Body, Cosmos and Eternity

New Trends of Research on Iconography and Symbolism of Ancient Egyptian Coffins

Rogério Sousa

• Publisher: Archaeopress Archaeology
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781784910020
• eBook ISBN: 9781784910037
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Archaeology
• Index: Social Sciences

This volume, edited by Rogério 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.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Contents
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Part I : Studies on Coffin Symbolism
• From skin wrappings to architecture
• René van Walsem
• The evolution of prehistoric, anthropoid wrappings to historic architectonic coffins/sarcophagi; separate contrasts optimally used in single Theban ‘stola’ coffins (±975-920 BC)
• Permeable containers: Body and cosmos in Middle Kingdom coffins
• Rune Nyord
• Ancient Egyptian funerary arts as social documents: social place, reuse, and working towards a new typology of 21st Dynasty cofins
• Kathlyn M. Cooney
• Representations of passage in ancient Egyptian iconography
• Éva Liptay
• Crossing the landscapes of eternity: parallels between Amduat and funeral procession scenes on the 21st Dynasty coffins1
• Cássio de Araújo Duarte
• ‘Spread your wings over me’: iconography, symbolism and meaning of the central panel on yellow coffins
• Rogério Sousa
• Cynthia May Sheikholeslami
• Resurrection in a box: the 25th Dynasty burial ensemble of Padiamunet
• Carter Lupton
• Gods at all hours: Saite Period coffins of the ‘eleven-eleven’ type
• Jonathan Elias
• Part II : Studies on Museums’ Collections and Archaeological Finds
• Alexandra Küffer
• Continuity in times of transition:
• the inner coffin of the mistress of the house Gem-tu-es in Vevey (Switzerland)
• Egyptian coffins in Portugal
• Luís Manuel de Araújo
• Alain Dautant1
• Cercueils jaunes des XXIe et XXIIe dynasties
• dans les collections Françaises
• Anders Bettum
• Lot 14 from Bab el-Gasus (Sweden and Norway): the modern history of the collection and a reconstruction of the ensembles
• Elena Paganini
• The coffins of the priests of Amun: a socio-economic investigation on Bab el-Gasus cachette
• Coffins without mummies: the Tomb KV 63 in the Valley of the Kings1
• Rogério Sousa