Das Projekt \"Altägyptische Wörterbücher im Verbund\" ist ein am Ägyptologischen Institut der Universität Leipzig angesiedeltes Teilvorhaben des Projekts „Wissensrohstoff Text“, an dem sich, aus ESF-Mitteln finanziert, sieben Leipziger geisteswissenschaftliche Institute und das Institut für Informatik beteiligen. Das Ägyptische weist eine mehr als 4000jährige Sprachgeschichte auf. Nach der Entzifferung der Hieroglyphen durch J.-F. Champollion (1822) widmete man sich im 19. und frühen 20. Jh. der Erfassung des Wortschatzes und der Ermittlung von Wortbedeutungen. Das Ende dieser Pionierphase markiert das Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache von Erman/Grapow (Hauptbände 1926-1931), das noch heute ein Standardwerk darstellt. Diesem gehen aber bereits eine Vielzahl von Wörterbüchern, Wortlisten und Glossaren voran, die inzwischen weitgehend vergessen, aber wissenschaftsgeschichtlich von höchster Bedeutung sind. Denn aus ihnen lassen sich einerseits das schrittweise Verständnis der ägyptischen Sprache und die angewandten Methoden zu ihrer Erschließung ablesen und andererseits das Fundament unseres heutigen lexikographischen Wissens eruieren. Das Projekt schafft mittels eines Wörterbuchportals eine Infrastruktur, um das Vorkommen von Wörtern in altägyptischen Wörterbüchern und anderen lexikogra-phisch relevanten Publikationen mit den modernen Lemmaansetzungen der digitalen Wortliste des Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae (TLA) (http://aaew.bbaw.de/tla) zu ver¬knüpfen. So wird eine automatisierte Auswertung der Wörterbücher als Beitrag zur Geschichte der ägyptischen Lexikographie ermöglicht. Der TLA enthält neben einer Wortliste eine Textdatenbank, so dass über die Verknüpfung mit der Wortliste auch eine Verlinkung mit ägyptischen Volltexten und Textbelegen erfolgt. This article presents a short overview of the project „Altägyptische Wörterbücher im Verbund“ hosted at Leipzig University. Its aim is to establish a digital infrastructure for linking the lexical material of selected dictionaries of Ancient Egyptian of the 19th and early 20th century to a modern standard wordlist, the one of the Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae (TLA).

Diverse ägyptologische Großprojekte (TLA: http://aaew.bbaw.de/tla; Ramses: http://ramses.ulg.ac.be/; Rubensohn: http://elephantine.smb.museum/; Karnak: http://www.cfeetk.cnrs.fr/karnak/) erstellen annotierte Korpora. Für einen Datenaustausch ist ein standardisiertes Austauschformat, das auf TEI beruht, dringend erforderlich. Dazu haben sich diese Großprojekte zusammengeschlossen, um einen gemeinsamen Vorschlag zu erarbeiten. In unserem Vortrag möchten wir den aktuellen Stand der Diskussion präsentieren: Was ist der Basistext in der Auszeichnung: hieroglyphische Annotation oder die Umschrift des Textes? Wie geht man mit den verschiedenen Schriftformaten um? Können die Metadatenangaben im Header mithilfe gemeinsamer Thesauri standardisiert werden? Was wird inline, was wird stand-off annotiert?

The Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae (TLA; http://aaew.bbaw.de/tla) is the publication platform of the project „Structure and Transformation in the Vocabulary of the Egyptian Language: Texts and Knowledge in the Culture of Ancient Egypt“ (formerly known as “Altägyptisches Wörterbuch”) located in Berlin and Leipzig. It contains the largest corpus of Egyptian texts (ca. 1.4 million text words) and it is a very important tool for linguistic, philological, lexicographical, and cultural research. My paper introduces you to the software behind the TLA. I will show how easy it is to add a new text to the corpus with transcription, translation, Hieroglyphic codes, and metadata and how easy you can add any annotations of different types like rubra, citations from other texts, comments, direct speech. The software itself is freely available and platform independent. You are welcome to use our software to edit your texts and to cooperate with us!

Ancient Egyptian dentists come into the spotlight in this dissertation. While some scholars doubt their existence, it is indisputably shown that not only did they exist as a profession, but evidence is offered as to the various diagnoses and treatments they rendered. The Ebers medical papyrus together with other ancient similar medical ‘textbooks’ are analysed and prescriptions dealing with dental maladies are presented. Dentistry as a profession is elucidated in all its facets: diagnosing and treating dental diseases; prevention and care; and restorative and surgical treatment. This dissertation discusses dental anthropology as a vital part of bioarchaeology, which is the study of human remains in archaeological contexts in ancient Egypt. Dental enamel is the hardest material in the human body, and teeth are often preserved even when bones are not. Teeth are one of the most informative parts of the human body, and are incredibly well preserved archaeologically. Teeth provide insight into numerous issues that palaeodemography and historians are concerned with, including diet changes, general stress, how closely groups were related, and markers of social identity / Biblical and Ancient Studies / M.A. (Ancient and Near Eastern Studies)

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2103. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Ancient Egyptian art and artefacts reveal a great deal about the culture and beliefs of this civilization. It was a civilization steeped in myth, symbolism and imagery. Tomb art has been extensively analysed and studied in an effort to reveal the essential way of life of the Ancient Egyptians, their religious beliefs and their philosophy of life. It is agreed that symbolism was an inherent part of their lives and beliefs. They looked to nature and observed the behaviour of animals, plants, the environment and also the weather to attempt to rationalize the world they lived in. Their close observation of behaviour patterns in nature resulted in a complex hierarchy of gods and goddesses who were accountable for successful living. Among the animal kingdom, certain animals gained such distinction that they were linked to certain deities. The scarab beetle is one such creature. Insects featured variously in their art, their myths and their belief in magic. While the scarab beetle is possibly the most documented of the insects, other insects such as the bee, the fly, the locust and the praying mantis have all been investigated. The butterfly features frequently in Ancient Egyptian art and yet has not been the subject of in-depth study. This investigation attempts to examine the symbolism and significance of the butterfly in Ancient Egypt. Richard Wilkinson (1994) has provided a framework for analysing symbolism in Egyptian art. He suggests nine aspects which can be examined in order to reveal symbolism. In this study, a selection of art from various dynasties is systematically examined according to these nine aspects. Each art work portrays the butterfly. Through this careful examination it is hoped that a clearer indication of the role of the butterfly in Ancient Egypt will be obtained. Having discussed all nine aspects for each of the sources, a discussion and various conclusions follow which look at the trends which appear. Certain patterns emerge which indicate that the butterfly does indeed play a significant role as a symbol in Ancient Egypt. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Antieke Egiptiese kuns en artefakte openbaar baie oor die kultuur en oortuigings van hierdie beskawing. Dit was 'n beskawing ryk aan mites, simboliek en beelde. Grafkuns is deeglik ontleed en bestudeer in 'n poging om die wesenlike lewenswyse van die antieke Egiptenare, hul godsdienstige oortuigings en lewensfilosofie te openbaar. Daar word saamgestem dat simboliek 'n inherente deel van hul lewens en oortuigings uitgemaak het. Hulle het op die natuur gesteun en die gedrag van diere, plante, die omgewing en ook die weer waargeneem om te probeer om hul lewenswêreld te verklaar. Hul noukeurige waarneming van natuurverskynsels het tot 'n komplekse hiërargie van gode en godinne gelei wat vir 'n suksesvolle lewe verantwoordelik was. Sekere diere in die diereryk was so besonders dat hulle met sekere gode en godinne verbind was. Die skarabee kewer is een so 'n skepsel. Insekte verskyn onder andere in hul kuns, hul mites en hul geloof in magie. Terwyl die skarabee moontlik die mees gedokumenteerde insek was, is ander insekte soos bye, vlieë, sprinkane, en die bidsprinkaan ook almal ondersoek. Die skoenlapper verskyn gereeld in die antieke Egiptiese kuns, maar was nog nie die onderwerp van 'n grondige studie nie. Hierdie studie poog om die simboliek en belangrikheid van die skoenlapper in antieke Egipte te ontleed. Richard Wilkinson (1994) verskaf 'n raamwerk vir die ontleding van simboliek in Egiptiese kuns. Hy het nege aspekte voorgestel wat bestudeer kan word om die simboliek te openbaar. In hierdie studie, word 'n seleksie kuns van verskillende dinastieë, sistematies aan die hand van dié nege aspekte ontleed. Elke kunswerk beeld die skoenlapper uit. Deur hierdie noukeurige ondersoek, word daar gehoop dat die rol van die skoenlapper in antieke Egipte duideliker voorskyn. Na die bespreking van al nege aspekte vir elk van die bronne, volg daar 'n bespreking met verskillende gevolgtrekkings wat kyk na die tendense wat voorkom. Sekere patrone kom te voorsyn wat daarop dui dat die skoenlapper wel 'n belangrike rol as 'n simbool in antieke Egipte gespeel het.

Ancient Egyptian dentists come into the spotlight in this dissertation. While some scholars doubt their existence, it is indisputably shown that not only did they exist as a profession, but evidence is offered as to the various diagnoses and treatments they rendered. The Ebers medical papyrus together with other ancient similar medical ‘textbooks’ are analysed and prescriptions dealing with dental maladies are presented. Dentistry as a profession is elucidated in all its facets: diagnosing and treating dental diseases; prevention and care; and restorative and surgical treatment. This dissertation discusses dental anthropology as a vital part of bioarchaeology, which is the study of human remains in archaeological contexts in ancient Egypt. Dental enamel is the hardest material in the human body, and teeth are often preserved even when bones are not. Teeth are one of the most informative parts of the human body, and are incredibly well preserved archaeologically. Teeth provide insight into numerous issues that palaeodemography and historians are concerned with, including diet changes, general stress, how closely groups were related, and markers of social identity / Biblical and Ancient Studies / M.A. (Ancient and Near Eastern Studies)

In this study, I extended input methods for the Japanese language to Egyptian hieroglyphics. There are several systems that capable of inputting Egyptian hieroglyphic writing. However, they do not allow us to directly input hieroglyphs, for instance, into MS Word. The new Egyptian hieroglyphic input system being reported here, developed using technology used for inputting Japanese writing, is quite unique and allows the direct input of hieroglyphs, for example, into MS Word. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and the Japanese writing system (with its mixture of hiragana, katakana and kanji) share basic graphemic characteristics. For instance, Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic logograms are functionally similar to Japanese kanji logograms (Chinese characters), whereas Egyptian hieroglyphic phonograms are functionally similar to Japanese hiragana and katakana syllabic phonograms. The input technology for Japanese makes it possible to input a mixture of logograms and phonograms, and phonetic complements. This technology is a well-organized and handy tool to input Japanese writing into computers, having been used by over 100 million people. I applied this technology to Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic inputting and created a new intuitive hieroglyphic inputting system using Google Japanese Input. Using this method, anyone can directly write Egyptian hieroglyphic writing into software like MS Word. If the transcription of an ancient Egyptian word is entered, the correct hieroglyphs are generated by this system. If there are multiple options for any phonemic combinations that use other combinations of phonetic complements or determinatives, a dropdown window with a list of several combinations of glyphs appears and the user can choose the desired combination.

“The Ancient Egyptian Demonology Project: Second Millennium BCE” was intended and funded as a three-year project (2013-2016) to explore the world of Ancient Egyptian demons in the 2nd millennium BC. It intends to create a classification and ontology of benevolent and malevolent demons. Whereas ancient Egyptians did not use a specific term denoting “demons”, liminal beings known from various other cultures such as δαίμονες, ghosts, angels, Mischwesen, genies, etc., were nevertheless described in texts and illustrations. The project aims to collect philological, iconographical and archaeological evidence to understand the religious beliefs, practices, interactions and knowledge not only of the ancient Egyptians’ daily life but also their perception of the afterlife. Till today scholars, as well as interested laymen, have had no resource to consult for specific examples of those beings, except for rather general encyclopaedias that include all kinds of divine beings or the Iconography of Deities and Demons (IDD) project that is ongoing. Neither provides, however, a searchable platform for both texts and images. The database created by the Demonology Project: 2K is designed to remedy this gap. The idea is to provide scholars and the public with a database that allows statistical analyses and innovative data visualisation, accessible and augmentable from all over the world to stimulate the dialogue and open communication not only within Egyptology but also with neighbouring disciplines. For the time-span of the three year project a pilot database was planned as a foundation for further data-collection and analysis. The data that were chosen date to the 2nd Millennium BCE and originate from objects of daily life (headrests and ivory wands), as well as from objects related to the afterlife, (coffins and ‘Book of the Dead’ manuscripts). This material, connected by its religious purposes, nevertheless provides a cross-section through ancient Egyptian religious practice. The project is funded by the Leverhulme Trust and includes Kasia Szpakowska (director) who supervises the work of the two participating PhD students in Egyptology. The project does not include funds for computer scientists or specialists in digital humanities. Therefore, the database is designed, developed and input by the members of the team only. The focus of my presentation will be the structure of the database that faces the challenge to include both textual and iconographical evidence. I will explain the organisation of the data, search patterns and the opportunities of their visualisation and possible research outcome. Furthermore, I will discuss the potentials the database already possesses and might generate in the future for scholars and the public likewise. Since the evidence belongs to numerous collections from all over the world, I would like to address the problems of intellectual property and copyright with the solution we pursue for releasing the database for registered usage onto the internet.

This is an Afrocentric examination of women's use of agency in Ancient Egypt and Igboland. Most histories written on Kemetic women not only disconnect them from Africa but also fail to fully address the significance of their position within the political spiritual structure of the state. Additionally, the presence of matriarchy in Ancient Egypt is dismissed on the basis that patriarchy is the most visible and seemingly the most dominant form of governance. Diop contended that matriarchy was one of the key factors that connected Ancient Egypt with other parts of Africa which is best understood as the Africa cultural continuity theory. My research analyzes the validity of his theory by comparing how Kemetic women exercised agency in their political structure to how Igbo women exercised political agency. I identified Igbo women as a cultural group to be compared to Kemet because of their historical political resistance in their state during the colonial period. However, it is their traditional roles prior to British invasion that is most relevant to my study. I define matriarchy as the central role of the mother in the social and political function of societal structures, the political positions occupied by women that inform the decisions of the state and the inclusion of female principles within the religious-political order of the nation. Matriarchy as a critical framework was used to identify how Kemetic women and Igbo women accessed political power by means of motherhood, political leadership, and spiritual authority. The findings of this study show that Igbo women and Ancient Egyptian women were integral to the political operation of their states. Furthermore, the results indicate that Ancient Egypt and Igboland shared cultural commonalities as it relates to the roles that women occupied as spiritual specialists, political leaders and mothers. / African American Studies

The dissertation investigates the ancient Egyptian furniture industry, from ancient production and preservation, to modern-day reconstruction and conservation. The main focus of the dissertation falls on an in-depth investigation of styles and designs that can be viewed as characteristic/diagnostic of ancient Egyptian furniture. Emphasis falls on the evolution of functional and decorative elements and the development of individual items. Key design markers are identified and the developments of certain styles are traced. In-depth discussions reveal the finer structural and design elements of individual items along a chronological time frame. These include beds, stools, chairs, footrests, couches, mattresses and cushions, boxes and chests, tables, bed canopies and screens. Introductory chapters provide the reader with background information relevant to the furniture industry, including tree species and timber properties, trade and import, tools, technologies and production methods, while the final chapter investigates the possible applications of modern technology for assessment, conservation and reconstructive purposes. / Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern Studies / M.A. (Ancient Near eastern Studies)