National administration

2020 ◽  
pp. 761-777
Author(s):  
Wolfram Grajetzki
Keyword(s):  
Main Concern ◽  
New Kingdom ◽  
Late Period ◽  
Administrative Structure ◽  
Old Kingdom ◽  
Royal Court ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Early Dynastic ◽  
Appointed Officials ◽  
Egyptian History

This chapter explores the notion of a ‘national administration’ in Egypt, from the Early Dynastic Period to the Late Period, by discussing a range of textual sources and other written forms known in tombs and temples. These studies suggest that from the beginning of writing in Egypt around 3000 bc, some form of administrative structure is visible. The supply of food and other resources for the royal palace seems to have been the main concern of the administration in most periods of ancient Egyptian history. In the Fourth Dynasty the vizier became the head of the administration. He controlled legal matters, the scribal offices and was, in the Old Kingdom, also often in charge of the pyramid building. In the New Kingdom the office was divided into two, one vizier had an office in Memphis and other one in Thebes. Other important offices at the royal court were officials in charge of the treasury, those with the granaries and officials in charge of royal domains. The Old Kingdom administration seems to be a rather loose system where the king appointed officials when needed. The Middle and New Kingdom administration shows more fixed structures.

scholarly journals Preservation and identification of ancient M. tuberculosis complex DNA in Egyptian mummies

1970 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert R. Zink ◽  
Stephanie Köhler ◽  
Nasim Motamedi ◽  
Udo Reischl ◽  
Hans Wolf ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Evolution ◽  
Strain Differences ◽  
New Kingdom ◽  
Late Period ◽  
Middle Kingdom ◽  
Tuberculosis Complex ◽  
Tissue Samples ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Early Dynastic ◽  
Time Periods

For years we have investigated the presence and molecular evolution of tuberculosis in Pre Dynastic and Early Dynastic Egyptian mummy material from Abydos (c. 3500-2800 BC), Middle and New Kingdom until the Late Period in Thebes-West (c. 2050 – 500 BC). We have analysed 160 bone and soft tissue samples from different time periods and populations for the occurrence of M. tuberculosis complex DNA. All positive specimens were genetically characterised by spoligotyping and mutation analysis. Molecular analyses revealed excellent state of preservation of the specimens. Research showed a high incidence of M. tuberculosis during all time periods. We further detected specific MTB strain differences with M. africanum in some of the Middle Kingdom samples and “modern” M. tuberculosis strains in the New Kingdom to Late Period material. These results demonstrate that aDNA is excellently preserved in ancient Egyptian mummies allowing the reconstruction of occurrence, frequency, molecular evolution and spread of tuberculosis in Pharaonic populations.

Early Evidence for the Egyptian God Kheprer

2021 ◽  
Vol 89 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Marie Peterková Hlouchová
Keyword(s):  
Old Kingdom ◽  
Personal Names ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Early Evidence ◽  
Early Dynastic ◽  
Pyramid Texts

Analysing early pieces of evidence for a phenomenon has always been a problematic task and it can be more difficult when dealing with a religious topic. Anachronistic approaches have often been projected in this kind of research, which brings inaccurate interpretations and findings. This paper concentrates on early testimonies for the ancient Egyptian god Kheprer, the deity of the morning sun and autogenesis. It discusses some previously suggested Predynastic, Early Dynastic, and Old Kingdom sources (such as finds of beetles in vessels, the so-called Libyan Palette, Giza writing board, figures of beetles, personal names and titles, Pyramid Texts) that can refer to the existence and belief in this deity. This study focuses mainly on the problematic issues in the interpretations of those finds, demonstrating thus that the only secure evidence for Kheprer comes from the Pyramid Texts.

The Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period

2020 ◽  
pp. 618-637
Author(s):  
Nigel Strudwick
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Old Kingdom ◽  
Modern Culture ◽  
Intermediate Period ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Early Dynastic ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Intermediate Period ◽  
First Time ◽  
Egyptian History

The Old Kingdom is usually characterized as the first great epoch of Egyptian history, when the phenomenal cultural, iconographical and political developments of the late Predynastic Period and the Early Dynastic Period coalesced to give an eminently visible culture that says ‘ancient Egypt’ to the modern audience. This development may best be symbolized by the pyramid, the most persistent image of the era. For its part, the First Intermediate Period is the first clear manifestation in Egyptian history of the periods of disunity and systemic weakness that have affected every long-lasting ancient and modern culture in one form or the other. The time-period covered in this section illustrates for the first time both the highs and lows of ancient Egypt. The Old Kingdom is usually defined as consisting of the Third to Eighth Dynasties of Manetho (c.2686–2125 bc), and the First Intermediate Period of the Ninth and Tenth and roughly two-thirds of the Eleventh Dynasty (c.2160–2016 bc).

scholarly journals SCORCHED EARTH: VIOLENCE AND LANDSCAPE IN NEW KINGDOM EGYPTIAN REPRESENTATIONS OF WAR

2017 ◽  
pp. 7-28
Author(s):  
UROŠ MATIĆ
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Urban Landscapes ◽  
New Kingdom ◽  
Real Difference ◽  
Landscape Elements ◽  
Old Kingdom ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Visual Record ◽  
Written Sources

Death and destruction of peoples and lands are the reality of war. Since the Old Kingdom the destruction of enemy landscape is attested in Egyptian written sources and the number of attestations increases in the following periods, culminating in the New Kingdom. This is also the period when the first visual attestations of enemy landscape destruction appear. In this paper I will explore the actors, targets and acts concerning violence against enemy landscapes together with the use of landscape elements as metaphors for the violent treatments of enemies during the New Kingdom. The study shows that there are differences in representations of treatments of Syro-Palestinian and Nubian landscapes, which could be related to the reality of war itself, as monumental enemy fortresses did not exist in Upper Nubia, at least not on the same scale as in Syria-Palestine. This real difference went hand in hand with the ancient Egyptian construction of the Other as unsettled. Thus, urban landscapes of Syria-Palestine are objects of violence in the visual record where they are reduced to unsettled landscapes through destruction and desolation. It is also shown that this reality of war is additionally framed through Egyptian rules of decorum ascribing most of the destructions of landscape to the king and only some to the soldiers.

Tomb Robberies at the End of the New Kingdom

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentina Gasperini
Keyword(s):  
British Museum ◽  
New Kingdom ◽  
Intermediate Period ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
New Information ◽  
New Interpretation ◽  
And Function ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
First Time ◽  
Egyptian History

At the end of the 19th century W.M.F. Petrie excavated a series of assemblages at the New Kingdom Fayum site of Gurob. These deposits, known in the Egyptological literature as 'Burnt Groups', were composed by several and varied materials (mainly Egyptian and imported pottery, faience, stone and wood vessels, jewellery), all deliberately burnt and buried in the harem palace area of the settlement. Since their discovery these deposits have been considered peculiar and unparalleled. Many scholars were challenged by them and different theories were formulated to explain these enigmatic 'Burnt Groups'. The materials excavated from these assemblages are now curated at several Museum collections across England: Ashmolean Museum, British Museum, Manchester Museum, and Petrie Museum. For the first time since their discovery, this book presents these materials all together. Gasperini has studied and visually analysed all the items. This research sheds new light on the chronology of deposition of these assemblages, additionally a new interpretation of their nature, primary deposition, and function is presented in the conclusive chapter. The current study also gives new information on the abandonment of the Gurob settlement and adds new social perspective on a crucial phase of the ancient Egyptian history: the transition between the late New Kingdom and the early Third Intermediate Period. Beside the traditional archaeological sources, literary evidence ('The Great Tomb Robberies Papyri') is taken into account to formulate a new theory on the deposition of these assemblages.

scholarly journals And Everything Began with Laughs and Tears… The Creation of the Gods According to Esna II, 163, 16-17; III 206, 8-9 (§13) and III, 272, 2-3: Precedents, Interpretation and Influences

2018 ◽  
pp. 187-206
Author(s):  
Josué Santos Saavedra ◽  
◽  
Roger Fortea Bastart ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Being ◽  
Late Period ◽  
Old Kingdom ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Intellectual Context ◽  
The Creation

The tears of the demiurge play a prominent role within ancient Egyptian cosmogonic traditions regarding the genesis of the human being. However, the creation of the gods as a consequence of the demiurge's laughter appears to be a unicum of the Esna temple texts. This is not to say, however, that certain precedents of laughter as a vitalizing agent cannot be traced at least from the Old Kingdom, which would later be duly reworked by Latopolitan theologians during the late period. It is precisely this topic that will be studied in this work, showing some possible antecedents in which the idea of ​​the creation of divine entities through laughter would have settled, at the same time that it will delve into the meaning of this theogonic method compared to the anthropogonic. Likewise, the relevance or not of the hypothesis formulated by some researchers regarding the transmission of this notion of theogonic laughter to different texts written in Greek will be analyzed, as well as the intellectual context in which such an event could have occurred.

Relief sculpture

2020 ◽  
pp. 456-470
Author(s):  
J. Brett McClain
Keyword(s):  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Dimensional Representation ◽  
Primary Methods ◽  
Old Kingdom ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Relief Sculpture ◽  
Egyptian History

Relief sculpture was one of the primary methods used to decorate structures and objects from the Predynastic period through to the end of pharaonic civilization. Relief decoration might be raised, incised, or a combination of both formats. The techniques of carving in relief, as well as the fundamental canonical principles of two-dimensional representation, were fully developed by the end of the Old Kingdom and were generally maintained, though with significant stylistic variations, during all subsequent eras of ancient Egyptian history. These techniques and the chronological development of relief sculpture as a medium are summarized here.

scholarly journals THE HISTORICAL AND LEGAL STUDY OF SEARCHING OF THE PROTOTYPES OF THE PROSECUTOR’S INSTITUTE IN THE JUSTICE OF ANCIENT EGYPT

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (9) ◽  
pp. 18-23
Author(s):  
Yevhenii Martynjuk ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Late Period ◽  
Independent State ◽  
Legal Study ◽  
Legal Proceedings ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Early Dynastic ◽  
The Future ◽  
Administrative Courts ◽  
Procedural Guidance

The institutional organizations of the system of pre-trial investigation and judicial, and procedures for investigation and legal proceedings in the Ancient Egypt during the existence of the independent state is analyzed in the article. Based on the peculiarities of the organization of the justice’s mechanism, there are two main stages. The first stage covers time from the Early Dynastic Period (n. 3050 BC) till the Late Period (332 BC). Separately the justice of the Ptolemaic period (332–30 BC) has been analyzed which differs from privies periods essentially across combining conventional ancient egyptional features with Hellenic traditions. Within the framework of this analysis, an attempt was made to determinate the list of bodies and officials who in the Ancient Egypt’s justice were the prototypes of the future creation of the prosecutor’s institute. This separation of Ancient Egyptian officials is based on the comparison their institutional and functional matter with the modern prosecutor’s positions and powers, such as: overseeing the bodies of pre-trial investigation in the form of procedural guidance and supporting of public accusation at the trial, representation of the state’s interests at civil, commercial and administrative courts, as well.

scholarly journals Evolution of Ancient Egyptian Bifacial Flint Knives

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 7-27
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Lajs
Keyword(s):  
Nile Delta ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Old Kingdom ◽  
The North ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Early Dynastic ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
North Eastern Part

Bifacial knives are a significant category of artefacts known from ancient Egypt, drawing the attention of researchers since the beginnings of Egyptology. A popular type of knife with a well-defined handle was produced from the Early Dynastic onwards. Bifacial knives were crucial in many aspects of life. The knives from the site of Tell el-Murra, located in the North-Eastern part of the Nile Delta, are no exception. The chronology of the site dates back to the Predynastic period and lasts to the end of the Old Kingdom. There are two main groups identified amongst the bifacial knives: the first one dated to the Early Dynastic period and the second to the Old Kingdom. Both of them have some specific features which allow them to be assigned to their proper chronological phases.

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