The Reign of Horemheb
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THE REIGN OF HOREMHEB HISTORY, HISTORIOGRAPHY, AND THE DAWN OF THE RAMESSIDE ERA by Karen Margaret (Maggie) Bryson A dissertation submitted to Johns Hopkins University in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Baltimore, Maryland April 2018 © Karen M. Bryson 2018 All Rights Reserved Abstract The pharaoh Horemheb, the general who became king, has long been recognized as a pivotal figure in the history of New Kingdom Egypt. In the last half-century, important new archaeological evidence has expanded our view of the king and his historical context, particularly the years before he took the throne. There has not, however, been a dedicated, scholarly study of the reign since 1964. This dissertation examines Horemheb’s years as pharaoh, particularly with regard to how his reign contributed to the direction that Egypt would take in the first decades of the Ramesside era. The present work begins with an historiographical analysis of how Horemheb has been characterized by Egyptologists since the nineteenth century. The art and architecture associated with him are then analyzed stylistically and programmatically, clarifying what can truly be said to have originated during the reign. A prosopography of the officials who served under the king addresses how the structures of government and elite society changed from the reign of Tutankhamun into that of Ramesses II. A key text of the reign is analyzed with respect to how its rhetoric and its mythological allusions help to reveal the political conditions of the period. Finally, the historical memory of Horemheb in the ancient world, from the end of his reign through the Greco-Roman period, is taken into consideration. The results of this study show the extent to which many of our fundamental ideas and questions about Horemheb and his time still have their roots in the earliest days of Egyptology, and reveal the need for major re-analysis. The monumental record of the reign is shown to be less extensive than often thought, and to reflect ongoing change rather than the culmination of a return to artistic orthodoxy. The literary and prosopographical studies, as well as the discussion of the ancient historiography, confirm that the political disruption of the Amarna i period continued, and even increased, under Horemheb. Major and long-standing challenges likely confronted the first Ramesside kings, persisting well into the reign of Ramesses II. Advisor: Dr. Betsy Bryan Second Reader: Dr. Richard Jasnow Committee Chair: Dr. William Rowe Readers: Dr. Jacob Lauinger Dr. Emily Anderson ii Acknowledgements My thanks are due first and foremost to my advisor, Professor Betsy Bryan. Whatever merit the present work may have is due largely to her guidance, and her constant support in every aspect of my work (and beyond) has meant more to me than I can express. I would also like to thank Professor Richard Jasnow, both for his input on this dissertation, and for all that he has taught me. I am grateful to everyone on the faculty in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Johns Hopkins University, in particular Professors Glenn Schwartz, P. Kyle McCarter, Paul Delnero, Jacob Lauinger, and Michael Harrower. Ms. Vonnie Wild and Ms. Glenda Hogan also have my gratitude, not only for their help with administrative matters, but also for the warmth and kindness that they bring to Gilman Hall. Mr. James van Rensselaer and Mr. Ayman Damarany were instrumental to my research, sharing their time, expertise, and resources with me as I prepared for and carried out my research in the field – I could not have carried this project to completion without them, and I will forever be grateful to them for their help and for their friendship. I would also like to thank Mr. Ahmed el-Naseh, who served not only as my inspector, but also as a much-valued colleague and collaborator in my work in the Theban necropolis. I would like to thank Ms. Djodi Deutsch, Ms. Mary Sadek, Ms. Jane Smythe, and Mr. John Shearman of the American Resarch Center in Egypt for all their help, as well as Mr. Salah el-Masekh, Chief Inspector at Karnak, and Mr. Ali El- Aymary for facilitating my research in Egypt. I was fortunate to have the support of many other individuals at all levels of the Ministry of Antiquities in Luxor, including the directors, inspectors, and security personnel in the Luxor district who so kindly lent their assistance to me in my work – I hope to thank each of them individually in the published edition of this dissertation, once it has been rendered into a work worthy of their efforts. I would like to thank Dr. Violeta Pereyra iii for her kind permission to study the decoration of TT 49, and the team from Factum Arte who generously allowed me to study and photograph in KV 17, even as they themselves were working in the tomb. I would also like to thank Dr. Cedric Gobeil for his hospitality and permission to work at Deir el-Medina, and Dr. Nozomu Kawai for permission to consult and cite his doctoral dissertation; also Ms. Aurelie Quirion for permission to consult and cite her MA thesis. I would like to thank Ms. Roxie Walker, Dr. Jessica Kaiser, Ms. Afaf Wahba, and Mr. Dave Hunt for introducing me to human osteology; and Dr. Janice Kamrin for many things, but especially for teaching me that “the perfect is the enemy of the good.” Perhaps the hardest part of writing these acknowledgements is expressing my gratitude to the many friends whose presence in my life has made the good times joyful and the hard times survivable over the last nine years. Ashley Fiutko Arico, Meredith Fraser, Gaultier Mouron, Rania Galal, Katherine Davis, Fatma Talaat Ismail, Erin Guinn-Villareal, and Marina Escolano- Poveda have carried me through it all, and I can never thank them enough. I would also like to thank Heather Parker, Tiffany Early-Spadoni, Chris Brinker, Michele Asuni, Michael Arico, Terrance Ooey, and the rest of the Hopkins-Baltimore crew – you guys are the best. Thanks to my friends from the Cairo days, especially Andrew Bednarski, Julie Patenaude, Garry Shaw, Allison Ripley and Allison Hedges. I would also like to thank Michael Slevin for his input and support. There are many names that I have left out here due to constraints of time and space, but I will never forget each and every one of the many people who have been so generous with their help and support over the years. I would like to thank the friends whom I have been lucky to know for so long, Anne DeVito, Amity McGinnis, and Riya Kuo. And thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to Connie Hopkins, Amanda Bryson, Ken and Terri Bryson, and J.D. and Mary Pierce. Even when it wasn’t clear to you why I was doing what I was doing (or even what I was doing in the first place), you iv never wavered for a minute, wanting only for me to be happy. I have loved you since I opened my eyes, and I owe everything to you. Finally, to Dr. Zahi Hawass: thank you for teaching me, supporting me, and believing in me. v This page intentionally left blank. vi Table of Contents Abstract ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ i - ii Acknowledgments ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- iii - v Table of Contents ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ vii-ix List of Figures, Tables, and Plates --------------------------------------------------------------- x-xi List of Abbreviations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- xii-xvi Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 - 7 Chapter 1: The Historiography of the Reign of Horemheb 1.1: The Nineteenth Century: The “Classic” Narrative --------------------------- 8- 22 1.2: The Nineteenth Century: Divergent Narratives------------------------------- 22-30 1.3: The Twentieth Century: War, Peace, and the Post-Amarna Period ----- 30 - 39 1.4: The Twentieth Century: Ongoing Debates------------------------------------- 39 - 43 1.5: Conclusion ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 43 - 44 Chapter 2: The Monuments of Horemheb 2.1: Introduction --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 45-46 2.2: The North Coast and the Delta --------------------------------------------------- 46- 52 2.3: The Memphite Region -------------------------------------------------------------- 52-58 2.4: Middle Egypt -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 58-61 2.5: Karnak ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 61-65 2.6: Horemheb’s relief sculpture at Karnak – Pylon X ---------------------------- 65-75 Chapter 3: Horemheb’s Officials 3.1: Introduction --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 76-79 vii 3.2: Securely Attested Officials --------------------------------------------------------- 3.2.1: Paser, viceroy of Kush-------------------------------------------------- 79-86 3.2.2: Amenemope, First Overseer of Cattle of His Majesty --------- 86-89 3.2.3: Taemwadjsy, Great One of the Khener of Nebkheperure ---- 89-97 3.2.4: Parennefer c. Wennefer, High Priest of Amun at Karnak ----- 97-112 3.2.5: Maya, Overseer of the Treasury ------------------------------------ 112-122 3.2.6: Neferhotep, God’s Father of Amun -------------------------------- 122-126 3.2.7: Neferhotep, Foreman in the Valley of the Kings ----------------