both were closely associated with Montu, the primeval…
Egypto-Levantine Connectivity between the Shephelah and the Negev Highlands: New Insights from Ceramic Assemblage Profiles at Tel Erani, Mitzpe Sde Hafir, and Yeroḥam—Naḥal Avnon
Investigation of new data from recent Ben-Gurion University excavations at Mitzpe Sde Hafir and Israel Antiquities Authority excavations at Yeroḥam—Naḥal Avnon, two late EB I sites in the Western Negev and Central Negev Highlands, respectively, has revealed two zones of complex and transformational nomadic encounter with sedentary society at a pivotal phase of Egypto-Levantine connectivity…
Tyre: An Intermediate Harbor in Interregional Trade
The founding of a small fortified center on the island of Tyre in the Early Bronze Age cannot be explained without the complicity of a continental center on the nearby coast. Although it is a rocky island with no arable land, it has nonetheless provided an important volume of Combed Storage Jars, cereals, olive pits,…
The Relationships between Egypt and Syria in the 24th century BCE According to the Texts of the City of Ebla, Syria
While studying the types of materials exchanged between the kingdoms of Ebla and Dugurasu, Biga proposed (2012) that Dugurasu could be identified as a place in the Delta of the Nile. She also proposed to identify the city of DUlu—from which almost the same materials came to Ebla and had a role of intermediary between…
Contacts between Egypt and the Southern Levant in the Late Early Bronze Age: An Open Question
The second half of the third millennium BCE is traditionally interpreted as a period of intense interactions between the southern Levant and Egypt. In past scholarship, interpretative frameworks for these activities have centered either on conflicts or commercial relations linked to the trade of southern Levantine copper with Egypt, both considered limited to the time…
Identity and Monumentality: The Construction of an Early Bronze Age Landscape on the Lebanese Coast
This article will discuss the role of monuments in the construction of the Early Bronze Age (EBA) landscape on the Lebanese coast. The discussion focuses on Byblos, where an extensively excavated EBA town plan shows evidence of at least seven temples and a monumental town wall. Nearby contemporary sites that followed markedly similar building activity…
In the Shadow of Byblos: The Early Bronze Age Aegyptiaca from Tell Fadous-Kfarabida
During the Old Kingdom, Byblos emerged as one of the main ports of trade between Egypt and the Levant. This is not only suggested by Egyptian textual references but also by a surprisingly large number of Egyptian objects dating to the Old Kingdom from Byblos. However, various chronological and contextual problems hugely diminish the value…
Metal as a Mechanism for Understanding Social Complexity during the Third Millennium BCE: A Comparative Zooarchaeological Perspective on Egypt and the Southern Levant
Most studies of the spread of copper and bronze metallurgy across the Near East rely upon the relatively few surviving metal artifacts, most of which originate in mortuary contexts and thus indicate little about daily life activities. In recent years, a new method that circumvents the biased metallurgical record has been developed using microscopic groove…
Egyptian Trade on the Central Levantine Coast During the Early Dynastic Period: A Ceramic-Material Perspective
This paper compares pottery finds from the Central Levant (Lebanon) and imported vessels found in Egyptian Early Dynastic contexts to help unravel the dynamics of trade activities between the two regions at the beginning of the third millennium BCE. New typological, technological, petrographic, and geochemical datasets from Lebanese sites such as Tell Arqa, Byblos, Tell…
Early Dynastic/Old Kingdom Egypt and the Early Bronze Age Levant: The History of the 3rd and 4th Dynasties and New Radiocarbon Dates in Dialogue
This paper aims to give an overview of the current state of research on (contemporaneous) inscriptional evidence for a historical chronology of the 3rd and 4th dynasties, to explore the impact of different modes of interpreting this evidence on radiocarbon dates from Egypt, and to consider possible synchronizations between Egyptian history and the transitions from…
“There’s No Place Like Home”? Representing Travel and Return from the Old to the Middle Kingdom
The representation of travel beyond the established borders of Egypt has been conceived as one of many markers of literary fictionality. One of the few texts that showcase this is the Middle Kingdom Tale of Sinuhe. Many have examined the Tale’s literary qualities through its portrayal of characters and activities associated with border traversal. But…
The Egyptian Enclaving of Southern Canaan during the Late Fourth Millennium BCE: Some Theoretical, Cultural, and Spatial Aspects
Egyptian presence in the Southern Levant during the late fourth millennium BCE (Early Bronze Age IB, henceforward EB IB), centered in southwestern Israel, is an issue thoroughly studied for several decades. These studies covered every aspect of material culture, relative and absolute chronology, socio-political and economic implications, and more. Scholars characterized this Egyptian presence in…