Journal of Egyptian History 

About: Journal of Egyptian History is an academic journal published by Brill. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Egyptology & Context (archaeology). It has an ISSN identifier of 1874-1657. Over the lifetime, 112 publications have been published receiving 529 citations.

Female Circumcision as a Rite de Passage in Egypt—Continuity through the Millennia?

Abstract: In Greece and Rome, a female stood at the center of attention of her family and the outside world only on two occasions, at her marriage and at her funeral. Therefore a party thrown in the honor of a minor girl, recorded in three papyri, all from third-century Oxyrhynchus (P.Oxy. Hels. 50.17; P.Oxy. LXVI 4542 and 4543) seems rather odd at first sight. From these papyri we learn that this event, the so-called therapeuteria, was a family get-together to which relatives, neighbors and friends were invited. As the editors of P.Oxy. LXVI remark, the girls for whom the event was organized were apparently still minors and unmarried since they lived at home. However, no convincing explanation has been advanced so far that would sufficiently explain this custom. This paper presents evidence from ancient ethnographic reports, medical texts, early Islamic sources and comparative evidence from modern Egypt, which offer highly interesting parallels and a new interpretation of this family party, and which would explain it as an indigenous tradition cultivated already for several millennia in this region.

Patronage and Other Logics of Social Organization in Ancient Egypt during the IIIrd Millennium bce

Abstract: Several years ago, an insightful analysis by Jan Assmann demonstrated the existence of patronage practices in Ancient Egypt during the First Intermediate Period. Does this indicate a change in social structure, as the author suggested, or does it instead denote a change in the way such practices are referred to in the available sources? In order to consider this question, this article examines the evidence of patronage during that period, and then tries to analyze possible precedents, reflecting on the role that patronage could have had from the earliest moments of state structuration in the Nile Valley.

Ship Timber and the Reuse of Wood in Ancient Egypt

Abstract: Reuse of materials in ancient Egypt is neither a new nor novel concept. The ancient Egyptians reused a variety of materials and certainly any resource that had spiritual, ideological, or economic value that was available to them. Yet, reuse of certain raw materials has not been thoroughly examined, notably timber. This manuscript explores the modes, preferences and implications of wood use, specifically reuse, in Egypt’s Pharaonic Period, using ship timber as the illustrative example. This synthesis suggests specific preferences for commodity consumption and conservation existed, revealing cultural and behavioral trends.

Viceroys, Viziers & The Amun Precinct: The Power of Heredity and Strategic Marriage in the Early 18th Dynasty

Abstract: The early 18th Dynasty was a time of military and political reorganization and consolidation in which significant administrative changes were enacted that were likely designed to support a “powerful and pervasive royal authority” 1 Certainly the offices of viceroy of Kush and vizier were a central feature of this, and the rise of Amun and his priesthood ‐ with newly created positions ‐ was another area which King Ahmose and his successors sought to promote. While initially the kings may have chosen men to fill the positions of viceroy and vizier, and likely several high posts within the Amun precinct, some office-holders were quickly able to establish family dynasties that would last for several generations. This paper reviews the connections, both political and familial, between the viceroys, viziers and various officials of the Amun domain. It seeks to demonstrate the considerable role that one elite family, utilizing heredity, marriage and nepotism, was able to play in controlling a wide range of positions within the burgeoning 18th Dynasty government.

“We have come from the well of Ibhet”: Ethnogenesis of the Medjay

Abstract: Our current understanding of the ancient Nubian people called the Medjay has been informed by textual and artistic representations created by the ancient Egyptians. By studying these sources, Egyptologists have argued that the Medjay were an ethnic group living in the Eastern Desert near the Second Cataract. Yet these studies exhibit an Egyptocentric bias, in which the Egyptian sources have been interpreted literally. This paper reexamines Egyptian references to the Medjay before the New Kingdom and demonstrates how the Egyptians conceptualized and fostered the creation of a Medjay ethnicity. The Egyptians perceived the people of the Eastern Desert near Lower Nubia as one unified ethnic group. Yet these people were not politically unified and did not identify themselves as Medjay until the middle of the Twelfth Dynasty. Increased interaction between the Egyptians and the people of the Eastern Desert caused certain pastoral nomads to adopt the term “Medjay.” Whatever role ethnicity may have played in their society previously, ethnogenesis of a “Medjay” ethnic group began towards the middle of the Twelfth Dynasty.