- Archaeology, Egyptian religion, Egyptian Ritual Texts, Ancient Egyptian Magical Texts, Ancient Near East, Anthropology, and 114 moreEgyptian language, Semiology, Ancient History, Middle Egyptian, Visual Semiology, Ancient Egyptian Iconography, Egyptology, Ancient Egyptian Religion, Anthropology of Performance, Egyptian History, Egyptian Art and Archaeology, Semiotics, Ancient Religion, Egyptian Archaeology, Cultural Memory, Epigraphy (Archaeology), Undeciphered Writing Systems, Ritual and Performance (Egyptology), Third Intermediate Period Funerary Ensemble Database Project, Habitus, Phenomenology of the body, Embodiment, Embodied Cognition, Embodied Mind and Cognition, Agency (Archaeological Theory), Philosophy of Agency, Kingship (Egyptology), Egyptological Archives, Early Dynastic (Egyptian History), Animals in the ancient world, Archaeological Theory, Archaeological Method & Theory, Ancient Egyptian Epigraphy, Categorization of ancient Egyptian script, Egyptian Texts, Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt, Old Kingdom (Egyptology), Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts, Book of the Dead, Funerary cones, Animals in Culture, Ancient Egyptian ritual Texts, Theoretical Archaeology, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Egyptology - temple & tomb reliefs, Ritual Theory, History of Religion, Comparative Religion, Material culture of religion, Mythology, Rites of Passage, Performance Theory, Old Kingdom epigraphy, Ancient Egyptian History, Ancient Egyptian Shabti Figures, Middle Kingdom (Egyptology), Old Kingdom reliefs, First Intermediate Period, Open Access Books in Linguistics, Coffin Texts, Royal Statues, Royal Crowns, Theban Necropolis (Ancient Egypt), Application of archaeological theory, Theban Tombs, Sacred and divine kingship, Egyptian Royal Titulary, Pharaonic ideology, Ancient Egyptian Cosmology, History of Egyptology, Coffins/Sarcophagi (Egyptology), Old Kingdom elite tomb programs, Nile Delta archaeology, The Egyptian god Min, Abusir, Saqqara, Ancient Graffiti (Archaeology), Classifiers, Egypt, Giza, Giza Archives Project, Peter Der Manuelian, Museum of Fine Arts, George Reisner, Harvard University Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition, Titles in Ancient Egypt, Comparative mythology, Pyramid Texts, Egyptian Lexicography, Religious performance, Manifestations of Authority and Power, Hieratic, Late Egyptian, Old Kingdom Provincial Cemeteries, Old Kingdom private tombs, Old Kingdom Administration, Old Kingdom tomb dating, Egyptian letters to the dead, Memphis necropolis, Pepy II, Pepy I, Egyptian Crowns, Jan Assmann, New Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, Karnak Temple, Ancient Egyptian Queenship, Papyrus Leiden I 350, Birds in Ancient Egypt, Animals in ancient Egypt, Anthropology of Religion, Egyptian Kingship, Royal Ideology In Egypt, Fourth Dynasty, and Reign of Snefruedit
- PhD in Ancient History (Egyptology). Associate Professor at Departamento de Historia Antigua, Historia Medieval y Pal... morePhD in Ancient History (Egyptology). Associate Professor at Departamento de Historia Antigua, Historia Medieval y Paleografía y Diplomática, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.
Co-director of Centro Superior de Estudios de Oriente Próximo y Egipto (section of Ancient Egypt) at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.
Member of the Spanish archaeological mission at TT 11-12 (Dra Abu el-Naga, West Bank Luxor) (Proyecto Djehuty), under the direction of José M. Galán (CSIC).
francisco.borrego@uam.esedit
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Ancient Egyptian Religion, Byzantine Literature, Mesopotamian Religions, Theopoetics, Book of Proverbs, and 15 moreHoratius (Latin Literature), Ibn Arabi, Mesopotamian literature, Avicenna, Ambrose of Milan, Orphism, Hathor, Romanos the Melodist, Religious Poetry, San Juan de la Cruz, Avesta, Medieval Armenian Literature, Dámaso Alonso, Juan Coloma, and Ancient Greek Cosmogony
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Table of contents [summarized and translated into English] Chapter 0. Introduction and acknowledgements Chapter 1. Corpus of documents Jafra (cat. 1) Menkaura (cat. 2) Sahura (cat. 3) Nyuserra (cat. 4) Unis (cat. 5)... more
Table of contents [summarized and translated into English]
Chapter 0. Introduction and acknowledgements
Chapter 1. Corpus of documents
Jafra (cat. 1)
Menkaura (cat. 2)
Sahura (cat. 3)
Nyuserra (cat. 4)
Unis (cat. 5)
Pepy I (cat. 6)
Pepy II (cat. 7-12)
Chapter 2. Previous interpretations of the scenes of suckling
2.1. Suckling as a 'rite de passage': rebirth and coronation. The work of J. Leclant
2.2.- Latest approaches
Chapter 3. Towards a semiological reading, 1. Internal syntax: iconography and iconology
3.1. Introduction
3.2. King
3.2.1. Iconography
3.2.2. Names and epithets
3.2.3. Iconology - internal syntax
3.3. Nursing goddesses
3.3.1. Iconography
3.3.2. Epithets
3.3.3. Captions
3.3.4. Iconology - internal syntax
3.3.5. Nature of the goddess
3.4. Others characters
3.4.1. Khnum
3.4.2. (Horus-)Behedety and Seth
3.4.3. Ra?
3.5. Internal synctactic reading of the characters
3.5.1. King
3.5.2. Nursing goddess
3.5.3. Khnum
3.5.4. Seth and (Horus-)Behedety
Capítulo 4. Towards a semiological reading, 2. External syntax and discourse
4.1. The external syntax of the suckling scenes
4.1.1. Syntactic functions of the characters
4.1.2. Syntactic readings as a whole
4.2. Discourse
4.2.1. Location of the suckling scenes
4.2.2. Semiological structure of the scenes: the 'discours pariétal'
4.2.3. Semiological structure of the contexts: the poetics of the space
4.2.4. Semiological structure of the system: the grammar of the temple
Chapter 5. Conclusions
Bibliography
Indexes etc.
Chapter 0. Introduction and acknowledgements
Chapter 1. Corpus of documents
Jafra (cat. 1)
Menkaura (cat. 2)
Sahura (cat. 3)
Nyuserra (cat. 4)
Unis (cat. 5)
Pepy I (cat. 6)
Pepy II (cat. 7-12)
Chapter 2. Previous interpretations of the scenes of suckling
2.1. Suckling as a 'rite de passage': rebirth and coronation. The work of J. Leclant
2.2.- Latest approaches
Chapter 3. Towards a semiological reading, 1. Internal syntax: iconography and iconology
3.1. Introduction
3.2. King
3.2.1. Iconography
3.2.2. Names and epithets
3.2.3. Iconology - internal syntax
3.3. Nursing goddesses
3.3.1. Iconography
3.3.2. Epithets
3.3.3. Captions
3.3.4. Iconology - internal syntax
3.3.5. Nature of the goddess
3.4. Others characters
3.4.1. Khnum
3.4.2. (Horus-)Behedety and Seth
3.4.3. Ra?
3.5. Internal synctactic reading of the characters
3.5.1. King
3.5.2. Nursing goddess
3.5.3. Khnum
3.5.4. Seth and (Horus-)Behedety
Capítulo 4. Towards a semiological reading, 2. External syntax and discourse
4.1. The external syntax of the suckling scenes
4.1.1. Syntactic functions of the characters
4.1.2. Syntactic readings as a whole
4.2. Discourse
4.2.1. Location of the suckling scenes
4.2.2. Semiological structure of the scenes: the 'discours pariétal'
4.2.3. Semiological structure of the contexts: the poetics of the space
4.2.4. Semiological structure of the system: the grammar of the temple
Chapter 5. Conclusions
Bibliography
Indexes etc.
Research Interests:
Royal funerary complexes in Old Kingdom Egypt are multifaceted, meaning-laden spaces where, from the early Fourth Dynasty, large areas of wall reliefs were devoted to scenes featuring rows of personifications representing estates,... more
Royal funerary complexes in Old Kingdom Egypt are multifaceted, meaning-laden spaces where, from the early Fourth Dynasty, large areas of wall reliefs were devoted to scenes featuring rows of personifications representing estates, provinces, regions, and elements of the Egyptian landscape, offering food and other items to the deceased king. While a widespread interpretation sees these scenes as a collective contribution from the entire country to sustain the monarch in the afterlife, it proves too general and warrants a more detailed explanation. Considering the polysemy of these spaces, two complementary meanings emerge. One is political, revealing the king’s dominion over the territory through the imposition of administrative organization and its appropriation via taxation in kind. The other is funerary, guaranteeing the king’s royal status postmortem, affirming his control of the ordered world, and securing the supply of offerings for his afterlife existence. Further evidence from the Third Millennium BCE supports this interpretation, illustrating the appropriation, anthropization and personification of the Egyptian landscape. This deliberate control and ordering of the environment facilitate the transformation of nature into habitat and nourishment, and nourishment into taxes and offerings perpetually owned and consumed by the deceased king.
Research Interests: Semiotics, Landscape Archaeology, Visual Semiotics, Funerary Belief (Egyptology), Old Kingdom (Egyptology), and 14 moreAncient Egyptian Iconography, Ancient Egyptian History, Ancient Egyptian Art and Archaeology, Cultural Landscape, Territory, Ideology of Ancient Egyptians, Abusir, Pyramid Texts, Old Kingdom reliefs, Dahshur, Personification, Royal Ideology In Egypt, Pyramids of Giza, and Saqqara necropolis
The form of Hathor as Nbw ‘Gold’ is one of her least known aspects before the Graeco-Roman period and lacks a specific study. This is partly due to the nature of the sources for the period between the Old Kingdom and the end of the Late... more
The form of Hathor as Nbw ‘Gold’ is one of her least known aspects before the Graeco-Roman period and lacks a specific study. This is partly due to the nature of the sources for the period between the Old Kingdom and the end of the Late Period. In them, she emerges as one of the oldest deities to appear in songs and hymns, dating back to the second half of the Old Kingdom. Analysis of these hymnic and musical contexts provides insights into the Egyptian religiosity and culture of that period and later times. This study has been divided into two parts. The first one is presented here, and it consists of the corpus of songs and hymns, together with two complementary corpora for the study of this form of Hathor. These include collected inscriptional data and onomastics, reviews of selected readings, and consideration of prosodic aspects.
Research Interests: Ancient Egyptian Religion, Old Kingdom (Egyptology), New Kingdom (Egyptology), Third Intermediate Period, Ancient Egyptian Literature, and 14 moreHymnology, Ancient Egypt, Middle Kingdom (Egyptology), Theban Necropolis (Ancient Egypt), Songs, Ancient Egyptian Onomastics, Metrics and Prosody, Hathor, Ancient Goddesses, Late Period in ancient Egypt, Memphite Necropolis, Ancient Egyptian Music, Egyptian Deities, and Ancient Egyptian hymns
Recently, a more complete and diverse interdisciplinarity is improving our understanding of how ancient Nilotic populations identified, named and categorized the animal species of their environments. An interesting case study is that of... more
Recently, a more complete and diverse interdisciplinarity is improving our understanding of how ancient Nilotic populations identified, named and categorized the animal species of their environments. An interesting case study is that of the raptor ṯnḥr, a poorly documented term, with only three instances (the 'Cycle of Seasons' in the sun temple of Nyuserra and the funerary complex of Wenis and the tale of the 'Eloquent Peasant') and vague and generic translations as merely a falcon. It has only been studied in detail by E. Edel, who has barely indicated that it belongs to the genus Falco, and R. Krauss, who has identified it with the Sooty falcon (Falco concolor). Their studies, however, leave room to analyze the ṯnḥr from new perspectives, combining textual and iconographic evidence, topographic and chronographic data from the 'Cycle of Seasons', the habitat and routes of the resident and migratory Falconidae of the Nile Valley and their breeding cycle, behaviour, morphology and colouring. This allows us to suggest that ṯnḥr might designate falcons of the subgenus Hypotriorchis, especially the Sooty falcon and Eleonora’s falcon (Falco eleonorae), and thus to understand its use as a metaphor for the ruthless
and merciless judge in the 'Eloquent Peasant'.
and merciless judge in the 'Eloquent Peasant'.
Research Interests: Ethnobiology, Human-Animal Studies, Old Kingdom (Egyptology), Raptors, Ancient Egyptian Art and Archaeology, and 14 moreAncient Egyptian language, Ancient Egypt, Middle Kingdom (Egyptology), Ethnoornithology, Ecology, Habitat and Behavior of Migratory raptors, Falcon, Falconidae, Falco Concolor, Falco Eleonorae, Anthropozoology, Birds in Ancient Egypt, Story of the Eloquent Peasant, Ancient Egyptian lexicography, and Niuserre (Egypt; pharaoh; Dynasty 5)
The hieroglyph 𓅇 / 𓅈 (G7A / G7B etc.) has been described as a falcon on a boat, crescent, or throw-stick. Studies have focused on its phonetic reading – Nmtj and not *ꜥntj – and have paid only cursory attention to its visual referent. A... more
The hieroglyph 𓅇 / 𓅈 (G7A / G7B etc.) has been described as a falcon on a boat, crescent, or throw-stick. Studies have focused on its phonetic reading – Nmtj and not *ꜥntj – and have paid only cursory attention to its visual referent. A new approach to the reality of signs should consider elements that have been overlooked: their earliest attestations (from the fourth and third millennia BC) and their palaeographic features; the texts relating to the god Nmtj; and, above all, the ethology, life cycle and habitat of the Falconidae of the Nile Valley. This last set of factors is essential for understanding the nature of ancient Egyptian falcon hieroglyphs and the extent of ancient Egyptians’ knowledge of the animal world.
Research Interests:
In Amarna letter EA 35 the ruler of Alashiya requests the king of Egypt, among other things, to send augurs. This has led to the issue of the existence of ornithomancy in ancient Egypt, which is considered by most scholars to be a... more
In Amarna letter EA 35 the ruler of Alashiya requests the king of Egypt, among other things, to send augurs. This has led to the issue of the existence of ornithomancy in ancient Egypt, which is considered by most scholars to be a practice imported into Egypt during the Late Bronze Age. In this study, the analysis of that passage from an ornithological perspective raises the possibility that the species involved was the Griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus), and not an eagle, the prevailing opinion so far. Furthermore, the contextualisation of this divinatory practice through new sources and perspectives different from those adopted so far allows affirming the probable existence of indigenous ornithomancy practices in a wider context of animal omina predating the New Kingdom, which may have been enriched by contact with Near Eastern cultures from that period onwards.
Research Interests:
The statues with a falcon on the king’s back in the Old Kingdom, traditionally studied from premises typical of Western Art History and not from emic and semiotic perspectives, present two different typologies. The first one (A) has a... more
The statues with a falcon on the king’s back in the Old Kingdom, traditionally studied from premises typical of Western Art History and not from emic and semiotic perspectives, present two different typologies. The first one (A) has a falcon spreading its wings over the head’s nape of a seated king; in the second one (B) a falcon with its wings folded perches on the back of the royal throne, facing one of the sides. With a few exceptions (such as E. Blumenthal), scholars who have worked on these statues have seen Horus protecting (A) or supporting the monarch (B). However, the identification of the falcon of type A with Behedety (and not Horus) and the analysis of the syntactic relationships between the actants of these statues allow making new readings: while the type B seems to reflect a nominal identification between both actants (king and Horus), in the type A Behedety rises and protects, in the manner of incubation, his son, the king, able to (re)birth, transformed into a Ꜣḫ, at dawn.
Research Interests: Semiotics, Ancient Egyptian Religion, Egyptian Art and Archaeology, Egyptian Archaeology, Visual Semiotics, and 13 moreFunerary Belief (Egyptology), Old Kingdom (Egyptology), Semiology of the work of art, Ancient Egyptian Iconography, Ancient Egyptian History, Ancient Egyptian Art and Archaeology, Visual Syntax, Behedety, Ancient Egyptian Statuary, Old Kingdom sculpture, Horus, Royal Pyramids, and Scupture of the Old Kingdom
Egypt’s position between Africa and the Mediterranean has allowed rich and complex connections with both areas over time. In Ptolemaic and Roman times these interconnections increase, by incorporating Graeco-Roman models and conceptions... more
Egypt’s position between Africa and the Mediterranean has allowed rich and complex connections with both areas over time. In Ptolemaic and Roman times these interconnections increase, by incorporating Graeco-Roman models and conceptions to the pharaonic traditions, giving rise to more complex and multifaceted dynamics. In addition to political and economic changes, there were also social, ideological, and religious innovations where the Egyptian substratum was reconfigured to accommodate new beliefs. The similarities and prototypes among deities made several Egyptian gods experience syncretisms or adaptations. In the case of Anubis, his snake-footed image found in the Alexandrian catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa stands out. Its analysis must be carried out from a plural point of view, studying both the Egyptian implications (serpent divinities and their relationship with Anubis and protection) and the Greek and Roman implications (mainly the Alexandrian Agathos Daimon). This paper aims to carry out an iconographic and iconological analysis of this figure while considering the Alexandrian realities and creations, within the Graeco-Roman religious and cultural dynamics in their interaction with the pharaonic realities.
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The goddesses Hathor and Bastet have very prominent roles in the logoiconic programs of the royal funerary complexes of the Fourth Dynasty. Several authors have argued that they have a spatial component in them, on a territorial and... more
The goddesses Hathor and Bastet have very prominent roles in the logoiconic programs of the royal funerary complexes of the Fourth Dynasty. Several authors have argued that they have a spatial component in them, on a territorial and cosmic level, with Hathor representing the south and Bastet the north. In addition to that, the analysis of the contexts in which they appear reveals that their acts also highlight the renewal of the person of the king, as an individual and monarch —identified with Ra, the sun—, acting as consorts and mothers of the latter. To this is added another spatial dimension, a Memphite one, which seems to have contributed to better integrating those complexes into the festive calendar of the necropolis of Memphis, where both goddesses had important cults.
Research Interests:
The teaching of the Ancient Egyptian language has received little attention as an object of reflection and debate in Egyptology. The case of Spanish universities, where it has been taught for a few decades in postgraduate degrees and... more
The teaching of the Ancient Egyptian language has received little attention as an object of reflection and debate in Egyptology. The case of Spanish universities, where it has been taught for a few decades in postgraduate degrees and extension courses, presents some peculiarities, which can be explained, among other reasons, by the late introduction of the discipline in academic institutions. In the case of the UAM, the Centro Superior de Estudios de Oriente Próximo y Egipto antiguos has been teaching it with good results for more than two decades from the ‘verbalist’ / ‘functionalist’ theory of the Egyptian language and approaches from the Cultural Linguistics, with a contextual approach and employing active methodologies of teaching. In addition to the difficulties posed by certain grammatical aspects ‒especially those relating to the verb‒ the main challenges facing the teaching of the Egyptian language include the implementation of the most recent advances in the subject and digitisation in the classroom, and its institutionalisation.
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The 'embalming plate' is a type of artefact that is mentioned quite frequently in the literature on ancient Egyptian mortuary practices. However, it has not been well studied so far. This paper is a preliminary corpus that can serve as a... more
The 'embalming plate' is a type of artefact that is mentioned quite frequently in the literature on ancient Egyptian mortuary practices. However, it has not been well studied so far. This paper is a preliminary corpus that can serve as a basis for further studies of this kind of objects, as an open list that can be expanded in the future. This corpus is divided into four lists: A) pieces removed from the mummies with which they were associated; B) doubtful examples; C) items discovered by the x-raying or scanning of mummies; D) embalming plates currently in two display cases in Room 22 at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
Research Interests:
Southwest of the courtyard of TT 11, inside a large tomb from the Twelfth Dynasty, a set of fragmented human mummies were found. All of them were adult male individuals and presented a refined mummification and some remains of burial... more
Southwest of the courtyard of TT 11, inside a large tomb from the Twelfth Dynasty, a set of fragmented human mummies were found. All of them were adult male individuals and presented a refined mummification and some remains of burial goods of high quality, which, together with the epigraphic data recovered, suggest that they were a group of priests of the Twenty-Second Dynasty. The torsos of two of these individuals (one between 35 and 45 years old and another adult, older than 25), were open and broken by the thieves. In one, the evisceration incision on the left side of the abdomen is very well preserved. A rectangular metal plaque with a wedjat eye incised on its outer face was firmly attached at the lower edge of the cut. In the other individual, on a package of ochre was located in the anatomical place of the heart, eight small plaques of gold and silver were found strung together to a cord. Each one has a different motif in a set that seems to be related to the contemporary funerary literature. The few documented parallels, the materials used, and the execution quality show the high status of the owner.
Research Interests: Funerary Belief (Egyptology), Third Intermediate Period, The Libyan Period, Book of the Dead, Ancient Egyptian Art and Archaeology, and 12 moreFunerary Rites and Customs in Ancient Egypt, Funerary Practices, Embalming, Mummies, Mummification, Theban Necropolis (Ancient Egypt), The Theban Priesthood of Ancient Egypt, Ancient Egyptian Mummies, Ancient Egyptian Amulets, Wedjat Eye, Dra’ Abu el-Naga, and Embalming plates
In 2017 and 2018, the Proyecto Djehuty has documented in a tomb of the early Middle Kingdom at Dra Abu el-Naga the burial of several individuals linked to the priesthood and the Domain of Amun of the Twenty-Second Dynasty. Among the... more
In 2017 and 2018, the Proyecto Djehuty has documented in a tomb of the early Middle Kingdom at Dra Abu el-Naga the burial of several individuals linked to the priesthood and the Domain of Amun of the Twenty-Second Dynasty. Among the artefacts found there, a group of textiles stands out. A first group includes the name and titles of the owner along with a year of reign. In another, unlike the previous one, only the titles and the identity of their owners are recorded. Thirdly, there are marks and signs of laundry or weaving in some of the pieces of the preceding types and others that only include a similar kind of notation. In addition, among the objects that formed part of the burial goods are two groups of artefacts: shrouds with a large figure of Osiris and texts referring to the deity and its owner and braces with leather ends where a king is offering before a deity. The analysis and preliminary contextualization of this evidence allow for a better understanding of the social profile and funeral practices of the individuals buried in Dra Abu el-Naga in the Third Intermediate Period.
Research Interests: Third Intermediate Period, Ancient Egyptian Iconography, The Libyan Period, Ancient Egyptian History, Ancient Egyptian Art and Archaeology, and 10 moreAncient Egypt, Theban Necropolis (Ancient Egypt), The Theban Priesthood of Ancient Egypt, Egyptian 22nd Dynasty, Ancient Egyptian Chronology, Ancient Egyptian Textiles and Clothing, Shrouds, Administration in Ancient Egypt, Dra’ Abu el-Naga, and Cult of Amenhotep I
Landscapes are dynamic and changing realities at a geographical and cognitive level that should be studied in detail in their synchronic and diachronic aspects for the correct understanding of their role in human societies. This paper... more
Landscapes are dynamic and changing realities at a geographical and cognitive level that should be studied in detail in their synchronic and diachronic aspects for the correct understanding of their role in human societies. This paper presents a case study of the toponym Ankhtawy (ꜥnḫ-tꜢwj), the ‘Life of the Two Lands’, located in the Memphite region since the Third Millennium BC. Thanks to a combination of written, archaeological, geomorphological and palaeoenvironmental evidence, an analysis has been carried out that considers the scarce and not very detailed previous studies, the topography associated with the toponym, its spellings and possible meanings and its associated deities, together with new archaeological, geomorphological and paleoenvironmental evidence. It has been found that at first Ankhtawy could not designate (part of) the city of Memphis or its necropolis, but the Wadi Abusir; only in a later date it would designate the necropolitan and cultic area of the desert of North Saqqara.
Research Interests: Landscape Archaeology, Place Names (Cultural Geography), Old Kingdom (Egyptology), New Kingdom (Egyptology), Sacred Landscape (Archaeology), and 12 moreToponymy, Middle Kingdom (Egyptology), Abusir, Bastet, Memphis, Memphis necropolis, Memphite Necropolis, Lake of Abusir, Ancient Egyptian toponymy, Saqqara necropolis, Saqqara topography, and Wadi Abusir
Research Interests: Ancient Egyptian Religion, Old Kingdom (Egyptology), Second Intermediate Period (Egyptology), Theopoetics, New Kingdom (Egyptology), and 7 moreAncient Egyptian Literature, Egyptology - temple & tomb reliefs, Middle Kingdom (Egyptology), First Intermediate Period, Tomb decoration (Egyptian), Hathor, and Egyptian Hymns
The area of the Spanish mission at Dra Abu el-Naga (in and around Theban tombs 11–12) has recently yielded a significant number of data about this part of the necropolis during the 17th Dynasty. Among them, several artefacts of a king’s... more
The area of the Spanish mission at Dra Abu el-Naga (in and around Theban tombs 11–12) has recently yielded a significant number of data about this part of the necropolis during the 17th Dynasty. Among them, several artefacts of a king’s son of the 17th Dynasty, Intefmose, have been found. He was known until now by three documents, all of them lacking an archaeological context: 1) a seated headless statue, found reused by Petrie in Qurna, close to the area of TT 11–12, and now in Manchester (inv. no. 5051); 2) a fragmentary shabti of the British Museum (inv. no. 13329) mentioning him and a king called Sobekemsaf, possibly Sobekemsaf II; and 3) a shabti coffin. The corpus of documents of Intefmose can now be increased thanks to the new findings in the area of TT 11–12, pertaining to his burial assemblage and offering place of this royal person. The context and content of this evidence can add some interesting facts, such as the almost certain location of the tomb of Intefmose in the area of TT 11–12 and the possible existence of a posthumous cult after his death.
Research Interests:
Even though several scholars have studied the scenes of pair dances of some private tombs of the Old Kingdom, their interpretation still offers a number of difficulties because of their succinct visual display and the unclarity of their... more
Even though several scholars have studied the scenes of pair dances of some private tombs of the Old Kingdom, their interpretation still offers a number of difficulties because of their succinct visual display and the unclarity of their associated texts. Through the analysis of their iconic contexts, the style of the dance, the features of the performers and the iconic and textual contents of the steps, it has been found that these scenes show ritual dances which were performed on the occasion of births and for this reason were transferred and adapted to funerary contexts in order to help the owner of the tomb in his/her (re)birth. The steps, pirouettes and twistings of both dancers, which have many connections with the goddess Hathor, would imitate the efforts made by the mother during the delivery to separate successfully from the neonate, and very probably they would have been part of the rites for a good birth.
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This paper reconsiders the original meaning and etymology of a noun referring a kind of a seat, ḫndw, which is documented since the Third Dynasty. From the analysis of the semagrams of its spellings of the Old Kingdom, it has been... more
This paper reconsiders the original meaning and etymology of a noun referring a kind of a seat, ḫndw, which is documented since the Third Dynasty. From the analysis of the semagrams of its spellings of the Old Kingdom, it has been possible to determine that very probably ḫndw described a throne or seat whose main feature is having free-standing legs of a medium-sized length. Likewise, in accordance with this aspect, it seems more plausible that the etymon of ḫndw was the 3-lit. verb ḫnd "to tread" (being thus a "treader/treading seat"), and not an alleged verb *ḫnd "to be curve, to bend", as has been understood until now by some scholars.
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The relations between Re, the Sun-god, and the gold seem to be a well-known topic of the Egyptian religion given the solar associations of that precious metal. Nevertheless, there are not detailed studies on those associations. This paper... more
The relations between Re, the Sun-god, and the gold seem to be a well-known topic of the Egyptian religion given the solar associations of that precious metal. Nevertheless, there are not detailed studies on those associations. This paper aims to analyse the spells of the Pyramid Texts where that deity and the gold are related, taking into account its precedents and the literary and intertextual elements of the concerned passages. As a result of this analysis it has been established that the richness of images, contexts and expressions that associate the god Re and the gold is significantly higher than the most evident metaphor that link them by means of the light and bright of both of them. They are thus related in contexts of protection against snakes, rising with an exalted joy, in descriptions of the sky before the sunrise as a space full of light as made in several minerals, in the image of Re as a calf of gold when he rises from the east, or the description of a rosette –a primeval form of Re– and of a boat of this god as made in gold.
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In the pyramid complex of the Egyptian king Khufu (c. 2509-2483 BC) at Giza the shaft G-7000x was discovered in 1925. Its inside, found intact, had a rich group of artefacts that, according to their inscriptions, belonged to his mother,... more
In the pyramid complex of the Egyptian king Khufu (c. 2509-2483 BC) at Giza the shaft G-7000x was discovered in 1925. Its inside, found intact, had a rich group of artefacts that, according to their inscriptions, belonged to his mother, Hetepheres I. Although the shaft seemed to be a tomb, because, among other objects, there were a canopic chest and a sarcophagus in calcite, the latter was empty, without a body nor traces of it. This unusual fact has raised a number of varied interpretations not completely satisfactory. This paper offers a new interpretation. By means of comparing G-7000x with other contemporary burials, funerary deposits and re-burials, the analysis of the furniture found there in the light of its parallels, and the study of its inscriptions as artefacts integrated into their context, it has been possible to make a new proposal: the removal, to the funerary complex of Khufu, of part of the body of Hetepheres I (empty sarcophagus and canopic chest) and of some other, very specific, objects from her original burial (maybe at Dahshur; the body inside a coffin would remain here). Its aim, as some author has sketched, could have been to make present the mother of this king at the funerary complex of her son, in order to help him in his rebirth.
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The reign of the founder of the Fourth Dynasty, Snofru, was a crucial episode in the history of the Egyptian divine kingship. Besides important economic and administrative transformations, the political ideology is a very dynamic sphere... more
The reign of the founder of the Fourth Dynasty, Snofru, was a crucial episode in the history of the Egyptian divine kingship. Besides important economic and administrative transformations, the political ideology is a very dynamic sphere of activity, nearly unprecedented until then. Examples of that process are the changes in the funerary realm, emphasising its cultic facets and the centrality of the King in the afterworld, the founding of hierogamic mrt-shrines at the capital and a possible social mutation by means of the creation of a new palace ceremonial. At the same time, some shrines devoted to the royal cult appear in the provinces, next to small step pyramids. The image of the King becomes more complex and full of nuances, as shown by the special features of his titles, the emerging of a lot of free royal epithets, the development of a more canonical and exclusive iconography and the creation of new crowns. All this activity seems to be due to an effort at solarizing intensely the figure of the monarch and making more explicit his sacred nature, maybe as a response to a period of troubles and as a result of the dynamics of several African divine kingships.
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The beginning of the ancient Egyptian Sixth Dynasty seems to have been a period of severe political confrontation. Apparently, the reign of king Teti was abruptly interrupted by a conspiracy which killed him and installed in power an... more
The beginning of the ancient Egyptian Sixth Dynasty seems to have been a period of severe political confrontation. Apparently, the reign of king Teti was abruptly interrupted by a conspiracy which killed him and installed in power an usurper, Userkara. After a very short reign, Userkara was deposed, seemingly by violence, by the rightful heir of Teti, the new king Pepy I. The available evidence suggests the existence of two opposing sides in the Egyptian court of this period: one presided by Teti and Pepy I, who tried to reduce the political influence of the clergy of the Sun-god, Ra, and other supported by the latter. In this paper, the religious aspects of these political disputes between the reign of Teti and the reign of Pepy I have been analysed. The study, which takes into consideration the specific historical contexts of each reign, has focused on the contents of the several names and epithets of the royal titularies of those kings: the Horus names of Teti and Pepy I, and the coronation names and the epithets of Pepy I referring him as son of the goddess Hathor, Lady of Dendera, and the god Atum, Lord of Heliopolis. As a result of a detailed examination of these sources, it has been found that under this confrontation for power also underlays a debate between very different conceptions of the religious fundaments of the sacred kingship and of the exercise of royal power: one supported on Upper Egyptian traditions, focused around the god Horus, and other, located in the Memphite area and Lower Egypt and focused on the Sun-god Ra.
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In this paper the several kinds of divine filiation of the Egyptian king are studied. After some introductory remarks, the paper focuses on the myths which constitute the basis for further developments and expressions of the royal... more
In this paper the several kinds of divine filiation of the Egyptian king are studied. After some introductory remarks, the paper focuses on the myths which constitute the basis for further developments and expressions of the royal filiation as a divine one (the Heliopolitan cosmogony, the murder of Osiris, the infancy of Horus, the struggle between Horus and Seth and the daily journey of Ra). After that, the analysis deals with the 'constellations' by which those divine filiations of the king were materialized: Horus son of Osiris, Osiris son of Geb and Nut, the King son of Ra and other contextually-dependent divine filiations.
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This paper deals with the meanings of faience in Egypt during the Old Kingdom. First, the analysis presents its most ancient uses and the terms employed for describing this material. The study continues with the main uses of that material... more
This paper deals with the meanings of faience in Egypt during the Old Kingdom. First, the analysis presents its most ancient uses and the terms employed for describing this material. The study continues with the main uses of that material and the semantics which were given to it, focusing on its qualities and properties in relation with the archaeological, iconic and textual evidence. It has been found that Egyptian faience had a very broad and rich group of meanings related to the notions of celestial light, especially that of the sun at dawn, the divinity and the ability for regeneration.
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One of the 'free epithets' of Egyptian King created during the Old Kingdom attracts attention for the multiple readings which have been proposed for it: F35+G5 [F35 + G5]. In this paper, a new approach to its reading, different of those... more
One of the 'free epithets' of Egyptian King created during the Old Kingdom attracts attention for the multiple readings which have been proposed for it: F35+G5 [F35 + G5]. In this paper, a new approach to its reading, different of those made until now, has been presented, based upon the comparative analysis of the uses as a grapheme of both signs in texts of the Old Kingdom. From this analysis, it has been found that most probably the sign of the falcon [G5] operates as a semagram, not as a logogram, as it previously was read. Thus, this royal epithet can be understood as 'Nfr', and translated as 'the Youthful' or 'the Present One'. The function of the epithet inside the titulary of the Egyptian kings of the Old Kingdom and its cultural and religious context have also been studied, perspectives which have not been contemplated in the several studies on this subject.
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Most previous studies about the atef-crown (Atf) relate it with the Egyptian god Osiris. They also identify its central part with the White Crown or with the headdress of the mww-dancers. A new analysis of the available evidence for the... more
Most previous studies about the atef-crown (Atf) relate it with the Egyptian god Osiris. They also identify its central part with the White Crown or with the headdress of the mww-dancers. A new analysis of the available evidence for the Old Kingdom allows rejecting its relation with Osiris before the Middle Kingdom. Furthermore, a reevaluation of its iconography highlights its close iconographic and semantic relationship with the Double-Plume-Crown (Swtj) and the possible identification of the central vegetal bundle of the atef as a rosette tied at the ends of its petals. An iconologic analysis of its components and a semiologic study of the contexts where it appears make possible to see the connection of this crown with the god Ra. Thus, the Egyptian king, with the atef-crown, would incarnate the bright and genesic abilities of this solar god on earth. Finally, this idea would be part of the political programme of the king under which this crown seems to have been created, that of Snefru.
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Scenes showing the reward of officials with gold during the Old Kingdom have been studied rarely from the point of view of their possible ideological meanings. In this paper the author suggests a re-evaluation of the available evidence on... more
Scenes showing the reward of officials with gold during the Old Kingdom have been studied rarely from the point of view of their possible ideological meanings. In this paper the author suggests a re-evaluation of the available evidence on the subject and a semiologic approach, in order to present an interpretation of their social and religious semantics.
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The god Khnum, known from the Thinite Period (c. 2900-2593 BC) seems to increase his religious importance in the beginning of Fourth Dynasty (c. 2544-2436 BC). This fact, after the available evidence, cannot be disconnected from his close... more
The god Khnum, known from the Thinite Period (c. 2900-2593 BC) seems to increase his religious importance in the beginning of Fourth Dynasty (c. 2544-2436 BC). This fact, after the available evidence, cannot be disconnected from his close ties with the Egyptian kingship of this period. The reasons behind this can be seen through the analysis of the epithets of that deity, and also the examination of his presence in some royal names, of the identity of his priests and of his functions during the very next dynasties, among other aspects. Thus, the intensification of his importance could be related to the role of this god in the cycle of the divine birth of the king, a royal myth known specially from the New Kingdom versions that seems to present its main arguments during the Old Kingdom.
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The goddess Bastet, attested since the Thinite Period onwards, plays an important role in the solar theology during the Old Kingdom as protectress, mother, wife and daughter of the sun-god Ra. In the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty, she... more
The goddess Bastet, attested since the Thinite Period onwards, plays an important role in the solar theology during the Old Kingdom as protectress, mother, wife and daughter of the sun-god Ra. In the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty, she experiences a strong theological development, progressively more intense. Her new aspects are very related to the monarchy, especially as mother and wife of the king, and as northern counterpart of the goddess Hathor. This evolution, traceable since the Second Dynasty, seems to be inseparable from other socioeconomic processes, such as the great effort of agricultural colonization in the Delta, the new social and political premises regulating the relations between kingship and subjects, and the new political theology, very solar in nature, promoting a larger concentration of power on the king.
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The original location of Khafre's statues from his Lower Temple at Giza is unknown, given that they were found in a favissa in that building. Their possible location has been studied by some scholars, such as V. Vikentiev or, more... more
The original location of Khafre's statues from his Lower Temple at Giza is unknown, given that they were found in a favissa in that building. Their possible location has been studied by some scholars, such as V. Vikentiev or, more recently, M. Seidel. In spite of some correct guesses, the general methodology applied by them does not seem very accurate and is out of line with the internal features of each sculpture. In this article, a review of these premises is made, and an alternative proposal for the location of the statues is also given. For this purpose, it is necessary to analyse not only the architectural space, but also a number of elements which enable us to suggest their original location: physical attributes, content and reading direction of the inscriptions, iconographical features of royal names, presence and function of other characters (goddesses, falcons), or the distribution of the components of the zmA-tAwj on the lateral panels of thrones.
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Publication of funerary cones found at the area of Theban Tombs 11 and 12, with some dispersion maps of the most important ones. Some of them allow to make some corrections and additions to the corpus of Davies and Macadam.
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This paper is focused on pharaonic royal statues with a falcon spreading the wings on the back of king's head, from Old and New Kingdoms. In addition to a general iconographic analysis, some reflections about this statue type is made.... more
This paper is focused on pharaonic royal statues with a falcon spreading the wings on the back of king's head, from Old and New Kingdoms. In addition to a general iconographic analysis, some reflections about this statue type is made. First, the proposal made by H. Sourouzian (MDAIK 49 [1993], pp. 255-257), which attempts to identify the statue Vienna ÄS 5910 with the representation of Sety I at the king's chapel at the temple of that king in Abydos is rejected, on the basis of an iconographical review and the careful study of the block-throne with a falcon spreading the wings as backrest coming from examples of Sed Festival scenes from the reigns of Amenhotep III and, specially, Amenhotep IV/ Akhenaten. Second, an iconographic evolution of this kind of royal statue is proposed, as well as some other remarks about their relations with royal crowns and dresses.
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In this paper there are six notes about the god Behedety in the Old Kingdom. In § I the first documented image of the god, on the underground relief panels of the funerary complex of Netjerykhet at Saqqara, is studied. In this period... more
In this paper there are six notes about the god Behedety in the Old Kingdom. In § I the first documented image of the god, on the underground relief panels of the funerary complex of Netjerykhet at Saqqara, is studied. In this period Behedety has the functions of a deity of the throne and of the sovereignty, especially of the unified kingdom. In § II new readings of the inscriptions of some blocks coming from Lisht and datable in the Fourth Dynasty that are related to Behedety are offered. They are commented and analysed in § III, and also connected to the form of the god as a winged solar disk, whose ideological relevance in the early Fourth Dynasty is studied. In § IV the analysis focus on the ways by which Behedety is represented on some globular vases of the end of the Fifth Dynasty and the beginning of the Sixth Dynasty. From a semiological point of view, differing from the opinion of E. Blumenthal, it is possible to say that the images of Behedety as a falcon and as a winged solar disk share several aspects of their nature and meaning. In § V other vases with images of Behedety of a different typology and meaning of those studied in § IV are analysed. Finally, § VI deals with an uncommon form of Behedety as a falcon, coming from the offering hall of the funerary temple of Pepy II. There, the god shows a crown consisting of a pair of horns of bull from which emerge a pair of caudal feathers of falcon. From a semantic analysis and the comparison with some spells of the Pyramid Texts it is possible to conclude that such a crown emphasises the regenerative aspects of the god by means of the light of the sun by day and of the stars by night.
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In this paper, the bia-throne (ḫndw-bjꜢ, ḫndw bjꜢj) in the Pyramid Texts and its possible royal sculptural parallels in the Old Kingdom are discussed. First, the meanings and functions of that kind of throne are studied, concluding that... more
In this paper, the bia-throne (ḫndw-bjꜢ, ḫndw bjꜢj) in the Pyramid Texts and its possible royal sculptural parallels in the Old Kingdom are discussed. First, the meanings and functions of that kind of throne are studied, concluding that they are related to the king's resurrection and his ascension in the firmament, where he becomes the ruler among several asterisms. The same conclusion can be inferred also from the analysis of the location of the spells naming those thrones inside the pyramid of Pepy I. Second, an iconographic and iconological analysis of the lion thrones of the statues found at Khafre's lower temple at Giza has been made. From that study, it can be concluded that they are very related to the (re)generation of the king as a person and as a ruler, and that the lions (rather lionesses) represent a goddess, probably Bastet. Finally, identification between the bia-thrones in the Pyramid Texts and the lionesses-thrones of Khafre is made, from their common morphological and symbolical similarities. An important link between them is the possible use of the anorthosite gneiss as a substitute for bia, the meteoric iron of which the thrones are said to be made.
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Malgré la publication de la Chapelle Blanche de Senouseret Ier qui remonte à environ cinquante ans, l’image d’Amon reflétée dans celle-ci n’a jamais fait l’objet d’une étude détaillée, conformément à sa complexité. La meilleure approche... more
Malgré la publication de la Chapelle Blanche de Senouseret Ier qui remonte à environ cinquante ans, l’image d’Amon reflétée dans celle-ci n’a jamais fait l’objet d’une étude détaillée, conformément à sa complexité. La meilleure approche pour la comprendre c’est la sémiologie, en analysant chaque figure d’Amon comme s’il s’agissait d’un syntagme nominal. Ainsi, nous distinguons sept types iconographiques du dieu dans ce monument, que nous décomposons dans leurs différents éléments ou attributs (couronnes, vêtements, etc.), en les abordant comme si c’étaient lexèmes. De par cette approche sémantique, nous pouvons lire les images, en les énonçant comme lesdits syntagmes nominaux, constitués d’un substantif (= Amon) plus épithètes (= attributs iconographiques). L’étude de la distribution des sept formes du dieu et leurs attributs dans la Chapelle s’avère également significative puisqu’elle nous révèle d’autres nuances, complémentaires à celles abordables individuellement. De cette façon, nous pouvons entrevoir quelques aspects de la politique cultuelle de Senouseret I, et sur le degré de développement théologique concernant le dieu Amon au début de la XII Dynastie.
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This work presents the historic phenomenon of the employment of Greek and Carian mercenaries in Egypt under the Saite Dynasty, from a perspective unifying the Egyptian and Oriental sources and the Greek ones, since until now this topic... more
This work presents the historic phenomenon of the employment of Greek and Carian mercenaries in Egypt under the Saite Dynasty, from a perspective unifying the Egyptian and Oriental sources and the Greek ones, since until now this topic has been studied hellenocentricly. Firstly, we analyse the available sources, specially the not-literary sources’ importance (Epigraphy, Archaeology, etc.), traditionally taken aside for this topic (because the Greek character of the literary sources). After that, we study mercenary’s status and character in the two worlds (Egyptian and Greek), and we make a little sketch about the statu quo before the arrival of the Greek mercenaries. To conclude, we propose a diachronic reconstruction of such historic process, after the reigns of the Egyptian kings, the economic aspects and some general conclusions.
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Presentation, description and interpretation of an Egyptian statuette made in bronze of the Late Period, now on the permanent exhibition of the room of Egyptian Anquities of Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid (inv. no. 2064). This... more
Presentation, description and interpretation of an Egyptian statuette made in bronze of the Late Period, now on the permanent exhibition of the room of Egyptian Anquities of Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid (inv. no. 2064). This figurine forms part of the first set of Egyptian antiquities of the Museo Arqueológico Nacional, coming from the Royal collections. The paper focuses on the feline aspects of the goddess Bastet, whose cult was very popular in the First Millennium BC. She was one of the goddess who symbolised the maternal sweetnes, as protector of the home and propitiatory of fecundity.
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Description, analysis, contextualization and translation of the texts of a wall fragment carved in relief with offering scenes from a tomb of the First Intermediate Period at Herakleopolis Magna (Ehnasya el-Medina, Egypt).
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Description, analysis and contextualization of a painted wooden stela of the Third Intermediate Period (XXI-XXII dyn.), with a scene of a woman adoring a hieracocephalic deity, with some notes about a possible 'emblematic' or... more
Description, analysis and contextualization of a painted wooden stela of the Third Intermediate Period (XXI-XXII dyn.), with a scene of a woman adoring a hieracocephalic deity, with some notes about a possible 'emblematic' or 'logoiconic-semiological' reading.
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Description, analysis and contextualization of a painted Naqada II vase (MAN inv. 16169).
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General knowledge article about some mythical episodes which are little known: the rebellion of Geb against his father, Shu; the demiurgic work of the latter creating the time mechanism of the sky; and the adultery of Osiris and Nephthys... more
General knowledge article about some mythical episodes which are little known: the rebellion of Geb against his father, Shu; the demiurgic work of the latter creating the time mechanism of the sky; and the adultery of Osiris and Nephthys as a reason given by Seth to kill Osiris.
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General knowledge article about the history of ancient Memphis in Egypt.
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General knowledge article about the 'Book of Going Forth by Day' ('Book of the Dead').
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General knowledge article about the reign of Amenhotep III.
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General knowledge article about the history of ancient Egyptian Thebes.
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PhD manuscript to be published. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Departamento de Historia Antigua, Historia Medieval y Paleografía y Diplomática. Thesis defense: 21-12-2010 Contents: Vol. I,1.- Vol. I, 2 .-... more
PhD manuscript to be published. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Departamento de Historia Antigua, Historia Medieval y Paleografía y Diplomática. Thesis defense: 21-12-2010 Contents: Vol. I,1.- Vol. I, 2 .- Vol. II, 1 .- Vol. II, 2
Research Interests: Semiotics, Ancient Egyptian Religion, Visual Semiotics, Old Kingdom (Egyptology), Ancient Egyptian Iconography, and 9 moreAncient Egyptian History, Ancient Egyptian language, Ancient Egyptian kingship, Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Egyptian Royal Titulary, Fourth Dynasty (Egypt), Third Dynasty (Egypt), Fifth Dynasty (Egypt), and Sixth Dynasty (Egypt)
Adaptive questionnaires allow identifying the most appropriate question at a particular moment during an evaluation process. There are several approaches to implement adaptive questionnaires, but not many to ensure their quality. This... more
Adaptive questionnaires allow identifying the most appropriate question at a particular moment during an evaluation process. There are several approaches to implement adaptive questionnaires, but not many to ensure their quality. This paper shows a procedure to improve the adaptive questionnaires quality by considering the relevance of each question. Therefore, a level is associated with each question, which allows analyzing the students' answers in order to identify how to improve the evaluation process. The proposed method has been implemented in e-valUAM that allows building adaptive questionnaires and has enabled carrying out the first experiments to validate the approach.
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Adaptive questionnaires allow identifying the most appropriate question at a particular moment during an evaluation process. There are several approaches to implement adaptive questionnaires, but not many to ensure their quality. This... more
Adaptive questionnaires allow identifying the most appropriate question at a particular moment during an evaluation process. There are several approaches to implement adaptive questionnaires, but not many to ensure their quality. This article shows a procedure to improve the adaptive questionnaires quality by considering the relevance of each question. So, a level is associated to each question, which allows analysing the students' answers in order to identify how to improve the evaluation process. The proposed method has been implemented in e-valUAM that allows building adaptive questionnaires and has enabled carrying out the first experiments to validate the approach.
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In this work, we develop a formalism based on test construction by the eval-UAM tool. This process aims to improve the quality of the assessment process by taking into account the relevance of the items. The method uses students' answers... more
In this work, we develop a formalism based on test construction by the eval-UAM tool. This process aims to improve the quality of the assessment process by taking into account the relevance of the items. The method uses students' answers to follow different paths to improve the accuracy of the assessment process. By using this method, we improve the objectiveness and take into account the relevance of the subject contents. The method also includes a complete analysis of the individual items that, for example, can be used to discriminate the ones that are not correctly formulated or, alternatively, to detect subjects that are not correctly explained to the students in the learning process. The method is implemented in the e-valUAM application and can be directly used in computer-assisted tests for different subjects and disciplines, or as a self-evaluation tool with the objective of correcting students' deficiencies in the learning process.
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In this work, we develop a formalism based on test construction by the eval-UAM tool. This process aims to improve the quality of the assessment process by taking into account the relevance of the items. The method uses students' answers... more
In this work, we develop a formalism based on test construction by the eval-UAM tool. This process aims to improve the quality of the assessment process by taking into account the relevance of the items. The method uses students' answers to follow different paths to improve the accuracy of the assessment process. By using this method, we improve the objectiveness and take into account the relevance of the subject contents. The method also includes a complete analysis of the individual items that, for example, can be used to discriminate the ones that are not correctly formulated or, alternatively, to detect subjects that are not correctly explained to the students in the learning process. The method is implemented in the e-valUAM application and can be directly used in computer-assisted tests for different subjects and disciplines, or as a self-evaluation tool with the objective of correcting students' deficiencies in the learning process.
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Presentation of the poems and songs performed for the goddess Hathor in her advocation of 'Gold' from the Old Kingdom to the New Kingdom. This facet of Hathor describes her as the materialization of the light of the Sun God Ra that... more
Presentation of the poems and songs performed for the goddess Hathor in her advocation of 'Gold' from the Old Kingdom to the New Kingdom. This facet of Hathor describes her as the materialization of the light of the Sun God Ra that catalyzes and enables the (re)birth of life and order in the cosmos.
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The so-called 'White Chapel' of Senusert I, which was found dismantled and re-used as filling in New Kingdom buildings of the temple precinct of Karnak, is one of the few known exemplars of Middle Kingdom temples preserved almost... more
The so-called 'White Chapel' of Senusert I, which was found dismantled and re-used as filling in New Kingdom buildings of the temple precinct of Karnak, is one of the few known exemplars of Middle Kingdom temples preserved almost completely. In addition to its architectural originality and its excellent artistic quality, the richness of its scenes and inscriptions is an exceptional window to understand the religion and ideology of that period through a monument which has been up to now the object of conventional and superficial analysis. This seminar offers an different insight and a more complete approach to the realities and characteristics of this chapel, combining spaces, images and texts into a single semiological approach.
Research Interests: Semiotics, Ancient Egyptian Religion, Egyptology, Egyptian Art and Archaeology, Egyptian Archaeology, and 15 moreVisual Semiotics, Ancient Egyptian Iconography, Middle Kingdom, Ancient Egyptian Art and Archaeology, Egyptology - temple & tomb reliefs, Middle Kingdom (Egyptology), Semiology, Amun-Re, Karnak Temple, Middle Kingdom Egyptian archaeology, Senwosret I, Egyptian Temples, Sesostris I, Chapelle Blanche (Karnak), and White Chapel (Karnak)
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In the pyramid complex of the Egyptian king Khufu (c. 2509-2483 BC) at Giza the shaft G-7000x was discovered in 1925. Its inside, found intact, had a rich group of artefacts that, according to their inscriptions, belonged to his mother,... more
In the pyramid complex of the Egyptian king Khufu (c. 2509-2483 BC) at Giza the shaft G-7000x was discovered in 1925. Its inside, found intact, had a rich group of artefacts that, according to their inscriptions, belonged to his mother, Hetepheres I. Although the shaft seemed to be a tomb, because, among other objects, there were a canopic chest and a sarcophagus in calcite, the latter was empty, without a body nor traces of it. This unusual fact has raised a number of varied interpretations not completely satisfactory. This paper offers a new interpretation. By means of comparing G-7000x with other contemporary burials, funerary deposits and re-burials, the analysis of the furniture found there in the light of its parallels, and the study of its inscriptions as artefacts integrated into their context, it has been possible to make a new proposal: the removal, to the funerary complex of Khufu, of part of the body of Hetepheres I (empty sarcophagus and canopic chest) and of some other, very specific, objects from her original burial (maybe at Dahshur; the body inside a coffin would remain here). Its aim, as some author has sketched, could have been to make present the mother of this king at the funerary complex of her son, in order to help him in his rebirth.
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course in 'Diploma en Egiptología', March 21st, April 11th, 18th, 25th and May 2nd 2013.
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The reign of Egyptian King Teti (c. 2305-2279 BC) seems to have been interrupted abruptly by a conspiration which killed him and installed in power an usurpator, Userkara. After a very short reign, the latter sovereign would have been... more
The reign of Egyptian King Teti (c. 2305-2279 BC) seems to have been interrupted abruptly by a conspiration which killed him and installed in power an usurpator, Userkara. After a very short reign, the latter sovereign would have been deposed by the rightful heir of Teti, the new King Pepy I (c. 2276-2228 BC). Thanks to evidence as the titularies of these kings, the location of the royal tombs and the traces of the reprisals after the conspirations as damnatio memoriae, N. Kanawati has shown the existence of two opposing sides in Egyptian court of this period: on the one hand, the one presided by Teti and Pepy I would have tried to reduce the political influence of the clergy of the Sun-god, Ra; on the other hand, the one which would have had the support of those priests. After Kanawati, that confrontation seems to have caused a reconciliation effort by Pepy I, as it can be seen in the change of his titulary after the first years of reign. Nevertheless, it is possible to know more details of this process if further evidence, not yet considered for this question previously, is taken into account: the royal epithets associated to some deities (Hathor of Dendera and Atum of Heliopolis), the policy of founding royal sanctuaries in provinces or establishing political alliances with provincial nobility of Upper Egypt through the establishment of marriages of some female members of them with the King. Thus, under this confrontation for power also underlays a debate between very different conceptions of the religious fundaments of the sacred kingship and the exercise of royal power: one supported on Upper Egyptian traditions, focused around the god Horus, and other concentrated in the solar theology, located in the Memphite area and Lower Egypt and focused on the god Ra.
Research Interests: Ancient Egyptian Religion, History, Egyptology, Egyptian History, Re, and 14 moreOld Kingdom (Egyptology), Ancient Egyptian History, Egyptian Kingship, Society, Old Kingdom reliefs, Hathor, Ancient Egyptian royal inscriptions, Horus, Sixth Dynasty, Pepy I, Teti, Userkara, Atum, and Egyptian Royal Titulary
Research Interests: Ancient Egyptian Religion, Egyptology, Egyptian Archaeology, Old Kingdom (Egyptology), Ancient Egyptian History, and 11 moreAncient economy, Ancient Egyptian Art and Archaeology, Standardisation, Funerary culture, Giza, Old Kingdom reliefs, Fourth Dynasty (Egypt), Third Dynasty (Egypt), Sneferu, Meidum, and Fourth Dynasty
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"The course is an approach to the ancient Egyptian royal funerary complexes of the Old Kingdom, which consists, besides the pyramid, of a rich set of elements that serve to articulate several complementary meanings in order to ensure the... more
"The course is an approach to the ancient Egyptian royal funerary complexes of the Old Kingdom, which consists, besides the pyramid, of a rich set of elements that serve to articulate several complementary meanings in order to ensure the new life of the deceased king and his integration inside the different cycles of cosmic regeneration.
Thus, the course looks at the precedents of royal funerary complexes during Predynastic and Early Dynastic Periods, their architectonic structures and their evolution over time. The course also attends the main issues and topics of the iconic programs of these complexes, the manner in which they interact with the spaces, and the rituals performed there.
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Thus, the course looks at the precedents of royal funerary complexes during Predynastic and Early Dynastic Periods, their architectonic structures and their evolution over time. The course also attends the main issues and topics of the iconic programs of these complexes, the manner in which they interact with the spaces, and the rituals performed there.
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Scenes showing the reward of officials with gold during the Old Kingdom have been studied rarely from the point of view of their possible ideological meanings. In this paper the author suggests a re-evaluation of the available evidence on... more
Scenes showing the reward of officials with gold during the Old Kingdom have been studied rarely from the point of view of their possible ideological meanings. In this paper the author suggests a re-evaluation of the available evidence on the subject and a semiologic approach, in order to present an interpretation of their social and religious semantics.
The goddess Bastet, attested since the Thinite Period onwards, plays an important role in the solar theology during the Old Kingdom as protectress, mother, wife and daughter of the sun-god Ra. In the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty, she... more
The goddess Bastet, attested since the Thinite Period onwards, plays an important role in the solar theology during the Old Kingdom as protectress, mother, wife and daughter of the sun-god Ra. In the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty, she experiences a strong theological development, progressively more intense. Her new aspects are very related to the monarchy, especially as mother and wife of the king, and as northern counterpart of the goddess Hathor. This evolution, traceable since the Second Dynasty, seems to be inseparable from other socioeconomic processes, such as the great effort of agricultural colonization in the Delta, the new social and political premises regulating the relations between kingship and subjects, and the new political theology, very solar in nature, promoting a larger concentration of power on the king.
The god Khnum, known from the Thinite Period (c. 2900-2593 BC) seems to increase his religious importance in the beginning of Fourth Dynasty (c. 2544-2436 BC). This fact, after the available evidence, cannot be disconnected from his close... more
The god Khnum, known from the Thinite Period (c. 2900-2593 BC) seems to increase his religious importance in the beginning of Fourth Dynasty (c. 2544-2436 BC). This fact, after the available evidence, cannot be disconnected from his close ties with the Egyptian kingship of this period. The reasons behind this can be seen through the analysis of the epithets of that deity, and also the examination of his presence in some royal names, of the identity of his priests and of his functions during the very next dynasties, among other aspects. Thus, the intensification of his importance could be related to the role of this god in the cycle of the divine birth of the king, a royal myth known specially from the New Kingdom versions that seems to present its main arguments during the Old Kingdom.
One of the “free epithets” of Egyptian King created during the Old Kingdom attracts attention for the multiple readings which have been proposed for it: [F35 + G5]. In this paper, a new approach to its reading, different of those made... more
One of the “free epithets” of Egyptian King created during the Old Kingdom attracts attention for the multiple readings which have been proposed for it: [F35 + G5]. In this paper, a new approach to its reading, different of those made until now, is presented. This is based on the comparative analysis of the uses as grapheme of both signs in texts of the Old Kingdom. The function of the epithet inside the titulary of the Egyptian kings of the Old Kingdom and its cultural and religious context are also studied, perspectives which have not been contemplated in the several studies on this subject.
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Almost all previous studies about the atef-crown (Atf) have related it to the god Osiris, and they have identified its central element with the White Crown or with the headdress of the mww-dancers. An analysis of the Old Kingdom sources... more
Almost all previous studies about the atef-crown (Atf) have related it to the god Osiris, and they have identified its central element with the White Crown or with the headdress of the mww-dancers. An analysis of the Old Kingdom sources for the atef-crown allows ruling out a relation of this crown with Osiris before the Middle Kingdom. Also, a study of its iconography highlights a different interpretation of the central vegetal element. The iconological examination of its components and semiological analysis of its contexts indicate its links with the sun-god, Ra. Finally, this crown is studied into the historical and ideological context of its first attestations, during the reign of king Snefru.