شکستن رگ‌های دشت: یک آیین تجزیه‌گرانه مصری باستان

In ancient Egyptian thought, the funerary procedure played a key role in the transition to the afterlife. As early as the Old Kingdom (c. 2700-2200 BCE), the Pyramid Texts and representations and inscriptions in private tombs show a highly developed funerary ritual with a large number of individual rites intended to ensure a safe transition to the realm of the dead and a pleasant afterlife for the deceased. One of these is the so-called 'breaking the dsr.t-vessels' (Egyptian sd dsr.wt), a rite that involved the intentional damaging of a certain type of ceramic vessel. The aim of this study is to gain a better understanding of the rite through a re-evaluation of the primary sources and previous research and to provide the first study devoted entirely to the rite. While the rite of 'breaking the dsr.t-vessels' has been associated with several different archaeological contexts and primary sources, this monograph argues that a careful distinction needs to be made between the evidence identified as such. This study aims to demonstrate that there is a significant discrepancy between textual, iconographic, and archaeological sources which calls into question the identification of a large number of sources as sd dsr.wt contexts. A number of different ritual and non-ritual practices in ancient Egypt involve the deliberate fragmentation of pottery, each of which should be addressed in context. Cover 1 Title Page 2 Copyright Information 4 Contents 5 List of Figures 7 Figure 1. Comparison of PT 244 with spells for purification, anointing, the ritual offering of food and drink, and the Opening of the Mouth Ritual 20 Figure 2. Chronological distribution of textual, iconographical, and archaeological sources of pottery fragmentation contexts. 24 Figure 3. dšr.t-Vessels on Middle Kingdom Coffins. Photographs © by the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, in the collection of the Netherlands Institute for the Near East, Leiden, De Buck archive 34 Figure 4. Shape of the dšr.wt depicted in the Middle Kingdom 35 Figure 5. Shape of the dšr.wt classifier in the Middle Kingdom 36 Figure 6. Shape of dšr.wt depictions and classifiers in the New Kingdom 38 Figure 7. dšr.t-Vessels among tools for the Opening of the Mouth Ritual (above) and the offering of food and drink (below) in the forecourt of TT 75. Photographs: Schott-Photos No. 1963 and 1964 © Schott Archiv (Ägyptologie Universität Trier) 39 Figure 8. dšr.t-Vessels and nms.t-Vessels found in Giza (after Reisner 1955, Pl. 46e) 41 Figure 9. Attestations of CT 926 on Middle Kingdom coffins. Photographs © by the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, in the collection of the Netherlands Institute for the Near East, Leiden, De Buck archive 46 Figure 10. Vessel breaking scene in the tomb of Horemheb at Saqqara 51 Figure 11. Present and absent elements in the New Kingdom vessel-breaking scenes 52 Figure 12. Shape of vessels in the New Kingdom vessel-breaking scenes 53 Acknowledgments 8 Introduction 9 Goal and Definition 9 On the Necessity of a Re-Evaluation 9 Methodology and Structure 11 The BdV in Egyptological Literature 12 History of Previous Research 12 Phase 1: Identification 12 Phase 2: Contextualisation 14 Phase 3: Attribution of Archaeological Evidence 16 Interpretations of the BdV 17 The BdV as a Rite Against Evil 18 Proponent Arguments 18 Problems 19 The BdV as Disposing of Vessels 23 Proponent Arguments 23 Problems 24 How to Move Forward 26 The Concept of Intentional Damaging of Objects: Fragmentation Theory 27 Interpreting the Intentional Fragmentation of Objects 27 Implications of Fragmentation Theory for the BdV 29 Forms of Intentional Fragmentation of Objects in Ancient Egypt 30 The dšr.wt – Appearance, Use, and Purpose 33 dšr.t-Vessels in the Old Kingdom 33 dšr.t-Vessels in the Middle Kingdom 33 dšr.t-Vessels in the New Kingdom 36 dšr.t-Vessels After the New Kingdom 39 dšr.t-Vessels in Archaeological Contexts 40 Conclusion on dšr.t-Vessels 41 Contextualising the BdV 43 The Pyramid Texts 43 The Old Kingdom Private Contexts 45 The BdV in the Middle Kingdom 45 The BdV Scene in the Luxor Temple 47 The dšr.wt in the BdV 49 The New Kingdom Vessel-Breaking Scenes 50 Summary and Conclusion 56 Appendix 59 Appendix Table 1 59 Appendix Table 2 61 Appendix Table 3 62 Catalogue 63 A1 – dšr.wt in the Old Kingdom 63 A2 – dšr.wt in the Middle Kingdom 63 A3 – dšr.wt in the New Kingdom 72 A4 – dšr.wt after the New Kingdom 80 B1 – BdV in the Old Kingdom 82 B2 – BdV in the Middle Kingdom 87 B3 – BdV in the New Kingdom 88 B4 – Vessel-Breaking Scenes in New Kingdom Private Tombs 88 Bibliography and Abbreviations 96 In ancient Egyptian thought, the funerary procedure played a key role in the transition to the afterlife. As early as the Old Kingdom (c. 2700-2200 BCE), the Pyramid Texts and representations and inscriptions in private tombs show a highly developed funerary ritual with a large number of individual rites intended to ensure a safe transition to the realm of the dead and a pleasant afterlife for the deceased. One of these is the so-called ‘breaking the dšr.t-vessels'(Egyptian sḏ dšr.wt), a rite that involved the intentional damaging of a certain type of ceramic vessel. The aim of this study is to gain a better understanding of the rite through a re-evaluation of the primary sources and previous research and to provide the first study devoted entirely to the rite. While the rite of ‘breaking the dšr.t-vessels'has been associated with several different archaeological contexts and primary sources, this monograph argues that a careful distinction needs to be made between the evidence identified as such. This study aims to demonstrate that there is a significant discrepancy between textual, iconographic, and archaeological sources which calls into question the identification of a large number of sources as sḏ dšr.wt contexts. A number of different ritual and non-ritual practices in ancient Egypt involve the deliberate fragmentation of pottery, each of which should be addressed in context.