Transmission of the Book of the Dead in New Kingdom Tombs at Saqqara
Produktdetaljer
Biografisk notat
H.P.R. Twiston Davies is a Lecturer in Egyptology at the University of Manchester, UK.This book brings an insight into the creative adaptation of major religious texts of Ancient Egypt. It makes the seemingly rigid traditions come alive.
- Hana Navratilova, Research Fellow in Egyptology, University of Oxford and Lecturer in Egyptology, University of Reading, UK,
This most insightful study analyses the transmission and adaptions of <i>Book of the Dead</i> chapters and <i>Totenliturgien </i>in New Kingdom tombs at Saqqara. By applying the methods of material philology, it sheds light on knowledge display as part of individual agency on lived religious traditions and as a central constituent of the cultural geography of Saqqara.
- Susanne Bickel, Professor of Egyptology, University of Basel, Switzerland,
The study redefines our understanding of funerary culture, emphasizing the evolving, localised and personalised nature of NK funerary practises.
JSOT
Texts and images from the Book of the Dead were widely used to decorate the walls of tombs during Egypt’s New Kingdom (c. 1550-1077 BCE). Prior research has tended to focus on either individual tombs, or on the contents of papyrus copies of the Book of the Dead. This book focusses on the adaptation of parts of this funerary corpus in individual tombs from the New Kingdom necropolis at Saqqara, with the aim of showing how each tomb’s decoration was tailored to the ends of their builders. In doing so, it builds up a picture of the ways in which these developments changed over time, and captures the dynamic and shifting ways in which ancient Egyptians interacted with their funerary texts. This contrasts with the popular image of Egyptian religion as centrally administered and directed, and essentially unchanging over millennia. In fact, choices and forms of texts and images used in tombs changed even within a single generation. Some forms remained popular over long periods, being constantly reused and re-adapted, while others achieved specific and local popularity, or else were abandoned after only a short period of time. This book argues powerfully for the human dimension in ancient Egyptian religion, revealing the ways in which individuals and groups continually reshaped their tradition even as they worked within it. Produced as part of the research project The Walking Dead at Saqqara: The Making of a Cultural Geography, this book is kindly funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO).
The eBook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO): 276-30-016.
List of Figures
List of Tables
Preface
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
1. Statistical Overview of Monumental Book of the Dead copies at New Kingdom Saqqara and Considerations of Materiality
2. Book of the Dead 125 and the Judgement Scene at Saqqara
3. Characterising the Necropolis I: Development of Book of the Dead Use between the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Dynasties
Excursus: Unsuccessful Adaptation: Book of the Dead 2, 8, and 74 in the tomb of Tjunerory
4: Characterising the Necropolis II: Adaptation of Totenliturgien Spells in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Dynasties
Closing Remarks
Notes
Bibliography
Index
The Bloomsbury Egyptology series welcomes proposals for monographs and edited volumes that showcase innovative and original research. The series provides a platform for cutting-edge scholarship from early, mid and late-career scholars across a wide range of areas, including art and archaeology, language and philology, history, religion, culture and society, archival studies, critical reception and the history of the discipline.
The series is thematically open, with a primary focus on Ancient Egypt and Nubia between c. 3000–300 BCE. We invite proposals exploring diverse topics such as object studies and material culture; archaeological contexts including temples, settlements, and tombs; languages and textual analysis; iconography, reliefs, and sculpture; royal and private funerary practices; individual and communal life trajectories; socio-political developments and cultural dynamics; socio-cultural phenomena; theoretical and methodological approaches; as well as museology and cultural heritage.