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Text in English / Ancient Egyptian distinctive headdresses made from precious or semi-precious materials date to prehistoric times, indicating a growing sense of individuality and hierarchy. Women’s headdresses were indicators of rulership, divinity, social status, cultic affiliation and wealth. Visual evidence indicates that female identity was emphasised by external and outward appearance and headdresses in the form of diadems followed recognised stylistic dictates throughout the Dynastic Period. The floral and faunal motifs used in the embellishment were believed to have protective amuletic and magical powers. Although a considerable amount of investigation has been undertaken into the use of materials and techniques used in the manufacture of diadems, the incorporation of symbolism and iconography of these gendered artefacts as a means of interpreting visual messages and self-expression has largely been unexplored. The study has been limited to well-provenanced, extant Old, Middle and New Kingdom diadems housed in various museums worldwide. / Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern Studies / M.A. (Ancient Near Eastern Studies)

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This thesis is an internal organisational history of the Society of the Muslim Brothers in Egypt between 1973 and 2013. Based on memoires of Brotherhood leaders, as well as oral history interviews conducted in 2012 and 2013 with different rank-and-file members and dissidents, the thesis situates the life trajectories and personal experiences of these individuals within a larger national and international context. The purpose is to provide a historical account that is able to explain the reasons for the Brotherhood's cataclysmic failure of the summer of 2013. In accounting for the fall, my key argument centres on the internal rivalry between two political factions representing different "schools of thought", or visions, about the kind of organisation the Brotherhood was supposed to be. Representatives of the respective coalitions competed against each other over hegemony and organisational resources, basing their claims on contrasting intellectual traditions, political cultures and organisational values that had co-existed, sometimes uncomfortably, within the ranks of the Society since the times of Hasan al-Banna. The adherents of the "Qutbist" school of thought put forward the idea of a closed, pyramid-shaped and exclusive organisation, while those closer to 'Omar al-Tilmisani's model aspired to a reformed Society that was open to outsiders, and where internal progression was based on meritocracy, transparency and some form of democracy. I argue that it is through the holistic analysis of the complex dynamics between internal organisational politics, the use of ideology, and the personal experiences of key organisational members, that we are best able to grasp the Brotherhood's failed experience in governance in 2013.

The formation of state borders is often told through the history of war and diplomacy. What is neglected is the tale of how borders of seemingly peaceful and long-extant places were set. In drawing Egypt’s borders, nineteenth-century cartographers were drawing upon a well of knowledge that stretched back into antiquity. Relying on the works of Greco-Roman writers and the Bible itself, cartographers and explorers used the authority of these works to make sense of unfamiliar lands, regardless of any current circumstances. The border with Palestine was determined through the usage of the Old Testament, while classical scholars like Herodotus and Ptolemy set the southern border at the Cataracts. The ancient cartography of Rome was overlaid upon the Egypt of Muhammad Ali. Given the increasing importance Egypt had to the burgeoning British Empire of the nineteenth century, how did this mesh with the influences informing cartographical representations of Egypt? This study argues that the imagined spaces created by Western cartographers informed the trajectory of Britain’s eventual conquest of Egypt. While receding as geopolitical concerns took hold, the classical and biblical influences were nonetheless part of a larger trend of Orientalism that colored the way Westerners interacted with and treated the people of Egypt and the East. By examining the maps and the terminology employed by nineteenth century scholars on Egypt’s geography, a pattern emerges that highlights how much classical and biblical texts had on the Western imagination of Egypt as the modern terms eventually superseded them.

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This dissertation constitutes the first monograph devoted to Qalawun's life and reign based on the contemporary and original data found in the Arabic chronicles of the period. An historiographical approach has brought to light information regarding the career of this sultan and has revealed contemporary historians' perceptions of his role as sultan. On the basis of an analysis of several aspects of the political and administrative, economic and social structure of the empire, which reflects the emphasis of the sources on the activities of the sultan, we concluded that centralization of sovereignty was enhanced during Qalawun's reign. But, whereas the historians attribute this development to the sultan's political convictions, analysis of the events they record indicates that other factors--most significant of which was the superimposition of the Mamluk system on the political, economic and social structure of Egypt and Syria--largely explain this trend.