EGYPTIAN
Arnold. There is, therefore, a gap of six years between both English versions, meaning the omission of six years of scholarship from the 2009 version. The latest bibliographic entry for Amarna, for example, is dated to 1994 (p.12). The 2009 version is also smaller than the 2003 version. Despite this difference in size, the images contained within it do not appear to have been adjusted. The quality of the photographs, as a result, has suffered slightly through the reduction process. This is evident on p.136 of both versions which depicts the ‘Remains of wall and ceiling paintings in Amenhotep III’s bedroom in the palace of Malqata’. In both versions the caption might be confusing, as it does not specify to the uninformed reader that the noted remains of ceiling paintings are, in fact, the fragments in the foreground of the photograph, on the ground. In the later version of the work these fragments are even more difficult to appreciate given the reduced quality of the image. A similar problem exists with line drawings, as seen in the entry for the tomb of Kheruef on p.123 of both versions. The drawing in the 2003 version clearly attempts to make a visual distinction, by means of an artistic convention, between types of columns, although what this distinction might be is not made clear in the accompanying text. This artistic convention used in the 2003 version is difficult to discern and this difficulty is compounded by the drawing’s reduction in the 2006 version. Decisions on translations are also not explained in the work. The use of French proper names for some monuments such as the ‘Chapelle Blanc’ and Chapelle Rouge’ (on p.51), is presumably an artefact of Arnold’s original, German, text. Their use in a translated work, however, is questionable, as they are also regularly known as the Red and White Chapels in English publications. A similar question might be put to the entry entitled ‘Hoher Sand’ (p.110). All of these comments aside the book still provides a useful, if not entirely up-to-date, starting point for readers who desire a synthesis covering a broad range of subjects related to ancient Egyptian architecture. ANDREW BEDNARSKI Elizabeth Wickett, For the Living and the Dead. The Funerary Laments of Upper Egypt, Ancient and Modern, AUC Press 2010. (Paperback ISBN 978 977 416 375 3) $24.95. I B Taurus (Hardback ISBN 978 184 885 050 7) £45. Despite the widespread advance of literacy and condemnation by religious authorities, many popular traditions that are direct survivals from ancient Egypt are still deeply rooted in the countryside, particularly in Upper Egypt. Funerary rituals are very reminiscent of those of ancient Egypt and have not changed much over the millennia. Visits and letters to the dead, sacrifices, mourners, tombs and cemeteries, have all, over the years, attracted the attention and interest of many scholars. Elizabeth Wickett studies a fascinating and enigmatic aspect of funerary rituals, the lament, known as idid performed by women at funerals. The originality of her work lies in the comparison that she makes between content and performance in both modern and ancient laments.
ARCHAEOLOGY
The book is divided into three parts. In Part I, we follow the author in her search for lamenters in and around Luxor, and we meet, among others, the professional lamenter Tariyya, the wise and dignified Qomiyya, the determined Hamida, and the accomplished Coptic lamenter Balabil whose laments prove to be particularly powerful and lyrical. All these women have a sad tale to tell and concede that they ‘learned laments in the school of weeping’. Though regarded as a transgressive act and a protest against God’s will, lamentation has always been, for women in Upper Egypt, a social and familial obligation and it was with some resignation that these women agreed to perform laments for the author outside the context of a funeral. Part II focuses on the meaning of the laments, looking at their symbolic contents, and questions the cryptic nature of many of the texts. Women learn the structure and form of laments at funerals, while the most gifted ones compose variants using metaphors and symbols that depend on the person being mourned and their position and role within the family group (father, mother, bride, bridegroom, child, etc.) so that, as one mourner puts it, ‘there is a lament for every person’. This part concludes with a study of the 43 themes that the author has identified as being recurrent in the laments (the hair, the shroud, sacrifice, tears, etc). Part III presents the most intriguing aspect of Wickett’s research – the thematic parallels and overlap between ancient and modern laments. In ancient Egypt, laments were an essential part of the funerary procession as the mourners accompanied the deceased to the tomb. In many private Theban New Kingdom tombs, mourners are depicted throwing dust on their heads, weeping and addressing the deceased. Both men’s and women’s laments are quoted in the shape of captions, which demonstrate that in ancient times, unlike today, laments were performed by both sexes without any differentiation. The Osirian myth and ritual obviously had a powerful influence on the performance of lament, and several scripts from Late Period lamentations clearly identify the mourners with Isis and Nephthys, 36
who urge the deceased to ‘rise up’ and the soul to return. The aim of the author’s analysis is to expose the aspects of the ancient texts which parallel contemporary lament verse forms and composition. Her study of the Pyramid Texts’ corpus provides evidence of close similarities with contemporary laments, as they both seem to be constructed around end-rhyming and devices of incremental repetition. But it is in the metaphors, images and themes that we find the most striking and thoughtprovoking similarities - death as a destructive force, the purification of the deceased, stairs, the tomb - to name only a few of the 26 themes present in modern laments that are replicated in ancient laments. Crossing by boat is an important element in both ancient and modern cosmologies. In the Pyramid Texts, the king was ferried to the afterlife on two-reed floats, while in modern laments, the souls are urged to embark on a ferry or a reed float. The crossing of waters is still believed to be an essential aspect of the journey to the afterlife and the ancient creation myth in which the primaeval mound rises from the waters of chaos is frequently alluded to in modern laments despite the fact that the Nile inundation has long ceased. Elizabeth Wickett takes us on a moving journey through time and poetry and opens the door of the intimate and inner world of Upper Egyptian women. One regrets the poor quality of the black and white photographs since colour views would have given a better visual dimension to the text. This small flaw, however, does not mar the quality of a book that will appeal to Egyptologists, Ethnologists and all those with an interest in Ancient Egyptian mythology and cultural anthropology. SYLVIE WEENS Wolfram Grajetzki, Court Officials of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom. Duckworth Egyptology, 2009 (ISBN 978 0 7156 3745 6). Price: £18. The author, in his latest study of the officialdom of the Middle Kingdom, builds on his considerable expertise to provide a readable, yet detailed, survey of the highest levels of state administration during this period. His new volume complements his previous overview, The Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt: History, Archaeology and Society (2006) and is illustrated with high quality drawings by Paul Whelan which provide the work with a finer appearance and graphic consistency than the earlier study. The core of the book is an examination of the highest officials of the royal administration covering the period from the foundation of the Middle Kingdom in the Eleventh Dynasty, through to its later phase of the Thirteenth Dynasty. Following a brief survey of sources and Middle Kingdom history (Chapter 1: pp.1-15), the author works his way downwards through royal administration from the two highest status offices: ‘vizier’ (tjaty, Ch.2, pp.15-42) and ‘treasurer’ (imy-ra khetemet, Ch.3, pp. 43-66), through secondtier offices that fell under the oversight of vizier and treasurer respectively. The author presents the thesis that there existed two distinct, but interrelated branches of royal administration: (1) the vizierate which was