The Cosmos of Khnumhotep II at Beni Hasan (Studies in Egyptology)

Rating:
Summary: A Detailed Study
Review: This study is not just a impressive and detailed description of the tomb of Khnumhotep II in Beni Hasan, but it includes some very interesting new methods of how to read tomb scene content. Instead of studying the scenes individually, Kamrin puts them in its context of the totality of tomb decoration, architecture and religious concepts of the time. Influenced by the scholarship of Barocas, Finnestad and Altenmuller, she sees the tomb chapel more as a local temple for ancestor worship built as a microcosmos of Egyptian cosmology, than just as a eternal dwelling for the dead. She also gives a good review of previous scholarship. The book is highly recommended for students interested iconography and egyptian ideas of the afterlife.