ChapterPDF Available

The ancient Egyptian Artist A non-existing Category?

January 2022

In book: Ancient Egyptian Society (pp.163-181)

Authors:

University of Liège

The article aims at questioning the Egyptological communal opinion that “in ancient Egypt, there was no artist in the proper sense of the word”, as stated in the Lexikon der Ägyptologie (III, 833). It starts with a brief historiography of this assumption before addressing the issue of the definition of art and artist, in general, and more specifically from an ancient Egyptian point of view. After a broad statistical overview of the numerous Egyptological data which allow us to trace members of the trades recognized as artistic by ancient Egyptians themselves, it analyses how one may study their social profile and perception in Antiquity, before concluding on the necessity to re-integrate the concept of artist in the discourse of Egyptology

A. Detail of the scene of inspection of the workshops in the Theban Tomb of the Vizier Paser (TT 106). Photograph G. Menendez-U Liège. B. Depiction of the Vizier Mereruka as a painter in the doorway of his mastaba in Saqqara (after Duell 1938, pl. 6). Courtesy of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.

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A. The socio-pr ofessional class distribution of the depicted artists. B. Chronological distribution of the two analyzed corpora: workshop scenes and individualized pictorial representations.

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Epigraphic drawing of the self-portrait in assistenza of Sennefer in the tomb of his father, the servant (lit. "the call listener") Amenemhat in Deir el-Medina (TT 340). After Cherpion 1999, pl. 8.

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Double depiction of "the lector-priest and scribe of the house of the divine books of the Great-House" Ihy-em-sa-Pepy, aka Iry, in the scene of "watching the painting and the work [of the sculptor]" in the tomb of the governor Pepy-ankh-heny-kem at Meir (T Meir 2). After Junker 1959, 89.

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Content uploaded by Dimitri Laboury

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ANCIENT EGYPTIAN SOCIETY

This volume challenges assumptions about—and highlights new approaches

to—the study of ancient Egyptian society by tackling various thematic social issues

through structured individual case studies.

The reader will be presented withquestions about the relevance of the past in the

present. The chapters encourage an understanding of Egypt in its own terms through

the lens of power, people, and place, oering a more nuanced understanding of the

way Egyptian society was organized and illustrating the beneﬁts of new approaches

to topics in need of a critical re-examination. By re-evaluating traditional,

long-held beliefs about a monolithic, unchanging ancient Egyptian society, this

volume writes a new narrative—one unchecked assumption at a time.

Ancient Egyptian Society: Challenging Assumptions, Exploring Approaches is intended

for anyone studying ancient Egypt or ancient societies more broadly, including

undergraduate and graduate students, Egyptologists, and scholars in adjacent ﬁelds.

Danielle Candelora is Assistant Professor of Ancient Mediterranean History at

SUNYCortland and co-director of excavations at South Karnak. She received her PhD

in Egyptology from UCLA. Her research focuses on immigration in ancient Egypt,

the reception of foreigners, strategies of identity maintenance and advertisement.

Nadia Ben-Marzouk is Postdoctoral Fellow at Tel Aviv University and the

University of Zurich. Her research explores craft production, producers, and

modes of technological transmission in the Bronze and Iron Age Levant, Egypt,

and east Mediterranean. She received her PhD from UCLA.

Kathlyn M. Cooney is Professor of Egyptian Art and Architecture and Chair of

the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA. Her research

in 21st Dynasty con reuse focuses on the socio-economic and political aspects of

funerary and burial practices in ancient Egypt.

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN

SOCIETY

Challenging Assumptions, Exploring

Approaches

Edited by Danielle Candelora, Nadia

Ben-Marzouk, and Kathlyn M. Cooney

Cover Image: PRISMA ARCHIVO/Alamy Stock Photo

First published 2023

by Routledge

4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor& Francis Group, an informa business

Ben-Marzouk, and Kathlyn M. Cooney; individual chapters,

thecontributors

The right of Danielle Candelora, Nadia Ben-Marzouk, and Kathlyn M.

Cooney to be identiﬁed as the authors of the editorial material, and of the

authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with

sections77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now

known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in

any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing

from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or

registered trademarks, and are used only for identiﬁcation and explanation

without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Candelora, Danielle, editor. | Ben-Marzouk, Nadia, editor. |

Cooney, Kara, editor.

Title: Ancient Egyptian society : challenging assumptions, exploring

approaches / edited by Danielle Candelora, Nadia Ben-Marzouk,

andKathlyn M. Cooney

Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2023. |

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identiﬁers: LCCN 2022009204 (print) | LCCN 2022009205 (ebook) |

ISBN 9780367418281 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367434632 (paperback) |

ISBN 9781003003403 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Egypt—Civilization—To 332 B.C. | Egypt—Social life

and customs—To 332 B.C.

Classiﬁcation: LCC DT61 .A627 2023 (print) | LCC DT61 (ebook) |

DDC 932/.01—dc23/eng/20220601

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022009204

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022009205

ISBN: 978-0-367-41828-1 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-367-43463-2 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-003-00340-3 (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/9781003003403

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CONTENTS

List of Abbreviations

List of Figures

List of Tables

List of Contributors

xiii

xvii

xviii

Introduction 1

1 Investigating Ancient Egypt’s Societies: Past Approaches

and New Directions

Danielle Candelora, Nadia Ben-Marzouk, and

Kathlyn M. Cooney

SECTION I

Power 9

2 Power and the Study of Ancient Egyptian Society

Nadia Ben-Marzouk

3 Hidden Violence: Reassessing Violence and Human

Sacriﬁce in Ancient Egypt

Roselyn A. Campbell

vi Contents

4 Making the Past Present: The Use of Archaism and

Festivals in the Transmission of Egyptian Royal Ideology

Jerey Newman

5 Divine Kingship and the Royal Ka

Jonathan Winnerman

6 Trade, Statehood, and Conﬁgurations of Power in Ancient

Egypt (Early-Middle Bronze Age)

Juan Carlos Moreno García

7 The Social Pyramid and the Status of Craftspeople

inAncient Egypt

Caroline Arbuckle MacLeod

8 Ancient Egyptian Decorum: Demarcating and Presenting

Social Action

John Baines

9 Co-regency in the 25th Dynasty: A Case Study of the

Chapel of Osiris-Ptah Neb-ankh at Karnak

Essam Nagy

SECTION II

People 101

10 The Egyptianization of Egypt and Egyptology: Exploring

Identity in Ancient Egypt

Danielle Candelora

103

11 Ancient Egyptian “Origins” and “Identity”

S. O. Y. Keita

111

12 Eight Medjay Walk into a Palace: Bureaucratic

Categorization and Cultural Mistranslation of Peoples

in Contact

Kate Liszka

122

Contents vii

13 The Value of Children in Ancient Egypt

Caroline Arbuckle MacLeod