Mathematical texts

2020 ◽  
pp. 1032-1040
Author(s):  
Annette Imhausen
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Knowledge ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Source Material ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Modern Analysis ◽  
Mathematical Techniques ◽  
Mathematical Texts ◽  
The Way

Approximately a dozen mathematical papyri have survived from ancient Egypt. Based on their script (but also their stage of the Egyptian language) they fall into two groups—hieratic and demotic texts. These papyri constitute our primary source material to learn about ancient Egyptian mathematics. Because of the procedural style that they were written in, it is assumed that they were used in teaching junior scribes the mathematical techniques they would need for their job; however, the procedural format may also have constituted the way of collecting mathematical knowledge at the time. It is only if this format is taken into account in the (modern) analysis of Egyptian mathematical texts that their sophistication becomes visible, and a deeper understanding of Egyptian mathematics beyond rudimentary similarities to modern equivalents can therefore be achieved.

scholarly journals Crowning the “Sun of the Aryans”: Mohammad Reza Shah's Coronation and Monarchical Spectacle in Pahlavi Iran

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Robert Steele
Keyword(s):  
Church And State ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Source Material ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Way

Abstract Coronations are commonly held at the beginning of a monarch's reign, symbolizing accession to the throne and the continuation of the dynasty. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's coronation ceremony of 1967, however, was held twenty-six years into his rule and was designed to draw attention to the renewed glory of Iranian monarchy and the successes of the Pahlavi shahs. This coronation ceremony and related events offer important insights into the Pahlavi ideologues’ conceptualization of monarchy and the strategies they employed to inculcate their ideology in a domestic and global audience. The shah and the monarchy were presented as revolutionary and reformist, and simultaneously as the ultimate defenders of tradition; as religious by nature, but also as proponents of the separation of church and state. This paper seeks to understand, using a range of underutilized primary source material, how the regime delivered these apparently contradictory notions, and what it sought to gain from holding the event in the way that it did.

scholarly journals Maat vs. The statue of Égalité: A critical analysis of Ataa Ayi Kwei Armah’s Wat Nt Shemsw: The way of companions

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 33-65
Author(s):  
Ọbádélé Kambon ◽  
Lwanga Songsore ◽  
Yaw Mankatah Asare
Keyword(s):  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Black People ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Rightful Place ◽  
Actual Content ◽  
The Way

In this paper, we endeavor to restore Mꜣꜥt ‘Maat’ as truth to her rightful place by challenging erroneous and demonstrably incorrect notions as they appear in Ataa Ayi Kwei Armah’s Wat Nt Shemsw: The Way of Companions. By cross-referencing Ataa Armah’s vague allusions to “ancient Egyptian” mythology with actual textual documentation from Kmt ‘Black Nation/Land of Blacks’ (so-called “ancient Egypt”), we will interrogate the assertions made about the myths of the kmt(yw) ‘Black people’. We find that where Ataa Armah’s statements are at odds with the texts of Kmt ‘Black Nation/Land of Blacks,’ it is necessary to bring this information to light so that the readers can learn the actual content of these myths for themselves. In conclusion, we find that to truly understand Kmt ‘Black Nation/Land of Blacks,’ Afrikan champions interested in restoring the truth of Mꜣꜥt ‘Maat’ must let the Ancestors speak without Eurasian interpreters or interpretations.

The Ancient Egyptians’ “Religious World”: The Foundation of Egyptian Law

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nico Van Blerk
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Eternal Life ◽  
Life After Death ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Role Of Religion ◽  
The Way

The aim of this paper is to indicate the importance of religion in ancient Egypt and to indicate that this was the foundation for ancient Egyptian law. In order to understand ancient Egyptian law, it is important to understand the role of religion as background to its development. Religion played an important role in the ancient Egyptians’ understanding of their world, specifically the belief in maat. Religion, and specifically maat, influenced everything they did. Their whole life and the way they operated as a society was based on the principles of maat, since living in accordance with maat would ensure eternal life, life after death. It was essentially maat which made law necessary in ancient Egypt.

Reception of ancient Egypt

2020 ◽  
pp. 78-96
Author(s):  
Florian Ebeling
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
History Of Ideas ◽  
Direct Access ◽  
The West ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Way

The history of reception of ancient Egypt deals with the perceptions and images of ancient Egypt in the West that emerged without direct access to ancient Egyptian sources, especially without proper knowledge of the hieroglyphs. It deals with texts, images and art as part of the history of ideas and with material culture as well. It is not about the question of whether these images and concepts correspond to the historical realities in ancient Egypt, but about the question of the way in which ancient Egypt was referred to, and about the relevance of this concept in the history of the West.

Mathematics in Ancient Egypt

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annette Imhausen
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Knowledge ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Middle Kingdom ◽  
Old Kingdom ◽  
Material Resources ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Unit Fractions ◽  
Egyptian Culture ◽  
Mathematical Techniques ◽  
Egyptian History

This book traces the development of Egyptian mathematics, from the end of the fourth millennium BC—and the earliest hints of writing and number notation—to the end of the pharaonic period in Greco-Roman times. The book surveys three thousand years of Egyptian history to present an integrated picture of theoretical mathematics in relation to the daily practices of Egyptian life and social structures. It shows that from the earliest beginnings, pharaonic civilization used numerical techniques to efficiently control and use their material resources and labor. Even during the Old Kingdom, a variety of metrological systems had already been devised. By the Middle Kingdom, procedures had been established to teach mathematical techniques to scribes in order to make them proficient administrators for their king. The book looks at counterparts to the notation of zero, suggests an explanation for the evolution of unit fractions, and analyzes concepts of arithmetic techniques. It draws connections and comparisons to Mesopotamian mathematics, examines which individuals in Egyptian society held mathematical knowledge, and considers which scribes were trained in mathematical ideas and why. Of interest to historians of mathematics, mathematicians, Egyptologists, and all those curious about Egyptian culture, the book sheds new light on a civilization's unique mathematical evolution.

Egyptology and cognate disciplines

2020 ◽  
pp. 47-64
Author(s):  
David Wengrow
Keyword(s):  
Art History ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Source Material ◽  
Literary Studies ◽  
Field Of Study ◽  
The World

Egyptology has been described as a discipline ‘tortured by its own source material’. As a field of study, Egyptology depends on archaeological fieldwork as a primary source of data. Yet its theoretical concerns often derive from fields such as literary studies and art history, which assume certain categories of knowledge that are often lacking, or only obliquely attested, for ancient Egypt. This chapter explores these tensions in the development of Egyptology from the decipherment of hieroglyphs to the present day. It is argued that the disciplinary orientation of Egyptology can be usefully considered in terms of its changing relationship to the world of objects, and in terms of its orientation to questions of translation, broadly conceived.

Ancient Egyptian pottery

2017 ◽  
pp. 311-332
Author(s):  
Bettina Bader
Keyword(s):  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Source Material ◽  
Economic Issues ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Use ◽  
A Site ◽  
Made In

This chapter sketches the nature of evidence to be gained from careful analysis of the ceramic remains in ancient Egypt, and the ways to achieve it, explaining some of the advances made in recent years. Pottery provides the most ubiquitous archaeological source material derived from ancient Egypt. Early archaeologists only tended to show interest in pottery when it was intact and/or of aesthetically pleasing shape or decoration, but this important source material has turned into primary evidence when dating a site. It provides information on the history of use of a site as well as on socio-economic issues, such as importations from other sites or even abroad, and glimpses into possible functions of sites.

Time in the Art of Ancient Egypt: From Ideological Concept to Visual Construct

KronoScope ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-82
Author(s):  
Patricia Bochi
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Written Expression ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Cultural Implications ◽  
Visual Approach ◽  
The Way

AbstractThe pervasiveness and immutability of time forced the ancient Egyptians to deal with its impact on everyday life in various ways. Yet, so far most studies have focused on the written expression of the concern for time, thus overlooking other areas of cognition equally capable of accounting for the ancient Egyptians' attempt at addressing the issue. Thus, the present study focuses on the way in which the ancient Egyptians conceptualized and visually represented the phenomenon of time. After examining the image-making process, the study analyzes the socio-cultural implications of such visual approach within the context of ancient Egyptian society.

Legislation and the Constitutional Framework

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Steiner
Keyword(s):  
Civil Law ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
French Law ◽  
Major Overhaul ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Way

This chapter introduces the main constitutional institutions and mechanism governing France, taking into account the major overhaul of the 1958 Constitution in 2008. It also shows that legislation is the primary source of law in France, that there are different types of legislation, and that legislative sources are organised hierarchically. Moreover, the chapter also considers, within the constitutional framework, the legislative process and examines the way in which bills are drafted. It also seeks to familiarise readers with the layout of a French statute. In addition, this chapter shows that much of French law though not all of it is codified. Codification is a particular legislative technique common to most civil law systems.

When Ancient Egyptians Copied Egyptian Work

2020 ◽  
pp. 146-162
Author(s):  
Tamás A. Bács
Keyword(s):  
Visual Culture ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Artistic Activity ◽  
Ancient Egyptian

Repetition or the practice of copying preeminently structured artistic activity in ancient Egypt. Besides its role in training, as a technique of learning to practice an art, and also serving documentary purposes in creating record copies, it served as a conscious artistic strategy in the act of representation. Different modes of the practice coexisted, such as replication or the effort to reproduce perfect replicas, differential reproduction that encouraged variation as well as emulation and could result in transformation, and finally eclectic imitation that characterized “archaism.” What were deemed as appropriate to serve as models for imitation in ancient Egyptian visual culture at any moment depended not only on the particular aesthetic and historical contexts but also on their accessibility, be it physical or archival.

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