Concepts in Middle Kingdom Funerary Culture

Rune Nyord, dr.phil. (2010), is Assistant Professor of Ancient Egyptian Art and Archaeology at Emory University. He is the author numerous papers on ancient Egyptian language, religion, and art, as well as of the monograph Breathing Flesh (Museum Tusculanum, 2009).

• PrefaceList of Figures and Tables1 Introduction: Egyptian and Egyptological ConceptsRune Nyord2 Projection of Self in Middle Kingdom Tombs and CoffinsSusanne Bickel3 The Concept of ‘Letters to the Dead’ and Egyptian Funerary CultureSylvie Donnat4 How ‘Royal’ (and How ‘Mythical’) Are the Coffin Texts? Reflections on the Definition, Function, and Relativity of Some Etic Concepts in a Middle Kingdom Funerary Text CorpusKatja Goebs5 How ‘Funerary’ Are the Coffin Texts?Alexandra von Lieven6 Burial Demography in the Late Middle Kingdom: a Social PerspectiveGianluca Miniaci7 The Concept of ka between Egyptian and Egyptological FrameworksRune Nyord8 Who Am I? An Emic Approach to the So-Called ‘Personal Texts’ in Egyptian ‘Funerary Literature’Harco WillemsIndex

“The volume’s contributors take a range of broadly emic approaches to challenging and reformulating etic concepts in studies of Middle Kingdom funerary culture. The seven essays do not disappoint in their variety and rigorous engagement with the archaeological record, after Nyord’s exploratory introduction which recognises both the difficulties and possibilities provided by applying emic models to an ancient culture (…) New and insightful suggestions are made, many of which challenge the basic frames of reference of Western Egyptological study, from funerary practice to issues of identity. The methodological models should be of considerable interest to those studying aspects of the HB and ancient Levant related to funerary culture, where studies have often tended towards the etic.” - David Beadle, in Society for Old Testament Study Book List 2020