This work is focused on the conceptions involving the disorder and chaos in the re- ligion of the ancient Egypt. The basic ground was Jiří Janák's text Chaos a ne-řád ve starám Egyptě (Chaos and Disorder in Ancient Egypt), that was published in colle- ction Řád a chaos v archaických kulturách. This text presented the foundation, that could be evolved further through studying of another author's attitudes (for example J. Assmann, E. Hornung, H. Smith, H. Te Velde) and reflection of ancient writings (Pyramid Texts, Book of Dead, Amduat, Book of Gates etc.). A larger scope was gi- ven to the question of preexistence of chaos, its manifestations and interferences in the created cosmos. Further, I dealt with the problem of origin of order (maat) en- dangering forces - origin of Apophis and disorder (isfet) and impact of this forces on the life and afterlife of an individual. Outside the created world, there is the primeval ocean. It was personified by the god Nun. It is inactive, but, in spite of it, it can be a threat for the universe - every- thing could be destructed in its waters. Primeval ocean can be compared with the conception of chaos in sense of the original state of the universe. But it is also the place of the origin of the creator god. Within the world of creation there was established the...

In addition to temple rituals performed for the god by the king, festivals incorporated a broader domain, where a wider public had access to the divine. The participants in feasts ranged from the royal, officials and priests to the non-elite and the dead. Theoretically and ideologically, individuals would have received fruits of the divine power through the king by taking part in celebrations to variable extent. This functioned a vehicle for the god and the king to maintain their authoritative credibility and, by extension, the world order. The circulation of the divine force formed a different appearance at each festival, such as material supplies, promotions, and juridical decrees. These divine conveyances would have more or less met people’s social and religious needs. By embracing modality, periodicity, and publicness, festivals provided participants and audiences with a public setting and a formal means, whereby they were able to seek their identity as part of society. This may or may not have been relevant to personal piety, allegiance, responsibilities, and goodness, but public celebrations at least brought the king’s subjects together to common grounds for official beliefs and social decorum. In order to demonstrate such socio-religious functions of festivals, I will attempt to focus on and examine three Theban celebrations in the New Kingdom, namely, the Festivals of Opet, the Valley, and the New Year, about which a wealth of information has survived. The examination can hardly be possible without exploring the history of these feasts because their development from earlier times, to which part of this thesis is also devoted, shows the continuity of elements essential to Egyptian cult practices, particularly those associated with the mortuary cult.

The present dissertation is a diachronic study of cultural identity and self-presentation in ancient Egyptian fictional narratives. Cultural identity implies notions such as customs, practices, values and world-views that are implicitly or explicitly expressed in fictional narrative. The texts that are included in the study span from the Middle and New Kingdoms (c. 2055-1650 BC and 1550-1069 BC), and Ptolemaic and Roman periods (332-30 BC and 30 BC- 395 AD) and the material is analyzed within a framework that addresses "narrative traditions," which is the transmission of cultural identity in the narratives through time. In light of the diachronic perspective of the study, I focus on four principle motifs of Egyptian narratives: priests, kings,warriors, and women, and explore the literary presentations of these within an historical and intertextual context. The project relates to the literate class of ancient Egyptian society and through exploring the motifs above-mentioned motifs within a diachronic historical and intertextual context, the aim of the thesis is to gain an understanding of forming and preserving cultural identity of that specific sphere of Egyptian society through time. The archeological contexts of the material will, where itis possible, be included. This will contribute to identifying, for example, established traditions, as opposed to local traditions.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 317-339).

Thesis (M.S.)--Florida State University, 2004. / Advisor: Dr. Cheryl Ward, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Anthropology. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Apr. 18, 2005). Document formatted into pages; contains xi, 111 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis -- Departmental honors in Art History. / Bibliography: ℓ.114-121

Mummies have been considered as 'biologic museums' as they display vital evidence and clues about the life and death of the ancient Egyptian population who lived thousands of years ago. They also hold the secrets of the evolution of disease. The Third Intermediate Period mummies represent the mummification technique at its best. The main aim of this research is to produce a scientific study of the Third Intermediate Period mummies in the British Museum. It attempts to answer some important questions and considers to what extent a detailed radiographic investigation of a group of mummies can provide evidence about disease processes, diet, mummification techniques, funerary and medical practices within that period. Non-invasive techniques were used during this study to investigate a group of seven mummies from the collection of the British Museum. The mummies are encased in cartonnage cases except one mummy which is inside a wooden coffin. The radiological methods (i.e. X-ray radiography and CT scanning) provided new information regarding the manufacturing of cartonnage cases during that period. The detailed radiographs showed aspects of the mummification techniques that were not reported during pervious investigations. A historical account of the Third Intermediate Period was given in chapter one while chapter two provides information regarding the mummification techniques used during this historical period. Chapter three gives information on previous radiological studies and chapter four gives detailed description and photographs of the selected mummies, the subjects of this investigation. Chapter five contains a full description of the methods used during this study and the results and discussions were presented in chapter six. A catalogue with detailed information is attached as an appendix to the thesis to present the physical anthropological data and radiological finds with regards to each mummy from this selected group.

No description available.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Some academics are of the generalist opinion that ancient Egyptian beer was only consumed by the lower classes because of its low social status. This is based on the generalization that individuals only consume alcoholic beverages matching the status of their social class. Therefore the lower classes consumed beer while the upper classes consumed an alcoholic beverage of higher status, i.e. wine. However, other academics are of the universalist opinion that Egyptian beer was universally consumed by all Egyptian social classes irrespective of the status of beer. This study aims to test the validity of these opposing academic opinions and also strives to understand how statements of status in Egyptian society were devised, and what they were conveying. This was achieved by determining the status of Egyptian beer and wine and then comparing them to the respective status of beer and wine drinkers in the New Kingdom period (c. 1550-1069) according to the factors of production, consumption, health, economic exchange & distribution, and religion. Use is made of an anthropological approach which allows the researcher to limit social bias and understand ancient Egyptian society on its own terms. Results of this study indicate that Egyptian beer had a much lower status than Egyptian wine and all social classes consumed beer while only the upper classes consumed wine. The generalist opinion, therefore, is falsified and the universalist opinion validated. The results also indicate that the upper classes justified their beer consumption by producing, consuming and exchanging an elite beer of higher status in a manner reminiscent of wine so that it compared more favourably with the status of their social classes. This study, therefore, not only settles an old academic dispute but also provides new insight into Egyptian beer. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Sommige akademici huldig die algemene siening dat antieke Egyptiese bier uitsluitlik deur die laer klasse gebruik is, omdat bier ‘n laer status geniet het. Dit is gegrond op die veralgemening dat individue slegs alkoholiese drank gebruik het wat ooreenstem met hul eie sosiale klas. Die laer klasse het dus bier gedrink terwyl die hoër klasse alkoholiese drank van ‘n hoër status, naamlik wyn, gedrink het. Ander akademici is egter van mening dat Egiptiese bier deur alle Egiptiese sosiale klasse gebruik is, ongeag die status van bier. Hierdie studie poog om die geldigheid van hierdie teenstrydige akademiese menings te toets en poog ook om te verstaan hoe stellings oor status in die Egiptiese samelewing bedink is en wat hulle wou oordra. Dit is bereik deur die status van Egiptiese bier en wyn te bepaal en dit dan te vergelyk met die besondere status van bier en wyndrinkers in die Nuwe Koningkryk tydperk (c. 1550-1069) volgens die faktore van produksie, verbruik, gesondheid, ekonomiese uitruiling & verspreiding en godsdiens. ‘n Antropologiese benadering is gevolg omdat dit die navorser in staat stel om sosiale partydigheid te beperk en sodoende die Egiptiese samelewing in eie reg te kan verstaan. Resultate van hierdie studie dui aan dat alhoewel Egiptiese bier ‘n veel laer status as Egiptiese wyn geniet het, het alle sosiale klasse nietemin bier gedrink, terwyl net die hoër klasse wyn gedrink het. Die algemene mening is gefalsifiseer, terwyl die universele mening gestaaf word. Die resultate dui ook aan dat die hoër sosiale klasse hul bierverbruik geregverdig het deur ‘n elite bier van hoër status te produseer, uit te ruil en te gebruik op ‘n wyse soortgelyk aan diè van hul wynverbruik, sodat dit gunstig vergelyk met die status van hul sosiale klasse. Hierdie studie los dus nie net ‘n ou akademiese meningsverskil op nie, maar gee ook ‘n nuwe insig in Egiptiese bier en die gebruik daarvan deur die hoër klasse.

Comment l’Egypte ancienne s’inscrit-elle dans la mémoire collective ? La constitution d’un imaginaire de l’Egypte ancienne est à inclure dans un courant culturel et artistique parfois fait d’emprunts sélectifs au répertoire antique, tout en étant simultanément redevables à d’autres traditions artistiques et notamment à l’égyptomanie. L’égyptomanie acquiert alors dans la bande dessinée une dimension propre, caractérisée par des codes et un vocabulaire tout à fait spécifiques, favorisant l’invention narrative et graphique. Saisir les mystères de l’Egypte ancienne dans la bande dessinée revient à composer une « grammaire de la civilisation » des pharaons. Ainsi, la construction d’un cadre signifiant permet de dresser les lieux de mémoires (signifiants, significatifs, moins évocateurs ou carrément absents), le topos exotique (mytho-géographie, image de l’autre, références bibliques comme marqueur d’une distinction), l’image d’une société hiérarchisée (prédominance de Pharaon et des puissants sur le peuple de la vallée) et le tableau d’une religion et de croyances fascinantes (attraction du polythéisme et de l’univers des mythes égyptiens, illustration des rites funéraires, de la mort et de l’au-delà) comme autant de rouages structurels dans l’agencement d’une mémoire de l’Egypte ancienne. Cependant, il convient de ne pas négliger l’intégration dans la fabrique de l’imaginaire de l’Egypte ancienne des processus dynamiques qui s’opèrent dans la constitution d’un laboratoire d’imageries plus ou moins stéréotypées. Réfléchir sur la généalogie des images et distinguer les sources d’influences sur lesquels s’appuient les auteurs (sources héritées de l’Egypte ancienne et/ou sources puisées dans l’histoire des arts) démontre que les représentations qui nourrissent l’imagination des artistes ne naissent pas ex-nihilo mais sont le fait d’un long cheminement historique. Les auteurs recréent et réinterprètent l’Histoire avec des référents et des attitudes mentales qui leur appartiennent tout en laissant libre cours à des fantasmes parfois difficiles à décrypter. / How does ancient Egypt remain etched on the collective memory ? The construction of an imagination of ancient Egypt is to be included in an artistic and cultural trend which is sometimes made of selective borrowings from the repertoire of antiquity as well as being indebted simultaneously to other artistic traditions, in particular egyptomania. Egyptomania acquires, then, in comics, a dimension of its own which is characterized by codes and very specific vocabulary, favouring narrative and graphic inventiveness. Grasping the mysteries of ancient Egypt in comics comes down to working out a “ grammar of the civilization” of Pharaohs. Thus, the construction of a signifying framework allows us to list places of memories (which are signifying, significant, less evocative or altogether lacking ), exotic topos (mytho-geography, image of otherness, biblical references as marker of distinction), the image of a society organized into a hierarchy ( the predominance of the Pharaohs and the mighty over the people in the valley) and the depiction of a religion as well as fascinating beliefs ( attraction to polytheism and to the universe of Egyptian myths, illustrations of funerary rituals, death and the beyond), all these structuring the construction of a memory of ancient Egypt. However, one must not neglect the integration of dynamic processes in the construction of the imagination of ancient Egypt. Those dynamic processes are at work in the building up of more or less stereotyped imagery. Reflecting on the genealogy of images and distinguishing the sources of influence on which the authors rely (sources inherited from ancient Egypt and / or sources out of the history of the arts) demonstrate that the representations that nurture the artists’ imagination are not born out of nothing but are the result of long historic development. Authors re-create and reinterpret History with reference points and mental attitudes of their own while giving free rein to a fantasy world which is sometimes difficult to decipher.