Ancient Egyptian Rituals Against Enemies

doi:10.1628/978-3-16-163373-7

Ancient Egyptian Rituals Against Enemies

Edited by Joachim Friedrich Quack and Carina Kühne-Wespi

2024. 213 pages.

Orientalische Religionen in der Antike (ORA) 56

DOI 10.1628/978-3-16-163373-7

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Summary

The contributors to this volume discuss several aspects and questions related to ancient Egyptian rituals against enemies (»execration rituals«). This type of ritual is documented through various kinds of sources from the 6th Dynasty to the Ptolemaic-Roman period, thus making it an especially multifaceted phenomenon to study.

The contributors to this volume discuss several aspects of ancient Egyptian rituals against enemies (»execration rituals«). Various kinds of sources - figurines, textual descriptions, iconographical depictions - make it possible to trace this phenomenon from the 6th Dynasty to the Ptolemaic-Roman period. A special focus lies on Middle Kingdom and Late Period/Ptolemaic-Roman execration figures, the methods that were applied to produce them, the ritual acts performed with these figures, and the personnel involved in the rituals. Other chapters deal with possible connections between execration and female figurines, or the question of how killings of human beings can be assumed to have formed part of these rituals. The volume thus demonstrates how different approaches and perspectives can contribute to increasing and improving our understanding of Egyptian rituals against enemies.

Table of contents:

Section 1: Theoretical Models for Execration Rituals
Joachim Friedrich Quack The Indications of the Book of the Temple Concerning Rituals Against Enemies

Section 2: Execration Figurines From the Old Kingdom to the Ptolemaic-Roman Period
Andrés Diego Espinel Lost and Found - Posener (†)/Osing 's 'Tablette A' (Museu Egipci de Barcelona, E 618) - Athena Van der Perre The Ritual Burial of Middle Kingdom Execration Figurines. A Case Study from the Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels - Tori L. Finlayson The Concept of Containment in Execration Rituals: A Case Study - Joachim Friedrich Quack A Note on the Supposed Box for Containing Execration Figurines in Papyrus Bremner-Rhind - Carina Kühne-Wespi The Landscape of Rituals Against Enemies in the First Millennium BCE: Texts - Images - Artefacts

Section 3: Human Sacrifices?
Uroš Matić Killing Living Icons? Human Remains from Execration Pits at Mirgissa and Tell el-Dabʻa - Andrés Diego Espinel : Killing the Nubian - A Study on a Neglected Ritual Depicted in Two Theban Tombs (TT 11, TT 20) and Its Possible Relation to Execration Rituals

Section 4: Execration Figurines and Female Figurines
Vera Michel : Commonalities of and Differences Between the 'Execration' and 'Fertility' Figures

Authors/Editors

Joachim Friedrich Quack Born 1966; studied Egyptology, Semitic Studies, Biblical Archaeology, Ancient Near Eastern Studies and Pre- and Early History in Tübingen and Paris; 1990 Magister; 1993 Dr. phil.; 2003 Habilitation at the FU Berlin; Professor of Egyptology at the University of Heidelberg.

https://orcid.org/0000000348455111

Carina Kühne-Wespi Born 1989; studied Egyptology and Romance Studies in Heidelberg; 2012 Master's degree; 2019 PhD; academic assistant at the Institute for Egyptology of Heidelberg University.