The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts by James P. Allen; Texts from the Pyramid Age byNigel C. StrudwickReview by: Kasia SzpakowskaJournal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 127, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 2007), pp. 380-381Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20297292 .

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380 Journal of the American Oriental Society 127.3 (2007)

Peeters, 2006]). For now, Albenda's careful description of known paintings, and her premises that

color, harmony, and design were carefully worked out, toward a maximal visual effect, and that painting was used on the same monumental scale as reliefs, have helped to put the preserved painting fragments into the broader context of Neo-Assyrian architectural elaboration.

Irene J. Winter

Harvard University

The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts. By James P. Allen. Writings from the Ancient World, vol. 23.

Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2005. Pp. x + 471. $39.95 (paper). Texts from the Pyramid Age. By Nigel C. Strudwick. Writings from the Ancient World, vol. 16.

Pp. xxxvii + 522. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2005. Pp. x + 471. $39.95 (paper).

The publication of these two volumes is a welcome addition to our understanding of life in Old

Kingdom Egypt. Each provides an important contribution to the corpus of Egyptian texts that have been translated into English.

In particular, the Pyramid Texts as a corpus have long been in need of revising. Since Faulkner's

1969 publication, previously unknown spells have been discovered and the known texts have been

reinterpreted in light of current understanding of the structure and order of the passages. New insights have also been achieved by examining the compositions within their original tomb contexts, bringing to light modifications that occurred during the inscribing process. This corpus was due for a new pub

lication, and this task has now been admirably accomplished by one of the top scholars of the Pyramid

Texts, James P. Allen.

One of the most important features of this volume is the introduction of a new numbering system for the spells. Allen's arrangement is logical and well explained, with each spell labeled with the letter of the name of the tomb-owner (thus W = Weni) plus a number indicating its location in the tomb. This is particularly valuable as it allows the compositions to be studied within their spatial context.

However, new numbering systems require concordances with older ones already in use. To help the

researchers locate a particular spell, Allen provides a series of concordances after the main body of

translations. These concordances list: spells by pyramid, spells by location, spells by PT or other

numbers, spell numbers, spells not in Sethe's edition, utterance numbers of Faulkner's translation,

and MAFS (Mission arch?ologique fran?aises de Saqq?ra) numbers. Each of these tables is useful,

but it would also have been convenient to include a single concordance collating Sethe's numbering to the actual page where that spell appears in Allen's book.

As it stands, the volume can be a bit tricky to use. For example, in order to find Sethe's spell 220,

the reader must first go to the Concordance: Spells by PT or Other Numbers, to find which tomb and which number the spell corresponds to in the new numbering system. There, PT 220 is listed as W153

(as well as T175, P262, M191, N330, Nt235), but no page number is given. The reader must then locate the section that lists the spell by tomb in the main body of the book (the tomb of Unis is given first) and thumb through the pages until 153 is located alongside the text. There, the spells are named, but

there is no reference to any of Sethe's numbers. This is not a major issue, but it is an annoyance when

searching for specific passages. The main body of the volume consists of Allen's translations. All of these reflect the latest scholar

ship, as well as Allen's own eloquence, resulting in renditions that are both professional and accessible

to the non-specialist. He has rightly selected English terms that communicate the Egyptian concepts as closely as possible, while those terms for which no acceptable English counterpart exists, such as

ka, akh, and ba, are left untranslated. In cases where his renderings diverge significantly from those

of other scholars, a greater use of footnotes and explanations would have benefited the reader. This is

particularly the case for those passages that feature either a hapax legomenon or an Egyptian lexeme

that is poorly attested outside of the context of Pyramid Texts. For example, in one passage (in W155

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Reviews of Books 381

according to Allen's numbering scheme, PT222, Pyr ?205b in Sethe's), Allen renders "provided as

Seth, whose (raw) testicles were pulled off," where Faulkner translates this as "being equipped as Seth who broke forth violently," while my own translation is "having been equipped as Seth, being refreshed and rejuvenated." At 471 pages, however, the book is already extensive, and it may be that adding more

notes would have necessitated a second volume.

In sum, Allen's deep familiarity with the texts has resulted in a volume that will be a welcome

addition to the bookshelves of all Egyptologists, as well as those of scholars interested in religious and funerary beliefs.

While Allen's Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts illuminates the beliefs and practices of the royal sphere, Nigel Strudwick's Texts from the Pyramid Age reveals the lives of the non-royal elite through their funerary, administrative, and private texts. The range of genres presented by Strudwick is im

pressive and unparalleled in any other English-language volume of Old Kingdom texts. His list of

principal types of texts includes historiographie, temple, state and private administrative, legal, (auto) biographical, commemorative and other tomb texts, inscriptions, captions, graffiti, quarry marks, ex

pedition inscriptions, letters, and texts of women. Many of the texts were published in the Urkunden,

but many more recently-discovered compositions have been included as well. The decision to include

even short texts, such as the lively captions to illustrations, will remind many readers, particularly those who may not be familiar with that material, that the Egyptians were living individuals with a sense of humor.

The material that frames the main body of the book reflects the same care as the translations them

selves. Strudwick's extensive and well-referenced introduction is particularly useful for students; he has

even managed to describe briefly the problem of "second tenses" in Egyptian grammar in a straight forward fashion. Strudwick has reasonably decided to be selective in his list of secondary sources, re

stricting them to the most important discussions of each text, but has included a more comprehensive

bibliography, a decision that should satisfy both the scholar and the interested general reader. The short

glossary is geared for those unfamiliar with Egyptological terminology and places. The indexes of

names of kings and of other persons are also convenient, but the expected general index is noticeably

lacking. I am one of those readers who makes extensive use of indexes, and indeed would find it ideal if

all works included an index, if not in the print version of the book, then at least online. However,

Strudwick's appendix of sites of origin and objects in museums is an exceedingly useful resource for

the scholar, and will hopefully be a model for future publications. The cross-reference to the concor

dance of texts to Urkunden I is obviously necessary, but thankfully Strudwick has chosen to entitle

the texts, rather than to refer to them simply by an Urk. abbreviation.

As is the case with Allen's Pyramid Texts, information on the original physical context of each

text is included here. The texts are numbered and named and then brief descriptions of their ancient

context and their current location are provided. This contextualization of the documents is a welcome

aid enabling a scholar to trace the original in order to check the details of script or structure in relation

to other architectural elements or finds. In addition, it is a reminder that these texts are not disembodied

words, but are an integral part of artifacts in and of themselves.

Together, Allen's and Strudwick's new translations of ancient texts provide an unparalleled resource

for studying the textual sources from the Old Kingdom. Both authors have provided enough back

ground material to allow the novice to comprehend and make sense of the sometimes dense texts. For

the specialist, whether student or professional, the authors provide new insights, as well as convenient

sources for quickly finding references and the main discussions concerning the texts. With these two

volumes at hand, Old Kingdom administration, funerary beliefs and practices, expeditions and contacts

with foreigners, local events, everyday matters, religious beliefs and practices?virtually all aspects of ancient Egyptian life that were expressed through the words of the Egyptians themselves?are

accessible.

Kasia Szpakowska

University of Wales, Swansea

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