Execration Texts

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This Source

Execration texts, also referred to as Proscription Lists, are ancient Egyptian hieratic texts, which contained the names of loathed people. These were most often enemies of the Egyptian state or troublesome foreign neighbors. The texts were most often written upon statuettes of bound foreigners, bowls, or blocks of clay or stone, which were subsequently destroyed. The ceremonial process of breaking the names and burying them was intended to be a sort of sympathetic magic that would affect the persons or entities named in the texts. The fragments were usually placed near tombs or ritual sites. This practice was most common during times of conflict with the Asiatic neighbours of Egypt.

The Execration texts are an important resource for researchers in the field of ancient Near Eastern history of the 20th-18th centuries BCE and Bible studies. The first Execration Texts were published by Kurt Sethe in 1926, Posener published some more in 1957.

The technical death metal band Nile has released a song called Execration Text on their album, In Their Darkened Shrines (2002), the lyrics of which are modelled on the ancient Egyptian texts.

Sources

• A History of Ancient Egypt by Nicolas Grimal (Blackwell Publishing)

References

See also

• Curse tablet

External links

• Egyptian Execration Texts

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia © 2001-2006 Wikipedia contributors (Disclaimer)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Saturday August 04, 2007 at 00:30:47 PDT (GMT -0700)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation