Pharaonic Praise of Cruelty: Depiction of Emotions in War and Post-War Images from the Old Kingdom

In his posthumous book Vom Kriege (1832), Carl von Clausewitz noted that “if war is an act of force, emotions cannot fail to be involved” (Book I, 1.3). This statement aimed at thinking about the actions and decisions of actors willing to exercise violence against rival groups, but it also makes sen...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Gayubas, Augusto
Formato: Artículo publishedVersion
Lenguaje:Español
Publicado: Instituto de Historia Antigua Oriental, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, UBA 2023
Materias:
war
Acceso en línea:https://revistascientificas.filo.uba.ar/index.php/rihao/article/view/13745
https://repositoriouba.sisbi.uba.ar/gsdl/cgi-bin/library.cgi?a=d&c=rihao&d=13745_oai
Aporte de:
Descripción
Sumario:In his posthumous book Vom Kriege (1832), Carl von Clausewitz noted that “if war is an act of force, emotions cannot fail to be involved” (Book I, 1.3). This statement aimed at thinking about the actions and decisions of actors willing to exercise violence against rival groups, but it also makes sense when considering the social and individual experiences of those who are defeated in armed conflicts. In ancient Egypt, the iconography was characterised by a lack of emotional expressions on the faces of the characters depicted. However, some indications of emotional reactions can be recognised, either by the inclusion of epigraphic inscriptions or by the body posture of the characters depicted. The aim of this article is to identify ways of representing the relation between war and emotion, and in particular the human suffering involved in military activity, in images of war and post-war from the Old Kingdom (c. 2686-2181 BC). In short, the aim is to reflect on the Egyptian state’s perception of the emotional impact of war.