Goddesses in Ramessid Egypt: representations of gender and gendered agency in the divine sphere
<p>The gendered representation of goddesses has received little explicit analysis within Egyptology. Studies of goddesses have tended to focus on materials associated with particular deities, and scholarly conversations surrounding gender have largely concerned the experiences of living people...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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2019
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| _version_ | 1826316358649905152 |
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| author | Scrivens, E |
| author2 | Chauvet, V |
| author_facet | Chauvet, V Scrivens, E |
| author_sort | Scrivens, E |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | <p>The gendered representation of goddesses has received little explicit analysis within Egyptology. Studies of goddesses have tended to focus on materials associated with particular deities, and scholarly conversations surrounding gender have largely concerned the experiences of living people. However, the divine sphere is a very ‘real’ aspect of a culture’s social world; to only theorise gender processes among humans is to overlook an entire realm in which those processes might also be active. This thesis interrogates the gendered agency of goddesses in the Ramessid period, as materialised in their two-dimensional representations.</p>
<p>Analysis centres on the wall scenes of Theban and Memphite private tombs, and of three contemporaneous temple environments: the Small Temple of Abu Simbel, the temple of Seti I at Abydos, and the Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak. Supporting examples are drawn from votive stelae. These sources were selected for their potential to visualise structures of gendered agency and status, and the opportunity they provide to observe those processes across regions and ritual contexts. A typology was created of the roles fulfilled by goddesses in such compositions, which together with methods of statistical description revealed patterns of agency both within monuments and across data sets. These patterns were then explored through the use of case studies.</p>
<p>The depiction of goddesses’ gendered agency is shown to vary according to the ritual function and focus of a space, with regional artistic preferences also playing a role. While goddesses can be prominent in certain contexts, they are frequently allocated secondary positions in hierarchies of status; the organisation of compositions, even of entire decorative programmes, can serve to reconcile female prominence with male primacy. However, it is also shown that this secondary position allows goddesses the space to exercise unique modes of agency and exhibit their own forms of representation.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T21:00:30Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oxford-uuid:3ab87209-0d99-45fd-a2fc-a0c4cbeca1d7 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-09T03:43:44Z |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:3ab87209-0d99-45fd-a2fc-a0c4cbeca1d72024-12-07T14:59:06ZGoddesses in Ramessid Egypt: representations of gender and gendered agency in the divine sphereThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:3ab87209-0d99-45fd-a2fc-a0c4cbeca1d7Goddesses, EgyptianCivilization, AncientGender StudiesGenderArt, Ancient--EgyptEgyptologyArt and anthropologyAnthropology, GenderEnglishHyrax Deposit2019Scrivens, EChauvet, V<p>The gendered representation of goddesses has received little explicit analysis within Egyptology. Studies of goddesses have tended to focus on materials associated with particular deities, and scholarly conversations surrounding gender have largely concerned the experiences of living people. However, the divine sphere is a very ‘real’ aspect of a culture’s social world; to only theorise gender processes among humans is to overlook an entire realm in which those processes might also be active. This thesis interrogates the gendered agency of goddesses in the Ramessid period, as materialised in their two-dimensional representations.</p> <p>Analysis centres on the wall scenes of Theban and Memphite private tombs, and of three contemporaneous temple environments: the Small Temple of Abu Simbel, the temple of Seti I at Abydos, and the Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak. Supporting examples are drawn from votive stelae. These sources were selected for their potential to visualise structures of gendered agency and status, and the opportunity they provide to observe those processes across regions and ritual contexts. A typology was created of the roles fulfilled by goddesses in such compositions, which together with methods of statistical description revealed patterns of agency both within monuments and across data sets. These patterns were then explored through the use of case studies.</p> <p>The depiction of goddesses’ gendered agency is shown to vary according to the ritual function and focus of a space, with regional artistic preferences also playing a role. While goddesses can be prominent in certain contexts, they are frequently allocated secondary positions in hierarchies of status; the organisation of compositions, even of entire decorative programmes, can serve to reconcile female prominence with male primacy. However, it is also shown that this secondary position allows goddesses the space to exercise unique modes of agency and exhibit their own forms of representation.</p> |
| spellingShingle | Goddesses, Egyptian Civilization, Ancient Gender Studies Gender Art, Ancient--Egypt Egyptology Art and anthropology Anthropology, Gender Scrivens, E Goddesses in Ramessid Egypt: representations of gender and gendered agency in the divine sphere |
| title | Goddesses in Ramessid Egypt: representations of gender and gendered agency in the divine sphere |
| title_full | Goddesses in Ramessid Egypt: representations of gender and gendered agency in the divine sphere |
| title_fullStr | Goddesses in Ramessid Egypt: representations of gender and gendered agency in the divine sphere |
| title_full_unstemmed | Goddesses in Ramessid Egypt: representations of gender and gendered agency in the divine sphere |
| title_short | Goddesses in Ramessid Egypt: representations of gender and gendered agency in the divine sphere |
| title_sort | goddesses in ramessid egypt representations of gender and gendered agency in the divine sphere |
| topic | Goddesses, Egyptian Civilization, Ancient Gender Studies Gender Art, Ancient--Egypt Egyptology Art and anthropology Anthropology, Gender |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT scrivense goddessesinramessidegyptrepresentationsofgenderandgenderedagencyinthedivinesphere |