Francisco L. Borrego Gallardo

Autonomous University of Madrid | UAM · Departamento de Historia Antigua, Historia Medieval, Paleografía y Diplomática

The reign of the founder of the Fourth Dynasty, Snefru, was a crucial episode in the history of the Egyptian divine kingship. Besides important economic and administrative transformations, the political ideology is a very dynamic sphere of activity, nearly unprecedented until then. Examples of that process are the changes in the funerary realm, emp...

Landscapes are dynamic and changing realities at a geographical and cognitive level that should be studied in detail in their synchronic and diachronic aspects for the correct understanding of their role in human societies. This paper presents a case study of the toponym Ankhtawy (ˁnḫ-tʒwj), the ‘Life of the Two Lands’, located in the Memphite regi...

The form of Hathor as Nbw ‘Gold’ is one of her least known aspects before the Graeco-Roman period and lacks a specific study. This is partly due to the nature of the sources for the period between the Old Kingdom and the end of the Late Period. In them, she emerges as one of the oldest deities to appear in songs and hymns, dating back to the second...

Royal funerary complexes in Old Kingdom Egypt are multifaceted, meaning-laden spaces where, from the early Fourth Dynasty, large areas of wall reliefs were devoted to scenes featuring rows of personifications representing estates, provinces, regions, and elements of the Egyptian landscape, offering food and other items to the deceased king. While a...

Recently, a more complete and diverse interdisciplinarity is improving our understanding of how ancient Nilotic populations identified, named and categorized the animal species of their environments. An interesting case study is that of the raptor ṯnḥr, a poorly documented term, with only three instances (the 'Cycle of Seasons' in the sun temple of...

The statues with a falcon on the king’s back in the Old Kingdom, traditionally studied from premises typical of Western Art History and not from emic and semiotic perspectives, present two different typologies. The first one (A) has a falcon spreading its wings over the head’s nape of a seated king; in the second one (B) a falcon with its wings fol...

The hieroglyph 𓅇 / 𓅈 (G7A / G7B etc.) has been described as a falcon on a boat, crescent, or throw-stick. Studies have focused on its phonetic reading – Nmtj and not *ꜥntj – and have paid only cursory attention to its visual referent. A new approach to the reality of signs should consider elements that have been overlooked: their earliest attestati...

Egypt's position between Africa and the Mediterranean has allowed rich and complex connections with both areas over time. In Ptolemaic and Roman times these interconnections increase, by incorporating Graeco-Roman models and conceptions to the pharaonic traditions, giving rise to more complex and multifaceted dynamics. In addition to political and...

In Amarna letter EA 35 the ruler of Alashiya requests the king of Egypt, among other things, to send augurs. This has led to the issue of the existence of ornithomancy in ancient Egypt, which is considered by most scholars to be a practice imported into Egypt during the Late Bronze Age. In this study, the analysis of that passage from an ornitholog...

The goddesses Hathor and Bastet have very prominent roles in the logoiconic programs of the royal funerary complexes of the Fourth Dynasty. several authors have argued that they have a spatial component in them, on a territorial and cosmic level, with Hathor representing the south and Bastet the north. in addition to that, the analysis of the conte...

The teaching of the Ancient Egyptian language has received little attention as an object of reflection and debate in Egyptology. The case of Spanish universities, where it has been taught for a few decades in postgraduate degrees and extension courses, presents some peculiarities, which can be explained, among other reasons, by the late introductio...

Egypt’s position between Africa and the Mediterranean has allowed rich and complex connections with both areas over time. In Ptolemaic and Roman times these interconnections increase, by incorporating Graeco-Roman models and conceptions to the pharaonic traditions, giving rise to more complex and multifaceted dynamics. In addition to political and...

The 'embalming plate' is a type of artefact that is mentioned quite frequently in the literature on ancient Egyptian mortuary practices. However, it has not been well studied so far. This paper is a preliminary corpus that can serve as a basis for further studies of this kind of objects, as an open list that can be expanded in the future. This corp...

Landscapes are dynamic and changing realities at a geographical and cognitive level that should be studied in detail in their synchronic and diachronic aspects for the correct understanding of their role in human societies. This paper presents a case study of the toponym Ankhtawy (anx-tAwj), the ‘Life of the Two Lands’, located in the Memphite regi...

Southwest of the courtyard of TT 11, inside a large tomb from the Twelfth Dynasty, a set of fragmented human mummies were found. All of them were adult male individuals and presented a refined mummification and some remains of burial goods of high quality, which, together with the epigraphic data recovered, suggest that they were a group of priests...

In 2017 and 2018, the Proyecto Djehuty has documented in a tomb of the early Middle Kingdom at Dra Abu el-Naga the burial of several individuals linked to the priesthood and the Domain of Amun of the Twenty-Second Dynasty. Among the artefacts found there, a group of textiles stands out. A first group includes the name and titles of the owner along...

En algunas tumbas de particulares del Reino Antiguo figuran escenas de baile por parejas cuya interpretación, pese a que varios autores se hayan ocupado de estudiarlas, todavía ofrece notables dificultades por lo escueto de su desarrollo y la oscuridad de sus textos asociados. A través del análisis de sus contextos icónicos, los tipos de danzas rep...

Workshop. Ancient Scripts: Linear B, Pompeii Graffiti, Egyptian hieroglyphics

Adaptive questionnaires allow identifying the most appropriate question at a particular moment during an evaluation process. There are several approaches to implement adaptive questionnaires, but not many to ensure their quality. This article shows a procedure to improve the adaptive questionnaires quality by considering the relevance of each quest...

Las relaciones entre Ra, el dios del sol, y el oro parecen ser un tema bien conocido de la religión egipcia antigua dadas las asociaciones solares de dicho metal precioso. Sin embargo, no existen estudios que se hayan ocupado de conocer en detalle dichas relaciones. En este trabajo se propone un análisis de los encantamientos de los Textos de las P...

Even though several scholars have studied the scenes of pair dances of some private tombs of the Old Kingdom, their interpretation still offers a number of difficulties because of their succinct visual display and the unclarity of their associated texts. Through the analysis of their iconic contexts, the style of the dance, the features of the perf...

Adaptive questionnaires allow identifying the most appropriate question at a particular moment during an evaluation process. There are several approaches to implement adaptive questionnaires, but not many to ensure their quality. This article shows a procedure to improve the adaptive questionnaires quality by considering the relevance of each quest...

This paper reconsiders the original meaning and etymology of a noun referring a kind of a seat, ḫndw, which is documented since the Third Dynasty. From the analysis of the semagrams of its spellings of the Old Kingdom, it has been possible to determine that very probably ḫndw described a throne or seat whose main feature is having free-standing leg...

In the pyramid complex of the Egyptian king Khufu (c. 2509-2483 BC) at Giza the shaft G-7000x was discovered in 1925. Its inside, found intact, had a rich group of artefacts that, according to their inscriptions, belonged to his mother, Hetepheres I. Although the shaft seemed to be a tomb, because, among other objects, there were a canopic chest an...

En este trabajo se presenta un procedimiento para la construcción de cuestionarios de calidad en el ámbito de la docencia, el cual ha sido implementado mediante la aplicación e- valUAM. Este procedimiento tiene como objetivo mejorar la calidad del proceso de evaluación teniendo en cuenta la relevancia de las preguntas en la elaboración de cuestiona...

In this work, we develop a formalism based on test construction by the eval-UAM tool. This process aims to improve the quality of the assessment process by taking into account the relevance of the items. The method uses students' answers to follow different paths to improve the accuracy of the assessment process. By using this method, we improve th...

Presentation, description and interpretation of an Egyptian statuette made in bronze of the Late Period, now on the permanent exhibition of the room of Egyptian Anquities of Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid (inv. no. 2064). This figurine forms part of the first set of Egyptian antiquities of the Museo Arqueológico Nacional, coming from the Royal...

One of the 'free epithets' of Egyptian King created during the Old Kingdom attracts attention for the multiple readings which have been proposed for it: F35+G5 [F35 + G5]. In this paper, a new approach to its reading, different of those made until now, has been presented, based upon the comparative analysis of the uses as a grapheme of both signs i...

This paper deals with the meanings of faience in Egypt during the Old Kingdom. First, the analysis presents its most ancient uses and the terms employed for describing this material. The study continues with the main uses of that material and the semantics which were given to it, focusing on its qualities and properties in relation with the archaeo...

In this paper the several kinds of divine filiation of the Egyptian king are studied. After some introductory remarks, the paper focuses on the myths which constitute the basis for further developments and expressions of the royal filiation as a divine one (the Heliopolitan cosmogony, the murder of Osiris, the infancy of Horus, the struggle between...

The beginning of the ancient Egyptian Sixth Dynasty seems to have been a period of severe political confrontation. Apparently, the reign of king Teti was abruptly interrupted by a conspiracy which killed him and installed in powera usurper, Userkara. After a very short reign, Userkara was deposed, seemingly by violence, by the rightful heir of Teti...

General knowledge article about the history of ancient Memphis in Egypt.

General knowledge article about some mythical episodes which are little known: the rebellion of Geb against his father, Shu; the demiurgic work of the latter creating the time mechanism of the sky; and the adultery of Osiris and Nephthys as a reason given by Seth to kill Osiris.

Scenes showing the reward of officials with gold during the Old Kingdom have been studied rarely from the point of view of their possible ideological meanings. In this paper the author suggests a re-evaluation of the available evidence on the subject and a semiologic approach, in order to present an interpretation of their social and religious sema...

Most previous studies about the atef-crown (Atf) relate it with the Egyptian god Osiris. They also identify its central part with the White Crown or with the headdress of the mww-dancers. A new analysis of the available evidence for the Old Kingdom allows rejecting its relation with Osiris before the Middle Kingdom. Furthermore, a reevaluation of i...

Book review of the publication of some magical papyri of New Kingdom Egypt kept at Egyptian Museum, Torino.

Book review of a book on performance, drama and rituals in Ancient Egypt.

General knowledge article about the 'Book of Going Forth by Day' ('Book of the Dead').

The god Khnum, known from the Thinite Period (c. 2900-2593 BC) seems to increase his religious importance in the beginning of Fourth Dynasty (c. 2544-2436 BC). This fact, after the available evidence, cannot be disconnected from his close ties with the Egyptian kingship of this period. The reasons behind this can be seen through the analysis of the...

The goddess Bastet, attested since the Thinite Period onwards, plays an important role in the solar theology during the Old Kingdom as protectress, mother, wife and daughter of the sun-god Ra. In the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty, she experiences a strong theological development, progressively more intense. Her new aspects are very related to the...

The relations between Re, the Sun-god, and the gold seem to be a well-known topic of the Egyptian religion given the solar associations of that precious metal. Nevertheless, there are not detailed studies on those associations. This paper aims to analyse the spells of the Pyramid Texts where that deity and the gold are related, taking into account...

PhD manuscript to be published. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Departamento de Historia Antigua, Historia Medieval y Paleografía y Diplomática. Thesis defense: 21-12-2010 Contents: Vol. I,1.- Vol. I, 2 .- Vol. II, 1 .- Vol. II, 2

Description, analysis, contextualization and translation of the texts of a wall fragment carved in relief with offering scenes from a tomb of the First Intermediate Period at Herakleopolis Magna (Ehnasya el-Medina, Egypt).

The original location of Khafre's statues from his Lower Temple at Giza is unknown, given that they were found in a favissa in that building. Their possible location has been studied by some scholars, such as V. Vikentiev or, more recently, M. Seidel. In spite of some correct guesses, the general methodology applied by them does not seem very accur...

Description, analysis and contextualization of a painted wooden stela of the Third Intermediate Period (XXI-XXII dyn.), with a scene of a woman adoring a hieracocephalic deity, with some notes about a possible 'emblematic' or 'logoiconic-semiological' reading.

General knowledge article about the reign of Amenhotep III.

Description, analysis and contextualization of a painted Naqada II vase (MAN inv. 16169).

Publication of funerary cones found at the area of Theban Tombs 11 and 12, with some dispersion maps of the most important ones. Some of them allow to make some corrections and additions to the corpus of Davies and Macadam.

General knowledge article about the history of ancient Egyptian Thebes.

General knowledge article about Ptolemaic Egypt.

In this paper, the bia-throne (xndw-bjA, xndw bjAj) in the Pyramid Texts and its possible royal sculptural parallels in the Old Kingdom are discussed. First, the meanings and functions of that kind of throne are studied, concluding that they are related to the king's resurrection and his ascension in the firmament, where he becomes ruler among seve...

In this paper, the bia-throne (xndw-bjA, xndw bjAj) in the Pyramid Texts and its possible royal sculptural parallels in the Old Kingdom are discussed. First, the meanings and functions of that kind of throne are studied, concluding that they are related to the king's resurrection and his ascension in the firmament, where he becomes ruler among seve...

Dans cet article sont réunies six notes à propos du dieu Béhédety dans l’Ancien Empire. Dans § I la première image du dieu est étudiée telle qu’elle apparaît la première fois sur les panneaux souterrains du complexe funéraire de Hor Nétjerykhet (Saqqara). On peut en déduire qu’il exerce à cette époque les fonctions d’une divinité du trône et de la...

General knowledge article about Old Kingdom Egypt.

Malgré la publication de la Chapelle Blanche de Senouseret Ier qui remonte à environ cinquante ans, l’image d’Amon reflétée dans celle-ci n’a jamais fait l’objet d’une étude détaillée, conformément à sa complexité. La meilleure approche pour la comprendre c’est la sémiologie, en analysant chaque figure d’Amon comme s’il s’agissait d’un syntagme nom...

This work presents the historic phenomenon of the employment of Greek and Carian mercenaries in Egypt under the Saite Dynasty, from a perspective unifying the Egyptian and Oriental sources and the Greek ones, since until now this topic has been studied hellenocentricly. Firstly, we analyse the available sources, specially the not-literary sources’...