The Molding Power of Ideology: Political Transformations of Predynastic Egypt
Keywords:
Predynastic Egypt,
Naqada Culture,
Divine Kingship,
identity-focusing point,
Fourth Millennium B. C.,
paleopolitics
Abstract
Ideological “patterns of continuity”, archaeologically perceivable as early as Naqada I, that constitute the most distinctive hallmarks of nascent Egyptian civilization, are, to a great extent, defined by the concept of Divine Ruler, as a charismatic amalgam of sacral authority, ideological values, economic and military power. Divine Kingship, “presiding over everything”, seems to be a key ideological issue in the rapid political transformation of Predynastic Egypt. A cyclic “sense of order” promulgated by annual Nile flooding, and underlying conceptualized “cosmological relations”, joined with the might of a victorious ruler and his brandished mace, molded the Naqadian social tissue of relationships, obligations and behavior, that in their turn justified warfare to obtain any valued resource, enhanced territorial expansion, and eventually enabled full political consolidation. A complex, multi-layered social construct of display-oriented and power-concerned relations and set of values clearly distinguished Naqada culture practices and traditions – both in Upper and from Naqada IIC onwards Lower Egypt – from the Delta communities with their vanishing lifestyle. The constant expansion of Naqada culture and its collective identity irreversibly transformed the political landscape of Predynastic Egypt.
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References
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Anđelković, Branislav. 2011a. “Factors of State Formation in Protodynastic Egypt”. In Egypt at its Origins 3: Proceedings of the Third International Conference “Origin of the State. Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt”, London, 27th July – 1st August 2008, eds. Renée F. Friedman and Peter N. Fiske, 1219–1228. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 205. Leuven: Uitgeverij Peeters – Departement Oosterose Studies.
Anđelković, Branislav. 2011b. “Political Organization of Egypt in the Predynastic Period”. In Before the Pyramids: The Origins of Egyptian Civilization, ed. Emily Teeter, 25–32. Oriental Institute Museum Publications 33. Chicago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.
Anđelković, Branislav. 2012. Hegemony for Beginners: Egyptian Activity in the Southern Levant during the Second Half of the Fourth Millennium B.C. Issues in Ethnology and Anthropology 7/3: 789–808.
Aristotle. 2009. Politics. Translated by Ernest Barker. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Baines, John. 1995. “Origins of Egyptian kingship”. In Ancient Egyptian Kingship, eds. David O'Connor and David P. Silverman, 95–156. Probleme der Ägyptologie 9. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
Bard, Kathryn A. 1992. Toward an Interpretation of the Role of Ideology in the Evolution of Complex Society in Egypt. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 11: 1–24.
Carneiro, Robert L. 2012. The Circumscription Theory: A Clarification, Amplification, and Reformulation. Social Evolution & History 11/2: 5–30.
Cohen, Raymond and Raymond Westbrook (eds.) 2000. Amarna Diplomacy: The Beginnings of International Relations. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
DeMarrais, Elizabeth, Luis J. Castillo and Timothy Earle. 1996. Ideology Materialization, and Power Strategies. Current Anthropology 37/1: 15–31.
Friedman, Renée F. 2002. The Predynastic Cemetery at HK43: Excavations in 2002. Nekhen News 14: 9–10.
Hall, Emma S. 1983. “A Continuation of the Smiting Scene”. In Artibus Aegypti: studia in honorem Bernardi V. Bothmer a collegis amicis discipulis conscripta, eds. Herman De Meulenaere and Luc Limme, 75–79. Bruxelles: Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire.
Hendrickx, Stan. 1995. Analytical Bibliography of the Prehistory and the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt and Northern Sudan. Egyptian Prehistory Monographs 1. Leuven: Leuven University Press.
Hoffman, Michael A. 1988. “Prelude to Civilization: The Predynastic Period in Egypt”. In The First Egyptians, eds. Karin L. Willoughby and Elizabeth B. Stanton, 33–46. Columbia: McKissick Museum, University of South Carolina.
Kaiser, Werner. 1957. Zur inner Chronologie der Nakadakultur. Archaeologia Geographica 6: 69–77.
Kemp, Barry J. 1989. Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization. London: Routledge.
Mann, Michael. 2003. The Sources of Social Power I: A history of power from the beginning to A.D. 1760. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Perry, Patricia. 2011. “Sources of Power in Predynastic Hierakonpolis: Legacies for Egyptian Kingship”. In Egypt at its Origins 3: Proceedings of the Third International Conference “Origin of the State. Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt”, London, 27th July – 1st August 2008, eds. Renée F. Friedman and Peter N. Fiske, 1271–1292. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 205. Leuven: Uitgeverij Peeters – Departement Oosterose Studies.
Petrie, W. M. Flinders. 1939. The Making of Egypt. London: The Sheldon Press.
Stevenson, Alice. 2007. “The Material Significance of Predynastic and Early Dynastic Palettes”. In Current Research in Egyptology 2005: Proceedings of the Sixt Annual Symposium, which took place at the University of Cambridge, 6–8 January 2005, eds. Rachel Mairs and Alice Stevenson, 148–162. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Williams, Bruce B. and Thomas J. Logan. 1987. The Metropolitan Museum Knife Handle and Aspects of Pharaonic Imagery before Narmer. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 46/4: 245–285.
Wilkinson, Toby A. H. 1999. Early Dynastic Egypt. London: Routledge.
Wilkinson, Toby A. H. 2003. Genesis of the Pharaohs: Dramatic New Discoveries that Rewrite the Origins of Ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd.
Wilkinson, Toby A. H. 2010. The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt: The History of a Civilisation from 3000 BC to Cleopatra. London: Bloomsbury.
Published
2014-09-22
How to Cite
Anđelković, Branislav. 2014. “The Molding Power of Ideology: Political Transformations of Predynastic Egypt”. Issues in Ethnology and Anthropology 9 (3), 713-22. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.21301/eap.v9i3.9.
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Copyright (c) 2014 Branislav Anđelković
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