Area di Lavoro

Tavolette Carnavon

Si tratta di due tavole di legno ricoperte di scrittura ieratica rinvenute nel 1909 nella tomba n 9 della necropoli di Tebe dall'archeologo Horward Carter che operava con il patrocinio finaziario di Lord Carnavon^[1].

Il testo riportato sulle tavolette è la copia di un testo epigrafico relativo alle campagne del sovrano egizio Kamose contro gli Hyksos. Il testo delle tavolette trova riscontro nell'opera letteraria La disputa tra Apopis e Seqenenra contenuta nel papiro Sellier I conservato presso il British Museum di Londra ^[2]

Della stele originaria, di grandi dimensioni, si conoscono alcuni frammenti e il testo delle tavolette corrisponde alla parte iniziale della stele.

Nel 1954 è stata scoperta a Karnak una stele, ritenuta gemella della prima, recante anch'essa un testo sulle condizioni dell'Egitto sotto il dominio Hyksos^[3]

Esercito egizio

In tutto il lungo arco della storia dell'antico Egitto l'esercito ricoprì un ruolo di prima importanza nella struttura della società adattandosi all'evolversi del concetto di stato che caratterizzò quella cultura.

Uno dei primi documenti che possediamo sulla storia dell'Egitto, la paletta di Narmer, descrive, pittograficamente, le guerre condotte dall'omonimo sovrano che portarono all'unione dell'Alto e Basso Egitto ed alla fase storica conosciuta come Antico Regno.

Le fonti

Le fonti su cui possiamo basarci per ricostruire l'evoluzione e la struttura dell'esercito egizio sono, a parte oggetti come la paletta di Narmer con rappresentazione di singole azioni belliche, testi biografici provenienti dalle tombe di militari, o dei funzionari preposti a compiti di comando, steli confinarie poste a ricordare i punti di massima penetrazione in territori stranieri durante le fasi di espansione (Sesostris III, Thutmose III e, nel Nuovo Regno, i rilievi posti dai sovrani nei templi recanti veri e propri bollettini di guerra (Ramesse II, Merenptah) .
Le fonti classiche, principalmente lo storico greco Erodoto, sono invece scarsamente descrittive soprattutto della situazione più antica, e comunque scarsamente affidabili.

Struttura ed evoluzione

Durante l'Antico Regno l'esercito egizio fu una struttura di tipo feudale, i vari contingenti, provenienti dai distretti, erano forniti al sovrano, in tutta la storia egizia capo supremo dell'esercito, dai governanti locali che ne mantenevano sostanzialmente il controllo.
Questi eserciti distrettuali erano composti da contadini che avevano tra le loro corvée anche il servizio militare che di norma svolgevano durante la stagione dell'inondazione, periodo in cui il lavoro nei campi era interrotto.
La fedeltà ed affidabilità dell'esercito dipendeva direttamente dall'effettivo controllo che il re aveva dello stato ed in effetti non appena il potere regio diminuì i vari governatori locali iniziarono ad usare le proprie truppe per aumentare il proprio potere (Primo periodo intermedio)

Con il sorgere del Medio Regno comparvero, in ambito militare, due nuove figure: il militare di carriera (ufficiale) ed il mercenario (sempre non egizio). Il militare di carriera era un funzionario che risiedeva nelle città e che riceveva come soldo per il suo incarico l'usufrutto di un appezzamento di terra e schiavi per coltivarlo. L'incarico fu spesso ereditario.

I mercenari furono elementi di popoli confinanti: palestinesi, nubiani, libici talvolta prigionieri di guerra che spesso vennero insediati in particolari territori, colonie militari e fortezze, insieme alle loro famiglie.

Durante il Medio Regno popolazioni semite provenienti dalla Palestina vennero insediate nell'area del delta del Nilo, si trattò delle popolazioni che gli egizi dicevano essere comandate dai ḥq 3w ḫ3swt (heka kasut) - Principi dei paesi stranieri. Con il venire meno del potere centrale tali popolazioni prima iniziarono a governarsi dal sole e poi estesero il loro controllo a buona parte dell'Egitto (periodo hyksos).

Una analoga situazione si ripresentò al termine del Nuovo Regno quando le popolazioni libiche dei Mashuash da prigionieri di guerra divennero prima mercenari e poi dominatori dell'Egitto (XXII dinastia, Terzo periodo intermedio)

Tehenu

I Tehenu furono una tribù di nomadi del deserto libico ricordata dai testi egizi risalenti al periodo storico detto Nuovo Regno.

Il nome generico con cui, nei testi egizi, sono indicati gli abitanti del deserto libico è tmhw - Temehu
che si sarebbero divisi in thnw - Tehenu al nord
e
nhsj - Nehesy al sud

altro

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Stele di Rosetta

Regnando il giovane signore, colui che è successo a suo padre nella sovranità, signore del diadema, dotato di grande gloria, colui che ha reso potente l'Egitto e reso onore ai suoi dei, che ha trionfato sui suoi nemici, colui che ha ristabilito la civiltà tra gli uomini, signore della festa dei Trenta anni, giusto come Ptah il grande, un re simile a Ra, grande signore dell'Alto e Basso Egitto, offsprint del dio Philopatores, colui che ha l'approvazione di Ptah, a cui Ra ha dato la vittoria, l'immagine vivente di Amon, figlio di Ra, Tolomeo, living for ever, amato da Ptah, nel nono anno, mentre Aetos, figlio di Aetos era sacerdote di Alessandro, e degli dei Soteres, e degli dei Adelphi, e degli dei Euergetai e deglid egli dei Philopatores e del dio Epiphanes Eicharistos; e Irene figlia di Tolomeo divenne sacerdotessa di Arsinoe Philopatores; il quarto giorno del mese di Xandicos che corrisponde al diciottesimo giorno del mese di Mekhir nel calendario egizio.

In the reign of the young one who has succeeded his father in the kingship, lord of diadems, most glorious, who has established Egypt and is pious towards the gods, triumphant over his enemies, who has restored the civilized life of men, lord of the Thirty Years Festivals, even as Ptah the Great, a king like Ra, great king of the Upper and Lower countries, offspring of the Gods Philopatores, one whom Ptah has approved, to whom Ra has given victory, the living image of Amun, son of Ra, PTOLEMY, LIVING FOR EVER, BELOVED OF PTAH, in the ninth year, when Aetos son of Aetos was priest of Alexander, and the Gods Soteres, and the Gods Adelphoi, and the Gods Euergetai, and the Gods Philopatores and the God Epiphanes Eucharistos; Pyrrha daughter of Philinos being Athlophoros of Berenike Euergetis, Areia daughter of Diogenes being Kanephoros of Arsinoe Philadelphos; Irene daughter of Ptolemy being Priestess of Arsinoe Philopator; the fourth of the month of Xandikos, according to the Egyptians the 18th Mekhir.

DECREE. There being assembled the Chief Priests and Prophets and those who enter the inner shrine for the robing of the gods, and the Fan-bearers and the Sacred Scribes and all the other priests from the temples throughout the land who have come to meet the king at Memphis, for the feast of the assumption by PTOLEMY, THE EVER-LIVING, THE BELOVED OF PTAH, THE GOD EPIPHANES EUCHARISTOS, of the kingship in which he succeeded his father, they being assembled in the temple in Memphis on this day declared:

Whereas King PTOLEMY, THE EVER-LIVING, THE BELOVED OF PTAH, THE GOD EPIPHANES EUCHARISTOS, the son of King Ptolemy and Queen Arsinoe, the Gods Philopatores, has been a benefactor both to the temple and to those who dwell in them, as well as all those who are his subjects, being a god sprung from a god and goddess like Horus the son of Isis and Osiris, who avenged his father Osiris, being benevolently disposed towards the gods, has dedicated to the temples revenues of money and corn and has undertaken much outlay to bring Egypt into prosperity, and to establish the temples, and has been generous with all his own means; and of the revenues and taxes levied in Egypt some he has wholly remitted and others has lightened, in order that the people and all the others might be in prosperity during his reign; and

whereas he has remitted the debts to the crown being many in number which they in Egypt and the rest of the kingdom owed; and

whereas those who were in prison and those who were under accusation for a long time, he has freed of the charges against them; and

whereas he has directed that the gods shall continue to enjoy the revenues of the temples and the yearly allowances given to them, both of corn and money, likewise also the revenue assigned to the gods from the vine land and from gardens and the other properties which belonged to the gods in his father's time; and

whereas he directed also, with regard to the priests, that they should pay no more as the tax for admission to the priesthood than what was appointed them throughout his father's reign and until the first year of his own reign; and has relieved the members of the priestly orders from the yearly journey to Alexandria; and

whereas he has directed that impressment for the navy shall no longer be employed; and of the tax on fine linen cloth paid by the temples to the crown he has remitted two-thirds; and whatever things were neglected in former times he has restored to their proper condition, having a care how the traditional duties shall be fittingly paid to the gods; and likewise has apportioned justice to all, like Thoth the great and great; and has ordained that those who return of the warrior class, and of others who were unfavourably disposed in the days of the disturbances, should, on their return be allowed to occupy their old possessions; and

whereas he provided that cavalry and infantry forces and ships should be sent out against those who invaded Egypt by sea and by land, laying out great sums in money and corn in order that the temples and all those who are in the land might be in safety; and having gone to Lycopolis in the Busirite nome, which had been occupied and fortified against a siege with an abundant store of weapons and all other supplies seeing that disaffection was now of long standing among the impious men gathered into it, who had perpetrated much damage to the temples and to all the inhabitants of Egypt, and having encamped against it, he surrounded it with mounds and trenches and elaborate fortifications; when the Nile made a great rise in the eighth year of his reign, which usually floods the plains, he prevented it, by damming at many points the outlets of the channels spending upon this no small amount of money, and setting cavalry and infantry to guard them, in a short time he took the town by storm and destroyed all the impious men in it, even as Thoth and Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris, formerly subdued the rebels in the same district; and as to those who had led the rebels in the time of his father and who had disturbed the land and done wrong to the temples, he came to Memphis to avenge his father and his own kingship, and punished them all as they deserved, at the time that he came there to perform the proper ceremonies for the assumption of the crown; and

whereas he remitted what was due to the crown in the temples up to his eighth year, being no small amount of corn and money; so also the fines for the fine linen cloth not delivered to the crown, and of those delivered, the several fees for their verification, for the same period; and he also freed the temples of the tax of the measure1 of grain for every measure2 of sacred land and likewise the jar of wine for each measure2 of vine land; and

whereas he bestowed many gifts upon Apis and Mnevis and upon the other sacred animals in Egypt, because he was much more considerate than the kings before him of all that belonged to them; and for their burials he gave what was suitable lavishly and splendidly, and what was regularly paid to their special shrines, with sacrifices and festivals and other customary observances, and he maintained the honours of the temples and of Egypt according to the laws; and he adorned the temple of Apis with rich work, spending upon it gold and silver and precious stones, no small amount; and

whereas he has funded temples and shrines and altars, and has repaired those requiring it, having the spirit of a benficent god in matters pertaining to religion; and

whereas after enquiry he has been renewing the most honourable of the temples during his reign, as is becoming; in requital of which things the gods have given him health, victory and power, and all other good things, and he and his children shall retain the kingship for all time.

WITH PROPITIOUS FORTUNE: It was resolved by the priests of all the temples in the land to increase greatly the existing honours of King PTOLEMY, THE EVER-LIVING, THE BELOVED OF PTAH, THE GOD EPIPHANES EUCHARISTOS, likewise those of his parents the Gods Philopatores, and of his ancestors, the Great Euergatai and the Gods Adelphoi and the Gods Soteres and to set up in the most prominent place of every temple an image of the EVER-LIVING KING PTOLEMY, THE BELOVED OF PTAH, THE GOD EPIPHANES EUCHARISTOS, which shall be called that of 'PTOLEMY, the defender of Egypt,' beside which shall stand the principal god of the temple, handing him the scimitar of victory, all of which shall be manufactured in the Egyptian fashion; and that the priests shall pay homage to the images three times a day, and put upon them the sacred garments, and perform the other usual honours such as are given to the other gods in the Egyptian festivals; and to establish for King PTOLEMY, THE GOD EPIPHANES EUCHARISTOS, sprung of King Ptolemy and Queen Arsinoe, the Gods Philopatores, a statue and golden shrine in each of the temples, and to set it up in the inner chamber with the other shrines; and in the great festivals in which the shrines are carried in procession the shrine of the GOD EPIPHANES EUCHARISTOS shall be carried in procession with them. And in order that it may be easily distinguishable now and for all time, there shall be set upon the shrine ten gold crowns of the king, to which shall be added a cobra exactly as on all the crowns adorned with cobras which are upon the other shrines, in the centre of them shall be the double crown which he put on when he went into the temple at Memphis to perform therein the ceremonies for assuming the kingship; and there shall be placed on the square surface round about the crowns, beside the aforementioned crown, golden symbols eight in number signifying that it is the shrine of the king who makes manifest the Upper and the Lower countries. And since it is the 30th of Mesore on which the birthday of the king is celebrated, and likewise the 17th of Paophi on which he succeeded his father in the kingship, they have held these days in honour as name-days in the temples, since they are sources of great blessings for all;

it was further decreed that a festival shall be kept in the temples throughout Egypt on these days in every month, on which there shall be sacrifices and libations and all the ceremonies customary at the other festivals and the offerings shall be given to the priests who serve in the temples. And a festival shall be kept for King PTOLEMY, THE EVER-LIVING, THE BELOVED OF PTAH, THE GOD EPIPHANES EUCHARISTOS, yearly in the temples throughout the land from the 1st of Thoth for five days, in which

The Standard Model, which is now the prevailing model of particle physics, dramatically simplified this picture by showing that most of the observed particles were mesons, which are combinations of two quarks, or baryons which are combinations of three quarks, plus a handful of other particles. The particles being seen in the ever-more-powerful accelerators were, according to the theory, typically nothing more than combinations of these quarks.

Adad-nirari
Ashur-nirari V
Tiglath-Pileser III 745 - 727
Shalmanassar V 727 - 722
Sargon II 722 -705
Sennacherib 705 -
Ehsaraddon Ashurbanipal 667 - 627

Il recinto dell'acropoli attualmente (XXI secolo)

L'acropoli di Alessandria è stata trasformata in un parco archeologico con collocazione di alberi che circondano una collina. Per tutto il recinto si incontrano resti archeologici rinvenuti durante gli scavi che coordinati dall'archeologo G. Botti:

Frammenti di colonne che si tritiene provenire dal Serapeo
Statua orante di Ramesse II insieme ad un re non identifato della dinastia saitica
Statua di Ramses II seduto
Capitelli corinzi e ionici
UNa sfinge senza testa con il cartiglio di Horemhab
Due sfingi in granito rosa collocate davanti alla cosidetta colonna di Pompeo. Furono scoperte nel 1906 nella zna di Ahari Abu Mansur.
Resti di un antico quartiere
Due gallerie utilizzate come catacombe cristiane anche se alcuni archeologi contestano tale utilizzo affremando che le nicchie nella pareti sono troppo piccole per ospitare dei cadaveri. Si trovano nella zona nord
Ai piedi della collina ( a sud-est) si trova una statua dedicata a Iside Faria (?) che fu rinvenuta in mare di fronte al forte di Qaitbey alla profondità di 8 metri.
La cosiddetta Colonna di Pompeo, realizzata in effetti in onore di Diocleziano.

Problemi di traslitterzione

Nel campo dell'egittologia la traslitterazione è il processo attraverso cui si converte un testo redatto in grafia egzia in simboli alfabetici rappresentanti in modo univoco glifi della scrittura geroglifica o le loro controparti nella grafia ieratica o demotica. Questa pratica facilità anche la pubblicazione di testi provenienti dall'antico Egitto nei casi in cui non è possibile inserire immagini o disegni dell'originale.

E' fondamentale rimarcare che il processo di traslitterazione non coincide con quello di trascrizione; quest'ultimo produce una sequenza di simboli pronunciabile e quindi dipende dalla lingua moderna in cui viene realizzato. Ad esempio il nome del fondatore della XXII dinastia egizia è traslitterato come ššnq ma viene trascritto come Shoshenq in inglese, Sheshonq in italiano, Chechanq in francese, Sjesjonk in olandese e Scheschonq in tedesco.

E' comunque da rilevare che le trascrizioni sono parzialmente ipotetiche a causa della scarsa conoscenza che possediamo della fonetica dell'antico egizio

Standards

Template:IPA notice As important as transliteration is to the field of Egyptology, there is no one single standard scheme in use for hieroglyphic and hieratic texts. Some might even argue that there are as many systems of transliteration as there are Egyptologists. However, there are a few closely related systems that can be regarded as conventional. Many non-German-speaking Egyptologists use the system described in Gardiner 1954, whereas many German-speaking scholars tend to opt for that used in the Wörterbuch der aegyptischen Sprache (Erman and Grapow 1926–1953), the standard dictionary of the ancient Egyptian language. However, there is a growing trend, even among English-speaking scholars, to adopt a modified version of the method used in the Wörterbuch (e.g., Allen 2000).

Although these conventional approaches to transliteration have been followed since most of the second half of the Nineteenth century to the present day, there have been some attempts to adopt a modified system that seeks to utilise the International Phonetic Alphabet to a certain degree. The most successful of these is that developed by Wolfgang Schenkel (1990), and it is being used fairly widely in Germany and other German-speaking countries. More recent is a proposal by Thomas Schneider (2003) that is even closer to the IPA, but its usage is not presently common. The major criticism levelled against both of these systems is that they give an impression of being much more scientifically accurate with regard to the pronunciation of Egyptian. Unfortunately this perceived accuracy is debatable. Moreover, the systems reflect only the theoretical pronunciation of Middle Egyptian and not the older and later phases of the language, which are themselves to be transliterated with the same system.

Electronic transliteration

In 1984 a standard, ASCII-based transliteration system was proposed by an international group of Egyptologists at the first Table ronde informatique et égyptologie and published in 1988 (see Buurman, Grimal, et al., 1988). This has come to be known as the Manuel de codage (or MdC) system, based on the title of the publication, Inventaire des signes hiéroglyphiques en vue de leur saisie informatique: Manuel de codage des textes hiéroglyphiques en vue de leur saisie sur ordinateur. It is widely used in e-mail discussion lists and internet forums catering to professional Egyptologists and the interested public.

Although the Manuel de codage system allows for simple "alphabetic" transliterations, it also specifies a complex method for electronically encoding complete ancient Egyptian texts, indicating features such as the placement, orientation, and even size of individual hieroglyphs. This system is used (though frequently with modifications) by various software packages developed for typesetting hieroglyphic texts (such as WinGlyph, MacScribe, InScribe, Glyphotext, WikiHiero, and others).

Unicode

Advances in the Unicode standard have made it possible to almost fully transliterate Egyptian texts completely using a relatively complete Unicode font, without having to revert to a special transliteration font (as was often done in the past). The table of various transliteration schemes found below, for example, uses Unicode. There are, however, three characters that are not included in the Unicode 4.0 specification, but have been proposed for Unicode 4.1. These are the so-called Egyptian alef (represented here as <3>), yodh (represented here as <ỉ> Unicode U 1EC9), and ayin (represented here as <ˁ> Unicode U 02C1).

Demotic

As the latest stage of pre-Coptic Egyptian, Demotic texts have long been transliterated using the same system(s) used for hieroglyphic and hieratic texts. However in 1980, Demotists adopted a single, uniform, international standard based on the traditional system used for hieroglyphic, but with the addition of some extra symbols for vowels (which are frequently indicated in Demotic) and other letters that were written in the Demotic script. The Demotic Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (or CDD) utilises this method. As this system is likely only of interest to specialists, for details see the references below.

de Cenival, Françoise. 1980. "Unification des méthodes de translittération." Enchoria: Zeitschrift für Demotistik und Koptologie 10:2–4.
Johnson, Janet H. 1980. "CDDP Transliteration System." Enchoria 10:5–6.
Johnson, Janet H. 1991. Thus Wrote 'Onchsheshonqy: An Introductory Grammar of Demotic. 2nd ed. Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 45. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Tait, William John. 1982. "The Transliteration of Demotic." Enchoria 11:67–76.
Thissen, Heinz-Josef. 1980. "Zur Transkription demotischer Texte." Enchoria 10:7–9.

Table of conventional transliteration schemes

Erman & Grapow 1926–1953

Gardiner 1957

Buurman, Grimal, et al. 1988

Schenkel 1991

Hannig 1995

Allen 2000

Schneider 2003

3

A

3

ɹ

ỉ/j

ỉ

i

ỉ

j

ỉ

ỉj

y

ˁ

a

ˁ

ɗ

w

b

p

f

m

n

r

l

h

ḥ

H

ḥ

ḫ

x

ḫ

ẖ

X

ẖ

s

z, s

z

s

ś

s

ś

s

ś

š

S

š

ḳ

q

ḳ

q

ḳ

k

g

t

ṯ

T

č

ṯ

c

d

ṭ

d

ḍ

ḏ

D

č̣

ḏ

c̣

Samples of various transliteration schemes

The following text (rendered using WikiHiero) is transliterated below in some of the more common schemes.

(This text is conventionally translated into English as "an offering that the king gives; and Osiris, Foremost of Westerners [i.e., the Dead], the Great God, Lord of Abydos; and Wepwawet, Lord of the Sacred Land [i.e., the Necropolis]." It can also be translated "a royal offering of Osiris, Foremost of the Westerners, the Great God, Lord of Abydos; and of Wepwawet, Lord of the Sacred Land" [Allen 2000:§24.10].)

Erman & Grapow 1926–1953

ḥtp-dỉ-nśwt wśỉr ḫntỉj ỉmntjw nṯr ˁ3 3bḏw wp-w3wt nb t3 ḏśr

Gardiner 1953

ḥtp-dỉ-nswt wsỉr ḫnty ỉmntỉw nṯr ˁ3 3bḏw wp-w3wt nb t3 ḏsr

Buurman, Grimal, et al. 1988

Htp-di-nswt wsir xnty imntiw nTr aA AbDw wp-wAwt nb tA Dsr

A fully encoded, machine-readable version of the same text is:

M23-X1:R4-X8-Q2:D4-W17-R14-G4-R8-O29:V30-U23-N26-D58-O49:Z1-F13:N31-V30:N16:N21*Z1-D45:N25

Schenkel 1991

ḥtp-dỉ-nswt wsỉr ḫnty ỉmntjw nčr ˁ3 3bč̣w wp-w3wt nb t3 č̣sr

Allen 2000

ḥtp-dj-nswt wsjr ḫnty jmntjw nṯr ˁ3 3bḏw wp-w3wt nb t3 ḏsr

Schneider 2003

ḥtp-ḍỉ-nśwt wśỉr ḫnty ỉmntjw ncr ɗɹ ɹbc̣w wp-wɹwt nb tɹ c̣śr

References

Allen, James Paul. 2000. Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Buurman, Jan, Nicolas-Christophe Grimal, Michael Hainsworth, Jochen Hallof, and Dirk van der Plas. 1988. Inventaire des signes hiéroglyphiques en vue de leur saisie informatique: Manuel de codage des textes hiéroglyphiques en vue de leur saisie sur ordinateur. 3rd ed. Informatique et Égyptologie 2. Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belle-Lettres (Nouvelle Série) 8. Paris: Institut de France.
Erman, Adolf, and Hermann Grapow, eds. 1926–1953. Wörterbuch der aegyptischen Sprache im Auftrage der deutschen Akademien. 6 vols. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs'schen Buchhandlungen. (Reprinted Berlin: Akademie-Verlag GmbH, 1971).
Gardiner, Alan Henderson. 1957. Egyptian Grammar; Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs. 3rd ed. Oxford: Griffith Institute.
Hannig, Rainer. 1995. Großes Handwörterbuch Ägyptisch–Deutsch: die Sprache der Pharaonen (2800–950 v. Chr.). Kulturgeschichte der antiken Welt 64 (Hannig-Lexica 1). Mainz am Rhein: Verlag Philipp von Zabern.
Schenkel, Wolfgang. 1990. Einführung in die altägyptische Sprachwissenschaft. Orientalistische Einführungen. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
Schneider, Thomas. 2003. "Etymologische Methode, die Historizität der Phoneme und das ägyptologische Transkriptionsalphabet." Lingua aegyptia: Journal of Egyptian Language Studies 11:187–199.

Utente:Madaki/sanbox1