The Festivals of Opet, the Valley, and the New Year: Their socio-religious functions compares the religious and social functions of these three Festivals, the first two of which were often regarded by the Egyptians as a pair; the New Year Festival stands out on account of its corpus of surviving material and importance. Until now, detailed study of the New Year Festival has only been carried out with reference to the Greco-Roman period; this study turns its attention to the New Kingdom. The book analyses the broad perspectives that encompass Egyptian religion and cult practices which provided the context not only for worship and prayer, but also for the formation of social identity and responsibility. The festivals are examined in the whole together with their settings in the religious and urban landscapes. The best example is New Kingdom Thebes where large temples and burial sites survive intact today with processional routes connecting some of them. Also presented are the abundant written sources providing deep insight into those feasts celebrated for Amun-Re, the king of the gods. The volume also includes a list of dated records which provides a concordance for the Egyptian calendars.

About the Author
Masashi Fukaya comes from the city Tokai to the south of Nagoya. After studying at the University of Tsukuba he completed his doctoral thesis at the University of Oxford in 2014. He has long focused on religious festivals where the general public would communicate with the god in various forms, and also been extending his interests to women, foreigners, and the socially weak. At present he teaches as a visiting researcher at Aichi Prefectural University, Japan.


Book Information
ISBN 9781789695953
Author Masashi Fukaya
Format Paperback
Page Count 306
Imprint Archaeopress
Publisher Archaeopress
Weight(grams) 1088g