This volume represents a selection of contributions on Mediterranean themes from a wider international interdisciplinary conference on Magical Texts in Ancient Civilizations, organised by the Centre for Comparative Studies of Civilizations at Jagiellonian University in Krakow in Poland between 27-28 June 2013. The meeting welcomed researchers from Hungary, Italy, Poland and Ukraine, covering various disciplines including comparative civilizations, comparative religions, linguistics, archaeology, anthropology, history and philosophy. In the past 'magic' was often misunderstood as irrational behaviour, in contrast to the tradition of philosophical or rational thought mostly based on Greek models. Evidence collected from ancient high cultures, like that of Pharaonic Egypt, includes massive amounts of documents and treatises of all kinds related to what has been labelled 'magic'. Today it cannot be written off as merely a primitive or 'lesser human' phenomenon: the awareness of magic remains to the present day in many societies, at all social levels, and has not been generally replaced by what might be considered as more advanced thinking. The researches in this volume focus heavily on Egypt (in particular Predynastic, Pharaonic, Hellenistic, Roman and Christian evidence), but Near Eastern material was also presented from Pagan (Ugaritic) and Christian (Syriac) times.

The Journal of the Canadian Society for Coptic Studies is published annually on behalf of the Canadian Society for Coptic Studies by Lockwood Press. The Canadian Society for Coptic Studies is a Toronto-based nonprofit organization whose purpose is to bring together individuals interested in Coptic studies and to promote the dissemination of scholarly information on Coptic Studies through the organization of meetings and conferences and through the preparation of scholarly works for publication.

The study of human remains from ancient Egypt and Nubia has captured the imagination of many people for generations, giving rise to the discipline of palaeopathology and fostering bioarchaeological research. This book contains 16 papers that cover material presented at a workshop entitled 'Palaeopathology in Egypt and Nubia: A Century in Review,' held at the Natural History Museum, London (August 29-30, 2012), which formed part of a three-year research project, 'Sir Grafton Elliot Smith: Palaeopathology and the Archaeological Survey of Nubia.' The papers explore the subject of palaeopathology from its beginnings in the early 1900s through to current research themes and the impact of technological development in the field. Revealing the diverse range of methods used to study human remains in these regions, the book gives readers an insight into the fascinating work carried out over the last century, and suggests some possible future directions for the field.

This volume, edited by Rogerio Sousa, is part of the scholarly ferment which has wheeled around the subject of 'coffin' during the last twenty years. Its magic and religious evaluation identifies it from time to time as body container, but at the same time substitute body for the deceased, a maternal womb in which the regeneration will occur, a microcosm, tomb, funerary temple, as well as a conduit to the dead, a powerful tool activated by means of the Opening of the Mouth ritual. -From the Foreword, by Alessia Amenta In February 2013, the Symposium Body, Cosmos and Eternity: the Symbolism of Coffins in Ancient Egypt convened at the historical building of the University of Porto to debate conceptual frameworks underlying the contemporary study of Egyptian coffins. Rising from the close association with the depiction of the mummified body, the anthropoid coffins soon absorbed a rich mythological imaginary related to the constellation of Nut, the mother goddess of the sky supposed to give birth to Osiris, and evolved continuously, integrating larger and more complex sets of beliefs, mirroring the increasingly bolder use of coffins in the funerary rituals. It was this complex set of beliefs involving the coffin that we proposed to explore in this series of symposia. Following our original purpose, the studies presented in this volume display an excellent overview on the new trends of research on coffin studies, with diverse contributions concerned either with symbolism or social significance of coffins, museums collections or archaeological finds. These studies superbly showcase the richness of coffins as documental sources for the study of Egyptian religion, economy and society.

The authors of all manuscripts in this monograph were specifically invited for papers that would provide new insights into the complex nature of maritime networks, particularly the importance of the seas and coastlines, whether for purposes of defense, trade, prestige, or technological advance. Because seafaring has been such a critical aspect of Egyptian life throughout its history, it is fitting that the works in JAEI 5:1 span from the Predynastic through the Classical periods. While all three of the primary bodies of water in the Egyptian world are covered (the Nile River, the Mediterranean, and the Red Sea), readers will notice an emphasis on the Nile Delta region. The work carries research articles by John Tristan Barnes, University of Missouri; Jeffrey P. Emanuel, Harvard University; Samuel Mark, Texas A&M University at Galveston; and Gregory Mumford, University of Alabama at Birmingham. It also features extended research reports from David Fabre and Franck Goddio, Institut Europeen d'Archeologie Sous-Marine; Pierre Tallet, Universite Paris-Sorbonne; and Sakuji Yoshimura and Hiromasa Kurokochi, Waseda University and NPO Institute of the Solar Boat. Finally, three recently published books and monographs are reviewed by Steven Sidebotham, University of Delaware; Chiara Zazzaro, University of Naples "L'Orientale"; and the JAEI Staff. All manuscripts were submitted to the journal's standard process of double peer review, and JAEI is grateful to the reviewers who volunteered their time and expertise.

James Henry Breasted (1865-1935) had a career that epitomizes our popular image of the archaeologist. Daring, handsome, and charismatic, he travelled on expeditions to remote and politically unstable corners of the Middle East, helped identify the tomb of King Tut, and was on the cover of "Time" magazine. But Breasted was more than an Indiana Jones - he was also an accomplished scholar, academic, entrepreneur, and talented author who brought ancient history to life not just for students but for such notables as Teddy Roosevelt and Sigmund Freud. In "American Egyptologist", Jeffrey Abt weaves together the disparate strands of Breasted's life, from his small-town origins following the Civil War to his evolution into the father of American Egyptology and the founder of the Oriental Institute in the early years of the University of Chicago. Abt explores the scholarly, philanthropic, diplomatic, and religious contexts of his ideas and projects, providing insight into the origins of America's most prominent center for Near Eastern archaeology. An illuminating portrait of the nearly forgotten man who demystified ancient Egypt for the general public, "American Egyptologist" restores James Henry Breasted to the world and puts forward a brilliant case for his place as one of the most important scholars of modern times.

The ruins of the mortuary complex named Enduring-are-the Places of Khakaure-true-of-voice in Abydos are located at South Abydos. Erected for pharaoh Khakaure-Senwosret III (ca. 1878-1841 BC) of Dynasty 12, the Abydos complex includes a subterranean royal tomb built beneath a peak anciently called Anubis-Mountain, and a mortuary temple named Nefer-Ka (Beautiful-is-the-Ka) established for the afterlife cult of Senwosret III. Although the Egypt Exploration Fund initially discovered and examined the site between 1899-1902, the Senwosret III complex has for the last century remained enigmatic, partially through virtue of its location at Abydos. It has often been identified as an Abydene royal cenotaph. In 1994 the University of Pennsylvania-Yale University-Institute of Fine Arts, NYU Expedition initiated a renewed program of excavation at South Abydos. A focus of this work has been a comprehensive investigation of the Senwosret III mortuary temple. Excavation of the temple's well-preserved architecture in tandem with work on its surroundings now provides the basis for a detailed reconstruction of this major Middle Kingdom royal mortuary temple. The volume includes six parts arranged in twenty-two chapters with three appendixes. Part I examines the organization of the Senwosret III complex as a whole. Part II is devoted to the architecture and functions of the containment building that housed the stone-built cult structure named Nefer-Ka . Part III examines the architecture, decorative and statue program of the cult building proper and presents a reconstruction of the building's layout and appearance. Part IV discusses the significant archaeological contexts that surround the temple including external activity areas, refuse deposits and the temple's ceramic assemblage. Part V includes publication of the seal corpus associated with the temple and presents a model of the temple's administrative structure based on institutional stamp seals and private name seals. Part VI examines the current evidence pertaining to the tomb enclosure and Senwosret III's subterranean tomb. The volume includes drawings and photographs of approximately one thousand objects: relief, statue and architectural fragments, small objects, seals and seal impressions, and ceramics. In its overall characteristics, the Senwosret III complex is an innovative royal mortuary establishment. Although it has discernible roots in the preceding royal pyramid tradition, the complex as a whole displays traits which presage the New Kingdom format of royal burial complex in the Valley of the Kings. Its hidden tomb at the foot of Anubis-Mountain , paired with its cultivation-edge mortuary temple makes this site pivotal in the evolution of the Egyptian royal mortuary complex. The volume addresses our understanding of this site as either a cenotaph or burial complex for Senwosret III, and the cult of this king which was maintained at South Abydos for some 150 years until its decline at the end of the 13th Dynasty, ca. 1700 BC.

From the dawn of history to the death of Cleopatra, ancient Egypt was home to larger-than-life personalities. Across one hundred lives, Toby Wilkinson explores the true character and diversity of human experience in the ancient world's greatest civilization. Some of those profiled are famous: pharaohs and queens such as Akhenaten, Nefertiti, Ramesses II and Tiye. Others are lesser known but equally engaging: Imhotep, architect of the first pyramid; Perniankhu, the court dwarf; and the royal sculptor Bak. Equally illuminating are the lives of commoners, so rarely given their own voice: ordinary men and women who include a doctor, a dentist, a housewife, a musician - and a serial criminal.

In this work, Karel van der Toorn explores the social setting, the intellectual milieu, and the historical context of the beliefs and practices reflected in the Hebrew Bible. While fully recognizing the unique character of early Israelite religion, the author challenges the notion of its incomparability. Beliefs are anchored in culture. Rituals have societal significance. God has a history. By shifting the focus to the context, the essays gathered here yield a deeper understanding of Israelite religion and the origins of the Bible.

Around the turn of the last century, James Henry Breasted took on the challenge of assembling all the available historical documents of ancient Egypt and translating them into English. This prodigious undertaking involved traveling to the monuments extant in the Nile valley and in outlying areas of Egyptian conquest, as well as to museums throughout Europe where Egyptian relics were housed. Breasted made his own copies of hundreds of Egyptian records inscribed on papyrus or leather or carved in stone and engaged in a thorough study of the published records of Egyptian history in conjunction with his own transcription of the documents themselves. This five-volume compendium is the result. Breasted's monumental work, originally published from 1906 to 1907, encompasses twenty-six dynasties spanning more than three millennia: from ca. 3050 B.C. to 525 B.C. For each document, Breasted provides information on location, condition, historical significance, and content. Beginning with the earliest known official annals of Egypt, the Palermo Stone, Breasted catalogs the realm's official activities, including royal succession, temple construction, property distribution, and foreign conquest. He tracks the careers of scores of kings, queens, government officials, military leaders, powerful statesmen, and influential courtiers, reproducing their autobiographies, letters of favor, paeans, mortuary gifts, and tomb inscriptions. Clearly annotated for the lay reader, the documents provide copious evidence of trade relations, construction activities, diplomatic envoys, foreign expeditions, and other aspects of a vigorous, highly organized, and centrally controlled society. Breasted's commentary is both rigorously documented and accessible, suffused with a contagious fascination for the events, the personalities, the cultural practices, and the sophistication these records indicate. A herculean assemblage of primary documents, many of which have deteriorated to illegibility in the intervening century, Ancient Records of Egypt illuminates both the incredible complexity of Egyptian society and the almost insuperable difficulties of reconstructing a lost civilization. This first paperback edition of Ancient Records of Egypt features a new introduction and supplementary bibliographies by Peter A. Piccione. Setting Breasted's work in the context of the development of American Egyptology, Piccione discusses Breasted's establishment of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, with corporate support by John D. Rockefeller and other benefactors, and surveys the ambitious body of publications with which Breasted laid the foundation for future Egyptian studies.

Volume 3 of Ancient Records of Egypt opens on the chaotic aftermath of King Akhenaten's religious revolution. Breasted chronicles the precarious reigns of Akhenaten's successors and the political and legal reforms of King Horemheb, who succeeded to the throne after the passing of the last members of the royal family. This volume contains the important edict of Horemheb, intended to prevent the oppressive abuses connected with the collection of taxes from the common people, and the inscriptions of Roy, high priest of Amon, showing the first transmission from father to son of the office of the high priest. In the context of a long history of mutilating and altering reliefs for political purposes, Breasted discusses the insertion into a relief of the figure of Ramesses II in order to reinforce his claim to the throne. This volume also includes the treaty of alliance that sealed peace with the Hittites under Ramesses II; a series of documents that record the invasion of Libyans and Mediterranean Sea people during the reign of Merneptah; and the Great Temple of Abu Simbel, the most remarkable of the rock-cut temples of Egypt. This first complete paperback edition of Breasted's five-volume Ancient Records of Egypt makes available to a new audience a milestone in Egyptology and in the compilation of documentary histories. Clearly annotated for the lay reader, the documents provide copious evidence of trade relations, construction activities, diplomatic envoys, foreign expeditions, and other aspects of a vigorous, highly organized, and centrally controlled society. Breasted's commentary is both rigorously documented and accessible, suffused with a contagious fascination for the events, the personalities, the cultural practices, and the sophistication these records indicate

This book explores what the Book of the Dead was to the ancient Egyptians, what it means to us today, what it was believed to do, how it worked, how it was made, and ultimately what happened to it. Edited by Foy Scalf, PhD, this volume includes fourteen essays showcasing the latest research on the Book of the Dead written by thirteen internationally renown experts as well as a complete catalog of the forty-five objects on display in an associated exhibit at the Oriental Institute Museum. Two famous Book of the Dead papyri, Papyrus Milbank and Papyrus Ryerson, are reproduced in their entirety with full-color photographs among nearly 400 illustrations for the first time. Discover how the ancient Egyptians controlled their immortal destiny and sought close association with the gods through the Book of the Dead.

The Egyptian Museum of Florence, in collaboration with the University of Florence, hosted the Eleventh International Congress of Egyptologists which took place from 23rd to 30th August 2015, under the patronage of the IAE - International Association of Egyptologists. This volume publishes 136 papers and posters presented during the Congress. Topics discussed here range from archaeology, religion, philology, mummy investigations and archaeometry to history, offering an up-to-date account of research in these fields.

What is the Tekenu? What was its function? What are its origins? These are questions upon which Egyptologists have long pondered. However, Egyptologists, until now, have avoided any major work on the topic. Previous treatments of the Tekenu largely adopt a selective approach focusing on a specific form. Rarely has the Tekenu been examined profoundly in all of its forms or contexts with its possible origins commented upon merely in passing. The aim of The Tekenu and Ancient Egyptian Funerary Ritual is to provide a provocative examination and interpretation of the Tekenu in an endeavour to proffer plausible answers hitherto eluding scholars. Attested from the Fifth Dynasty until, and including the Saite Period, the Tekenu is a puzzling icon which is depicted within the funerary scenes in the tombs of some ancient Egyptian nobles. In this work four distinct types of Tekenu are identified and classified and then a Corpus Catalogue is formed. The Tekenu is appraised within the context of the wall scene. Two tombs are dealt with in greater detail.

Appealing to Monster Theory and the ancient Near Eastern motif of "Chaoskampf," Safwat Marzouk argues that the paradoxical character of the category of the monster is what prompts the portrayal of Egypt as a monster in the book of Ezekiel. While on the surface the monster seems to embody utter difference, underlying its otherness there is a disturbing sameness. Though the monster may be defeated and its body dismembered, it is never completely annihilated. Egypt is portrayed as a monster in the book of Ezekiel because Egypt represents the threat of religious assimilation. Although initially the monstrosity of Egypt is constructed because of the shared elements of identity between Egypt and Israel, the prophet flips this imagery of monster in order to embody Egypt as a monstrous Other. In a combat myth, YHWH defeats the monster and dismembers its body. Despite its near annihilation, Egypt, in Ezekiel's rhetoric, is not entirely obliterated. Rather, it is kept at bay, hovering at the periphery, questioning Israel's identity.

The papyri published here, chiefly in the collection of the Oriental Institute Museum, comprise part of a large family archive from the town of Hawara in the Egyptian Fayum. Written in Demotic and Greek, the documents (annuity contracts, donations, sales, mortgage agreements, loan repayments) are an excellent source of information about the Egypt of the fourth to third century b.c. Professor George R. Hughes had worked on the ten Oriental Institute Hawara papyri for a number of years, but sadly, it was not possible for him to finish the manuscript before his death in December 1992; he did, however, prepare preliminary transliterations and translations of the papyri, including the Rendell Papyrus published in the Appendix. Discussions, commentaries, and glossaries are included. Richard Jasnow completed the manuscript with the assistance of James Keenan, who prepared the Greek texts. The book is of interest to Egyptologists, Hellenists, and all of those concerned with the economic and social history of the Late period in Egypt.

Ce volume presente les actes d'un colloque international organise conjointement par l'universite de la Sorbonne et l'universite de Geneve a Paris entre le 12 et le 15 fevrier 2015. Cette reunion avait pour objectif d'etablir un "etat de l'art" de la documentation papyrologique de l'Ancien Empire egyptien, et plus generalement de celle des archives administratives qui nous sont connues pour cette periode de l'histoire pharaonique (lettres, comptabilites, inventaires, journaux de bords d'equipes de travail, listes de personnel). Elle a permis de reunir la quasi totalite des chercheurs qui etudient ce type de sources, et de presenter successivement des lots documentaires, ou parfois certains documents isoles, issus de la region memphite (papyrus d'Abousir et de Saqqara), de la Haute et Moyenne Egypte (Meir, Sharouna, Gebelein, Elephantine), voire de zones plus peripheriques de l'espace egyptien ayant egalement livre des archives similaires (ouadi el-Jarf sur la cote de la mer Rouge, Balat/Ayn Asil, dans l'oasis de Dakhla). Pour chacun de ces dossiers, les contributeurs font le point sur la documentation disponible et l'avancement des etudes la concernant. De nombreux exemples - certains totalement inedits - sont egalement publies dans ce volume, afin de mieux definir le mode d'organisation de ces sources fondamentales, et ainsi de mieux apprehender le fonctionnement des differents rouages de l'administration a cette periode, aussi bien au sein d'une meme institution qu'a l'echelon provincial ou central. This collective volume presents the proceedings of an international symposium co-organized by Sorbonne university and Geneva university in Paris between February 12th and 15th 2015. The aim of the such a meeting was to establish a "state of the art" of the papyrological documentation known to us for this specific period of pharaonic history (letters, accounting documents, inventories, working teams' logbooks, personnel registers). By bringing together most specialists of this type of historic sources, it has enabled a complete presentation of the main series of documents from the Memphite area (papyri of Abusir and Sakkara), from Upper or Middle Egypt (Meir, Sharuna, Gebelein, Elephantine), or even from more remote places like the wadi el-Jarf harbour on the Red sea shores or Balat-Ayn Asil archives in the Dakhla oasis. Each contributor gives an overview of the available documentation and the most recent studies related to it. Numerous examples, some of them hitherto unpublished, are illustrated in this volume so as to better understand the way those lots are organized and to fully apprehend how the administration of this period was managed at the provincial as well as central level.

The eighteen articles collected in this volume are the results of the international workshop, "Teaching Morality in Antiquity: Wisdom Texts, Oral Traditions, and Images," held at the Bibliotheca Albertina of the University of Leipzig between November 29th and December 1st, 2016 with the financial support of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. During the workshop, fruitful discussions on diverse issues related to the theme "wisdom texts and morality" developed regarding biblical wisdom texts and their parallels from the ancient Egypt, ancient Mesopotamia, and the ancient Levant - more specifically: moral messages and rhetoric in wisdom texts; the dissemination of wisdom teachings; teachings about the divine realm as the core of moral principles or human social order; visualization of divine authority; questions of theodicy; and modern analyses of ancient morality through the eyes of cognitive science.

Illustrated in colour and b&w with 248 illustrations. The second monograph devoted to the work of the Theban Desert Road Survey presents the major rock inscriptions of the northwestern Theban Desert and the western hinterlands of Qamula. The material includes six larger sites and several smaller collections and individual inscriptions and images, sites discovered by the Theban Desert Road Survey over the course of approximately twelve field seasons. The major groupings of inscriptions, from south to north, are the rock shrine of Pahu and the inscriptions of Gebel Akhenaton, sites in the vicinity of the Wadi Himdaniya; a small but interesting collection of inscriptions near the Wadi Arqub Baghla, with two smaller, outlying sites; inscriptions of the Wadi Magar to the north, including the site of the great Predynastic tableau with its plethora of crocodiles, the associated vignette of Elephant-on-the-Gebel, along with the nearby Gebel Sutekh site, and smaller concentrations beyond; and finally the inscriptions of the area of the Matna el-Barqa. Highlights of the epigraphic material include new prayers to Amun and Hathor-one a genuine New Kingdom de profundis recording an appeal to Amun during a storm on the Nile-several important Predynastic and Protodynastic tableaux, and the only rock art depictions of Akhenaton in a true Amarna style.

The Czech Institute of Egyptology of the Charles University in Prague has since the start of the third millennium established the tradition of organising on a regular basis a platform for scholars, active in the pyramid fields and the cemeteries of the Memphite region (Abusir, Saqqara, Dahshur and Giza in particular), to meet, exchange information and establish further cooperation. The present volume, containing 43 contributions by 53 scholars, is the result of the already fourth "Abusir and Saqqara" conference held in June 2015. The volume reflects the widespread, often multidisciplinary interest of many researchers into a wide variety of different topics related to the Memphite necropoleis. Recurring topics of the studies include a focus on archaeology, the theory of artefacts, iconographic and art historian studies, and the research of largely unpublished archival materials. An overwhelming number of contributions (31) is dedicated to various aspects of Old Kingdom archaeology and most present specific aspects linked with archaeological excavations, both past and present.

The Roman emperor Augustus gave his name to the age he dominated, from the latter half of the first century BC until the second decade of the following century. Yet he shared the age with several royal women who ruled parts of the Mediterranean world, in a symbiotic relationship with Rome. This book is the first detailed portrait of these remarkable women. Previous accounts of the period have centered on Augustus or Rome's allied kings, with scant attention to the women who ruled as their partners or on their own. The most famous of these is Cleopatra Selene, the daughter of the great Cleopatra VII of Egypt and her partner, the Roman magistrate Marcus Antonius. Her very survival following Roman victory over her mother's forces is itself noteworthy but she went on to rule Mauretania (northwest Africa) with her husband for more than twenty years. She even attempted to reconstitute her mother's legacy in this remote region and, like her mother, was an ardent patron of the arts and scholarship. Other women of note included in this book are Pythodoris of Pontos, who ruled northern Asia Minor for forty years, and Salome of Judaea, the sister of Herod the Great, who, while never queen, exercised significant power for nearly half a century. These and others - Glaphyra of Cappadocia, Dynamis of Bosporos, Abe of Olbe, and Mousa of Parthia - were all part of the interrelated dynasties of the Augustan Age. Their values and attitudes toward rule directly affected the emergent Roman imperial system, and their legacy survived for centuries through their descendants and the goals of the royal women of Rome, such as Livia and Octavia, the wife and sister of Augustus. Assimilating all of the historical and archaeological evidence, Cleopatra's Daughter recovers these extraordinary women from the dim shadows of the ancient past.

A colossal statue, originally built to honor an ancient pharaoh, still stands today in Egyptian Thebes, with more than a hundred Greek and Latin inscriptions covering its lower surfaces. Partially damaged by an earthquake, and later re-identified as the Homeric hero Memnon, it was believed to "speak" regularly at daybreak. By the middle of the first century CE, tourists flocked to the colossus of Memnon to hear the miraculous sound, and left behind their marks of devotion (proskynemata): brief acknowledgments of having heard Memnon's cry; longer lists by Roman administrators; and more elaborate elegiac verses by both amateur and professional poets. The inscribed names left behind reveal the presence of emperors and soldiers, provincial governors and businessmen, elite women and military wives, and families with children. While recent studies of imperial literature acknowledge the colossus, few address the inscriptions themselves. This book is the first critical assessment of all the inscriptions considered in their social, cultural, and historical context. The Memnon colossus functioned as a powerful site of engagement with the Greek past, and appealed to a broad segment of society. The inscriptions shed light on contemporary attitudes toward sacred tourism, the role of Egypt in the Greco-Roman imagination, and the cultural legacy of Homeric epic. Memnon is a ghost from the Homeric past anchored in the Egyptian present, and visitors yearned for a "close encounter" that would connect them with that distant past. The inscriptions thus idealize Greece by echoing archaic literature in their verses at the same time as they reflect their own historical horizon. These and other subjects are expertly explored in the book, including a fascinating chapter on the colossus's post-classical life when the statue finds new worshippers among Romantic artists and poets in nineteenth-century Europe.

Thirteen essays about ancient Egypt at her position in the ancient and modern world.

This volume reflects the most recent state of research on ancient Egypt presented and discussed at the international conference Current Research in Egyptology XVII, May 2016. Nine papers are arranged in chronological order covering the wide time span from the Predynastic till the Greco-Roman Period, with the remaining five considering more general thematic, theoretical, and cross-cultural topics. Papers re-examine the archives from early excavations of Predynastic tombs in the light of modern research; discuss various types of object from different periods; consider the roles of travelling artists, regional artistic schools styles, and the mobility of ancient high-skilled craftsmen. Thematic, theoretical, and cross-cultural papers consider the relation of gods, cosmic sacredness, and fertility beliefs; take a comparative approach to cultural identity extracted from narrative poetry of Greek and Egyptian origin; the inclusion of Egyptian musical elements incorporated into Greek traditions and the analysis of artifacts from the Egyptian collection of Zagreb, illustrating the range of information that essentially unprovenanced objects may have for future research.

The excavations of Gebel Adda (Lower Nubia) by the American Research Center in Egypt's Nubian Expedition (1962-1966, directed by Nicholas B. Millet) yielded large quantities of objects, including an impressive collection of leatherwork. The finds, which show a remarkable degree of preservation, date from the Meroitic Period (about AD 100-400) through the Christian (AD 641-1400) and Islamic Periods (AD 1400), and were mainly recovered from tombs. The large variety of leather objects, currently housed in the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, clearly indicates the high degree of the leatherwork technology of the Nubian people. Among the objects are the famous (post-)Merotic quivers, scabbards, and wrist guards. The present work - the first of two volumes on the leatherwork - however, presents only the footwear (sandals and shoes). It includes detailed descriptions, accompanied by colour photographs and, where necessary, drawings. The preliminary analysis, in which the Gebel Adda material is comprehensively compared with the finds from other sites, discusses topics such as typological development, diachronic change, and geographical variations.