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| Author(s): |
Rafael dos Santos Pires
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Master's Dissertation |
| Press: | São Paulo. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD) |
| Defense date: | 2021-01-14 |
| Examining board members: |
Marcelo Aparecido Rede;
Maria Thereza David João;
Fábio Afonso Frizzo de Moraes Lima;
Andrea Paula Zingarelli
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| Advisor: | Marcelo Aparecido Rede |
| Abstract | |
In this work, I will focus on both the unification process of the Egyptian state and on the Egyptian conquest that have taken place over the early New Kingdom Egypt (c. 1550-1420 BC). A considerable amount of literature has been published on these issues in Egyptian historiography. However, far too little attention has been paid to a more nuanced evaluation of the Egyptian State, specially the Crown, and its capacity of territorial control. Therefore, I carry out a joint analysis of inscriptions on royal and private monuments, namely those found in religious and funerary contexts which show some of the titles and connections of the depicted individuals. The critical analysis of the discourse of my sources shows how these monuments embody elements which fit predetermined pigeonholes: political, economic, diplomatic, and other domains. Doing so, I end up questioning the dichotomies projected uncritically onto the ancient world: public and private, religious and political, truth and myth. I observe in my main documental corpus (objects and texts that belonged or mention officials and kings of the early New Kingdom) the military feature is another element quite present. However, this feature does not characterize only agents of military forces talking about warfare, victories, and domination. It plays a key role in establishing and maintaining royal legitimacy, in structuring religious discourses, as wells as elements of civil administration. Consequently, this surely expands the meaning of what we call \"military elites\". In this perspective, we see the military as an important aspect in the Egyptian state formation and its imperial expansion. It is responsible for making the mechanisms related to domination, economy, and diplomacy operate in a way that benefits Egypt. In order to analyze theses spheres and their connections with the military sphere, I chose to apply concepts of Political Anthropology, Political History, and theories of the distributive and symbolic economy as to understand how the relationship between State and local communities, Egypt and foreign areas and the elites among themselves (including here the pharaonic Crown) work on a two-way process. Taken together, the documentary evidence in this work demonstrate that the Egyptian Crown played an active part as a symbol of unification of the Egyptian territory, far from being the case of a monarchy based on oriental despotism. In addition, I concluded that the process of unification is part of the process of conquest of Lower Egypt by Upper Egypt, leaving aside a teleological view of Egypt as a unified state. The findings of this study suggest that the power became increasingly more pulverized among the groups forming the denser texture of the New Kingdom Egypt. (AU) | |
| FAPESP's process: | 18/03682-9 - Unify to conquer or conquer to unify? Reorganization of the pharaonic power, and military elites (1550-1425 bC) |
| Grantee: | Rafael dos Santos Pires |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Master |