Papers by Kelly-Anne Diamond
Sobekneferu and Her Legacy of Female Masculinity
The Sartorial Choices of Sobekneferu: Louvre Statue E 27135
The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology
This paper explores the items of dress worn by King Sobekneferu on statue E 27135 in the Musée du... more This paper explores the items of dress worn by King Sobekneferu on statue E 27135 in the Musée du Louvre. This statue is unique in comparison to her other known statues because it is the only one where she wears both feminine and masculine dress items. Sobekneferu’s combination of dress items coalesces in an ensemble that shapes, performs and displays her gender, divinity, communality, profession and class simultaneously. Through an analysis of her sartorial choices, we can better understand how Sobekneferu satisfied both her individual identity and her group identity in interacting with her subjects. This paper demonstrates how her dress had the power to communicate and inform the public through its materiality. Sobekneferu’s sartorial choices enabled her to craft visibly an authoritative image of herself as king. This image responded to the gendered expectation of kingship which was invoked through the masculinity her statue produced.
Review of `Five Egyptian Goddesses: Their Possible Beginnings, Actions, and Relationships in the Third Millennium BCE
Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt
Susan Tower Hollis, Five Egyptian Goddesses: Their Possible Beginnings, Actions, and Relationship... more Susan Tower Hollis, Five Egyptian Goddesses: Their Possible Beginnings, Actions, and Relationships in the Third Millennium BCE. London: Bloomsbury, 2020. Bloomsbury Egyptolo- gy. ISBN 978-1-4742-3425-2. Pp. XV + 216, numerous black and white illustrations. £90.
Masculinities and the Mechanisms of Hegemony in the Instruction of Ptahhotep
His Good Name
The Function and Structure of the dm?(y)t “Myth”
Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, 2015
Gender, Deities, and the Public Image of Sobekneferu
Near Eastern Archaeology, 2021
Sobekneferu ascended the Egyptian throne near the end of the Twelfth Dynasty. She was not only th... more 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.
Transporting the Deceased to Eternity: The Ancient Egyptian Term 'H3i
The Function and Structure of the dm d (y)t “Myth”
Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, 2015
The title dmd(y)t refers to one of the dramatis personae in the early funerary cult drama, who he... more The title dmd(y)t refers to one of the dramatis personae in the early funerary cult drama, who helps with the transfiguration of the deceased in terms of the collecting and reassembling of the deceased's bones or limbs. This term can be used in the singular and the plural and is derived from the root dmd “to collect or gather.” The title dmd(y)t may be translated as “bone or limb collector.” By the Fifth Dynasty there is evidence that the root dmd was directly associated with the reconstruction of Osiris' body, yet the dmd(y)t is not part of the Osirian cult drama. Her presence may predate the superimposition of the Osirian characters, but there appears to be a clear association between the function of the dmd(y)t and the function of the goddess Isis in the Osirian myth. Did the canonization of this myth lead to Isis taking over the dmd(y)t's function in the transfiguration of the deceased? Following the myth-ritual school, is the Osirian myth attempting to explain the role of the dmd(y)t in the funerary ...
Gender & History, 2020
The Eighteenth Dynasty Egyptian Pharaoh, Hatshepsut (c. 1473-1458 BCE), has attracted a great dea... more The Eighteenth Dynasty Egyptian Pharaoh, Hatshepsut (c. 1473-1458 BCE), has attracted a great deal of attention for doing gender wrong, at least according to modern scholarship (Figure ). She began her career as the regent for her step-son/nephew, Thutmose III, and then at some point within the first seven years, she ascended the throne as co-regent. 1 Hatshepsut's public gender identity fails to conform to our norms of cultural intelligibility, but the fact that this gender transformation occurred over the course of two decades indicates that it was a persistent and intentional gender 'identity' for Hatshepsut. 2 Hatshepsut was not making claims about who she was as a private person, but instead she was subscribing to the gendered expectations of rulership. This public identity has appeared to modern Egyptologists as gender incongruity, but I will argue that Hatshepsut's public representations were intelligible to ancient Egyptians and even a deliberate attempt to appeal to their sensibilities and provide them with solace in her rule. A study of Hatshepsut promises to contribute to our current understanding of gender in that it reframes our typical assumptions of ancient/traditional gender constructions and provides a model we can use to move forward with our own modern discourse about gender fluidity. For Egyptologists, this study elucidates the societal and historical factors that were complicit in keeping Hatshepsut in power. The existence of hermaphroditic creator deities, the composite nature of kingship, post-mortem gender fluidity and the rules of compositional decorum all intertwined to naturalise Hatshepsut's female masculinity and her ascension to the throne of Egypt. Hatshepsut was not the anomaly that we think she was. There were several other leaders in the New Kingdom who displayed non-binary gender identities, such as Queen Tiye, Akhenaten, Nefertiti and Tawosret. 3 Hatshepsut was only one example in an era of transgressors, who willingly played with composite imagery. The earliest elements added to her person were a masculine crown and the traditional title of male Egyptian king. Subsequently, she depicted herself in increasingly masculine poses, holding symbols reserved for male kings, in male dress and with male physiognomy. It was her unique position as King's Daughter, King's Wife and later Pharaoh that made her female masculinity more ubiquitous and therefore more discernible. Hatshepsut exemplified the virile woman who broke the bond between masculinity and the male body. In ancient Egypt, masculinity embodied the qualities that were culturally ascribed
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Papers by Kelly-Anne Diamond