UC Berkeley

1107 Pages·2010·57.19 MB·English

by  Jean Li

UC Berkeley
UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Title
Elite Theban Women of the Eighth-Sixth Centuries BCE in Egypt: Identity, Status and
Mortuary Practice
Permalink
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1gh4d9j2
Author
Li, Jean
Publication Date
2010

Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation
eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library
University of California
Elite Theban Women of the Eighth-Sixth Centuries BCE in Egypt: Identity, Status and
Mortuary Practice

By

Jean Li

A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor in Philosophy
in
Near Eastern Studies
in the Graduate Division
of the
University of California, Berkeley

Committee in Charge:
Professor Carol Redmount, Chair
Professor Meg Conkey
Professor Todd Hickey
Professor Benjamin Porter

Fall 2010

Abstract
Elite Theban Women of the Eighth-Sixth Centuries BCE in Egypt: Identity, Status and
Mortuary Practice

by

Jean Li

Doctor of Philosophy in Near Eastern Studies, Egyptian Art and Archaeology

University of California, Berkeley

Professor Carol Redmount, Chair.

The roles and status of women in ancient Egyptian society remain imperfectly defined
particularly in the Third Intermediate and Late Periods. Egyptology has generally examined
women from the perspective of fertility and sexuality, thus defining the social roles of
women as wives and mothers who derived their status from their male associations. This
dissertation discusses women’s roles by investigating the ways in which elite Theban women
constructed and displayed their identities in their mortuary practices during the eighth-sixth
centuries BCE (Dynasties 22/25-Dynasty 26). In Thebes, the archaeological remains of the
eighth-sixth centuries demonstrate conspicuous identity displays by men, but where and how
women fit into this period of “big personalities” has not been analyzed in detail.
This dissertation argues that the eighth-sixth centuries BCE was not a time of decay,
as it is traditionally characterized in Egyptology, but instead a dynamic era in which its
cultural products, especially mortuary practices, exhibited a creative tension between
tradition and innovation. Identity construction by the ancient Egyptians during a time of
rapid socio-political change is manifested in this tension of tradition and innovation. Women
featured prominently in the innovations of cultural practices such as kingship, religion, art
and mortuary practices, which suggest that they fully participated in the societal-wide
preoccupation of identity construction. Therefore, the eighth-sixth centuries BCE provides a
rare opportunity to examine the nuances of elite female identity constructions.
The material evidence for elite Theban women derives primarily from mortuary
contexts. Therefore, this dissertation uses the mortuary practices of elite Theban women in
the eighth-sixth as its evidentiary core. Relevant mortuary evidence was compiled into two
databases: the Tombs and Contents corpus and the Funerary Objects corpus. The first
contains information on the Theban tombs and their contents that attested to the presence of
women or belonged to women. The Funerary Objects corpus contains information on
unprovenanced mortuary objects belonging to women that are attributed stylistically to
Thebes. The information in these databases was analyzed for patterns in the allocation of
titles, the spatiality of tombs and distribution and type of funerary objects. Furthermore, this
project used different theoretical lenses of memory, landscape, gender and identity to analyze
elite female mortuary practices in Thebes. The application of these theoretical lenses to the
1
mortuary data revealed the ways elite women created and displayed important elements of
their status and identity in death.
The results of the holistic analysis of elite female mortuary practices reveal that elite
Theban women of the eighth-sixth centuries operated as active agents to more forcefully
express their identities, especially status, albeit within the traditional societal modes and
boundaries. Elite female strategies of identity construction were polysemic and complex.
Elite female mortuary practices suggest, that, in contrast to traditional Egyptological
understanding of women, elite Theban women of the eighth-sixth centuries did not derive
their status and identity solely from their male relatives. Instead, their burial practices often
reveal a concern with their own status independent of male associations.
Elite Theban women’s concern for the display of their identity independent of men
has implications for a number of issues concerning the social status of women in ancient
Egypt, including the issue of mandatory celibacy of women in the Amen clergy. Another
implication of this work is that Egyptology needs to expand beyond traditional frameworks
of gender when analyzing women. By analyzing groups of women in their individual
historical and socio-cultural contexts, this dissertation expands discussions of ancient
Egyptian women beyond the monolithic categories of mother and wife. The archaeological
analysis of the burial practices of elite Theban women of the eighth-sixth centuries suggests
that ancient Egyptian women were active participants and contributors in societal trends of
identity constructions. Elite female strategies of identity construction demonstrate
complexities of identity conceptions by women that extend beyond the traditional scholarly
characterizations that developed women’s identities solely by reference to men.

2
FOR MY FAMILY
i
TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Figures .................................................................................................v

List of Tables ................................................................................................vi

Acknowledgments...............................................................................................vii

INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................1
I. Ancient Egyptian Women and Egyptology.......................................................1
I.i. Ancient Egyptian Portrayals of Women......................................................1
II.ii. Egyptology and Gender...........................................................................3
II. Methodology .................................................................................................5
III. Organization of Dissertation..........................................................................6

CHAPTER ONE: A Historical Overview of the Eighth-Sixth Centuries in Egypt:
Tradition, Innovation and Women.......................................................................8
Introduction .................................................................................................8
Historical Overview............................................................................................9
Tradition and innovation: kingship, religion, art, burial practices and women....11
Kingship ...............................................................................................12
Religion ...............................................................................................16
Art ...............................................................................................17
Burial Practices..............................................................................................19
Conclusions ...............................................................................................21

CHAPTER TWO: Feminine Titles, Status and Identity........................................ 23
Introduction ...............................................................................................23
I. Axes of Identities..........................................................................................23
II. Corpus of Elite Female Titles........................................................................ 26
II.i. “Honorific”Titles..................................................................................... 26
II.i.a. Lady of the House (nbt pr)........................................................28
II.i.b. Noblewoman (špst/špst-t).........................................................29
II.ii. Titles Denoting Occupations..................................................................30
II.ii.a. Musicians.................................................................................31
II.ii.a.i. Singer in the Residence of the Temple of Amen
(ḥsy.t n(t) ẖnw n pr Imn)..............................................................31
II.ii.a.ii. Chantress of Amun (šmy.t n Imn)...................................34
II.ii.a.iii. Sistrum Player (ḫy.t)......................................................34
II.ii.a.iv. Dancer...........................................................................35
II.ii.b. Other Occupational Titles........................................................35
II.ii.b.i. Nurse (mn.t)...................................................................35
II.ii.b.ii.Scribe and attendant (sš sḥm.t, šms.t)................................36
III. Distribution of Titles in Corpora..................................................................38
IV. Titles and Familial Affiliations....................................................................45
ii
V. Discussion and Comparanda........................................................................ 47
V.i. Third Intermediate Period........................................................................ 47
V.ii. New Kingdom........................................................................................48
V.iii. Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period..........................................51
VI. Concluding Remarks...................................................................................53

CHAPTER THREE: Landscape, Memories and Elite Female
Burials of the Theban Necropolis......................................................................58
Introduction ...............................................................................................58
I. Examining Mortuary Landscapes...................................................................58
II.Burial Practices in the Theban Necropolis......................................................65
II.i. Temple Reuse........................................................................................67
II.i.a. The Ramesseum.......................................................................67
II.i.b. Madinet Habu..........................................................................73
II.i.c. Deir el-Bahri............................................................................87
II.i.d. Discussion of Temple Reuse by Elite Women
in the Theban Necropolis..............................................................94
II.ii.Tomb Reuse............................................................................................95
II.ii.a. The Valley of the Queens.........................................................95
II.ii.b. The Asasif..............................................................................101
II.ii.c. Dra’ Abu el-Naga....................................................................108
II.ii.d. Discussion on Tomb Reuse.....................................................109
II.iii. New Constructions..............................................................................111
II.iii.a. The Ramesseum.....................................................................112
II.iii.b. Scarp of the Ramesseum........................................................115
II.iii.c. Medinet Habu........................................................................118
II.iii.d. The Asasif.............................................................................120
II.iii.e. Discussion on New Constructions..........................................126
III. Concluding Remarks: The Theban Mortuary Landscape
and Elite Female Identity Expressions...........................................................127

CHAPTER FOUR: The Symbolic Economy of Elite Female
Mortuary Practices ..........................................................................................133
Introduction ..............................................................................................133
I. Typical Burial Assemblage of the Period.......................................................134
I.i. Stelae ..............................................................................................135
I.ii. Coffins ..............................................................................................140
I.iii. Funerary Papyri.....................................................................................144
I.iv. Shabtis and Containers...........................................................................145
I.v. Canopic Jars..........................................................................................147
I.vi. Miscellaneous Items.............................................................................149
I.vii. The Value of the Burial Assemblage....................................................150
II. The Analysis ..............................................................................................150
II.i. Tombs and Contents Database...............................................................151
II.ii. Funerary Objects Database...................................................................157
II.iii. Conclusions..........................................................................................157
iii
III. The Economics of Burial............................................................................158
IV. Discussion: Economic and Social Capital
and the Creation of Status and Identity..........................................................161
IV.i. Bourdieu and Capital............................................................................162
V. Concluding Remarks:
Capital and Status in Elite Female Burial Practices.......................................164

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS..................................................................189

BIBLIOGRAPHY ..............................................................................................194

APPENDIX A: Tombs and Contents Corpus......................................................222

APPENDIX B: Funerary Objects Corpus...........................................................661
iv
LIST OF FIGURES

Chapter One
Figure 1. The tomb chapels of the God’s Wives of Amen...............................20
Figure 2. The superstructure of the tomb of Ankh-Hor
as an example of typical layout of the Saite tombs..........................20

Chapter Two
Figure 1. Breakdown of titles in the Tombs and Contents Database................40
Figure 2. Breakdown of titles in the Funerary Objects Database..................... 43

Chapter Three
Figure 1. The Theban Necropolis...................................................................64
Figure 2. The Ramesseum necropolis of the eighth-sixth centuries.................69
Figure 3. Third Intermediate Period/Late Period tombs at Medinet Habu.......76
Figure 4. Plan and photo of Tombs 5 and 6....................................................79
Figure 5. The inner area of the Great Temple.................................................82
Figure 6. Third Intermediate Period burials at Deir el-Bahri...........................93
Figure 7. The principal wadi of the Valley of the Queens...............................97
Figure 8. Eighth-sixth centuries BCE reuse of the
tomb of prince Khaemwaset...........................................................99
Figure 9. Carter “Site 5”................................................................................104
Figure 10. Carter excavation.........................................................................107
Figure 11. The Ramesseum necropolis of the eighth-sixth centuries
centuries showing reuse..............................................................114
Figure 12. Tomb chapels near the Ramesseum..............................................116
Figure 13. The Asasif in the eighth-sixth centuries........................................122

Chapter Four
Figure 1. Aston's type I-IV stelae..................................................................136
Figure 2. Aston’s type V and VI stelae..........................................................137
Figure 3. Aston’s type VII and VIII stelae.....................................................138

v