Preview

Vestnik NSU. Series: History and Philology

Advanced search

Crop Failures in the Reign of Senusert I

https://doi.org/10.25205/1818-7919-2018-17-10-38-45

Abstract

Despite Senusret I’s fame as a great pharaoh, there is evidence of disastrous crop failures during his reign: the second letter of Heqanakht, the tomb biographies of the nomarch Ameny and overseer of priests Mentuhotep; probably “The Story of Sinuhe”, B 154-155, and some “year of death” in pReisner I. According to S. Hodjash and O. Berlev, the seven year famine which started in Year 24 made the king shift his heb-sed festival by one year. These data show that even under the greatest kings, Egyptians were allowed to publicly mention acute food shortages. Hence the absence of such mentions in the Old Kingdom and during dynasty XII after Senusret I’s reign testifies to relative prosperity, in comparison with which the crop failures of the XXII-XX centuries B. C. seemed enormously frequent and disastrous. The sources do not mention any extraordinary measures aimed at supplying food to the hungry by Senusret I’s central government. At the same time, however, he launched a large scale building program in almost all important temples, which is considered to have given him a reason to tighten control over the country. But could an objective of this program also be to persuade the gods to save Egypt from crop failures? In two compositions about the seven year famine, in the “Famine Stela” and the introduction to the “Book of the Temple”, it is deficient Nile floods that are said to have forced kings to swiftly increase royal favors to temples. J. F. Quack considers dating the “Book of the Temple” to the Middle Kingdom. Could it be the reign of Senusret I, with its series of crop failures and large scale building program in temples? His inscription on Elephantine mentions a god’s revelation to the king in a dream, which is also the key episode in the “Book of the Temple” and “Famine Stela”.

About the Author

A. E. Demidchik
Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University
Russian Federation


References

1. Берлев О. Д. Трудовое население Египта эпохи Среднего царства. М.: Наука, 1972. 366 с.

2. Берлев О. Д. Общественные отношения в Египте эпохи Среднего царства: Социальный слой «царских Hmww». М.: Наука, 1978. 366 с.

3. Головина В. А. Q_B: земельная аренда в Египте раннего Среднего царства // Вестн. древней истории. 1995. № 2. С. 4-27.

4. Демидчик А. Е. О начале каменного зодчества в древнеегипетских провинциальных храмах богов // Вестн. Новосиб. гос. ун-та. Серия: История, филология. 2017. Т. 16, вып. 10: Востоковедение. С. 9-15.

5. Демидчик А. Е. Древнеегипетский нувориш Хекаиб: надпись на стеле Британского музея № 1671 // Universum Humanitarium. 2017. № 1. C. 180-195.

6. Демидчик А. Е. Нижнеегипетский вариант сказания «Стелы голода»? // Aegyptiaca Rossica: сб. ст М.: Рус. фонд содействия образованию и науке, 2018. (Вып. 6). C. 105-112.

7. Коростовцев М. А. Религия древнего Египта. М.: ГРВЛ, 1976, 336 с.

8. Ладынин И. А. «Снова правит Египет!». СПб.: Изд-во РХГА, 2017, 332 с.

9. Матье М. Э. Хеб-сед (Из истории древнеегипетской религии) // Матье М. Э. Избр. тр. по мифологии и идеологии древнего Египта. М.: Вост. лит., 1996. С. 106-134

10. Allen T. J. The Heqanakht Papyri. N. Y.: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2002. 297 p., 57 pl

11. Androm F. Die Lehre des Amenemhet. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2006. 99 S

12. Anthes R. Die Felseninschriften von Hatnub nach den Aufnahmen G. Möllers. Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1928.

13. Barbotin Chr., Clère J.-J. L’Inscription de Sésostris Ier à Tôd // Bulletin de l’Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale. 1992. T. 91. P. 1-33. Pl. 1-31

14. Daressy G. Inscriptions hiéroglyphiques trouvées dans le Caire // Annales du Service des antiquities de l’Égypte. 1903. T. 4. P. 101-109

15. Dohrmann K. Das Sedfest-Ritual Sesostris’ I. - Kontext und Semantik des Dekorationsprogramms der Lischter Sitzstatuen // L’Acqua nell’antico Egitto. Vita, rigenerazione, incantesimo, medicamento. Roma: L'Erma di Bretschneider, 2005. P. 299-308

16. Franke D. William Kelli Simpson, Personnel Accounts of the Early Twelfth Dynasty: Papyrus Reisner IV…. Boston, ١٩٨٦ // Bibliotheca Orientalis. ١٩٨٨. Bd. 45. S. 98-102

17. Franke D. Sesostris I., “König der beiden Länder” und Demiurg in Elephantine // Studies in Honor of W. K. Simpson / Ed. by P. der Manuelian. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1996. Vol. I. P. 275-295

18. Goedicke H. Studies in the Hekanakhte Papers. Baltimore: Halgo, Inc., 1984.

19. Gomaà F. Die Besiedlung Ägyptens wahrend des Mittleren Reiches. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 1986. Bd. I. 464 S.

20. Habachi L. Building Activities of Sesostris I in the Area to the South of Thebes // MDAIK. 1975. Bd. 31/1. S. 27-37

21. Hirsch E. Kultpolitik und Tempelbauprogramme der 12. Dynastie. Berlin: Achet Verlag; Dr. Norbert Dürring Verlag, 2004. 438 S., 8 Karten, 18 Tf.

22. Hodjash S., Berlev O. An Early Dynasty XII Offering Service from Meir // Warsaw Egyptological Studies I. Warsaw: National Museum in Warsaw; “Pro-Egypt”, 1997. P. 283-290, pl. LIV-LVI.

23. Kaiser W., Dreyer G., Jaritz H., et al. Stadt und Tempel von Elephantine. ١٣/١٤ Grabungsbericht // MDAIK. 1987. Bd. 43. S. 75-114, Tf. 6-17

24. Kaiser W., Andraschko F., Bommas M., et. al. Stadt und Tempel von Elephantine. ٢٣./٢٤. Grabungsbericht // MDAIK. 1997. Bd. 53. S. 118-193, Tf. 14-29

25. Koch R. Die Erzählung des Sinuhe. Buxelles: Fondation Égyptologique Reine Élisabeth, 1990. 81 double S

26. Newberry P. E. Beni Hasan. Pt. 1. L.: Egypt Exploration Fund, [1894]. 88 p., 47 pl

27. Schenkel W. Die Bauinschrift Sesostris' I. im Satet-Tempel von Elephantine // MDAIK. 1975. Bd. 31. S. 109-125, Tf. 33-39

28. Simpson W. K. Papyrus Reisner I: The Records of a Building Project in the Reign of Sesostris I. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1963. 142 pp., 31 pl., frontispiece, 1 diagram

29. Simpson W. K. The Steward Iey's son Anhurhotpe in Vienna (Stela Inv. 90) and the Reisner Papyri // Studien zur altägyptischen Kultur. 1984. Bd. 11. S. 157-164

30. Stewart H. M. Egyptian Stelae, Reliefs and Paintings from the Petrie Collection. Warminster: Aris &Phillips, 1979.

31. Vandier J. La famine dans l’Égypte ancienne. Le Caire: Imprimerie de l’Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, 1936. XV.


Review

For citations:


Demidchik A.E. Crop Failures in the Reign of Senusert I. Vestnik NSU. Series: History and Philology. 2018;17(10):38-45. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.25205/1818-7919-2018-17-10-38-45

Views: 722


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.


ISSN 1818-7919 (Print)