The Pyramid Age represents the first of several highpoints in ancient Egypt’s long history. But critical questions remain about the period, its social structure and economic organization, and the long-term implications of its artistic achievements. On the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the
Journal of Egyptian History, The University of British Columbia, Harvard University, and Brill Academic Publishers, Boston, held a conference at Harvard University on April 26, 2012. A distinguished group of Egyptological scholars from around the world gathered to consider new perspectives on the Pyramid Age; the results are presented here.
Peter Der Manuelian, Ph.D. (1990), is Philip J. King Professor of Egyptology, Harvard University, and director of the Harvard Semitic Museum. Among other works, he is the author of
Digital Giza;
Giza Mastabas 8; and
Slab Stelae of the Giza Necropolis.
Thomas Schneider, Dr.phil. (1996), Habilitation (1999), is Professor of Egyptology and Near Eastern Studies at the University of British Columbia. His main areas of research are Egyptian interconnections with the ancient Near East, Egyptian history and chronology, and the history of Egyptology.
Series Introduction
Preface
Chapter 1 Ancient Egyptian History as an example of Punctuated Equilibrium: An Outline
Miroslav Bárta Chapter 2 Economic Implications of the Menkaure Triads
Florence Dunn Friedman Chapter 3 Did the Old Kingdom Collapse?: A New View of the First Intermediate Period
John Gee Chapter 4 The Chronology of the Third and Fourth Dynasties according to Manetho’s Aegyptiaca
Roman Gundacker Chapter 5 The Entextualization of the Pyramid Texts and the Religious History of the Old Kingdom
Harold M. Hays† Chapter 6 Shareholders: The Menkaure Valley Temple Occupation in Context
Mark Lehner Chapter 7 Harvard University–Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition Contributions to Old Kingdom History at Giza: Some Rights and Wrongs
Peter Der Manuelian Chapter 8 Cattle, Kings and Priests: Phyle Rotations and Old Kingdom Civil Dates
John S. Nolan Chapter 9 The
Sed-Festival of Niuserra and the Fifth Dynasty Sun Temples
Massimiliano Nuzzolo Chapter 10 The State of Egypt in the Eighth Dynasty
Hratch Papazian Chapter 11 The Old Kingdom Abroad: An Epistemological Perspective With Remarks on the Biography of Iny and the Kingdom of Dugurasu
Thomas Schneider Chapter 12 The Dawn of Osiris and the Dusk of the Sun-Temples: Religious History at the End of the Fifth Dynasty
Racheli Shalomi-Hen Chapter 13 Centralized Taxation during the Egyptian Old Kingdom
Leslie Anne Warden
All interested in Egyptology, Egyptian archaeology, history, art history, philology, kingship, and anthropology