Books by Ellen Morris
Cambridge University Press, 2023
This Element is about the creation and curation of social memory in pharaonic and Greco-Roman Egy... more This Element is about the creation and curation of social memory in pharaonic and Greco-Roman Egypt. Ancient, Classical, Medieval, and Ottoman sources attest to the horror that characterized catastrophic famines. Occurring infrequently and rarely reaching the canonical seven-years' length, famines appeared and disappeared like nightmares. Communities that remain aware of potentially recurring tragedies are often advantaged in their efforts to avert or ameliorate worst-case scenarios. For this and other reasons, pharaonic and Greco-Roman Egyptians preserved
intergenerational memories of hunger and suffering. This Element begins with a consideration of the trajectories typical of severe Nilotic famines and the concept of social memory. It then argues that personal reflection and literature, prophecy, and an annual festival of remembrance functioned-at different times, and with varying degrees of success-to convince the well-fed
that famines had the power to unseat established order and to render a comfortably familiar world unrecognizable.
SERIES EDITOR by Ellen Morris
https://brill.com/view/journals/jeh/jeh-overview.xml
The Journal of Egyptian History aims to enco... more https://brill.com/view/journals/jeh/jeh-overview.xml
The Journal of Egyptian History aims to encourage and stimulate a focused debate on writing and interpreting Egyptian history ranging from the Neolithic foundations of Ancient Egypt to its modern reception. It covers all aspects of Ancient Egyptian history (political, social, economic, and intellectual) and of modern historiography about Ancient Egypt (methodologies, hermeneutics, interplay between historiography and other disciplines, and history of modern Egyptological historiography).
The journal is open to contributions in English, German, and French.
Papers on gender, sexuality, and birth magic by Ellen Morris
Migration and Mobility in the Ancient Near East and Egypt–The Crosroads IV, 2024
Although female captives and prisoners of war were ubiquitous in many ancient societies—as labore... more Although female captives and prisoners of war were ubiquitous in many ancient societies—as laborers, mothers, sexual partners, status symbols, units of stored wealth, innovators, and even peacemakers—such women have proved difficult to study. Their stories as voiced in ancient drama are easily dismissed as mythic and mediated. Confidently discerning their remains from those of other categories of women in the archaeological record, too, has proved a challenge. One of the primary and most routinized mechanisms whereby women crossed territorial and cultural boundaries in antiquity was through seizure and sale. In this chapter, I argue that to unearth and begin to understand the experiences of female captives, a diverse constellation of evidence must be mobilized. When placed into dialogue, ancient drama, captivity narratives, anthropology, and archaeology suggest that female captive-taking tended to follow a relatively coherent set of trajectories and social logics.
(For a pdf of this article, please contact the author )
The Treasure of the Egyptian Queen Ahhotep and International Relations at the Turn of the Middle Bronze Age (1550 B.C., eds. G. Miniaci and P. Lacovara. Middle Kingdom Studies 11, London: Golden House Productions, 165-186. , 2022
Queen Ahhotep took three daggers, four axes, and nine miniature axes with her to the grave. Two o... more Queen Ahhotep took three daggers, four axes, and nine miniature axes with her to the grave. Two of the weapons in this otherworldly arsenal-an axe and a dagger-were stunning and bear testament to a robust artistic interconnection that linked the early Eighteenth Dynasty court to the high culture of the Minoan and Mycenaean world. Because of their beauty, these objects are often written about in isolation. This chapter places these two ceremonial weapons in dialogue with the entire assemblage of the queen's weapons, with other elements of her grave goods, with gender politics, and with the mortuary culture of Egypt and Nubia in the Second Intermediate Period and early Eighteenth Dynasty. When taken together, the weapons provide strong evidence that the queen had been married to Kamose, that her court was well acquainted with Pan-Grave military culture, and that in ancient Egypt (as in so many other contexts) times of war offered women unprecedented opportunities to exercise typically masculine authority as they kept the home fires burning.
Journal of Egyptian History 13.1-2. Special Issue: “Egyptology and Global History,” 127-168., 2020
To judge from wisdom literature and artistic production, the ideal man in pharaonic Egypt was as ... more To judge from wisdom literature and artistic production, the ideal man in pharaonic Egypt was as polite and even-tempered as he was well groomed. This article examines the evidence for warrior burials from periods when the state was decentralized or relatively weak and argues that conceptions of manhood in fact oscillated between an irenic ideal and a more violent counterpart. Drawing upon comparative case studies
and advice given by Niccolò Machiavelli to his prince, I argue that hegemonic masculinity in Egypt did not simply reflect the character of the times. Rather, rulers actively promoted the type of masculinity that best served their purpose. To an ambitious local ruler engaged in enlarging his core territory, it was beneficial to appeal to and
encourage ideals of valor among potential soldiers and supporters. Once peace had been established, however, violent masculinities proved disruptive. Based on internal evidence as well as observations of authoritarian governments that aimed similarly to solidify their power and pacify their realms, I suggest that pharaohs and their advisors
likely employed five specific strategies to neutralize potential competitors and transform an honor-bound warrior aristocracy into courtiers and bureaucrats.
Paddle Dolls have been interpreted variously as concubines for the dead, as children's toys, or a... more Paddle Dolls have been interpreted variously as concubines for the dead, as children's toys, or as figurines embodying the concept of fertility and rebirth. This article argues on the basis of eight lines of evidence that they were representations of specific living women, namely the Late Old Kingdom and Middle Kingdom khener-dancers of Hathor at Deir el-Bahari. Paddle dolls have been recovered from secure archaeological contexts at very few other sites and only in small numbers, but they are frequently found at Asasif. Their tattoos resemble those found on women buried in the precinct of the mortuary temple. Likewise, their bright, patterned outfits are strikingly similar to those of one particular Theben khener-troupe of Hathor depicted in the tomb of Kenamun (TT 93). The figurines were often interred in groups, and these groups could include a young girl figurine, just as khener-troupes often included girl trainees. The figurines are also found in statistically significant numbers with clappers, harps, and mirrors, all equipment typical of khener-women. The shape of the figurines, it is argued, consciously echoes that of a menat-counterpoise, the sacred fetish of Hathor, and it is suggested that the marked emphasis on the pubic triangle is due to the role of the khener-women in reinvigorating the dead king, which they undertook in the same manner as Hathor had revived her own father, the god-king Re, in the Contendings of Horus and Seth. It is secondarily argued that virtually all of these lines of evidence also apply to the truncated female figurines typical of the Twelfth Dynasty. Hathor, "Lady of the Vulva" (nbt Htpt) and with the protection offered by this mother goddess in matters of both birth and rebirth. 9 Most commonly, however, paddle dolls are rather generically seen as "a repository of the power of human sexuality and fertility" 10 and as a potential aid for enjoying both in the next life.
Company of Images: Modelling the Imaginary World of Middle Kingdom Egypt (2000-1500 BC), ed. Gianluca Miniaci, Marilina Betrò, Stephen Quirke. Leuven: Peeters Publishers., 2017
This essay examines the archaeological contexts of late Old Kingdom and Middle Kingdom hand-shape... more This essay examines the archaeological contexts of late Old Kingdom and Middle Kingdom hand-shaped clappers and argues three main points. First, the sites with the greatest concentration of clappers were those located near mortuary temples. Given that clappers were frequently found with female figurines and mirrors, they may have been utilized in mortuary temples by Hathoric performers who danced for the dead king as Re. Second, clappers were an integral part of birth magic and are frequently found in the company of two and three dimensional male and female lion-headed daemons and other protectors (sAw) of the sun god and of those about to be born or reborn. Finally, it is argued that, like many Middle Kingdom grave goods, clappers had been ‘rediscovered’ and religiously re-envisioned by sacral authorities who encountered Protodynastic and Early Dynastic votive material during temple renovations and perhaps also during work at the pilgrimage site of Umm el-Qa’ab.
Papers on Egypt's foreign relations by Ellen Morris
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Papers on divine kingship and retainer sacrifice by Ellen Morris
A ccording to pharaonic ideology, the maintenance of cosmic, political, and natural order was unt... more A ccording to pharaonic ideology, the maintenance of cosmic, political, and natural order was unthinkable without the king, who served as the crucial lynchpin that held together not only Upper and Lower Egypt, but also the disparate worlds of gods and men. Because of his efforts, society functioned smoothly and the Nile floods brought forth abundance. This ideology, held as gospel for millennia, was concocted. The king had no supernatural power to influence the Nile's flood and the institution of divine kingship was made to be able to function with only a child or a senile old man at its helm. This chapter focuses on five foundational tenets of pharaonic ideology, observable in the earliest monuments of protodynastic kings, and examines how these tenets were transformed into accepted truths via the power of repeated theatrical performance. Careful choreography and stagecraft drew upon scent, pose, metaphor, abject foils, and numerous other ploys to naturalize a political order that had nothing natural about it. Some of these tactics were abandoned after they had served their purpose or began to inspire negative backlash, while others survived to be drawn upon by Augustus and his successors.
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Books by Ellen Morris
intergenerational memories of hunger and suffering. This Element begins with a consideration of the trajectories typical of severe Nilotic famines and the concept of social memory. It then argues that personal reflection and literature, prophecy, and an annual festival of remembrance functioned-at different times, and with varying degrees of success-to convince the well-fed
that famines had the power to unseat established order and to render a comfortably familiar world unrecognizable.
SERIES EDITOR by Ellen Morris
The Journal of Egyptian History aims to encourage and stimulate a focused debate on writing and interpreting Egyptian history ranging from the Neolithic foundations of Ancient Egypt to its modern reception. It covers all aspects of Ancient Egyptian history (political, social, economic, and intellectual) and of modern historiography about Ancient Egypt (methodologies, hermeneutics, interplay between historiography and other disciplines, and history of modern Egyptological historiography).
The journal is open to contributions in English, German, and French.
Papers on gender, sexuality, and birth magic by Ellen Morris
(For a pdf of this article, please contact the author )
and advice given by Niccolò Machiavelli to his prince, I argue that hegemonic masculinity in Egypt did not simply reflect the character of the times. Rather, rulers actively promoted the type of masculinity that best served their purpose. To an ambitious local ruler engaged in enlarging his core territory, it was beneficial to appeal to and
encourage ideals of valor among potential soldiers and supporters. Once peace had been established, however, violent masculinities proved disruptive. Based on internal evidence as well as observations of authoritarian governments that aimed similarly to solidify their power and pacify their realms, I suggest that pharaohs and their advisors
likely employed five specific strategies to neutralize potential competitors and transform an honor-bound warrior aristocracy into courtiers and bureaucrats.
Papers on Egypt's foreign relations by Ellen Morris
Papers on divine kingship and retainer sacrifice by Ellen Morris
intergenerational memories of hunger and suffering. This Element begins with a consideration of the trajectories typical of severe Nilotic famines and the concept of social memory. It then argues that personal reflection and literature, prophecy, and an annual festival of remembrance functioned-at different times, and with varying degrees of success-to convince the well-fed
that famines had the power to unseat established order and to render a comfortably familiar world unrecognizable.
The Journal of Egyptian History aims to encourage and stimulate a focused debate on writing and interpreting Egyptian history ranging from the Neolithic foundations of Ancient Egypt to its modern reception. It covers all aspects of Ancient Egyptian history (political, social, economic, and intellectual) and of modern historiography about Ancient Egypt (methodologies, hermeneutics, interplay between historiography and other disciplines, and history of modern Egyptological historiography).
The journal is open to contributions in English, German, and French.
(For a pdf of this article, please contact the author )
and advice given by Niccolò Machiavelli to his prince, I argue that hegemonic masculinity in Egypt did not simply reflect the character of the times. Rather, rulers actively promoted the type of masculinity that best served their purpose. To an ambitious local ruler engaged in enlarging his core territory, it was beneficial to appeal to and
encourage ideals of valor among potential soldiers and supporters. Once peace had been established, however, violent masculinities proved disruptive. Based on internal evidence as well as observations of authoritarian governments that aimed similarly to solidify their power and pacify their realms, I suggest that pharaohs and their advisors
likely employed five specific strategies to neutralize potential competitors and transform an honor-bound warrior aristocracy into courtiers and bureaucrats.
Morris, E.
2018 Théorie insulaire et affordances des oasis du désert égyptien, trans. Lise Garond. In Mer et désert de l’Antiquité à nos jours: visions croisées, ed. G. Tallet and T. Sauzeau. Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 63-90.
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