City of the Ram-Man : : The Story of Ancient Mendes / / Donald B. Redford.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Princeton University Press eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Redford, Donald B.,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2021]; ©2010
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (264 p.) :; 125 halftones. 70 line illus. 2 tables.

A richly illustrated history that sheds light on ancient Egypt across the millenniaIn this richly illustrated book, renowned archaeologist Donald Redford draws on the latest discoveries—including many of his own—to tell the story of the ancient Egyptian city of Mendes, home of the mysterious cult of the "fornicating ram who mounts the beauties." Excavation by Redford and his colleagues over the past two decades has cast a flood of light on this strange center of worship and political power located in the Nile Delta. A sweeping chronological account filled with photographs, drawings, and informative sidebars, City of the Ram-Man is the first history of Mendes written for general readers.Founded in the remote prehistoric past, inhabited continuously for 5,000 years, and abandoned only in the first-century BC, Mendes is a microcosm of ancient Egyptian history. City of the Ram-Man tells the city's full story—from its founding, through its development of a great society and its brief period as the capital of Egypt, up to its final decline. Central to the story is millennia of worship dedicated to the lascivious ram-god. The book describes the discoveries of the great temple of the ram and the "Mansion of the Rams," where the embalmed bodies of the avatars of the god were buried. It also discusses ancient Greek reports that these ram-gods occasionally ritually fornicated with women.Vividly written and informed throughout by Redford's intimate knowledge of the remains of Mendes, City of the Ram-Man is a unique account of a long-lost monument of Egyptian history, religion, and culture.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Sidebars -- Preface -- Introduction -- Abbreviations -- Chapter One The Beginnings -- Chapter Two The Advent of Horus -- Chapter Three In the Time of the Residence -- Chapter Four The Collapse -- Chapter Five The Mysterious Centuries: The Middle Kingdom -- Chapter Six Mendes under the Empire Pharaohs -- Chapter Seven The Great Chiefs of the Meshwesh -- Chapter Eight Egypt in the Time of Troubles -- Chapter Nine The Ram, Lord of Djedet -- Chapter Ten The Saite Revival -- Chapter Eleven Mendes, the Capital of Egypt -- Chapter Twelve The Great Disaster -- Chapter Thirteen Dusk and Darkness: The End of Mendes -- Notes to Chapters and Further Readings -- Index