Volume 5 (2022)

First page of the paper.

Papers presented at the third international conference of the Hellenic Institute of Egyptology

Women in and on the Egyptian 21st Dynasty Coffins

Niwiński, Andrzej

Abstract:

Coffins of the 21st Dynasty consist of a much valuable source of the information concerning women of that period. From the inscriptions containing the titles and names of women one can get some knowledge about the persons who were buried in the coffins, about their position in the Theban society of the 21st Dynasty, sometimes about family relationships, especially with the high priest of Amun. Similar information can be furnished by the gilding of some parts of the coffin lid, or a damage done to the gilded surfaces by the robbers. The very rich iconography of the painted coffin decoration is another source of information concerning wo?men: first of all about their dress and their ritual activities. However, the shape of a woman was often given to some religious ideas, especially personifications that traditionally —although not correctly— are given the designations "goddesses". Also some symbolic ideas like cardinal points or some words of feminine gender were presented on the coffins in the female form. Finally, the divinized Queens like Iᶜah–mes–Nefertiry were sometimes painted on coffins.

Citation:

Niwiński, A. 2022. «Women in and on the Egyptian 21st Dynasty Coffins», JHIE 5: 93–106

DOI:

10.5281/zenodo.7755102

Language: en

Submitted on 2022-04-15; accepted on 2022-11-20

References

  • Bĕlohoubková, D.: «Musical Performers of Ancient Egyptian Harem? Aspects of Continuity, Discontinuity, and Change in Relation to the Word #nr» , Archiv Orientalni 90, 2022, 1-23.
  • Billing, N.: Nūt: The Goddess of Life in Text and Iconography, Uppsala (Uppsala University / USE 5) 2002.
  • Chassinat, E.: La seconde trouvaille de Deir ᾽ el-Bahari (sarcophages): I1. Catalogue Général des Antiquités Égyptiennes du Musée du Caire No. 6001-6029 , Le Caire (Imprimerie de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale) 1909.
  • Daressy, G.: Cercueils des cachettes royales. Catalogue Général des Antiquités Égyptiennes du Musée du Caire, No. 61001-61044, Le Caire (Imprimerie de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale) 1909.
  • Devéria, T.: «Noub. La déesse d’or des Égyptiens», Mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de France 22, 1853, 150-175 = Bibliothèque Égyptologique 4, 1896, 1-25, Pl. I-III.
  • ᾿El-cAboudy, O.: «Mice as Protectors in the Books of the Netherworld», Environment and Religion in Ancient and Coptic Egypt: Sensing the Cosmos through the Eyes of the Divine (Maravelia, A. & Guilhou, N., eds), Ox­ford ( Ar­chaeo­press Egypto­logy 30) 2020, 115-126.
  • Gunn, B. & Edwards, I.E.S.: «Decree of Amonrasonther for Neskhons», JEA 41, 1955, 83-105.
  • Hannig, R.: Großes Handwörterbuch Ägyptisch–Deutsch (2800-950 v. Chr.) , Mainz (P. von Za­bern) 52009.
  • Küffer A. & Siegmann, R.: Unter dem Schutz der Himmelsgöttin: Ägyptische Särge, Mumien und Masken in der Schweiz , Zü­rich (Chronos Verlag) 2007.
  • Maravelia, A.–A.: «Cosmic Space and Archetypal Time: Depictions of the Sky–Goddess Nūt in Three Royal Tombs of the New Kingdom and her Relation to the Milky Way», Göt­tinger Miszellen 197, 2003, 55-72.
  • Maravelia, A.: «The Conception of the Cosmic Egg (%wHt) in the Ancient Egyptian and in the Orphic Cosmovision», The Oriental Studies / Сходознавство 83, Kyiv (NASU) 2019, 25-52 [DOI: 10.15407/skhodoznavstvo2019.01.025].
  • Naville, É.: Papyrus funéraires de la XXI e Dynastie: Le Papyrus hiéroglyphique de Kamara. Le papyrus hiératique de Nesikhonsou au Musée du Caire,Paris (Ernest Leroux) 1912.
  • Niwiński, A.: «Towards the Religious Iconography of the 21 st Dynasty», Göttinger Miszellen 49, 1981, 47-56.
  • Niwiński, A.: «The Bab ᾽el-Gusūs Tomb and the Royal Cache in Deir ᾽el-Bahri», JEA70,1984, 73-81.
  • Niwiński, A.: «Wives of Pinudjem II – A Topic for Discussion», JEA 74, 1988a, 226-230.
  • Niwiński, A.: 21 st Dynasty Coffins from Thebes: Chronological and Typological Studies , Mainz am Rhein (P. von Zabern / The­ben 5) 1988b.
  • Niwiński, A.: «Some Remarks on Rank and Titles of Women in the Twenty‒First Dynasty Theban “State of Amun”», Dis­cussions in Egyptology 14, 1989a, 79-89.
  • Niwiński, A.: «Mummy in the Coffin as the Central Element of Iconographic Reflection of the Theology of the 21 st Dyna­sty in Thebes», Göttinger Miszellen 109, 1989b, 53-66.
  • Niwiński, A.: La seconde trouvaille de Deir ᾽el-Bahari (sarcophages). Catalogue Général des Antiquités Égyptiennes du Musée du Caire, No. 6029-6068, Cairo (Printing House of the SCA) 1996.
  • Niwiński, A.: Sarcofagi della XXI Dinastia ( CGT 10101 - 10122 )=Catalogo del Museo Egizio di Torino: Serie Seconda‒Collezioni IX,Turin (Soprintendenza al Museo delle Antichità Egizie) 2004.
  • Niwiński, A.: «The Coffin as the Universe. Cosmological Scenes on the Twenty‒First Dynasty Coffins», Studies on Reli­gion: Seeking Origins and Manifestations of Religion= Acta Archæologica Pultuskiensia III(Popielska‒Grzybowska, J. & Iwaszczuk, J., eds), Pułtusk (Pułtusk Academy of Humanities) 2011, 107-110, 187-203.
  • Niwiński, A.: «Did the Pat–People and the Rekhy t‒People have Different Burial Ceremonies?», Ægyptus est Imago Cæli: Studies presented to Krzysztof M. Ciałowicz on his 60 th birthday (Jucha, M., Dębowska‒Ludwin, J. & Kołodziejczyk, P., eds), Kraków (Institute of Archaeology / Jagiellonian University in Kraków) 2014, 253-260.
  • Niwiński, A.: «The Decoration of the Coffin as a Theological Expression of the Idea of the Universe», Ancient Egyptian Coffins: Craft Traditions and Functionality (Taylor, J.H. & Vandenbeusch, M. eds), Leuven‒Paris‒Bristol CT (Peeters) 2018, 33-45.
  • Niwiński, A.: «The newly Documented Treasure of the 21 st Dynasty Coffins and Fragments of these in the Basement of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo», Bab ᾽el -Gasūs in Context: Rediscovering the Tomb of the Priests of Amun (Sousa, R., Amenta, A. & Cooney, K.M., eds) Roma–Bristol («L’Erma» di Bret­schneider / Egitto Antico 4) 2021, 355-371.
  • Niwiński, A.: «The Cosmological Composition “with Geb and Nut”. A Harbinger of the Iconography Project of the 21 st Dynasty Coffins», Proceedings of the 2 nd Vatican Coffin Conference, 6-9 June 2017 (Amenta, A., ed.), Citta del Vaticano (Edi­zioni Musei Vaticani), forthcoming .
  • Piankoff, A. & Rambova, N.: Mythological Papyri I-II, Princeton NJ (Princeton Uni­versity Press / Bollingen Series XL•3) 1957.
  • Reisner, G.A.: «The Viceroys of Ethiopia», JEA 6, 1920, 28-55.
More papers from this issue