485 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LIX N° 5-6, september-december 2002 486 BOEKBESPREKINGEN FARAONISCH EGYPTE SPALINGER, Anthony John — The Private Feast Lists of Ancient Egypt. (Ägyptologische Abhandlungen 57) Ver- lag Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 1996. (30 cm, XI, 182, IV Pl.). ISBN 3-447-03873-X). / 36,-. Every egyptologist, scholar or student, who studies private monuments will be confronted sooner or later with the longer or shorter lists of feast names included in funerary texts. Occurring from the Old Kingdom to the end of the Saite Period, the author has set himself the task to “compile a rather complete survey…concentrated upon the chronologi- cal ramifications of the material…[and] the provision of a skeleton for further research.” (p. ix). Because of the amount and complexity of the material the book is composed as six independently readable chapters — however, linked with many cross-references, (partial) summaries and some repeti- tion — dealing with the data in an unhistorical order: Mid- dle Kingdom (ch. II), New Kingdom (ch. III), The Post-Impe- rial Era, i.e. Third Intermediate-Saite Periods (ch. IV), From the First Intermediate Period to the Middle Kingdom (ch. V), and The Old Kingdom (ch. VI), followed by a Summary (ch. VII). In the first chapter, “Feast names, an Introduction”, tak- ing the Medinet Habu calendar of Ramses III as the basic starting point for the analysis of Egyptian feasts, the latter’s main division of feasts in Ìbw nw pt/tp trw is contrasted with the main division in New Kingdom private lists in Ìbw nw pt/Ìbw nw t. The main issues, thoroughly and convincingly discussed, concern the fact that the Ìbw nw pt do not refer exclusively to celestial phenomena, since the heliacal rising of Sothis figures among the tp trw; that the combination of tp trw evolved from its original meaning “beginning of sea- sons” (Old Kingdom) to a Fachwort for “annual event” (without Ìb-sign) and “annual feast” (with the sign) in the New Kingdom (temp. Thutmosis III); that the alleged con- nection of the t-feasts with the civil calendar and the pt- feasts with the lunar is non-existent, and that this dichotomy 487 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — FARAONISCH EGYPTE 488 in pt/t-feasts is completely absent from the Old Kingdom pri- and, besides the obvious archaistic elements, such a great vate lists, originating in the Middle Kingdom; that the pt-feasts diversity/individuality that overemphasis of the period’s are entirely absent from the Graeco-Roman temple lists which “archaism” results in an underestimation of the era’s origi- have a definite Sitz im Leben of their own. The conclusions to nality that is greater than in the New Kingdom. be drawn are that the feast calendar, irrespective of the feast Chapter V, where the First Intermediate Period provincial type, was civil, because of the opening position of wp-rnpt in material is primarily presented topographically, treats in detail the lists, and that the central difference between private and the developments leading to the new situation in the arrange- temple lists is that the latter were written for specific calen- ment and contents of the Middle Kingdom feast lists of ch. drical settings plus exact amounts of donations, while the for- II. Apart from the Wag/Thot reversal of order, the S∂, Prt- mer were conservative, general, and striving for completeness Mnw and wÌ ¨Ì feasts, i.a., are discussed. Including into the (in case of very detailed ones), rather than demarcating lunar- analysis late Old Kingdom material from the main cemeter- civilly determined events. The division of feast categories is ies demonstrates that the period’s norm was already break- conveniently tabulated according to the opposition private ver- ing down before the end of the 6th dynasty, and reveals that sus official lists at the end of the chapter. the disarray of the lists in the FIP cannot be exclusively The chapter’s organization more or less mirrors the com- explained by lack of skill, but also reflects local preferences. position of the remainder of the book in the order of the pre- Problematic remains the dating of the material since titles and sentation of the sources used, starting with the Middle and their ranking alone are insufficient, only integrating epi- ending with the Old Kingdom. Although for the main chrono- graphic, palaeographic, iconographic and stylistic criteria logical periods dealt with a non-chronological presentation is gives some hold. defendable, it remains obscure why the Middle Kingdom and The Old Kingdom feast lists are finally discussed in great post-New Kingdom material itself (pp. 9-11; 18-30) has not detail in chapter VI. The material – the various combinations been ordered chronologically. Also the insertion of a sketch of selections from the 12 standard feast designations of the of the historical development between nos. 34 (p. 16) and 35 period — is systematically presented according to the main (p. 17), New Kingdom material, is hampering, while the cemeteries Saqqara and Giza, versus the provinces, but again, hand-written hieroglyphs and their very loose insertion in the in these groups not chronologically. Points noted are e.g. the text are below standard. Diesseits character of the lists, the absence of Sokar in cer- The chapter on the Middle Kingdom material starts with a tain lists and possible explanations for this, and the differ- number of assumptions employed by the author in interpret- ences between Saqqara and Giza concerning certain combi- ing “the calendrical data connected to Egyptian feasts” (p. nations. 32): already since the 4th dynasty wp-rnpt=I Ìt 1 is the Finally, in chapter VII a summary of the preceding chap- beginning of the civil year; the word “year” in civil context ters’ conclusions is elaborated, stressing i.a. the limits of is ambiguous, referring either to 12 months of 30 days plus palaeography for refined dating purposes, and the importance the 5 epagomenal days (often set apart and treated as a sep- of the individual and his idiosyncrasies for the developments arate unit) or simply 12 months; references to 12 months (e.g. met in the feast lists. in a feast list) possibly indicate a civil year, since a lunar year In the book under review that contains very much infor- counts 12 or 13 months. With this in mind, for their being mation, the author adequately maps the main developments most informative, the tomb of Khnumhotep II at Beni Hasan and tries to explain them, although it is obvious – and openly and the coffin of Ma are discussed, serving as a base for the admitted by him– that most remains uncertain and open for remaining material of 66 sources (pp. 41-53), which, again, different interpretation, since the Egyptians did not write without given reason are not chronologically presented. The down the various reasons that urged them individually and/or main issues emerging from this material concern the two pos- collectively to change or vary their lists. Drawing an analogy sible interpretations of the terms rnpt ¨t/n∂st, “great” and for the situation in the FIP with the concept of “punctuated “small years”, viz. 12/13 months (lunar based) or 360 (exclu- equilibrium” in biology (p. 108, n. 101) is refreshing, as well sive the epagomenal days)/365 days (inclusive, civil based); as the comparison concerning the (un)certainty of palaeo- the possible interpretation of tpy rnpt as an older designation graphic arguments with Heisenberg’s Law (p. 174, n. 20), for prt-Spdt (unknown in the Old Kingdom), and the funda- although, — writing primarily for Egyptologists — defining mental change of places of the Thoth-Wag feasts (Pyramid that law, as the reviewer once did,1) averts the impression of Texts) to Wag-Thoth (Coffin Texts). pedantry. The not consistent presentation of the sources (why The New Kingdom material (mainly Theban and almost not all chapters on the model of VI?), and the sometimes exclusively 18th dynasty), discussed in ch. III, reveals a con- extremely voluminous notes (e.g. pp. 88-9, n. 8) do not make siderably changed situation from the preceding eras. The dif- the book easily readable or accessible. The book’s severest ferent (several older feasts are omitted) and expanded, fixed shortcoming, however, is the lack of an index, impeding an and relatively rigid arrangements show that the lists concen- efficient and systematic access to the wealth of information trate on thematic divisions instead of a chronological order. and discussion amassed in its text and footnotes (e.g. the Also the coupling of two thematically coherent feasts, reveal- statement that the person of p. 104,4 will be discussed in the ing key celebrations, is a new practice, while the absence of next chapter is not very helpful in finding him without an typical local Theban feasts (Feast of the Valley, Amun feasts) unreasonable investment of time by the reader). is most striking. The topographically more diverse sources of the Post- imperial Period (ch. IV), viz. from Saqqara, Thebes, and Sais, 1) Cf. R. van Walsem, ‘The struggle against chaos as a “strange attrac- but mainly chronologically concentrated in the 26th dynasty, tor” in Ancient Egyptian culture A descriptive model for the “chaotic” result in another picture, again. The most significant features development of cultural systems’, in: J. van Dijk (ed.), Essays on Ancient Egypt in honour of Herman te Velde (Groningen 1997), 317-342, esp. 321 being a distinctive “Saite tradition”, especially on statues, with n. 17. 489 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LIX N° 5-6, september-december 2002 490 Notwithstanding the above critical notes, the author has Die Anordnung der Beschreibung erfolgt chronologisch und fulfilled his “…duty to compare and contrast as much data innerhalb der Zeitabschnitte geographisch, was ein gezieltes as possible from all periods of one civilization when cover- Nachschlagen erleichtert.