Society and Death in Ancient Egypt Mortuary Landscapes of the Middle Kingdom [Paperback]

Janet Richards considers social stratification in Middle Kingdom Egypt.Janet Richards considers social stratification in Middle Kingdom Egypt, exploring the assumption that a middle class arose during this period. By focusing on the entire range of mortuary behavior, she shows how Middle Kingdom Egyptian practices and landscapes relating to death reveal information about the living society.Janet Richards considers social stratification in Middle Kingdom Egypt, exploring the assumption that a middle class arose during this period. By focusing on the entire range of mortuary behavior, she shows how Middle Kingdom Egyptian practices and landscapes relating to death reveal information about the living society.In Society and Death in Ancient Egypt, Janet Richards considers social stratification in Middle Kingdom Egypt, taking as the point of departure the assumption that a 'middle class' arose during this period. By focusing on the entire range of mortuary behavior, rather than on elite remains, she shows how social and political processes can be reconstructed. Richards demonstrates that the roots of the middle class can be traced to the later Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period. Combining information from excavations, ancient Egyptian texts, and decorative reliefs and statuary, the book weaves together a wide variety of sources that aid us in understanding how Middle Kingdom Egyptians thought about society and death and how their practices and landscapes relating to death reveal information about the living society.Part I. The Study of Ancient Social Systems: 1. Social differentiation and the notion of 'class'; 2. Egyptian society through text and image; 3. Society, settlement, and votive behavior; Part II. Society and Death in Egypt: 4. People, death and the 'tomb problem' in Egypt; 5. Mortuary landscapes in the Middle Kingdom; 6. Burial at the center: Haraga and Riqqa; 7. Cemeteries past, present, and provincial: Abydos; Conclusion: The Egyptian Nile Valley lÎ