Articles

Higo, T. — Transitions of the Egyptian Concept of mꜣꜥty

The goddess Maat is a personification of the concept of maat, which is generally understood as the order of the universe, justice and truth, etc. While the goddess Maat is usually personified as one entity, she is occasionally depicted in the form of two goddesses and named Dual Maat (mꜣꜥty). The wsḫt n mꜣꜥty (the broad hall of Dual Maat) in Chapter 125 of Book of the Dead shows that she became prominent from the New Kingdom onward. Dual Maat reflects the Egyptian notion of dualism. Although the reduplication of the goddess Maat in the netherworld has been discussed by scholars, it is not clear yet what the reason for this reduplication is.

The present article focuses on the attestation of mꜣꜥty in earlier texts: the Pyramid Texts, the Palermo Stone and the Coffin Texts. It will be seen that the word mꜣꜥty was predominantly used for the name of the bark or the two barks associated with the solar bark or the festival of Sokar, rather than with the dualistic divine name. The later, clear appearance of the reduplicated Maat may have been the result of intricate syncretic ideas attested in the Coffin Texts, identifying the bark(s) of Sokar with two Maat goddesses, the sun barks, the twin children of Atum and the Eyes of Horus.

Monsieur, P. — A concise overview of Rhodian amphorae and amphora stamps. Some remarks on a newly published corpus of Rhodian eponym dies

Fragments of Hellenistic wine amphorae from Rhodes are among the commonest finds on archaeological sites in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea region. On their stamped handles one can read the names of the Rhodian eponyms and fabricants. The stamps are also regularly decorated with the city emblems figuring a rose and a head or bust of the sun god Helios. In view of the large quantities of amphorae recovered from excavations, the production of wine and their export must have been massive, and important for the economy of Rhodes. The stamps play an essential role in the dating of archaeological contexts since their chronology is based on the one-year term of the Rhodian eponyms to whom the fabricants mentioned on the other stamped handle are connected. Therefore the creation of an online database of dies of Rhodian amphora stamps by the Centre d’Etudes d’Alexandrie, followed by a recently published paper version, G. CANKARDEŞ-ŞENOL, Lexicon of Eponym Dies on Rhodian Amphora Stamps, vol. 1-4 (2015-2017), are essential for their identification and the chronology they can afford to archaeological sites. Besides, this corpus gives possibilities for more detailed and, in a lesser manner, quantified study of wine and amphora production in Rhodes and its peraia.

Book reviews and announcements

Faraonisch Egypte, Laatantiek Egypte, Assyriologie, Hettitologie, Oosters christendom, Oude Testament, Archeologie, Arabica, Varia

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