| The annals played an important part of ancient Egyptian history.In Ancient Egypt,it has been a long tradition to record the events that had ever happened,such as the simple labels of the Early Dynastic Period and the earliest annals in the Old Kingdom that recorded on the Palermo Stone.Although these records set down events in an extremely concise way,they still laid foundation for the later formation of the royal annals of the New Kingdom.In the Middle Kingdom period,the annals began to break through the recording form and content that based on the Palermo Stone.It started to set down things briefly and centered on a certain king's reign or a special scenario.The Egypt Empire reached its peak at the period of New Kingdom.Along with it,both of the form and content of the annals in this period has evolved.After suffering the chaos of the second Intermediate Period and the rule of Hyksos,the pharaohs of the New Kingdom Period launched many wars against the foreigners.The frequent victories made the pharaohs extremely keen on chasing their personal achievements.Therefore,many annals focused on these achievements of the pharaohs in this period.That is what we called the Royal Annals.Among them,a typical example is the Annals of the Thutmose III.The main content of the annals at this time was centered on the pharaoh's foreign wars.Nearly all the records are in pursuing the pharaoh's image of “Military Hero” and “the son of Gods”.Usually the pharaohs play the role of defenders for the divine order of “Maat”,as well as the agent for the Gods to rein the Egypt.The gods of Ancient Egypt often appear in the annals.They often play the role of protectors of the king in the war.Also they received sacrifice and worship from the Pharaohs in the post-war period.In contrast,the "despicable hateful enemies" were conquered by the Pharaoh,and yield to Pharaoh's authority.Through such "commemorated" scenario,the legitimacy and sanctity of pharaohs' kingship was reinforced again and again.Moreover,it was also propagandized with the pharaohs' victories in the external wars.In addition,some new features of the "historical expression" of ancient Egypthave arisen as we can see from the Annals' contents and functions.When reviewing history,the ancient Egyptian began to step out of the firmly worship for the antiquity.They began to rethink their past.Although the “Divine Kingship” concept has strongly rooted in the ancient Egyptians' mind,the pharaohs of this time were more displayed as a strong person in military with forceful character of his own.Meanwhile,with the continuous expansion for the outside region,the Egyptians' concept for the extraterritorial area has been enhanced;especially on the concept of border and the identification of themselves from the enemies.The striking example is that the ideology remolding for the conquered areas was centered on the ideology of the Egyptians.Emphasizing the “truth” of the kings' achievements indicates that the ancient Egyptians have their own thoughts on the function of the "historical records".In some sense,it is a true awakening of their "historical consciousness". |
PDF Full Text Request