Rogério Sousa – författare

Egyptian coffins stand out in museums’ collections for their lively and radiant appearance. As an involucre of the mummy, coffins played a key-role by protecting the body and at the same time, integrating the deceased in the afterlife. The paramount importance of these objects and their purpose is detected in the ways they changed through time. For more than three thousand years, coffins and tombs had been designed to assure in the most efficient way possible a successful outcome for the difficult transition to the afterlife. This book examines twelve non-royal tombs found relatively intact, from the plains of Saqqara to the sacred hills of Thebes. These almost undisturbed burial sites managed to escape ancient looters and became adventurous events of the Egyptian archaeology. These discoveries are described from the Mariette’s exploration of the Mastaba of Ti in Saqqara to Schiaparelli’s discovery of the Tomb of Kha and Merit in Deir el-Medina. Each one of these sites unveil before our eyes a time capsule, where coffins and tombs were designed together as part of a social, political, and religious order. From the Pre-dynastic times to the decline of the New Kingdom, this book explores each site revealing the interconnection between mummification practices, coffin decoration, burial equipment, tomb decoration and ritual landscapes. Through this analysis, the author aims to point out how the design of coffins changed through time in order to empower the deceased with different visions of immortality. By doing so, the study of coffins reveal a silent revolution which managed to open to the common men and women horizons of divinity previously reserved to the royal sphere. Coffins thus show us how identity was forged to create an immortal and divine self.

The Tomb of the Priests of Amun, also known as Bab el-Gasus, was uncovered in 1891 at Deir el-Bahari (Thebes). The site proved to be the largest undisturbed tomb ever found in Egypt, as there were found the intact burials of 153 individuals that lived under the 21st Dynasty (ca. 1069-945 BC). This outstanding find was subsequently divided in lots of antiquities and dispersed by 17 nations.This volume presents the first comprehensive publication of the Italian Lot, kept in the Egyptian Museum of Florence. Besides the formal description of the objects, a critical assessment of the collection is provided regarding the reconstruction of the burial assemblages, the reuse of the burial equipment and the art historical examination of coffin decoration.“Although aimed primarily at specialists, this is a splendid volume and will be easy to use by anyone having an interest in these objects.”-Lester L. Grabbe, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 44.5 (2020)

Previously unpublished, the Danish Lot of antiquities from the Tomb of the Priests of Amun (Bab el-Gasus) is thoroughly examined in this book. The in-depth analysis of the objects is followed by an assessment of how these objects were crafted, designed, used and recycled in the Theban necropolis, a procedure that not only reveals to be instrumental in the dating of the objects, as it sheds light into the extraordinary dynamics of funerary workshops during the 21st Dynasty. The volume also examines the arrival of the Lot and its reception in Denmark.