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The Colossi from the Early Shrine at Coptos in Egypt

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2001

Barry Kemp ,
Andrew Boyce  and
James Harrell
Barry Kemp
Affiliation:
The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3ER, [email protected]
James Harrell
Affiliation:
Department of Earth, Ecological and Environmental Studies, University of Toledo, Toledo OH 43606-3390, USA
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Abstract

For more than a hundred years the three colossal limestone figures from Coptos have challenged anyone wishing to write on the development of culture and society in early Egypt. Beginning from a fuller documentation of the three, a reconstruction of their original context is proposed, namely, an array of standing stones, a type of sacred structure of which a growing number of examples are known in the region. A study of the signs carved on their sides answers recent speculations that they record the names of early kings. Both the colossi and the system of symbols to which the signs belong represent a culture which, in consequence of a thoroughgoing ancient process of redefinition, was subsequently overlaid by the significantly different culture of Pharaonic Egypt.

Keywords

limestone figures, EgyptianEgyptian sculptureCoptos, figures from
Type
Research Article
Information
Cambridge Archaeological Journal , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , April 2000 , pp. 211 - 242
Copyright
2000 The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research

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