Blood Is Thicker Than Water Non Royal Consanguineous Marriage In Ancient Egypt

This volume presents, for the first time, evidence for non-royal consanguineous marriage in ancient Egypt. The evidence was collated from select sources from the Middle Kingdom to the Roman Period, and it has been used to investigate the potential economic and biological outcomes, particularly beyond the level of sibling and half-sibling unions.

This volume presents, for the first time, evidence for non-royal consanguineous marriage in ancient Egypt. The evidence was collated from select sources from the Middle Kingdom to the Roman Period, and it has been used to investigate the potential economic and biological outcomes, particularly beyond the level of sibling and half-sibling unions.

Medicine and Healing Practices in Ancient Egypt provides a new perspective on healthcare and healing treatments in Egypt from the Predynastic to the Roman periods. Rather than concentrating exclusively on diseases and medical conditions as evidenced in ancient sources, it provides a ‘people-focused’ perspective, asking what it was like to be ill or disabled in this society? Who were the healers? To what extent did disease occurrence and treatment reflect individual social status? As well as geographical, environmental and dietary factors, which undoubtedly affected general health, some groups were prone to specific hazards. These are discussed in detail, including soldiers’ experience of trauma, wounds and exposure to epidemics; and conditions - blindness, sand pneumoconiosis, trauma and limb amputations – resulting from working conditions at building and other sites. Methods of diagnosis and treatment were derived from special concepts about disease and medical ethics. These are explored, as well as the individual contributions and professional interactions of various groups of healers and carers. Medical training and practice occurred in various locations, including temples and battlefields; these are described, as well as the treatments and equipment that were available. Ancient writers generally praised the Egyptian healers’ knowledge, expertise, and professional relationship with their patients. A brief comparison is drawn between this approach and those prevailing elsewhere in Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome. Finally, Egypt’s legacy, transmitted through Greek, Roman and Arabic sources, is confirmed as the source of some principles and practices still found in modern ‘Western’ medicine. Combining information from the latest studies on human remains and the authors’ biomedical research, this book brings the subject up to date, enabling a wide readership to access often scattered information in a fascinating synthesis.

New media and its enormous diffusion in the last decades of the 20th century and up to the present has greatly increased and diversified the reception of Egyptian themes and motifs and Egyptian influence in various cultural spheres. This book seeks to provide new evidence of this interdisciplinarity between Egyptology and popular culture.

This book addresses Social Network Analysis (SNA) as a methodological approach in the field of Egyptology, exploring its possibilities, limitations, and applications within the discipline. Social Network Analysis is a sociological, graph theory-based approach used to investigate social structures created by patterns of relationships (ties or links) between actors (nodes), which has been utilised by scholars in other areas of ancient history. The book first provides readers with basic information on the theoretical background of methods applied in SNA, as well as network theory and Actor-Network Theory (ANT) more generally. It discusses the history of SNA specifically within the discipline of Egyptology, evaluating the advantages and limitations of this approach when applied to different types of datasets, such as written sources and material records. The author then explores a case study, examining the potential of network modelling on datasets from the Abydos votive zone during the Middle Kingdom period (c. 2040-1750 BC). The book highlights how SNA and network theory can be useful supplementary tools alongside more traditional research approaches in Egyptology for a more comprehensive understanding of social relations and interconnections in ancient contexts. Social Network Analysis and Egyptology is suitable for students and scholars working on Egyptology who are interested in SNA methodology, as well as those working on Classical and Ancient Near Eastern archaeology and history. It also appeals to those interested in network research and theory more broadly. Colour versions of images in this book can be found in the Support Material: www.routledge.com/9781032599632.

The organization and characteristics of early and ancient states have become the focus of a renewed interest from archaeologists, ancient historians and anthropologists in recent years. On the one hand, neo-evolutionary schemas of political transformation find it difficult to define some of their most basic concepts, such as ‘chiefdom’, ‘complex chiefdom’ and ‘state’, not to mention the transition between them. On the other hand, teleological interpretations based on linear dynamics, from less to increasingly more complex political structures, in successive steps, impose biased and too rigid views on the available evidence. In fact, recent research stresses the existence of other forms of socio-political organization, less vertically integrated and more heterarchical, that proved highly successful and resilient in the long term in tying together social groups. What is more, such forms quite often represented the basic blocks on which states were built and that managed to survive once states collapsed. Finally, nomadic, maritime and mountain populations provide fascinating examples of societies that experienced alternative forms of political organization, sometimes on a seasonal basis. In other cases, their consideration as ‘marginal’ populations that cultivated specialized skills ensured them a certain degree of autonomy when living either within or at the borders of states. This book explores such small-scale socio-political organizations, their potential and the historical trajectories they stimulated. A selection of historical case studies from different regions of the world may help rethink current concepts and views about the emergence and organization of political complexity and the mechanisms that prevented, occasionally, the emergence of solid polities. They may also cast some light over trajectories of historical transformation, still poorly understood as are the limits of effective state power. This book explores the importance of comparative research and long-term historical perspectives to avoid simplistic interpretations, based on the characteristics of modern Western states abusively used retrospectively.

Warrior, mighty builder, and statesman, over the course of his 67-year-long reign (1279-1212 BCE), Ramesses II achieved more than any other pharaoh in the three millennia of ancient Egyptian civilization. Drawing on the latest research, Peter Brand reveals Ramesses the Great as a gifted politician, canny elder statesman, and tenacious warrior. With restless energy, he fully restored the office of Pharaoh to unquestioned levels of prestige and authority, thereby bringing stability to Egypt. He ended almost seven decades of warfare between Egypt and the Hittite Empire by signing the earliest international peace treaty in recorded history. In his later years, even as he outlived many of his own children and grandchildren, Ramesses II became a living god and finally, an immortal legend. With authoritative knowledge and colorful details Brand paints a compelling portrait of this legendary Pharaoh who ruled over Imperial Egypt during its Golden Age.

Presents the latest research in Egyptology on the theme of Ancient Egypt in a Global World This selection of 23 papers from the 15th annual Current Research in Egyptology symposium addreses the interregional and interdisciplinary theme of ïAncient Egypt in a Global WorldÍ. This theme works on a number of levels highlighting the current global nature of Egyptological research and it places ancient Egypt in the wider ancient world. The first section presents the results of recent excavations, including in the western Valley of the Kings and analysis of the structures, construction techniques, food production and consumption remains at Tell Timai (Thmuis) in the Delta. Part II focuses on the cross-cultural theme with papers including discussions on the presence in India of terracotta figurines from Roman Egypt; the ancient Egyptian influence of Aegean lion-headed divinities; Libyan influence in New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period Egyptian administration and the identifcation of ancient Egyptian finds from the British countryside reported to the Portable Antiquities Scheme. The third part of the book includes current research undertaken across the world of Egyptology, including analysis of late Roman crocodile mummies though non-invasive radiographic imaging techniques and the study of infant jar-burials in ancient Egypt and Sudan to identify differences in regional socio-economic contexts and the interaction between people and local resources. The editors of this volume are all PhD candidates at University College and KingÍs College London