BOOK DESCRIPTION
Based on a new edition of Moscow 314 Papyrus from the Middle Kingdom, this study identifies for the first time the ancient Egyptian ritual of investiture. Serving as a tool of re-attunement, the ritual speech act, pivotal for the creation of divine kingship in ancient Egypt, is now identified. The speech influenced the investiture of the dead uncovered in mortuary liturgies. An interdisciplinary approach based on theories relating to political theology, the natural and political body of the Pharaoh, as well as on rituals of investiture dated from the ancient world down to the 17th C AD is applied to the study of this important subject.