Abstract
The Late Period of Egyptian history (525–332 BCE) offers evidence for several critical factors that caused the collapse of the ancient Egyptian state. The state was losing the ground under its feet and changes were coming in sudden leaps, mutually reinforcing their impact. As stated in Heraclitus’ law, the same factors that instigated its rise were now causing its decline. The elites were becoming increasingly dysfunctional, and what once was represented as a set of widely shared and acknowledged symbolical values and ideas began to disappear. The country lacked resources and the latest technologies, and it was failing to adapt to new geopolitical and economic conditions.
In this contribution, the particular case under scrutiny represents Egypt’s Late Period, in which the country was repeatedly defeated by foreign armies, controlled by the Kushite kingdom or the Persian empire and, as a consequence, lost ground and an identity that had been built and maintained for centuries on the petrified centristic Nile-based model of civilization and kingship. As a consequence, Egypt and the Egyptian elites were desperately looking for new and indigenous means to regain and re-establish their uncompromised and unique identity.
This study will also demonstrate how innovations in culture are not always necessarily linked with the leading elite of the society. Quite the contrary, the lesser nobility is in fact usually more at liberty to depart from traditional means of expression and look for new, more appropriate ways to demonstrate their cultural, symbolical and intellectual preferences and mindsets. In this particular case, these are not new, but, represent antique elements based on the predynastic and Old Kingdom periods.
For editing the English text of this article I tender thanks to my colleague, Marianne Tames-Demauras.
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Bárta, M. (2023). Heraclitus’ Law and the Late Period Shaft Tombs of Abusir. In: Ben-Yosef, E., Jones, I.W.N. (eds) “And in Length of Days Understanding” (Job 12:12). Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-27330-8_44
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