Reflexiones en torno a la génesis del campo religioso y su pertinencia heurística en los albores de la sistematización estatal en el Antiguo Egipto : Una relectura de la sociología de la religión en Pierre Bourdieu

El presente trabajo intenta mostrar de que manera una creencia pre-estatal, reflejo directo "no codificado" de imaginarios sociales indiferenciados, fue reutilizada, reproducida y resignificada por una ideología devenida en dominante y coincidente con el progresivo afianzamiento de la práctica estatal en Egipto. La pretensión es, en tanto y en cuanto esto no implique una artificiosidad forzada como improductiva, rastrear la etiología de la religión de estado en el Egipto faraónico y la relación directa entre la institucionalización de un culto global y la estructuración de lo que pertinentemente llamaremos campo religioso, entendido como una constelación de actores sociales en permanente interacción. La riqueza y amplitud teóricas de los análisis bourdianos, así como una relectura de sus presupuestos sobre la sociología de la religión -campo religioso, capital simbólico, habitus, etc...-, bien pueden contribuir a repensar, desde nuevas perspectivas, el punto de inflexión que supone el comienzo de la interacción entre la naciente práctica estatal y las estructuras de parentesco depositarias de un bagaje de creencias no mediatizadas

Reflexiones en torno a la génesis del campo religioso y su pertinencia heurística en los albores de la sistematización estatal en el Antiguo Egipto : Una relectura de la sociología de la religión en Pierre Bourdieu

El presente trabajo intenta mostrar de que manera una creencia pre-estatal, reflejo directo "no codificado" de imaginarios sociales indiferenciados, fue reutilizada, reproducida y resignificada por una ideología devenida en dominante y coincidente con el progresivo afianzamiento de la práctica estatal en Egipto. La pretensión es, en tanto y en cuanto esto no implique una artificiosidad forzada como improductiva, rastrear la etiología de la religión de estado en el Egipto faraónico y la relación directa entre la institucionalización de un culto global y la estructuración de lo que pertinentemente llamaremos campo religioso, entendido como una constelación de actores sociales en permanente interacción. La riqueza y amplitud teóricas de los análisis bourdianos, así como una relectura de sus presupuestos sobre la sociología de la religión -campo religioso, capital simbólico, habitus, etc...-, bien pueden contribuir a repensar, desde nuevas perspectivas, el punto de inflexión que supone el comienzo de la interacción entre la naciente práctica estatal y las estructuras de parentesco depositarias de un bagaje de creencias no mediatizadas

Reflexiones en torno a la génesis del campo religioso y su pertinencia heurística en los albores de la sistematización estatal en el Antiguo Egipto : Una relectura de la sociología de la religión en Pierre Bourdieu

El presente trabajo intenta mostrar de que manera una creencia pre-estatal, reflejo directo "no codificado" de imaginarios sociales indiferenciados, fue reutilizada, reproducida y resignificada por una ideología devenida en dominante y coincidente con el progresivo afianzamiento de la práctica estatal en Egipto. La pretensión es, en tanto y en cuanto esto no implique una artificiosidad forzada como improductiva, rastrear la etiología de la religión de estado en el Egipto faraónico y la relación directa entre la institucionalización de un culto global y la estructuración de lo que pertinentemente llamaremos campo religioso, entendido como una constelación de actores sociales en permanente interacción. La riqueza y amplitud teóricas de los análisis bourdianos, así como una relectura de sus presupuestos sobre la sociología de la religión -campo religioso, capital simbólico, habitus, etc...-, bien pueden contribuir a repensar, desde nuevas perspectivas, el punto de inflexión que supone el comienzo de la interacción entre la naciente práctica estatal y las estructuras de parentesco depositarias de un bagaje de creencias no mediatizadas

The Royal Acquantainces of Memi and Sabu

Sculpture, Egyptian, Old Kingdom; 2 ft. 13/32 in.x 9 41/64 in.x 5 63/64 in.; painted limestone

"Lancea", Lusitanian Word, and the "Lancienses" Ethnogenesis

Analysis of the word lancea, of Hispanic origin after Varro, and of place names, people´s names and personal names derived from it. It confirms that the spear was the most important weapon in the Bronze Age, belonging to the iuventus and used as heroic and divine symbol. This analysis confirms also the personality of the Lusitanians, a people related to the Celts but with more archaic archaeological, linguistic and cultural characteristics originated in the tradition of the Atlantic Bronze in the II millennium BC. It is also relevant to better know the organisation of Broze and Iron Age societies and the origin of Indo-Europeans peoples in Western Europe and of pre-Roman peoples of Iberia.

El ritual en los "Textos de las Pirámides": sintaxis, texto y significado

Este trabajo pretende explorar la dimensión ritual en los Textos de las Pirámides, el corpus de literatura religiosa extensa más antiguo de la humanidad. La naturaleza variada de sus componentes textuales ha impedido que los egiptólogos comprendan en profundidad las complejidades de la colección y los contextos originales en los que estos textos (ritos) aparecieron. La aplicación de la teoría del ritual, principalmente la aproximación de la sintaxis ritual, ofrece a los investigadores un marco excelente de análisis e interpretación del corpus, su estructura y función. Sujeto a las reglas de la sintaxis ritual es posible exponer los múltiples niveles de significado en el corpus para la resurrección y salvación del difunto.

"Do Not Celebrate Your Feast without Your Neighbours" : A Study of References to Feasts and Festivals in Non-Literary Documents from Ramesside Period Deir el-Medina

This dissertation is a study of the forms and functions of feasts and feasting in the ancient Egyptian village of Deir el-Medina in Thebes (modern Luxor). This particular village, during the New Kingdom (c. 1550 1069 BC), was inhabited by the men (and their families) who constructed the Royal Tombs in the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens. The royal artisans were probably more literate than the average Egyptians and the numerous Ramesside Period (c. 1295 1069 BC) non-literary texts found in the excavations of the village and its surroundings form the source material for this study. In this study, the methods used are mainly Egyptological and the references to feasts and feasting are considered in view of what is known of New Kingdom Egypt, Thebes, and Deir el-Medina. Nevertheless, it is the use of the methodological concept local vernacular religion that has resulted in the division of the research findings into two sections, i.e., references to feasts celebrated both in and outside the community and other references to feasts and feasting in the village. When considering the function of the feasts celebrated at Deir el-Medina, a functional approach to feasts introduced by anthropologists and archaeologists is utilized. The Deir el-Medina feasts which were associated with the official religion form a festival calendar of feasts celebrated annually on the same civil calendar day. The reconstructed festival calendar of Deir el-Medina reflects the feasts celebrated around Thebes or, at least, in Western Thebes. The function of the nationally and regionally observed feasts (which, at least at Deir el-Medina, resulted in a work-free day) may have been to keep people content so that they would continue to work which was to the advantage of the king and the elite surrounding him. Local feasts appear to have been observed more irregularly at Deir el-Medina or perhaps according to the lunar calendar. Feasts celebrated by the community as a whole served to maintain the unity of the group. In addition to feasts celebrated by the entire community, the inhabitants of Deir el-Medina could mark their own personal feasts and organize small gatherings during public feasts. Through such feasts, an individual man might form alliances and advance his chances of a favourable marriage or of acquiring a position on the work crew.

La realeza egipcia : Dios padre- hijo Rey : Algunas consideraciones míticas literarias sobre el faraón como Hijo de Ra

La relación filial entre el dios-padre y el hijo-rey en la monarquía egipcia expresó una de las principales condiciones que el faraón debía cumplir para asumir el trono en las Dos Tierras. Asimismo este vínculo dentro del Estado se simbolizó a partir del Reino Antiguo con el título real Hijo de Ra, pero también en diversas expresiones que lo relacionaban con el dios Ra y una realeza solarizada. Por ejemplo los dos últimos cuentos del papiro Westcar narran el origen divino de la dinastía V como hijos del dios Ra, texto literario que se vincula con los Mitos de Origen de un Rey. En el presente trabaja analizamos estas referencias que dan cuenta de uno de los rasgos esenciales de la realeza egipcia, su divinidad

La realeza egipcia : Dios padre- hijo Rey : Algunas consideraciones míticas literarias sobre el faraón como Hijo de Ra

La relación filial entre el dios-padre y el hijo-rey en la monarquía egipcia expresó una de las principales condiciones que el faraón debía cumplir para asumir el trono en las Dos Tierras. Asimismo este vínculo dentro del Estado se simbolizó a partir del Reino Antiguo con el título real Hijo de Ra, pero también en diversas expresiones que lo relacionaban con el dios Ra y una realeza solarizada. Por ejemplo los dos últimos cuentos del papiro Westcar narran el origen divino de la dinastía V como hijos del dios Ra, texto literario que se vincula con los Mitos de Origen de un Rey. En el presente trabaja analizamos estas referencias que dan cuenta de uno de los rasgos esenciales de la realeza egipcia, su divinidad

La realeza egipcia : Dios padre- hijo Rey : Algunas consideraciones míticas literarias sobre el faraón como Hijo de Ra

La relación filial entre el dios-padre y el hijo-rey en la monarquía egipcia expresó una de las principales condiciones que el faraón debía cumplir para asumir el trono en las Dos Tierras. Asimismo este vínculo dentro del Estado se simbolizó a partir del Reino Antiguo con el título real Hijo de Ra, pero también en diversas expresiones que lo relacionaban con el dios Ra y una realeza solarizada. Por ejemplo los dos últimos cuentos del papiro Westcar narran el origen divino de la dinastía V como hijos del dios Ra, texto literario que se vincula con los Mitos de Origen de un Rey. En el presente trabaja analizamos estas referencias que dan cuenta de uno de los rasgos esenciales de la realeza egipcia, su divinidad

The Romanian Orthodox Church

At first glance, the nationalist ideology of the French Revolution seems to have had little impact on the Orthodox Church in Romanian-speaking territories. Romanians were the predominant inhabitants of the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia and the neighboring territories of Transylvania (including Crişana, Maramureş and Banat), Bukovina, Bessarabia, and Dobrudja. The majority of ethnic Romanians belonged to the Orthodox faith while their communities were at the intersection of geopo liti cal interests of the Rus sian, Ottoman, and Habsburg empires. In 1859 the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia (known as the Old Kingdom between 1866 and 1918) united into a single state under the rule of a local prince. The term "Romania" began to be used by the new state in its of cial documents in 1862. Two years later, the state supported the declaration of a Romanian autocephalous (in de pen dent) church that was recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1885. As an integrative part of the Orthodox commonwealth, the church was situated between the competing jurisdictions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Rus sian Orthodox Church, while its declaration of autocephaly followed a pattern in the spread of national churches in Southeastern Europe. From the Treaty of Kuchuk Kainardji of 1774 to the beginning of the Greek War for In de pen dence in 1821, the Romanian principalities were under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire, which had full control of their po liti cal and economic affairs. The sultan appointed princes, and the Porte determined their po liti cal and judicial status. The princes were drawn from the "Phanariots," and were directly appointed by the Porte from preponderantly Greek elite rather than the Romanian local elite, the boyars (boieri).1 In each principality, the church was headed by a metropolitan who was under the direct jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. That religion mattered to local population as a means of social cohesion was suggestively depicted by Anatole de Demidoff, an En glish traveler in the region in 1837. Arriving in Bucharest, the capital of Wallachia, he claimed that: I know of no city in Europe in which it is possible to find more agreeable society, or in which there is a better tone, united with the most charming gaiety⋯. Religion, which is here of the schismatic Greek creed, does not, properly speaking, hold any great empire over the minds of the Wallachian people, but they observe its outward forms, and particularly the austerities of fasting, with scrupulous exactitude. The people are seen to attend divine ser vice with every sign of respect, and the great number of churches existing in Wallachia, bear witness to the ardent zeal with which outward worship is honored.2 The Romanian Orthodox Church was a national institution, closely linked to social, economic, and po liti cal structures. In most cases, Orthodox hierarchs were appointed from the families of boyars, thus ensuring a close relationship with the state authorities and its policies. As one of the largest landowners in the principalities, the church had a prime role in administrating healthcare and education. Although the majority of the clergy was uneducated, it dispensed both ecclesiastical and civil justice and in many cases worked closely with boyars in local administration.3 The lower clergy not only contributed directly to the economy but also benefited from tax privileges. Some small villages had an unusually high proportion of clergy in comparison to the overall population. For example, in 1810, Stənisləveşti, a village in the south of Wallachia, was composed of eleven houses and had two priests, five deacons, and three cantors; similarly, the Frəsinet village of nineteen houses had two priests and five deacons.4 Although these cases were exceptional, they indicate both the economic value of being a member of the clergy and the wider canonical dimension of church jurisdiction. The special status of the clergy was reflected not only at lower but also at higher levels. Bishops and metropolitans engaged with state policy and in many cases opposition to the authorities led to the loss of a spiritual seat. The metropolitan of each principality worked with the prince and was president of the divan, the gathering of all boyars. He held the right to be the first person to comment on state policy and to make recommendations when the prince was absent. The metropolitan replaced the prince when the principality had no political ruler, such as in the cases of Metropolitan Veniamin Costachi of Moldavia in 1806 and Metropolitan Dositei Filitti of Wallachia, while the bishops of Buzəu and Argeş were members of the provisional government during the Rus sian occupation of the principalities in 1808. The higher clergy had both religious and political prerogatives in relation to foreign powers as evident in their heading of the boyars' delegation to peace negotiation between the Rus sian and Ottoman empires at Focşani in 1772 and addressing memoranda to the Austrian and Rus sian governments in 1802.5 The primary role of the church in the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia was paralleled by the national mobilization of Orthodox communities in the neighboring territories that had Romanian inhabitants. Although throughout the region Orthodox communities were incorporated into church structures as part of the Habsburg, Austrian or Rus sian empires, the nineteenth century was characterized by the leadership's search for political autonomy and the building of a Romanian national identity. The Orthodox communities outside the Old Kingdom maintained relations with the faithful in principalities across the Carpathian Mountains and the Dniester River and sought support in their struggle for political and religious rights.

Widespread exploitation of the honeybee by early Neolithic farmers

The pressures on honeybee (Apis mellifera) populations, resulting from threats by modern pesticides, parasites, predators and diseases, have raised awareness of the economic importance and critical role this insect plays in agricultural societies across the globe. However, the association of humans with A. mellifera predates post-industrial-revolution agriculture, as evidenced by the widespread presence of ancient Egyptian bee iconography dating to the Old Kingdom (approximately 2400 bc)1. There are also indications of Stone Age people harvesting bee products; for example, honey hunting is interpreted from rock art2 in a prehistoric Holocene context and a beeswax find in a pre-agriculturalist site3. However, when and where the regular association of A. mellifera with agriculturalists emerged is unknown4. One of the major products of A. mellifera is beeswax, which is composed of a complex suite of lipids including n-alkanes, n-alkanoic acids and fatty acyl wax esters. The composition is highly constant as it is determined genetically through the insect’s biochemistry. Thus, the chemical ‘fingerprint’ of beeswax provides a reliable basis for detecting this commodity in organic residues preserved at archaeological sites, which we now use to trace the exploitation by humans of A. mellifera temporally and spatially. Here we present secure identifications of beeswax in lipid residues preserved in pottery vessels of Neolithic Old World farmers. The geographical range of bee product exploitation is traced in Neolithic Europe, the Near East and North Africa, providing the palaeoecological range of honeybees during prehistory. Temporally, we demonstrate that bee products were exploited continuously, and probably extensively in some regions, at least from the seventh millennium cal bc, likely fulfilling a variety of technological and cultural functions. The close association of A. mellifera with Neolithic farming communities dates to the early onset of agriculture and may provide evidence for the beginnings of a domestication process.

News from an Old Excavation: Two Hitherto Unnoticed Measure Capacity Signs on an Egyptian Stone Vessel of the Middle Kingdom from Royal Tomb II at Byblos

Excavated by French Egyptologist P. Montet in the 1920s, Royal Tomb II at Byblos (Bronze Age Gubla) yielded a significant number of Egyptian objects of the Middle Kingdom. Among these finds is a stone vessel with lid that carries the cartouche of a king named Amenemhat, often believed to be Amenemhat IV of the late Middle Kingdom. Hitherto unnoticed by the scholarly community, however, are two Egyptian measure capacity signs on the stone vessel itself. Since measure capacity signs on stone vessels dating to the Middle Kingdom are only rarely attested even in Egypt, the signs on the stone vessel from Royal Tomb II at Byblos therefore contribute considerably to our understanding of the use and application of such signs. The article deals with the examination of these signs and tries to correlate them with the actual capacity of the vessel.