The Libyan Anarchy: Inscriptions from Egypt's Third Intermediate Period.

• Author: Spalinger, Anthony
• Position: Book review

The Libyan Anarchy: Inscriptions from Egypt's Third Intermediate Period. By ROBERT K. RITTNER. Writings from the Ancient World, vol. 21. Atlanta: SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE, 2009. Pp. xix 621. $59.95 (paper).

This volume of translations is an excellent work, expertly produced and efficiently organized. It is extremely important for anyone researching the Egyptian Third Intermediate Period. But the title is misleading. After all, the book begins with Dynasty XXI and continues through the century or so of Dynasty XXII (Bubastite), during which "anarchy" was not prevalent for about one century. The temporal framework also includes Dynasty XXV, ruled by Kushites who, although they did not exert a lengthy domination over Egypt. nonetheless achieved some measure of unitary control. (The Assyrian threat was their major bane.)

The translations are as fresh as they are up-to-date. Of equal importance is the fact that Rittner has included the key "pieces" of historical weight that always need to be re-evaluated and available to the non-Egyptologist. I can signal out the Piankhy (or Piye) stela, a perennial favorite of many, not the least owing to its grandiosity and length, as well as the crucial Bubastis material of Osorkon II. The "Chronicle of Prince Osorkon" will also be found. Rittner has added illustrations, although a list of them is not provided.

Rittner's volume thus supplements--and indeed in many places adds valuable insights of a socio-historical nature to--the recent overview of Roberto Gozzoli, The Writing of History in Ancient Egypt during the First Millennium BC (ca. 1070-180 BC): Trends and Perspectives (London: Golden House Publications, 2009). In fact, with the newly edited volume by Ladislav BareB, Filip Coppens, and Kveta Smolarikova. Appearance of Egypt in Transition: Social and Religious Development of Egypt in the First Millennium BCE. Proceedings of an International Conference: Prague, September /--4 (Prague: Czech Institute of Egyptology, Charles University in Prague, 2010), we can now see just how important new translations of key historical texts, all in hieroglyphic, are for the modern scholar and interested layperson.

This lengthy work is in English and, as such, may be used as a companion to the...