The AUC Press has issued the new edited book "Living Forever: Self-Presentation in Ancient Egypt" by the well-known Egyptian Egyptologist and archaeologist Dr. Hussein Bassir, Director of the BA Antiquities Museum and Dr. Zahi Hawass Center of Egyptology.
Self-presentation is the oldest and most common component of ancient Egyptian high culture. It arose in the context of private tomb records, where the character and role of an inpidual―invariably a well-to-do non-royal elite official or administrator―were presented purposefully: published by inscription and image, to a contemporary audience and to posterity.
Living Forever: Self-presentation in Ancient Egypt looks at how and why non-royal elites in ancient Egypt represented themselves, through language and art, on monuments, tombs, stelae, and statues, and in literary texts, from the Early Dynastic Period to the Thirtieth Dynasty.
Bringing together essays by international Egyptologists and archaeologists from a range of backgrounds, the chapters in this volume offer fresh insight into the form, content, and purpose of ancient Egyptian presentations of the self.
Applying different approaches and disciplines, they explore how these self-representations, which encapsulated a discourse with gods and men alike, yield rich historical and sociological information, provide examples of ancient rhetorical devices and repertoire, and shed light on notions of the self and collective memory in ancient Egypt.
In the first chapter of this book, Christopher Eyre points out that Egyptian writing is more concerned with presenting the inpidual as the performer of a role than as a personality.
In the second chapter, Juan Carlos Moreno García confirms that the early dynasties witnessed the first attempts to materialize visual and written expressions of self-presentation in the private sphere.
The advent of a unified monarchy in the Nile Valley was accompanied by the consolidation of a new, standardized imagery of the members of the elite where officials were firstly distinguished by their attitudes, position (often in registers, close to the king), and symbols of authority (sticks), and secondly by their titles and names.
The third chapter, Hend Sherbiny presents the main features of self-presentations in the Fourth Dynasty, highlighting the relationship between the kings and the high officials of the dynasty.
In the fifth chapter, Renata Landgráfová explores the nature of self-presentation in the Eleventh Dynasty, that is, at a time of the gradual recentralization of the Egyptian state following the First Intermediate Period.
In chapter six, Ronald Leprohon points out those Twelfth Dynasty self-presentations describe their owners’ service to the crown, social standing, good qualities, and proper behavior toward their follow men.
In chapter seven, R. Gareth Roberts seeks to include the ‘self’ in a study of self-presentation by considering the role that memory, which is both personal and intrinsic to all people, played in Egyptian self-presentation material.
In chapter eight, Hana Navratilova reveals that the Eighteenth Dynasty offers rich archaeological and written sources for a study of Egyptian personal and cultural identity.
In chapter nine, Colleen Manassa Darnell shows that during the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties, the self-presentation of private inpiduals can be seen most markedly in three spheres of activity: funerary contexts (for example, tomb decoration and graffiti added to earlier tombs by Ramesside scribes), temple contexts (for example, the donation of statuary and votive surcharging of temple walls), and rock inscriptions.
In chapter ten, Roberto B. Gozzoli explains that with the collapse of the Egyptian New Kingdom, Egyptian self-representations during the Libyan Period (1069–712 bc) turned into a reflexive mood, and previous ecumenism disappeared in favor of more personal introspection.
In chapter eleven, Jeremy Pope points out that within the long history of Egyptian self-presentation, the era of Kushite rule during the Twenty-fifth Dynasty is distinguished from preceding and succeeding periods by three enigmatic absences: the absence of royal names upon the great majority of non-royal monuments in Egypt; the absence of pedigrees in the records of Kushite immigrants in Egypt; and the absence of private biographies and statuary for non-royal inpiduals in Nubia.
In chapter twelve, Damien Agut-Labordere reveals that the Persian Period (526–332 BC) constitutes a deep rupture in the political and cultural history of Egypt: for the first time in its history, the crown is confiscated by a foreign imperial power for a long time.
In chapter thirteen, Mariam Ayad analyzes women’s titles, epithets, and particularly funerary biographical inscriptions that point to an association between periods of political and social upheaval and a woman’s ability to appropriate and adapt stock biographical statements for her own use.
In chapter fourteen, Hussein Bassir concludes with the main themes of ancient Egyptian self-presentations from the beginning of ancient Egyptian civilization to its pharaonic end.
The traditions of Egyptian self-presentations were deeply rooted in ancient Egypt since the Early Dynastic Period, and they varied in aspect, composition, and themes from the beginning of Egyptian history to the Late Dynastic Period. Self-presentations display the lives of the elites and vividly represent their beliefs, culture, and expectations for the afterlife.
They also display their wish to be remembered and not to be forgotten after death. They reveal their eagerness to be commemorated by the living to avoid the possibility of a miserable afterlife.
Self-presentation was the most ancient and crucial component of Egyptian high culture. Members of the non-royal elite presented themselves through language and art within the setting made by the history and antiquities of their periods. The elements of self-presentation varied with their protagonists in titles, reign, professions, and overall background, and they all concentrate on the meanings and history of self in the telling of a life story.
Contributed by Ali Abu Dashish
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