Music and Political Space in Ancient Egypt

Im alten Ägypten nahm Musik durch die Strukturierung von militärischen Paraden, könig-lichen Festen und religiösen Prozessionen eine wichtige Rolle im öffentlichen Raum ein. Alle diese Situationen können gleichzeitig auch als politische Räume verstanden werden, da sie immer auch zur politischen Kommunikation dienten. Der vorliegende Artikel un-tersucht, wie Musik und Musikinstrumente zu diesem Zweck verwendet wurden und wie politische Wirklichkeit sowie ihre Veränderungen sich in deren Auswahl widerspiegel

Shoshenq I and biblical Šîšaq: A philological defense of their traditional equation

Since the late 1980s, as part of proposals to lower the conventional chronology of pharaonic Egypt by one to three hundred years, a number of scholars have identified biblical Šîšaq (1 Kings 11:40, 14:25; 2 Chronicles 12:2-9) with Ramesses II or III, rather than the conventional Shoshenq I, on the basis of rare hypocoristica for ‘Ramesses’, ssysw, ssw, and ss. Without addressing the chronological issues, this paper examines this proposed re-identification from a philological perspective, concluding that the proposal to identify biblical Šîšaq with any king named ‘Ramesses’ is unwarranted and implausible

Gatekeepers and lock masters: the control of access in the Neo-Assyrian palaces

Book description: This volume is intended as a tribute to the memory of the Sumerologist Jeremy Black, who died in 2004. The Sumerian phrase, ‘Your praise is sweet’ is commonly addressed to a deity at the close of a work of Sumerian literature. The scope of the thirty contributions, from Sumerology to the nineteenth-century rediscovery of Mesopotamia, is testament to Jeremy’s own wide-ranging interests and to his ability to forge scholarly connections and friendships among all who shared his interest in ancient Iraq

Trabajo forzoso y deportaciones en el antiguo Egipto: tendencias recientes y posibilidades futuras

This contribution argues that forced migration and forced labour have been comparatively understudied topics in Egyptology. In this context, it introduces recent research on Egyptian Late Bronze Age deportation policies and paints a comprehensive picture of their political economy, including the geographic scope and societal and individual impacts on both the Egyptian and affected societies. Using this case study, the author highlights how Egyptologists can connect with scholars from other disciplines, which like International Relations and Migration Studies are more concerned with modern history and contemporary developments, to move the field forward and contribute to present-day issues.Esta contribución sostiene que la migración forzada y el trabajo forzoso han sido temas comparativamente poco estudiados en egiptología. En este contexto, presenta una investigación reciente sobre las políticas de deportación egipcias de la Edad del Bronce Final y presenta un panorama completo de su economía política, incluido el alcance geográfico y los impactos sociales e individuales tanto en las sociedades egipcias como en las afectadas. Usando este estudio de caso, el autor destaca cómo los egiptólogos pueden conectarse con académicos de otras disciplinas, que como Relaciones Internacionales y Estudios de Migración están más preocupados por la historia moderna y los desarrollos contemporáneos, para hacer avanzar el campo y contribuir a los problemas actuale

The \u27Window of Appearance\u27 Re-Opened: New Perspectives on a New Kingdom Royal Venue

The aim of the present study is to arrive at a more nuanced understanding of the ritualized appearance of the king in the \u27Window of Appearance\u27 by analyzing the artistic portrayal of this architectural venue throughout the New Kingdom. In order to do this, a corpus of all known tenanted \u27Window of Appearance\u27 scenes was gathered for the first time. By conducting an analysis of the artistic motifs depicted on the \u27Window of Appearance\u27 it is my goal to indicate that the variation in the decorative program is not simply artistic convention as has been previously implied, but reflects shifting socio-political and religious ideologies with each respective reign. I will also utilize the layout of the decorative program to demonstrate that these motifs were arranged systematically to reflect a microcosm of the king\u27s divine and earthly domain and represented the doctrines of his role as king

Your Scent is as Their Scent. The Invisible Presence in New Kingdom Egyptian Art

Ancient Egyptian art often includes depictions of the act of smelling and of smell-carrying objects. Though the act of smelling and the objects themselves are visibly recognizable, both underline the presence of an invisible force, that of smell. In this analysis, Iargue that the visible presentation of scent-rich environments in Theban tomb wall paintings from the Eighteenth Dynasty was meant to mark divine presence, another invisible force. Textual evidence from mortuary literature reveals that the Egyptian gods could be identified by their smell. Thus, if the deceased were to take on this smell (i.e. identity) of the gods, the resultant change in identity would facilitate a successful transition into the afterlife. In addition, smell may also be linked with the breath of life, which could be invoked to call the deceased back to the living world to receive offerings

Ethnic Continuity and Change at Gezer

This project examines the issue of social identity, particularly ethnicity, in the ancient world. It focuses on one site, Gezer, and how ethnic identities there evolved between the Middle Bronze Age and the end of the Iron Age. Modern anthropological perspectives on ethnicity and methods used by archaeologists for identifying ethnicity archaeologically are examined. In light of these studies, the history of Gezer is inspected. The site is chronologically divided into three periods, the Bronze Age, the Early Iron Age, and the Late Iron Age. Using both historical and archaeological sources, the occupational history of Gezer is outlined, highlighting ethnically salient points. The data from Gezer are compared to wider ethnic developments in the surrounding region, namely the Canaanites as an ethno-cultural entity, the Philistines, and the Israelites. The analysis shows that from the Middle Bronze Age through the end of the Iron Age, Gezer experienced long periods of ethnic continuity as well as shorter phases of ethnic variety. During the Bronze Age, the city was the quintessential Canaanite city-state. It continued to be largely Canaanite in the Early Iron Age, though it was ethnically mixed having a minority of Philistines occupying part of the site. In the Late Iron Age the ethnic balance shifted as the site became gradually more Israelite, being completely Israelite by the end of the Iron Age. This study demonstrates that ethnic identity was an existing form of social identity in antiquity and is capable of being revealed in the historical and archaeological record