Schenkel, Wolfgang

Propylaeum-DOK

110 Arts and Economics
Edel, Elmar
Hieroglyphic Inscriptions of the Old Kingdom
[“Hieroglyphische Inschriften des Alten Reiches”] 
(Abhandlungen der Rheinisch-Westfalischen Akademie der Wis- 
senschaften, Band 67)
Wiesbaden: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1981; 98 pp., 35 ill., 6 plates
The present volume is a contribution to the constitution and resto­
ration of the inscriptions of the Egyptian Old Kingdom. It deals 
chiefly with the tombs in al-Qasr was-Sayyad and in Tihna, and 
with various inscriptions from Saqqara and al-Hagarisa.
Once again Elmar Edel demonstrates the old sleuth-hound’s mas­
tery in tracking down clues and supplementing the most fragmen­
tary of texts. Even unimportant texts acquire lustre from the way 
in which they are treated: how much more, therefore, the texts 
with interesting contents, the interpretation of which is thus 
placed for the first time on a solid foundation. The documentation 
of the finds, in particular the drawings of reconstructions, is exem­
plary and a pleasure to use. In short, the work is a “genuine Edel”, 
characterized by the schematic presentation of material individual 
to him, his painstaking love of detail and the tone of delight and 
pride of discovery in his reporting.
Among the contents one should single out for mention the analysis 
of the regulations for the funerary cult, from the Tihna tombs, 
which offers a philologically sound basis for specialists in jurispru­
dence (pp. 38-65), together with the essays on prosopography and 
the formation of personal names (index of personal names, p. 97). 
The linguistic specialist will find contributions to Egyptian lex­
icography (index of words, also p. 97).
We know that Edel has other texts of greater importance in his 
files; inscriptions recorded during his work on the Qubbat al-Hawa 
near Aswan. May he soon be in a position to lay them before the 
scientific world as well.
Professor Dr. Wolfgang Schenkel
Originalveröffentlichung in: Mundus 19 (1983), S. 110


Edel, Elmar, Hieroglyphic Inscriptions of the Old Kingdom, Wiesbaden 1981

http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/3600/1/Schenkel_REZ_Edel_Elmar_1983.pdf

Edel, Elmar, Hieroglyphic Inscriptions of the Old Kingdom, Wiesbaden 1981

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