Architecture, Power, and Religion: Hatshepsut, Amun & Kamak in Context.

• Author: Eaton, Katherine
• Position: Book review

Architecture, Power, and Religion: Hatshepsut, Amun & Kamak in Context. By DAVID A. WARBURTON. Beitrage zur Archaologie, vol. 7. Vienna: LIT VERLAG, 2012. Pp. xxi + 400, illus. 76.90 [euro].

The central thesis of Architecture, Power, and Religion: Hatshepsut, Amun & Kamak in Context is that monumental religious architecture was the essential precursor to what Warburton calls "verbal meaning in religion," with the former developing "millennia" before the latter (p. xviii); and that the roots of such verbal meaning ultimately lie in religious innovations of Hatshepsut. Warburton asserts that complex thoughts cannot be developed orally, but rather require written development (e.g., p. xvi), and argues for "... a relatively late development of myth" (p. 40). His contention appears to be based on the lack of "coherent organization" in religious literature prior to the Amduat (which he sees as one of Hatshepsut's most important innovations; pp. 169-70, 205). The earliest versions of the Amduat were found in KV 20 and 38, which may date as early at Thutmosis I. Hatshepsut's reign is the latest possible date for KV 20. Moreover, Warburton does not mention the possibility that the Amduat had previously been a tradition passed down on papyrus, although he describes it as "... a unique copy--exactly 1:1--of pages of papyrus transposed onto limestone," citing F. Mauric-Barperio, "Le premier exemplaire du Livre de TAmdouat," BIFAO 101 (2001): 315-50.

Warburton also stresses the fact that scholars have come up with various possibilities for how myth may have been manifested in oral traditions, which he views as contradictory.

Thus, on the one hand (a) it is assumed that the "myths" were secret and thus not written down, and on the other (b) it is proposed that the stories were common knowledge as they were constantly being repeated, and thus it was not necessary to write them down--because everyone knew them. (p. 105) However, the ranks of the initiated could have been quite large (e.g., eldest sons who serve as ka-priests for their fathers, scribes, pure priests, etc.), with myths being common knowledge among those to whom they were revealed. Moreover, if people are not good at keeping secrets, secret knowledge will become common knowledge over time. The knowledge of different, perhaps overlapping, in-groups (e.g., eldest sons and scribes) would seep out and morph as it passed from person to person. Then, many different versions of myths would develop...