Execration Texts

Execration Texts

Execration texts, also referred to as Proscription Lists, [I. E. S. Edwards, N. G. L. Hammond, C. J. Gadd, "The Cambridge Ancient History", Cambridge University Press 1975, p.494] are ancient Egyptian hieratic texts, which contained the names of loathed people. These were most often enemies of the Egyptian state or troublesome foreign neighbors. [Geraldine Pinch, "Magic in Ancient Egypt", University of Texas Press 1995, pp.92f.] The texts were most often written upon statuettes of bound foreigners, bowls, or blocks of clay or stone, which were subsequently destroyed. The ceremonial process of breaking the names and burying them was intended to be a sort of sympathetic magic that would affect the persons or entities named in the texts. The fragments were usually placed near tombs or ritual sites. This practice was most common during times of conflict with the Asiatic neighbours of Egypt. [I. E. S. Edwards, N. G. L. Hammond, C. J. Gadd, "The Cambridge Ancient History", Cambridge University Press 1975, p.508]

The Execration texts are an important resource for researchers in the field of ancient Near Eastern history of the 20th-18th centuries BCE [Waldo Gifford Leland, "Studies in the History of Culture: The Disciplines of the Humanities", Ayer Publishing 1969, p.18] and Bible studies. The first Execration Texts were published by Kurt Sethe in 1926, Posener published some more in 1957. [ George Ernest Wright, "The Bible and the Ancient Near East: Essays in Honor of William Foxwell Albright", Doubleday 1961, p.304]

The technical death metal band Nile has released a song called [http://www.sigitas.com/artist_n/nile_lyrics/execration_text_lyrics.html Execration Text] on their album, "In Their Darkened Shrines" (2002), the lyrics of which are modelled on the ancient Egyptian texts.

Sources

*A History of Ancient Egypt by Nicolas Grimal (Blackwell Publishing)

References

ee also

*Curse tablet

External links

* [http://www.ancient-egypt.org/index.html Egyptian Execration Texts]


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