Papers on Urban Society in Ancient Egypt by Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia
NEWS by Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia
VIDEOS WITH INTERVIEWS by Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia
LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reBiEQyiLgM
LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aUO01EIAfo
LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_bljQp0BfY
RESEARCH SEMINAR by Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia
This seminar intends to analyze the organization, dynamics, and diverse manifestations of the Pha... more This seminar intends to analyze the organization, dynamics, and diverse manifestations of the Pharaonic state during the first centuries of its existence. Each session (2 hours) will be devoted to a particular topic, from territorial organization to the cultural expressions of power, from urbanism to commercial exchanges. We also intend to emphasize comparative research about early statehood, in particular from regions, periods, and perspectives far away from the ancient Near East: pre-colonial Africa, ancient America, or early medieval Europe. Recent conceptual tools as well as research discussions in archaeology, anthropology, history, and sociology will help open new perspectives of research about the emergence and particularities of the state in early Egypt.
First session: Friday 17th November 2023 (12:00) at the École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE, IVe section), Paris (salle Gaston Paris).
LIST OF PUBLICATIONS by Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia
SERIES EDITOR by Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia
https://brill.com/view/journals/jeh/jeh-overview.xml
The Journal of Egyptian History aims to enco... more https://brill.com/view/journals/jeh/jeh-overview.xml
The Journal of Egyptian History aims to encourage and stimulate a focused debate on writing and interpreting Egyptian history ranging from the Neolithic foundations of Ancient Egypt to its modern reception. It covers all aspects of Ancient Egyptian history (political, social, economic, and intellectual) and of modern historiography about Ancient Egypt (methodologies, hermeneutics, interplay between historiography and other disciplines, and history of modern Egyptological historiography).
The journal is open to contributions in English, German, and French.
AIMS: The main goal of the series is to generate an impulse toward a more structured comparativ... more AIMS: The main goal of the series is to generate an impulse toward a more structured comparative approach in the study of the ancient world. Also to help integrating the extraordinary wealth of data from ancient societies (and Egypt in particular) into current general discussions in social sciences about topics such as statehood, economic impact on social change, international relations, building of social hierarchies, dynamics of politics and power, etc. Finally, to promote comparative research between specific and well-defined case studies, either regional (i.e., ancient Egypt and China, ancient Near East and Mesoamerica) or thematic/conceptual. Dialogue and integration are the key words of the series. Another goal is to introduce fresh theoretical approaches and innovative methodology in ancient society studies; Finally, to contribute to and to improve discussions on key topics in social sciences thanks to the extraordinary potential for comparative approach provided by ancient societies (and pharaonic Egypt in particular), as well as to a careful selection of breakthrough innovative topics. DISCIPLINES TARGETED: Archaeology, ancient history, anthropology, social sciences (economy, sociology, political sciences, cultural studies, post-colonial studies, etc.) and art history, with a special focus on Ancient Egypt. WHY: The study of ancient societies often suffers from excessive disciplinary division and isolation, as well as from a lack of solid theoretical, comparative and methodological approaches. Recently, an increasing development of comparative research in archaeology, history and social sciences, as well as the emergence of sophisticated theoretical approaches, are leading toward a complete renewal of the analysis of ancient states and societies based on interdisciplinary perspectives. Multidisciplinary approaches in the study of the past are too often attached to specific case studies. So, the elaboration of models, concepts and social theory inspired by ancient societies (particularly from the ancient Near East), capable to influence current discussions in social sciences, still remains modest. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SERIES: small books of around 150-200 pages (including references and index);
The main aim of the series is to promote Egyptology beyond the inner circle of Egyptologists and ... more The main aim of the series is to promote Egyptology beyond the inner circle of Egyptologists and demonstrate to the broader humanities research community the potential offered by Egyptology for approaching ancient cultures, above all in generating models and theories. A central objective is to move away from the current predominance of text-based approaches in reconstructing ancient Egypt towards a more fluid combination of archaeology, history, and anthropology. Secondary objectives are: to promote a. geographical comparativism with adjacent cultural and geographical regions, particularly of north-west Africa (Libya, Berber areas), Nubia (Sudan), the Near East, Arabia and the eastern Mediterranean; b. comparative analysis with cultures more distant in time and space, such as China, Mesoamerica and modern/contemporary societies, in order to generate social and historical methods with great theoretical impact, and potential for cross-regional application; c. incorporate interdisciplinary studies drawing on areas of cognate study, such as anthropology, sociology, archaeometry, economics and geography, that have only rarely been applied to Egyptological source material, also inviting scholars outside the inner circle of Egyptology to contribute their perspectives and approaches.
Papers (General) by Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia
It is usual to interpret pharaonic Egypt as the most achieved example of an ancient centralized b... more It is usual to interpret pharaonic Egypt as the most achieved example of an ancient centralized bureaucratic state, ruled by an absolutist monarch helped by an army of scribes and dignitaries that executed his orders meticulously. However, this is the idealized image conveyed by the official sources, which emphasized the central role of the pharaoh and the perfection of the administrative organization under his command. In reality, things were quite different and written and archaeological evidence help balance such impression. Egypt was a patchwork of regions and potential power centers that required considerable ability to keep together. This means that kings should negotiate with the powerful families that ruled such regions, respect their interests and build alliances trough marriages, promotions and rewards. If kings failed to achieve these goals, secession followed and the monarchy collapsed, replaced by regional polities fighting for supremacy. This means that the kings’ capacity to build an efficient tax system and collect wealth depended on their success to curb down the ambitions of provincial leaders and avoid that the latter retained too much resources in their hands. As a consequence, politics played an important role in the organization of power, a role usually concealed behind the topos of the absolutist pharaoh, but which emerged nevertheless in the form of palatial conspiracies, factional fighting, removal of dignitaries and appointment of local officials to high positions in the central administration. Politics, negotiation and reconciliation of diverging interests were thus crucial for the stability of the kingdom.
In: Carlo Ruta (ed.), La guerra nella storia. La generazione del conflitto lungo le epoche e i percorsi delle razionalità (Laboratorio degli Annali di storia, 4° Convegno internazionale di studi), Edizioni di storia, Ragusa, 2024, pp. 103-121.
In: K. Cooney, A. Devillers (eds.), Ancient Egyptian Art Studies: Art in Motion, A Social Tool of... more In: K. Cooney, A. Devillers (eds.), Ancient Egyptian Art Studies: Art in Motion, A Social Tool of Power and Resistance (Arts Journal 13[5], Special Issue), Bassel, MDPI, 2024.
Link: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/13/5/157
In: J. C. Moreno García (ed.), From House Societies to States: Early Political Organization, from... more In: J. C. Moreno García (ed.), From House Societies to States: Early Political Organization, from Antiquity to the Middle Ages (Multidisciplinary Approaches to Ancient Societies [MatAS], vol. 3), Oxford, Oxbow Books, 2022, pp. 80-122.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license.
In: R. Lemos, F. Brizzo & M. T. David João (eds.), A Antiguidade do Nordeste Africano/North-East ... more In: R. Lemos, F. Brizzo & M. T. David João (eds.), A Antiguidade do Nordeste Africano/North-East Africa in Antiquity (Journal « Mare Nostrum », 13.1), Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, 2022, p. 1-28.
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Papers on Urban Society in Ancient Egypt by Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia
NEWS by Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia
VIDEOS WITH INTERVIEWS by Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia
RESEARCH SEMINAR by Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia
First session: Friday 17th November 2023 (12:00) at the École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE, IVe section), Paris (salle Gaston Paris).
LIST OF PUBLICATIONS by Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia
SERIES EDITOR by Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia
The Journal of Egyptian History aims to encourage and stimulate a focused debate on writing and interpreting Egyptian history ranging from the Neolithic foundations of Ancient Egypt to its modern reception. It covers all aspects of Ancient Egyptian history (political, social, economic, and intellectual) and of modern historiography about Ancient Egypt (methodologies, hermeneutics, interplay between historiography and other disciplines, and history of modern Egyptological historiography).
The journal is open to contributions in English, German, and French.
Papers (General) by Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia
Link: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/13/5/157
First session: Friday 17th November 2023 (12:00) at the École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE, IVe section), Paris (salle Gaston Paris).
The Journal of Egyptian History aims to encourage and stimulate a focused debate on writing and interpreting Egyptian history ranging from the Neolithic foundations of Ancient Egypt to its modern reception. It covers all aspects of Ancient Egyptian history (political, social, economic, and intellectual) and of modern historiography about Ancient Egypt (methodologies, hermeneutics, interplay between historiography and other disciplines, and history of modern Egyptological historiography).
The journal is open to contributions in English, German, and French.
Link: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/13/5/157
(NORMAN YOFFEE, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and Near Eastern Studies, University of Michigan, USA): "In his wide-ranging and learned research, Moreno García interrogates and rejects the "anomalous" status of ancient Egypt. Let new comparative studies continue"
(J. G. MANNING, Professor of History and Classics, Yale University, USA): "A must read for all social sience and comparative historians but also for those geneeral readers interested in the latest analysis of Egyptian history"
ABSTRACT: This book presents a new analysis of the organization, structure and changes of the pharaonic state through three millennia of its history. Moreno García sheds new light on this topic by bringing to bear recent developments in state theory and archaeology, especially comparative study of the structure of ancient states and empires. The role played by pharaonic Egypt in new studies often reiterates old views about the stability, conservatism and "exceptionalism" of Egyptian kingship, which supposedly remained the same across the Bronze and Iron Ages.
Ancient Egypt shared many parallels with other Bronze and Iron Age societies as can be shown by an analysis of the structure of the state, of the limits of royal power, of the authority of local but neglected micro-powers (such as provincial potentates and wealthy non-elite), and of the circulation and control of wealth. Furthermore, Egypt experienced deep changes in its social, economic, political and territorial organization during its history, thus making the land of the pharaohs an ideal arena in which to test applications of models of government and to define the dynamics that rule societies on the longue durée. When seen through these new perspectives, the pharaonic monarchies appear less exceptional than previously thought, and more dependent on the balance of power, on their capacity to control the kingdom's resources and on the changing geopolitical conditions of their time.
- Juan Carlos Moreno García, "L'organisation sociale de l'agriculture pharaonique. Quelques cas d'étude", pages 39-74
- Damien Agut-Labordère, "L'or et l'argent. Les usages monétaires à 'Ayn Manâwir à l'époque perse", pages 75-90
- Gilles Gorre, "La monnaie de bronze lagide et les temples égyptiens. La diffusion de la monnaie de bronze en Thébaïde au IIIe siècle av. J.-C.", pages 91-113
Juan Carlos Moreno García: “The study of ancient Egyptian administration”
Eva-Maria Engel: “The organization of a nascent state : Egypt until the beginning of the 4th Dynasty”
Hratch Papazian: “The central administration of the resources in the Old Kingdom: departments, treasures, granaries and work centres”
Juan Carlos Moreno García: “The territorial administration of the kingdom in the 3rd millennium”
Miroslav Bárta: “Kings, viziers and courtiers: executive power in the third millennium BC”
Hana Vymazalová: “The administration of the funerary royal complexes”
Laure Pantalacci: “Balat, a frontier town and its archive”
Wolfram Grajetzki: “Setting a state anew: the central administration from the end of the Old Kingdom to the end of the Middle Kingdom”
Pascal Vernus: “The royal command (wd-nsw): a basic deed of executive power ”
Harco Willems: “Nomarchs and local potentates: the provincial administration in the Middle Kingdom”
Anthony Spalinger: “The organisation of the Pharaonic army (Old to New Kingdom) ”
Katalin Anna Kóthay: “Categorisation, classification, and social reality: administrative control and interaction with the population”
J.J. Shirley: “Crisis and restructuring of the state: from the end of the Middle Kingdom to the advent of the Ramesses”
Ben J.J. Haring: “The raising power of the House of Amun in the New Kingdom”
Andrea Gnirs: “Coping with the army: the military and the state in the New Kingdom”
Sally Katary: “The administration of institutional agriculture in the New Kingdom”
John Coleman Darnell: “A bureaucratic challenge? Archaeology and administration in a desert environment (second millennium BCE)”
Pierre Grandet: “The Ramesside state”
David Klotz: “Administration of the deserts and oases: first millennium BCE”
Robert Morkot: “From conquered to conqueror: the organization of Nubia in the New Kingdom and the Kushite administration of Egypt”
Damien Agut-Labordère: “The Saite period: the emergence of a Mediterranean power”
Juan Carlos Moreno García: “The ‘other’ administration: patronage, factions and informal networks of power in ancient Egypt”
The conference has two main ambitions:
- [SECTION I] to define the profile of ancient Egyptian craftsmen though words (section I.A), images (section I.B) and artefacts (section I.C). The aim is not to identify WHO were the artists (searching specifically for the names of craftsmen) but WHAT made someone a craftsman in Middle Kingdom Egypt; skills, technical choice, social profile, including the dimensions of age and gender. Self-cognition though written and visual analysis needs to be integrated and calibrated through the visible signs left on the materiality of artefacts (section I.C).
- [SECTION II] to trace possible modes of circulation of ideas among craftsmen in production (apprentissage, transfer of knowledge, development of combined skills, role of children in material production and social constraints). The aim is to explore, though the archaeological evidence, the social and technological relations generated inside production places, exchange of ideas, materials, and skills between craftsmen.
The conference thus aims to bring Egyptology inside the different research environments of history, archaeometry, anthropology, and sociology, in order to introduce a comparative dimension from better documented spatio-temporal contexts. The aim is not to provide ethno-archaeological explanations but to create mental analogy-bridges, to switch our way of thinking, moving from Europe to Egypt and the Near East. The role of invited specialists from fields other than Egyptology will thus be: a) to provide a general synthesis deriving from their disciplines, which could be digested and developed further by Egyptologists; b) to lead the debate in order to move from classical Egyptological approach towards new perspectives and horizons.
The overall goals of the conference are to supply robust scientific evidence for a wide-ranging vocabulary in use today for material production (like “artist”, “workmen”, “workshop”, “apprentissage”, etc.), and to propose new (and multiple) theoretical models in order to re-think the mechanisms of material production in the “broad” Egyptian Middle Kingdom (2000-1550 BC). The conference will thereby serve as a forum for discussion and engagement with new concepts and as a starting base for writing a history from below.