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Historical and archaeological aspects of Egyptian funerary culture : religious ideas and ritual practice in Middle Kingdom elite cemeteries /

Willems, Harco.

Historical and archaeological aspects of Egyptian funerary culture : religious ideas and ritual practice in Middle Kingdom elite cemeteries / by Harco Willems. - 1 online resource (pages) - Culture and history of the ancient Near East, v. 73 1566-2055 ; . - Culture and History of the Ancient Near East 73. Biblical Studies, Ancient Near East and Early Christianity E-Books Online, Collection 2014, ISBN: 9789004262416. .

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preliminary Material -- Introduction -- 1 Nomarchal Culture: Political, Administrative, Social, and Religious Aspects -- 2 A Middle Kingdom Nomarchal Cemetery: Dayr al-Barshā -- 3 The Coffin Texts and Democracy -- Concordance to the Sigla of Coffin Texts Manuscripts and Middle Kingdom Coffins -- Bibliography -- Plates -- Index.

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Historical and Archaeological Aspects of Egyptian Funerary Culture , a thoroughly reworked translation of Les textes des sarcophages et la démocratie published in 2008, challenges the widespread idea that the “royal” Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom after a process of “democratisation” became, in the Middle Kingdom, accessible even to the average Egyptian in the form of the Coffin Texts. Rather they remained an element of elite funerary culture, and particularly so in the Upper Egyptian nomes. The author traces the emergence here of the so-called “nomarchs” and their survival in the Middle Kingdom. The site of Dayr al-Barshā, currently under excavation, shows how nomarch cemeteries could even develop into large-scale processional landscapes intended for the cult of the local ruler. This book also provides an updated list of the hundreds of (mostly unpublished) Middle Kingdom coffins and proposes a new reference system for these.

9789004274990

10.1163/9789004274990 DOI

2014010878


Coffin texts.


Funeral rites and ceremonies, Ancient--Egypt.
Cemeteries--History--Egypt--To 1500.
Tombs--Social aspects--History--Egypt--To 1500.
Elite (Social sciences)--History--Egypt--To 1500.
Democratization--History--Egypt--To 1500.


Egypt--Antiquities.
Egypt--History--Middle Kingdom, ca. 2180-ca. 1551 B.C.
Egypt--Religious life and customs.

PJ1554 / .W55513 2014

893/.1