Egyptian seafaring in the second millennium BCE is examined in its social and economic aspects simultaneously, using an integrated approach relying on archaeological, iconographic, textual, and...Show moreEgyptian seafaring in the second millennium BCE is examined in its social and economic aspects simultaneously, using an integrated approach relying on archaeological, iconographic, textual, and ethnographic evidence. Geography and technology are considered, along with status, the Egyptian world view, and the regional power structure. Particular attention is given to trade and exchange and the role of institutions and individuals in society and the economy. Social organisation in the dangerous conditions of seafaring is essential to the discussion, as are the insights provided by the evidence into life at sea. Seafaring is shown to have depended upon hierarchical order and the cooperation of others. The high point of second millennium seafaring is characterised, together with the role of seafaring in the decline of the Bronze Age palace system. It is shown that travel and trade, along with subsistence, military, and diplomatic activities, ultimately transformed social, political, and economic power relationships in Egypt and the region.Show less
This research relates about the “woman at the window” in the Near Eastern art. The “woman at the window” is a notorious iconographic theme which depicts a woman looking frontally out of a window....Show moreThis research relates about the “woman at the window” in the Near Eastern art. The “woman at the window” is a notorious iconographic theme which depicts a woman looking frontally out of a window. This motif is best known from the carved ivory panels, mainly found in the Neo-Assyrian centres, dated to the second millennium B.C., but this theme also occurs in various other contexts and regions. This essay investigates the iconography of this “woman at the window” as she is depicted on various objects which functioned in diverse contexts and time periods. The main goals of this research are to sketch the variations in the iconography of the “woman at the window”, the geographical distribution of these images, the meaning of her imagery and the origins of this motif. The main focal point of this thesis is to investigate how and why the “woman at the window” iconography changed over time in various geographical regions.Show less
Among the earliest depictions of riders mounted astride horses in the Near East, and elsewhere, a collection of 3rd‐2nd millennium BC baked clay plaques from what is now Iraq are some of the most...Show moreAmong the earliest depictions of riders mounted astride horses in the Near East, and elsewhere, a collection of 3rd‐2nd millennium BC baked clay plaques from what is now Iraq are some of the most detailed, and as such, informative in regards to the early development of riding. The style of riding they depict, however, is neither representative of modern techniques nor that of the style of riding described in later ancient riding manuals. Analysis of these plaques by various specialists has led to a number of interpretive theories regarding this unusual riding posture. These theories have mainly focused on both cultural perspectives and traditional concepts which associate riding with a particular status, as well as on the physical challenges presented by this new form of equid. In this thesis I propose to re‐evaluate a sample of these plaques along with two of the leading interpretive models. These will then be weighed against data collected by means of an ethnographic research element wherein a variety of horseback riders have been interviewed in regards to the possibility and practicality of riding in the manner depicted on the plaques. Such an undertaking aims to offer new perspectives on older interpretive models and in so doing shed further light on the ongoing debate regarding the earliest developmental phases of horseback riding in the Near East.Show less
