Violence and Power in Ancient Egypt examines the use of Egyptian pictures of violence prior to the New Kingdom. Starting with the assertion that making and displaying such images served as a tactic of power, related to but separate from the actual practice of violence, the book explores the development and deployment of this imagery across different contexts. By comparatively utilizing violent images from a variety of other times and cultures, the book asks that we consider not only how Egyptian imagery was related to Egyptian violence, but also why people create pictures of violence and place them where they do, and how such images communicate what to whom. By cataloging and querying Egyptian imagery of violence from different periods and different contexts—royal tombs, divine temples, the landscape, portable objects, and private tombs—Violence and Power highlights the nuances of the relationship between aspects of royal ideology, art, and its audiences in the first half of pharaonic Egyptian history.
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ix | |
Acknowledgments |
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xvi | |
The chronology and contexts of scenes of violence from Egypt through the Middle Kingdom |
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xviii | |
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1 | (13) |
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The structure of this book |
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5 | (4) |
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9 | (5) |
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2 The origins of violent imagery |
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14 | (26) |
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The earliest images of violence in Egypt |
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16 | (2) |
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The evidence from early Egypt: Naqada I |
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18 | (6) |
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The evidence from early Egypt: Naqada II |
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24 | (9) |
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33 | (7) |
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3 The violence inherent in the system: imagery and royal ideology in the period of state formation |
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40 | (45) |
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Violence in Egyptian art in the period of state formation |
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41 | (33) |
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Continuity and discontinuity |
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74 | (11) |
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4 To live forever: the decoration of royal mortuary complexes |
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85 | (69) |
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90 | (37) |
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127 | (16) |
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Interpreting imagery of violence from royal tombs |
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143 | (11) |
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5 Uniter of the two lands: images of violence in divine temples |
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154 | (18) |
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Egyptian temples as a context for imagery |
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156 | (16) |
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6 The preservation of order: images in the landscape |
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172 | (29) |
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The Early Dynastic Period |
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175 | (4) |
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179 | (14) |
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Reading rock carvings of smiting |
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193 | (8) |
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7 Out and about: images of violence on portable objects |
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201 | (21) |
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Images of triumph on portable objects |
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203 | (6) |
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Images of captivity on portable objects |
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209 | (7) |
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216 | (6) |
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8 Who is who? Private monumental images of war |
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222 | (42) |
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225 | (7) |
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The First Intermediate Period |
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232 | (3) |
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235 | (17) |
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Inscriptions and images in private tombs |
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252 | (3) |
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Interpreting private images of war |
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255 | (9) |
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9 Violence, power, ideology |
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264 | (5) |
Bibliography |
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269 | (16) |
Index |
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285 | |
Laurel Bestock is an Associate Professor of Archaeology and Egyptology at Brown University (USA). She received her PhD in Egyptian Archaeology and Art from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University (USA). She directs excavations in Egypt at the site of Abydos, where she investigates early kingship. In the Sudan, she co-directs excavations at the Egyptian fortress of Uronarti, seeking to understand lifestyles and cultural interactions in a colonial outpost from nearly 4000 years ago. For her next project, she hopes to work on a book focused on food and culture at Uronarti, both anciently and in the context of a modern excavation team camping in tents along the Nile.