11th International Congress of Egyptology

Les membres du Groupe de Recherche sur l’Égypte ancienne présenteront pas moins de 5 contributions lors du Congrès international d’Égyptologie de Florence (23 au 30 août 2015, http://www.ice11florence.org/).

Marie-Cécile Bruwier
Musée royal de Mariemont - Université de Louvain-la-Neuve

« In search of Cleopatra’s temple » a documentary research and an archaeological prospection in Alexandria
The primary goal was to locate the monument where a colossal couple was presumably situated. The bust of a queen and two hands are since 1912 in the Musée royal de Mariemont (Belgium). Two fragments of a king figure (head and left leg) are in the Graeco-Roman Museum in Alexandria, since around 1900. Hypothetically, the Ptolemaic couple was inside a sanctuary of a likely large scale. From past centuries’ texts, the “temple” should be located outside the East walls of the antique Alexandria, in the Smouha district.
In 2004, the on-site research was initiated by S.A. Ashton, and electromagnetic and geo-radar prospection were led by Paul and Neil Linford, which confirmed the building’s location. An archaeological research was undertaken on the site in 2008-12. Core drills and boreholes followed by diggings have been achieved, funded by the Musée royal de Mariemont, together with the Centre d’Etudes Alexandrines and the Supreme Council of Antiquities.
Unearthed artefacts show that this site has been occupied at least from the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD. The sanctuary was most probably transformed and reallocated during the Roman period. The site was also used as a quarry; stone blocks were dismantled, cut, and even cooked, as shown by the lime kilns discovered in 2011. Some great changes also occurred during the 20th century with the modernisation of Alexandria.

Gaëlle Chantrain
Université catholique de Louvain

Did you say “Egyptian”? A lexical study through the outskirts of the concept of “Egyptianity”.
Many interesting studies have already been published about the relations between Egypt and its neighbours. We have become used to consider foreigners’ place in literature through the filter of royal epigraphic texts, where narratives of military campaigns, and royal decrees play a prominent role. Data coming from texts of everyday life, dealing with practical, economical or juridical matters also shed an interesting light upon this issue. Iconography and archaeology have of course also been taken into account. Foreigners in literary texts have also been discussed by Antonio Loprieno, among others. I once more would like to return to this question, through a lexical study. I here propose to examine literary texts from the New Kingdom, including wisdom texts and miscellanies. I will present a context-sensitive lexical analysis of qualifiers and expressions related to foreigners, including the distribution of the classifiers. In so doing, I will situate the respective places of Asiatics, Nubians and Libyans on the Egyptian’s mental map and I will retrace the chronological evolution of these connections. Besides contributing to the identification of common stereotypes about foreigners that found their way into literary texts, this study focuses on the evolutionary process of the concept of “Egyptianity” and on the fuzzy boundaries between what is “inside” and “outside” Egypt.

Alice Coyette
Université catholique de Louvain

Nouvelle lecture d'une scène de la théogamie d'Hatshepsout.
À la suite de Kurt Sethe, l'un des passages du récit de la Théogamie d'Hatshepsout, à Deir el-Bahari, a toujours été considéré comme un texte écrit de manière rétrograde. Quant aux restaurations ramessides présentes sur certaines colonnes de ce texte, elles ont habituellement été considérées comme erronées. Pourtant, le passage lu de cette manière présente plusieurs incohérences. Une étude approfondie de ce texte, couplée à une analyse de la scène similaire conservée à Louqsor (théogamie d'Amenhotep III) permet de proposer une nouvelle lecture pour ce passage. Cette dernière ne nécessite plus de lecture rétrograde et permet de tenir compte des restitutions ramessides.

Christina Karlshausen - Thierry De Putter
Université catholique de Louvain

« Construire un temple en belle pierre blanche d’Anou ». De l’usage du calcaire de Toura dans l’architecture thébaine.
Le calcaire fin des carrières de Toura, au sud du Caire, a fait l’objet d’une exploitation intensive tout au long de l’époque pharaonique. Essentiellement destiné à la construction des temples et des pyramides du nord de l’Égypte, ce calcaire se retrouve aussi dans l’architecture thébaine, à partir du Moyen Empire. Plusieurs questions se posent : pourquoi avoir fait venir un matériau de si loin, à contre-courant, alors que des carrières plus proches et connues de longue date étaient à disposition des constructeurs ? À partir de quand retrouve-t-on la pierre de Toura à Thèbes ? Dans quels types de bâtiments et/ou de tombes ? Nous proposerons quelques pistes de réflexion autour de cette pierre et de ses rivales locales, en gardant à l’esprit que la « belle pierre blanche d’Anou » a longtemps bénéficié, dans les textes tout au moins, d’une aura particulière qui a sans doute influé sur le choix de ce matériau. Replacée dans un contexte plus large, l’étude montre que le temple offre au bâtisseur une plus grande liberté dans le choix du matériau que la tombe, où la géologie du site lui est imposée. Dans le temple, le pragmatisme de l’approvisionnement rationnel en matière première peut s’accommoder de quelques entorses, apparemment illogiques et dont il nous appartient de retrouver les motivations.

Marianne Michel
Université catholique de Louvain

A new reading of the problem 53 of the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus.
The problem 53 of the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus deals with the computation of several areas included in one single triangle.
The problem begins with the figure of a triangle, including two partitioning internal lines, that is annotated with various measures written in black or red ink. Below the figure, a very succinct text of 13 lines lacks an introduction or conclusion and provides only 3 calculations that must be linked with the measures of the figure.
The purpose of this paper is to present a consistent and innovative reading restoring the aim of the entire problem.