Periodic Reporting for period 1 - DecoProg (Royal ideology and legitimacy at the beginning of New Kingdom: The function and decorative program of temples of millions of years)
Berichtszeitraum: 2022-01-03 bis 2024-01-02
The “DecoProg” project has revisited specific aspects of the monuments known as temples of “millions of years” by focusing on the interconnections between these temples and other monuments built in Thebes. The core objective has been to analyse their function and specificity by studying their iconographic program and also considering architectural, archaeological, and religious aspects. These monuments developed at the beginning of the 18th dynasty (ca. 1539-1292 BC), a time of ideological rebirth and political stability. They were, above all, a reflection of novel religious and ideological concepts connected to kingship. The project has essentially examined 18th-dynasty monuments. However, it has also compared them with the posterior Ramesside period (ca. 1292-1069 BC). This has provided new insights into how kingship conceived itself and with society in this crucial period and how decorative programs reflected it.
The two-year fellowship has focused on exploring how the king’s cult in life and after death in the temples of millions of years, particularly those situated in Western Thebes (Luxor, Egypt), interacted with that performed in other temples of that area and beyond, as well as with the royal and private tombs. It has re-examined the decorative programs of this period from a broader perspective, deconstructing often fixed and too restrictive categories between monuments by diachronic comparison through different reigns, synchronic analysis between monuments, and analysing the scenes within their contexts. It becomes more apparent that temples of "millions of years" should be understood as context-specific. They were also answers to specific needs and part of a broad context where tradition and innovation interplayed.
Furthermore, a new model of tomb and temple developed during the New Kingdom, which performed different but complementary functions. This project has shed more light on how these theoretically separated contexts shared many commonalities regarding function and decoration inherited from previous periods. Furthermore, a corpus of texts and motifs was also used for multiple contexts. Each structure had its place in the conceptual, ritual and sacred landscape. Monuments and society were interrelated through religious, economic, and ideological landscapes, where the perception of monumentality and stone monuments played an important role.
The two-year fellowship has focused on exploring how the king’s cult in life and after death in the temples of millions of years, particularly those situated in Western Thebes (Luxor, Egypt), interacted with that performed in other temples of that area and beyond, as well as with the royal and private tombs. It has re-examined the decorative programs of this period from a broader perspective, deconstructing often fixed and too restrictive categories between monuments by diachronic comparison through different reigns, synchronic analysis between monuments, and analysing the scenes within their contexts. It becomes more apparent that temples of "millions of years" should be understood as context-specific. They were also answers to specific needs and part of a broad context where tradition and innovation interplayed.
Furthermore, a new model of tomb and temple developed during the New Kingdom, which performed different but complementary functions. This project has shed more light on how these theoretically separated contexts shared many commonalities regarding function and decoration inherited from previous periods. Furthermore, a corpus of texts and motifs was also used for multiple contexts. Each structure had its place in the conceptual, ritual and sacred landscape. Monuments and society were interrelated through religious, economic, and ideological landscapes, where the perception of monumentality and stone monuments played an important role.
The publication of the scientific results was planned at three levels: interdisciplinary journals, Egyptological journals and a monograph. Specific questions have been, for example, the role of the royal family’s women in the programs of the temples of “millions of years”, the representations of the festival calendars, and the analysis of the difference between the spaces we interpret as funerary in temples of “millions of years” and other temples. It was also necessary to contextualise certain notions, such as “funerary”. The publications and the monograph planned for 2024 is contributing to the current state of knowledge by clarifying how the decorative programs of the temples functioned and reflected the royal ideology. Free access to peer-reviewed articles is provided via thematic repositories (HAL-SHS open archive, Sciences of Man and Society: https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/(öffnet in neuem Fenster)) and the website from the laboratory of Archeology of Mediterranean Societies (UMR 5140, CNRS, Paul-Valéry University).
The project was also disseminated through my participation in several international conferences in 2022 and 2023. In particular, the conferences presented at the International Congress of Egyptologists in Leiden and the Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists in Belfast made it possible to present a general vision of the project at the theoretical and methodological level and of future research perspectives. Five chapters of proceedings will result from the participation in scientific events. With Sébastien Biston-Moulin, we co-organized two study days on May 3-4, 2023, at the University of Montpellier 3. This event entitled “From one shore to the other: the royal cult from the temples of millions of years to the divine temples and beyond” brought together thirteen specialists from the ENiM team and from different international institutions (France, Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, Poland, Italy) who work on various aspects of royal worship in ancient Egypt, from a multidisciplinary approach. Brill will publish the proceedings in the fall of 2024.
The database set up during the postdoctoral project is available through a PDF and Excel document, which will be provided with open access on HAL in March 2024. This tool aims to establish a list of the monuments examined by dividing the monuments by zones/rooms and describing the scenes preserved in each space as well as other architectural elements, statuary or other elements. Each monument is accompanied by an up-to-date bibliography (which will be updated regularly).
The skills I have improved and acquired during the MSCF fellowship (Funding writing; organising scientific conferences; training in database management and qualitative & quantitative methods for analysing this data; online and collaborative databases; budget and project management; teaching experience at the university level; communicating to different target audiences; continue producing high-level papers), has given me essential assets to reach my career goals and prepare future projects.
The project was also disseminated through my participation in several international conferences in 2022 and 2023. In particular, the conferences presented at the International Congress of Egyptologists in Leiden and the Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists in Belfast made it possible to present a general vision of the project at the theoretical and methodological level and of future research perspectives. Five chapters of proceedings will result from the participation in scientific events. With Sébastien Biston-Moulin, we co-organized two study days on May 3-4, 2023, at the University of Montpellier 3. This event entitled “From one shore to the other: the royal cult from the temples of millions of years to the divine temples and beyond” brought together thirteen specialists from the ENiM team and from different international institutions (France, Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, Poland, Italy) who work on various aspects of royal worship in ancient Egypt, from a multidisciplinary approach. Brill will publish the proceedings in the fall of 2024.
The database set up during the postdoctoral project is available through a PDF and Excel document, which will be provided with open access on HAL in March 2024. This tool aims to establish a list of the monuments examined by dividing the monuments by zones/rooms and describing the scenes preserved in each space as well as other architectural elements, statuary or other elements. Each monument is accompanied by an up-to-date bibliography (which will be updated regularly).
The skills I have improved and acquired during the MSCF fellowship (Funding writing; organising scientific conferences; training in database management and qualitative & quantitative methods for analysing this data; online and collaborative databases; budget and project management; teaching experience at the university level; communicating to different target audiences; continue producing high-level papers), has given me essential assets to reach my career goals and prepare future projects.
The DecoProg project has provided new measurable data for studying Egyptian temples, particularly during the 18th dynasty. Various temples of “millions of years” have been revisited in a broader perspective. The exploration of decorative programs has been interrelated with an approach to other aspects of monuments, such as architecture and statuary, to reach a better understanding of the royal cult performed through different monuments. It will continue to do so in the short term by improving our knowledge of temples and their interrelation in time and space with landscape (conceptual, sacred and ritual).
The project has promoted further discussion among researchers on the usefulness of studies on representational art in Egyptology and its validity in broader anthropological comparative contexts. The exploitation of the result in a collaborative way will be furthermore achieved thanks to the database/working directory. All scenes related to the research topic have been gathered in an online and open database. The action has been disseminated through the publication in international high-level peer-reviewed journals specialised in Egyptology and beyond the field to share potentially interesting results for the scientific community, such as the methodological and theoretical perspective. It has contributed to the host laboratory’s research activities while developing my network through the dissemination/publication of the results and by organising a scientific workshop (May 3-4, 2023).
The project has also promoted awareness among society of the importance of protecting the worldwide historical heritage, the usefulness of studying the past for modern society and the equality of access to culture and history. Didactic workshops and conferences for different target audiences have been organised. Furthermore, the dissemination of the project at the pan-European level is carried out through videos and quizzes in a blog (Hypotheses.org) and a YouTube channel.
The project has promoted further discussion among researchers on the usefulness of studies on representational art in Egyptology and its validity in broader anthropological comparative contexts. The exploitation of the result in a collaborative way will be furthermore achieved thanks to the database/working directory. All scenes related to the research topic have been gathered in an online and open database. The action has been disseminated through the publication in international high-level peer-reviewed journals specialised in Egyptology and beyond the field to share potentially interesting results for the scientific community, such as the methodological and theoretical perspective. It has contributed to the host laboratory’s research activities while developing my network through the dissemination/publication of the results and by organising a scientific workshop (May 3-4, 2023).
The project has also promoted awareness among society of the importance of protecting the worldwide historical heritage, the usefulness of studying the past for modern society and the equality of access to culture and history. Didactic workshops and conferences for different target audiences have been organised. Furthermore, the dissemination of the project at the pan-European level is carried out through videos and quizzes in a blog (Hypotheses.org) and a YouTube channel.