BMCR 2009.04.35: Stefanovic on Graves-Brown, Sex and Gender in Ancient Egypt: 'Don your wig for a joyful hour'

Carolyn Graves-Brown (ed.), Sex and Gender in Ancient Egypt: 'Don your
wig for a joyful hour'.  Swansea:  Classical Press of Wales, 2008.  Pp.
xxv, 220.  ISBN 9781905125241.  $100.00.

Reviewed by Danijela Stefanovic, University of Belgrade
([email protected])
Word count:  1346 words
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To read a print-formatted version of this review, see
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This collection contains essays presented at a conference organized by
the Egypt Centre
and the University of Wales, the Institute of Classics and Ancient
History (19th-20th December 2005, University of Wales Swansea).

After the introductory chapter by Carolyn Graves-Brown with an overview
of the state of the art concerning sex and gender studies in Egyptology
and an informative report about the conference--the papers, the main
discussion topics, debates (with a stress on a debate about the tomb of
Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep)--the volume under review continues with the
following studies:

Kathlyn M. Cooney, "The Problem of Female Rebirth in New Kingdom Egypt:
The Fragmentation of the Female Individual in Her Funerary Equipment"
(pp. 1-25): analyses the problem of female rebirth using the funerary
equipment from the New Kingdom to the Third Intermediate Period. In
ancient Egypt, male sexual activity was one of the main avenues to
rebirth in the afterlife. Since the creation and rebirth were a male
prerogative, the deceased Egyptian females were subject to the gender
adaptations, including the fragmentation of their identity. As the
sexualised rebirth was necessary, the deceased female, as well as the
male, was associated with the creator gods Atum, Osiris, and Re, so
that he or she can initialise the rebirth process. Cooney convincingly
points out that the tomb equipment makes it clear that gender
transformation, in order to manage rebirth, included various sets of
mechanisms: magical, liturgical, physical, grammatical--the masculine
singular personal pronoun =f is retained on many of the female funerary
texts. Among other things, a deceased woman was named Osiris, being
intimately associated with a masculine sexualised rebirth. Furthermore,
Cooney stresses the importance of the fragmentation and regeneration of
the body. By fragmentation, gender was preserved and the female
deceased retained her feminine nature as an akh.

Thomas A Dowson, "Queering Sex and Gender in Ancient Egypt" (pp.
27-46): discusses the question of heteronormativity in Egyptology,
using as one of the examples the debate concerning the tomb of
Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep. According to his assumption, the study of
sex and gender is heteronormative, because 'traditional' Egyptology
imposed on the archaeological material heterosexuality as a norm. In
addition, Dowson points out that our own implications on "normative"
and "heteronormative", which we use for understanding sex and gender in
everyday life, "create" our constructions (among other things the
misuse of the term 'queer') of sexual behaviour in ancient Egypt. He
also explores how recent attempts to queer Egyptian archaeology, i.e.
present-day understanding of gender and sex relations between
Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep, can be developed. Sine ira et studio--to
assume that the idea of Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep being a same-sex
couple would be more acceptable if their tomb had been unearthed at the
very end of the 20th century (cf. page 36), is equally wrong, from the
standpoint of the methodology of history, as to reject it because the
tomb came to light in 1960s.

Terence DuQuesne, in "Power on their own: gender and social roles in
provincial New Kingdom Egypt" (pp. 47-62) reports on the feminine
stelae that are part of the cache of votive objects (includes about 500
stelae) from the Salakhana tomb of the New Kingdom at Asyut. The author
points out that a significant number of Salakhana stelae were dedicated
by women, including chantresses. The feminine stelae from Salakhana
shed light on the marital and social status (for example, female
independence) of women in the provincial Egypt of the New Kingdom.
Furthermore, DuQuesne also discusses the stela Cairo JE 47381 (CM 004)
dedicated by two 'soldiers', Re-mose and Upwawet-mose. The
idiosyncratic iconography of the monument opens the question of the
nature of the relationship of the two donors: brothers,
comrades-in-arms, or lovers, but, without any conclusion.

Jiri Jana/k and Hana Navra/tilova/, "People vs. P. Turin 55001" (pp.
63-70): surveys the history of the study of research on the Turin
Papyrus 55001 ('Turin Erotic Papyrus'), as well as the details of
contents, cultural purpose, authorship, and use of that valuable
artefact.

Renata Landgra/fova/, "Breaches of Cooperative Rules. Metaphors and
Parody in ancient Egyptian love songs" (pp. 71-82): discusses sexual
metaphors, formally and thematically, in love songs. Furthermore, the
author analyses the collection of love songs on ostracon Deir el Medina
1650 and, based on their motives, suggests that these are parodies.

Heather Lee McCarthy, "Rules of Decorum and Expressions of Gender
Fluidity in Tawosret's Tomb" (pp. 83-114): examines the patterns of
decoration of the late 19th Dynasty tomb of Tawosret (KV 14). Tawosret
was the "Great Royal Wife of Seti II, regent of her successor Siptah
and finally, after Siptah's death, ruler in her own right. Her tomb is
exceptional, especially with respect to its decorative program,
compared with other Ramesside royal tombs. The author suggests that
changes, especially in the standard pattern of tomb decoration (for
example, scenes depicting a king alongside Tawosret as queen in the
first corridor, the male deities holding epithets with feminine
grammatical gender, etc.), have been used to accommodate the changes in
her role and status, as well as to convey the gender fluidity necessary
for Tawosret's rebirth.

Richard B. Parkinson, "Boasting about Hardness: Constructions of Middle
Kingdom Masculinity" (pp. 115-142): opens the question of the status of
masculinity in ancient Egypt. His study (focusing on Middle Kingdom
examples and on readings of the tomb of Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep)
shows that masculinity has been very often constructed in terms of
visual arts and literary works. Parkinson points out that further
analysis of masculinity, same-sex admirations, and same-sex friendship
must be undertaken outside present day normativity, i.e. heterosexual
normativity.

Greg Reeder, "Queer Egyptologies of Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep" (pp.
143-155): explores the questions of non-normative sexualities that are
suggested by the iconography of the 5th Dynasty tomb of the two
manicurists, Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep. Reeder points out that there
is neither clear textual evidence from their tomb nor their mortal
remains indicating a biological relationship between them. His analysis
of the tomb iconography, i.e. to look to the iconography of the tomb
itself and place it in the context with other depictions of the time
(p. 145), speaks in favour, according to Reeder, of a deep same-sex
affection between the two men. However, it is important to note that
the same methodological approach may produce the opposite conclusions
(see most recently Vera Vasiljevi263;, Embracing his double:
Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep, SAK 37, 2008, 363-372)63;, Embracing his
double: Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep, SAK 37, 2008, 363-372)

Carolyn Routledge, "Did Women 'Do Things' in Ancient Egypt? (Circa
2600-1050 BCE)" (pp. 157-177): challenges the traditional opinion that
in ancient Egyptian art women are generally shown in passive poses. An
important element of her study is the reanalysis of the term iri xt.
The author concludes that iri xt, almost exclusively used for men,
relates to the creation and maintenance of cosmic order in ancient
Egypt. As such, 'doing things' to maintain cosmic order was suitable
for man. This gender separation (male/active--female/passive) implied
artistic and verbal expressions.

Racheli Shalomi-Hen, "The Bearded Woman and the Queen. The Formation
and Transformation of Female Divine Classifiers" (pp. 179-189):
discusses the female divine classifier. Her conclusion is that
development of the female divine classifiers have been related to the
rise of Osiris as a prominent god from the end of the Old Kingdom.
Further stages of the development of the female-divine classifiers
(First Intermediate Period and Middle Kingdom) have also been
considered, with the conclusion that they reflect the distinction
between an ordinary woman and a goddess.

Deborah Sweeney, "Gender and Requests in New Kingdom Literature (pp.
191-214)": is a continuation of her research on the topic of language
and gender. This study considers requests, with respect to the gender
differentiations, as they are represented in Ramesside texts. Sweeney
notes that there is no evidence that women spoke more politely than
men, but, on the other hand texts demonstrate they were very
persistent, and with more success in their requests, than man.

To sum up, this is a valuable contribution to the research of various
aspects of gender studies. Various methodological approaches
(philological, iconographic, analysis of material) illuminate the
difficulties in research and in understanding male and female life in
ancient Egypt.