Royal versus Divine Authority: 7th Symposium on Egyptian Royal Ideology.

AuthorEaton, Katherine
PositionBook review

Royal versus Divine Authority: 7th Symposium on Egyptian Royal Ideology. Edited by FILIP COPPINS; JIRI JANAK; and HANA VYMAZALOVA. Konigtum, Staat und Gesellschaft fruher Hochkulturen, vol. 4,4. Wiesbaden: HARRASSOWITZ VERLAG, 2015. Pp. 358, illus. [euro]84 (paper).

This series of symposia approaches ancient Egyptian royal ideology from a broad range of perspectives--political, archaeological, iconographic, environmental, ritual, cosmic, and administrative. The specific focus of this volume, "royal versus divine authority," implying as it does a competition or contrast, is rarely addressed in these essays. Andrea Gnirs, in "Royal Power in Times of Disaster," looks at the challenge natural disasters placed on royal authority, as they were interpreted as expressions of divine displeasure and challenges to the king's legitimacy. He presents sound overviews of the effects of high and low Nile floods, famine, and plague, as well as less common events, summarized as "tempests, torrents and earthquakes." More than any other entry in this volume, here we see the potential for a breach between the royal and divine authority explored.

Filip Coppens and Jiff Janak interpret patterns in depictions of the Ogdoad at Dendera as an expression of Hathor's dominance over Re, and of the power of the gods over the foreign king. All of the other chapters explore relationships which show little sign of significant conflict.

This volume is heavily weighted towards Old Kingdom material. Mark Lehner identifies and describes four phases in the building of Khentkawes I's monument at Giza, namely the excavation of a pedestal at the center of a quarry from the reigns of Khufu to Menkaure; stone works, done in concert with stone parts of Menkaure's complex and completed during that king's reign; mud brick works, including Khentkawes' town and enclosure wall, done in concert with Shepseskaf's push to complete his predecessor's complex; and later restorations and additions, dating to the Fifth Dynasty. Lehner very cautiously suggests that if stone-built portions of Khentkawes I's monument featuring the title "mother of two kings" (mwt njswt bit njswt bity) were indeed completed during Menkaure's reign, questions of royal decent during this period should be re-examined.

Florence Friedman, in an update on her work on the Menkaure Triads (Dyn. 4), follows Seidlmayer in relating them to an earlier series of small step pyramids established for the cult of the living king under...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT