The Egyptian material distributed throughout Greece includes important quantities of bronze objects that reveal information about consumption and trade and are complicated by issues that differ from those relating to faïence (also distributed throughout Greece). For this reason, the bronze objects give to us a complementary view of the relations between Greece and Egypt during…
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Thoth with Four Eyes: Chinese Views of Egyptian Hieroglyphs in the Late Qing Period (1840–1912)
There is a general impression that Egyptian hieroglyphic script has been a subject of only western intellectual investigations. This impression is recently challenged by an emerging group of studies that have revealed various non-western understandings of ancient Egyptian material culture and writings. Chinese views of hieroglyphs, however, are mostly absent from these discourses; studies published…
Religious Topography of West Thebes in the 1st Millennium BCE: The Role of Reused Private Tombs
This paper aims to analyze the role of selected reused tombs in the religious landscape of the Theban necropolis in the 1st millennium BCE. Discussed are three monuments (TT 192, AT -28-, and the so-called Hanging Tomb) and the possible links between their original owners and the deceased buried in them in the Third Intermediate…
Eine Parallele zwischen der hebräischen und ägyptischen Sprache beim übertragenen Gebrauch von “Bogen” als “Regenbogen”
In this contribution, a Hebrew-Egyptian parallel for the development of words for “bow“ to “rainbow“ is traced. In the Hebrew language four examples and in the Egyptian language two examples can be named. The basic meaning of the words has always referred to the military weapon. The tertium comparationis for the transfer lies in the…
The Owner of Theban Tomb 221
In unfinished Theban Tomb 221, situated in Qurnet Murai, the “General of the Army” Horimin is portrayed with a mixture of Libyan and Egyptian features: an over-emphasizing feather on his head, but in a kneeling position at prow and stern of the solar barque, a scene that is totally Egyptian. Ethnic representation in tombs is…
Einige neue Bemerkungen zum ägyptischen Wort ‘b “Bogen”
This article looks for a deeper understanding of the word ‘b “bow.” The derivation of the word from the root ‘b “horn,” suggested already by Gardiner, is related here to the importation of horns of the Cretan wild goat for the construction of composite bows. The word can thus be established as a technical term…
Akhenaten’s Window and the Aegean Connection
The “Window of Appearance” of the Egyptian New Kingdom royal palace is usually considered an indigenous architectural element. After a review of this assumption, it is suggested that it had been observed by emissaries of Amenhotep III in the Cretan palace of Knossos before the concept was imported to the Egyptian court. The Cretan context…
Djahy in the Egyptian Inscriptions and Yarimuta in the Amarna Letters of Byblos
Djahy; Retenu; Yarimuta; Byblos; Canaan
“The Ultimate Woman”: Cleopatra I Syra and the Ptolemaic Bias of Daniel 11:13–18
Daniel 11:17 calls Cleopatra I Syra bat-hanašym, “The Ultimate Woman,” based on the kind of reverence exemplified by the portrayal of the Egyptian queen as the incarnation of Isis. Despite the attempts of versions and commentators to obliterate the mythological nuances, Dan 11:13–18 can be understood in its Hellenistic historical context, allowing us to see…
From a Land Far Away: Egyptian(izing) Amulets from Jebel Qurma, Black Desert, Jordan
This paper presents an Egyptian and an Egyptian-style amulet, recently excavated in tombs in the Jebel Qurma uplands in the Black Desert of northeastern Jordan. The amulets (a pataikos and a scarab) date to the early to mid-1st millennium BCE. It is extremely rare to find such objects in this remote part of the southern…
Scarabs and Seals in the Central Italian Peninsula: A Short Overview (Early Iron Age–Late Orientalizing Period)
Scarabs and seals are still considered one of the hallmarks of the relationship between the Etruscan and Italic people and the rest of the Mediterranean. Starting from the most recent studies, this brief synthesis aims to give an updated synopsis on several aspects linked to these items. scarabs; Egyptianizing; Egyptian; pre-Roman Italy; Etruria
The Faience Industry at Kerma
The complex nature of the interactions between Egypt and its Nubian neighbors is reflected in the most telling way in the material culture of the Kingdom of Kerma and in particular within the medium of what is known as “Egyptian faience,” a sintered-quartz, non-clay ceramic. Analysis has revealed that the material from the site of…
Egyptianizing Faience from the Sanctuary of Apollo Hylates, Kourion, Cyprus
This article publishes an assemblage of forty-two Egyptianizing faience vessels, figurines, and scarabs excavated by the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the sanctuary of Apollo Hylates in Kourion, Cyprus, between 1936–1954. Nearly 80% of this material, dating to the first half of the 6th century BCE, were products of Greco-Egyptian workshops…
Three Egyptian Serekh-like Incisions Found on One Vessel at the Early Bronze Age IB City of ‘En Esur, Israel
The proto-historic site of ‘En Esur (‘Ein Asawir) is located at the northern coastal plain of Israel. Recent excavation at the site has revealed a huge and extensive city that was established during the late Early Bronze Age IB (EBIB). This city seems to have been the focal point of various trading routes through which…
Incident at Shellal: A Reappraisal of the History of Philae in the 4th Century CE
In 1907, eleven necropolises ranging from the prehistoric era to modern times were excavated by George Reisner in the first cataract region. Among the most important of these was Cemetery 3 at el-Hesa, which was used as a burial ground for the priests who carried the statue of Isis from Philae to Biga to offer…
Sociolinguistic Identities and Egyptian Imperialism in the Early Late Bronze Age Levant
In a previous paper I presented an analysis of the geographical distribution and linguistic affiliation of the names of local rulers attested in the Amarna letters. There I argued that these names are not scattered at random, but rather that their distribution shows that names having the same linguistic matrix are distributed in geographically well-defined…
Looking Like Griffins: Spiral-Shaped Fringes and Locks in the Coiffure of Aegean Emissaries Represented in Egyptian Eighteenth Dynasty Theban Tombs
In this paper we discuss spiral-shaped fringes and locks on the heads of Aegean emissaries represented in Egyptian Eighteenth Dynasty Theban tombs. Such elements initially appear in Aegean iconography, even before the first depiction of Aegean emissaries in the Theban tomb of Senenmut (TT 71; reign of Hatshepsut). In Egyptian iconography this element of the…
Retenu: Between the Fifteenth and the Nineteenth Dynasties, with an Appendix on the Chronology of Tell el-Dab‘a
This paper deals with the relationship between Egypt and Retenu, its main Asiatic neighbor, in the period from the Fifteenth Dynasty till to the end of the Nineteenth Dynasty. Recent archaeological research at Tell el-Dab‘a disproves the existence of an empire of the Fifteenth Dynasty extending into Palestine. This leads to a reconsideration of the…
Naming Practices and Identity in the Early Late Bronze Age Levant: A Linguistic and Geographical Analysis of Local Rulers’ Names Attested in the Amarna Letters
Multiple names of local rulers are attested in the Amarna letters, most of which can be analyzed as being linguistically West Semitic, Hurrian, or Indo-Aryan. These names have been variously discussed, but no systematic analysis of their geographical distribution has ever been performed. This paper aims to fill this gap. The first section provides the…
Melting Pots: Entanglement, Appropriation, Hybridity, and Assertive Objects between the Pan-Grave and Egyptian Ceramic Traditions
This paper explores the complex encounters between the Egyptian and Pan-Grave traditions and their manifestation in the production and use of ceramic vessels. Theories of entanglement and appropriation are applied to a series of archaeological case studies in order to assess how well the concepts do or do not fit instances of cultural mixing observable…
Similarities among North Mesopotamian (Late Halaf), Egyptian (Naqada), and Nubian (A-Group) Female Figurines of the 6–4th Millennia BCE
Late Halaf female figurines of clay/pottery from northeastern Syria (Type LH.1A; 6th millennium BCE) have close parallels in Predynastic Egyptian figurines (4th millennium BCE) in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology. The lack of provenance for the Egyptian statuettes—all of which were purchased—has long inhibited any comparison with their Mesopotamian counterparts. A further parallel from…
A Note on First Dynasty Egypt, Tel Bet Yerah, and the Origins of Commodity Exchange on the Levantine Seaboard
New ceramic and radiocarbon synchronisms between Egypt and the northern Jordan Valley, including the first-ever site-specific provenience identification of imported vessels from the royal tombs at Abydos, permit the positing of a tightly timed pivot by Early Dynastic Egypt from the southern Levant valleys and highlands to the coastal northern Levant as principal source of…
Upper Egypt in Neo-Assyrian Official Inscriptions: A Case Study in Neo-Assyrian Imperial Ideology
The Assyrian period of Egyptian history is relatively neglected in the fields of both Egyptology and Assyriology. Moreover, the research that exists tends to narrowly focus on the Egyptian-Kushite side (the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Dynasties), on Lower Egypt, and on various historical-chronological issues. By contrast, this paper centers on the Assyrian side, on Upper Egypt,…
The Statues of Udjahorresnet as Archaeological Artifacts
Udjahorresnet is best known for the inscription on his statue in the Musei Vaticani. It gives insights into the transformation of Egypt from an independent kingdom under the Lower Egyptian royal house of Sais (Twenty-sixth Dynasty) to a dependent kingdom under Achaemenid Persian rule. What is less known is that the so-called Naoforo Vaticano is…
Neith as Legitimator: Persian Religious Strategy and Udjahorresnet
While many scholars have interpreted Achaemenid religious policy as one of indifference, the inscriptions on the Naoforo Vaticano statue of Udjahorresnet tell a different tale. These texts demonstrate a strategic willingness to allow—and even support—heterogeneous religious customs to the benefit of the Achaemenid Empire. On the statue of Udjahorresnet, both the religious and political importance…
The Shaft Tomb of Udjahorresnet at Abusir
The burial structure of Udjahorresnet is situated in the western part of the necropolis at Abusir, in a group of large shaft tombs dating to the late Twenty-sixth Dynasty and early Twenty-seventh Dynasty. The arrangement of the underground parts of the tomb is unique among the Abusir tombs of this kind, resembling only the burial…
On the Originality of Udjahorresnet’s Biographical Inscriptions
Udjahorresnet was not only witness of the early Persian rule over Egypt but also a typical representative of the administrative elite of the late Twenty-sixth Dynasty. This paper discusses the similarities of the inscription on the Naophoro Vaticano with biographical inscriptions of Egyptian officials of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, showing how the biographical parts of the…
Udjahorresnet’s Naoforo Vaticano: Acquisition and Exhibition
Through the verification of key archival records, the use of newspaper notices, and diary chronicles, as well as visual sources and the cross-checking of names, the real provenance of Udjahorresnet’s Naoforo Vaticano at the moment of its entry into the Vatican Museums in the late 18th century can be clarified. The belief that the statue…
Fight the Power: Udjahorresnet and Petosiris as Agents of Resistance
Udjahorresnet and Petosiris were two parallel individuals who lived during a period of foreign conquest. Each left behind a monument detailing their complex relationships with these foreign powers. This article examines the statue of Udjahorresnet and the tomb of Petosiris in tandem with current theories of resistance present in postcolonial archaeology to interrogate possible hostilities…
Udjahorresnet’s Family and His Social Background
Although the official career of Udjahorresnet is rather well-known in modern historiography, his family and social background has drawn little in-depth scholarly attention and is still poorly understood. This paper uses onomastics, genealogy, and prosopography as main methodological approaches in order to suggest first preliminary results. Accordingly, Udjahorresnet seems to be a member of a…