Eras Edition 10, November 2008 – http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/publications/eras
Jochem Kahl, Ra is my Lord: Searching for the Rise of the Sun God at
the Dawn of Egyptian History,
Wiesbaden, Otto Harrassowitz GmbH & Co. KG, 2007.
IBSN 9783447055406
This monograph is an attempt to define the role of the sun god Ra during the
Early Dynastic period. The author should be complemented on his compilation
of data concerning Ra during Dynasty II and Dynasty III. It is extremely useful
to see lists of both royal and non-royal personal names from the Early
Dynastic period being provided in the one book, as this is a somewhat rare
occurrence. What is not particularly useful are the efforts made by the author
to transpose the religious sensibilities and beliefs of the Old and Middle
Kingdoms onto the Early Dynastic period. While religious, social and political
developments which occurred during the Predynastic, Protodynastic and Early
Dynastic periods obviously formed the basis for later developments within
Egypt, this is not to say that every development during the Early Dynastic
period had a counterpart during the Old Kingdom. Some Early Dynastic
religious, social and political adaptations would have continued into the Old
Kingdom but a number would not. During the reign of each king, regardless of
whether they ruled Egypt during the Early Dynastic period or the Old
Kingdom, new circumstances would arise to which the court and the attendant
bureaucracy would have to adapt. Not every change would be successful and
not every development would be adhered to by the next king, let alone the
next dynasty.
A couple of examples can be taken from the monograph to illustrate this point.
The emphasis upon the possibility that Weneg was seen as the son of Ra
from Dynasty II onwards is problematic as all the literary evidence for Weneg
being a subordinate of Ra are taken from late Old Kingdom contexts. These
literary sources are from the Pyramid Texts and were recovered from the
pyramids of Pepy I