Hagenmüller, M.
Images of control and submission in old kingdom funerary iconography: The Egyptian Tomb as a ‘Disciplinary Institution’
(2023) Compulsion and Control in Ancient Egypt: Proceedings of the Third Lady Wallis Budge Egyptology Symposium Edited by Alexandre Loktionov, Archaeopress, pp. 148-160.
Abstract
I argue that funerary scenes can be studied as what Michel Foucault called ‘disciplinary institutions’. They aimed at showing the audience, not only an ideal version of the world, but also a social order where everything revolves around the owner, and where one has to comply with the social position that has been prescribed for him. Thus, they contain an ideological discourse, whose aim is to praise control and submission as fair values. I have chosen to focus on two specific patterns: rendering of accounts, when the scribes check the workers’ accounts, and punishments. My study is limited to Old Kingdom tombs. © the individual authors and Archaeopress 2023. All rights reserved.
Author Keywords
Discipline; Iconography; Old Kingdom tombs; Rendering of accounts; Violence
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