Die Gaumonographien in Edfu unci ihre Papyrusvarianten: Ein uberregionaler Kanon kultischen Wissens im spatzeitlichen Agypten.

• Author: Darnell, Colleen

Die Gaumonographien in Edfu unci ihre Papyrusvarianten: Ein uberregionaler Kanon kultischen Wissens im spatzeitlichen Agypten. By CHRISTIAN LEITZ. Studien zur spatagyptischen Religion, vol. 9. Wiesbaden: HARRASSOWITZ VERLAG, 2014. Pp. ix + 561 (vol. 1), 118 pis. (vol. 2). [euro]158.

This outstanding two-volume publication collects an ancient Egyptian encyclopedia (of sorts) about the forty-two nomes and their chief theological features. Although the texts were published already in 1880, Leitz's edition is the first complete epigraphic presentation of the texts and scenes, as well as a fragmentary papyrus parallel. Volume 1 is the translation and text commentary, while the slimmer second volume has photographs and carefully executed drawings on facing pages. The facsimile drawings observe sun-shadow conventions and capture most of the detail of the hieroglyphic signs; some internal details, such as the beak of an m-owl or the wig of a seated male figure are at times omitted (compare, among the many possible examples, pl. 83, 11. 4 and 6, near the end of each line). Yet those concerns are minor for the Edfu Temple, where the majority of texts have been published with typeset signs, a disservice to the richly varied Ptolemaic hieroglyphic repertoire and often playful orthographies understandable only in an accurate copy. The layout of Die Gaumonographien makes it possible to consult the images while reading the commentary, a boon for researchers and those seeking to immerse themselves in these important theological compositions.

The first and largest portion of the text volume is organized by nome, beginning with the First Upper Egyptian Nome and concluding with the Twentieth Lower Egyptian Nome. A box at the beginning of each section lists the features of the nome, categorized by Roman numerals listed in a chart on p. 2. Unless one wants to commit to memory that "IV" is the body part of Osiris found in a particular nome, readers may find it helpful to reproduce the chart or flag that page for reference. Leitz summarizes the main themes of those features; for example, the topographical encyclopedia entry for the First Upper Egyptian Nome unsurprisingly emphasizes the source of the Nile. Also interesting for this and other nomes is the frequency of word play (an analogous study of Edfu's sister temple Dendera is Richter 2016). In the First Nome, the body part of Osiris is placed within an obelisk, the granite quarries of the region being the...