Violence and Power in Ancient Egypt

This book examines the use of images of violence prior to the New Kingdom. By comparing violent images from a variety of other times and cultures the book asks that we consider how Egyptian imagery was related to Egyptian violence, and why people create pictures of violence and place them where they do, and how such images communi

Laurel Bestock is an Associate Professor of Archaeology and Egyptology at Brown University (USA). She received her PhD in Egyptian Archaeology and Art from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University (USA). She directs excavations in Egypt at the site of Abydos, where she investigates early kingship. In the Sudan, she co-directs excavations at the Egyptian fortress of Uronarti, seeking to understand lifestyles and cultural interactions in a colonial outpost from nearly 4000 years ago. For her next project, she hopes to work on a book focused on food and culture at Uronarti, both anciently and in the context of a modern excavation team camping in tents along the Nile.

List of figures Acknowledgements Chronological chart Chapter 1 Picturing violence The Structure of this Book Themes Chapter 2 The Origins of Violent Imagery The Earliest Images of Violence in Egypt The Evidence from Early Egypt: Naqada I The Evidence from Early Egypt: Naqada II Order and Chaos Chapter 3 The Violence Inherent in the System: Imagery and Royal Ideology in the Period of State Formation Violence in Egyptian Art in the Period of State Formation Violence in Early Dynastic Imagery Continuity and Discontinuity Chapter 4 To Live Forever: The Decoration of Royal Mortuary Complexes The Old Kingdom The Middle Kingdom Interpreting Imagery of Violence from Royal Tombs Chapter 5 Uniter of the Two Lands: Images of Violence in Divine Temples Egyptian Temples as a Context for Imagery Chapter 6 The Preservation of Order: Images in the Landscape The Early Dynastic Period The Old Kingdom Reading Rock Carvings of Smiting Chapter 7 Out and About: Images of Violence on Portable Objects Images of Triumph on Portable Objects Images of Captivity on Portable Objects Movement and Meaning Chapter 8 Who is Who? Private Monumental Images of War The Old Kingdom The First Intermediate Period The Middle Kingdom Inscriptions and Images in Private Tombs Interpreting Private Images of War Chapter 9 Violence, Power, Ideology Bibliography Index