This week you will be reading from "Daily Life in Ancient Egypt" by Kasia Szpakowska, "The Blinding of Truth by Falsehood", a story about Isis healing Horus (PDF) and some texts from Lahun/Kahun (PDF).
I want you to think about how Egyptologists combine multiple lines of evidence to come to particular conclusions about the Egyptian world view and practice. Please provide an example of how Szpakowska analyzes archaeological and textual material together to reach conclusions or comment on how the primary sources you read for this week could be viewed in light of historical/archaeological/art historical information provided either in lecture or in your secondary readings. Do you see common themes or motifs in different categories of evidence that reinforce each other? Contradict each other?
It seems that archeologists both physical artifacts and textual evidence to attempt to complete an accurate portrayal of what life was like in such an ancient culture. In the first chapter of her book, Szpakowska introduces the general setting of Kahun as a settlement. Similar to how Professor Morris introduced Kahun to the class in lecture by providing both census documents as well as other texts and the remains of the village (such as dinnerware and murals). One example from Szpakowska is the "Village Animals" section of the chapter. in this section, Szpakowska believes that either there were no livestock in Kahun or that the part of the village the animals inhabited is still missing. She also adds that when Petrie did his excavations, he also did not note accumulations of animal dung or animal bones. Without the physical evidence, it would be imprudent to assume the presence of animals in Kahun just because they areso important elsewhere in Egypt from back then and now. However, Szpakowska does insist that donkeys may have been used in Kahun despite the lack of artefactual evidence by inferring from texts bot from Deir El-Medina and Old Kingdom texts. From these texts, she hypothesizes that maybe donkeys were housed inside the houses or that they roamed outside village walls. The lack of donkey dung, according to her, might have been because they were collected and used as fuel. This seems to reflect why there are so many disagreements among Egyptologists regarding details such as these, that sometimes textual evidence does not match up with what is found from the excavations. Unfortunately this is the best that could be done due to the 4000 year time difference, and all evidence accumulated must be regarded with a healthy amount of caveat.
ReplyDeleteAs Linjia said, archaeologists primarily use textual and physical evidence to form hypothesis about life during a particular time period. This is emphasized by Szpakowska, who states that some of the most insightful sources are simple accounting documents, lists, and administrative records, because they literally are a part of the daily lives of inhabitants at Lahun. These types of documents are even preferred over the exaggerated, overly edited texts found in tombs and other physical artifacts (decorated vases, murals, etc) as the Egyptians wanted the long-lasting physical objects to only have the best aspects of society preserved. From the PDF, evidences such as "a note of request" show interactions between citizens. Additionally, texts such as "a troubled inheritance," or "a letter of appeal" show facets of the society which is not seen in temple, mortuary, or royal texts, and are necessary to paint a complete portrait of life at the time.
ReplyDeletePhysical artifacts are important to prove the hypothesis formed by analyzing textual artifacts - which is why the haphazard Petrie excavations are looked down upon by modern Egyptologists. Plans for houses were discussed in depth by Szpakowska, but there were many sources of uncertiainty about the functions of some rooms, which could have been solved by careful excavation and observation by Petrie's project. (such as the debate about animals in Lahun - documenting evidence of animal dung or remains would have ended the uncertainty!)
Szpakowska states that childbirth and motherhood were regarded as highly important. They took it as a blessing not to be taken for granted since the mortality rates for infants and mothers were high.
ReplyDeleteBy analyzing documents that date back to the Middle Kingdom, they found that “out of 600 cases, 48% name both parents, 46% name the mother alone, and only 5% name the father alone” (39). The Tales of Wonder, most likely from this period of time as well, say Queen Redjedjet “purified herself by (means of) a purification of 14 days” (35). This post-partum cleansing period could be seen as a “sign of respect and esteem”. Evidence from the New Kingdom shows that after a mother had successfully given birth, the new father received a variety of food and drinks to celebrate.
Also, from archaeological evidence found at Lahun, one can see what measures the ancient Egyptians took to ensure a healthy delivery and life for the mother and her baby. For example, a number of birth tusks were found in various sites and due to them being worn out, it’s suggested that they were used to draw protective boundaries against maladies and evil entities around the infant and/or mother. Egyptologists saw that the ivory came from hippos which symbolized aggressiveness for the Egyptians and also contained carvings of other ferocious animals such as snakes and lions to draw upon their strength as well while the two of them were in vulnerable states.
While reading Szpakowska, it is clear that Egyptologists rely heavily on physical evidence to draw conclusions about Egyptian lifestyle. The “Homes” section of the reading revealed many characteristics of Egyptians and their values. For example, there were remains from homes that tell us how big the town was, the shape, and they layout. Also, the wind in Egypt blows from North to South. While this may seem like a mundane detail, it is important to remember when looking at the layout of the town. The mansions of Kahun (which house the elite) were all built on the North side of town, while the smaller homes were located in the South. By combining simple facts with physical evidence, we can see the hierarchy of classes in Egypt and how they reside in ideal locations in Egypt.
ReplyDeleteI also found this sentence to be interesting: “Because little is left of the buildings in Lahun, comparable houses in other settlements, particular those in Lisht, Deir- el Medina, and Amarna, provide us with clues as to the layout and function of rooms” (16). I get that putting together Egypt’s history is like a puzzle, so when Egyptologists don’t have the correct pieces they have to look elsewhere to fill in the blanks. It just makes me question how accurate is this information? Four thousand years from now, you can’t take evidence/artifacts from homes in Beverly Hills and apply that to another random suburb in Los Angeles because each neighborhood in Los Angeles is completely unique and distinct from the other. It makes me wonder how similar/different towns in Egypt were.
While Szpakowska utilizes tons of evidence regarding daily life in ancient Egypt, I was a bit surprised during the reading by the amount of inferences she draws from each piece of evidence. From the width of the streets (3-5 meters), Szpakowska claims the community would have most likely been a vibrant playground. Furthermore, she believes that mothers probably took shifts watching neighborhood children play. From the letters of Hequanakht, she surmises that because extended families live together, it is likely that all members of the family took part in raising the newborn. While these things certainly could have occurred, I was a bit surprised that she just made these jumps without further proof. We don’t know for certain that Egyptian mothers didn’t guard their children fiercely.
ReplyDeleteTo estimate the number of children in communities, Szpakowska looked at census lists from specific areas such as Deir-el-Medina. On one hand, this is very understandable because of the lack of evidence for Lahun. However, the fact that she would just apply this data to an average number of children in Lahun seems, again, like a bit too fast of a jump. In that sense, I agree with Alex that it may not be reliable to apply location-specific evidence to a different community. Furthermore, Szpakowska asserts that because brick makers were found in Lahun, child-birthing bricks were most likely used here. Once again, I was a bit surprised by her jump; she herself even states that no archaeological evidence of birthing bricks was found in Lahun. With that said, Szpakowska does ultimately account for her immense amount of inferences at the end, claiming that if certain artifacts had been found by someone of another culture, they could easily take on a completely different meaning. Her jumps are definitely understandable because of the lack of evidence and cultural/time barrier.
Caroline Miller
Szpakowska makes clear that Egyptologists use textual and archaeological evidence in conjunction in order to reconstruct the daily lives of Ancient Egyptians as accurately as possible. Their daily lives include both world views as well as local practices. Szpakowska utilizes this very method by choosing to set his book in the town of Lahun "in order to take advantage of newly published textual data from the settlement and to re-examine the archaeological finds".
ReplyDeleteWhat children ate is one thing that Szapakowska tries to reconstruct based on multiple lines of evidence. He says, "Research carried out on infant feces at an Upper Egyptian Paleolithic site has shown that about the time they began to crawl, infants there were weaned on ground and mashed vegetables." The types of vegetables that were eaten in Lahun, however, are difficult to determine exactly, as translations of the textual evidence that was left for Egyptologists to decipher, may differ. Learning what the people of Lahun ate would be an important step in learning about their daily lives, as food was a major player in Ancient Egyptian health. Szapakowska illustrates this by explaining how diet during pregnancy would have played an important role in prenatal health as it did during the child's early years. In addition, a theory exists that Lahun's sudden abandonment may have been due to an epidemic of some sorts; who is to say that food did not play a role in this?
At Lahun, hieratic papyri containing "administrative records, from commodity accounts to day-by-day- copies of business letters and transaction ('journals')" were found that reveal "an administration concerned with registering what in Egypt were the main objects of control: people (as labor), grain, and livestock. Other staples of life such as tools, cloth, finer foods, and jewelry also appear." The artifacts that are left over in Lahun correspond with the items on these records and reaffirm their usage by the inhabitants of Lahun. However, despite the fact that there is both physical and textual evidence for an item, it is often difficult to interpret what exactly it was used for. An example of this ambiguity is the hippopotamus birth tusk. Clearly, it was used in Lahun, but its exact purpose is still debated by Egyptologists.
It is undeniable that combining archaeological and textual evidence is the most logical way to examine an ancient city such as Lahun. That does not mean that this method is fool proof though, as both examples I have just cited have the issue of interpretation in common. Szpakowska himself states that all of this evidence is great, but it is nearly impossible to determine exactly what something was meant for without having a dictionary that the Lahuns themselves used, providing exact definitions so the meaning of the artifact does not get lost in translation.
It has been said that Szpakowska analyzes text and archaeological evidence to create assumptions about Egyptian daily life. After reading the chapter on birth, it becomes very apparent that egyptologists, or any other scientist studying a similarly ancient civilization, make relatively large assumptions and speculations that sometimes are no more than wild guesses and "what-if" scenarios.
ReplyDeleteIn the section titled "Family Size", Szpakowska says that "corroborating data is again elusive. Textual sources are difficult to analyze in terms of family structures. Complications include...popular names repeating themselves...as well as a lack of specificity." Modern scientists can only do so much with what they are able to excavate, and apart from major political documents describing major events in history, piecing together the daily life of the Egyptians seems more like a game of conjecture. Again and again, Szpakowska uses words like "could", "unclear", "may have been", "the impression", "clues", "unknown" and "seemingly" to describe the nature of textual evidence from the time period.
It is remarkable that scientists like Szapowska have sifted through so much material and pieced together a coherent (if not confusing at times) history of an ancient civilization.
In the primary text "The Blinding of Truth by Falsehood", there can be common motifs of the principle of Maat and the history of Seth and Horus that are reinforced by readings and lecture but also contradictory points can be gathered out of the information as well. Egyptian texts and stories usually have a resolution that results in a “harmonious situation”, exemplifying the idea of balance, harmony, and truth. These endings, the solution of conflicting opposites, can be found at the end of these texts, which show the duality that Egypt is known for. The concept of duality is also found in secondary information. In the beginning of Szpakowska, the theme is immediately established, “This duality became a fundamental concept in the ideology of the culture as reflected in the victory of order” (3). However, a slight contradiction or different interpretation is found in “The Blinding of Truth by Falsehood” versus many points in lecture. The concept of Maat is regularly personified as a goddess, a female, the daughter of Re. However, in this text, Maat or Truth takes on the character of a male. This, perhaps, is just a different analysis of the idea of balance, and lets the text highlight sibling rivalry and the duality of good v. evil reminiscent of Horus and Seth.
ReplyDeleteThe duality that Egypt has embodied from its earliest of beginnings appears in texts in numerous amounts. This recurring theme allows those who produce secondary materials to come to the conclusion that balance, or Maat, is an important concept to the ideology of Ancient Egypt. However, the Egyptians did not have this idea set in stone, but rather habitually and frequently appearing in their daily lives, painted in their tombs, and written in their scripts.
I found it fascinating how Kasia Szpakowska combined different types of evidence, and specifically the way that she treated her three main lines of evidence.
ReplyDeleteWhen dealing with the evidence from “native Egyptian king lists” and Egyptian written sources, Szapakowska is cautious of assigning specific dates to dynasty-lengths, reflecting the potential inaccuracy of some of these. However, when referring to the veracity of specific events, such as the assassination of Amenemhat I (5) she uses its mention in two separate literary texts in order to support its occurrence. She notes that when using these texts to understand social organization we are “lucky” (9) because there are many onomastica lists that categorize the world from an Egyptian perspective.
Information from “copies of texts based on those of Greek historians” is barely used by Szapakowska, and although she mentions them on page 3 she does not reference them again in the first chapter.
Szpakowska relied most heavily on archaeological evidence in her discussion of Lahun, as well as of Egyptian history in general. She notes that when SobekNoferu ruled she left few monuments or elements of material culture that could reveal more about her (5). This highlights the importance of acknowledging the partial nature of material culture - although it is very useful in Szapakowska’s description of the layout of Lahun, it would be misleading if we were to presume that all Egyptian towns had followed an identical pattern. I found it very interesting that Szapakowska’s use of archaeological evidence is very straightforward and factual, and her language is unadorned. Some of the descriptions she gives of houses in Lahun read almost like the shopping lists that she later says are so important. As she is using a middle class and gendered perspective through which to explore Lahun, Szapakowska notes that archaeological evidence is the most useful as, unlike scribal literature, there is no gender or social bias in what gets recorded - it is only what happens to have been left behind.
On page three, Szpakowska elaborates on the rise of local rulers during the First Intermediate Period and the differentiation in cultures with multiple pieces of evidences. First she talks of funerary biographies glorifying the reign of each ruler and boasting of stability and strength. Clearly power was not centralized under one pharaoh; it was divided among regional kings who each saw themselves as the most powerful.
ReplyDeleteThen Szpakowska uses artifacts of the time to further enhance the concept of a divided Egypt. “The art shows a range of styles, individuality, and experimentation that was expressed by artists and workshops that had less contact with each other,” she states. Even the pottery shows clearly different styles both in shape and materials used, indicating that they originated from differing regions, each with little contact to one another.
Lastly, Szpakowska was able to deduce that many upper class men and woman had gained much wealth during this intermediate period based on their burial arrangements. Despite a lack of royal funerary temples, due to the lack of centralized royal power, the upper class showed a heightened use of expensive burial techniques, illustrating a corresponding growth in wealth.
In many facets of Ancient Egypt, a common prevailing theme is the concept of opposites existing in duality. For example, Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, the Rekhyet and the Iry-paat, etc. This theme continues in mythology, architecture, art, and social life. However, it is especially prevalent in ancient texts.
ReplyDeleteIn, “The Blinding Truth of Falsehood”, the common theme of duality is exercised in numerous instances. First and foremost, the central issue in the story is Horus’ poisoning. He is revered as a god, yet afflicted with mortal poison. In fact, Horus’ mother, Isis, is so wrought with grief she calls to those in the marshes for her help. The example of a goddess heeding the help of the marsh-people is a distinct dichotomy.
During the healing process, Thoth states, “the words of Horus relieve the hearts. He reassures the one who is in distress”. This opposes his current state of affairs, which is sickness.
These examples of dichotomy from the text reflect the overarching theme of opposing dualities in Ancient Egypt.
‘The Egyptologists excavate and collect multiple evidences to do what they were aiming to do from the beginning; drawing a vivid picture of Egpytian lifes some thousands years ago. Like some of the classmates mentioned above, I also found it very interesting how Szpakowska uses every evidence that are petty yet vast in quantity at the same time. For example she used 600 cases in order to figure out the pattern of names of newborn children. His evidences and analysis range vastly, too, from childbirth, mothers, to even animals, of which I found donkey dungs and discussions whether its existence in the town was very interesting. We can see that this guy is stubborn when he argues that there actually were donkeys in Kahun ‘just because.’ Looking back, we read in the scribal texts how donkeys were used in so many ways, and it seems that not using donkeys in a town is just not possible. However, there is a significant lack of physical evidence to support what he argues. However, I believe there were donkeys too, like he argues, ‘just because.’ However, I agree that I think he too often disregards the weigh of physical evidences and makes ‘jumps’, like he did for the donkeys. Also, he says that the entire family played part in raising a child. Possible, because it still happens today, but as Caroline says, I was too a little surprised when he did not go on to support his argument. Like Cole says, he uses terms that are not very convincing such as ‘impression,’ ‘clues,’ ‘could,’ etc. It is good that he is trying to make sense of a society some thousands of years ago, but it could have been better if there were physical evidences to back it up.
ReplyDeleteFor me, it was interesting to read the Lahun texts and think back about Egyptian society. Especially, 29b, “A letter of reminder,” from business letters of el-Lahun attracted my attention. In this letter, a servant is addressing to the owner of certain property. He is stating in his letter that all of his possessions are secure and safe, but he should concentrate on the “House of Wah.”
ReplyDeleteThis letter shows a consistency with the role of servants and women in ancient Egyptian society. It was common that when the property vendor, typically a male, would be away for business, covree labor, or war, his family or servants would take care of his land and report back to him various business transactions, the status of the property, etc. This document automatically reinforces the existence of a class structure within Egypt.
Not only does the document inform about Egypt, but also it indicates the same class structure in Kahun. While everyone was obliged to the task of constructing Senwosret II’s Pyramid, the class structure still did exist, which is shown through the master’s ability to leave the city and to count on his servants to do his work and update him with his property. This is again steady with other documents such as Donadoni or Simpson on ancient Egyptian life.
To my knowledge, the first thing you need to do in order to make a conclusion from a string of evidence is to find a pattern. Whether that pattern is something all the pieces of evidence have in common, or some fundamental aspect that the evidence does not share, a pattern is what allows you to make a conclusion. Why? Because patterns recur, and recurring elements throughout a culture (or anything, really) represent either common or class-specific practices.
ReplyDeleteSzpakowska's analysis of the "birth hippopotamus-tusks" (27) showcases her conclusions based on an accumulation of evidence in tandem with the analyses of other scholars. She writes that a large number of tusks survive, and that they were "believed to be particularly efficacious in the Middle Kingdom" (27). If we break this down, we can see how Szpakowska came to such a conclusion. First, she finds a large quantity of birth hippopotamus-tusks that date back to the Middle Kingdom. She then finds that these tusks were objects to ward off danger during childbirth. Since most women probably gave birth in Ancient Egypt, a good portion of those women who had given birth would have had such an object, based on everything Szpakowska knows about Egyptian superstition and religious practices. So then she might ask herself, "Why would the Egyptians have so many of these tusks for the purpose of warding off evil during childbirth if they were not believed to be effective?" Then, she might have looked for evidence that would contradict the implied statement in that question: that the Egyptians used and continued to use, especially during the Middle Kingdom, those specific kinds of tusks to ward off evil because they believed that the tusks brought about the desired effect of evil not occurring during childbirth. In other words, she would then have to look for evidence that says either that the Egyptians did not use tusks because they thought they were successful in preventing childbirthing evils, or that the Egyptians used the tusks because they thought it prevented childbirthing evils, but that the tusks did not bring about the desired effect as often as the evidence may suggest.
Some women die during what would seem to be a perfectly routine childbirth; this has happened for as long as humanity has existed. Sometimes, things simply go awry. If Szpakowska had stopped here, her conclusion about tusks would not match her current conclusion. Rather, it would probably go something like this: tusks were commonly used to ward off evil during childbirth in Ancient Egypt, but the desired effect of avoiding evil (such as death) was not often brought about. But, then she must take into account other facts, such as the infant mortality rate. According to Professor Morris, the Ancient Egyptians had an infant morality rate of about 20%. While it is sad to think of so many dead babies, this fact is quite useful in making a conclusion about the use of the hippopotamus tusks: if the infant mortality rate had been higher, say 40 or even 50%, perhaps the conclusion that the tusks didn't really ward off evil (and that they were purely objects of religious superstition) would hold water. However, the infant morality rate was about 20%, which, while a large number, is still not large enough to lead Szpakowska to the conclusion that they were purely the objects of superstition to the Ancient Egyptians. They might be to us, a modern individual looking back at the past, but to the Egyptians, the tusks were magical objects that, for the most part, warded off evil because of their magic. --Melanie Zelikovsky
In the homes section, Szpakowska says that we are not sure about the home structure in Kahun. This is because, as Professor Morris said in class, Petrie did not do as careful as a job excavating as we wished. Also, since the homes were made of mud bricks, many of them have been eroded and washed away by the weather. Another factor is that part of Kahun is under a modern day agricultural region and cannot be dug up. Archeologists uses the remains of Kahun to gather what live would have been like, but also they use evidence from other sites such as Deir El-Medina and the workman's village at Amarna. This is an example of archeologists using other sources to fill in the gaps.
ReplyDeleteIn the Blinding of Truth by Falsehood there are many over arching themes, and insight into Egyptian life. It shows the brother rivalry that we have seen already. It gives insight into Egyptian ideology (Horus and Seth and the Ennead), the importance of revenge, and also it contains a few important lines about the Egyptian mentality towards punishment. This story depicts the Ennead as sort of a go to tribunal that is a deciding panel. It also re-enforces the Horus and Seth feud. What I found most insightful however are the few lines about punishment. "He was smitten with a hundred blows and five open wounds, blinded in both eyes, and assigned to be doorkeeper in the house of Truth" (107). Even if Professor Morris had not discussed punishment in lecture, this one line from one story contains information about a common Egyptian punishment practice. These kind of lines are what often archeologists have to rely on for information when there isn't much else.
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ReplyDeleteKasia Szpakowska raises a very interesting point in the introduction of her essay: "There are two basic approaches to understanding society in the ancient world. One is to try to discover the classification system used by the peoples themselves, and the other is to approach the culture with our own categories, and use our own criteria in order to make cross-culturally relevant comparisons" (8). There certainly are similarities between our modern world and the ancient Egyptian world, such as social classes. Egyptologists can figure out "kinship ties, and...class and status" (9).
ReplyDeleteOne of the difficult tasks for Egyptologists is to figure out whether or not the villages or cities they have excavated were "typical" during their time. However, it is possible to compare them to other cities and have a general idea of their functions. For example, the town of Kahun has enough archeological evidence "to have a good picture of its general plan in terms of the town as a whole, and of individual homes. Certain features are comparable to ones seen in the later New Kingdom planned communities" (14). Throughout Szpakowska's writing, it is reasonable to say that comparison is one of the most important keys for Egyptologists.
In her section on birth, Szpakowska uses drawings and other physical structures in towns to support her arguments, along with textual evidence. She uses drawings on birth bricks "that women would squat upon during delivery" (24), as well as "birth hippopotamus-tusks" that were used to "draw a defensive perimeter around the mother and the child, while she was giving birth" (27). She also refers to medical texts from Late Middle Kingdom including "a diverse range of prescriptions to help hasten the birth of a child" (25), and various spells found. She also touches on the fact that it is difficult to attain any statistics on the infant mortality rate, or any other specific data that must be supported by clear evidence since there is so little information. It must be difficult for Egyptologists to attain detailed information about ancient Egypt, if not just general ideas or specific examples that still survive today.
In "Daily Life in Ancient Egypt," Kasia Szpakowska analyzes textual evidence as the foundation about what we know about ancient Egyptian culture. She outlines two methods that are important to an understanding of their culture and views on life. She states, “ One is to try to discover the classification system used by the peoples themselves, and the other is to approach the culture with our own categories, and use our own criteria in order to make cross-culturally relevant comparisons" (8). Szpakowska stresses the importance of a comparison of our own culture to that of theirs, something I will attempt to do here.
ReplyDelete"The Blinding of Truth by Falsehood" is the story of two feuding brothers. “Truth” borrows “Falsehood’s” fantastic dagger, and damages it. Falsehood, in turn, blinds Truth in both eyes, and is forced to live his life as a doorkeeper. Truth’s son eventually avenges his father’s blindness through the cunning and creative use of a beautiful ox. Falsehood is brought before the Ennead, and sentenced himself to blindness and life as a doorkeeper. This story is relevant to the ideals of the ancient Egyptians in the fact that it mirrors the idea of feuding brothers (Horus and Seth), and proves that all wrongdoings must face trial by the gods and have consequences. This story is similar to a folktale, and aims to teach Egyptian adherents that “Truth” is always rewarded and “Falsehood” and “Greed” are only to end in misfortune. Stories like this one mirror contemporary folktales (meant to teach a standard of morals to readers) like Pinocchio in his inappropriate telling of lies and the famous Rumplestiltskin’s wrongdoing’s.