Le discours géographico-religieux de l'Égypte ancienne

From the Old Kingdom to the Roman period, the ancient Egyptians produced documents with geographically organized representations of their territory. These documents, composed within a priestly context, form a “sacred geographical discourse”. François Ghiringhelli analyzes this discourse in his volume as a structured and evolving system. It developed over centuries in successive phases, which led to changes in both form and content up to the Greco-Roman era. The first part of the book examines the formal development of this discourse from the Old Kingdom to the Roman period. It explores the various documents in which it is attested, the geographical entities it represents, the accompanying texts, and the order of provinces. This diachronic analysis makes it possible to identify different paradigms that have shaped the discourse over time. The second part turns to the content of the Greco-Roman phase, focusing on the toponyms that define the three characteristic components of a province during this period: the mer canal, the w territory, and the pehu territory. These toponyms are analyzed in terms of their diachronic evolution and the contexts in which they appear, thereby revealing the multiple layers of meaning they may carry. The third part builds upon the preceding analyses to reassess the significance of these three characteristic components in the Greco-Roman context, taking into account their earlier uses in previous periods and other contexts. The study concludes with two syntheses: The first addresses the construction of Greco-Roman discourse, the second offers a reflection on the evolution of this discourse over the centuries. The book is written in French.