Diamond motif was often used on the belts of Egyptian royal statuary, but their meaning and role have never been discussed in depth. This paper shows how this motif, originally used on Palace Façade, came to represent the king himself, how it is related to the goddess Nut, and how it is associated with rebirth and resurrection.

Ancient Egyptian kingship was closely associated with the moon god at the end of the 17th Dynasty and at the beginning of the 18th Dynasty. Despite its apparent minor position within the pantheon, kings and their descendants were named after the moon god. There emerged two lunar dynastic lines, Ahmoside and Thutmoside, identified with the two foremost lunar gods, Iah and Thoth. Under the reigns of these kings, Egypt had a period of prosperity and the moon god became a feature of Theban kingship, playing a prominent role in the development of the monarchy.

The article commences with a concise historical overview of New Kingdom kingship and its primary forms of display. Subsequently, it revisits Egyptological perspectives on kingship, challenging modern interpretations of textual and visual representations of New Kingdom kings as propaganda or means of legitimizing individual rulers. Drawing on Graeber and Sahlins’ theory of kingship, this approach endeavors to comprehend ancient Egyptian descriptions of kings within their cultural context. The designation of kings as gods was not a propagandistic tool or a strategy to consolidate royal authority; rather, it formed a mythologically grounded constituent of Egyptian kingship, aligning with universal anthropological principles. Within the ancient Egyptian worldview, the king represented the gods on earth, ensuring divine immanence like divine statues or sacred animals. Like the gods themselves, kings were perceived as both beneficent and awe-inspiring. So-called “historical” inscriptions and royal eulogies, predominantly developed within temple contexts, were not meant to boast about a king’s deeds or character, but vehiculated a repetitive narrative emphasizing the country’s permanence and norm conformity.

During Tutankhamun’s reign, the role of the king is subsumed. He may have been a symbolic centrality to Egypt, but in reality, he was a political puppet, probably due to his youth and forces beyond his control. Accordingly, Tutankhamun’s high officials were strongly expressed both in texts and images, which suggests that the high officials’ influence was, to some extent, unprecedented in Egyptian history. It is apparent that Tutankhamun’s government was controlled by a council of high officials who seized power behind the king. The most important men, such as Horemheb, Ay, and Maya, took on royal prerogatives expressed in texts and images. These suggest that the powers of the court officials seem to have increased during Tutankhamun’s reign, while the king was theoretically a symbolic centrality to Egypt.

This paper examines the characteristics of kingship during the Libyan Dynasty by analyzing the process through which Sheshonq I came to power. Firstly, we will review five sources related to Sheshonq B before Sheshonq I’s ascension to the throne and confirm that he was not involved in the military administration of Egypt as a general or commander. Next, we will consider a passage from the stela excavated at Abydos [Cairo JdE 66285] to examine Sheshonq B’s position in Egypt before his ascension to the throne. This analysis will clarify the characteristics of the kingship of the Libyan Dynasty.

The remarkable endurance of the Ptolemaic empire over nearly three centuries prompts inquiry into the dynamics of its governance and the peculiarities of its monarchy. This paper endeavors to shed light on the character of Ptolemaic kingship as perceived by the people of Egypt during the third century BC, a period marked by the empire’s zenith, through an examination of pertinent papyrological, epigraphic, and literary sources. Analysis of terminology within petitions, official documents wherein rural inhabitants sought redress from the king or local authorities for infringements upon their rights or properties, suggests that the kings were primarily seen as universal saviors and benefactors. This perception likely stemmed from the diverse composition of late third-century BC Egyptian society, particularly evident in communities like those within the Arsinoite nome, where inhabitants with various backgrounds lived side by side. The paramount responsibility of the king was seen as ensuring justice for all inhabitants within his realm, regardless of gender, age, occupation, or ethnic origin. Such commitments garnered widespread appreciation, leading to the characterization of the king as the common savior and benefactor.

The god Dumuzi in Sumerian mythology was a figure of worship and ritual for thousands of years. Since The Book of Ezekiel (8:14), Dumuzi has been referred to as Tammūz, and his festivals were still being celebrated with great pomp in the northern Syrian city of Ḥarrān, as well as in Lower Iraq well into the Islamic period. The Sumerian myth depicts the tale of Dumuzi, who is presented to the underworld in place of Inanna, the dead goddess of love and fertility. In the ancient Mesopotamian civilization, a ritual of weeping and lamenting the death of Dumuzi was annually held, which continued until the Islamic period. Although Dumuzi/Tammūz is considered a shepherd in ancient Mesopotamia, this weeping ritual has the characteristic of a harvest festival and is thought to be related to the fertility of the earth. The articles in Ibn al-Nadīm’s Kitāb al-Fihrist (completed in 987/8) and Ibn Waḥshīya’s al-Filāḥa al-Nabaṭīya (10^th century) show in detail the aspects of the Tammūz ritual during the Islamic period. According to the former article, the Tammūz ritual that was practiced in Harrān during the Islamic period was in a manner very similar to the Dumuzi ritual of the ancient Mesopotamian ritual commentary. However, the latter article indicates that the weeping ritual for Tammūz was given a new interpretation during the same period. That is, the form of the ritual itself, of “lamenting the death of Tammūz,” did not change, but Tammūz was martyred in the worship of stars, and it was mainly the idols of the seven planets around the world who lamented for him. In sum, one could argue that the weeping ritual dedicated to Dumuzi/Tammūz has survived until the Islamic period, as its ancient features were maintained and simultaneously reinterpreted over time.

This article examines the introduction of two specific types of medieval polychrome overglaze ceramic wares produced in Iran into the Japanese art market, primarily through the prism of publications and records of various exhibitions held in Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo in the years between 1924 and 1930. The rise in interest in this material in Europe and North America is far better known, but the early period in Japan has yet to be studied in detail. This article examines the phenomenon, and aims to integrate it into the wider global picture.