Studying Ramesses IIa (TM)s Dedicatory Inscription in detail allows one to connect it with the development of the Solar-Osirian theology postdating the Amarna Period of Egypt. This study thus links the historical background of the pharaoha (TM)s visit to Abydos at the very beginning of his first regnal year with the religious aspects of early Dynasty XIX.

Of all the enormous monuments throughout Egypt and Nubia that Ramesses II (the Great; ca. 1279-1212 BCE) left behind, his temple at Abydos, built early in his reign, stands as one of his most elegant, with its simple architectural layout and dramatic and graceful painted relief scenes. Though best known for its dramatic reliefs depicting the battle of Kadesh, the temple also offers a wealth of information about religious and social life in ancient Egypt. It reflects, for example, the strenuous efforts of the early Ramessides to reestablish the Osiris cult in Egypt-and particularly at Abydos-in the aftermath of the Amarna period. Building on the comprehensive photographic and epigraphic documentation of the temple presented in The Temple of Ramesses II at Abydos volumes 1 (Wall Scenes) and 2 (Pillars, Niches, and Miscellanea), volume 3 (Architectural and Inscriptional Features) offers a detailed analysis of the overall architectural layout and decorative program of the temple and its symbolism. This discussion approaches the religious history of the site through its archaeology, its inscriptions-both planned and secondary (graffiti)-and its situation in the complex religious landscape of Abydos. Of particular interest are the temple's role as a staging point for the great Osiris Festival and its procession, among the most important of all ritual events in the Egyptian religious calendar during the Ramesside period; the promotion of an active, unbound form of Osiris; and the evidence for important cult activities that took place on the rooftop of the temple, the presence of which is documented today by the staircase that accessed it from Court B.

The Great Karnak Inscription of Merneptah's 5th regnal year, the longest surviving continuous monumental text from Egypt, describes the combined Libyan and Sea People invasion of Egypt c.1208 BCE. This new study, the first complete commentary on this long but unfortunately damaged text, begins with a translation of the text, accompanied by detailed notes. The study considers specific military aspects of the inscription alongside its religious background. A grammatical analysis of the Great Karnak Inscription also sheds new light on the grammar of Ramesside monumental texts. Reviews for this volume: "...a very useful study of a highly important historical text, largely neglected hitherto.'" - K A Kitchen, Book List (2005) "...should be of interest to anyone studying issues relating to international relations of the period, aspects of military conflict in the later New Kingdom, or the monumental grammar of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties [...] The welcome inclusion of the complete hieroglyphic text should be of great use to anyone wishing to study the content and grammar of this inscription for themselves." - Joshua Roberson, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, Vol. XL (2005)

This publication of Egyptian international policy provides fascinating new information about Egyptian New Kingdom military activity by an unprecedented integration of textual, iconographic, and archaeological contexts, establishing not only the Egyptian perception of events, but actual effects on Levantine sociocultural dynamics.

In the narrow sense this volume deals with Egyptian military activity in the southern Levant, about 1300 to 1185 B.C. In the broad sense it provides a case study for the integration of historical, archaeological, and anthropological perspectives. Basing himself on a new comprehensive concordance of terms in Egyptian military accounts, the author starts with a contextual analysis of over thirty terms and clauses. With the Egyptian perception of events established, two chapters are devoted to the archaeological evidence for Egyptian presence, influence, and destruction at over forty site, regional, and socio-ethnic toponyms in the southern Levant. In conclusion, an unprecedented research paradigm is presented for the assessment of Egyptian military activity. This volume includes illustrations, maps, and an extensive bibliography essential to Near Eastern historians, sociologists, archaeologists, Egyptologists and biblical scholars.