Fourth Symposium on Egyptian Royal Ideology: Egyptian Royal Residences. vol. 4.1 by RolfGundlach; John H. TaylorReview by: Paul T. NicholsonJournal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 130, No. 4 (October-December 2010), pp. 671-673Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23044594 .

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Reviews of Books 671

David Depraetere and Mark Depauw discuss the limestone quarries at Dayr al-Barsha, examined as

part of an extensive archaeological project at the site. Their work involved the mapping—including the

ceilings—of the subterranean quarries, recording tool marks and graffiti. The paper provides a valuable

summary of quarrying tools and their marks and it is refreshing to see that the observations have been

supported by experimental archaeology conducted by the authors. As at the temple of Isis, the position of individual graffiti indicates the ground level and thus the progress of the quarrying work. The authors

make the intriguing suggestion, based on the names of some of the workmen, that they may have been

specialist quarrymen brought from the Memphis region. They note that this confirms a suggestion by Devauchelle (1983) that the quarries may have links with Tura and Masara.

Stone, notably the use of particular stones and their symbolic value in New Kingdom temples at

Thebes, is the subject of the paper by Thierry De Putter and Christina Karlshausen, who show that

the selection of building materials is far from random. Erika Meyer-Dietrich expands the theme of the

significance of the temple building itself to serve not only as the abode of the divinity but as the body of the living god. She shows how the architecture complements, even defines, aspects of the ritual.

Several papers deal with specific temples. That by Julia Budka concerns the temple of Ramesses IV

in the Asasif, which was connected to the Beautiful Feast of the Valley and, she argues, formed part of

a new ritual landscape on the West Bank. Heidi Jauhiainen examines the religious buildings of Deir el

Medina using largely textual evidence to try to give attributions to particular buildings. She shows that

rather than the deified Amenhotep I being the best represented deity at the site, that position is held by Hathor. It also becomes apparent that the terms pr (temple) and hnw (chapel) may not be used entirely

consistently, thus complicating our picture of religious buildings at the site. This interesting paper

would, however, have been much enhanced by a plan of the site showing all those buildings discussed.

Overall this is a volume which scholars and students of Egyptology will consult with profit and

which provides a stimulating overview of the factors contributing to the construction of an Egyptian

temple. There are some inconsistencies in the presentation of papers, some having references to litera

ture at the end and others in footnotes, and in consistency of spelling between (and sometimes within)

papers. These are minor quibbles, however, in regard to what is a very useful book.

Paul T. Nicholson

School of History, Archaeology and Religion

Cardiff University

Fourth Symposium on Egyptian Royal Ideology: Egyptian Royal Residences. Edited by Rolf Gund

lach and John H. Taylor. Konigtum, Staat und Gesellschaft Friiher Hochkulturen, vol. 4.1. Wies

baden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2009. Pp. vii + 197, illus. €48.

This volume contains nine papers drawn from the Fourth Symposium on Ancient Egyptian Royal

Ideology, held in London in 2004. All the papers are in English. As might be expected, given the wealth

of evidence on the royal residence in the Middle and New Kingdoms, the papers are mainly focused

on those periods, although the Old Kingdom features in the paper by D. M. Doxey which opens the

volume.

Doxey's paper considers the role of the nomarchs as rulers and how the position of these officials

is reflected in the layout of provincial necropoleis. She finds that, just as in the Old and Middle King doms officials sought to be buried as close to the royal monument as possible (even to the extent of

abandoning their partly built tombs if they outlived one king and beginning a new tomb in the vicinity of that of their new sovereign), so in provincial cemeteries the tombs of nomarchs formed the foci for

lower status burials.

Andrea Gnirs considers the impact of the ruler on the individual visiting the palace. Her paper, "In

the Kings House," looks at the way in which architecture was used to heighten the sense of awe felt

by visitors to the residence, whose fate could depend upon the whim of the ruler. She uses the story of

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672 Journal of the American Oriental Society 130.4 (2010)

Sinuhe and his experiences alongside architectural evidence to give some sense of the trepidation which

would have been experienced by the visitor.

While visitors may have been in fear of the ruler, Rolf Gundlach makes it clear that kings them

selves were not beyond reproach. He skillfully demonstrates how the concept of ma 'at was not constant

but had to change as social and political circumstances in Egypt changed, although the ruler throughout remained the "Horus in the Palace." The king himself could "be made responsible for political and

cultural measures" and so might be condemned by future rulers, as was the fate of Akhenaten. More

commonly the titulary of a king's successor might imply criticism of his predecessor. Eileen Hirsh deals with "The Residences of Senwosret I" based on textual evidence including that

from the white chapel of Senwosret, which mentions buildings associated with the king which were

spread widely within Egypt. She presents different models by which such data can be interpreted, based

on a single center, two centers, or multiple centers.

Peter Lacovara considers "The Development of the New Kingdom Royal Palace." In a paper well

illustrated with plans from his The New Kingdom Royal City (1997), he reviews the variety and types of palace found at major New Kingdom sites and makes it clear that the "catchall" term "palace" is

inadequate to deal with the variety of structures known, whose functions need to be considered in some

detail.

In "The Residence in Relations between Places of Knowledge, Production and Power," Stephen

Quirke makes the point that the term "residence" is inexact, that a ruler might have several living

places but only one of these might be regarded as his main "home" (although even that term is not

sufficiently specific). The hnw, often translated as 'residence', is in fact very specific and unilocal—it

is the "unique place of kingship" and can be contrasted with the term 'palace', of which there might be several at any one time.

"Rank and Favour at the Early Ramesside Court" is the subject of the paper by Christine Raedler

and deals with the officials who served pharaoh and their desire to find favor with him. Something of the "fear" inspired by the king and referred to by Gnirs is to be found here in the request from the

viceroy Setau to Amun-Ra to keep him eloquent in the presence of the king. Through eloquence and

efficiency an official might gain and develop royal favor and so his standing at court. Such favored

officials might be honored from the lips of pharaoh when their names were called at reward ceremo

nies such as that for Nebwenenef, whom Ramesses II proclaimed high priest of Amun at Thebes. This

proclamation from the Window of Appearance is recorded in Nebwenenef's tomb (TT157) at Thebes.

Maarten Raven provides an excellent review of the concept of the "capital" in his "Aspects of

the Memphite Residence." He notes that "neither the presence of the royal necropolis nor that of the

national shrine was decisive for an Egyptian capital" during the Early Dynastic period. He goes on to

demonstrate the many problems associated with the concept of the "residence" and the "capital." He

notes too that although New Kingdom Memphis may "have been the residence city par excellence," it

may be unlikely that the actual residence structure will ever be recovered, having probably been lost

beneath later building. "The Palaces of el-Amarna" are treated by Kate Spence, who discusses a variety of views of palaces

before presenting her own ideas derived from her doctoral research. She highlights the importance of different ways of approaching the king as determined by the palace architecture. Palaces are thus

divided into axial, non-axial, and semi-axial types. She also provides an interesting discussion of the

location(s) of the Window of Appearance at Amarna, which is always shown as being not on the

exterior of the building but within a courtyard. She believes that foundations excavated at the North

Palace at Amarna could be those of a Window of Appearance, as suggested by its original excavator

in a 1926 paper. This may not be the only such Window in the city, and other locations, including a

palatial structure within the Great Aten Temple, are discussed.

For me, one of the most striking aspects of this collection of papers is that together they make a

real attempt to blend traditional aspects of Egyptology with aspects of archaeology and archaeological

theory to provide what becomes a contribution to "Egyptological theory." This is a wholly desirable

trend, as the discipline should not simply repeat the theoretical models devised by archaeologists but

should—indeed must—develop its own brand of theory which takes account of the fact that pharaonic

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Reviews of Books 673

Egypt is not a prehistoric culture. Egyptology has access to written text and this text must be incor

porated alongside archaeology into explicitly Egyptological theory. Models devised by scholars of

European prehistory are not necessarily well suited to the study of a civilisation rich in both literary and material culture.

The text also emphasizes the difficulty in correctly interpreting ancient terms and rendering them

into contemporary language: "residence," "palace," "capital," and even "home" are not the straightfor ward concepts which we might like them to be. Similarly, the interpretation of artistic evidence and its

reconciliation with archaeological remains can be difficult, as demonstrated by the discussion raised by

several authors of aspects of the Window of Appearance. Overall this is a very readable summary of what was clearly a significant conference and the authors

and editors are to be congratulated for producing a book which is accessible to both scholars and stu

dents of archaeology and Egyptology. There are some inconsistencies in the presentation of papers, some having references to literature at the end and others in footnotes, but this is a very minor point and does not detract from the volume.

Paul T. Nicholson

School of History, Archaeology and Religion

Cardiff University

Civilizations of Ancient Iraq. By Benjamin R. Foster and Karen Polinger Foster. Princeton:

Princeton University Press, 2009. Pp. xii + 297, illus. $26.95.

Civilizations of Ancient Iraq opens a window into ancient Mesopotamian history for readers who are

interested in learning more about the civilization itself as well as about the losses to cultural heritage in Iraq that have occurred both recently and in the past. The book is the work of Benjamin R. Foster,

who is Professor of Assyriology and Babylonian Literature at Yale University and Curator of the Yale

Babylonian Collection, and Karen Polinger Foster, who is also a faculty member at Yale University. With this book the authors have, in a way, written several works. One is an excellent overview of

Mesopotamian history and archaeology from prehistoric times to 637 c.e. that is at once broad in scope and detailed in the evidence presented. This the authors achieve in just 210 pages. They make a strong

case for "Mesopotamia's central role in the development of human culture" (to quote the blurb on the

book jacket). The second is an essay on the appalling impact of looting and illegal excavation on Iraq's sites,

museums, and antiquities. This essay is spread out across the captions to the twenty-two illustrations

and includes the effects of the current war as well as earlier examples of mistreatment of objects and

architecture. It concludes in the last pages of the epilogue to the book, in which the authors draw a

devastating portrait of the loss and destruction of cultural heritage that have resulted from the Gulf and

Iraq Wars. In many ways this seems to have been the motivation behind the authors' creation of the

book. Perhaps, if more people become aware of the importance of Mesopotamian culture, more would

be done to try to prevent its loss. The last paragraph of the book is worth quoting in full:

Despite these and other national and international efforts, the cultural heritage of Iraq is vanish

ing at a rate without precedent or parallel. Numerous important sites have been utterly destroyed, records and artifacts lost forever. But the devastation affects far more than ancient Iraq alone, for

what is gone beyond recovery is our common human past. (p. 210)

The third work within the Fosters' book is a large collection of excerpts from primary sources of

all types, many of them unfamiliar to a general reader or not otherwise translated into English. For

example, in the sixteen pages of chapter 5, the authors have included eighteen passages drawn from

fifteen different documents. Included are quotes from six letters (some written by kings, some by

commoners), a year name, a law, a royal edict, a marriage proposal, a cooking recipe, a love poem, a

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