review: world of pharaohs

7/29/2019 Review: world of pharaohs

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affiliations'7 (page 94), a tradition thatSmith finds in the Yser and traces backto Qumran.

Lawrence Schiffman's chapter isconcerned with liturgy at Qumran,which apparently included a regular

cycle of prayers as well as supplicatoryprayers and possibly a marriage ritual.J. Yahalom discusses the poetics ofliturgical compositions in the Byzantineperiod, noting some parallels withChristian liturgies. Avigdor Shinan usesthese liturgies and a wealth of otherliterature pertaining to the synagogue tocontend that divisions of the Torah forsynagogue reading were more numerousand less regular than had previouslybeen supposed.

Will SoilThe School of the Ozarks

Jesus and His Times, by Reader's Digest,336pp. Pleasantville, New York: Reader's

Digest, 1987; $24.95.

Reader's Digest is not usua lly associatedwith the publication of books aboutarchaeology or biblical studies, and Jesusand His Times is an interesting and ambitious move into these areas of study.The book does not aim to present a newperspective or interpretation of Jesus;rather, it seeks to be a descriptive work

of the world in which Jesus lived. It waswritten and illustrated by a large team ofwriters and editors from Reader's Digestin addition to a board of consultants consisting primarily of biblical scholarsfrom several universi ties. It is evidentthat the book is a group effort, and theresulting lack of unity is confusing anddistracting. In spite of this weakness,however, Jesus and His Times is successful and accurate in its descriptive t a s k -especially with its rich use of illustrations, photographs, and drawings of theworld and life of Jesus. It is best labeledas a collection of essays and illustrationsfor the general reader who is looking fora broad survey of the world in whichJesus lived.

The book's style of presentationmakes for easy reading, and its appearanceis very attractive. One of its strengths isthe e xtensive use of good photographs,maps, and drawings throughout. Thebook's use of archaeological findingsemerges primarily from the photographsand their captions as well as in someparts of the text. Near the end of the

book is a special collecti on of beau tifulartwork on the life and death of Jesus.

The contents ofJesus and HisTimes range from political history toportrayals of daily life in villages andcities, descriptions of the worlds of com

merce and education, an account of thereligious context of the time, a concisenarrative of the birth, life, and death ofJesus, and a brief history of the earlyChristian community. Each of thesetopics is handled well by its writers andreflects current scholarship. Such a widerange of topics separates this book fromothers of this type, which generally concentrate solely on the events in the lifeof Jesus. Also included is an index thatbriefly describes 41 of the significantcities of the ancient Me diterranean world.

Jesus and His Times focuses more on thegreater world of first-century Palestinethan on the life of Jesus.

The book's major problem is a lackof overall unity and thought that linkthe various topics. There are no transitions from one subject to the next, andthe end of the book makes no attempt toproperly conclude the workthe book

just stops. Even a descriptive book,which Jesus and His Times aims to be,requires some degree of thought toharmonize and sum up the informationthat has been presented.

Jesus and His Times is an attractivebook designed for nonspecialists. It succeeds as a descriptive work because of itsgood variety of topics, but its lack ofunity may make the abundance of illustrations more valuable to many readersthan the text itself.

Joey A. KingSouthwest Missouri State University

The Egyptians (revised and enlarged

edition), by Cyril Aldred, 216 pp., 148

illustrations. London: Thames and

Hudson, 1987-, $11.95 (paper).

The World of the Pharaohs, by Christine

Hobson, 192 pp., 150 illustrations. Lon

don: Thames and Hudson, 1987; $19.95.

In 1987, Thames and Hudson releasedtwo books that could be consideredintroductions to ancient Egypt. CyrilAldred's work is a revised edition of his1961 book of the same title in the seriesAncient Peoples and Places. Hobson'sbook combines the history of Egyptologywith Egyptian history.

Aldred's new version of The Egyptians has far more illustrations, linedrawings, maps, and black-and-whitephotographs than the original and alsoincludes eight color photographs. It isalso organized somewhat differently, and

new sections have been added. The firstchapter introduces the reader to whatAldred calls the "decline and coma" ofEgypt due to the coming of Christianityand Islam. It then moves to the "reawakening" of interest in Egypt fromNapoleon's expeditions to more recentarchaeological projects.

Chapters 3 and 4 are a diachronicstudy of Egyptian cultural history.Chapter 5 is concerned with the earliestresidents of Egypt, the hunters andgatherers who left rock drawings inPaleolithic times (around 15000 to 10000B.C.E.), whi le cha pter 6 tre ats th e Neolithic or predynastic stage of culturaldevelop ment (around 5000 to 3500 B.C.E.).

Chapter 6 covers the archaic period,whic h comprised Dyn astie s 1 and 2 andbegan with the unification of Egypt byMens. Aldred then proceeds, in chapters7 and 8, to the pyramid age, an era thatfascinates many scholars and nonspecialists. Dynasty 3 witnessed the development of the pyramid from the mastabatype tomb. The famous Giza plateauwith its triad of pyramids and the colos

sal sphinx is also discussed i n chapter 7.The Fifth and Sixth Dynasties were periods of decline in the power and authorityof the king, eventually leading to thecollapse of the Old Kingdom. What resulted was a period of chaos in whichthe power of the central government wasreplaced by that of the provincial governors. Chapter 9 describes this gloomyera, called the First Intermediate period,beginning with Dynasty 7 and lastingthrough part of Dynasty 11 (around 2250to 2035 B.C.E., according to Aldred'schronology on page 9). From it emergedseveral new political centers, foremost ofwhich were Thebes and Heracleopolis,just so ut h of Me mp hi s.

Hostilities raged between rivalpower centers for decades and endedwhen the Theban king, Mentuhotep II,militarily united the two lands, thus beginning the Middle Kingdom. Chapter 10details the policies that enabled theTwelfth Dynasty kings to oversee thisperiod of prosperity.

The following Second IntermediatePeriod, also called the Hyksos era (1720


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to 1550 B.C.E.), is discussed in chapter 11.In recent decades there has been considerable debate as to how foreign rulerscame to power in Egypt. Some say theyinvaded Egypt following the Manethoniantradition preserved in Josephus, whereasothers believe that after many immigrantsinfiltrated Egypt from western Asiaforeigners simply took advantage of thepower vacuum and seized control. Aldredsuggests that it is not an either/or but aboth/and situation. The immigrationstarted well before the end of Dynasty 12and continued into Dynasty 13, followedby an invasion of a more military-mindedgroup. Regrettably, Aldred continues topropound the still unsupported viewthat this latter group was an "aristocracyof chariot warriors" (page 140). The firstclear reference to a chariot in an Egyptian

text is one driven by King Ahmose in thewar of liberation against the Hyksos(Pritchard 1969: number 233), and thereis no mention of "Hyksos" chariotry. Theword htry in Kamose's earlier campaignagainst the Hyksos capital, Avaris, hasbeen rendered "chariotry" (Pritchard 1969:number 554), but this translation appears to be incorrect (Schulman 1980:112-13). It is disappointing that Aldreddid not include the information aboutthe Austrian excavations at Tell el-dabca,thought to be the Hyksos capital of

Avaris. The first volume of excavationreports appeared 15 years ago (Bietak1975, 1979).

In chapter 12 Aldred quickly surveysthe establishment of Egypt's empire inPalestine and Nubia under the energeticThutmoside kings of the EighteenthDynasty and the loss of the empirebeginning with Merneptah, the son ofRamesses II. Included is some discussion of cultural aspects of the New Kingdom, with literature and architecturereceiving major attention.

Aldredis

an authority on the Amarnaperiod, but his treatment of this intriguing period would have been enhanced had he introduced the results ofthe Akhenaten Temple Project's excavations in East Karnak, where Akhenatenhad built several temples prior to relocating his capital to Tell el-Amarna(Smith and Redford 1976).

In chapter 13 he introduces the readerto the late period (Dynasties 21 through26) and then ends the book with a veryuseful section on Egyptian social groupsin chapter 14. Topics such as the pharaoh,

the royal family, the officers of the state,artists and craftsmen, the armed forces,scribes, and peasants and laborers conclude the book.

Hobson's book is well written andbeautifully illustrated; once begun, it is

hard to put down. The 150 illustrationsinclude 48 colored pictures and manyvery useful graphic illustrations, such asisometric drawings, maps, and charts.The introduction gives basic information about the geography of Egypt and anoutline of its history. The first chaptertraces the beginnings of Egyptology andintroduces the reader to many men andwomen who stimulated that awakening.Anecdotes about some of these pioneers,which are most delightful, are sprinkledthroughout the book. The renowned explorers and Egyptophiles such as Belzoni,

Lepsius, and Ptrie are mentioned, ofcourse, but so are some lesser knownbut equally important figures such asHans Sloan, James Bruce, Lady LucieDuff-Gordon, and Amice Calverley.Included in the profiles are portraits ofthese people. There is a definite predisposition toward British archaeologists,however; virtually nothing is said of thecontributions of North American scholarship, and the only American who ispictured is Fred Wendorf. Regrettably,James Henry Breasted and his successors

at The Oriental Institute of The University of in Chicago are passed over.

Chapter 2 is concerned with thetransition in Egyptian prehistory fromhunter to farmer. Hobson is up-to-datewith her information. For Dynasties 1and 2 Hobson tries to sort out thesuccession of kings and discusses theartifacts of the period along with thearchitectural developments, namely themastaba. The isometric drawings of themastabas are excellent. The site ofSaqqara receives some attention, includ

ing a brief profile on Walter Emery, theexcavator of many of the "royal" mastabas.Moving into the pyramid era (chap

ter 3), Hobson, like Aldred, gives a thorough treatment of the step pyramid ofDjoser. J.-P. Lauer, who has worked in theDjoser complex since 1926, is featured.Hobson's treatment of the pyramids doesnot stop with the Sixth Dynasty but continues into the Twelfth Dynasty withthe pyramids at Dashur and Hawara.The discovery and analysis of the royal

jewelry also are featured.Readers ofBiblical Archaeologist

might be familiar with English archaeologist John Garstang, who excavatedJericho in the 1930s. From 1901-1903 excavated the necropolis of Beni Hasanwhere he discovered hundreds of tombwith coffins and models, in many in

stances in lieu of wall paintings. Hobswho studied at Liverpool Universitywhere the Garstang archives are storedwas able to use this material for her setion on this important Middle Egyptiasite at the beginning of chapter 4.

Four pages in chapter 4 are devoteto the enigma of Akhenaten and hisfamous city, Akhetaten. Hobson speakof Akhenaten as "an idealist who rejecvirtually every old Egyptian tradition"(page 106), but this is somewhat misleading. To be sure, the Amarna periodwitnessed some new artistic expressioHowever, it is now becoming increasingevident that Akhenaten was interestedin elevating the solar religion that hadbeen a dominant force in Dynasty 5 atthe expense of Amun of Thebes. Thefamous Hymns to Aten use terms andexpressions that can be traced back tothe coffin texts of the Middle Kingdomand the pyramid texts of the Old Kingdo(Hoffmeier, in press). Akhenaten shoube seen more as a reformer, a conservatidie-hard, rather than an innovator. LikeAldred, Hobson does not mention the

important excavations of the AkhenateTemple Project.

Chapter 4 continues with a descrition, and several excellent illustrationsof the recent work of the English-Dutcteam excavating at Saqqara. In recentyears, the mortuary complexes of severkey officials of the time of Tutankhamand the following decades have been uncovered. This section has special interebecause of the recent discoveries of thetombs of the high official of Maya and oTia, sister of Ramesses II.

The fifth chapter deals with severainteresting topics, including the formand function of temples (cultic and funrary). The final chapter, Egypt's Legacy,examines the how and why of paintingreliefs, and sculpture as well as decipheing hieroglyphs (complete with charts osigns that help the reader understandhow the writing system worked), the roof the scribe, calendrical matters, and thUnited Nations Educational, Scientificand Cultural Organization (UNESCO)Nubian campaign of the 1960s.

These two books are fine introduc-


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tions to ancient Egypt. Aldred's bookmight be considered an old classic thathas undergone a facelift and is now veryattractive, while Hobson's is sheer beautyin every way. The skillful manner inwhich she has woven the archaeology ofEgypt with the archaeologists makes for

exciting reading, and the illustrationsare outstanding. Readers should exploreboth books, starting with Hobson andthen Aldred.

Bibliography

Bietak, M.1975 Tell el-Dafca 2. Untersucchungen

der Zweigstelle Kairo des sterreichischen Archologischen Institute 1: Vienna.

1979 Avaris and Piramesse: ArchaeologicalExploration in the Eastern Delta.Proceedings of the British Academy45: 225-89.

Hoffmeier, J. K.forth- Hymns to Aten: Their Antecedents

coming and Implications. In Tell el-Amarna1887-1987, edited by B. Beitzel andG. Young. Winona Lake, IN:Eisenbrauns.

Pritchard, J. B., editor1969 Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating

to the Old Testament, third editionwith supplement. Princeton, NJ:Princeton University Press.

Schulman, A. R.1980 Chariots, Chariotry and the Hyksos.

fournal of the Society for the Study ofEgyptian Antiquities X(2|: 105-53.

Smith, R. W, and Redford, D. B.1976 The Akhenaten Temple Project,

volume 1. Warminster: Aris andPhillips.

James K. HoffmeierWheaton College

Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, by Oded

Borowski, xiv + 215 pp. Winona Lake,

Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 1987; $20.00.

A cultural gap that rapidly increases

with the passing of each new generationseparates us from the biblical environment. Our world is computer driven,predominantly urban, with an economicbase built upon advanced technologyand heavy industry. Our lives seldomtouch the agricultural sphere that stoodat the heart of ancient societies. Few ofus know the agricultural chores dictatedby the seasonal rhythms of the yearnecessary to sustain life. Students of theBible, therefore, owe a debt of gratitudeto Oded Borowski for giving us a valuable

tool to bridge this gap. As Borowski

explores ancient Israel's agriculturalbase, he casts a light upon the rich biblical imagery and vocabulary drawnfrom agrarian life.

As the title of this book indicates,Borowski intends to describe agricultureas it was practiced in Israel during the

Iron Age (1200 to 586 B.C.E.). He utilizesinsights culled from excavations, theHebrew Scriptures, and modern agricultural practices in Israel to paint hisportrait. The discussion ranges fromland use and tenur e to factors affectingsoil fertility and crop yield. Borowskimakes most effective use of archaeological material in the section titled.Field Work and Grain Production. Eachfacet of field workplowing, sowing,harvesti ng, and storage receives attention and is illustrated by archaeological

data. A section on the produce of fields,vineyards, and orchards also incorporatesvaluable insights drawn from the increasing body of evidence derived fromexcavations. Twenty-two line drawingsillustrate the text, including ninegathered from Egypt and Mesopotamiathat depict actual field labor.

Borowski incorporates into his discussion the few nonbiblical writtensources from Iron Age Israel that bearupon his subject (the Samaria and AradOstraca, a letter from Mesad Hashavyahu).

Especially helpful is his more extensiveand incisive analysis of the tenth-century-B.c.E. Gezer Calendar, which, in my

judg ment , offers greater insight th anprevious discussions.

Borowski has admirably accomplished his primary goal and presents uswith a good overview of agriculturalpractices of this period. Moreover, hepresents technical material in a mannerthat nonspecialists will not only appreciate but enjoy. Biblical students canprofit from the copious use of biblical

references embedded in the book, complete with a comprehensive index of biblical citations and a glossary of Hebrewterms related to agriculture. The workcan be a useful tool for exegetical studiesand should prove valuable in castinglight on those numerous passages thattouch upon agriculture. The archaeological data are accurate, well presented, and as up to date as the rapidpace of excavation allows.

Specialists undoubtedly will questionwhether one can treat all of the Iron Age

as one period. Should not one take into

consideration factors that distinguishthe Iron I period (1200 to 1000 B.C.E.)from Iron II (1000 to 586 B.C.E.)? TO besure, Borowski is aware of this problemand touches on some of the technological advancements, but his work is essentially a kind of still life portrait.

The more complex range of factors, including demographic, political, and socioeconomic matters delineating the twophases of the Iron Age, need more careful consideration. The Highlands ofCanaan: Agricultural Life in the Early

Iron Age, an earlier book by DavidC. Hopkins (1985, Decatur, Georgia:Almond Press), with its narrower focusand somewhat broader range of issuesmay be more satisfying in this regard.However, Borowski has succeeded insynthesizing much valuable information

in a manner that places the fruits of histechnical research at the disposal of awider audience. For this Borowski shouldbe highly commended. He has given usanother lens through which to view thebiblical world.

Thomas V. BriscoSouthwestern Baptist Theologica

Seminary

Discovering Eve: Ancie nt Israelite

Women in Context, by Carol Meyers, ix

+ 238 pp. New York: Oxford University

Press, 1988; $24.95.

Recognizing that the Bible is used tojustify ma ny bel iefs or po li cies regardingwomen, Carol Meyers wrote this book topromote awareness of the existence ofthe unseen life led by women in ancientIsrael and to help make that existencemore visible. She discusses the limitations of using biblical texts alone todeduce women's roles in ancient Israelitesociety. Meyers reconstructs the dailyrole of women in premonarchic Israelite

society based on village layout in theIron I highland settlements and comparative ethnographic studies of women'sroles in societies where the householdwas the basic unit of production andconsumption. She argues that knowledge of the ancient Israelite social worldis essential for understanding the actualfunction and status of women in the biblical world and their ideological depictions in biblical texts, which may differ.Recognizing that the Bible was producedby a small circle of urban male ruling

elites, Meyers cautions that any depic-


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review: world of pharaohs

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