Search results for ""Yale Egyptological Institute""

A Commemoration Ritual for Senwosret I, better known under the term Ramesseum Dramatic Papyrus, is a document that was found in a late Middle Kingdom tomb in the Ramesseum necropolis, together with other manuscripts and artifacts, all primarily magico-medical in function. The present study discusses the occupation of the tomb owner based on an analysis of this exceptional find in its entirety. The main core of the book is dedicated, however, to the Ramesseum Dramatic Papyrus. It examines the fabrication of the manuscript and its present condition. An updated translation and a grammatical analysis of the text are provided and a discussion of the relationship of myth and ritual as well as of the dramatic aspect of the ritual is included. Based on the analysis of the content, the participants in the ritual, the representation of the king in the vignettes, and relying on the comparison between the rites occurring in this document and those included in other royal and statue rituals attested from ancient Egypt, it can be shown that the text features a ritual that was held in commemoration of the deceased king Senwosret I. The book also includes photographs of the manuscript as well as digital drawings of the papyrus.

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This is the first complete translation and commentary on the important tableau and inscription of Queen Katimala/Karimala at Semna. Proper understanding of the paleography, grammar and content reveals Katimala to have been a Nubian ruler at the time of the Twenty-First to Twenty-Second Dynasties of Ancient Egypt. She emerges as a political and military leader who took control of at least Lower Nubia in the wake of failed military activities on the part of a male predecessor. Katimala's inscription is not illegible, as has often been stated, but is a well-composed Lower Nubian example of a politico-religious manifesto applying many of the conventions of early Egyptian literary and historical compositions.

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Ritual Landscape and Performance contains the Egyptological contributions from a conference held at the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations of Yale University on September 23-24, 2016. The various articles discuss the use of ritual landscape from the Old to the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, by focusing on landscape archaeology of specific sites such as Saqqara, el-Bersheh, Abydos, Thebes, as well as Aniba in Nubia. Further contributions elucidate the interaction of desert and the Nile Valley through rock art, the depictions of watery environments in the delta and their association to rituals, as well as the habitation of landscapes using the example of southern Middle Egypt. Illustrated in colour and black & white.

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This new study is the first translation of the papyrus of Padikakem, with an extensive commentary. The complete early Ptolemaic manuscript from the Walters Art Museum contains two uncommon texts in hieratic. The initial text, a Ritual of Introducing the Multitude on the Last Day of Tekh, is identified as a temple liturgy by its rubric title, while its themes recall love poetry and the Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys. The second text, a rarely attested Book III of glorification spells (sakhw) has an exclusively mortuary character. The spells of this section largely originate in the Pyramid Texts and include specific instructions for recitation by the lector priest. The two texts are established as a coherent composition that belongs to the Greco-Roman tradition of merging Egyptian funerary practices with temple liturgies. The diverse sources and themes of the texts shed light on the evolution of Osirian and mortuary theologies from the Old Kingdom onwards. The study also thoroughly examines the development of grammar and paleography among the parallels.

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The ruins of the mortuary complex named Enduring-are-the Places of Khakaure-true-of-voice in Abydos are located at South Abydos. Erected for pharaoh Khakaure-Senwosret III (ca. 1878-1841 BC) of Dynasty 12, the Abydos complex includes a subterranean royal tomb built beneath a peak anciently called Anubis-Mountain, and a mortuary temple named Nefer-Ka (Beautiful-is-the-Ka) established for the afterlife cult of Senwosret III. Although the Egypt Exploration Fund initially discovered and examined the site between 1899-1902, the Senwosret III complex has for the last century remained enigmatic, partially through virtue of its location at Abydos. It has often been identified as an Abydene royal cenotaph. In 1994 the University of Pennsylvania-Yale University-Institute of Fine Arts, NYU Expedition initiated a renewed program of excavation at South Abydos. A focus of this work has been a comprehensive investigation of the Senwosret III mortuary temple. Excavation of the temple's well-preserved architecture in tandem with work on its surroundings now provides the basis for a detailed reconstruction of this major Middle Kingdom royal mortuary temple. The volume includes six parts arranged in twenty-two chapters with three appendixes. Part I examines the organization of the Senwosret III complex as a whole. Part II is devoted to the architecture and functions of the containment building that housed the stone-built cult structure named Nefer-Ka . Part III examines the architecture, decorative and statue program of the cult building proper and presents a reconstruction of the building's layout and appearance. Part IV discusses the significant archaeological contexts that surround the temple including external activity areas, refuse deposits and the temple's ceramic assemblage. Part V includes publication of the seal corpus associated with the temple and presents a model of the temple's administrative structure based on institutional stamp seals and private name seals. Part VI examines the current evidence pertaining to the tomb enclosure and Senwosret III's subterranean tomb. The volume includes drawings and photographs of approximately one thousand objects: relief, statue and architectural fragments, small objects, seals and seal impressions, and ceramics. In its overall characteristics, the Senwosret III complex is an innovative royal mortuary establishment. Although it has discernible roots in the preceding royal pyramid tradition, the complex as a whole displays traits which presage the New Kingdom format of royal burial complex in the Valley of the Kings. Its hidden tomb at the foot of Anubis-Mountain , paired with its cultivation-edge mortuary temple makes this site pivotal in the evolution of the Egyptian royal mortuary complex. The volume addresses our understanding of this site as either a cenotaph or burial complex for Senwosret III, and the cult of this king which was maintained at South Abydos for some 150 years until its decline at the end of the 13th Dynasty, ca. 1700 BC.

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This new study offers a comprehensive examination of a unique manuscript, a Late Period hieratic papyrus in the Brooklyn Museum. This document comprises a compilation of seventeen individual prophylactic texts whose anatomical focus is the ear. Many of the texts specifically state that they are intended for the protection of the ears of a king named Psamtik, a historical figure who ruled Egypt in the seventh century BCE. The fact that this papyrus was created to serve a sole purpose and function, the protection of the ear, distinguishes it noticeably from earlier Egyptian medical and magical texts that are largely encyclopedic and were intended to serve a broad range of purposes. The present study contains an introduction and full translation with extensive philological and textual commentary, as the texts of this papyrus are rich in mythological allusions. The commentaries are largely based on comparison with contemporary and older Egyptian texts that, although not direct parallels as there are none, serve nonetheless as a rich resource for comparative analysis that has led to a more informed reading of this important document. Includes 34 colour plates and 5 b/w tables.

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Hibis Temple, tucked away in the remote Khargeh Oasis, contains the longest monumental hymns to Amun-Re ever carved in hieroglyphs. These religious texts, inscribed during the reign of Darius I, drew upon a large variety of New Kingdom sources, and later they served as sources for the Graeco-Roman hymns at Esna Temple. As such, the hymns to Amun-Re from Hibis are excellently suited for studying Egyptian theology during the Persian Period, on the eve of the supposed "new theology" created by the Graeco-Roman priesthood. This new study, the first extensive commentary on the five liturgically connected hymns, features new translations with detailed notes. The book also considers dominant theological themes present in the texts, including the concept of "Amun within the Iris."

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An illustrated catalogue of inscriptions recorded during excavatione between 1967-69. The inscriptions comprise literary and religious ostraca, construction records, Middle Kingdom texts from the chapel area, inscribed potsherds, bricks, seals and other objects.

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Standing as a summary of Spalinger's ideas at the time of the Yale lectures in 2012, this study covers two research sides of modern Egyptological research by a life-long student of ancient Egyptian calendrics and the Egyptian military. The first three chapters cover the development of Richard Parker's seminal study from 1950 and move into the present stage of scholarship. Very important is the author's clarification of what Parker wrote in his paradigmatic work, a slim volume often misunderstood. Hence, the thrust of argument concentrates upon the dating of feasts, the names of the Egyptian months and their metamorphoses, in addition to the retention of lunar-based phenomena. Two final chapters turn to the military aspects of New Kingdom warfare, with emphasis placed upon Seti I and logistical arrangements.

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A history of the White Monastery federation of Upper Egypt. Founded in the fourth century, the White Monastery communities form one of Coptic Christianity’s largest, most prosperous and longest-lived locations. The book reconstructs their story through archaeological and textual sources, and assesses their place within the world of Late Antiquity. Founded in the fourth century and best known for the zealous and prolific third abbot, Shenoute of Atripe, these monasteries have survived from their foundation in the golden age of Egyptian Christianity until today. At its peak in the fifth to the eighth centuries, the White Monastery federation was a hive of industry, densely populated and prosperous. It was a vibrant community that engaged with extra-mural communities by means of intellectual, spiritual and economic exchange. It was an important landowner and a powerhouse of the regional economy. It was a spiritual beacon imbued with the presence of some of Christendom's most famous saints, and it was home to a number of ordinary and extraordinary men and women, who lived, worked, prayed and died within its walls. 81 b/w illustrations, 11 colour plates & 7 tables

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This book focuses on the decorative schemes of several chapels in the earlier part of the Temple of Hibis, one of the most important temples from Late Period Egypt. The chapels studied here were either established and/or decorated during the first Persian Period (525-404 BCE). 45 b/w illustrations & 20 pages of colour plates. Ancient Egyptian temple walls expressed royal and political ideologies, reflected the ancient Egyptian secular and spiritual world order, supplied a medium for the reenactments of assorted myths, and implied a metaphor for the universe. Despite the conventional overall architecture plan of the Temple of Hibis, it exhibits numerous particularities and, while the more prominent parts of the temple, such as the sanctuary, have been studied by numerous scholars, in other areas the decoration schemes remain largely unexplained. The chapels studied in this book were located around the main sanctuary A, but have rarely been the subject of scholarly discussions. The book concentrates on chapels F and G to the south of sanctuary A on the first level of the temple and all the decorated chapels, E1, E2, H1, and H2, on the second level of the temple. Each chapter begins with a brief description of the scenes and their basic layout and a complete translation of the accompanying texts. A more in-depth analysis regarding both text and image follows in the commentary. It includes the analysis of the different aspects of the gods, their origins, and the development of their cults that are significant to the scenes and to each other. Also discussed are their coherence, any aspects that are especially emphasized, and any other information that could be gleaned from the whole scene. The analysis tries to detail the specific composition that makes up the mosaic of the picture, wall, or room. Attention is paid to both the scenic arrangement and the hieroglyphic inscriptions, as the interpretation of one would be meaningless without the other. Attention is given to investigating the general function of the different rooms by means of their decoration and by identifying the patterns or important themes generated by the layout of the scenes. The results are summarized in the last chapter. A number of line drawings have been inserted into the text beside a described scene as an aid to the reader.

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Illustrated in colour and b&w with 248 illustrations. The second monograph devoted to the work of the Theban Desert Road Survey presents the major rock inscriptions of the northwestern Theban Desert and the western hinterlands of Qamûla. The material includes six larger sites and several smaller collections and individual inscriptions and images, sites discovered by the Theban Desert Road Survey over the course of approximately twelve field seasons. The major groupings of inscriptions, from south to north, are the rock shrine of Pahu and the inscriptions of Gebel Akhenaton, sites in the vicinity of the Wadi Himdaniya; a small but interesting collection of inscriptions near the Wadi Arqub Baghla, with two smaller, outlying sites; inscriptions of the Wadi Magar to the north, including the site of the great Predynastic tableau with its plethora of crocodiles, the associated vignette of Elephant-on-the-Gebel, along with the nearby Gebel Sutekh site, and smaller concentrations beyond; and finally the inscriptions of the area of the Matna el-Barqa. Highlights of the epigraphic material include new prayers to Amun and Hathor-one a genuine New Kingdom de profundis recording an appeal to Amun during a storm on the Nile-several important Predynastic and Protodynastic tableaux, and the only rock art depictions of Akhenaton in a true Amarna style.

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The current volume assembles a series of studies of Middle Kingdom culture gathered around the theme of archaism, change and innovation. The papers had their origin in a symposium the University of Pennsylvania Museum hosted in 2002, and held in memory of the great Middle Kingdom scholar, Oleg Berlev. The Penn Museum organized the conference that received generous support from the Center for Ancient Studies of the University of Pennsylvania and the Marilyn and William Kelly Simpson Endowment in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Yale University. For the publication, the authors revised and augmented their essays, allowing this volume to include up-to-date information. The editors also invited other scholars to contribute additional studies resulting in a volume that deals with the Middle Kingdom in a broader context. The Marilyn and William Kelly Simpson endowment in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Yale University generously provided the funds necessary for the publication of the volume.

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Fifteen 'slab stelae' and stela fragments were found set into the exterior walls of the Giza mastaba tombs from the reign of Khufu and his successors. Taken as a group, they provide one of the most important sources of Egyptian artistic and historical documents of the early Old Kingdom. This publication presents a fresh interpretation of the Giza stelae, with new colour photography, 'digital epigraphy' facsimile drawings, new translations, original discovery photographs and recent colour images taken at Giza. The book is published in full colour, with numerous charts and catalogues, gathering information on all Giza tombs with slab stelae emplacements, the history of their excavation, previous scholarly research, and comparative and interpretive chapters. Appendices include both colour and line drawing palaeographies of all hieroglyphs appearing on the stelae, and a collection of the enigmatic 'linen lists' that adorn the Giza stelae and many other Archaic and Old Kingdom monuments. Indexes complete the volume.

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The Great Karnak Inscription of Merneptah's 5th regnal year, the longest surviving continuous monumental text from Egypt, describes the combined Libyan and Sea People invasion of Egypt c.1208 BCE. This new study, the first complete commentary on this long but unfortunately damaged text, begins with a translation of the text, accompanied by detailed notes. The study considers specific military aspects of the inscription alongside its religious background. A grammatical analysis of the Great Karnak Inscription also sheds new light on the grammar of Ramesside monumental texts.

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