Foreign relations during Ancient Egypt`s New Kingdom

INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH: Egypto-Levantine relations have varied from the Neolithic through Persian periods, ranging from overland and maritime commerce, diplomatic missions, emigrants, imperial expansion, and alliances, while at other times Asiatics have traded, raided, pastured their flocks, infiltrated, taken refuge in, served as mercenaries, and sometimes controlled parts of Egypt.  Although fluctuations occur in the intensity of contact, in general interactions have increased over time, with local adoptions and emulations of different aspects of each culture: language, literature, religion, art, and artifacts.

ABSTRACT: Preface to the Guide:

Focus and limitations:
The compilation of this guide began in Spring 2007 as a series of check lists and book requests for the somewhat small collection of Egyptological and related works in M. H. Sterne library at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.  During the development of several courses on Ancient Egypt, the Ancient Near East, and other areas spanning Prehistory through to the Roman period (and later), the collection grew, and continues to expand, and began to require a research paper guide for students enrolled in courses dealing with these geographic areas and time periods. The nature of the prime cliental, namely undergraduate to MA students in a North American setting, in conjunction with limited funding, has steered  –of necessity– the building of both Sterne library’s collections and this guide towards mostly English-language sources, less expensive works, and more easily available and more recent publications.

Overall aims:
In order to maximize student and public research usage of the existing, albeit still limited, collections, I have since compiled and incorporated selected journal articles, book chapters, encyclopedia entries, and other book titles from Sterne Library’s physical holdings (i.e., non-electronic sources) into diverse categories of research topics/subjects.  In addition, every effort has been made to add a full listing of electronic sources (including links) available to researchers of the geographic and temporal areas covered by this guide (i.e., mainly Prehistoric to Roman period Egypt).  The guide also provides general assistance for more serious/professional scholars (i.e., a quick reference to key articles, chapters, and volumes), but remains a tool aimed at English-speaking undergraduate-MA students and the public, focusing on Sterne’s holdings (note: other emerging Egyptological libraries will also approximate Sterne’s holdings).

Design and usage:
An attempt has been made to obtain sources spanning all aspects of Ancient Egypt and related areas, which have in-turn influenced the subdivision of the guide into general works, time periods, and diverse subject areas. Some of these categories have grown sufficiently large to merit further subdivision, such as the New Kingdom section, which has a general list of sources, materials regarding individual rulers, and a few affiliated topics of interest (Exodus; Sea Peoples).  I have attempted to place each source (i.e., books; book chapters; encyclopedia entries; journal articles) under each pertinent topic category that it covers, but naturally I may have missed some categories, while there may be other complementary and broader works that cover such topics elsewhere.  A list of the pertinent call number ranges has been placed at the end of the guide (see table of contents) to assist in the merits of additional shelf-browsing.

Beyond the guide:
Naturally there are numerous significant Egyptological sources outside Sterne Library’s holdings (including electronic links: e.g., JSTOR) that might be retrieved via interlibrary loan.  Sterne Library’s current Egyptological resources, however, are sufficient to introduce most areas of Egyptological research, and enable the researcher to consult the endnotes/footnotes and bibliographic data listed in recent books, articles, and encyclopedia entries to compile a list of further resources that may either be accessed via interlibrary loan, or possibly by visiting directly a neighbouring professional Egyptological library: e.g., the instructor (UAB); Atlanta (Emory University); Memphis (Memphis State University).

The collections in other Birmingham and Alabama libraries have online links via Sterne Library’s website, and offer many duplicate and different Egyptological works that are often accessible to the public/students: e.g., Birmingham Public Library, Gorgas Library (UA).  Naturally, I encourage students, faculty, and public researchers to see me for further assistance with this guide and their research topics.

Gregory Mumford (UAB)
Update: 15 Jan., 2021

PLEASE NOTE: This resource has received substantial updates in pertinent sections within the guide.  Some additional sorting of various articles/entries is still required, but these articles can be found, unsorted, at the end of the guide (e.g., articles from KMT, JSSEA, EA, etc., listed chronologically and by issue). I anticipate another update in the following year ...

"Ramesses II - God among Gods at the Nile" - Essay for the sumptuous publication accompanying the exhibition "Ramses. Göttlicher Herrscher am Nil" (Ramesses. Devine Ruler on the Nile) at Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe / Germany (17 December 2016 – 18 June 2017). - Mainly analyzing how Ramesses II made himself a god in Nubia shown in reliefs to be venerated by Pharaoh Ramesses II. The mechanism at the beginning was that Pharaoh was considered to be the son of the divinities Amun and Mut and thus as an alter-ego of their son, the god Khonsu. Like Khonsu, Pharaoh therefore was a moon-god too. However, in later monuments, e.g. the Great Temple of Abu Simbel, Ramesses had himself shown in the position of the sun-god and - quite well hidden - in the position of even Amun. - With many previously unpublished photos (most of which tken by the author). - (in German)
Text at the back of the book:
Den Göttern erwählt, vom Volk verehrt - Ramses II. gilt als der mächtigste Pharao Ägyptens. 66 Jahre, so lange wie kein anderer, herrschte er über das Land am Nil. Während seiner Regierungszeit im 13. Jahrhundert v. Chr. führte Ramses II. Ägypten zu kultureller Blüte und wirtschaftlichem Reichtum. Kein anderer Pharao hinterließ so viele Bauwerke und Statuen wie Ramses, der mit dem Beinamen "der Große" in die Geschichte des alten Ägypten einging. Der reich bebilderte Begleitband zur Ausstellung umfasst neben Texten zu den ausgestellten Objekten vertiefende Beiträge internationaler Autorinnen und Autoren über die zentralen Themen der Geschichte Ägyptens im Zeitalter des großen Pharaos. Er bietet Einblicke in das damalige Gesellschaftssystem, die umfangreiche Baupolitik Ramses' II. und das Verhältnis Ägyptens zu seinen Nachbarstaaten. Dabei werden auch die Feldzüge gegen die Hethiter mit der berühmten Schlacht von Kadesch sowie der sich daran anschließende erste paritätische Friedensvertrag der Weltgeschichte eingehend thematisiert.

The wreck of the Uluburun offers the possibility of understanding the dynamics of trade in the Mediterranean during the Late Bronze Age. In the first part of the paper, the approaches that have been proposed about the destination, function and origin of the vessel are analysed. Secondly, the small objects that were transported and which tend to be “forgotten” are examined. The study of these objects can provide answers to dynamics and commercial interests or policies, the exchange of ideas and shared manifestations of devoutness in the Eastern Mediterranean that can be considered in some respects as a cultural koiné at the end of the Bronze Age.

The Viceroy of Kush (King's son of Kush) was a high official in the structure of the Egyptian imperial administration during the New Kingdom. The textual and archaeological evidence of the Ramesside Period indicate that some Ramesside viceroys had played a significant military role during the reigns of Sety I, Ramesses II and Merenptah, to support the political, economic and military authority of the Ramesside Empire in its southern territories. They had participated in the major Ramesside military campaigns against Nubia under the command of their warrior kings that aimed to crush any Nubian revolts in the regions of Irem or Wawat. They had also led other campaigns by themselves for the same purpose and for any other political or economic purposes. This paper surveys and discusses this point, in order to shed some light on a new aspect of the Egyptian imperialism in Ramesside Nubia.

After examining the provenance of materials used in monumental architecture during the 18th dynasty from the emic perspective of textual sources, the nature of black copper (Hmty km), which appeared in the sources at the beginning of the period, is explored. This appellation was used to differentiate it from foreign copper received as tribute from the reign of Thutmose I. As Asiatic copper was lighter in colour, it is possible that Egyptian copper contained more metal contaminants that made it appear darker. The provenance of this copper is examined, on the basis of texts as well as the archaeometallurgical surveys made in Egypt.
A rare mention of lapis lazuli which is allochthonous to Sinai, in an inscription dating to the reign of Thutmose III is examined. This, as well as the presence in the Sinai inscriptions of several royal envoys, who regularly appeared in foreign and diplomatic contexts, lead to a discussion about Serabit el-Khadim and the Sinai acting as a meeting point for Egyptians and foreigners.

Citation:
Watt, Kimberley 2019. Lapis lazuli in Sinai and indigenous black copper during the 18th dynasty. In Peterková Hlouchová, Marie, Dana Bělohoubková, Jiří Honzl, and Vĕra Nováková (eds), Current research in Egyptology 2018: proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Symposium, Czech Institute of Egyptology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague, 25-28 June 2018, 229-238. Oxford: Archaeopress

Charioteers were very significant in the Ramesside Period, evidenced for example by the frequent mention of them in texts dated to the reign of king Ramesses II. Charioteers also played an important role in diplomacy as many Ramesside charioteers held the title ’’the royal envoy to every foreign country’’. This paper will focus on the diplomatic role of the charioteers in the Ramesside Period and their status in Egyptian society.

INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH: The overall objectives of the University of Toronto expedition to South Sinai include tracing pharaonic routes and camps en route to the turquoise and copper mining region, investigating pharaonic and indigenous camps, mines, and their material culture assemblages in this region, and assessing Egypto-Sinaitic cross-cultural relations within this region. The 2000-2001 reconnaissance work and 2002 excavations in South Sinai focussed on Site 346, a New Kingdom anchorage and copper smelting camp beside the Red Sea, located at the northern end of El-Markha Plain and west of the mining region around Serabit el-Khadim. A topographic map was generated for Site 346 and this mound yielded a limited repertoire of pottery, copper furnaces, copper nodules, and crucible fragments, grinding stones and pounders, lithics, some faience beads, marine shells, urchin spines, and fish bones.  A surface survey revealed two contemporary, small pottery scatters (Sites 346a-b) two km to the south.  The project also investigated a circular, limestone structure (Site 345), 1.7 km to the south of 346.  In addition, the project has incorporated satellite image interpretation to isolate vegetation signatures and associated water sources within the arid environment of El-Markha Plain, thereby detecting potential archaeological sites for ground reconnaissance work. This report concentrates mainly on the results of the 2000-2001 reconnaissance, but incorporates some preliminary results from the 2002 excavations.

ABSTRACT: This lecture provides an initial summary of the general conditions during Amenhotep III’s reign, it proceeds with the background/setting for Amenhotep III’s reign, Amenhotep III's ascension to the throne, a summary of domestic affairs in years 1-11, including building projects, (selected examples), the middle years of Amenhotep III’s reign, Amenhotep III’s Sed-festivals in years 30/31, 33/34 and 36/37, other aspects of Amenhotep III’s reign (e.g., Amurru), the death of Amenhotep III, the royal burial place of Amenhotep III, the (earlier) debated co-regency between Amenhotep III & Amenhotep IV (see next lecture on Akhenaten), some extra items from Amenhotep III’s reign (covered in the diplomacy lecture), and selected sources dealing with Amenhotep III’s reign. REVISED: March 8, 2021 with new formatting, edits, and added sources.

Publication du papyrus Bibliothèque Nationale n°202, qui constitue le début du «Papyrus d'Astarté», contenant un conte mythologique qui relate le conflit entre les dieux égyptiens et la mer. Les premières lignes du conte permettent de placer la rédaction de l'histoire sous le règne d'Amenhotep II et de mieux comprendre la portée de ce texte littéraire, qui emprunte nombre de traits à la mythologie proche-orientale, dans le contexte général de l'introduction des dieux asiatiques en Égypte, largement favorisée par ce roi. Une nouvelle traduction de l'ensemble du conte est proposée.

ABSTRACT: This lecture focuses on the reigns of Amenhotep II and Thutmose IV, during which Egypt consolidates its empire in and administration of Canaan. The first half focuses on Amenhotep II, covering some issues of his co-regency with Thutmose III, some solutions, and the texts, translations, details, and discussion of Amenhotep II's campaigns in years 3, 7, and 9, including royal and private sources regarding these campaigns. The Tanaach Letters are noted in potential relation to Amenhotep II's campaigns into Canaan. Further coverage is given of the cessation of war with Mitanni and beginning of peace late in Amenhotep II's reign. The overview of his reign concludes with a look at domestic affairs, including some building projects (e.g., Karnak Temple), his legacy (especially in contrast to Thutmose III), and his royal burial complex (mortuary temple and tomb).  The lecture concludes with an examination of Thutmose IV's reign: His parentage, an unexpected succession to the throne, his Dream Stela at Giza (Great Sphinx: Hormachis), legitimizing or explaining his succession, extra piety and patronage applied to the Memphite cults (including Harmachis: Great Sphinx), increased peaceful relations and marriage alliance with Mitanni, some repression of rebellions within Egypt's Canaanite empire, consolidation of Egyptian administration and control of vassal states in Syria-Palestine (i.e., 3 provinces: Canaan; Upe; Amurru), a campaign to Nubia to quell a rebellion, and relations with South Sinai (Serabit el-Khadim) and Punt. The lecture provides some coverage of his domestic works, such as the Memphite region, Karnak Temple, and his mortuary complex. A later lecture on New Kingdom royal tombs concentrates on Thutmose IV's tomb and surviving furnishings. UPDATED: new formatting, edits, and some new text (Feb., 2021).

Recent studies of ancient Egyptian palatial architecture and literary references to the palace have demonstrated that these buildings functioned as a microcosm for the divinely created universe.  Yet details about which specific environments within the universe the palace was meant to replicate are scarce.  Instead, one must turn to the mechanism that was mostly responsible for transforming these simple mudbrick buildings into complex mythological spaces: the words and images that adorned almost every surface.  The walls, floors and ceilings of the royal palaces of the Egyptian New Kingdom were, like many buildings in ancient Egypt, covered with complex visual programs, mostly executed in paint on plaster.  For more than a century, these paintings have been regarded as little more than an attempt to create a visually pleasing space for the king.  Yet our new understanding of Egyptian palaces, as well as the transformative power of visual programs within Egyptian architecture, suggest that this was not the case.
This dissertation provides first a holistic study to the evidence for image programs from palatial settings.  This evidence suggests a number of different motifs used within the palace throughout the Egyptian New Kingdom.  The symbolic meanings imbedded in these images of these varying motifs , which are explored in detail, all indicate that palatial wall paintings were designed to replicate a specific space and time as described in Egyptian solar cosmogonies, the eastern horizon at the moment the sun first rose from the primordial waters.  In the Egyptian worldview, this mythological location, and the activities carried out within, were the embodiment of the universe in its purest and most perfect form.  The placement of the king within the ordered universe at this moment of solar creation provided the king with the legitimacy necessary to rule.

The Egyptian military activity in Canaan and Nubia was very significant during the reign of Merenptah (1213–1203 BC) and was an important part of the historical developments during the New Kingdom of Egypt as well as in the contemporary Late Bronze Age of the Ancient Near East. The Canaanite and Nubian wars of Merenptah reestablished Egypt’s influence in the Levant and Nubia after the massive rebellions that occurred in the territories of the Egyptian empire. This paper surveys and discusses some significant historical notes and perspectives on the Canaanite and Nubian wars of Merenptah, in order to shed some light on new military and political aspects of the Ramesside Empire.

More than a decade has passed since Alessandra Nibbi’s article on pharaonic shields appeared in ZÄS (2003, v.130).  In her commentary, she briefly mentions a shield handle in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and, based on artistic scenes, notes a change in shield handle position and placement; moving from the upper-third, horizontal handle in the First Intermediate Period – Middle Kingdom to a centrally located, vertical handle in the New Kingdom.  However, she does not provide an explanation for this change.

A primary purpose of this article is to publish a representative collection of wooden artifacts that have been identified as shield handles.  To place these artifacts in historical context with developments of the ancient shield, we must first consult the representational evidence before we discuss their features.  In addition, we will examine the shields found in the tomb of Tutankhamun (1336 – 1327 BCE).  From this evidence, it can be shown that not only the design of the shield changed but also the handle’s placement and orientation.  Furthermore, it can be demonstrated that a central, vertical handle was not the sole prerogative of the New Kingdom Egyptians since their contemporaries used it as well.

A secondary aim of this article is to present a functional explanation for this change in terms of the shield’s use.  Shields in ancient Egypt have been discussed by some researchers in relation to pharaonic warfare but little has been speculated about how this type of defensive equipment functioned on the battlefield.  By a thorough analysis of the artistic and archaeological evidence we can propose how they were used and why the changes to its design may be a response to new technologies and tactics.

The appearance of the brailed rig and loose–footed sail at the end of the Late Bronze Age revolutionized seafaring in the eastern Mediterranean. The most famous early appearance of this new technology is found in history’s first visual representation of a naval battle, on the walls of Ramesses III’s mortuary temple at Medinet Habu. In this monumental combat scene, both Egyptian and Sea Peoples ships are depicted with this new rig, as well as top–mounted crow’s nests and decking upon which shipborne warriors do battle. The identical employment of these innovative components of maritime technology by opposing forces in this battle suggests either some level of previous contact between the invaders and those responsible for designing and constructing Egypt’s ships of war, or shared interaction with a third party, perhaps on the Syro–Canaanite coast. This article examines the evidence for the development of the brailed rig in the eastern Mediterranean, and explores the possibility that at least one group of Sea Peoples, who may have comprised a key part of the international economy of the Late Bronze Age in their role as “pirates, raiders, and traders” (Georgiou 2012: 527) – Artzy’s “nomads of the sea” (1997) – played a similarly integral role in the transference of maritime technology between the Levant, Egypt, and the Aegean.

This paper examines the offices of the administration in New Kingdom Nubia, aspects of political geography. It proposes that the title 'Overseer of Southern Foreign Lands' is used by some Viceroys and by local rulers who have responsibilities in the marginal regions of Upper Nubia, rather than just being a flowery title. The chapter was a revision of a chapter in my PhD dissertation

The goal of this volume is to examine one key aspect of the transition from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron I in the Southern Levant, the development and changes in interregional exchange both over time and in the region as a whole. Interregional exchange is most easily seen in the appearance and disappearance of non-local material culture and materials. Twelve non-local types of material culture were collected into a database in order to track the development of interregional exchange over the course of the LBA to the Iron I. With this data, we can ask what effect if any did changes in interregional exchange have on the ‚collapse‘ of the LBA societies in the Southern Levant. To help answer this question, I also explore briefly the theory of collapse, and the various proposed causes for the ‚collapse‘ at the end of the LBA in the Eastern Mediterranean along with the theories for trade and exchange in anthropology and archaeology. Another key aspect of this work is the examination of the supposed wave of destruction which took the Southern Levant by storm asking to see if these events might have affected trade and contributed to the transitions during the end of the LBA into the Iron I. In all this work seeks to see what changes took place in interregional exchange, how might destruction have affected this, and was this the cause for the transition to the Iron I.

The Late Bronze Age ended with a bang in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean: palaces and empires collapsed, from Greece to Egypt; coastal territories were beset by pirates and marauders; migratory peoples were on the move across land and sea; and geopolitical lines were permanently redrawn – conditions reflected, in many ways, by the world portrayed in Homer’s Odyssey. The notorious ‘Sea Peoples,’ mysterious groups of warriors who were credited by the pharaoh Ramesses III with destroying empires across the Near East at this time, fit into this puzzle in some way, although their exact role continues to be hotly debated. In the Odyssey’s various subplots, Odysseus himself carries out activities that are that highly reminiscent of the Sea Peoples, as he engages in raids and skirmishes while circuitously making his way back from Troy. Though it is presented as a falsehood within Homer’s master narrative, one such subplot, the “Second Cretan Lie” (Odyssey xiv 191–359) is striking in its similarity to the experience of one specific Sea Peoples group, whom Egyptian pharaohs referred to as the "Sherden of the Sea", and whose seaborne attacks they claimed that “none could withstand.”
This book marshals documentary, pictorial, and material evidence to examine Odysseus’ Second Cretan Lie in the context of the Late Bronze–Iron Age transition, with particular emphasis on changes in the iconography of warriors and warfare, social and economic upheaval, and remarkable innovation in maritime technology and tactics. Particular focus is given the hero’s description of his frequent raiding activities, including an ill–fated attempt on the Nile Delta, and on his description of seven subsequent years spent in the land of the pharaohs, during which he claims to have gathered great wealth. Setting the evidence for the Sherden of the Sea against this Homeric narrative demonstrates not only that Odysseus’ Second Cretan Lie fits into the temporal framework of the Late Bronze–Early Iron Age transition, but that there were historical people who actually lived that which Odysseus falsely claims as his own experience.

Alberto Maria Pollastrini, "Some remarks on the Egyptian reception of foreign military technology during the 18th Dynasty: a brief survey of the armour" in G. Rosati, M. C. Guidotti (ed.), Proceedings of the XI International Congress of Egyptologists. Florence Egyptian Museum. Florence, 23-30 August 2015, Oxford, 2017.

This comprehensive study examines the famous 13th - 12th century BC vessels and jewelry found a century ago in the Egyptian Nile delta at Bubastis. New discoveries in the Egyptian Museum include Canaanite jewelry, metal scrap, and additional vessels; two of the latter are decorated, one inscribed. All vessels belong to wine services; some containers reference Bastet, Neith, Hathor, or Anat/Astarte, and, by inference, the Distant Goddess. Inscriptions name the One of Hesret (Thoth), Ramesses II, Merenptah, and Tawosret. Private names include Atumemtaneb, Amy, Ameneminet, and Meritptah; a related vessel names Sakawahikhana and the goddess Sekhmet. This expanded body of material sheds light on ramesside history and the internationalism of the period. It will also aid the study of first millennium B.C. Phoenician bowls and ivories found in the Levant, Cyprus, and Near East.

Use of texts to interpret Late Bronze Age culture in the ancient world often overshadows the analysis of material culture, which may give contrary evidence. Not all Egyptian-looking objects found abroad were made in Egypt; and Egyptian-looking objects found in Egypt may have been made by craftsmen originating in other lands. Objects from Tutankhamun’s tomb, Katsamba, the Wady Qurud, TT8 (Kha), Tell Basta, and Carnarvon 62 beneath Hatshepsut’s valley temple are used to illustrate these points.

The present paper deals once again with the so-called episode of Daḫamunzu and analyses the time lapses, with a special look at the cruising speeds of messengers during the Egyptian New Kingdom and the activities mentioned by the Hittite king Muršili II. Having set up a scheme with timeframes including the known dates of the deaths of Tutankhamon and Akhenaton (i.e. the deceased kings considered in the Daḫamunzu episode), it is likely that Nefertiti sent this letter to the Hittite king only a short time after the death of her husband. This perception further leads us to conclude, in line with recent research, that Nefertiti and Semenkhkare are one and the same person and that there was a co-regency between her and Akhenaton for a few years. The sequence of events is reconstructed at the end and built up into a chronology.

The purpose of Professor Kenneth Kitchen’s magisterial Ramesside Inscriptions is simple—to make available the principal historical and biographical texts of the Ramesside age (c.1300–1070 bc) in a comprehensive, compact and accurate edition that should be comprehensive but handy to use. It does not, however, include purely literary, ritual and funerary texts.
Almost all of the texts in this volume come from the very beginning of this new era in Egypt’s history at the beginning of the 13th century bc—either from the reign of Ramesses I, founding father of the Egyptian 19th Dynasty, or that of his dynamic son and successor Sethos I. As Ramesses I reigned only into his second year, and the reign of Sethos I lasted between eleven and fifteen years, virtually everything here dates within a span of only twelve/seventeen years, at most.
Arranged by category, this hieroglyphic edition covers foreign wars and diplomacy (esp. dated), then internal affairs (dated documents, special topics or groups), a geographical series of royal monuments (from north to south), the principal documents of the reign (papryi, ostraca, letters, legal documents, and the like), in addition to further inscriptions pertaining to the royal family. A further twenty-eight categories are devoted to the private monuments of the principal administrators of the Empire, along with the vast store of documentation pertaining to the activities of the royal artisans from the village of Deir el-Medina in western Thebes.
First published in eight individual fascicles between 1969 and 1975 by B. H. Blackwell (Oxford), this volume is here re-printed for the first time in a single, handsome, book.

The triumph scenes of the pharaohs are the longest-lasting and best-attested iconographic motif of Egyptian culture. As stated by many historians and Egyptologists, they are a purely formal representation of Pharaoh’s timeless role as victor for Egypt and its gods, as also confirmed here. The triumph scenes of the Ramesside warrior pharaohs in which the king is represented smiting different groups of northern and southern enemies with his mace and in the presence of Amun-Re were usually displayed to glorify their victories. The triumph scene and text of Merenptah, which is located at the south end of the inner face of the eastern wall of the “Cour de la Cachette” at Karnak temple, is one of the most significant and important historical sources for Merenptah’s reign; it sheds light on new aspects of his military events and campaigns in Asia and Nubia. Some recent Egyptological studies dealing with the historical texts and battle reliefs of Merenptah in Karnak and elsewhere provide valuable information that could allow a different historical reading and interpretation of the Karnak triumph scene and text. This paper presents a new study of the triumph scene and text of Merenptah at Karnak in light of this context.

INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH: To-date, there has been a greater focus on Egypto-Asiatic relations in the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1550–1150 BC) than during much of the succeeding Iron Age to early Persian periods (ca. 1150–525 BC).  In regards to the Iron Age, the first few centuries of which have sometimes been labeled a “Dark Age,” most studies have relied more upon textual-pictorial evidence and have yet to explore the full potential offered by the extant archaeological record, especially regarding the quantification and analysis of diverse data.  Although this deficiency is related to less pertinent archaeological and textual evidence having survived from the Iron Age,  sufficient data remain to clarify diverse aspects of Egypt’s relations with the Levant.  The following paper addresses these issues, summarizing and augmenting the Iron Age portion of this writer’s Ph.D. dissertation (1998) and related research.

Beside official inscriptions on royal and divine monuments, pottery provides a major source of informa- tion on Egypt’s foreign relations during the Late Bronze Age. in particular, the interdisciplinary study of transport amphorae has proven especially successful in reconstructing the economic system behind the import of Levantine products in Egypt. Geochemical analyses of Canaanite amphorae fabrics from Memphis and Amarna demonstrated the existence and geographical provenance of different groups within this category of imported vessels. These groups can be related to the hieratic inscriptions (so-called “jar dockets”) preserved on many amphorae from the site of Deir el-Medina in the Theban necropolis, mentioning dates in regnal years, the products contained in the jar, the producer (usually an estate) and other details about the production. it is also possible to identify the jar sealings associated with these Canaanite transport amphorae. These are made of a specific clay and some bear impressions of Egyptian royal institutions such as the temple of Sethi i in Abydos and the Ramesseum. Brought together, these dif- ferent sources provide a detailed image of imports strictly controlled by the Egyptian royal administration.

ABSTRACT: Our current understanding of Egypt's New Kingdom relations with the Sinai and Levant relies heavily upon the extant textual-pictorial record. It has mostly neglected the full potential of the archaeological record, even during periods of relatively few contemporary pertinent, historical sources. This paper summarizes and updates results from this writer’s doctoral dissertation, quantifying the nature, proportions, and spatial and temporal distributions of Egyptian and Egyptianizing artefacts from occupation, mortuary and cultic assemblages in the Sinai (featuring a New Kingdom temple of Hathor and Sopdu at Serabit el-Khadim, and a small Hathor shrine in the southern Arabah [Negev]) and 21 selected Levantine sites. This data is balanced by an assessment of the dispersal of New Kingdom royal-name items and monuments throughout the Near East, and textual-pictorial sources recording the nature and dispatch of Egyptian products and personnel to the Levant.  The overall Egyptian(izing) artefact proportions from individual and combined contexts at Levantine sites display peaks in Egyptian activity in LB 1B (1450-1400 B.C.) and late LB 2B to Iron 1A (1250-1150 B.C.), with a definite decline in early-mid Iron 1B (late Ramesside period).

Primary sources from the end of the Bronze Age have long been read as suggesting a time of chaotic transition, particularly with regard to threats from the sea that the established powers had no means of combatting.

While the scale and severity of seaborne attacks seem to have increased in the late 13th century, these were not in themselves new phenomena, as a state of maritime threat seems to have been a constant for coastal polities and mariners in the Late Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean.

However, a combination of internal and external factors in the late 13th and early 12th centuries combined to make these attacks more effective than they had been in the past, and polities more vulnerable to them. These included the rapid spread of improvements in maritime technology, particularly from the Aegean and the Levant, via high–intensity ‘zones of transference,’ as well as an increase in the scale of ship–based combat operations, due in part to the displacement of people during the Late Bronze Age collapse.

This paper addresses this in two parts, beginning with the ‘background’ evidence for a constant state of maritime threat in the centuries leading up to the end of the Bronze Age, and concluding with the ‘foreground’ evidence for zones of transference and the transmission of groundbreaking elements of naval technology in the years surrounding the Late Bronze–Early Iron Age transition.

The various Ramesside war scenes and texts of the Karnak temple are main historical sources for all the scholars who are interested in the study of imperial policy of Egypt in its territories in Syria and Canaan during the New Kingdom, in the ancient Egyptian military, the political situation in the ancient Near East during the Late Bronze Age, and Biblical archaeology as well. The Canaanite town of Yenoam features prominently in the war scenes and texts of the Ramesside Period, where it is depicted and mentioned in some of the most important Ramesside military historical sources, such as the northern war scenes of Sety I at Karnak, the First Beth-Shan stela of Sety I and the triumph hymn of Merenptah. This paper surveys and discusses the depiction and registration of the town of Yenoam in the Ramesside war scenes and texts of the Karnak temple, and aims to shed light on new historical aspects of this significant strategic town during this period.

It has long been recognized that the corpus of letters from Tyre discovered in the Amarna letter archive contain a number of Egyptianisms. Scholars have also recognized the presence of some West Semitic traits in the corpus, which are typical of the letters from Syro-Palestine. However, the intellectual context of those linguistic/cultural traits of the letters has not been adequately investigated. This paper examines the Egyptianisms and West Semiticisms in the light of the contemporary religious movement in Egypt, Atenism, and the New Kingdom imperial administration. We conclude that the evidence from these letters indicates that more traditional aspects of Egyptian royal ideology might still have been current during the Amarna Period and propose that there was a pragmatic purpose for the Egyptianisms and West Semiticisms: Abi-milki, the governor of Tyre, was attempting to appeal to the Egyptian imperial administration.

2019, Mynářová, J. - Kilani, M. - Alivernini, S. (eds.), A Stranger in the House - the Crossroads III. Proceedings of an International Conference on Foreigners in Ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern Societies of the Bronze Age held in Prague, September 10–13, 2018. Prague: Charles University, pp. 405-423.

ABSTRACT: This lecture provides a summary of the reigns of Ahmose (brief re-capping of previous lecture), Amenhotep I, Thutmose I, Thutmose II, and the co-regency of Thutmose III and Hatshepsut.  The lecture outlines the various events and achievements, ranging from each ruler's succession and status, to individual domestic building programs (e.g., temples; monuments), international relations (e.g., expeditions; campaigns), special features within each reign, and the royal tomb, mortuary complex, and furnishings (January 28, 2019). UPDATED: Some new text, images, and bibliography update (Feb. 4, 2021).