Tenth International Congress of Egyptologists Abstracts of Papers

XICE – Abstract of Papers
Over 40 years ago, Siegfried Morenz attempted a “structural analysis” of ancient
Egyptian religion. Following these lines, the lecture tries to give a more differentiated
analysis, starting from a general definition of religion as comprising three fields: cult,
theology, and life-style, and locating Ancient Egyptian religion, both structurally and
historically, within this general tableau. Religions get their specific profile by their
forms and fields of emphasis within this triad of cult, theology and life-style. Ancient
Egypt, where the cult forms the dominating center, produced nevertheless a wealth of
texts, mostly hymns, dealing with theological questions on an exceptionally high level
of reflection and speculation. Moreover, during the three millennia of its documented
history, it influenced also the life-style and moral orientation of the Egyptians to an
ever increasing degree, due to the idea of an individual judgment of the death.
Blue-painted pottery at the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty
David A. Aston
Blue-painted pottery is probably the most well known of all Egyptian pottery wares,
and its very familiarity belies its rarity. Despite its long floruit of production, from the
reign of Amenophis II to that of Ramesses IV, it is found at remarkably few sites with
only a handful of sherds being discovered outside of the palatial centres of Gurob,
Malkata, Amarna, Memphis and Per-Ramesses, and in the great cult and funeral
complex at Thebes. From the published sources three main phases of production may
be ascertained: a) the reigns of Amenophis II and Tuthmosis IV, b) the reigns of
Amenophis III-Tutankhamun, and c) the reigns of Ramesses II-Ramesses IV.
Thanks mainly to the work of Colin Hope, the earliest phases of blue painted
pottery have been well studied, thus for Phase A, the major deposits are those
associated with the temple of Amenophis II at Thebes, a temple of the same king at
Giza, and the temple of Tuthmosis IV at Thebes, to which may be added a small
number of pieces from various elite tombs at Saqqara, Harageh, Deir Rifeh, Thebes,
Sawama and Aniba; whilst for Phase B the major deposits are undoubtedly those from
the settlements at Malkata, and Amarna, together with pottery from Karnak North,
Gurob, the tomb of Tutankhamun, and various other elite tombs at Thebes. The
largest amount of Ramesside blue-painted pottery, albeit in a fragmentary state,
comes from Qantir, with other reasonable deposits known in elite tombs at Saqqara
and Deir el-Medina, with small quantities known from the Valley of the Kings. The
gap between the reigns of Tutankhamun and Ramesses II is, as far as the published
record goes, only bridged by a small amount of material found in Shaft IV of the tomb
of Horemheb at Saqqara. However a considerable amount of other blue-painted
pottery dating to this period has been known for some time but has not yet been
published. It is the purpose of this presentation to examine the blue-painted pottery of
the period Horemheb - Seti I, and to relate it to other blue-painted pottery which came
before and after it in terms of date.
Women in the sed Festival: representation, participation, and role
Mariam Ayad
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