Abstract
As one understands today, the complex structure that encompasses ancient Egyptian belief systems, history and their own reality was a result of an ever-growing juxtaposition of several constructs, ideas and base-dogmas collected for several millennia that originated an extremely rich and abstract world of rules, expectations and views of their own existence.
One of the most curious questions find in this constant attempt to comprehend this far-gone civilization is the one that tries to understand the Egyptian collective memory and what mechanisms ancient Egyptians used to change it in specific moments in their history, affecting collective memory, which is a topic that can be approached from a multitude of angles.
What one proposes in this paper is an analysis of a specific Kings Lists, the one in Abydos, on the Temple of Seti I, and a reflection on questions such as “What are the omissions in this list?”, “Why were rulers deliberated omitted?”, “What could be the real purpose of a Kings List?” “What effect on collective memory does these omissions had?”.
The answer to these questions, along with the notion of human memory constructs, mainly individual and collective memory, will allow for some considerations regarding the Egyptian mind: its capacity to rewrite its own history; its ability to use its own history to justify future actions; the capacity to use history to create lineage, among others.
One of the most curious questions find in this constant attempt to comprehend this far-gone civilization is the one that tries to understand the Egyptian collective memory and what mechanisms ancient Egyptians used to change it in specific moments in their history, affecting collective memory, which is a topic that can be approached from a multitude of angles.
What one proposes in this paper is an analysis of a specific Kings Lists, the one in Abydos, on the Temple of Seti I, and a reflection on questions such as “What are the omissions in this list?”, “Why were rulers deliberated omitted?”, “What could be the real purpose of a Kings List?” “What effect on collective memory does these omissions had?”.
The answer to these questions, along with the notion of human memory constructs, mainly individual and collective memory, will allow for some considerations regarding the Egyptian mind: its capacity to rewrite its own history; its ability to use its own history to justify future actions; the capacity to use history to create lineage, among others.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages | 1 |
| Number of pages | 1 |
| Publication status | Published - 26 Jun 2021 |
| Event | Ninth European Conference of Egyptologists - Università di Trieste, Trieste, Italy Duration: 21 Jun 2021 → 26 Jun 2021 Conference number: IX |
Conference
| Conference | Ninth European Conference of Egyptologists |
|---|---|
| Abbreviated title | ECE |
| Country/Territory | Italy |
| City | Trieste |
| Period | 21/06/21 → 26/06/21 |
Keywords
- Kings Lists
- Individual Memory
- Collective Memory