{"title":"Gender, Deities, and the Public Image of Sobekneferu","authors":"K. Diamond","doi":"10.1086/716826","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Sobekneferu ascended the Egyptian throne near the end of the Twelfth Dynasty. She was not only the first female king but also the first royal woman for whom we have evidence of cross-dressing. From the record she has left us it is clear that the gender-incongruent imagery associated with Egyptian warrior goddesses established a foundation for her composite imagery. Sobekne-feru embraced masculine poses in her statues, masculine titles and grammatical endings in her inscriptions, and on her Louvre statue she adopted masculine dress. This paper illustrates how her multiple-gendered works were inspired by well-entrenched ideas organic to Egypt, how her self-styled image was based on historic prototypes, and how her transgression of social gender boundaries was sanctioned by religion.","PeriodicalId":51934,"journal":{"name":"NEAR EASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3000,"publicationDate":"2021-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"NEAR EASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1086/716826","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"ARCHAEOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Sobekneferu ascended the Egyptian throne near the end of the Twelfth Dynasty. She was not only the first female king but also the first royal woman for whom we have evidence of cross-dressing. From the record she has left us it is clear that the gender-incongruent imagery associated with Egyptian warrior goddesses established a foundation for her composite imagery. Sobekne-feru embraced masculine poses in her statues, masculine titles and grammatical endings in her inscriptions, and on her Louvre statue she adopted masculine dress. This paper illustrates how her multiple-gendered works were inspired by well-entrenched ideas organic to Egypt, how her self-styled image was based on historic prototypes, and how her transgression of social gender boundaries was sanctioned by religion.
期刊介绍:
Archaeological discoveries continually enrich our understanding of the people, culture, history, and literature of the Middle East. The heritage of its peoples -- from urban civilization to the Bible -- both inspires and fascinates. Near Eastern Archaeology brings to life the ancient world from Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean with vibrant images and authoritative analyses.