Who is the Creator in the New Kingdom laudatory texts (ca. 1539-1077 BCE)? A work-in-progress exploration based on names, epithets, and gender

Description

New Kingdom laudatory texts (ca. 1539-1077 BCE) offer a rich locus to investigate the concepts of “Creator” and “Creation”, as explored in the ongoing doctoral research underpinning this lecture. In brief, said research is structured around three short, interrelated questions: 1) Who creates? (addressing the Creator deity’s complex identity); 2) What is created? (exploring the diversity of the Creation’s outcomes); and 3) How is it created? (analysing the procedures, mechanisms, and devices employed by the Creator deity to achieve Creation). Following this tripartite methodological framework, it is intended to explore the multiple and diverse ways Creation is alluded to in the chosen textual ensemble, both synchronically and diachronically. This talk will focus on the first analytical axis, that is, the Creator’s identity and persona as evidenced on the studied material. It will survey and discuss data relevant to depicting and characterising the Creator deity/ies in all its complexity, highlighting the range of names, epithets, and roles - including familial and (en)gender(ed) aspects. To attain such a goal, the lecture will be divided into three main parts. First, attention will be given to the Creator’s name(s), considering that both solar ([Amun]-Ra, Khepri, Atum, Aten) and non-solar (Ptah[-Tatenen], Thot) deities are praised for their creative endeavours in these texts. This section will access their frequency in the corpus and examine the determinatives/classifiers used to mark said divine names, especially in cases where a double divine name is associated with creative performance, raising questions about whether a hyphenated deity (e.g., Amun-Ra) or two (distinct) deities are indicated. The second part will explore epithets and attributes aiding to (re)construct the Creator’s intricate portrayal as an all-encompassing and ontologically unique entity, analysing vocabulary that conveys traits such as ‘lordship’ (nb), ‘sovereignity’ (nswt; jty; HqA), ‘greatness’ (wr; Hry-tp), ‘uniqueness’ (wa; nn Hr xw=f; jwty sn-nw=f), ‘primordiality/ontological anteriority’ (pAwty), ‘power’ (sxm), ‘benevolence’ (nbjw; Sd; bnjr), ‘life-giving’ (rdj anx), ‘unknowability’ (nn rx=tw), and ‘perfection’ (nfr), along-side age-related concepts (smsw; Hwn), and animal identifications (bjk; xprr; kA). By examining selected excerpts, concomitant attestations of several epithets will be discussed in terms of their implications for the portrayal of the Creator, while seeking to detect potential associations between particular epithets and specific praised deities. Finally, the talk will approach the Creator deity through a kinship lens. Despite consistently being associated with male divine names, the Creator may be textually presented as 'father' and 'mother', while being occasionally depicted as a child (a ‘son’), who might (or not) be fatherless and motherless. This final part intends thus to interpret the implications of these kinship roles for our understanding of the Creator’s gender identity/expression and unique ontology. Combining quantitative and qualitative analysis, the lecture will aim to provide a comprehensive view of the different lexicographical and phraseological strategies employed to (re)present the Creator in New Kingdom laudatory texts. Zooming in on selected sources and zooming out to identify broader patterns both synchronically and diachronically, the talk intends to lift the veil on a complex, multifaceted, and many-sided persona, while revisiting two key features to which the Creator deity has traditionally been associated with: inherent solarness and androgyny. In sum, the main goal is to envisage the Creator as depicted in this corpus as embodying simultaneous ontological oneness and plurality.

Period	10 Dec 2024
Event title	I Congreso de Investigación y Desarrollo - Instituto Español de Egiptología y Coptología (IEEC)
Event type	Conference
Conference number	I
Location	Valencia, SpainShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International