This new article co-authored by Dr Alex Loktionov is the first published collaboration between British and Russian scholars in the 200-year history of the field of Egyptology.
Dr Alex Loktionov, a Bye-Fellow at Lucy Cavendish College, has co-authored a groundbreaking article with Dr Ekaterina Alexandrova of HSE University (Moscow). This publication marks the first collaboration between British and Russian scholars in the 200-year history of Egyptology.
Their research presents a novel theory concerning the intersection of Ancient Egyptian justice and religion. They argue that participation in the legal system was considered a religious act, and achieving a favourable judicial outcome was perceived as a form of divine vindication. Legal evidence, therefore, served not only to persuade earthly judges of a plaintiff’s righteous conduct but also to demonstrate their virtue to the gods, who determined their entry into the afterlife.
Dr Loktionov says:
"We've shown that to the Ancient Egyptians, going to court wasn't just about getting justice when alive, but it was also a way of getting to a better place in the afterlife. If you won a court case on earth, you were righteous and therefore worthy of being saved"
A case study within the article focuses on the tomb chapel of Mose, discovered in Memphis in 1898. This chapel contains depictions and descriptions of justice in both the earthly realm and the parallel world inhabited by the deceased and the divine. Mose, a temple treasury scribe of the creator god Ptah under Ramesses II in the 13th century BCE, was involved in a protracted land dispute with relatives who had allegedly falsified a property register to disinherit him.
Through the reconstruction of the tomb’s heavily damaged layout, hieroglyphic texts, and decoration, Dr Loktionov and Dr Alexandrova argue that the ritual texts, originally oral testimony given in court, were reinterpreted within the tomb’s setting.
Commenting on the importance of the collaboration Dr Lotkionov adds, "I'm really proud of publishing the first joint-authored Russo-British Egyptology study in over 200 years. It just shows that academia remains a hugely powerful way of bringing people together, generating positive new partnerships even where geopolitics would normally make that tricky. Long may this continue".
This article, part of broader ongoing research into the perceived interactions between Egyptian deities and everyday life, is published in Open Access by the Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient.
