Les enfants du kap et les nourrices. Ousersatet, Qenamon et Kaemamon : une famille de la 18e dynastie reconstituée ?

At the end of the Eighteenth and beginning of the Nineteenth Dynasty, several attestations of women named Tachat with the title wr.t ḫnr n jmn are possible to observe. These women all had a family background associated with service in the temple, mainly with the cult of Amun. This article brings these women together, and shows that the line of holders of this post in the Amun temple could imply the continuation of possible family ties among these female temple personnel. The family tree covers a rather long period of time for the women in question, who held this post in the cult of Amun even during the Amarna Period, demonstrating that some officials in Thebes were able to worship Amun even during the Amarna Period.

Unlike the First and Second Intermediate periods, the Middle Kingdom (2055– 1650 BC) formed a political unity, the core of which comprised two political phases: the 12th Dynasty ruling from the Upper Egyptian city of Thebes, and the 12th Dynasty centred in the region of Lisht in the Faiyum. Earlier historians considered that the 11th and 12th Dynasties marked the full extent of the Middle Kingdom, but more recent scholarship shows clearly that at least the first half of the so-called 13th Dynasty (which apparently bears no resemblance to a proper political dynasty) belongs unequivocally to the Middle Kingdom. There was no shift of the location of the capital or royal residence, little diminution in the activities of the government, and no decline in the arts of the time—indeed, some of the finest works of Middle Kingdom art and literature date from the 13th Dynasty. There was, however, a decline in large-scale monumental building, a significant indication that the 13th Dynasty was neither as strong nor as inspired by the grandiose ideas that marked the reigns of the later 12th Dynasty rulers. Doubtless, this phenomenon was due to the brevity of reigns for the majority of 13th Dynasty kings, although the reasons for such changes in the political picture are as yet unknown.

In Roman society, parents often entrusted their newborn to a wet nurse, usually a slave or a lower‐class freeborn woman, who normally lived with them. It was advised to choose with care the right person, as milk is not a neutral bodily substance but transmits many properties, physical and moral. Soranus devotes an entire chapter to the meticulous inspection of the nurse's milk and temper. The nurse's character must be checked as thoroughly as her physical health. The mind of the newborn, compared with wax, is from the start and forever impressed positively or negatively. Mnesitheus and others even advise choosing a woman resembling physically the mother, or a handsome person; Favorinus and others reject violently the recourse to wet nursing as immoral; submitting the child to the pernicious influence of a foreign non‐kin person implies the destruction of family ties. Wet nurses had to follow a specific diet and to accept giving up their sexual life, which would corrupt the milk in case of a new pregnancy. Roman upper‐class families attributed different qualities to nurses according to their ethnic origin: Egyptians were allegedly fond of children, Thracians robust and devoted, Spartans tough. The best were the Greeks, because they would teach Greek language – and culture – to their nurslings. The nurse's social function was extensive. Her role did not stop at the weaning period. Much evidence shows that she was a lifelong companion. In positive circumstances, she could construct non‐kin relationships and became, through connections not of blood but of milk, a member of an extended family. Funerary inscriptions and literary sources show that some nurses were rewarded by freedom. Breast‐feeding also created milk‐ties between the nurslings, who could gain social elevation thanks to this bonding.

The time between the Middle and the New Kingdoms is less well-defined than the preceding and succeeding periods of ancient Egypt in terms of its political, administrative, and economic structure. After the decline of the Middle Kingdom central state, the so-called Second Intermediate Period is characterized by a parceling of Egypt’s territory into a number of local or regional centers of power. This decentralization also resulted in an apparent reduction of textual and other sources. The chapter focuses on political and historical developments during the later phase of the Second Intermediate Period, corresponding to the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Dynasties (ca. 1650–1550 BC) of Upper Egypt, namely the southern region between Abydos and Aswan. The chapter includes a reconstruction of the sequence of rulers of the Seventeenth Dynasty, as this forms an essential prerequisite for the interpretation of the historical developments immediately preceding the New Kingdom. King and court did not rule over their territory from one permanent royal residence, but rather from temporarily occupied “palaces” constructed for that purpose throughout the country; military personnel seemingly gained importance in the state organization toward the end of the Second Intermediate Period. The emergence of the New Kingdom is marked by the military actions of the Upper Egyptian rulers against their adversaries in the north, the “Hyksos.” The chapter argues that these actions did not represent a “war of liberation” against oppressive foreign rule, but instead a vigorous territorial expansion of the southern polity.

This chapter describes the development of the administration by means of an examination of three different, yet deeply interconnected spheres of the state's principal sectors: king and kingship, viziers and the top central administration, and courtiers and administrators of lower rank. Given the fact that Egypt was for most of her existence dominated by a rural infrastructure, with only a few full-fledged cities and centers of administration, the analyses of the institution of kingship and of the central administration of the royal Residence represent basic elements that enable better understanding of the evolution of the state and its administration. The third millennium executive system developed in four general stages: Stage 1 (First Third Dynasties), Stage 2 (Fourth Dynasty), Stage 3 (Fifth Dynasty, down to the reign of Nyuserra), and Stage 4 (reign of Nyuserra to the end of the Sixth Dynasty). Keywords:central administration; courtiers; Egypt; kings; third millennium B.C.; viziers

This article explores different roles and aspects of women in Amarna during a period of changing and revolutionary religious ideas. Starting with the royal women (especially Tiye and Nefertiti), it is made clear that their role should be seen as continuation of and being inspired by the prominent position of queens of the late 17th and early 18th dynasty. Female power during the Amarna Period was prepared by Tiye who was already relevant for the reinterpretation of the state religion towards the sun cult under her husband Amenhotep III. The culmination of female royal power in Amarna is to be seen in Nefertiti who was part of the divine triad formed by the god Aten, king Akhenaten and herself representing her extraordinary religious position which partly overlapped with the one of the king as evidenced in the smiting of the enemy scenes. The unusual roles of the royal icons overshadowed the focus on the real women of Amarna. More is known about royal wet nurses and nurses, but even the shattered evidence of the lower elite (tomb scenes) or traces of the non-elite (burials, items of private religion or skeletal remains) enable us finally to meet eye-to-eye with women in Amarna.