Performance and Drama in Ancient Egypt

by Robyn Gillam

Performance and Drama in Ancient Egypt examines archaeological and textual materials for evidence of performance-based activities in Egypt from the beginning of the historic period until the later Roman Empire. It takes as its starting point enactments of performance texts from the Graeco-Roman period done by the author's students and examines the widespread vogue for re-enactments on archaeological sites and in the mass media.

The book presents an historically-based survey of ancient Egyptian performance activities that relates them to other cultural and historical developments. The materials discussed include texts, visual art, architecture and material culture. The author deals with issues that have been raised in the emerging field of performance archaeology as well as seeking to initiate a discussion on performance in Egyptology and related disciplines.

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 13, 2006

Reviews

[DAJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ancient Egyptian religion was full of rituals, some of which took place out of sight of almost everyone, while others were performed in the midst of massive crowds. Thus, a lot of Egyptian religion involved public performance, an aspect of ritual that Egyptologists generally overlook. Some of these performances followed a loose storyline based on mythology, and while they almost certainly lacked the realism and attentive audiences found in modern Western performances, it's reasonable to call these performances "drama", at least in a loose sense. We don't know a lot about how these rituals were enacted, but Gillam pulls together most of the evidence we have. At times, mainly in the introduction, the book can feel tiresomely academic and theoretical, but overall it does a good job of treating the complexities and uncertainties of the subject without being too hard to read.

Most of the book is a historical survey of the evidence about ritual performance, from the Predynastic Period down to the extinction of ancient Egyptian religion in late Roman times. Studies of this subject tends to draw on a handful of scripts for rituals, such as the Dramatic Ramesseum Papyrus and Papyrus Bremner-Rhind, but Gillam gleans evidence from less familiar sources as well, such as the Story of Sinuhe, which contains a passage that seem to allude to the ceremonies of the goddess Hathor. But the most interesting chapter is the last one, on modern performances of Egyptian rites, which Gillam has assigned students in her own classes to stage. She makes good points about how the ceremonies might have worked in ancient times and how modern staging of the rites can inform us about ancient performances.

[Jerry]

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