Marc Orriols-Llonch | Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (original) (raw)
Papers by Marc Orriols-Llonch
Fernández Pichel, A.I. (ed.), How Pharaohs become Media Stars: Ancient Egypt and Popular Culture (Archaeopress Egyptology 48), Oxford: Archaeopress, 2023
La mujer en el antiguo Egipto, 2023
Noria-Serrano, B. (ed.). Dinámicas sociales y roles entre mujeres. Percepciones en grupos de parentesco y espacios domésticos en el Oriente antiguo, Oxford: Archaepress, 2023
Questioning prostitution in ancient Egypt. Traditionally, Egyptology has accepted and continues ... more Questioning prostitution in ancient Egypt.
Traditionally, Egyptology has accepted and continues to accept the existence of prostitution in ancient Egypt, but there is no exhaustive study on it. Moreover, the main Egyptological dictionaries record various terms that translate as 'prostitute'. The intention of this work is to assess whether prostitution really existed in Nilotic land, or at least, to ascertain whether or not there is evidence of its existence. First, it will proceed to analyse all the terms that dictionaries translate as 'prostitute' and their contexts, in order to see if the two essential elements appear in order to be able to speak of prostitution: sexual intercourse and payment for it. The aim is to re-evaluate the terminology in order to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to consider that this lexicon refers to prostitutes or not. On the other hand, some images of female musicians depicted practically naked and adorned, some of them, with a tattoo of the god Bes will be analysed. These women have been associated, with very few foundations, with prostitution. The conclusion of this study is clear: with the surviving documentation, it is not possible to speak on prostitution in ancient Egypt until the arrival of the Greeks, so its existence cannot be assured.
Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde , 2021
In the tale of Two Brothers, when Bata tells his brother Inpu the whole truth about what happened... more In the tale of Two Brothers, when Bata tells his brother Inpu the whole truth about what happened with his wife, he insults her by calling her kȝt tȝḥwt, a hapax that has been interpreted in many ways. F. Servajean has proposed to translate the expression by vagin perturbé and associates this “perturbation” with menstruation. The translation is totally adequate, but, given the context in which it is found, it does not seem right to associate it with menstruation. Bata insults his brother's wife because she has tried to be unfaithful, so it seems more consistent that the “perturbation” of the vagina is due to an act of adultery rather than the woman’s menstruation.
Trabajos de Egiptología. Papers on Ancient Egypt, 2020
One of the most important myths of the Ancient Egypt civilization is Osiris’ cyclical myth. Even ... more One of the most important myths of the Ancient Egypt civilization is Osiris’ cyclical myth. Even though not enough attention has been given to it, one of the most important mythemes is the sexual act between the god and Isis. This sexual act establishes two pillars of the monarchy in Ancient Egypt: the conception and the subsequent birth of Horus (the archetype of the earthly Egyptian king) and Osiris’ (re)birth (king of the Underworld and archetype of the dead). Regardless of the great importance of this sexual act, the sources that relate to it are scarce. On a textual level, the intercourse between both divinities has been documented since the Pyramid Texts until the end of the Pharaonic Period. However, it appears narrated on very few occasions with verbs carrying explicit sexual meaning. Only the context allows one to see that the protagonists are having sexual relations. Since Osiris is dead, Isis is the obvious agent of the action, an exception that makes the goddess different from the rest of her peers. Regarding iconography, only three images have been documented in the Dynastic Period: one in the Middle Kingdom and two in the New Kingdom. In all of them the image is the same, the anthropomorphic Osiris, lies in his funerary bed while Isis, in the shape of a bird of prey, copulates with him.
Archéo-Nil , 2020
The functionality of the so-called tusks has been quite controversial among the artefacts from th... more The functionality of the so-called tusks has been quite controversial among the artefacts from the Predynastic period. Based on the classification work of S. Hendrickx and M. Eyckerman, I will try to demonstrate how different types A.5 and A.6 are from other tusks through the analysis of their form and ethnographic comparison. The thesis defended in this paper is that this kind of object would be a model of penis sheath, a “clothing” item related to hunting since Prehistory.
Burgos Bernal, L.; Pérez Largacha, A.; Vivas Sainz, I. (eds.), Actas V Congreso Ibérico de Egiptología. Cuenca, 9-12 de marzo de 2015, Cuenca: Ediciones de la Universidad de Castilla la Mancha, 2017
One of the artefacts from the Predynastic period of which its functionality has been much controv... more One of the artefacts from the Predynastic period of which its functionality has been much controversial are the so-called tusks. On the basis of the classification works of those objects done by S. Hendrickx and M. Eyckerman, the current paper will only take into account their typologies A.5 and A.6 as they are considered a whole group different from the other ones. From its basic shape, a tubular object with a loop on the top and a protruding on the bottom, and through ethnographic comparison, this paper will demonstrate that this object is, in fact, a penis sheath, a typical «clothing» of hunting cultures since Prehistory.
Antela-Bernárdez, B., Zaragozà Serrano, C. y Guimerà Martínez, A. (ed.), Placer y dolor. Las mujeres en la Antigüedad, Alcalá de Henares, 2017
Los textos literarios del antiguo Egipto eran una prerrogativa masculina. Se trata de documentos ... more Los textos literarios del antiguo Egipto eran una prerrogativa masculina. Se trata de documentos hechos por hombres y para hombres, en los que la mujer es presentada como pasiva. Sin embargo, tanto las enseñanzas como los cuentos, ambos con finalidad pedagógica, muestran de manera indirecta el ideario conductual que toda buena mujer egipcia debía seguir. Así pues, a partir de un análisis minucioso de ellos pueden extraerse las normas de comportamiento, evidentemente establecidas por los hombres, que debían seguir las mujeres. El resultado se aplicará a los textos funcionales, aquellos relativos al día a día, para comprobar si realmente las mujeres seguían las normas establecidas o bien las transgredían.
Información del artículo La presa de Kaffara en el valle del Nilo, aproximación al origen de la i... more Información del artículo La presa de Kaffara en el valle del Nilo, aproximación al origen de la ingeniería hidráulica.
Lectora. Revista de Dones i Textualitat , 2012
Ideal Woman, Offensive Woman. Female Transgression in Ancient Egypt. The Ancient Egyptian lite... more Ideal Woman, Offensive Woman. Female Transgression in Ancient Egypt.
The Ancient Egyptian literary texts were a male prerogative. These were documents not only written by men but also written for men. In them we find women appearing as a passive figure. However, teachings and tales, both for pedagogical purposes, show indirectly the correct manners in which all good Egyptian women had to behave. So, from a thorough analysis of these texts we can draw out the behaviour rules for the women, obviously established by men. The result is applied to non-literary texts to confirm whether Egyptian women really followed the stated rules or on the contrary transgressed them.
Trabajos de Egiptología. Papers on Ancient Egypt, 2009
Erotic lexicon and iconography in Ancient Egypt. Coitus a tergo. The analysis of Egyptian vocabu... more Erotic lexicon and iconography in Ancient Egypt. Coitus a tergo.
The analysis of Egyptian vocabulary concerning copulation reveals an superfluity of words in contrast to their scant usage. From this, we may deduce that some words could have had semantic connotations not expressed in our languages, alluding, for example, to position during sexual intercourse. This is the case with verbs like ‘mq and p3y, which clearly refer to the coitus a tergo in passages which have been analyzed, or nk and nhp, which may make such reference. In iconography, even though coitus a tergo was the position most often portrayed, we must eliminate the possibility, by ethnographic comparison, that this was actually the position most used. Thus, we may interpret the documented images as some kind of cultural code, whether as satiric representations (humiliation of the copulated person or nkkw) or as every-day representations (“sexual fantasies” of Egyptian men, who probably drew these images).
Fernández Pichel, A.I. (ed.), How Pharaohs become Media Stars: Ancient Egypt and Popular Culture (Archaeopress Egyptology 48), Oxford: Archaeopress, 2023
La mujer en el antiguo Egipto, 2023
Noria-Serrano, B. (ed.). Dinámicas sociales y roles entre mujeres. Percepciones en grupos de parentesco y espacios domésticos en el Oriente antiguo, Oxford: Archaepress, 2023
Questioning prostitution in ancient Egypt. Traditionally, Egyptology has accepted and continues ... more Questioning prostitution in ancient Egypt.
Traditionally, Egyptology has accepted and continues to accept the existence of prostitution in ancient Egypt, but there is no exhaustive study on it. Moreover, the main Egyptological dictionaries record various terms that translate as 'prostitute'. The intention of this work is to assess whether prostitution really existed in Nilotic land, or at least, to ascertain whether or not there is evidence of its existence. First, it will proceed to analyse all the terms that dictionaries translate as 'prostitute' and their contexts, in order to see if the two essential elements appear in order to be able to speak of prostitution: sexual intercourse and payment for it. The aim is to re-evaluate the terminology in order to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to consider that this lexicon refers to prostitutes or not. On the other hand, some images of female musicians depicted practically naked and adorned, some of them, with a tattoo of the god Bes will be analysed. These women have been associated, with very few foundations, with prostitution. The conclusion of this study is clear: with the surviving documentation, it is not possible to speak on prostitution in ancient Egypt until the arrival of the Greeks, so its existence cannot be assured.
Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde , 2021
In the tale of Two Brothers, when Bata tells his brother Inpu the whole truth about what happened... more In the tale of Two Brothers, when Bata tells his brother Inpu the whole truth about what happened with his wife, he insults her by calling her kȝt tȝḥwt, a hapax that has been interpreted in many ways. F. Servajean has proposed to translate the expression by vagin perturbé and associates this “perturbation” with menstruation. The translation is totally adequate, but, given the context in which it is found, it does not seem right to associate it with menstruation. Bata insults his brother's wife because she has tried to be unfaithful, so it seems more consistent that the “perturbation” of the vagina is due to an act of adultery rather than the woman’s menstruation.
Trabajos de Egiptología. Papers on Ancient Egypt, 2020
One of the most important myths of the Ancient Egypt civilization is Osiris’ cyclical myth. Even ... more One of the most important myths of the Ancient Egypt civilization is Osiris’ cyclical myth. Even though not enough attention has been given to it, one of the most important mythemes is the sexual act between the god and Isis. This sexual act establishes two pillars of the monarchy in Ancient Egypt: the conception and the subsequent birth of Horus (the archetype of the earthly Egyptian king) and Osiris’ (re)birth (king of the Underworld and archetype of the dead). Regardless of the great importance of this sexual act, the sources that relate to it are scarce. On a textual level, the intercourse between both divinities has been documented since the Pyramid Texts until the end of the Pharaonic Period. However, it appears narrated on very few occasions with verbs carrying explicit sexual meaning. Only the context allows one to see that the protagonists are having sexual relations. Since Osiris is dead, Isis is the obvious agent of the action, an exception that makes the goddess different from the rest of her peers. Regarding iconography, only three images have been documented in the Dynastic Period: one in the Middle Kingdom and two in the New Kingdom. In all of them the image is the same, the anthropomorphic Osiris, lies in his funerary bed while Isis, in the shape of a bird of prey, copulates with him.
Archéo-Nil , 2020
The functionality of the so-called tusks has been quite controversial among the artefacts from th... more The functionality of the so-called tusks has been quite controversial among the artefacts from the Predynastic period. Based on the classification work of S. Hendrickx and M. Eyckerman, I will try to demonstrate how different types A.5 and A.6 are from other tusks through the analysis of their form and ethnographic comparison. The thesis defended in this paper is that this kind of object would be a model of penis sheath, a “clothing” item related to hunting since Prehistory.
Burgos Bernal, L.; Pérez Largacha, A.; Vivas Sainz, I. (eds.), Actas V Congreso Ibérico de Egiptología. Cuenca, 9-12 de marzo de 2015, Cuenca: Ediciones de la Universidad de Castilla la Mancha, 2017
One of the artefacts from the Predynastic period of which its functionality has been much controv... more One of the artefacts from the Predynastic period of which its functionality has been much controversial are the so-called tusks. On the basis of the classification works of those objects done by S. Hendrickx and M. Eyckerman, the current paper will only take into account their typologies A.5 and A.6 as they are considered a whole group different from the other ones. From its basic shape, a tubular object with a loop on the top and a protruding on the bottom, and through ethnographic comparison, this paper will demonstrate that this object is, in fact, a penis sheath, a typical «clothing» of hunting cultures since Prehistory.
Antela-Bernárdez, B., Zaragozà Serrano, C. y Guimerà Martínez, A. (ed.), Placer y dolor. Las mujeres en la Antigüedad, Alcalá de Henares, 2017
Los textos literarios del antiguo Egipto eran una prerrogativa masculina. Se trata de documentos ... more Los textos literarios del antiguo Egipto eran una prerrogativa masculina. Se trata de documentos hechos por hombres y para hombres, en los que la mujer es presentada como pasiva. Sin embargo, tanto las enseñanzas como los cuentos, ambos con finalidad pedagógica, muestran de manera indirecta el ideario conductual que toda buena mujer egipcia debía seguir. Así pues, a partir de un análisis minucioso de ellos pueden extraerse las normas de comportamiento, evidentemente establecidas por los hombres, que debían seguir las mujeres. El resultado se aplicará a los textos funcionales, aquellos relativos al día a día, para comprobar si realmente las mujeres seguían las normas establecidas o bien las transgredían.
Información del artículo La presa de Kaffara en el valle del Nilo, aproximación al origen de la i... more Información del artículo La presa de Kaffara en el valle del Nilo, aproximación al origen de la ingeniería hidráulica.
Lectora. Revista de Dones i Textualitat , 2012
Ideal Woman, Offensive Woman. Female Transgression in Ancient Egypt. The Ancient Egyptian lite... more Ideal Woman, Offensive Woman. Female Transgression in Ancient Egypt.
The Ancient Egyptian literary texts were a male prerogative. These were documents not only written by men but also written for men. In them we find women appearing as a passive figure. However, teachings and tales, both for pedagogical purposes, show indirectly the correct manners in which all good Egyptian women had to behave. So, from a thorough analysis of these texts we can draw out the behaviour rules for the women, obviously established by men. The result is applied to non-literary texts to confirm whether Egyptian women really followed the stated rules or on the contrary transgressed them.
Trabajos de Egiptología. Papers on Ancient Egypt, 2009
Erotic lexicon and iconography in Ancient Egypt. Coitus a tergo. The analysis of Egyptian vocabu... more Erotic lexicon and iconography in Ancient Egypt. Coitus a tergo.
The analysis of Egyptian vocabulary concerning copulation reveals an superfluity of words in contrast to their scant usage. From this, we may deduce that some words could have had semantic connotations not expressed in our languages, alluding, for example, to position during sexual intercourse. This is the case with verbs like ‘mq and p3y, which clearly refer to the coitus a tergo in passages which have been analyzed, or nk and nhp, which may make such reference. In iconography, even though coitus a tergo was the position most often portrayed, we must eliminate the possibility, by ethnographic comparison, that this was actually the position most used. Thus, we may interpret the documented images as some kind of cultural code, whether as satiric representations (humiliation of the copulated person or nkkw) or as every-day representations (“sexual fantasies” of Egyptian men, who probably drew these images).