DOCSLIB.ORG

Crossing the Frontier Into the Desert: Egyptian Expeditions to the Sinai Peninsula

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Crossing the Frontier Into the Desert: Egyptian Expeditions to the Sinai Peninsula 9863-07_AncientW&E_01 07-11-2007 15:26 Pagina 1 doi: 10.2143/AWE.6.0.2022791 AWE 6 (2007) 1-22 CROSSING THE FRONTIER INTO THE DESERT: EGYPTIAN EXPEDITIONS TO THE SINAI PENINSULA Thomas HIKADE Abstract Ancient Egypt possessed two types of borders: a physical border and an ideological one. The first is defined by the desert to the east and west, the Mediterranean to the north, and the rapids of the First Cataract in the south. The role of the king was to expand the border, strengthen it and defend it against the chaos that might threaten Egypt from the other side of the border. The second border, the ideological border, can be detected in the way Egypt- ian society defined itself and how it portrayed foreigners. Apart from the ideological side there was the day-to-day experience of the Egyptian king, officials and to a lesser extent the wider population. The crown and court had to deal with foreigners and their customs in trade and diplomacy. With these contacts, naturally, the Egyptian ideology was faced with reality. These two sides can be labelled as topos, i.e. ideological expectations, and mimesis, actual responses to these expectations. The paper will examine this dualism using the expe- ditions to the western Sinai in the late 3rd and 2nd millennium BC. Introduction Borders and frontiers can be manifold. They can be natural like rivers or mountains or cultural and separating various groups of people. The former are usually perma- nent while the latter may change over time. Ancient Egypt possessed these two types of borders. The physical border was defined by the desert to the east and west, the Mediterranean in the north, and the rapids of the First Cataract in the south. The Egyptian word for the border is ts, which is also used for marking arable fields, the area of a town or the whole of Egypt, while the land of the Nile valley was called t. The role of the king, in this respect, was to expand the border, strengthen it and defend it against the chaos that might threaten Egypt from the other side of the border. A very good example comes from the time of Sesostris III (ca. 1872-1853/2 BC): I have made my boundary further south than my fathers, I have added to what was bequeathed me. I am a king who speaks and acts, What my heart plans is done by my arm.1 1 Lichtheim 1975, 119. 9863-07_AncientW&E_01 07-11-2007 15:26 Pagina 2 2 T. HIKADE The second, ideological border, can be detected in the way Egyptian society defined itself and how it portrayed foreigners. Here the principles of Maat, often simply translated as order or, in the words of J. Assmann,2 as ‘connective justice’, is fundamental. Firstly, Maat defines the way Egyptians should interact with each other and binds them together socially as the words of king Neferhotep I (ca. 1705- 1694 BC) of the 13th Dynasty make so strikingly clear: ‘The reward of one who does something lies in something being done for him. This is considered by god as Maat.’3 Egyptians should act in a positive way towards each other in order to receive in kind and thus show horizontal solidarity. However, there is also a vertical solidarity which tightly puts every Egyptian into the order of Egyptian society. It demands protection for the weak and inferior on one side and loyalty and obedience to the superior on the other. For the king at the top of the hierarchy it means, ultimately, protection for all Egyptians and thus securing society’s order and justice. Since Maat was the order for the Egyptian people inside the borders of Egypt people living outside Egypt were not part of this concept and thus belonged to the sphere of Isfet, i.e. chaos and disorder. Hence, for the Egyptian royal ideology it was extremely important to stress that the king was willing and able to deter and intim- idate these foreign elements that were not just ‘others’ but absolute aliens.4 And it did not matter if this world conflict was actually real or merely potential.5 Order versus chaos was a centrepiece of the Egyptian world-view. Apart from the ideological side there was of course the day-to-day experience of how to deal with foreigners. The crown and court had to deal with foreigners and their customs on a diplomatic level. Officials were also involved in commercial activities and to a lesser extent the wider Egyptian population had contact with for- eigners. With these contacts the Egyptian ideology was naturally faced with reality. These two sides can be labelled as topos, i.e. ideological expectations, and mimesis, actual responses to these expectations by individuals. Topos As mentioned above the key principles of Maat encompass vertical and horizontal loyalty and responsibility. The latter is expressed on the royal level with the role of the king as protector of his people, deterring, defending and defeating all enemies 2 Assmann 2002, passim; and for the concept of Maat in particular, see Assmann 1990. 3 For the whole text of this stele, erected at Abydos, see Helck 1975, no. 32, 21-29. 4 Assmann 2002, 151. 5 Kemp 2006, 92-99. 9863-07_AncientW&E_01 07-11-2007 15:26 Pagina 3 CROSSING THE FRONTIER INTO THE DESERT 3 – most of them from outside Egypt and thus beyond the actual borders of the state. The symbolic icon for this task is seen throughout Egypt on temple facades: it is the so-called smiting of the enemies. In this iconic scene the king is shown with royal regalia and with a raised arm holding a club or sickle-sword. With the other hand he grasps a foreigner or several foreigners by the hair ready to strike. The for- eigners are stereotyped and are people from Nubia in the south, Libyans from the west, and Asiatics from the north-east. This ideology and stereotyping of foreigners is very similar in tone to the so-called ‘breaking the bows’ in which nine foreign peoples, associated with bows as their preferred weapon of combat and shown as bound captives, are depicted under the soles of the pharaoh, thus symbolically being trodden on by the king.6 The topic of ‘smiting of the enemies’ has a long tradition in Egypt going back at least to the middle of the 4th millennium BC, when we have it not only on pot- tery vessels from Abydos7 but also from a wall-painting from the famous slightly younger Tomb 100 at Hierakonpolis8 and, of course, from the later Narmer Palette.9 The enemies were portrayed as inferior but also as threatening. This is why they had to be subdued and controlled at all times. While the earlier scenes had been not obviously ethnic specific this changed with the depictions of the subdued on the later palettes at the end of the 4th millennium BC.10 With the process of cultural and political unification under way the idea of an ethnically uniform soci- ety that separated Egypt from the others outside Egypt’s borders became a vital part of Egyptian self-definition.11 Following A. Loprieno’s work on Egyptian literature it is possible to apply his term topos to this scene, which means ‘the ideological expectation of Egyptian society as transmitted to its officials’.12 Thus it would define distinct ethnic categories and present the king as their superior, controlling and subduing the enemies of Egypt. With this, comes the idea that Egyptians were civilised while foreigners were considered barbaric. Clear evidence expressing this concept with regard to Egypt’s southern neighbour can be found in the Boundary Stele of Sesostris III (Berlin Museum 1157). This monument explicitly underlines the marking of the frontier 6 The three major ethnic groups of Nubians, Libyans and Asiatics remained the same. Very good examples of this scene are seen on the sandals and the footrest from the tomb of Tutankhamun (Reeves 1990, 155, 186). 7 Köhler 1998, fig. 13; Hartmann 2003, figs. 5, 6. 8 Saleh et al. 1987, fig. 8a-b. 9 Quibell and Green 1902, pls. LXXV, LXXVI. 10 Köhler 2002. 11 Baines 2003. 12 Loprieno 1996, 45. 9863-07_AncientW&E_01 07-11-2007 15:26 Pagina 4 4 T. HIKADE which ‘was made further south than my fathers’, stressing the aspect of expanding Egypt’s borders, but also Egypt’s distaste for Nubians: Since the Nubian listens to the word of mouth, To answer him is to make him retreat. Attack him, he will turn his back, Retreat, he will start attacking. They are not people one respects, They are wretches, craven-hearted.13 But it was no better for Egypt’s northern neighbours. Notwithstanding that in the ‘Instructions for King Merikare’ of the 10th Dynasty (ca. 2080-2020 BC) the old king promoted the idea that speaking is stronger than fighting to his son and successor, and that one should respect the nobles and sustain one’s people as part of the royal duties and guidelines, he had no hesitation in looking down on Asiatics, talking about them as follows: Lo, the miserable Asiatic, He is wretched because of the place he is in. Short of water, bare of wood, Its paths are many and painful … Like a thief who darts about a group.14 And further describing them as: … a crocodile on its shore It snatches from a lonely road It cannot seize from a populous town.15 A similar comparison is known from the ‘Instructions of Any’, a text very likely composed during the 18th Dynasty, characterising the Syrian as a beast: One teaches the Nubian to speak Egyptian, The Syrian and other strangers too.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • ROYAL STATUES Including Sphinxes
    ROYAL STATUES Including sphinxes EARLY DYNASTIC PERIOD Dynasties I-II Including later commemorative statues Ninutjer 800-150-900 Statuette of Ninuter seated wearing heb-sed cloak, calcite(?), formerly in G. Michaelidis colln., then in J. L. Boele van Hensbroek colln. in 1962. Simpson, W. K. in JEA 42 (1956), 45-9 figs. 1, 2 pl. iv. Send 800-160-900 Statuette of Send kneeling with vases, bronze, probably made during Dyn. XXVI, formerly in G. Posno colln. and in Paris, Hôtel Drouot, in 1883, now in Berlin, Ägyptisches Museum, 8433. Abubakr, Abd el Monem J. Untersuchungen über die ägyptischen Kronen (1937), 27 Taf. 7; Roeder, Äg. Bronzefiguren 292 [355, e] Abb. 373 Taf. 44 [f]; Wildung, Die Rolle ägyptischer Könige im Bewußtsein ihrer Nachwelt i, 51 [Dok. xiii. 60] Abb. iv [1]. Name, Gauthier, Livre des Rois i, 22 [vi]. See Antiquités égyptiennes ... Collection de M. Gustave Posno (1874), No. 53; Hôtel Drouot Sale Cat. May 22-6, 1883, No. 53; Stern in Zeitschrift für die gebildete Welt 3 (1883), 287; Ausf. Verz. 303; von Bissing in 2 Mitteilungen des Kaiserlich Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Athenische Abteilung xxxviii (1913), 259 n. 2 (suggests from Memphis). Not identified by texts 800-195-000 Head of royal statue, perhaps early Dyn. I, in London, Petrie Museum, 15989. Petrie in Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland xxxvi (1906), 200 pl. xix; id. Arts and Crafts 31 figs. 19, 20; id. The Revolutions of Civilisation 15 fig. 7; id. in Anc. Eg. (1915), 168 view 4; id. in Hammerton, J. A.
    [Show full text]
  • Who's Who in Ancient Egypt
    Who’s Who IN ANCIENT EGYPT Available from Routledge worldwide: Who’s Who in Ancient Egypt Michael Rice Who’s Who in the Ancient Near East Gwendolyn Leick Who’s Who in Classical Mythology Michael Grant and John Hazel Who’s Who in World Politics Alan Palmer Who’s Who in Dickens Donald Hawes Who’s Who in Jewish History Joan Comay, new edition revised by Lavinia Cohn-Sherbok Who’s Who in Military History John Keegan and Andrew Wheatcroft Who’s Who in Nazi Germany Robert S.Wistrich Who’s Who in the New Testament Ronald Brownrigg Who’s Who in Non-Classical Mythology Egerton Sykes, new edition revised by Alan Kendall Who’s Who in the Old Testament Joan Comay Who’s Who in Russia since 1900 Martin McCauley Who’s Who in Shakespeare Peter Quennell and Hamish Johnson Who’s Who in World War Two Edited by John Keegan Who’s Who IN ANCIENT EGYPT Michael Rice 0 London and New York First published 1999 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004. © 1999 Michael Rice The right of Michael Rice to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
    [Show full text]
  • Death on the Horizon: Osteoethnography of the People of Akhetaten
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by ScholarWorks@UARK University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ScholarWorks@UARK Theses and Dissertations 12-2019 Death on the Horizon: Osteoethnography of the People of Akhetaten Alissa Michelle Bandy University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd Part of the Archaeological Anthropology Commons, Biological and Physical Anthropology Commons, and the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons Citation Bandy, A. M. (2019). Death on the Horizon: Osteoethnography of the People of Akhetaten. Theses and Dissertations Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/3447 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Death on the Horizon: Osteoethnography of the People of Akhetaten A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology by Alissa Michelle Bandy University of New Mexico Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, 2003 Bournemouth University Master of Science in Forensic and Biological Anthropology, 2009 December 2019 University of Arkansas This Dissertation is approved for recommendation to the Graduate Council. _________________________________ Jerome C. Rose, Ph.D. Dissertation Director __________________________________ __________________________________ JoAnn D’Alisera, Ph.D. George Sabo, Ph.D. Committee Member Committee Member Abstract The purpose of this dissertation is to define and implement osteoethnography. Osteoethnography is the analysis and description of an ancient culture through the bioarchaeological and archaeological evidence, utilizing cultural anthropological theories and techniques.
    [Show full text]
  • Middle Kingdom Chronology
    Middle Kingdom Chronology 11th Dynasty (starng in the middle) (at Thebes) Nebhepetre Montuhotep (II) Seankhkare Montuhotep III Nebtawyre Montuhotep IV 12th Dynasty (at Itj‐tawy) Amenemhat I (former vizier?) Senwosret I (probable co‐regency with Amenemhat I) Amenemhat II (probable co‐regency with Senwosret I) Senwosret II (probable co‐regency with Amenemhat II) Senwosret III Amenemhat III (probable co‐regency with Senwosret III) Amenemhat IV Sobeknefru 13th Dynasty (at Itj‐tawy, then Thebes) many kings of whom Neferhotep I and Sobekhotep IV are the best aested The 13th Dynasty: decline and disunity? King Auibre Hor Khendjer Pyramid Complex, 13th Dynasty Sobekhotep IV Scarabs from the 13th Dynasty Administraon and administrators tombs in the Middle Kingdom: The royal family Ranking elite Private tombs as a means of accessing shis “Democrazaon” Regionalism Material culture The Royal Family in the Middle Kingdom Tomb of Sarenput I at Aswan From the tomb of Sarenput I at Aswan: “ I have built my tomb to show my gratude to the king Kheper‐Ka‐Ra (Senuseret I). His majesty made me great in the land. I have overturned very ancient rules and, it resulted that I reached the sky in an instant. I have employed arsans to work in my tomb and his Majesty congratulated me highly and oen in the presence of courtesans and the Queen. The tomb was equipped with palace furniture, decorated with all sorts of accessories, filled with decorave parts and provided with offerings. I should not want for any necessary thing, it was at the treasure house that all this was claimed for me.
    [Show full text]
  • Ahmose, Son of Ebana: the Expulsion of the Hyksos
    Ahmose, son of Ebana: The Expulsion of the Hyksos Ahmose, son of Ebana, was an officer in the Egyptian army during the end of the 17th Dynasty to the beginning of the 18th Dynasty (16th century BCE). Originally from Elkab in Upper Egypt, he decided to become a soldier, like his father, Baba, who served under Seqenenre Tao II in the early campaigns against the Hyksos. Ahmose spent most of his military life serving aboard the king’s fleet - fighting at Avaris, at Sharuhen in Palestine, and in Nubia during the service of Ahmose I, and was often cited for his bravery in battle by the king. These accounts were left in a tomb that Ahmose, son of Ebana, identifies as his own at the end of the water—for he was captured on the city side-and he Crew Commander Ahmose son of crossed the water carrying him. When it was Abana, the justified; he says: I speak reported to the royal herald I was rewarded with T to you, all people. I let you know gold once more. Then Avaris was despoiled, and what favors came to me. I have been I brought spoil from there: one man, three rewarded with gold seven times in the sight women; total, four persons. His majesty gave of the whole land, with male and female them to me as slaves. slaves as well. I have been endowed with Then Sharahen was besieged for three years. very many fields. The name of the brave His majesty despoiled it and I brought spoil man is in that which he has done; it will not from it: two women and a hand.
    [Show full text]
  • Ceremonial Execution and Public Rewards: Some Historical Scenes on New Kingdom Private Stelae
    Zurich Open Repository and Archive University of Zurich Main Library Strickhofstrasse 39 CH-8057 Zurich www.zora.uzh.ch Year: 1988 Ceremonial Execution and Public Rewards: Some Historical Scenes on New Kingdom Private Stelae Schulman, Alan R. Abstract: The repertoire of scenes on Egyptian private stelae is relatively limited to scenes of the funerary banquet, of the deceased receiving offerings, or making them. About the reign of Thutmose IVinthe New Kingdom, and lasting through the end of Dynasty 20, scenes which seemingly have nothing to do with these motifs begin to occasionally appear in the stelae repertoire: the king smiting his enemies, receiving a weapon from a god, a god’s barque carried in procession, the deceased being rewarded with gold collars or riding in his chariot, and the like. The present work attempts to discern why such scenes appear on private stelae. After a careful examination of all of the known private monuments of this class which depict who specific motifs, a) the king smiting an enemy and b) the awarding of gold sbiw-collars to the stela’s dedicatee, a total of approximately 35 monuments, the conclusion was reached that such representations are not merely timeless stereotypes but actually represented specific events which took place at specific points in time. Thus the stelae function on two levels simultaneously, a concreteone commemorating the original event, and an abstract one in which the scene illustrated is repeated for eternity. Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-149722 Monograph Published Version Originally published at: Schulman, Alan R.
    [Show full text]
  • In the Shadow of Osiris: Non-Royal Mortuary Landscapes at South
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 1-1-2014 In the Shadow of Osiris: Non-Royal Mortuary Landscapes at South Abydos During the Late Middle and New Kingdoms Kevin Michael Cahail University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons, and the Islamic World and Near East History Commons Recommended Citation Cahail, Kevin Michael, "In the Shadow of Osiris: Non-Royal Mortuary Landscapes at South Abydos During the Late Middle and New Kingdoms" (2014). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 1222. http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1222 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1222 For more information, please contact [email protected]. In the Shadow of Osiris: Non-Royal Mortuary Landscapes at South Abydos During the Late Middle and New Kingdoms Abstract Kevin M. Cahail Dr. Josef W. Wegner The site of South Abydos was home to royal mortuary complexes of both the late Middle, and New Kingdoms, belonging to Senwosret III and Ahmose. Thanks to both recent and past excavations, both of these royal establishments are fairly well understood. Yet, we lack a clear picture of the mortuary practices of the non- royal individuals living and working in the shadow of these institutions. For both periods, the main question is where the tombs of the non-royal citizens might exist. Additionally for the Middle Kingdom is the related issue of how these people commemorated their dead ancestors. Divided into two parts, this dissertation looks at the ways in which non-royal individuals living at South Abydos during these two periods dealt with burial and funerary commemoration.
    [Show full text]
  • Textual Evidence for the Function of the “Botanical Garden” of Karnak in the Initiation Ritual
    oi.uchicago.edu i ORIENTAL INSTITUTE, THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO STUDIES IN ANCIENT ORIENTAL CIVILIZATION • NUMBER 61 CHICAGO • ILLINOIS Series Editors Leslie Schramer and Thomas G. Urban oi.uchicago.edu oi.uchicago.edu iii OCCASIONAL PROCEEDINGS OF THE THEBAN WORKSHOP SACRED SPACE AND SACRED FUNCTION IN ANCIENT THEBES edited by PETER F. DORMAN and BETSY M. BRYAN STUDIES IN ANCIENT ORIENTAL CIVILIZATION • VOLUME 61 THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO CHICAGO • ILLINOIS oi.uchicago.edu Library of Congress Control Number: 2006941012 ISBN: 978-1-885923-46-2 ISSN: 0081-7554 The Oriental Institute, Chicago © 2007 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. Published 2007. Printed in the United States of America. Series Editors’ Acknowledgments Lindsay DeCarlo and Katie L. Johnson assisted in the produc- tion of this volume. Cover Illustration Watercolor by David Roberts Showing Columns Decorated by Ramesses IV at the Great Hypostyle Hall, Karnak. See herein page 53 and figure 5.4. Printed by McNaughton & Gunn, Saline, Michigan The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Services — Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. oi.uchicago.edu v TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................................................. vii List of Figures ............................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Unravelling the Exodus by Dana Burkinshaw
    Unravelling the Exodus By Dana Burkinshaw Unravelling the Exodus Presented by Dana Burkinshaw Wed., May 20, 2015 1 Influences on Egyptology • Identification of Pharaoh Shishak • Manetho’s King List • Sothic Cycle Theory 2 Identification of Shishak “In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, King Shishak of Egypt came up against Jerusalem; he took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king’s house; he took everything. He also took away all the shields of gold that Solomon had made.” (1 Kings 14:25-26) 3 Unravelling the Exodus By Dana Burkinshaw Manetho’s King List 4 Sothic Cycle “Dog Star” Sothis (ancient Egyptians) Sirius (modern astronomers) every 1,460 years! 5 Sothic Cycle Censorinius (Roman writer, 3 rd century A.D.) Great Sothic Year occurred in A.D. 140 1320 B.C. 2780 B.C. 4240 B.C. 6 Unravelling the Exodus By Dana Burkinshaw Date of the Exodus Early Date Late Date 15 th Century B.C. 13 th Century B.C. (1491 – 1445) (1280 – 1220) 7 Date of the Exodus “In the four hundred eightieth year after the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of the LORD.” (1 Kings 6:1) 8 Pharaoh of the Exodus Revised Chronology: Conventional Chronology: 12 th /13 th Dynasty 18 th Dynasty Neferhotep I/Dudimose Amenhotep II 9 Unravelling the Exodus By Dana Burkinshaw Pharaoh of the Exodus Why a revised chronology is preferable to the conventional one: •Conventional Chronology results in a powerful Egypt soon after the Exodus •Conventional Chronology places the Hyksos invasion before the Exodus rather than after 10 Length of the Oppression “Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years .
    [Show full text]
  • Downloaded from Brill.Com09/30/2021 02:46:23PM Via Free Access 148 Moreno García
    Journal of Egyptian History 11 (2018) 147–184 brill.com/jeh Elusive “Libyans”: Identities, Lifestyles and Mobile Populations in NE Africa (late 4th–early 2nd millennium BCE) Juan Carlos Moreno García CNRS—France [email protected] Abstract The term “Libyan” encompasses, in fact, a variety of peoples and lifestyles living not only in the regions west of the Nile Valley, but also inside Egypt itself, particularly in Middle Egypt and the Western Delta. This situation is reminiscent of the use of other “ethnic” labels, such as “Nubian,” heavily connoted with notions such as ethnic homogeneity, separation of populations across borders, and opposed lifestyles. In fact, economic complementarity and collaboration explain why Nubians and Libyans crossed the borders of Egypt and settled in the land of the pharaohs, to the point that their presence was especially relevant in some periods and regions during the late 3rd and early 2nd millennium BCE. Pastoralism was just but one of their economic pil- lars, as trading activities, gathering, supply of desert goods (including resins, minerals, and vegetal oils) and hunting also played an important role, at least for some groups or specialized segments of a particular social group. While Egyptian sources empha- size conflict and marked identities, particularly when considering “rights of use” over a given area, collaboration was also crucial and beneficial for both parts. Finally, the increasing evidence about trade routes used by Libyans points to alternative networks of circulation of goods that help explain episodes of warfare between Egypt and Libyan populations for their control. Keywords border – interaction – Libyans – Nubians – oases – pastoralism – trade – Western Desert © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2018 | doi:10.1163/18741665-12340046Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 02:46:23PM via free access 148 Moreno García 1 Pots, Resins, Minerals and Cattle: “Libyans” and Desert Lifestyles The study of Libyan populations has known a relative but unbalanced renewal since the late 20th century.
    [Show full text]
  • EGYPT and the LEVANT Had Apparently Ceased
    - Timothy Kendall - records of their existence are cemeteries of enormous burial mounds, thought to mark CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE their power centres: Ballana, Qustul, Zuma, Tangasi, el-Hobagi and others (Adams I977= 382-429; Lenoble 2004: I8~2, I93-203). Some of these tombs were very rich and belonged to rulers continuing Meroi'tic traditions, but literacy among them EGYPT AND THE LEVANT had apparently ceased. Missionaries from Byzantium and Alexandria converted the region to Christianity in the sixth century AD, and when written records resume, --._.-- the ancient land of Kush had been partitioned into three Christian Nubian (Noba) kingdoms (Anderson 2004: 202-8, 209-37). Manfred Bietak In 2004, construction began on the Merowe High Dam at the Fourth Cataract, about 360 kilometres north of Khartoum. This huge hydroelectric project, scheduled for completion in 2008, will create a lake 125 kilometres long, displace up to 70,000 people, and inundate a huge, remote tract whose settlement history, until now, has been completely unknown. This project has spurred a major international archaeological salvage campaign, reminiscent of that conducted in Egypt during the I960s. When its results are in, the history of Nubia will probably have to be radically rewritten - again (Ahmed 2004). esearch within the last two decades has shown that, from prehistoric times, NOTES R Egypt was not an isolated oasis of the river Nile but had close connections with the Near East. Not only have Natufian arrow tips been found near Helwan in Lower I Recent general reference works include Eide et aJ. 1994-2000; Torok 1997; Wildung I997; Egypt, but at Merimda, in the western delta, the entire lithic production and Morkot 2000; Smith 2003; Edwards 2004; Redford 2004b; Welsby and Anderson 2004.
    [Show full text]
  • Social, Cultural, and Political Hierarchies in “The Tale of Sinuhe”
    Social, Cultural, and Political Hierarchies in “The Tale of Sinuhe” Mattias Karlsson Social, Cultural, and Political Hierarchies in “The Tale of Sinuhe” ii Abstract Karlsson, Mattias. 2016. Social, Cultural, and Political Hierarchies in “The Tale of Sinuhe”. vi+53 pp. Länna: utgivare Karlsson, Mattias. ISBN: 978-91-637-8243-5. This study focuses on “The Tale of Sinuhe”. Its overarching aim was to discuss different kinds of hierarchies in the tale, while the precise aim was to describe how (power) relationships between the officials, the deities, the king, the people, “the foreign lands” (high and low), and women (high and low, and of all ethnicities) are portrayed in the tale and in other, related primary sources. The analysis was made through a philological investigation and with the aid of certain keyconcepts (such as status, function, and theme) and theories (such as gender- and postcolonial theory). As for the power relationships where the official is the active part, Sinuhe displays blind loyalty towards the king and submission towards the deities. In his relation to the foreign lands, Sinuhe develops from being helpless to governing. In the power relationships where the king is the active part, the king displays a duty to provide towards Sinuhe, he is both pictured as an equal and as a human being (although a very special one) in relation to the deities, and he appears as both a universal and regional ruler in relation to the foreign lands. In the power relationships where the deities are the active part, the deities are described as paternalistic and thus superior to the king.
    [Show full text]