Sacred Space and Sacred Function in Ancient Thebes: Occasional Proceedings of the Theban Workshop

Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization #61

by Betsy M. Bryan, Peter F. Dorman

This volume presents a series of papers delivered at a two-day session of the Theban Workshop held at the British Museum in September 2003. Due to its political and religious prominence throughout much of pharaonic history, the region of ancient Thebes offers scholars a wealth of monuments whose physical remains and extant iconography may be combined with textual sources and archaeological finds in ways that elucidate the function of sacred space as initially conceived, and which also reveal adaptations to human need or shifts in cultural perception. The contributions herein address issues such as the architectural framing of religious ceremony, the implicit performative responses of officiants, the diachronic study of specific rites, the adaptation of sacred space to different uses through physical, representational, or textual alteration, and the development of ritual landscapes in ancient Thebes.

Genres: Egypt, Ancient

213 pages, Paperback

First published March 14, 2007

About the author

Betsy Morrell Bryan (born 1949) is an American Egyptologist who is leading a team that is excavating the Precinct of Mut complex in Karnak, at Luxor in Upper Egypt.

She is Alexander Badawy Professor of Egyptian Art and Archaeology, and Near Eastern Studies Professor at Johns Hopkins University.

Her work has included research and writing about Thutmose IV and Amenhotep III, and on an Egyptian drinking festival.

Reviews

[James F · Rating 3 out of 5]

A symposium of 11 papers on the uses of religious space in ancient Thebes (Egypt). Highlights -- paper on the earliest temples at Karnak and Luxor; one on the "Botanical Garden"; one on the reuse of the temples and tombs as Christian monasteries; and one on the Qurnawi who live in the Theban necropolis today and its effects on their religion.