Inscribing the pyramid of king Qakare Ibi : scribal practice and mortuary literature in late Old Kingdom Egypt
This thesis investigates how the burial chamber of the 8th Dynasty pyramid of king Qakare Ibi at Saqqara in Egypt (c. 2109-2107 B.C.) was inscribed. It uses a holistic approach to focus on the textual programme and its unusual aspects in comparison to older pyramids. In doing so, it addresses issues of textual transmission and of scribal practice in the process of inscribing the walls of subterranean chambers in pyramids. The aim is to contextualise the texts of Ibi within the Memphite tradition of Pyamid Texts and the development of mortuary literature on different media from the late third millennium BCE Old Kingdom to the Middle Kingdom in the early second millennium BCE. The first chapter presents the background to this research and information on king Ibi and his pyramid. The second chapter treats research on the arrangement of the texts on the walls of subterranean chambers of royal pyramids of kings and queens and compares the layout of the texts in the pyramid of Ibi with older pyramids. It then discusses in detail one section on the east wall of Ibi, where the order of spells diverges from other transmitted sequences. The unusual combination of spells and the practice of shortening spells is investigated
Alvarez, Christelle
Egyptology ; Old Kingdom ; performances ; mutilation of hieroglyphs ; scribal practice ; materiality ; First Intermediate Period ; monumentalisation ; textual transmission ; Coffin Texts ; mortuary literature ; Middle Kingdom ; Pyramid Texts
Inscribing the pyramid of king Qakare Ibi : scribal practice and mortuary literature in late Old Kingdom Egypt. This thesis investigates how the burial chamber of the 8th Dynasty pyramid of king Qakare Ibi at Saqqara in Egypt (c. 2109-2107 B.C.) was inscribed. It uses a holistic approach to focus on the textual programme and its unusual aspects in comparison to older pyramids. In doing so, it addresses issues of textual transmission and of scribal practice in the process of inscribing the walls of subterranean chambers in pyramids. The aim is to contextualise the texts of Ibi within the Memphite tradition of Pyamid Texts and the development of mortuary literature on different media from the late third millennium BCE Old Kingdom to the Middle Kingdom in the early second millennium BCE. The first chapter presents the background to this research and information on king Ibi and his pyramid. The second chapter treats research on the arrangement of the texts on the walls of subterranean chambers of royal pyramids of kings and queens and compares the layout of the texts in the pyramid of Ibi with older pyramids. It then discusses in detail one section on the east wall of Ibi, where the order of spells diverges from other transmitted sequences. The unusual combination of spells and the practice of shortening spells is investigated
pyramid king scribal practice mortuary literature late old_kingdom egypt investigates burial chamber pyramid king egypt inscribed holistic focus textual programme unusual aspect comparison old pyramid address_issue textual transmission scribal practice process inscribe wall subterranean chamber pyramid aim contextualise text within memphite tradition texts development mortuary literature different_medium bce old_kingdom middle_kingdom bce first_present background_information king pyramid second treat arrangement texts wall subterranean chamber royal pyramid king queen compare layout text pyramid old pyramid discus_detail section east wall order spell diverge transmitted sequence unusual combination spell practice shorten spell investigate