Papers from an international Egyptological conference entitled Evolving Egypt: Innovation, Appropriation, and Reinterpretation in Ancient Egypt held in February 2006 at BYU-Hawaii (Oahu). Contents: 1) Possibilities and Pitfalls in Identifying Innovation: The Early Ramesside Era as a Case Study (Kerry Muhlestein); 2) Les bateaux et le sacre dans l'ancienne Egypte (Ana Maria Rosso); 3) Symbolic Connotations of Pyramid Temples in the 5th and 6th Dynasties (Pal Steiner); 4) Dating of Stelae of the 12th Dynasty: A Statistical Approach (Des Bright); 5) The Expansionist Policies of the New Kingdom and the Increase in Craft Specialization in the Textile Industry (Giovanni Tata); 6) Copy and Reinterpretation in the Tomb of Nakht: Ancient Egyptian Hermeneutics (Valerie Angenot); 7) The Daily Cult: Space, Continuity and Change (Robyn Gillam); 8) Glossed Over: Ancient Egyptian Interpretations of Their Religion (John Gee); 9) The Hieratic Scribal Tradition in Preexilic Judah (David Calabro); 10) Ptolemaic Translation and Representation: The Hellenistic Sculptural Program of the Memphite Sarapieion (Shanna Kennedy-Quigley); 11) Appropriation of Egyptian Judgment in the Testament of Abraham? (Jared Ludlow); 12 New Evidence of Coptic Mummification Techniques From Tell El-Hibeh, Middle Egypt (Robert M. Yohe II, Jill K. Gardner, and Deanna Heikkinen).

This book is hoped to be only the beginning of explorations of the ancient Egyptian notion of upholding Order (Ma'at) through violence. Because of the scope of the topic, this study is limited to the most extreme measure of violence perpetrated in the service of Order: sanctioned killing. This study explores texts that affirm the proper occasions for such killings, and the religious framework behind these actions. Contents: 1) The Act of Killing: An introduction; 2) Death by Narmer an Others: the Archaic Period; 3) Slaying under the Aegis of the Go-King: The Old Kingdom; 4) Sanctioned Killing in the Time Between: The First Intermediate Period; 5) Death by Drowning, Burning, and Flaying: The Middle Kingdom and the Second Intermediate Period; 6) The Slayings of the Great Pharaohs: Dynasty 18; 7) Instances of Intrigue: The Ramesside Era; 8) The Constancy of Killing Amidst Anarchy: Dynasties 21, 22, 25, and 26; 9) A Time to Kill: The Appropriateness of Violence; 10) Foreigners and 'Isfet'; 11) Violent Myth in the Ritual of Return.