Nubian prisoners of the tomb of Horemheb in Saqqara

Modern Tell el-Maskhuta was known anciently as Per  Atum  (hence  biblical  Pithom),  Tukw  ("The Estate of Atum in  Tkw" [biblical Sukkoth]), Greek Heron-polis (Eroopolis, Heroon),  and  Roman  Ero  (Hero).  This  multicomponent  stratified  site  (30°33'N, 32°60'E) in the Wadi Tumilat region of the eastern Nile  Delta  was  occupied  during  the last  two-thirds  of  the  seventeenth  centmy BCE,  and again from around 610 BCE  to perhaps the early  fourth  century  CE.  It  experienced  brief  periods  of  decline  in  the  fifth century BCE and again in the first century BCE through the first  century CE. Probably founded in connection with overland trade to  southern Arabia during the Hyksos period, it was a control point  and entrepot on the sea-level canal of Necho II (610-595 BC), which ran from the Nile to the head of the Red Sea via the Wadi Tumilat and the Bitter  Lakes region.

Tell el-Maskhuta  was  the  first  site  excavated  by  the  Egypt  Exploration Society (Edouard Naville, 1.883). Prior to World War  I,  Jean  Cledat  conducted  excavations,  apparently  largely  in  the  temple precincts, which yielded numerous museum specimens but  little  of  scholarly  substance.  More  recently,  the  Egyptian  Antiquities Organization, now the Supreme Council of Antiquities,  has  conducted  numerous  excavations  in  the  northern  cemetery,  along the Ismailia Canal, and in a number of areas in and on the  margins of the modern village. Most current knowledge of the site  derives from a major series of surveys and excavations conducted  by a multidisciplinary University of Toronto team directed by John  S. Holla-day, Jr.

Recent Pages:

·        Petosiris
·        Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie
·        Petuabastis
·        Philae
·        Piety in Ancient Egypt
·        Piramesse

During the Second Intermediate Period (Middle  Bronze  IIB),  a  small—roughly  2  hectares—unfortified village with strong Near Eastern or Hyksos  characteristics  occupied  the  center  of  what  was  to  become  the  fortified  site.  It  was  essentially  a  self-subsistent  entity,  with  numerous  silos  and,  in  the  earlier  strata,  entombments  within  individual  ownership  plots  (much  as  at  Tell  ed-Dab'a  during  the  earlier  occupational  periods).  Judging  from  plant  remains  pre- served  in  cooking-fire  ashes,  the  village  was  seasonal,  with  no  occupation  during  the  summer  months.  Farming  (wheat  and  barley)  and  animal  husbandry  (cattle,  sheep  and  goats,  pigs,  donkeys, and at least one horse) formed a major part of the local  economy, although they were not, apparently, the major reason for  the site's existence.

Hunted  animals  included  a  small  hartebeest,  ostriches,  and  gazelle,  reflecting  a  semi-arid  savanna  setting;  and  a  variety  of  migratory  waterfowl,  indicating  the  regional  presence  of  small  lakes  or  swamps.  At  least  some  pottery—the  local  pottery  constituted a subset of the Tell ed-Dab'a repertory—was made on  site,  and  there  is  evidence  for  other  industrial  pursuits,  such  as  weaving on the (non-Egyptian)  warp-weighted  loom,  and  secondary  copper-smelting.  Flint blades (mostly segmented sickle blades) apparently arrived at  the site fully formed; they were locally hatted or rehafted.

That the inhabitants were not simple peasant farmers seems most  evident  from  the  burials,  which  were  rich  and  mostly  in  tombs.  These followed Near Eastern patterns, including ass burials outside  of early "warrior" tombs, and were characterized by strong age and  sex  patterns  in  the  distribution  of  grave  goods. Bronze daggers,  a  battle-axe,  knives,  toggle-pins,  and  other  items  characterized  most  adult burials, with. amulets being reserved for juveniles. Gold and silver headbands and armbands, earrings, rings, and scarab mounts  were  not  uncommon.  Amethyst  beads  and  an  amethyst  scaraboid  probably were looted from twelfth dynasty tombs.

It appears that Pithom, and other Near Eastern sites in the Wadi Tumilat, existed as adjuncts—with Tell el-Maskhuta perhaps being  a major reception point—for long-distance overland trade in high- value  commodities  with  southern  Arabia  and  the  Horn  of  Africa.  Presumably the need for such a difficult overland route arose during  a period in which the Nile no longer was accessible to traffic bound  for Avaris/Tell ed-Dab'a (Holladay 1997b).

Recent Pages:


·        Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie
·        Petuabastis
·        Philae
·        Piety in Ancient Egypt
·        Piramesse

Piye's pyramid at El-Kurru

Piya (744–714 BC), third  king  of  the  twenty-fifth or Kushite, dynasty. Late period. Piya, also known as Piankhy, was the  first ruler of the Kushite kingdom to attempt to control all of Egypt;  he is therefore to be viewed as the real founder of the twenty-fifth dynasty. His activities are known mainly from his monumental stela  erected at the site of Napata (Gebel Barkal). Piya's first attempts to  involve himself in affairs to the north of his southern kingdom of Kush (now  in  Sudan)  led  him  into  immediate conflict with  the  various  princes and dynasts of  a  divided  Egypt. In  particular,  he  claims to have moved north to the ancient center of Amun worship,  Thebes, in an effort to exert political and religious influence over that region.  He first installed his sister Amunirdis as "God's Wife of Amun" at  Kamak,  and  he  appears  to  have  received  the  tacit  submission  of  Middle  Egypt,  where  various  garrisons  held  by  local  potentates  blocked  his  way.  On  his  famous  stela  of  victory,  dated  to  the  twenty-first  year  of  his  reign,  Piya  is  described  as  focusing  particular  attention  on  the  city  Hermopolis,  led  by  Namlot,  who  subsequently betrayed him.

Egypt at this time was nominally held by a weak and ineffective  pharaoh, Takelot III (r. 750-720 BCE),  who effectively ruled only  his center in the eastern Nile Delta, Bubastis. Real control over the  land was held by numerous monarchs, among the most powerful of  whom was Tefnakhte, prince of Sais in the western Delta (r. 724- 717 BCE).  It was Tefnakhte who organized the resistance to Piya  after  the  Kushite  ruler  had  effectively  gained  control  of  Hermopolis and, hence, of all Upper Egypt. After recounting the  fall  of  Hermopolis  in  his  stela,  Piya  then  explains  in  detail  his  march to regain control of the old capital of Memphis and its final  capture through another siege. At this point, the war became more  complicated  for  the  Kushite  ruler.  Although  Piya  claimed  pharaonic  jurisdiction  over the entire Nile Valley—a  theological  claim as well as a political one—and although he had received ap- proval  from  the  priesthood  at  Heliopolis,  Piya  faced  organized  resistance from the western Delta.

For more than a century, the northwest portions of Egypt had  been  assimilated  by  a  series  of  Libyan  military  men,  who  eventually consolidated their power at the ancient commercial city  of  Sais.  At  the  time  of  Piya's  move  to  the  North  of  Egypt,  the  leader  of  this  center,  Tefnakhte,  was  pharaoh  in  name  and  deed,  and he effectively controlled all of the Delta northwest of El-Lisht. It was Tefnakhte  who  initiated  opposition  to  Piya's  control  over  Middle Egypt after Namlot, the ruler of Hermopolis, had switched  his allegiance from Piya to the Saite ruler, and after other major  cities  in  the  vicinity  also  opposed  the  Kushite  pharaoh.  This  political  move  was  the  effective  cause  of  Piya's  march  north,  eventually  to  capture  all  of  Egypt  and  subsequently  to  take  Memphis  itself.  Piya  returned  to  his  ancestral  kingdom  of  Kush  and  erected  his  stela  of  victory  in  his  twenty-first  regnal  year  (c.715  BCE).  Nonetheless,  Tefnakhte  was  not  deposed,  and  soon  thereafter Sais resumed its opposition to the Kushites.

Known mainly from the lengthy and detailed inscription on his  victory  stela  as  well  as  from  decorated  blocks  at  Thebes,  Piya  remains a shadowy figure, especially in contrast to his successors.  He  was  not  a  native  Egyptian  and,  as  such,  was  vehemently  opposed by the native rulers. They organized the resistance against  him  and  the  subsequent  Kushite  rulers.  Nevertheless,  Piya's  religious piety—or at least his conservatism—was one of his hall marks, and there is little doubt that his adherence to the long- standing Amun cult of Thebes, stressed in his stela of victory, was  a  primary  reason  why  Thebes  remained  firmly under  his  control  during his reign.

Recent Pages:


·        Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie
·        Petuabastis
·        Philae
·        Piety in Ancient Egypt
·        Piramesse
·        Tell el-Maskhuta (Pithom)
·        Second Intermediate Period

Plutarch's bust at Chaeronea, his home town

Plutarch (c.46-120 CE), a greek historian and philosopher. Bom in Chaeronea in  Boeotia,  Plutarch  was  educated  in  Athens,  mainly by the Platonist Ammonius, who had an Egyptian name and  came to Athens from Egypt. Plutarch spent some time in Rome and  also in Alexandria, but the small town of Chaeronea remained his  permanent home. There, he filled various public posts and was a  priest at nearby Delphi. His family life was very happy; his wife Timoxena bore him five children, while a circle of friends  and pupils acted as a little academy under his lead.

Plutarch was a prolific writer, and his many biographical works  included  Parallel  Lives,  about  Greeks  and  Romans.  His  Moral  Essays covered a wide variety of themes, such as greed, flattery,  loquacity,  superstition,  education,  and  marriage;  his  style  was  popular, being both lively and instructive. In other essays a more  ambitious  approach  appeared,  in  that  themes  were  tackled  that  interested  Stoics,  Epicureans,  and  Platonists.  As  an  avowed  Platonist, Plutarch was in some ways open to Stoic influence; for  example, in his emphasis on Providence.

His intense interest in religious beliefs and practices in addition  to his vast reading on the whole field have led to the considered  claim by Jean Hani (1976) that Plutarch is antiquity's best historian  of religions. The claim is strongly supported by Plutarch's superb treatise On  Isis and Osiris (the De Iside et Osiride—although  written in Greek, the Moral Essays are traditionally called by their  Latin titles). In this work, a distinction should be made between  the  accounts  given  of  myths  and  rites  and  the  often  added  interpretations. The accounts showed, on the whole, a remarkable  reliability  when  compared  with  the  evidence  of  the  Egyptian  sources; the interpretations, in  contrast,  were  often  colored  by  Pythagorean,  Platonic,  Stoic,  Gnostic,  and  even  Iranian  ideas;  in  chapters  46,  47,  and  48  the  dualistic basis of Zoroastrianism was presented in an expose, which  has often been quoted as authoritative.

For evidence on the contemporary cult of the Egyptian deities,  Plutarch relied to some extent on his friend Clea, who held a double  priesthood at Delphi—that of Isis and that of Dionysus. His book is  dedicated to Clea. (It is possible, though not certain, that Plutarch  was  also  an  initiated  devotee  of  Isis.)  On  a  wide  range  of  information about Egyptian religion, Plutarch was greatly indebted  to a large number of Greek writers, whose compilations he probably  used.  Their  quality  varied,  but  most  important  among  them  to  Plutarch  was  Manetho,  a  bilingual  Egyptian  and  a  high  priest  at  Heliopolis under the first two kings of the Ptolemaic dynasty.

Recent Pages:


·        Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie
·        Petuabastis
·        Philae
·        Piety in Ancient Egypt
·        Piramesse
·        Tell el-Maskhuta (Pithom)
·        Second Intermediate Period
·        Piya (744–714 BC)

Egyptian death mask from the 18th dynasty. Louvre, Paris

The  origins  of  portraiture in  ancient  Egypt  no  doubt lie in the belief in eternal life. In the early phases of Egyptian history known collectively as the Predynastic period,  there  were  attempts  to  preserve  the  body.  In  the Old Kingdom, the cadaver was wrapped in linen that was stiffened with  resin or plaster. Lifelike details were molded or modeled, creating a  sculpture  from  the  body.  Throughout  Egyptian  history,  the  ever- increasing elaboration of funerary equipment reveals the desire to  prepare  the  deceased  for  eternity;  tomb  sculptures  represent  a  personal  ideological  imperative  that  preserves  the  identity  of  the  deceased as a self-presentation of a virtuous life, both to the deities  and to humans.

The  ancient  Egyptians  required  abstract  qualities  or  physical  correspondence,  and  often  both,  in  their  portraiture,  which  was  limited almost exclusively to sculpture. A pensive or contemplative  expression,  for  example,  is  a  frequent  component  of  a  lifelike  rendering.  Still  more  than  outward  appearance,  the  virtue  of  the  individual represented his or her reality. Foremost in the Egyptian  value  system  was  a  principle  known  as maat ("harmony,  cosmic  equilibrium"),  which  all  persons  were  expected  to  preserve.  Idealizing statues must have been portraits because they created a  necessary fiction; they revealed the admirable qualities, especially  the  adherence  to  maat,  by  which  the  deceased  wished  to  be  remembered.  They  are  the  three-dimensional  equivalents  of  the  paintings  of  the  judgment  of  the  dead  found  on  cartonnages  and  sarcophagi. In both sculpture and painting, the deceased is always  represented as a sinless, upstanding individual. Unlike later artists,  the Egyptian sculptor had little opportunity for personal expression  or  deviation  from  convention.  Many  strictures,  including  the  patron's wishes, controlled the portrait's content.

Tomb sculptures were private and directed primarily toward the  deities. Public statues, particularly of royalty, were erected in and  around temples and palaces to serve as the official images or self- presentations  to  both  mankind  and  the  theological  pantheon.  Although the context and purpose of public sculpture often explain  the variation in facial types, especially in royal statues, the aspects  or  character  traits  were  not  necessarily  different  between  private  and public statues. Furthermore, the official image of a ruler was  but  one  element  of  the  ideological  program  of  his  sculptures,  regardless  of  context.  His  dress,  insignias,  and  crowns—even  the  dazzling paint or luster of the highly polished stone—were critical  elements in the dramatic presentation of his stature.

A few scholars deny the existence of portraiture in Egyptian art,  claiming that idealizing sculptures cannot possibly be realistic and  that lifelike sculptures are formulaic or pastiches. Others insist that  any  lifelike  attributes,  particularly  in  the  facial features,  qualify  a  sculpture  as  portraiture.  To  be  a  portrait,  the  reasoning  goes,  an  image must be recognizable and unable to be confused with the representations of other individuals. Advocates of this argument do  not necessarily require complete verisimilitude. They admit stylistic  conventions—a unique configuration of the eyebrow or the outlines  of the eye—as markers of identity, along with more specific details  such as facial musculature. The problem with this interpretation is  that  it  implicitly  requires  a  physical  correspondence  between  the  subject  and  the  sculpture.  It  also  precludes  a  common  means  of  association by an individual with a group or, in the case of royal  portraits, with an earlier ruler. The genealogy of portraiture and the  association  of  an  individual  with  an  earlier  period  contain  a very  specific  political,  social,  or  theological  message.  Therefore,  the  continuation  of  a  portrait  type  may  indicate  a  desire  to  be  associated with a previous person or era rather than being proof of  physical  similarity.  Despite  the  denial  of  an  individual's  "real"  appearance,  sculptures—  as  well  as  paintings and  reliefs—of  this  type  are  portraits  because  they  reveal  the  qualities  by  which  the  person wished to be known.

There  are  other  factors  that  must  be  taken  into  account  when  considering a historical portrait in isolation. For example, a statue  can be identified with a particular individual in several ways. In its  original context or through an identifying inscription, the identity  would have been clear, regardless of the stylization, idealization, or  similarity to earlier representations. Then again, the great majority  of Egyptians would not have seen the pharaoh; hence, the degree of  realism  of  a  royal  statue  would  have  been  lost  on  them.  Furthermore,  most  sculptures  have  by  now  been  removed  from  their  settings,  and  many  either are  un-inscribed  or  have lost  their  original identifying text. Because the facial features of so many of  these  sculptures  are  non-individualized,  they  remain  anonymous.  Many sculptures were appropriated by later persons and transported  to distant locations. Sometimes they were recut and reinscribed for  the  new  owner,  but  occasionally  they  were  simply  reinscribed.  Because the original face was left untouched, the recognition factor  seems  irrelevant.  The  new  inscription  gave  the  sculpture  a  new  identity;

hence, its inner qualities now applied to the new owner. Even when  naturalistic details appear, the identity is often difficult to determine  without  an  inscription.  Although  these  works  seem  idealized,  stylized,  or  formulaic  to  us,  to  the  ancient  Egyptians  they  were  portraits  because  they  conformed  to  the  prevailing  style  that  was  appropriate for expressing the inner character of individuals or the  role that they fulfilled.

Thus,  three  different  types  of  portrait  are  found  in  ancient  Egyptian art: idealized and realistic portraits of real individuals and  depictions  of  Fictitious  or  nonspecific  individuals,  such  as  a  "foreigner."  The  third  category  combines  the  first  two  types  because it is a "study" of a more  general  nature,  often  with  a  seemingly  realistic  appearance.  Realism does not consist of surface appearance;  otherwise,  any  photograph  would  be  a  portrait.  What  makes  a  portrait is the artists elucidation of an emotional, psychological, or  intellectual  component,  an  inner  life  that  transcends  physical  correspondence.  Those  components  are  not  always  recognizable;  artists often transmit them in a personal code decipherable by no  one  else.  In  modern  times,  the  artist's  perception  becomes  the  defining  element  of  the  portrait.  This  luxury  of  personal  inter- pretation, however, was a freedom that the ancient Egyptian artist  did not enjoy.

Statue of Raherka and Meresankh. Raherka is depicted with realistic looking musculature

That  portraiture  resists  a  single,  all-purpose  definition  is  not  surprising, because it encompasses at least four sometimes opposing  impulses: the publics expectations, the subject's wishes, the artist's  vision,  and  artistic  conventions.  Despite  the  difficulties  of  interpretation, in very simple terms a portrait is a character study. It  probes beneath the surface and reveals not the full range of the indi- vidual's psyche but one or a few aspects, which differ according to  the needs that the portrait satisfies. Frequently a portrait is a labored  or  artificial  study,  especially  when  it  serves  an  official  or  public  purpose.  Most  often,  a  portrait  captures  a  passing  but  revelatory  mood and transfixes it for all time. Because the artist, subject, and  viewer  have  different  perceptions  of  the  finished  product,  some  scholars  have  rightly  questioned  the  validity  of  the  specific  label  "portraiture"  and  have  suggested  simply  "representation"  or  "approximation" as alternatives. "Likeness" is another option, if it  includes works that evoke the psychological or intellectual qualities  of the individual and not merely the physiognomic details.

Consequently,  portraiture  is  one  of  the  most  confusing,  ill- defined, and controversial terms in the study of ancient Egyptian art.  Part of the problem is the overemphasis on and misunderstanding of  realism,  which  generally  conforms  to  the  modern  expectation  of  anatomical  verisimilitude.  Realism,  however,  remains  the  greatest  obstacle  to  the  understanding  of  portraiture  and  is  the  focus  here.  Before the importance of realism to the Egyptological controversy  can  be  assessed,  some  general  observations  on  portraiture  are  necessary.

The  style  or  type  of  portrait  varies  according  to  the  intended  audience.  A  portrait  created  for  public  display  relies  heavily  on  physiognomy. Because the portrait is an official image, however— most  often  of  government,  business,  and  academic  persons—the  artist  acquiesces  to  formulaic  exigencies  and  endows  the  representations  with  heroic  qualities,  such  as  the  abilities  to  lead,  make difficult decisions, and endure crises. Individual qualities are  subordinated  to  expected  roles,  and  it  is  sometimes  questionable  whether correspondence exists. Realism thus serves an ideal or an  expectation, but it does not necessarily portray the individual. Realism is not an objective quality; it is  subjective  and mutable. The  realism  of  a  portrait  depends  on  the  viewers for whom it was created and the function that it served.

Correspondence  is  perhaps  more  evident  in  portraits  intended  for  the  subject's  personal  enjoyment  because  something  of  the  individual's inner qualities appear. Nonetheless, uncertainty about  the realism remains. The artist may defer to the patron's vanity by  subduing some features and emphasizing others. The subject may  specify the qualities to be expressed or the manner of representa- tion.  The  descendants  of  an  illustrious  ancestor  sometimes  commission a flattering portrait, as if to create an official image.

Because the majority of human representations in Egyptian art  appear to contemporary sensibilities as idealizing, generalizing, or  even  formulaic—slim,  youthful,  physically  appealing  figures  devoid  of  lifelike  features—  they  are  not  often  regarded  as  portraits.  By  contrast,  the  slightest  personal  flourish—a  furrowed  brow,  a  pensive  look,  a  distinctive  nose—supposedly  makes  the  representation the genuine item. Quite apart from the unwarranted  primacy  accorded  to  realism,  this  reductive  reasoning  is  unfortunate on at least two counts. It omits the many nuances of  realism,  and  it  completely  overlooks  an  intriguing  related  issue.  Why  are  lifelike  human  representations  generally  confined  to  sculptures of men? Although numerous exceptions exist, Egyptian  paintings  and  reliefs  of  both  men  and  women  are  usually  not  individualizing,  or  fall  within  the  category  discussed  above.  Not  until the Ptolemaic period do individualizing sculptures of women  appear  with  any  regulai-ity,  and  even  then  the  artist  depends  heavily on iconographic attributes to portray the identity  of  an  individual  queen.  Before  then,  that  women  are  generally  depicted  in  all  three  media  as  beautiful,  svelte,  young,  and  flawless  may  seem  an  enlightened  aesthetic,  but  an  equally  valid  interpretation  is  darker  and  pessimistic:  the  individuality  of  women was unimportant. The lack of evidence for individualizing  portraits of women is as much a social as an artistic commentary  because  it  demonstrates  that  their  role  was  limited  and  minimal.  The sculptures and reliefs of Hatshepsut illustrate this point well;  this female pharaoh is typically portrayed in the guise of a male.  The only compromise that convention allowed is Hatshepsut's very  occasional portrayal in female form in some of her portraits.

The  third  portrait  type  is  the  most  intensely  personal,  a  representation intended neither as an official image nor as a private  commission,  but  as  an  independent  work.  It  is  a  category  that  either did not exist or was rare in ancient Egypt. The artist is free  of  constraints  and  expectations  and  endows  the  portrait  with  whatever  qualities  and  sensations  come  to  mind.  Because  these  images  are  occasionally  unflattering  to  the  individual,  they  may  seem  more  honest  and  realistic.  For  example,  caricatures,  espe- cially the political and social varieties, are freighted with prejudice.  Nonetheless,  the  majority  of  "independent"  portraits  are  more  benign,  and  on  first  consideration  they  are  ostensibly  the  most  important  of  the  three  types  because  they  represent  a  personal,  unbound, and therefore objective response; but they are no more  realistic than portraits commissioned as official images or as more  private  and  personal  works.  The  representations  of  the  same  individual are subjective aesthetic responses that may differ from  one artist to the next. Which portrait is the most realistic? Whether  physical  or  internal,  realism  in  portraiture  is  not  an  empirical,  objective  quality  grounded  in  consensus.  It  is  an  ethos,  a  preference,  or  an  interpretation,  an  ever-shifting  variable,  whose  validity and  expression  depend  on  the  audience,  the  subject,  and  the artist.

Few ancient Egyptian portraits are free of stylization. The best  illustration consists of the plaster masks found in the workshop of  the  sculptor  Thutmose  at  Tell  el-Amama,  the  capital  of  the  eighteenth dynasty pharaoh Akhenaten. Some of the masks seem  unretouched,  but  the  majority  are  reworked  or  stylized  to  fit  the  prevailing artistic style. Although part of the individual's outward  appearance  is  preserved,  the  alterations  suggest  that  realism  was  not  as  important  as  the  assimilation  of  the  individual  with  the  pharaoh by adopting his official style.

Stylization occurs in even the most seemingly realistic portraits.  From  the  fourth  dynasty  come  numerous  sculptures  known  as  "reserve  heads,"  which  display  highly  individualizing  features.  Among  the  most  "realistic"  of  all  Old  Kingdom  artistic  works,  these  sculptures  are  regarded  as  true  portraits.  In  one  case,  evidence exists for their anatomical veracity: the hooked nose on the head of Prince Nofer, now  in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, recurs among his tomb reliefs.  The  function  of  the  reserve  heads  has  been  debated,  but  it  is  generally agreed  that they  preserve  the deceased's  vital character.  Interestingly enough, that character or inner life is less in evidence  than  the  meticulous  surface  treatment.  However,  on  a  related  sculpture, the bust of Ankhkhaef, also in Boston, both the internal  and external aspects are revealed. The significant point is that on all  these  realistic  heads,  stylization  is  also  crucial.  The  eyes  and  the  eyebrows are rendered in an artificial manner that is not lifelike but  is a traditional aesthetic style. The awkward proportions of some of  the heads, the peculiar treatment of their mouths, and their overall  ungainly  appearance  indicates  stylization  or  at  least  suggests  that  the heads are not completely lifelike.

Because the mummies of numerous kings survive, a comparison  between  their  heads  and  their  artistic  representations  is  often  instructive. The aquiline  noses  of  the  mummies  of  the  nineteenth  dynasty pharaohs Sety I and Ramesses II are prominent throughout  not only their sculptures but also their paintings and reliefs, which  are among the most individualizing royal representations in these  two media. Nonetheless, they display the same stylization around  the eyes found in the reserve heads.

Even  the  most  anatomically  detailed  Egyptian  representations  can  be  deceptive,  sometimes  they  are  almost  caricatures.  The  idealizing  images  of  the  deceased  as  slim  and  athletic  have  their  counterpart in remarkably corpulent figures such as the renowned  Old Kingdom statues of Kaiaperu in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo,  and of Hemi-unu in the Pelizaeus Museum, Hildesheim. Although  physical  correspondence  is  a  possibility,  these  statues  may  have  been  shaped  by  a  class  distinction.  Both  persons  held  important  positions that freed them from need and from hard manual labor.  Their  dramatic  bodily  presence  may  have  been  a  visual  conceit  manifesting their affluence. At the opposite extreme, the depictions  in painting and relief of pot-bellied fishermen, emaciated and lame  cowherds,  bald  and  bewhiskered  laborers,  and  carefully  observed  foreigners  are  probably  more  genre  figures  born  of  social  commentary than actual individuals. The famous relief of the queen  of  Punt  from  Hatshepsut's  temple  at  Deir  el-Bahri  and  the  innumerable  scenes  of  other  foreigners  are  meticulous  in  their  detail;  yet  it  is  the  peculiarity  of  the  subject  matter,  its  non- Egyptian otherness, that captured the artist's attention. The image of  the queen of Punt may seem at first to be extraordinarily realistic,  but  it  could  well  be  a  caricature.  Unless  the  artist  accompanied  Hatshepsut's  expedition  to  Punt,  he  would  have  relied  on  eyewitness  reports,  which  no  matter  how  reliable  would  have  resulted  in  exaggeration  and  stylization.  Likewise,  for  all  their  ostensible realism, the representations of foreigners surely served as conventions or stereotypes;  they  are  not  necessarily  realistic  portraits  of  actual,  historical  foreigners simply because they seem to be individualizing.

Still, not every secondary character is formulaic. From the tomb  of Horemheb at Saqqara come  several  reliefs  depicting  stock  figures  such  as mourners,  some  of  whom  have  anatomical  details  (receding hairlines, everted navels) that are unparalleled in similar  scenes  and  probably  indicate  actual  persons.  These  surprising  individual  flourishes  in  ancillary  figures  provide  much  of  the  liveliness of Egyptian art and serve as reminders of the profit to be  gained  from  close  study  of  even  the  most  formulaic  or  repetitive  phenomena.

Realism  can  be  misleading  also  among  representations  of  historical persons. The well-known statues of Senwosret III and his  late twelfth dynasty successors in various collections, for example,  have very lifelike, careworn faces, lacking the usual stylization of  the eyebrows and eyes. Most remarkably, indications of advanced  age are manifest in these statues as never before. Nonetheless, their  expressions  and  appearances  seem  to  be  idealizations,  evincing  a  quality or aspect of the king that was part of his official image, his  self-presentation to deities and the public. Although the rulers of the  waning  twelfth  dynasty  may  have  had  family  resemblances  that  were  accurately  rendered in  their  sculptures,  the  close  similarities  between the sculptures of Senwosret III and his successors indicate  that more than genealogy is at work. Actually, the rudiments of the  style  successfully  exploited  by  Senwosret  III  first  appear  in  the  reign  of  Senwosret  II.  A  new  ideology  expresses  itself  in  the  ponderous,  haggard  faces,  which  have  their  analogy  in  several  pensive didactic texts related to kingship.

The phenomenon of appropriation is the clearest indication that  physical  correspondence  was  not  essential  for  portraiture.  In  the  thirteenth dynasty and about a millennium later in the twenty-fifth  dynasty,  private  persons  followed  the  late  twelfth  dynasty  royal  style. The physiognomy of these nonroyal persons obviously had no  importance in their self-presentation. Their borrowing or adaptation  of the official image of earlier kings allowed them to share some of  the  ideological  aspects  inherent  in  the  royal  sculptures.  Similarly,  portraits of the early Ptolemaic rulers are often hard to distinguish  from those of the thirtieth dynasty. This similarity may have been a  deliberate  royal policy to link the  Ptolemies  with  Egypt's  past  or,  alternatively,  the  continuation  of  a  stylistic  convention.  The  type  was then copied by private individuals, who commissioned portraits  that demonstrated a desire to be associated with the royal house.

Exactly the same process recurs throughout Egyptian art, royal  and nonroyal, not only in sculpture but also in painting and relief.  Once a new official royal style was established,  it  became  the  archetype  among  kings  and  commoners,  who made their own modifications through successive generations.  Among  many  examples,  there  are  a  Thutmosid  and  a  Ramessid  style.  Sometimes  the  official  image  had  an  antiquarian  aura.  Because  Ahmose  and  Amenhotpe  I,  the  first  two  kings  of  the  eighteenth  dynasty,  restored  native  rule  after  the  Hyksos  domination  and  saw  themselves  as  the  heirs  of  Nebhepetre  Montuhotpe,  the  late  eleventh  dynasty  pharaoh  who  reunified  the  country after a period of civil strife, they depicted themselves in his  image. Many pharaohs, particularly Ramesses II of the nineteenth  dynasty,  appropriated  the  sphinxes  and  other  sculptures  of  much  earlier  kings;  sometimes  the  only  alterations  were  not  to  the  face  but to the identifying cartouche.

In  many  respects,  portraits  filled  a  general  role.  It  was  not  necessarily  just  the  facial  features  of  an  individual  that  mattered,  but  rather  the  role  that  was  fulfilled.  When  the  pharaoh  died,  the  portrait  could  be  reused  acceptably  by  his  successor  because  it  represented the ideals of kingship and not merely the actual features  of  the  individual  ruler.  New  portrait  types  developed  in  order  to  show  a  ruler's  desire—such  as  association  with  the  previous  pharaoh and the promotion of a dynasty—rather than his features.  The  representation  of  women  in  Egyptian  art  follows  a  similar  pattern: their continual idealization indicates the limited social role  of the eternally youthful, slim, beautiful woman.  Portraiture enabled the Egyptians to promote themselves to their  deities  and  their  fellows  alike  in  a  desired  or  prescribed  manner.  The evidence for "realistic" representations of individuals needs to  be treated with the utmost caution, because they potentially account  for  the  most  stylized  type.  Idealizing  images  at  least  portray  an  individual in a specific role, and as a consequence they should not  be misleading to the modern onlooker.

Recent Pages:


·        Philae
·        Piety in Ancient Egypt
·        Piramesse
·        Tell el-Maskhuta (Pithom)
·        Second Intermediate Period
·        Piya (744–714 BC)
·        Plutarch (c.46-120 CE)

Taking full advantage of the abundance of avian life  in their country, the ancient Egyptians' diet was enriched by birds,  especially delicious and highly nutritious migratory waterfowl. Just  how plentiful and comparatively easy water birds are to obtain in  Egypt  can  be  seen  from  the  fact  that  from  1979  to  1986,  by  a  conservative estimate, between 260,000 and 374,000 of them were  taken  annually  without firearms in the Nile Delta alone,  using  essentially ancient technology. Moreover, there is sound ecological  and other evidence indicating that four or five thousand years ago,  the available wildlife was far richer.

A mixed flock ofwaterbirds being trapped with clap-nets, including some pintails and European teal. A wall painting in the tomb of the twelfth dynasty nomarch Khnumhotep III at Beni Hasan.

By the middle of the first dynasty, as shown by a representation  on  a  gaming  disc  found  in  the  tomb  (no.  3035)  of  the  chancellor  Hemaka at  Saqqara,  and  now  in  the  Egyptian Museum,  Cairo,  fowlers had perfected the technique of employing large, rectangular  clapnets  to  capture  huge  numbers  of  these  migrants.  Most  of  this  hunting presumably took place in the then-extensive swamplands of  the  Delta,  but  probably  also  in  the  Faiyum (El-Faiyum).  Those  birds  not  immediately killed when caught were fattened, even force-fed, and  kept in a semidomesticated state until needed for food or sacrifice.  Members of the aristocracy maintained, as did individual temples,  substantial  stocks  of  poultry  on  their  domains.  These  birds  had  considerable  economic  importance.  The  vast  repertoire  of  scenes  from daily life decorating the walls of tomb-chapels belonging to  the  elite  from the Old Kingdom onward  routinely  include  the  activities  of  busy  poultry  yards  and  aviaries.  These  places  are  shown  teeming  with  various  kinds  of  ducks,  geese,  cranes,  and  doves,  and  frequently  have  captions  giving  the  birds'  names  and  numbers. The famous fifth dynastymastaba (tomb 60) of the high- ranking court official Tiy at Saqqara, for example, is noteworthy for  its wide assortment of vibrant aviculture and fowling compositions.  Such  birds  must  have  been  so  esteemed  as  table  fare,  that  tomb  owners evidently wished to eat them throughout eternity. Generous  numbers of waterfowl are carried as offerings by bearers featured in  tomb-chapels and temples spanning all eras, they appear among the  piles  of  victuals  heaped  before  the  deceased,  are  put  on  funerary  tables, are named in their extensive menus for the beyond, and are  mentioned in temple offering lists. There is some textual evidence  from the New Kingdom that birds were affordably priced in ancient  Egypt. However, the specially raised and force-fed poultry on view  in  tomb  scenes  were  undoubtedly  reserved  for  the  wealthy.  Curiously, the eggs seem to be absent as food in funerary contexts,  probably owing to a taboo.

When images are carefully executed and paint is still extant, it is  sometimes possible to recognize the precise species  depicted.  Some  of  these  fowl  also  appear  as  standard  hieroglyphs.  Frequently  identified  table  birds  are  bean  goose  (Anser fabalis) or graylag goose (Anser anser), r-? and sr; white- fronted  goose  (Anser  albifrons  and  Anser  erythropus),  jrp;  Egyptian  goose  (Alopochen  ae.gyptia.cus),  smn;  ruddy  shelduck  (Tadoma ferruginea), bsbs?; pintail (Anas acuta), zt and hp; turtle  dove  (Streptopelia  turtur)  and  palm  dove  (Streptopelia  senegalensis), mnwt and 'by, common crane (Grus grus), i^yt, 'jw,  and  g^,  and  demoiselle  crane  (Anfhropoides  virgo),  wd\  Other  valuable birds sometimes kept for food include swan (Cygnus sp.),  di-idn?;  wigeon  (Anas  penelope),  wsyt;  European  teal  (Anas  crecca), probably sr and s; quail (Cotumix cotumix), p'rt;

coot  (Fulica  atra),  wh't;  and  possibly  pigeons  (Columba  sp.).  Pigeon cotes, a customary feature of the Upper Egyptian landscape  well  into  the  present  century,  probably  did  not  exist  during  dynastic times, and are first attested in the archaeological record  during the Greco-Roman period.

The impression one derives from pictorial and written sources  of which kinds of poultry were viewed as desirable for dining is  confirmed  through  zooarchaeological  studies  on  bones  from  cemeteries and settlement sites. Burials of well-to-do people often  had  mummified  victuals.  A  sumptuous  funerary  repast  prepared  for Tutankhamun during  the  eighteenth dynasty,  found  near  his  tomb (no. 62) in the Valley of the Kings, consisted of one brant  goose (Branta bemicia), one white-fronted goose, two bean geese,  four  teals,  two  shovelers  (Anas  clypeata),  one  gadwall  (Anas  strepera),  and  two  ducks  that  were  not  identified.  In  the  intact  eighteenth dynasty tomb of the architect Kha at Thebes (tomb 8),  the  deceased  was  interred  with  a  large  amphora  filled  with  eviscerated  poultry,  reportedly  preserved  with  salt.  Theban  tomb  paintings show birds being processed in this manner and stored in  similar tall jars.

Although Egyptian avicultuialists doubtless experienced some  success breeding these birds, owing to the sheer  abundance  of  waterfowl  in  the  wild  and  ease  of  obtaining  them,  there  was  not  a  strong  incentive  for  captive  propagation.  Nevertheless, the growing demand for table geese eventually led to  the complete domestication of a goose, probably the graylag, by the  time  of  the  New Kingdom.  The  Egyptian  goose  occasionally  appears in avi-cultural scenes, but only during the Old and Middle  Kingdoms.  By  the  early  eighteenth  dynasty, this  large  indigenous  duck  had  risen  in  distinction,  becoming  sacrosanct  to  Amun,  the  powerful god of the city of Thebes. It was surely for this reason that  this  species  was  kept  as  a  pet  by  some  Theban  notables,  and  is  displayed quietly sitting near them in their decorated tomb-chapels,  even accompanying them on fowling expeditions, despite the bird's  infamously  aggressive  behavior.  Otherwise,  domestic  poultry  evidently played a small role in Egyptian religious belief.

Today's  most  characteristic  farmyard  bird,  the  chicken  (or  red  jungle fowl. Callus gallus), was unknown to the ancient Egyptians  until  the  nineteenth  dynasty,  and  then  only  as  a  marvel  imported  from Southeast Asia by way of the Near East. The chicken did not  become commonplace along the banks of the Nile until at least the  Ptolemaic  period.  Classical  writers,  such  as  Diodorus  Siculus  (I,  74), in the middle of the first century BCE, mention the large-scale  artificial  incubation  of  poultry  eggs  by  Egyptian  avi-culturalists.  Presumably, the practice of constructing hatcheries first developed  during  the  Late  period.  It  is  also  possible  that  the  eggs  of  other  species,  such  as  the  sacred  ibis  (Tlireskiomis  aethiopicus),  were  incubated  to  supply  the  popular  and  burgeoning  animal-cult  industry  with  birds  used  as  votive  offerings.  The  earliest  archaeological evidence for these installations comes from the sixth  century CE. Hatcheries like this were still being used in some small  villages of Upper Egypt as recently as the late 1950s.

Recent Pages:


·        Philae
·        Piety in Ancient Egypt
·        Piramesse
·        Tell el-Maskhuta (Pithom)
·        Second Intermediate Period
·        Piya (744–714 BC)
·        Plutarch (c.46-120 CE)

El Oman known from a large site, the El Omari culture (c.4600-4400 BCE) is at the outlet of the Wadi Hof, north of Helwan. It was named after its discoverer and was investigated by P. Bovier-Lapierre and F. Debono. Oval, round, and irregular pits were found, dug out from the wadi deposit or cut into the cliff and lined with  mats, clay, and wicker. The economy was based on the cultivation of wheat, barley, broad beans, peas, and flax; animal husbandry was based  on cattle, goats, sheep, and especially pigs. Fishing was important but hunting and gathering less so. Red pottery from two kinds of local clays was straw-tempered,  polished, and  smoothed, showing similarity to Palestinian Neolithic A and B.

Recent Pages:


·        Piramesse
·        Tell el-Maskhuta (Pithom)
·        Second Intermediate Period
·        Piya (744–714 BC)
·        Plutarch (c.46-120 CE)
·        Poultry in ancient Egypt

Distinguished by B. Ginter and J. K. Kozlow-ski, the Moerian culture  was  a  later  phase  of the Neolithic in the Faiyum (El-Faiyum) (c.4400-3800 BCE). It is characterized by a flint industry on blades  and  bladelets  that  were  struck  from  small  concretions,  affiliated with  the  Epi-Paleolithic  technological  tradition  of  the WesternDesert. Two-thirds of the tools are backed blades, micro-retouched  blades  and  bladelets,  retouched  blades,  and  perforators.  Pottery,  tempered  with  organic  material  and  sand,  includes  hemispherical  bowls,  S-profile  vessels,  and  pots  with  cylindrical  necks.  The  Moerian  economy  was  based  on  animal  husbandry,  hunting,  and  fishing.

Recent Pages:


·        Tell el-Maskhuta (Pithom)
·        Second Intermediate Period
·        Piya (744–714 BC)
·        Plutarch (c.46-120 CE)
·        Poultry in ancient Egypt
·        El Oman

Ruins from Tasa-Badari

Discovered  by G.  Brunton, the  paucity of data made it impossible to determine whether Tasa was a  separate  culture, a preliminary phase, or a mutation of the Badarian culture (c.4300-3700 BCE).  Its  originality  was  manifested  in  the simple  pottery  (deep  bowls  and  pots)  of  brown  and  grey-black;  black  or  brownish-black polished beakers, decorated with incised lines filled  with  a  white  paste,  constitute  a  special  group. Tasa  may  have  occupied part of central and southern Egypt to the Armant (Erment) region,  whereas the Badari essentially occupied the northern part of Upper Egypt  (Matmar-Qau);  some  sites  in  the  South, in  the  Wadi  Hammamat,  and  on  the  Red  Sea coast  may  indicate  that  the  Badarian were relatively-mobile. The economy was based on crops  (wheat and barley), animal husbandry (goats, cattle, and sheep), and  hunting.  In  Hemmamiya  are  found  pear-shaped  grain  silos  (3  meters/10  feet  deep),  lined  with  mats  or  baskets,  and  nearby  are  'huts, fireplaces, and animal enclosures. The best-known artifactual  inventory  comes  from  the  graves,of  the  extramural  cemeteries,  where,  besides  pottery,  hollow-based  arrowheads  were  found,  as  well  as  saw-edged  sickle  blades,  stone  axes,  bone  needles,  pins,  awls, and combs; ivory bracelets, beads, rings, vessels, spoons, and  combs; cosmetic palettes, shell and stone beads, ear and nose studs, amulets, and clay boat models. Copper was rare but  the  presence  of  turquoise  and  seashells  indicates  trade  contacts  along  the  Red  Sea  coast.  The  origin  of  the  Badarian  culture  is  unknown,  but  some  features  can  be  traced  to  Palestine  (ceramic  decoration  called  "rippling,"  crop  cultivation,  animal  husbandry),  the Western Desert oases (flint-tool techniques, animal husbandry),  and Nubia (pottery decorations, animal husbandry). The Badarians  seem to have combined various local traditions in forming the first  stage of Upper Egyptian culture.

Recent Pages:


·        Tell el-Maskhuta (Pithom)
·        Second Intermediate Period
·        Piya (744–714 BC)
·        Plutarch (c.46-120 CE)
·        Poultry in ancient Egypt
·        El Oman
·        Moerian

Bone figure with lapis lazuli inlays, Naqada I. British Museum

The existence of a Lower Egyptian kingdom at this period is not probable, but head coverings similar to the Red Crown of Lower Egypt were worn by some figures in rock engravings and paintings (from both the Eastern and Western Deserts); they may be local chiefs. From this period come the first attempts at Egyptian faience and there was  some  slight  increase in copper objects—pins, needles, beads, bracelets, awls, and rings. Models made from cheap materials were deposited in graves (mace heads, knives,  boats). Trade intensified  in  all directions but objects  characteristic of Naqada I have been found mostly to the south in Nubia, very rarely to the northern region of the Delta and Sinai. The increase in trade was accompanied by social stratification, still progressing slowly, and the development of local elites.

Recent Pages:


·        Piya (744–714 BC)
·        Plutarch (c.46-120 CE)
·        Poultry in ancient Egypt
·        El Oman
·        Moerian
·        Tasa-Badari

Female figure with bird traits. Naqada II period, 3500-3400 BCE. Brooklyn Museum

The most important sites are Hierakonpolis, Naqada, el-Amra, Ma-hasna, Abydos,  Matmar, Gerza, and Minshat Abu Oman Most characteristic of this  phase is the expansion to the north—Naqada II, emerging from the  regions of Naqada I, gradually led to the cultural unification of all  Egypt. The expansion into the northern part of Middle Egypt began  in  Naqada IIC;  the  expansion  into  the  Delta  was  no  later  than  Naqada II Dl. It was primarily a territorial occupation, secondarily  securing  trade  routes  to  the  east.  The  basic  principles  of  the  equipment  of  Egyptian  graves  originated  in  this  period,  with  the  quantity and quality of grave goods reflecting the growing Naqada  cultures  social  stratification.  Separate  necropolises  appeared,  containing exclusively large and rich graves. Graves of the elite are  known from Abydos, Minshat Abu Omar, Diospolis Parva, and Hierakonpolis, testifying about social development and the creation  of centers of authority. Although buildings are not well known from  the  period,  the  models  of  houses  discovered  in  graves  depict  rectangular  brick  buildings,  with  wooden  beams  (lintels)  over  the  doors. New kinds of pottery were made of tempered silt. Decorated  pottery had scenes of birds and animals, triangles symbolizing the  desert, and plants. Others with the portrayal of boats with human  figures  may  point  to  the  existence  of  rituals  that  involve  the  leaders/chiefs  of  clans/tribes.  The  oldest  preserved  Egyptian  wall  painting,  at  Hierakonpolis,  may  therefore  be  confirmed,  since  it  shows  hunting,  triumph,  and  rites  associated  with  boats.  Such  scenes in a grave context suggest the beginnings of the custom of  "taking" symbolic and real events of life into the next world.

Conical mace heads were replaced by pear-shaped mace heads,  which, beginning in mid-Naqada II, become symbols of authority— one  of  the  attributes  of  power  in  Egypt's  royal  iconography.  The  production  of copper  increased  in  importance, as  did  that  of  gold  and  silver.  In  general,  metal  was  sought  after,  probably  a  sign  of  status.  Flint  was  still  the  most  important  material  for  tool  pro- duction,  but  techniques  had  advanced;  in  addition  to  traditional  tools made from flakes, a new technique appeared—production of  long  blades,  later  processed  by  bifacial  retouching  (ripple-flake).  The  number  of  personal  adornments  of  bone,  ivory,  and  semiprecious  stones  increased  markedly,  as  did  bracelets,  rings,  beads,  pendants,  and  amulets.  The  rich  material  culture  indicates  that  groups  of  highly  specialized  craftsmen  existed.  Centers  of  production, such as Hierakonpolis, plus a relatively small number  of workshops distributed products throughout the elite. There, the majority of craftsmen also lived. The cities soon  played  a  central  role  for  the  larger  surrounding  territory.  For  example, Naqada (Eg., Nubt, "city of gold") developed significantly  in this period, based on trade in gold and copper from mines in the  Eastern  Desert.  Changes  in  the  environment  and  in  society  also  transformed Hierakonpolis (Eg., Nekhen), regarded by the ancients  as the capital of the Upper Egyptian state, into a major political and  economic  center.  Naqada is  equidistant  (about  100  kilometers/64  miles in a straight line) from Hierakonpolis and Abydos, and other  important  population  centers  were  grouped  in  their  immediate  vi- cinity.  Strong  economic  centers  of  local  authority  arose  and  trade  was  conducted  in  every  direction.  Contacts  with  the  Levant  are  indicated by small quantities of Palestinian pottery in Upper Egypt,  as  well  as  by the  presence  of  Naqada II  products  in  the  Palestine  region. Contacts with Sumer and Elam are yet debatable. Although  raw materials (obsidian, lapis lazuli), products (cylinder seals), and  certain art motifs (a hero strangling a lion) of Mesopotamia or Elarn  appeared, their presence in Egypt may be the result of a series of  indirect  trade  contacts,  not  from  regular  exchange.  Sources  have  been  identified,  other  than  those  previously  supposed, for  at  least  some of the imported goods. For example, obsidian tools were re- garded  as proof of connections between the Nile Valley and  the Near East, but new analyses have shown beyond a doubt that that  obsidian was acquired in Ethiopia. Contacts to the south are better  confirmed:  found  in  Upper  Egypt  was  pottery  characteristic  of  Nubian Group A (made of silt, with a large number of admixtures,  and  decorated  with  ornaments  filled  with  white).  Many  Gerzean  period products were also found in Nubia.

Recent Pages:


·        Piya (744–714 BC)
·        Plutarch (c.46-120 CE)
·        Poultry in ancient Egypt
·        El Oman
·        Moerian
·        Tasa-Badari
·        Naqada I

Egyptologists today correctly use the term calcite when  referring to lithic materials that were historically called travertine,  alabaster,  Egyptian  alabaster,  or  Oriental  alabaster.  Geologically,  calcite  is  a  mineral  composed  of  hexagonal  crystals  of  calcium  carbonate (CaCO,). As used by geologists, the term alabaster refers  to  a  fine-grained,  massive  variety  of  rock  gypsum,  consisting  largely  of the  mineral  gypsum  (hydrous calcium  sulfate,  CaSO,,  •  2H;0),  which  is  a  secondary  mineral  formed  by  the  hydration  of  anhydrite (CaSC^) in a zone of weathering. Ironically, alabastrites  was the original, ancient Greek and Latin name used for "Egyptian  travertine" (a limestone), but that had been forgotten when alabaster  acquired  its  modem  definition  in  the  1500s.  Another  term  sometimes used for Egyptian travertine is calcite-alabaster, which  is  both  inappropriate  and  self-contradictory.  Many  Egyptologists  now call travertine by the term calcite, to avoid confusion with the  well-known  and  very  different-looking  Italian  travertine,  from  Tivoli, Italy (the Romans' tivertino, the Latin word for "travertine").  From the Old Kingdom onward, the Egyptians called travertine ss,  but during the Old Kingdom it was also occasionally referred to as  biyt.

Egyptian travertine (calcite) occurs in two varieties:  (1) a nonbanded to faintly banded, tan to brownish-yellow, coarse- grained, translucent form; and (2) the strikingly banded form with  interlayering  of  the  first-mentioned  variety  with  a  white,  fine- grained,  opaque  form.  With  prolonged  exposure  to  sunlight,  the  brown  and  yellow  colors  become  white.  An  example  of  this  weathering phenomenon may be seen at the Mosque of Muhammad  Ali (built from 1824 to 1848 CE) in Cairo's Citadel. Both the interior  and  exterior  surfaces  of  this  building  were  clad  with  banded  travertine (calcite), but now the outside surface has become nearly  white whereas the inside surface is still brightly colored.

Travertine  (calcite)  occurs as  fracture-and-cavity  fillings  in  the  limestone deposits that border the Nile Valley between Esna in the  south and Cairo in the north, and nine ancient quarries are known  for this rock. The locations, from south to north, and the dates for  these sites are the following: one site near Wadi Asyut (New King- dom);  four  sites  near  the  Tell  el-Amama  ruins  at  Hatnub  (Old  Kingdom through Roman period), both in and near Wadi el-Zebeida  (Middle and New Kingdoms), and in Wadi Barshawi (possibly Middle Kingdom); one site at el-Qawatir  near the city of el-Minya (possibly Old through New Kingdoms);  one site in Wadi Umm Argub near the Wadis Muwathil and Sannur  (Late  period);  one  site  in  Wadi  Araba  near  Wadi  Askhar  el-Qibli  (Roman); and one site in Wadi el-Garawi near the city of Helwan  (Old  Kingdom).  Banded  travertine  was  obtained  from  all  those  quarries,  but  the  nonbanded  variety  may  have  come  only  from  Hatnub.  (Hatnub  is  an  ancient  Egyptian  word  meaning  "golden  house," and it may have been applied to that quarry because of the  uniform golden-brown color of its rock.).

As  a  relatively  soft  mineral  (number  3  on  the  Mohs  Hardness  Scale), calcite is easily worked with bronze, copper, and other metal  or stone tools. Its translucency, pleasing colors, and ability to take a  fine polish made it a popular decorative stone in Egypt from early  dynastic times onward. Because of the difficulty of obtaining large  pieces, it was mainly employed for small objects, such as statuettes,  shawabtis,  offering  tables,  vases,  bowls,  dishes,  canopic  jars,  and  unguent jars. The unguent jars are the alabastra of classical Greece,  originally  ceramic  and  only  later  carved  from  Egyptian  travertine  (calcite), hence the Greco-Roman name alabastrites for this rock.

Occasionally, calcite was used for paving stones and wall linings  in temples as, for example, in the fourth dynasty valley temple of  Khafre at Giza and the nineteenth dynasty sanctuary in the temple  of Ramesses II  at Abydos, respectively. Although large travertine  (calcite) objects are less common than small ones, many are known;  these  include  sarcophagi,  life-size  and  colossal  statues,  naoi,  embalming  beds,  whole  shrines,  and  other  objects.  One  mode  of  transport for such articles was shown in a detailed painting on the  wall of the twelfth dynasty tomb of Djehutihotpe (or Thuthotpe) at  Bersheh,  where  a  colossal  statue  of  that  nobleman  is  pulled  on  a  sledge by 172 men. Some notable examples of large objects are the  following:

(1) the sarcophagus of King Sety I from his tomb in the Valley of  the Kings at Thebes, now in Sir John Soane's Museum, London; (2)  two  huge  blocks  at  Kamak  temple  in  Luxor—one  a  Late  period  offering stand or kiosk foundation in the Great Court and the other,  possibly, a statue pedestal of uncertain age in the Central Court; (3)  the  colossal  statue  of  the  god  Sobek  with  the  eighteenth  dynasty  King Amenhotpe III from Dahamsha, now in the Luxor Museum;  (4)  the  colossal  statue  of  King  Sety  I  from  Kar-nak  temple,  now  in  the  Egyptian  Museum,  Cairo;  and  (5)  two  bark  shrines,  one  by  the  eighteenth  dynasty  kings  Amenhotpe  I/Thutmose I, and one by the twelfth dynasty king Senwosret I, now  in  the  open-air  museum  at  Karnak  temple.  Numerous  other  examples  may  be  found  in  Alfred  Lucas,  Ancient  Egyptian  Materials and Industries (1962).

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Calendar in Ancient Egyptor the pharaonic Egypt's calendrical syste  was both straightforward  and  simple.  From  the  first dynasty  onward,  the  Egyptian  year  was  divided  into  three  seasons,  based  on  the  agricultural rhythm of the Nile Valley: (1) jht, inundation; (2) prt,  emergence  (of  crops);  and  (3)  smw,  harvest.  These  seasons  consisted of four months apiece, each containing thirty days. Hence,  the basic year of the Egyptians comprised a regular number of days  (360) as well as an orderly number of months (12). Such a system  had to have five additional days added to it, the epagomenals ("days  above the year"), which neatly fixed the annual rotation of the sun  to a set integer of 365; there were no intercalary days in that native  year.

The calendrical order was most advantageous to Egyptologists'  cumulative reckoning of such large-scale time elements as dynasties  and epochs. Mainly from hypothetical reasoning, it is assumed that  the  Nile  year  was  created  by  the  early  Egyptian  state  in  order  to  regularize  its  economic  stability  (tax  collecting  through  a  census  placed on cattle) as well as to record its kings' reigns. Modern scholars, therefore, call this 365-day year the civil calendar,  to  indicate  the  original  purpose  of  its  reckoning.  The  number  of  months,  as  well  as  their  names,  were  based  on  an  older,  lunar  calendar. In this earlier system, it is unclear whether the Egyptians  intercalated an extra month (the thirteenth), every three years or so,  to  bring  the  calendar  into  accord  with  the  seasons.  Although  the  extant data neither support nor reject that, traces of the lunar calendar exist in the presence of some feast days, which were determined  by  the  moon's  cycle  rather  than  permanently  fixed  on  a  day  (or  days) within the civil calendar.

Some ancient Egyptian festivals were therefore determined by  the moon, and quite a number of significant religious events were  solely  set  to  a  specific  lunar  day,  such  as  the  new  moon.  For  example,  the  Valley  Feast  took  place  within  the  tenth  Egyptian  civil month but was not permanently set on a predetermined day  within that month. Similarly, the funerary event of Wagy seems to  have taken place on day eighteen of lunar month two, although a  civil calendar counterpart always occurred on day eighteen of the  first  civil  month.  For  the  most  part,  Egyptian  religious  festivals  became civil calendar-based since a change had been made from  lunar time to the civil calendar when it came into being.

The regnal years of the kings were also reorganized so that they  coincided with civil calendar years. In Predynastic times, a lunar  calendar must have been the basis for the regnal year. In the Old  Kingdom, as the Palermo Stone clearly indicates, the regnal year  counts were originally labeled by names of auspicious or important  events  that  occurred  within  a  civil  calendar  year  of  365  days,  among  which  one  can  single  out  building  projects  of  a  religious  nature.  After  the  second  dynasty,  the  regnal  years  also  became  orderly,  since  they  were  referred  to,  on  a  regular  basis,  by  the  biennial  cattle  census  that  took  place  throughout  Egypt.  Eventually, probably by the sixth dynasty, the biennial census was  replaced by an annual one. From that time on, all regnal years were  rationalized so that the king's year in office was nothing more than  an integer that was counted every civil calendar year. The causes  for  such  change  included  the  importance  of  the  centralized  state  apparatus and the necessity to establish a workable and relatively  easy  method  of  counting.  Egyptian  regnal  years  were  dependent  upon  a  365-day  civil  calendar  year,  not  a  lunar  year,  and  they  operated independently of whether the anniversary of a pharaoh's  accession  caused  a  change  in  the  year  count  (as  in  the  New Kingdom) or whether the presence of subsequent new year's days  effected such a change. In the Middle Kingdom (unlike the New  Kingdom),  counting  of  regnal  years  was  reckoned  from  the  first  day of the civil calendar year to the next, excluding the opening  year, which almost always began within a civil calendar year.

Although later sources, mainly of Greco-Roman times, put great  emphasis  on  the  star  the  Egyptians  called  Sothis  (our  Sirius),  as  being  connected  with  an  enormous  cycle  of  1,460  Egyptian  civil  years, that lengthy period seems not to have been employed by them  for any historical reckoning. Nonetheless, the commencement of a  year  was  intimately  associated  with  the  goddess  Sothis  (identified  with  the  goddess  Isis),  especially  if  an  ideal,  rather  than  a  real,  beginning  was  to  be  stressed.  Such  was  the  case  because  the  reappearance  of  the  star  Sothis  at  dawn,  after  a  disappearance  of  seventy days (its heliacal rising, prt spdt), was originally linked with  the  inauguration  of  the  year  at  a  time  when  the  Nile  waters  had  crested. Owing to this connection, scholars argue that the first day of  the just-created civil year (new year's day) began at the exact time of  prt spdt. In many extant festival calendars, as well as a few other  sources, Sothis' heliacal rising was given great prominence although  it did not interrupt the mundane flow of time, since the astronomical  event occurred independently of the way the civil calendar operated.

Research  has  obviated  the  need  to  claim  that  the  Egyptians  invented  a  second  lunar  calendar,  somewhat  later  than  their  civil  calendar. From our knowledge of the festival system, it appears that  most religious celebrations were only on the civil calendar. Those  festivals that were lunar-based seem to have been organized around  specific  lunar  occurrences  (such  as  the  new  moon)  that  could  be  seen with the naked eye, but they were nevertheless based partly on  the civil calendar. It was understood that the lunar occurrence was  fixed within a given civil month and that no independent lunar year  was operating alongside the established civil calendar. Therefore, all  administrative work, such as daily accounts and the like, were set by  the civil calendar; lunar-based events appear to have been restricted  solely to the cultic sphere.

The names of the twelve civil months betray their origins, since  it is evident that they are mere copies of the original names of their  twelve lunar-month counterparts. The first, Thoth, was named after  the god of the moon, who was also the reckoner of time. The third,  Athyr, overtly indicates that it was named after the goddess Ha-thor,  whose festival took place on day one of the following civil month.  Khoiak,  the  designation  for  civil  month  four,  was  similarly  borrowed from a major religious event that occurred at the crucial  change of season—from the first season, yht, to the second, prt—the  festival held on day one of the fifth month. In this case, the first day  of peret served as a second new year's day, on which the rejuvena- tion  of  the  subsistence-based  agricultural  society  of  Pre-dynastic  Egypt was predicated. A similar change from the second season to  the third can be observed with the name of month eight, Renenutet.  Then, the goddess of the harvest Renenutet bequeathed her name to  the final civil month, smw, in recognition of the festival for the gathering of grain,  which  took  place  at  the  beginning  of  the  ninth  month.  In  some  cases,  for  historical  reasons,  the  designations  of  the  civil  months  were  changed.  For  example,  Menchet  ("clothing"),  civil  month  number  two,  was  altered  to  Paophi  in  honor  of  the  important  Theban  festival  of  Opet,  which  occurred  at  that  time.  In  similar  fashion, Phamenoth, civil month seven, reflected the festival of the  deified King Amenhotep I (1514-1493). Yet the final civil month revealed its origins  in the rebirth of the sun god Re, for that is what its name, Mesore,  actually  meant.  Earlier,  the  designation  was  Wep-renpet  ("the  opener of the year"), called after the most important festival in the  year,  that  of  new  year's  day,  on  the  first  day  of  Thoth,  the  first  month.

A careful comparison of the month names has determined that at  least  some  of  the  older  designations  were  based  on  key  religious  festivals; however, they seem always to have occurred on or about  day  one  of  the  following  civil  month.  The  clear  case  of  Athyr,  mentioned above, provides an excellent example of this. Although  the civil month was the third in the year, its religious counterpart,  the feast of Hathor, began with the following civil month. Insofar as  the  civil  months  postdate  the  original  lunar  calendar  months  in  which the key feasts were first celebrated, any attempt to equate a  month  name  with  the  eponymous  feast  name  must  consider  this.  Even  at  the  inception  of  the  newly  created  civil  calendar,  such  a  shunting  of  festival  dates  must  have  occurred—an  alteration  partially explained by the original lunar year of only 354 days, and  the  new  civil  year  of  365  days.  The  difference  of  nineteen  days  (called the lunar-solar epact) explains the lack of equivalence and  provides a reason for the observance of the festival of the moon god  Thoth on day nineteen of the first civil month. (In a similar lack of  concurrence,  present-day  Easter  and  Passover  continue  to  be  celebrated on old lunar dates that have no fixed Western calendar  dates.)

The  various  festival  calendars  of  the  Egyptians  reflected  the  civil  calendar insofar  as they located their celebrations within the  civil  year.  Quite  often  a  clear  separation  was  made  between  the  "festivals of heaven," which occurred more than once a year, and  the  "seasonal  festivals,"  which  took  place  annually.  By the nineteenth dynasty, the  first  group  merely  comprised  the  various  celebrations in honor of lunar days (e.g., day 1, 2, 6, 15, and the  like).  In  contrast,  the  second  group  reflected  the  developed  theological  outlook  of  the  various  temples,  wherein  the  crucial  religious  manifestations  took  place  once  a  year.  Note  that  the  dichotomy  was  not  merely  one  of  celestial  phenomena  versus  earthly ones, since the heliacal rising of Sothis was placed under the  "seasonal festivals." The festival calendars are very important to us  because they reveal, in precise fashion, just which days were of crucial importance to the Egyptians and how they were celebrated.

Other segments of time from ancient Egypt also are known. A  week was in reality ten days, with the standard holidays at the end  (day ten) and the day following. Hour measurements were known,  too,  but  they  were  of  irregular  length,  roughly  identical  to  the  "seasonal  hours"  of  Hellenistic  and  Roman  times.  There  are  Egyptian words for small segments of time other than the hour, but  no  precise  designations  for  the  "half-hour,"  the "quarter  hour,"  or  the "minute." Such a lack of specificity was mainly the result of the  relatively  simple  timekeeping  used  in  the  Nile  Valley;  pharaonic  civilization had no need for precise time intervals such as seconds  or minutes. The Egyptian hours appear to have been based always  on groupings of stars. In the First Intermediate Period, if not earlier,  a system of decanal stars was invented, by which there were twelve  night hours. These twelve intervals were determined by sight, and  they depended on the sighting of various star groups that cannot be  identified. As each star group rose, it designated a specific hour of  the night sky for ten days (hence each is called a "decan" and the  method a decanal system). The decan-hour stars would then move  on  one  integer,  for  120  days,  or  12  "weeks."  At  first,  the  system  depended on naked-eye viewing at the eastern horizon; later, in the  Middle Kingdom, a more refined method of observation was used,  in  which  the  crossing  of  the  star  groups  across  a  meridian  determined the nightly hours. From the New Kingdom onward, the  Egyptians  preferred  to  work  out  nocturnal  timekeeping  by  the  transit  of  stars  across  various  reference  points  on  a  man's  body  (head, neck, etc.) as he faced south and was checked by a second  man who faced him. All such attempts to work out an effective hour  system for the night were affected by various difficulties.

Research  on  such  star  clocks  has  confirmed  their  usefulness;  nevertheless,  by  modern  standards  such  timekeeping  was  limited  by the lack of a coordinate system for the heavens. Only during the  Ptolemaic dynasty was a zodiacal system introduced to Egypt, one  that had as its basis the division of the Sun's annual path along the  ecliptic. This system was based on a "degree" system—originally  of Babylonian origin—into which each star group occupied thirty  "degrees,"  there  being  twelve  star  groups  in  all  (30  X  12  =  360  degrees, as used today, to describe a complete circle).

The beginning of the Egyptian day was at "dawn," probably in  morning twilight (although that is contested by some researchers);  the  actual  dawn,  when  the  Sun  first  rises  in  the  east,  is  also  a  possibility.  The  inscriptional  material  is  ambiguous.  The  crucial  point  is  that  the  Egyptians'  calendrical  perspective  was  fixed  toward morning sightings directed at the eastern horizon. A lunar  month began  on  the  day  when  the  waning  crescent  moon  could  not  be  sighted on the eastern horizon. (The Egyptian month was therefore  regulated in a different tradition than either the Babylonian or the  Greek, in which months were based on the evening sighting of the  first lunar crescent in west). Since the absence of any lunar crescent  indicates  that  the  Egyptian  system  depended  on  the  eastern,  morning sighting, the Egyptian lunar epoch occurred about one day  earlier  than  those  cultures  that  regarded  the  day  as  commencing  with the first western, evening sighting.

The Old Egyptian names for the lunar days are useful to survey  for a linguistic connection. The first day, that of no lunar crescent  visibility, was connected to the Egyptian word for "new," whereas  the "crescent" gave its name to the second day, and the third day  was called "arrival," indicating actual visibility (the first crescent  might be delayed by atmospheric anomalies, so that it would turn  up  on  day  three).  There  was  a  "second  arrival"  on  day  sixteen,  heralding  the  completion  of  the  full  moon  (from  day  fifteen,  the  Egyptian  "half  month"),  with  "first  quarter"  and  "last  quarter"  (called  "parts")  the  terms  for  day  seven  and  day  twenty-three,  respectively. Finally, day thirty was associated with the god Min,  owing to his virility; in this case, it is clear that the association with  Min  indicated  procreation.  Theologically,  the  following  day  was  considered the "moon in the womb," with its appearance— birth— occurring on day two of the following lunar month.

For the Ptolemaic period, a  few  extant  sources  from  Egypt  indicate that a regular correlation was drawn between lunar months  and  their  civil  calendar  counterparts.  Papyrus  Carlsberg  9,  in  particular, supplies us with a full (though not complete) listing of  such  equivalences;  from  the  text,  a  relatively  simple,  albeit  artificial,  cycle  was  introduced  to  Egypt,  in  which  25  Egyptian  years  (of  365  days apiece)  were  equated  with 309  lunar  months,  the latter consisting of 16 years of 12 months and 9 of 13 months  (365 X 25 = 9,125 days; 309 lunar months with those parameters  yield 9,124.95 days). Such a cycle eliminates the need for an actual  lunar sighting. Originally thought to be a native Egyptian creation,  reinterpretations have placed its sophisticated workings outside the  Nile  Valley.  Other  scholarly  arguments  have  connected  this  Demotic  papyrus  with  the  Macedonian  calendar—in  use  for  the  duration  of  the  Greek  domination  over  Egypt—although  serious  questions  remain  concerning  the  exact  extent  of  its  use.  One  difficulty in textual interpretation is that the columns of odd lunar- civil  calendar  equivalences  were  not  presented,  if  those  sections  merely repeated the integers in the'even columns, as some believe,  then the entries in Papyrus Carlsberg 9 are still incomplete. Some  Egyptologists see the inauguration of this cycle (c.357 BCE) being  based on the nonvisibility of the lunar crescent. Classicists interested in Ptolemaic Egypt prefer to understand the system  as one developed for equating Egyptian days and months with the  Macedonian  calendar,  and  one  extremely  fragmentary  Greek  papyrus  reveals  that  such  an  equivalence  was  made  (Papyrus  Rylands 586); however, the extant pieces are not sufficient to draw  any firm conclusions regarding its origins.

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Bird-shaped vase, late predynastic period (Naqada III)

Naqada III culture (c.3200-3050 BCE) was characterized by the abandonment or reduction in significance of certain population centers in Egypt's South (e.g., Matmar, Mahasna), the maintenance or even growth in  significance  of  others  (e.g.,  Hierakonpolis,  Abydos),  and  the  foundation  of  yet  others  (e.g.,  Elkab,  Tarkhan,  Tura).  Social  changes  were  of  increasing  importance,  yet  despite  a  certain  variance in material culture, this period was a direct continuation of  the  Gerzean.  A  major  settlement  move  from  the  desert  to  the  vicinity of the Nile was necessary in Naqada III. Ecological changes  that  began  in Naqada II were  intensified,  bringing  with  them  a  relative cessation in herding in favor of agriculture. Changes in the  material culture indicate an accompanying alteration in the spiritual  realm.  Some  objects  were  modified  in  shape,  while  their  basic  function  was  preserved;  others,  while  their  shape  was  preserved,  had  their  functions  changed—from utility to ritual-cult-symbolic (e.g., palettes). Pottery included decorated wares, cylindrical jars, cups, and large transport-storage jars, often with  engraved  and  painted serekhs, indicating that the contents were intended for the royal court. The production  of flint artifacts relatively decreased—due mainly to the expanded  use of metal tools. The use of jewelry also increased, as did the role  of sculpture and relief. In Coptos, no later than Narmer's time, three  colossal statues of Min (4 meters/I 3 feet high) and three statues of  lions  (1.5  meters/4  feet  long)  were  erected.  Many  items  have  elaborate  scenes:  palettes,  ceremonial  mace  heads,  and  knife  handles.  In  temple  deposits  at  Hierakonpolis,  Abydos,  and  Elephantine,  a  number  of  figurines—prisoners,  children,  women,  scorpions, baboons—were made of various materials, some votive  but  some  fragments  of  larger  objects  and  furniture.  They  indicate  development of the ritual-symbolic sphere—that associated with the centralization of authority.

Handle of a decorated knife. Naqada III. Louvre Museum

Glyptics and writing became increasingly important, clearly developed under the influence of impulses from the Near East, passing through a brief phase  of  imitation,  then  ultimately  containing  typically Egyptian  motifs  and  inscriptions.  The  role of  long-distance  trade,  conducted  in  all  the  traditional  directions,  increased  considerably.  Contacts  with  Palestine  and  the  Sinai  intensified,  showing  the  importance  of  this  nearby  northeastern  region  and  its  goods  (wine,  oil,  resin,  timber,  copper).  The  Protodynastic colonization of northern Sinai and southern Canaan  lasted until the mid-first dynasty. The kings known from this period  ruled  over  all  of  Egypt—"Uj,"  Iry-Hor(?),  Ka,  "Scorpion,"  and  Narmer—have been dated to Naqada IIIB-IIICl. (c.3150-3050 BCE).  Toward the end of the Protodynastic Dynasty "O," probably in the  reign  of  Narmer,  the  kingdom  of  the  pharaohs  was  established,  more or less in the form known from the Early Dynastic (Archaic)  period. The gradual (not by conquest) formation of an Egyptian state was therefore the last stage, not the first, from which the civilization of the Nile Valley grew.

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Canaan, a geographical term (Eg., kn'n; Akk., ki-na-ah-nu; Heb.,  kn'n) for the area broadly encompassing the Eastern Mediterranean  lands that are to the west of the Jordan River, Phoenicia, and part of southern Syria during the second millennium BCE. The term Canaan is frequently used in the scholarly literature as a conventional reference for that region during the entire Bronze Age (occasionally referred to as the Canaanite period), although no certain mention of Canaan or Canaanites  has survived  in any  texts of  the  third millennium BCE. There are few references  to  Canaan  outside the  Bible  in the  first millennium BCE, although in that period  the Phoenicians along  the  Lebanese  coast  continued to think of themselves as living in the land of Canaan. The etymology of the  word  Canaan is uncertain: one suggestion is to derive the name from a Semitic  root  meaning  "to  bend";  another  relates  it  to  a  Human word meaning "blue cloth."

Map of the Ancient Near East during the Amarna Period

Canaan first appears  in Near Eastern texts in the fifteenth century BCE in the autobiography  of  Idrimi,  a  ruler  of  the  north  Syrian kingdom of Alalakh. The earliest reference to Canaanites is  on  an  eighteenth-century  BCE  cuneiform  tablet  from  Mari  on  the  Euphrates River  in  Syria.  New Kingdom Egyptian  texts  contain  more than a dozen references to Canaan. Canaan was the name that  the  Egyptians  applied  to  the  territory  of  the  Near  East  (Western Asia) that was under their control, and for which they often had to  contend  with  the  empires  of  Mitanni  and  the  Hittites.  Ramessid  period documents refer to both Canaan and "the (town of) Canaan  (py kn'n)": the latter was an appellation for Gaza, the administrative  headquarters  of  the  Egyptian  empire  in  Canaan.  It  is  not  always  clear whether the mention of "Canaan" in a particular text (especially a topographical list) refers to the land of Canaan or to the  town of Gaza.

The oldest reference to Canaan in Egyptian texts is in the annals  recording Amenhotpe Us (1454-1419 BCE) campaign of his seventh  regnal year to the land of Retenu; the booty list from that campaign included 640 Canaanite prisoners.  "The (town of) Canaan" (i.e., Gaza) appears in Sety I's (1321-1304  BCE) campaign report for his first regnal year in the hypostyle hall  at Kamak. There is also a mention in the famous Israel Stela from  regnal Year 5 of Merenptah (1237-1226 BCE) of the plundering of  "the  Canaan":  that  citation  is  thought  by  most  scholars  to  be  a  reference to Egypt's Near Eastern province, but by a few as another  mention of Gaza. Papyrus Anastasi I (line 27.1) from the reign of Ramses II (1279-1212 B.C) mentions  the  "end  of  the  land  of  Canaan"  (i.e.,  the  route leading eastward across Sinai to Gaza). Papyrus Anastasi III  A  (lines  5-6)  and  its  duplicate.  Papyrus  Anastasi  IV  (line  16.4),  belonging  to  the  reign  of  Sety II  (1221-1215  BCE),  mention  Canaanite slaves from Kharu. The land of Canaan shows up in two  cuneiform letters sent by Ramses II to his Hittite  contemporary, Hattusili III, at the Hittite capital Hattusha (present- day Bogazkoy). The latest phara-onic period reference to Canaan is on a Middle Kingdom statuette  reinscribed in the Third Intermediate Period for Pediese, son of a Near Easterner named  'Apy,  who  evidently  was  a  messenger  of  "[the]  Canaan  and  Philistia."

Canaan  appears  on  eleven  cuneiform  tablets  (Letters  8,  14,  30,109-110, 131, 137, 148,151,162, 367) and the Canaanites on one  (Letter  9),  from  the  diplomatic  archive  found  at  Tell el-Amama.  Letter  8  is  notable  for  the  Babylonian  king  Burnaburiash's  acknowledgment to Amenhotpe IV that "Canaan is your country,"  while  in  Letter  30  the  kings  of  Canaan  are  addressed  as  the  "servants" of the king of Egypt.  Middle and Late Bronze Age Canaan was divided politically and  territorially into perhaps several dozen small city-states of varying  size and importance. Each city-state normally consisted of an urban  capital as well as a number of smaller towns and villages and the  supporting agricultural land. Generally independent, and not infre- quently  feuding  with  one  another,  the  city-states  occasionally  banded  together  (especially  in  the  Late  Bronze  Age)  to  oppose  Egyptian  and  other  foreign  conquerors;  perhaps  the  best-recorded  case  of  such  cooperation  is  that  of  the  towns  that  gathered  at  Megiddo to oppose Thutmose Ill's Near Eastern campaign of regnal  Year 22.

Egyptian contacts with Canaan  in  the  early twelfth dynasty apparently  focused  on  sites  along the Levantine coast (especially  Byblos). Later on, in the twelfth and continuing into the thirteenth  dynasties, Egypt's foreign  interests  expanded  considerably: the Execration Texts of  the  period  mentioned  many of  the principal towns of both northern and southern Canaan.

The fifteenth dynasty (c. 1664-1555 BCE)  was the one time in  antiquity when a line of kings of Canaanite origin ruled in Egypt. The capital of those sovereigns, whose non-Egyptian  names  included Sheshy, Khayan, and Apophis, was established at Avaris  (i.e.. Tell ed-Dab'a) in the eastern Nile Delta. The origins of those  Canaanite  rulers  is  to  be sought in the movement of Near Easterners into the Delta during the late twelfth and early thirteenth dynasties.  The  political  and  military connections  of  the  Hyksos  kings with the Canaanite city-states of the late Middle Bronze Age  is  unclear  and  much  debated:  some  scholars  feel  that  a  Hyksos  "empire"  included  much  of  southern  Canaan,  while  others  deny  Hyksos control over any part of the Levant.

During the Late Bronze Age, the Egyptian military,  political, and economic activity in the Near East was focused on the major  Canaanite  towns  that  lay  along  the  principal  routes  (e.g., Gaza, Gezer, Megiddo, Hazor), had  ports  to  facilitate  maritime  trade  and/or  Egyptian  naval activity  (e.g.,  Joppa,  Acco,  Byblos,  Tyre),  and/or  could  support  Egyptian  political  and  military  control  of  Canaan (e.g., Gaza and Beth Shan in Palestine, Kumidi and Sumur  in Lebanon). The annals of the New Kingdom pharaohs repeatedly  mentioned  such  towns,  often  as  military  adversaries  of  the  Egyptians. There is substantial archaeological and textual evidence  from  the  nineteenth  and  early  twentieth dynasties (Late  Bronze  IIB-Iron  IA  periods)  of  Egyptian  garrisons  or  administrative centers in Canaan, especially in the Gaza region, as well as at sites  such as Tel Mor, Joppa, Megiddo, Beth Shan, and Kumidi. Finally,  in  the  first  millennium  BCE,  Egypt's relations with Canaan  were  largely  of  a  commercial  and  political  nature,  the  occasional Egyptian military  forays  into  the  region  (most  notably  that  of  Sheshonq I in the late tenth century BCE) usually had only short- term consequences for the region.

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These are a key feature of the commercial, market economy. The ancient Egyptian economy,  based on redistribution and reciprocity, set prices in units of value  that  referred  directly  to  commodities,  rather  than  to  the  abstract  concept  of  money.  For  the  purpose  of  exchange  and  trade,  the  Egyptians first calculated the value of goods and services in units  that were directly related to the necessities of life and, later, they  calculated  in  terms  of  the  weights  of  metals.  Yet  the  Egyptians  never fully abstracted the idea of money—goods and services, as  well as metals, were valued concretely for what they were.

Sources  for  the  study  of  prices  and payments do  not  survive  from all periods of Egyptian history. Information about wages and  rations  are  best  known  from  documents  of  the  Old,  Middle,  and  New Kingdoms, while commodity prices are best preserved from  the  Ramessid  period.  Wage  payments  in  the  Old Kingdom  are  known from the Abusir Papyri. For the Middle Kingdom, there are  temple  documents,  biographies,  and  archaeological  data.  New Kingdom  wages  are  known  from Deir el-Medina and  from  documents pertaining to shipping. All the sources indicate that  wage  payments  were  made  in  rations  of  bread,  beer,  grain,  meat, and cloth, which were the daily necessities of life.

Rations  were  expressed  most  frequently  in  units  of  bread  and  beer, the two staples of an Egyptian diet. Most likely, the lowest  salaries, which were close to subsistence level, were actually paid  in bread and beer. Just as modern coins are guaranteed to contain  standard  amounts  of  metal,  each  loaf  of  bread  was  baked  from  a  standard recipe, using equal amounts of ingredients, and had a standard  nutritional  value.  Uniformity  was  assured  through  a  system  called pfs, translated as "baking value." pfs could also be used by  the employer to ensure that a predictable number of loaves would  be  baked  from  a  known  amount  of  grain.  The  baking  value  was  based  on  the  number  of  loaves  or  beer  jars  produced  from  a  set  measure of grain;  the higher the value, the smaller would be the loaves, the weaker  the  beer,  or  the  smaller  the  jars.  Most  wage  lists  assumed  that  a  standard pfs was used in baking and brewing.

Uniformity was also assured through the use of tokens or tallies.  During the Middle Kingdom at Uronarti, ceramic tallies have been  discovered in the shape of a standard loaf of bread. Presumably that  tally  could  be  used  to  check  whether  a  worker's  wages  in  bread  loaves  were  all  the  same  size.  Beer  jars  were  also  of  a  roughly  standard size. The standard basic wage was ten loaves of bread and  one-third to two full jugs of beer per day (Egyptian beer was much  less  alcoholic  than  modem  brews  and  higher  in  calorie  content).  That was the ration of the lowest paid staff members. Others were  paid in multiples of the standard wage, varying from twice to fifty  times the standard wage for highly paid people. Various methods  could be used for apportioning wages. For example, documentation  exists  for  a  particular  ship's  crew  in  which  the  captain  and  other  officials received twice the ration of the ordinary sailors. In another  case, the highest paid official received thirty-eight one-third loaves  while the lowest paid worker received one and one-third loaves.

In an example from the Middle Kingdom the staff of a temple  received  a  commission  on  all  the  goods  that  came  to  the  temple.  One  inscription  describes  the  way  the  staff  was  paid  in  "temple  days":

As for a temple day, it is 1/360 part of a year. Now, you shall  divide  everything  which  enters  this  temple—bread,  beer,  and  meat—by way of the daily rate. That is, it is going to be 1/360 of  the bread, the beer, and of everything which enters this temple  for [any] one of these temple days which I have given you.

In that temple, the regular staff received 2/360 of the total revenue  of the temple, while the chief priest received 4/360.

In another case from the Middle Kingdom, an expedition leader  received five hundred loaves a day as his "ration." Large sums like  that were probably not paid out in actual loaves of bread or jars of  beer.  It  is  unlikely  that  an  expedition  leader  could  take  his  ever- increasing number of loaves of bread—fifteen thousand loaves after  a month—with him on an extended trip into the desert or that he  could  eat  that  much,  even  with  a  large  family  and  servants  to  support. Thus it seems possible that five hundred loaves of bread  was actually a unit for measuring out commodities, approximating  the  modem  idea  of  a  unit  of  money,  a  practice  that  allowed  the  ancient  Egyptians  to  save  and  also  to  draw  against  an  account  of  bread and beer.

Because  the  standard  measures  for  bread  loaves  and  beer  jars  vary from place to place and time to time, it is difficult to calculate  how  much  people  had  to  eat  and  to  determine  how  well  people  lived. The caloric value of the soldiers ration at Uronarti was about  one-third kilo (0.5 pound) of barley per day. Baked into bread, this  is  the  equivalent  of  1,458  calories  from  bread  each  day.  If  these  soldiers did any physical work, they must have received at least an  additional fifteen hundred calories from beer and/or vegetables just  to maintain their weight.  The New Kingdom craftsmen at Deir el-Medina received all the  necessities of life from their employer: their houses were owned by  the state, food and clothing rations were given to them, as well as  most of the other necessities, including water, fuel for their ovens,  and  the  tools  they  needed  to  perform  their  duties.  Yet  the  robust  trade  that  they  conducted  among  themselves  indicates  that  those  workers required additional goods and services that the state had not  provided.

Information about the prices of commodities was derived from  Deir  el-Medina.  Prices  were  recorded  on  a  few  papyri  and  on  numerous  ostraca  that  date  to  a  150-year  period  during  the  nineteenth  and  twentieth  dynasties.  Many  problems  with  the  interpretation  of  those  texts  must  be  overcome,  however,  before  commodity  prices  can  be  determined.  The  ostraca  were  written  in  the  cursive  Hieratic  script  by  nonprofessional  scribes  who  did  not  write as legibly as did professional scribes. The ostraca were often  broken in antiquity and ink has faded during storage in museums.  Moreover, the texts were never intended for others to read, but were  persona] notes, so that many details that would have been known to  the original reader were not recorded. Among the details that were  often excluded was the date of when it was written. Such omission  often  makes  it  difficult  to  compare  prices,  although  scholars  have  determined which ostraca are roughly contemporary by comparing  the  people  named  in  them.  This  process  has  its  own  difficulties,  because the small number of families living in the village drew on a limited stock, of personal names, making it difficult, for example, to  pinpoint  the  generation  of  a  particular  Pen-taweret.  Another  difficulty in determining prices was the lack of description of the  goods that were priced. Clearly, some variation in the price of two  chairs was based on the quality of the workmanship, although the  variation  is  almost  never  described  in  the  ostraca.  Finally,  the  precise  meanings  of  words  used  to  describe  the  commodities  is  often not understood. Sometimes, only the general category of the  good  can  be  determined  from  the  writing.  In  spite  of  these  difficulties, scholars have isolated four units of value that were used  to price commodities: the deben (dbn), the senyu (snjw, originally  called s'tj [shaty]), the hin (hnw), and the khar (hyr).

The  deben  is  a  measure  of  weight  used  for  gold,  silver,  and,  most  commonly,  copper.  One  deben  of  copper  weighs  ninety-one  grams. It was divided into ten kite. Copper weights seem never to  be lower than five kite or one-half deben, while the more precious  metals are found with weights of less than five kite. It is sometimes  difficult  to  determine  whether  the  actual  weight  of  the  metal  is  being  described  or  its  value  in  deben—or,  indeed,  whether  the  Egyptians  made  such  a  distinction.  In  the  Cairo  Ostracon  25242  verso,  for  example,  twenty  deben  of  copper  was  added  to  four  deben as the vahie of a basket, demonstrating that the actual weight  was difficult to separate from the idea of its value. Deben of copper  and  bronze  were  not  distinguished  by  the  Egyptians.  Both  were  valued as one kite of silver. Silver deben were rarely mentioned in  the ostraca, but are more common in the papyri. Papyrus, of course,  was  used  to  record  official and  thus  more  expensive  transactions,  while  the  ostraca  were  used  by  the  villagers  to  record  private,  smaller transactions. This practice ensures that gold deben are never  mentioned  in  the  ostraca  but appear  occasionally  in  the  papyri;  it  must  be  assumed  that  when  the  word  deben  is  used  alone  on  ostraca, copper deben should be understood.

The  senyu  ("piece"?)  is  the  second  unit  of  value  used  by  the  Egyptians. It is a weight in silver equal to 1/12 deben or 7.6 grams.  Its value is calculated as five deben, but that calculation does not  always  hold  true  (see  below).  The  senyu  is  found  as  a  weight  or  value only in the nineteenth dynasty and early twentieth dynasty up  to the first half of the reign of Ramesses III. The senyu could be  used to express a value in the same column of figures with deben.  The Berlin Ostracon 1268 states the value of objects in senyu but  the total of the column in deben of copper. The Varille Ostracon 25  -totals a razor valued at one deben, with a donkey valued at seven  senyu.

The hin, a third unit of value, is a measure of volume equal to  0.48 liters (about one-half quart). Its value is 1/6 senyu, but other  calculations show that it was also equal to one copper deben. The  value of the hin is probably based on the value of one hin of sesame oil, said to be equal to one  copper  deben.  Mrht-oil  and  'd-fat  were  also  measured  in  hin, but  their values seem to vary in relation to deben, both more and less  than one deben. Thus the value of one hin equal to one deben is  based on sesame oil.

The khar is a measure of the volume of grain, either emmer or  barley, equal to 76.88 liters (about 80 quarts), which is divided into  four oipe. The khar is translated as "sack" and was valued at two  deben. Deben, senyu, and khar are all found together in documents  ranging  from  the  time  of  Ramesses  II  (Hieratic  Ostraca  65)  through Ramesses V (Hieratic Ostraca 28). The khar is most com- monly  found  as  a  unit  of  value  for  baskets,  both  because  the  volume of a basket was equal to its value and because baskets are  relatively inexpensive. The same principle is at work in the Cairo  Osti-acon 25242, in which a bed is valued in deben while its legs  are valued in oipe. Ostracon Deir el-Medina 21 also differentiates  between expensive items in deben and cheaper items in oipe.

The  rough  equivalent  values  among  deben,  senyu,  hin,  and  khar,  as  given  above,  reveal  the  difficulty  of  calculating  precise  values  for  commodities,  as  well  as  fixed  ratios  among  the  four  different  units  of  value.  One  document  values  a  basket  at  one- quarter  senyu  for  a  volume  of  one-half  khar.  Since  one  khar  is  equal in value to two deben, the logical conclusion would be that  one senyu equals four copper deben in value. Yet another example  shows that one senyu of wss-garments is equal to five copper de- ben. Finally, another document values one hin of oil at 1/6 senyu.  Since one hin is equal to one deben, the logical conclusion is that  one senyu is equal to six deben. Clearly modern ideas about money  and prices were not at work in ancient Egypt. Modern conceptions  of  money  would  not  allow  one  senyu  to  be  equal  to  either  four,  five, or six deben, yet this was the actual state of affairs in Deir el- Medina.

Perhaps the real difficulty in interpreting prices and payments is  that  modem  scholars  are  attempting  to  systematize  a  procedure  which was actually determined on a case by case basis. All of the  prices  discussed  above  were  derived  from  specific  barter  agreements.  Barter  prices  were  much  more  fluid  than  the  fixed  prices in present-day western markets. Barter prices were set by the  strength  of  each  individual's  desire  to  conclude  an  exchange  and  each  individuals  skill  at  arriving  at  a  good  price,  in  addition  to  some abstract idea of value based on weight or volume. Use value  was  probably  more  important  than  abstract  value  and  all  the  commodities exchanged at Deir el-Medina were valued according  to  actual  use:  grain  was  for  eating;  silver  was  a  raw  material  for  making an object. The value of a good grew according to the need  for it.

Because  the  prices  were  set  by  barter,  prices  tended  to  cluster  in  amounts that are multiples of five, especially for amounts over ten deben. Numbers, then, were usually rounded  to the nearest five. J. J. Janssen (1988) illustrated that principle by  the  following  example.  The  Ostracon  Deir  el-Medina  72  verso  described the purchase of a coffin in the following way:

Given  to  him  in  exchange  for  the  coffin:  eight  and  one-half  deben of copper; again five deben of copper; one pig made five  deben;  one  goat  made  two  deben;  two  logs  of  sycamore  wood  made two deben. Total: twenty-five and one-half deben.

There, the value of the coffin was first agreed to be approximately  twenty-five deben. Then values were established for the individual  items brought to the exchange. The coffinmaker would decide how  much use he could make of the two lots of copper, the animals, and  the wood before determining the value he would assign to them. It  is  unlikely  that  those  goods  were  accepted  for  resale  at  a  profit,  since  that  concept  seems  to  be  unknown  to  the  Egyptians.  The  actual  desire  to  own  these  items  becomes  much  more  important  than the abstract value assigned to them in deben.

The  best  source  for  our  knowledge  of  loans  is  also  Deir  el- Medina. There are two kinds of loans attested from the village: one  type is made with a fixed date for repayment and a penalty if that  date is missed; a second type appears not to have a repayment date  and is more likely to reflect an obligation for reciprocity between  the  lender  and  debtor.  There  is  limited  evidence  that  loans  with  fixed  repayment  dates  were  made  from  people  of  higher  social  status to those of lower social status, while reciprocal loans were  made between people of more equal status.  In sum, the Egyptians were able to conduct business in a way  that met their needs without ever fully abstracting the concept of- money  from  their  units  of  exchange  value.  An  often  robust  economy ran smoothly, using various means of valuing labor and  commodities without either money or true markets.

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Although stelae and tomb scenes usually show burial offerings being brought by family  members, professional mortuary priests are documented serving in private memorial cults  as  early  as  the first dynasty. A class of specifically funerary priests included the servants of the ka (hmvv- k-j), who provided  for the immortal life force of the deceased  person.  Scenes  in  tombs from the Old Kingdom onward  show priests participating in the funeral—wab-priests pour libation offerings,  while lector-priests read aloud  the funerary texts  critical  to  transforming the deceased person into an immortal being. Lector-priests  also  perform  the  int-rd  ceremony,  sweeping  away  the  footprints of the celebrants after the ceremony has been completed.

Mortuary  literature,  from  the  Pyramid Texts  on,  provides  evidence that the funeral ceremony included not only the reading of  religious texts, but also the performance of acts such as playing the  role of deities associated with the myth of Osiris. The Coffin Texts,  for  example,  include  directions  for  those  taking  part  in  the  ceremony,  along  with  texts  that  must  have  been  spoken  aloud,  presumably by a lector-priest. Women, who had served as funerary  priests (Spmvt-kf) during the Old Kingdom, thereafter acted as (Ay- mourners, impersonating the grieving Isis and Nephthys.

Sem-priests  are  identifiable  by  the  end  of  the Old Kingdom, after which they are shown  offering  incense  and  performing  the Opening of the Mouth ceremony on the mummy of the deceased.  Beginning in the New Kingdom, scenes  of  the  funeral accompany  several  chapters  of  the  Book  of  Going Forth by Day, and form an increasingly significant part of  tomb  decoration.  A  priest  wearing  a  mask of the god Anubis is shown preparing the mummy for burial, and supporting the upright  coffin  in  front  of  the  tomb  entrance,  while  the  Opening  of  the  Mouth takes place. The heir of the deceased is typically shown per- forming  this  ritual,  touching  the  mouth  with  a  ceremonial  implement, such as an adze tipped with iron or flint.

Wealthy  and  influential  officials  established  mortuary  endowments in the same way as kings, to perpetuate their memorial  cults  and  to  provide  for  mortuary  priests.  Several  Abydene  stelae  refer  to  contractual  arrangements  with  mortuary  priests,  and  the  twelfth dynasty tomb of the vizier Djefai-hapi I at Asyiut preserves  the  complete  text  of  his  mortuary  contracts.  According  to  the  contracts,  the  priests  are  responsible  for  delivering  offerings  of  bread and other items to the vizier's statues in the local temple, in  exchange for being paid a portion of the offerings dedicated in the  temple.

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Many domestic cults, aimed  in large part on protecting the home and its inhabitants from harm,  required  literate  or  learned  individuals  to  perform  the  appropriate  rites. Hence, priests were often called upon to serve in this capacity.  Lector-priests, with their specialized knowledge of religious texts,  were  the  principal  practitioners  of apotropaic magic.  They  also  appear to have been consulted in times of medical emergencies, as  the Old Kingdom biography of Wash-ptah attests. A group of men  identified  as  hkyw  ("magicians")  appears  in  association  with  the  House of Life. Both lector-priests and physicians (swnw) also held  specialized  titles  associated  with  specific  types  of  magic,  such  as  "Scorpion Charmer." Along with written and spoken prayers, these  priests were familiar with, and able to produce, the correct amulets  for protection and talismans for blessing.

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Four ushabti of Pediamenopet, now in Munich

The most extensive private tomb constructed  at any Egyptian site during the pharaonic era belonged to a little-known chief lector-priest, Petamenophis (or Pediamenopet), who lived from the late  twenty-fifth  into  the  early  twenty-sixth  dynasties.  Although  that  title was the highest rank recorded on his tomb, the tomb's massive  size indicated that he was one of the most influential individuals in Upper Egypt at  that  time.  Probably  constructed  during  the  earliest decades of the twenty-sixth dynasty, his tomb was located  within a series of monuments built for local officials in the Asassif  region  of  the  Theban  plain,  dating  from  about  700-540  BCE.  Sometimes considered an expression of an "Archaic revival," the  tombs actually follow a four hundred year hiatus of tomb building;  yet they incorporate features from nearby private tombs and mortuary temples of the preceding periods, rather than recalling elements  of  much  earlier dynasties. These  tombs  are  conspicuous  for  their  size and complexity, as well as for their shared features, such as the  massive  mud-brick  superstructures,  the  dramatic  subterranean  courtyards,  the  innovative  use  of  architectural  sculpture,  and  the  multilevel burial chambers.

The  inscriptions  from  one  of  the  seven  known  statues  of Petamenophis indicate  that  he  was  consecrated  as  lector-priest  in  662-661 BCE.  Most probably, he achieved the rank of chief lector  priest  in  following  years.  He  lived  during  the  era  that  coincided  with Mentuemhet's term of office as governor of Upper Egypt, yet  the mention of any king or "Divine Adoratress" (a female relative  of  a  Nubian  king,  installed  as  religious  leader  at  Thebes)  is  noticeably absent from Petamenophis' tomb. Anthes (1937) speculated that such an omission would be more likely during a period of  foreign  rule  (during  the  rule  of  the Nubians of  the  twenty-fifth  dynasty,  rather  than  that  of  the  twenty-sixth  dynasty).  Petamenophis' name does not appear on the Saite Oracle Papyrus,  dated  to  651  BCE,  with  Mentuemhet  and  other  Theban  high  officials of the early twenty-sixth dynasty. Nor is there any other  evidence that Petamenophis lived far into the twenty-sixth dynasty.  Mentuemhet clearly did, and perhaps he was a  younger, regional  contemporary of Petamenophis.
 
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Tomb of Petosiris at Tuna el-Gebel

"he whom Osiris has given"; also  called Kliapakhonsu) was high  priest of Thoth and lesonis-priest  (oikonomos, head of finance) of the temple of Thoth at Hermopolis  during  the  second  half  of  the  fourth  century  BCE.  He  is  famous  today for the well-preserved family chapel that he erected at Tuna el-Gebel.

The family of Petosiris had been proteges and appointees of the  thirtieth dynasty. His father Es-shu had administered the temple at  royal behest, probably under Nektanebo II, and it was one of Es- shu's younger sons, Petosiris, who eventually took over his father's  estate as "Master of All His Property," and "Greatest of the Five,  Controller  of  the  Cult-seats,"  priestly  titles  of  the  fifteenth  (Hermopolitan) nome of Upper Egypt. With priesthoods at Horwer  and  Nefrusi,  as  well  as  the  sacerdotal  functions  for  Thoth  and  Amun-Re, Petosiris received his inheritance just when Egypt was  about  to  endure  the  second  Persian  occupation,  by  the  army  of  Artaxerxes III  in  342  BCE.  His  vivid  account  of  the  devastation  caused  by  this  invasion—  it  cannot  be  dated  later—is  now  graphically supported by the excavations at Mendes, which show  the fury and methodical demolition of the site by the Persians:

Painting from the tomb of Petosiris depicting an ancient Libyan or Syrian figure struck by an arrow.

I have been faithful to the lord of HermopoUs since I was born, and his  every  counsel  was  in  my  heart.  [He]  selected  me  to  administer  his  temple  ...  and  I  passed  seven  years  as  le-sonis-priest  of  this  god,  adminstering  his  income  .  ..  when  all  the  while  a  foreign  ruler  was doniinus over Egypt, and nothing was in its former place. For war had  broken out in Egypt: the South raged and the North was in uproar, and  people went about bewildered. No temple had its staff, and the priests  were  dispersed(?);  there  was  no  telling  what  might  happen  therein  in  the future.

Petosiris shepherded his nome through this period of crisis and was  later revered as a leading man of his city, "with many dwellings  and fields and cattle without number."

For  the  art  historian,  the  tomb  and  family  chapel  loom  large  because  they  reflect  the  first  impact  of  Greek  art  and  culture  on  Egypt.  Petosiris  survived  the  arrival  of  Alexander  in  Egypt  and  witnessed  the  early  influx  of  Greek  settlers  and  their  influence.  Together  with  his  son  and  successor,  Tachos,  he  erected  the  bipartite tomb chapel, with an inner chamber over the sarcophagus  dedicated to his ancestors, and an outer transverse hall provided an  inter-columnar  screen  celebrating  himself.  While  the  inner  chamber is decorated in the traditional Egyptian canon, the outer  chamber features scenes from the traditional Egyptian repertoire of  agriculture, animal husbandry, and viticulture, rendered under the  strong influence of the classical Greek canon. Some aspects, such  as the use of profile, echelon, and stance, hark back to a Nilotic  past, but the musculature, individual likeness, irregular spacing, and costume point to the advent of a classical Greek style. The  reliefs  are  important  in  demonstrating  how,  at  the  beginning  of  Ptolemaic period,  in  contrast  to  what  was  to  come  later,  even  a  provincial city such as Hermopolis, far from the Nile Delta, was  open to external influence.

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Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie in 1903

Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853-1942),  archaeologist,  bom  at  Charlton,  Kent,  on  17  June  1853.  His  father,  William  Petrie,  was  a  civil  engineer  and  surveyor; his mother, Anne, was the daughter of Matthew Flinders,  the navigator and explorer. Petrie was a delicate child, educated by  his  parents  at  home.  His  mother  taught  him  music,  history,  and  French, and encouraged him in her own hobbies, geology and coin- collecting,  while  his  father  schooled  him  in  mathematics  and  science  and  taught  him  surveying.  Together  they  measured  Stonehenge,  and  Petrie  surveyed  ancient  earthworks  in  the  West  Country. In 1880 he went to Egypt to test  the  theory that the Great Pyramid of Khufu had been built by divine inspiration. He surveyed the whole pyramid field, and his careful  measurements refuted the theories of the "British Israelites," which  brought  him  to  the  attention  of  scholars.  Distressed  at  the  destruction of the monuments by careless excavators and treasure- hunters,  he  eagerly  accepted  the  suggestion  of  Amelia  Edwards,  secretary of the newly founded Egypt Exploration Society, that he  should  excavate  at  Tanis in the Nile Delta. In his first season  (1883-1884), he laid down new principles of scientific excavation  in Egypt: careful recording of all finds, even broken objects unfit  for  museum  display,  and  personal  supervision  of  his  workmen,  whom  he  rewarded  for  what  they  found.  Pottery  and  potsherds,  until then discarded as rubbish, became valuable For relative dating  purposes. In the following year, Petrie discovered two Greek cities  in  the  Delta,  Naukcratis  and  Daphne;  a  wealth  of  Greek  pottery  confirmed their identities.

The distinctive black-topped Egyptian pottery of the PreDynastic period associated with Flinders Petrie's Sequence Dating System

When he left the Egypt Exploration Society in 1886, Edwards  helped him find private sponsorship. In the Faiyum Depression, to  the  west  of  the Nile,  he  opened  two  brick  pyramids,  found  a  number of mummies of the Roman period with painted portraits,  and excavated a Middle Kingdom town. In 1890, he was persuaded  to dig in Palestine; at Tell el-Hesy he cut a section through the mound, dating the levels there using recovered pottery from Egypt,  with which he was familiar; for this he has been called "the father  of  Palestinian  archaeology."  At  Tell  el-Amama,  one  winter,  he  found  the  palace  of  Akhenaten,  with  its  painted  pavement,  and  Aegean  pottery,  which  established  a  chronological  link  with  the  Mycenaean world. In 1892, Edwards died; she left money to found  a  chair  of Egyptology at  University  College,  London  and  wanted  the  new  professor  to  excavate  in  Egypt  and  train  students.  She  made it clear that Petrie was her choice. In 1905, he left the Egypt  Exploration  Society  for  good  and  founded  the British School of Archaeology in Egypt;  his  wife  Hilda  (Uriin),  whom  he  had  married in 1896, acted as its secretary and main fundraiser for the  rest of their lives, besides helping him in the field.

One  of  Petrie's  most  important  contributions  to  archaeological  science  was  his  system  called  Sequence  Dating.  Another  was  his  discovery of the royal tombs of the first dynasty at Abydos (1899- 1903). Methods and Aims in Archaeology (London, 1904) was to  become  a  textbook  for  his  students,  many  of  whom,  having  survived  the  spartan  regime  of  a  Petrie  camp,  became  archaeologists  of  the  next  generation.  Petrie  set  an  example  with  the prompt publication of his excavation reports; a number of popular books; the journal Ancient Egypt (which he edited);  and lectures that fostered public interest in Egyptology. Elected a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  in  1902  and  a  Fellow  of  the  British  Academy in 1904, he was knighted in 1923. In 1935, he moved to  Palestine;  his  last  fieldwork  was  on  large  tells  near  the  Egyptian  frontier. He died on 29 July 1942, and he is buried in Jerusalem, his  last home.

Petrie's  "Journals"  and  letters  from  the  field  (from  1880  to  1926) are in the Griffith Institute, Oxford; copies of these, and his  notebooks  and  diaries,  are  in  the  Petrie  Museum  at  University  College, London.

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Petuabastis, a  name  given  to  several  kings  of  the Third  Intermediate Period and Late period, meaning "gift of Bast."

Petuabastis I:

Petuabastis I (r. 813-C.773 BCE)  first king of the twenty-third  (Tanite or Libyan) dynasty of the Third Intermediate Period. The  third-century BCE Egyptian historian Manetho called the dynasty  Tanite, pinpointing the city of Tanis, in the eastern Nile Delta, as  the place of family origin (not its capital), implying that it was an  offshoot of the twenty-second  dynasty.  The  relationship  of  Petuabastis I  to Sheshonq III is unknown, although they may have been brothers. The  seat  of  the twenty-third  dynasty,  however,  is  not  certain.  Its  last ruler, luput II, was named after Petuabastis I's coregent luput I,  who reigned at Leontopolis (Tell Moqdam) as Piya's victory stela  indicates;  the  burial  of  a  Queen  Kama(ma),  mother  of  Osorkon  III(?), was found at Tell Moqdam. Petuabastis I and his entire line  probably reigned at Tell Moqdam, other monuments of theirs are  known  from  the Nile Delta  and  Memphis and  not  only  from  Thebes,  where  it  has  been  suggested  that  the  dynasty  may  have  reigned. In his fifteenth and sixteenth years of reign, Petuabastis I  had  a  short-lived  co-regent,  luput  I.  The  separate  regime  of  Petuabastis  I  enabled  the  rebellious  Thebans  to  withdraw  recognition of the twenty-second dynasty kings in favor of the new  line.

Petuabastis II:

This  local  king  in  Tanis  is  known  from  inscriptions at Tanis, an unfinished statue at Memphis, and blocks  at the museum in Copenhagen. Petuabastis II was encountered in Tanis by  Assurbanipal,  king  of  Assyria,  in  667-666  BCE,  and  dethroned  by  him  in  665  BCE.  He  recurred  in  later  Egyptian  tradition  in  four  of  six  Demotic  tales  in  the  Inaros-Petuabastis  Cycle. The known manuscripts are of Greco-Roman date; one of  them also names Esarhaddon of Assyria.

Petuabastis III:

A  minor  rebel  king  of  the First Persian Occupation,  or  twenty-seventh  dynasty,  Late  period,  Se-heribre  Petuabastis III had a reign of uncertain date. He may have been in  power as early as the end of the reign of either Cambyses, who  ruled from 525 to 522 BCE, or Darius I, who ruled from 521 to 486  BCE.

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·        Pan-Grave People and Culture
·        Pepinakht Heqaib
·        Personal Hygiene in Ancient Egypt
·        Perfumes and Unguents in Ancient Egypt
·        Petamenophis
·        Petosiris
·        Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie

Philae, an island at the First Cataract of the Nile (24°02'N,  32°59'E), on the southern frontier of Ancient Egypt, It is the site of  the most beautiful of all ancient Egyptian temples. In the 1970s,  the  architectural  structures  of  the  original  island  were  moved  to  their present religious  complex  devoted  to  the  cult  of Osiris. The  ritual  focus  was  Biga, the site of the abaton, one of the alleged tombs of Osiris; Philae  was  dedicated  preeminently  to  Isis,  his  sister-wife,  who  became  the  epitome of the divine wife and mother and thus the most popular of all  Egyptian  goddesses  in  the  Late  and  Greco-Roman periods.  Although  Isis was the major deity of the Philae, the site's location on the frontier  between Egypt and Nubia meant that the cults of Nubia also featured on  the island, where they were represented by significant cult buildings.

Access to the temple of Isis at Philae

The  monuments  are  dominated  by  the  great  temple of Isis  and  its  associated structures, which are concentrated in the west and center of  the island on, or  adjacent to, a granite outcrop which  must have been  chosen originally as an embodiment of the primeval hill on which the  holy-of-holies  of  all  Egyptian  temples  was  claimed  to  rest.  There  is  some evidence at Philae of cult activity in honor of Amun in the time of  the  Nubian pharaoh  Taharqa  who  ruled  Egypt  between  689  and  664  BCE. These meager traces might well mean that the rise of this frontier  religious center owed something to the kings of the Nubian twenty-fifth  dynasty, to which Taharqa belonged; however, the earliest known cult  building in honor of Isis was a small shrine erected in the Saite period  by  Psamtik II.  This  was  followed  by  a  further  small  temple  on  the  granite  outcrop,  erected  by  Amasis.  Therefore,  it  now  seems  that  the  Saite  kings  introduced  the  cult  of  Isis  into  this  area  and  laid  the  foundations for her subsequent glorification on the island.

The next evidence of building dates to the thirtieth dynasty and takes  the  form  of  a  kiosk  of  Nektanebo  I,  which  is  now  situated  at  the  southwestern  end  of  the  main  temple,  and  a  gate  of  the  same  king  embedded  in  the  first  pylon  of  the  main  temple.  The  gateway  clearly  formed part of a thirtieth dynasty enclosure wall, but all these features  should  be  regarded  as  embellishments  to  the  preexisting  Saite  temple  enclosure, because there seems to be no trace of a substantial temple of  thirtieth dynasty date.

The building work in the main Isis temple area is overwhelmingly  Ptolemaic and forms part of the well-documented Ptolemaic policy of  promoting the Isis cult throughout the kingdom and beyond, although a  substantial  amount  of  the  decoration  was  added  in  the  Roman  period.  The  core  of  the  Isis  temple—everything  north  of  the  vestibule—was  built by Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-246) just behind the ancient shrine of Amasis, which was  then  demolished.  Its  decoration,  as  is  normal  at  this  and  similar  sites,  was added sporadically for a long time. This temple was surrounded by  a brick girdle wall which almost certainly followed the line of that of the  thirtieth dynasty and showed the undulating pattern in laving the brick  courses,  which  was  typical  of  such  late  structures.  This  feature  may  have been used for entirely practical reasons, but it has also been  claimed  that  it  imitates  the  waves  of  the  primeval  ocean  surrounding the primeval hill on which all temples were claimed to rest.

The temple shows an intriguing ground plan in that the main building  has two axes: the main cult area accessed by the second pylon is skewed  northeastward in relation to the court to the south. This feature probably  arose  from  the  interaction  of  several  factors:  the  preexistence  of  the  temple of Amasis; a determination to maintain the granite outcrop as the  center of cult activity; and the configuration of the island itself—that is,  any expansion of the central shrine to the south would have to be skewed  to fit the available space. The temple in its final form is a much expanded  structure that is entered by the first pylon (Ptolemy V-VI), which gives  access to a court flanked on the left by a mammisi, probably begun by  Ptolemy III but expanded and completed by Ptolemy VIII Euergetes (170-163, 145-116). This structure,  typical of late temples, was, for ritual purposes, the site of the birth of  Harpocrates, the son of Isis and Osiris. On the eastern side there stands a  colonnade  probably  built  by  Ptolemy VIII.  The  much  smaller  second  pylon, probably completed by Ptolemy VI Philometor (180-164, 163-145), leads via a court and vestibule  to the sanctuary dedicated to Isis and her son Harpocrates. Throughout  the main temple area there are many examples of work added during the  Roman period: for example, the birth-house contains reliefs dating to the  reigns of Augustus and Tiberius, who feature alongside Antoninus in the  inner part of the temple; the temple is accessed from the west via a gate  associated  with  the  emperors  Hadrian,  Marcus  Aurelius,  and  Lucius  Verus; and the enclosure also contained, to the north, a Claudian temple  dedicated to Harendotes, the son of Osiris as champion and protector of  his  father.  In  the  mid-sixth  century  CE  the  island  of  Isis  was  Christianized, and a number of churches were dedicated there, including  one to the Virgin Mary and one to Saint Stephen, the former being the  standard Christian substitute for Isis and the second a highly appropriate  replacement for Harendotes. This cultic change brought with it the usual  rash of mutilations to the pagan monuments.

The  buildings  of  the  Isis  enclosure  are  supplemented  by  numerous  subsidiary structures. To the south lies the long Outer Court, which now  forms the main point of access to the temple enclosure. At its southern  entrance stands the kiosk of Nektanebo I, removed there no later than the  reign of Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysius (80-58, 55-51) and flanked by colonnades of Roman date on the  western  and  eastern  sides.  In  addition,  the  eastern  colonnade  embodies  the remains of a temple of the Nubian god Arensnuphis (Ptolemaic with  some Roman decoration), a well-preserved shrine of Im-hotep (Ptolemy V Epiphanes (205-180)), and a further cult-place often ascribed on quite inadequate evidence  to the Nubian deity Man-dulis.

Pavillon of Trajan in Philae

There  are  numerous  other  buildings  to  the  north,  east,  and  south  which  are  more  loosely  connected  with  the  enclosure.  At  the  water's  edge  on  the  northeastern  section  of  the  island  stands  a  spectacular  Roman-period  gate,  which  was  probably  a  triumphal  arch  of  Emperor  Diocletian. There are also a temple dedicated to the cult of Rome and  Augustus and two Coptic churches, as well as the remains of a Coptic  monastery.  To  the  east  of  the  great  enclosure  wall  lies a temple of Hathor (Ptolemy VI/VIII and early Roman), a deity with close affinities  with Isis who was associated, in particular, with the neighboring island  of  Biga.  Finally,  to  the  south  of  Hathor's  temple  and  overlooking  the  Nile stands a beautiful but unfinished kiosk often ascribed to Trajan; it  certainly received such decoration as it has in his reign, but the building  itself may well be earlier.  In addition to these major structures, the original island of Philae also  contained  mud-brick  settlement  remains  on  the  northern  part  of  the  island and to the east and southeast. These areas would originally have  housed the staff that served the temple, but the remains that were extant  until  the  floodwaters  destroyed  them  are  described  in  the  literature  as  Roman and Christian.

It is difficult to overrate the importance of the religious complex at  Philae. It provides us with a major late cult center which is exceptionally  well-preserved.  Beginning  in  the  Saite  period  and  continuing  into  the  thirtieth  dynasty,  it  underwent  a  spectacular  flowering  in  the  Greco-Roman period,  and,  because  of  the  circumstances  of  its  dismantling  and  removal,  there  is  possible  a  unique  insight  into  its  architectural  evolution  until  and  including  its  conversion  to  a  Christian  center.  In  addition, the voluminous texts and iconography yield much information  on the last centuries of pharaonic religious thought and practice. In fact,  Philae  was  the  last  bastion  of  ancient  Egyptian  culture,  and  it  is  no  coincidence that the latest datable hieroglyphic inscription (24 August  394 CE) comes from Philae.

Recent Pages:


·        Personal Hygiene in Ancient Egypt
·        Perfumes and Unguents in Ancient Egypt
·        Petamenophis
·        Petosiris
·        Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie
·        Petuabastis

The concept of piety in ancient Egypt could be defined as  a personal, individual expression of faith in and devotion to a deity,  as  opposed  to  institutionalized  religious  practice,  which  was  traditionally the preserve of the king. The monarch was responsible  for  the  maintenance  of  maat—the  order  of  the  universe,  both  cosmic and social, as established by the creator at creation—which  included the maintenance of the relationship between the gods and  humankind. This was achieved via the temple rituals conducted, in  theory, by the king, but in practice by priests who acted for him.  The ordinary person had no role in this activity.

Historical Developments:

Evidence for personal religion prior  to the New Kingdom is limited. Some personal names, which in  ancient  Egyptian  are  often  theophoric,  hint  at  a  personal  relationship between the deity and the bearer of the name. These  names  are  particularly  common  in  the  Late  period:  for  example,  Padiese,  "he,  whom  Isis  gave"  (Greek,  Isidore).  Yet  some  are  attested from earliest times: for example, Shed-netjer, "whom the  god rescues" (from the first dynasty); from the Old Kingdom there  were the names Khui-wi-Ptah (or -Re, -Horus, -Khnum, or -Sobek),  "may  Ptah (or  Re,  Horus,  etc.)  protect  me."  A  few  texts  of  the  Middle Kingdom also make brief references to personal worship.

The paucity of evidence for personal religion prior to the New Kingdom can be explained by the limits set by what John Baines  (1985) defined as "decorum," a set of rules regarding what could  and could not be expressed in image and/or text in certain contexts.  These guidelines can be illustrated in the way deities appeared on  nonroyal  monuments.  Until  the  Middle Kingdom,  decorum  ex- cluded the possibility for nonroyal persons to depict deities on their  monuments;  they appeared  only  in  texts,  almost  exclusively  of a  funerary nature, or in the form of their emblems. Not until the end  of the Middle Kingdom were the first representations of nonroyal  persons  worshiping  a  deity  inscribed  on  nonroyal  stelae.  Even  there, a barrier usually in the form of a column of inscription and/or  an  offering  table  separated  the  worshiper  from  the  deity.  Not until the early New Kingdom and onward did images of deities  regularly appear on nonroyal monuments.

Personal  religion  was  encouraged  by  New  Kingdom  developments that contributed to a gradual breaking down of the  barriers that separated individual and deity, such as the evolution  and growth of festival processions of the deities. During the New  Kingdom, evidence survives for a burgeoning of such processions,  when the divine images were brought out of the seclusion of their  temples and carried in a portable boat-shrine along a processional  way. Although the images were hidden from view in the cabins of  the boats (or barks, as they are often called), the ordinary person  could approach them and seek the advice of the deity on all manner  of personal issues, through an oracle.

Among the earliest literary evidence for personal piety in the  New  Kingdom  are  limestone  ostraca,  dated  paleo-graphically  to  the pre-Amama period, which carry short prayers addressed to the  god  Amun.  These  ostraca  may  have  been  placed  along  the  processional  way  taken  by  the  god,  and  they  bear  some  of  the  earliest sentiments of love and devotion to a deity: "Amun-Re, you  are the beloved one, you are the only one!"

The  growth  of  personal  piety  was  accompanied  by  a  diminution of the exclusive role of the king and official religion.  As Jan Assmann (1984) has pointed out, one of the aims of King Akhenaten was to reverse that trend and restore to the monarch the  central role in religion, as the mediator between the one god Aten  and the people. His reform failed, indeed it succeeded in achieving  the exact opposite—people were not prepared to abandon their old  deities, and, since the official cults of the old gods were proscribed  by  the  king,  people  were  forced  to  turn  to  them  directly.  This  situation probably explains the explosion of evidence for personal  piety in both post-Amarna and Ramessid times, the latter dubbed  by James H. Breasted in 1912 "the age of personal piety."

The trauma of the Amarna period and its aftermath doubtless  also contributed to the atmosphere of uncertainty that is evident in  the following historical period. That uncertainty was illustrated by  theophoric  names,  which  contain  the  verb  sd  ("rescue,"  "save"),  names such as Shed-su-Amun ("may Amun save him"). Although  sporadically  met  in  earlier  periods,  such  names  were  most  frequently used in the New Kingdom (Ranke 1935. p. 330 f.). The  letter of the scribe Butehamun to the captain of the bowmen Shed- su-Hor  ("may  Horus  save  him")  also  reflected  this  phenomenon  (Wente 1990, p. 196), as did the emergence of the god Shed, the  personification  of  the  concept  of  the  rescuing  activity  of  a  deity  demonstrated in the study of Hellmut Brunner (1958, pp. 17-19).  The inscriptions  of  Si-mut  Kiki  (Wilson  1970)  provide  a  particularly  good example of some of the perceived dangers and illustrate the  concept  of  a  chosen  personal  deity,  to  whom  the  devotee  was  particularly attached and from whom protection was sought, a well- attested phenomenon of piety that made its first appearance at that  time.

As  Assmann  pointed  out  (1989,  p.  75  ff.),  a  further  religious  development in the New Kingdom generated a change in the role of  maat. Whereas it was previously held that one's fate depended on  one's behavior (if one lived a life in accordance with the principles  of  maat  then  one  would  perforce  flourish;  if  one  transgressed  against  it  one  would  be  punished—the  king  being  the  one  who  upheld  maat  and  meted  out  punishment),  instead  one  came  to  be  seen as directly responsible to the deity, who personally intervened  in the individual's life and punished wrongdoing. The misfortunes  from which people then needed to be saved were not only those of  an  impersonal  kind  but  also  included  divine  wrath,  meted  out  as  punishment for perceived wrongdoing.

Sources:

Archaeological  sources  for  the  practice  of  piety  have  survived  in  the  form  of  shrines  and  votive  offerings,  but  for  a  proper  understanding  of  the  phenomenon  we  are  dependent  on  literary  sources.  These  are  varied,  including  biographical  inscriptions,  hymns,  inscriptions  on  scarabs.  Wisdom  Literature  and, in particular, the prayers (often penitential) of individuals. A  very good example in a hymn may be found in those to Amun in  the  Leiden  Papyrus  (Prichard  1969,  p.  369).  The  most  important  Wisdom teaching is that of Amenemope (Lichtheim 1976, pp. 146- 163).  The  prayers  of  individuals,  inscribed  on  stelae  dedicated  to  the  deity  as  votive  offerings,  are  very  similar  to  the  biblical  penitential  psalms  expressing  sorrow  for  wrongdoing  and  thanks  for forgiveness. The bulk of our evidence comes from the Deir el-Medina, in Western Thebes, from the village of the workmen who  built the tombs of the kings. This bias is due primarily to the chance  of good preservation of the site, rather than to any unique religious  development that may have taken place there, although the fact that  Thebes probably suffered from the excesses of the Amama period  more than other places may also have been a factor. Ashraf Sadek  (1987) presented the evidence from other locations, among which  the Wepwawet sanctuary at Assyut (where more than six hundred  small stelae were discovered) was particularly significant.

The  Elements  of  the  Prayers:

terminology are regularly encountered in the prayers, hymns, and votive offerings:

1. The introductory words of praise and appeal to the deity often  include a description of the deity who is said to be "one who hears petitions (nhwt)," "who comes at  the voice of the poor (nmhw) in need," "who comes at the  voice of him who calls to him."

2. In the description of the transgressor, the writer claims to be  a "silent one," that is, a devout person (gr); a poor, humble  person (nmhw). By way of apology, the claim is made to be  ignorant and senseless (iwty hyty), to be one who does not  know good (nfr) from evil (bin).

3.  The  writer  confesses  to  having  committed  an  act  of  transgression (sp n thi), to having done what is abhorrent or  "taboo" (bty or bwt), to having sworn falsely ('rk m 'dy) by  the deity.

4.  The  deity  punishes  the  transgression,  often  with  sickness;  very frequent is the expression "seeing darkness by day," an  image for separation from the deity.

5. A promise is made to proclaim the might of the deity to all  the  world,  to  "son  and  daughter,  the  great  and  small,  generations not yet born," to "the fish in the water and the  birds in the air," to "the foolish and the wise."

6. An account is given of answer to prayer—the deity is said to  respond  to  the  pleas  of  the  petitioner  and  "to  come  as  a  sweet  breeze"  to  be  "merciful"  (htp)  to  "turn"  ('n)  to  the  petitioner "in peace" (htp).

The Deities:

There was a range of deities, from the major gods  and  goddesses  worshiped  throughout  Egypt  (such  as  Amun-Re,  Ptah, Hathor, Thoth, Osiris, Wepwawet, Horakhty and Haoeris) to  local  deities  (such  as  Mer-etseger,  the  personification  of  the  western mountain, "the Peak," at Thebes). Also worshipped were  deified  kings,  such  as  King Amenhotep I (1514-1493)  and less  commonly,  mortals,  such  as  Amenophis,  Son  of  Hapu,  an  official  of  King Amenhotep III (1382-1344).  Amun  was  popularly  worshiped  in  his  forms  py  rhn  nfr  ("the  goodly ram") and smn nfr n 'Imn ("the goodly goose of Amun").  The prevalence of the former was based on his animal symbol, the  ram, being the most public form of the god. It decorated the prow  and  stern  of  his  portable  bark,  and  the  avenues  leading  to  his  temples in Thebes were lined with statues of rams. The god Thoth,  patron  of  scribes,  was  favored  by  this  profession,  and  prayers  to  him appear in the Ramessid schooling literature.

The  Petitioners:

One  of  the  terms  by  which  petitioners  regularly  referred  to  themselves  in  the  penitential  prayers  was  nmhw, "a poor, humble person." This does not mean that piety was  a religion of the poor, since they would not have had the means to  commission  the  monuments  that  provide  us  with  our  data.  The  people  from  Deir  el-Medina  who  called  themselves  nmhw  were  relatively well-situated artisans, and most of the dedications found  in the shrines around the Great Sphinx at Giza are by people of middle, lower-middle, or low rank, but even the viceroy  of Nubia Huy, addressed a prayer of personal piety to his master,  the  king  Tutankhamun.  The  king  was  also  involved  in  this  movement: Ramesses II's record of the Battle of Kadesh, inscribed  on temple walls and pylons, did on a massive scale what the small  votive  stelae  of  the  ordinary  person  did  more  modestly.  In  the  prayer  of  Ramesses III  to  Amun  at  Karnak,  sentiments  and  ex- pressions are found that parallel those of the nonroyal prayers.

Other  terms  used  to  designate  the  ideal  god-fearing  pious  person were mfty, " a just one," comparable to the sadiq, "just," of  the biblical tradition; 1fbhw, "the cool, quiet one"; and gr or gr my',  "the silent one" or "the one who is justly silent." Their antithesis is  sm or sm 1-3, "the hot or hot-mouthed one." The term "the silent  one" is found in prayers of personal piety but is even better known  from  the  wisdom  teachings;  it  refers  to  those  who  do  not  assert  themselves  but  who  place  their  trust  in  the  divine,  recognize  the  supreme free will of a deity, and are totally submissive to that will.  That  attitude  is  succinctly  summarized  in  chapter  25  of  the  Instructions of Amene-mope: "For man is clay and straw, God is  his  builder;  he  pulls  down,  he  builds  in  a  moment.  He  makes  a  thousand insignificant as he wishes, he makes a thousand people  overseers when he is in his hour of life. Happy is he who reaches  the  West  [i.e.,  the  grave]  being  safe  in  the  hand  of  god."  There,  worldly success—once seen as the result of correct behavior, of a  life lived in accordance with maat— is held to be totally in the gift  of  a  god;  not  success,  then,  but  rather  an  unbroken  relationship  with  a  god,  was  the  true  mark  of  a  successful  life.  The  model  frequently used for the relationship between the individual and a  deity is that of servant (byk) and master (nb); as does a servant his  master, so the devout person "follows" (sm.s) and is "loyal" to (sms  hr mw/mtn) a deity.

The  confessions  of  fault  in  the  penitential  prayers  refer  to  "actual sin"; the reference is always to some concrete, individual  act or an inner thought or personal attitude. A concept of "general  sin"  is  not  found  (i.e.,  the  concept  of  the  existence  of  a  barrier  between  humankind  and  the  divine  that  is  not  the  result  of  an  individual  deed  or  thought  but  of  the  general  condition  of  humankind—the Christian concept of "original sin"). The closest  to the latter would be the statement on the stela of Nebra, that "the  servant is disposed to do evil" (Lichtheim 1976, p. 106).

Locations  of  Cults:

 Ashraf  Sadek  (1987)  has  collected  the  evidence for the locations of cults of personal piety. They include  nonofficial shrines (such as the small chapels erected by groups of  individuals at Deir el-Medina or the tiny shrines set up along the  path from Deir el-Medina to the Valley of the Kings), as well as  places provided at official cult centers (such as the eastern temple  at Karnak, dedicated  to  Amun  and  "Ramesses  who  hears  petitions,"  or  the  monumental eastern gateway at Deir el-Medina, with its relief of  "Ptah  who  hears  petitions").  At  the  Tenth  Pylon  at  Karnak,  two  individuals—Amenhotep,  son  of  Hapu,  and  Piramesse—set  up  statues  of  themselves  to  act  as  mediators  between  the  great  god  Amun  and  petitioners.  The  regular  festival  processions  of  the  deities were also important occasions for the practice of personal  religion; the promise in many of the penitential prayers—to make a  public proclamation of the experienced greatness and mercy of the  deity—was most probably fulfilled at such processions. The stela  of  Pataweret  (Brunner  1958,  pp.  6-12)  from  the  Wepwawet  sanctuary at Asyut provides valuable data on this aspect of personal  religion.  Divided  into  three  registers,  the  bottom  one  depicts  Pataweret's  experience  of  the  saving  intervention  of  Wepwawet,  called "the savior," who rescued him from being taken by a crocodile. The other two registers show where he expressed his thanks  to the god. In the middle one he is shown alone, praying before an  image  of  the  god  at  a  shrine.  In  the  top  register  he  is  shown  publicly praising the god during a procession.

Although compositions comparable to those of personal piety in  the Ramessid era are not known from later periods, many of the  sentiments  found  in  them  appear  in  later  biographical  texts,  and  their formulas of piety live on in some of the Greco-Roman temple  inscriptions.

Recent Pages:


·        Pepinakht Heqaib
·        Personal Hygiene in Ancient Egypt
·        Perfumes and Unguents in Ancient Egypt
·        Petamenophis
·        Petosiris
·        Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie
·        Petuabastis
·        Philae

From  the  early  days  of  Egyptology,  continuing  attempts were made to locate the position of the Ramessid capital  called  "The  House  of  Ramesses  Beloved  of  Amun Great  of  Victories."  It  was  believed  to  be  identical  with  the  biblical  city  called  "Ramesses,"  from  which  the  Israelites  departed  Egypt  on  their Exodus. In the Nile Delta, the vast ruins of Tanis, the region  around  Pelusium,  and  the  frontier  forts  of  Sile,  Tell  el-Maskhuta  and  Tell  el-Rotaba,  all  situated  on  the  eastern  edge  of  the  Nile  Delta, were in turn identified and then dismissed as Piramesse. The  French  archeologist  Pierre  Montet  insisted  that  Tanis  was  indeed  the  only  Ramessid  city  that  could  be  considered  a  candidate,  because  of  the  enormous  numbers  of  Ramessid  architectural  fragments that he had uncovered there. Excavations in the vicinity  of the modem village of Qantjr, led by the Egyptian Egyptologists Mahmoud Hamza (1928) and Labib Habachi (1940-1943), uncov- ered  parts  of  palaces  as  well  as  dwellings  of  high  Ramessid  officials and brought the region of Qantir into focus. This work was  continued,  with  a  detailed  evaluation  of  archeological  remains  within  the  region's  topography,  by  the  Austrian  Egyptologist  Manfred  Bietak  (since  1966).  With  further  progress  of  the  excavations at Tanis and Qantir, all data led to the final localization  of  the  Ramessid  capital  in  the  region  between  Qanti  and  el- Khata'na, which  has  come  to  be  generally  accepted.  Qantir/Pi-ramesse,  the  central  area  of  which  covers  more  than  10  square  kilometers,  is  about 100 kilometers (65 miles) northeast of Cairo and about 80  kilometers  (50  miles)  west  of  Ismailia,  not  far  from  Faqus,  in  Sharkijeh province.

The feet of a Ramses II statue at Piramesse

In cooperation with the Egyptian Antiquities Organization and  in collaboration with the Austrian mission, the Pelizaeus Museum  initiated  intensive  work  in  the  endangered  archeological  zone.  Francis  L.  I.  Griffith,  the  British  scholar,  could  still  note  on  an  inspection of the area in 1886 that one finds at Qantir a low tell  (settlement  mound),  which  continues  without  interruption  as  far  south  as  el-Khata'na,  more  than  2  kilometers  (1.5  miles)  to  the  south of Qantir. Today the area is almost completely leveled and  prepared  for  agricultural  exploitation,  except  for  very  limited  remains at Tell ed-Dab'a. Already in antiquity, specifically during  the  twenty-first  dynasty,  most  of  the  stone  masonry,  statues,  obelisks, and the like had been removed from Piramesse to build  new residences in such sites as Tanis and Bubastis.

During  the  course  of  nineteen  field  seasons  since  1980,  five  excavation sites have been opened; two of these were labeled Q I  and  Q  IV,  respectively.  Both  major  sites  contain,  from  top  to  bottom, badly damaged remains of cemeteries, followed by a more  or less preserved habitation level; beneath this is a chariot garrison  with  attached  multifunctional  workshops  and  extensive  horse  stables;

and  below  that  is  a  foundry  with  installations  for  the  industrial  production and casting of bronze (Q I) and glass (Q IV). The latest  excavations  have  revealed  the  remains  of  a  palace-like  structure  below  the  royal  stud  (Q  IV),  comprising  further  stables,  pillared  halls, and a room with a polychrome stucco floor, including gold- plating.  These  latter  elements  can.  be  dated  to  the  reign  of  Ramesses II by inscriptions and are most likely connected to the  systematic building activities of the new residence. They may also  reflect a technological transfer in regard to metal processing.

Evidence  for  this  is  provided  by  vast  installations  that  demonstrate the melting of bronze by heating open crucibles from  above, and the use of specialized furnaces for heating large-scale  casting molds. Those installations cover an area well over 30,000  square  meters  and  are  unique  in  antiquity  for  their  high- temperature technology and size.  Altogether,  the  strata  represent  a  period  of  a  more  than  three  hundred years of settlement history, from about 1300 BCE  to the  beginning  of  the  first  millennium,  from  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth dynasty to the early twentieth. Earlier occupation levels  (Middle Kingdom  and Second Intermediate Period)  are  to  be  found at Tell ed-Dab'a.

Traces of connections to foreign cultures and countries of the  eastern Mediterranean are well documented at Piramesse.  Particularly  interesting  in  this  regard  is  the  occupation  level  labeled  the  Chariot  Garrison.  Three  large  contemporary  functional units may be distinguished. The north of site Q I contains  a  peristyle  court  lined  with  octagonal  pillars  which  protected  polychrome  wall  paintings  from  the  frequent,  sometimes  violent  rainstorms. The pillars show on their four principal sides the royal  protocol of Ramesses II in a version that dates its erection to his first  sect-festival in regnal Year 30. The clearest indication of the use of  this  court  for  chariotry,  in  addition  to  the  numerous  objects  recovered, is the prints of horses' hooves in parts of the courtyard  floor.

The  second  functional  unit—multifunctional  workshops  with  intra-craft  and  cross-craft  specialization—is  situated  within  the  south  part  of  Q  I.  These  include  fireplaces  of  various  types,  crucibles  of  various  types,  tyeres,  layers  of  ashes  and  burnt  clay,  slag,  charcoal,  casting  molds,  scrap  metal,  and  recycled  bronze  objects, all of which indicate the presence of foundries in which not  just bronze but also gold, silver, and glass were being produced or  worked.  Regional  concentrations  of  humus  layers,  dunghills,  and  latrines,  in  combination  with  stone  and  bronze  knives,  hatchets,  scrapers,  and  sickle  blades,  point  to  the  processing  of  organic  materials  such  as  wood,  leather,  or  reeds.  Stone  detritus  such  as  flakes  and  nodules  of  flint,  blue  chalcedony,  different  varieties  of  camelian and agate, fragments of alabaster still bearing saw marks,  smashed  pieces  of  desert  boulders,  drill  cores  from  rock  crystal,  pressure stones of bow-drills and their crescents, ball-hammers, and  anvils  suggest  a  wide  spectrum  of  raw  materials,  techniques,  and  occupations.  A  specialized  area  served  for  the  working  of  animal  bones,  receiving  some  of  its  raw  material  from  a  nearby  zoo  in  which elephants, lions, gazelles, and other wild animals were kept.  Taken as a whole, this cross-craft workshop reveals an interrelated  web of dependent processes, linked together like a modern assembly  line to repair and produce chariots and their equipment as well as  bronze and glass.

The third functional unit at site Q IV comprises within an area of  more  than  fifteen  thousand  square  meters  six  rows  of  twelve  rectangular rooms each, a column hall being situated at the western  end of each row. The function of this architectural complex, which  has no known parallel, can be inferred from the whitewashed floors,  tethering stones, and "toilets" built of limestone inside these rooms:  all  of  them—column  halls  as  well  as  the  slender  rectangular  rooms—are to be designated as "stable rooms," the whole being a  royal  stud  housing  a  minimum  of  almost  460  horses  and  their  grooms. Finds of chariot finials include yoke saddle knobs and yoke  knobs, mainly carved of alabaster, limestone, or marble. Similarly  numerous  planoconvex  discs,  made  of  the  same  materials,  once  decorated the terminal ends of the wooden frame of the chariot's floor  frame.  Gold-plated  bronze  buttons,  nailheads  covered  with  gold  leaf,  punched  gold  bands,  and  rivets,  together  with  a  once- gilded  linchpin,  reveal  that  in  addition  to  standard  chariot  types,  lavishly  decorated  parade  chariots  were  also  manufactured  and  used here.

This  conclusion  can  be  further  verified  by  the  recovery  of  a  functioning pair of horse bits along with a nave cap made of bronze.  Numerous  weapons—short  swords,  arrows,  javelins,  and  lance  heads—as well as pieces of scaled body armor belonging to helmets  and  cuirasses,  complete  the  picture  of  the  charioteers'  armory.  Correlating  the  information  gained  by  excavations  to  ancient  Egyptian texts, we can recognize the architecture and its contents as  the  "armory"  and  at  the  same  time  the  "headquarters  of  thy  (the  king's) chariotry," described in the hymns of Piramesse.

Within  the  workshop  we  note  limestone  molds  for  embossing  metal  sheets,  which  are  unparalleled  in  the  cultural  record  of  the  ancient Near East. The identification of the designs engraved into  these  slabs  is  possible  through  Egyptian  reliefs  depicting  Hittite soldiers  carrying  a  shield  whose  outline  exactly  resembles  the  design and proportion of tine motif found on the limestone slabs; it  is comparable also to the orthostats found at Zencirii, on which the  Hittite  weather  god  wears  the  homed  crown  and  is  armed  with  a  lance, a short sword, and the same Hittite figure-eight shield. The  Amama  Letters  contain  lists  of  gifts  sent  by  Tusratta,  king  of  Mitanni,  to  Amenhotpe III,  naming  alongside  other  costly  items,  "nine  leather  shields,  the  urukmanmi  of  which  are  of  bronze."  Therefore I identify the Human word urukmannu with those metal  parts  that  were  produced  by  embossing  bronze  sheets  using  the  above  described  molds,  hammers,  and  punches,  also  found  at  Piramesse. Their  presence  within  this  metropolis  can  only  be  understood as proof that Egyptians and Hittites worked peacefully,  side by side. This holds true also for the motif on the back side of  the molds, depicting a highly stylized head of a bull, symbol of the  Hittite weather god.

The most likely explanation for the peaceful presence of Hittites  in  Egypt's  Ramessid  capital  is  the  occasion  of  the  diplomatic  marriage between Ramesses II and the eldest daughter of the Hittite  king  Hattusili  III,  Maat-hor-nofru-re,  which  took  place  in  regnal  Year  34  of  Ramesses II.  In  several  texts,  particular  emphasis  is  placed on the friendly encounter of the formerly hostile troops, enabling the ancient historians to state that "both lands had become  one (and the same) land." The shield molds with the Hittite motifs  must  have  been  used  to  maintain  the  shields  of  the  Hittites  who  served  as  a  palace  or  body  guard  for  the  queen  in  the  Ramessid  residence, an outward expression of the friendly union between the  two superpowers of the day.

Finds  from  the  Mycenaean  world  are  also  present  in  abundance,  most  of  them  in  the  form  of  potter) 7 ;  there  is  also  a  scale of a Mycenaean boar's-tusk helmet. We also have evidence  for the cults of several foreign deities, such as a relief depicting a  statue of Astarte, the ancient Near Eastern goddess of war and love  and protectress of the royal horse team, mounted on horseback; in  addition,  the  name  of  the  ancient  Near  Eastern  god  of  war,  Resheph, was found on a limestone door post. The former object is  the archeological manifestation of a passage in one of the hymns of  Piramesse,  telling  us  that  "Astarte  [is  situated]  in  her  (the  city's)  east." Since the hieroglyphic name of Astarte is also preserved on  one of the palmiform columns of the stable, it may be assumed that  the  stable  at  least  was  protected  by  this  goddess.  Altogether,  we  have more than circumstantial proof that the hymns on Piramesse  are accurate in describing its splendor, contents, layout, and size,  comparing  Piramesse  to  other  Egyptian  cities  such  as  Thebes,  Memphis, and Heliopolis.

Since 1996, the size and layout of the Ramessid metropolis has  been  further  investigated  in  cooperation  with  the  Bayerisches  Landesamt  fur  Denkmalpflege,  Munich,  using  a  caesium  magnetometer (SMART SM4G). With this device, sun-dried mud- brick walls, foundation pits filled with sand, and similar features of  lower  magnetism  are  clearly  to  be  differentiated  from  cultural  layers with higher magnetism. This enables us not only to measure  but also to draw the outlines of individual buildings as well as the  ground  plans  of  city  districts.  Covering  an  area  of  almost  100  hectares, the investigated fields contain a palace area, vast living  quarters consisting of villas and houses of the Amama type, with  courtyards, gardens, streets, avenues, channels, and perhaps parts  of  a  harbor.  Several  official  buildings  of  still  unknown  function,  one of them resembling in part the North Palace of Tell el-Amarna,  and  another  one  comparable  to  the  so-called  Foreign  Office  depicted in the tomb of Tjai at Thebes, are situated to the south of  Q  I  and  Q  IV.  It  is  hoped  that  the  continuation  of  the  magnetic  investigation  will  lead  to  a  map  covering  at  least  the  city  center  with its area of more than 10 square kilometers.

Recent Pages:


·        Personal Hygiene in Ancient Egypt
·        Perfumes and Unguents in Ancient Egypt
·        Petamenophis
·        Petosiris
·        Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie
·        Petuabastis
·        Philae
·        Piety in Ancient Egypt