A Master of Secrets in the Chamber of Darkness: Egyptological Studies in Honor of Robert K. Ritner Presented on the Occasion of His Sixty-Eighth Birthday

Wednesday, September 11, 2024

A Master of Secrets in the Chamber of Darkness: Egyptological Studies in Honor of Robert K. Ritner Presented on the Occasion of His Sixty-Eighth Birthday

Edited by Foy D. Scalf and Brian P. Muhs

Robert Kriech Ritner (May 5, 1953–July 25, 2021) was the Rowe Professor of Egyptology at the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures of the University of Chicago. His trendsetting scholarship revolutionized our views of ancient Egyptian religion and helped launch a renaissance in the study of magic in the ancient world. In this volume, twenty-seven of Robert K. Ritner’s closest friends, colleagues, and students have come together to honor him by presenting the latest groundbreaking research in Egyptology and beyond.

Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
The Master of Secrets: Robert K. Ritner, by Foy D. Scalf and Brian P. Muhs
Publications of Robert K. Ritner, by Foy D. Scalf and Brian P. Muhs
The Ritner Stela, by Megaera Lorenz and Mary Szabady
1. Black Magic (Woman), by Solange Ashby, University of California, Los Angeles
2. An Additional Layer of Complexity: Northern and Southern Warets in Middle Kingdom Administration, by Kathryn E. Bandy, University of Chicago
3. Hieroglyphs of Value across the Great Green, by Karen Polinger Foster, Yale University
4. Seth the Gleaming One, by François Gaudard, University of Warsaw and University of Chicago
5. "Destructive Flame," "Dazzling Beauty," and "Source of Enlightenment"—Royal Light Terminology and Metaphor from the New Kingdom to the Late Period, by Katja Goebs, University of Toronto
6. The "Libyan Family" at Kawa: Fashion as a Political Statement of Taharqo, by Aleksandra Hallmann, Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures, Polish Academy of Sciences
7. A Version of Book of the Dead Spell 99 in Demotic (P. Dem. MAIL 1), by Richard Jasnow, Johns Hopkins University
8. Three Demotic Silver Accounts from the ISAC Museum Collection, by Jacqueline E. Jay, Eastern Kentucky University, and Foy D. Scalf, University of Chicago
9. Assorted Observations on Inheritance in Ancient Egypt, by Janet H. Johnson, University of Chicago
10. Akhenaten and the Opening of the Mouth Ritual? An Enigmatic Karnak Talatat Block Found at Luxor Temple, by W. Raymond Johnson, University of Chicago
11. A Portal for Isis of Djeme, by J. Brett McClain, University of Chicago
12. Sur quelques passages de la Stèle de la tempête d’Ahmosis, by Pierre Meyrat, University of Geneva
13. A Group of Three Human Figurines from Tell Edfu, by Nadine Moeller, Yale University
14. A Note on the Meeting Places of Egyptian Associations, by Ian S. Moyer, University of Michigan
15. Alterity, Amalgamation, and Royal Identity in Early Egypt, by Hratch Papazian, University of Cambridge
16. Once Again the Boatmen’s Joust: A Study in Ritual and Symbolic Action, by Peter A. Piccione, University of Charleston
17. Syntactic and Modal Markers (“Particles”) in the Texts of the Shabaqo Stone, by Joshua A. Roberson, University of Memphis
18. The Transmission of Magical Texts at Deir el-Medina: A Hieratic Copy of a Horus Cippi Text on Ostracon ISACM E17008, by Foy D. Scalf and Brian P. Muhs, University of Chicago
19. Spells on the Interior of the Headboard of the Coffin of Ahanakht and Connections with Chapters from the Book of the Dead, by David P. Silverman, University of Pennsylvania
20. Merenptah’s Israel, His Shasu Militiamen, His Copper Caravan Route, and the Watering Stations Bearing His Name at Kadesh-barnea and Me-nephtoah: Part One, by Richard C. Steiner, Yeshiva University
21. The Inscribed Clay Cobra Figurines of Abydos: Protecting the Reawakening of Osiris, by Kasia Szpakowska, Swansea University
22. Three Demotic Ostraca from Dakhla Oasis (Mut 30/2, 30/15, and 42/12), by Günter Vittmann, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
23. The Twenty-Second Dynasty Coffin of a Chantress in the Pure Foundation of Ptah: A Glimpse into Priestly Society in Libyan-Period Memphis, by Jennifer Houser Wegner, University of Pennsylvania
24. New Light on the Mayors and Ruling Family of Wah-Sut, by Josef Wegner, University of Pennsylvania
25. "I Interrogated the Arabs of the Desert": Local Interlocutors in the Egyptological Research of Claude Sicard, 1712–1726, by Jennifer Westerfeld, University of Louisville
26. The Last Buchis Bull(s) of Armant: Notes on the End of an Indigenous Animal Cult in Late Roman Egypt, by Terry G. Wilfong, University of Michigan
27. New Observations on the Cryptographic Text of Pinudjem I at Medinet Habu, by Jonathan Winnerman, University of California, Los Angeles