Browsing by Author "Baines, Alice Victoria"

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    Iconography as biography : a study of the Middle Kingdom Egyptian tombs at Beni Hasan, el-Bersha and Meir (c.2040-1840 B.C.)
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1995-12) Baines, Alice Victoria; Cornelius, I.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Ancient Studies.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The intention of this dissertation is to substantiate the hypothesis that biography in iconographic form occured in certain Middle Kingdom tombs of provinsial governors of the 14th, 15h and 16th Upper Egyptian nomes. Assumed initially to have been an individual idiosyncrasy of particular tomb owners, it is now proposed that it was in fact the manifestation of a general trend which had been developing over a given perdiod. It is also proposed that while this trend can be traced from its gradual development in the latter part of the Old Kingdom in a number of tombs, it can be seen exemplified to its best advantage in its developing and developed form in certain tombs at Beni Hasan. In addition to identifying certain iconography as biographical. the intention is to justify this conclusion by examining the religious, social and historical conditions which brought this about and which eventually led to its discontinuation. In order to do this the following aspects are discussed:- 1. The nature of iconography, the nature and rules of narrative, which must be present in biographical matter, and the ability of iconography to comply with such rules. 2. The geographical and historical background to the existence of the tombs under discussion. 3. The development of Egyptian tomb art as bearing on the decorativ content of certain tombs and the canonical religious symbolism inherent in the murals both iconographic and hieroglyphic, in order to differentiate between this symbolism and the iconographic biography which it introduced. 4. The religious concepts applicable to funerary observances and tomb preperation at that time are investigated to endeavour to ascertain the extent of conformity with these concepts relative to the construction of the tombs under review. 5. The social conditions extant at the period in which the proposed biographical trend developed are examined with a view to their possible influence relative to that trend. 6. In the main the views and conclusions expressed in this dissertation have been reached by adhering to hermeneutic principles of interpretaion and comprhension.