Images of divine nursing in the ancient Egyptian New Kingdom: kingship, kinship, and the role of the goddess

Fairbairn, Cannon (2025). Images of divine nursing in the ancient Egyptian New Kingdom: kingship, kinship, and the role of the goddess. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

This thesis explores the use of divine nursing imagery – depictions of the king being nursed by a goddess – during the ancient Egyptian New Kingdom (ca 1539–1292 BCE) by considering the layers of context that shaped their creation and usage, including their physical, decorative, geographical, and social contexts. Research into this imagery has tended to examine it as a standardized and homogeneous motif across period and location. This thesis challenges this idea by analyzing the adaptations and variations across appearances of the motif as well as shifts in audience and medium to determine how it functioned within the specific decorative programs and narratives in which it was located.

Chapter 2 considers the social context in which images of divine nursing were created and viewed, using archaeological, art historical, and textual evidence to explore ancient Egyptian practices and ideas regarding breastfeeding and wet-nursing during the New Kingdom. Chapters 3–5 presents a series of case studies which seek to reconstruct the layers of context around specific divine nursing scenes and address some seemingly “unusual” depictions that emerge during the New Kingdom. Chapter 3 analyzes the scene of Thutmose IV nursed by Hathor and Werethekau at the temple of Amada in Nubia, the first divine nursing scene to appear in Nubia and a unique adaptation of the double nursing pattern. By considering its context, the scene’s role in efforts to assert Egyptian control in Nubia become more evident. The geographical implications of divine nursing continue to be apparent as Chapter 4 examines the nursing cow-goddess subtype of divine nursing imagery. This case study examines a group of divine nursing scenes tied geographically and iconographically largely to the region of Deir el-Bahari and which were combined with or inserted into existing Hathoric imagery, adding to the layered meaning and functionality of the images, statues, and votive offerings on which it appears. Considering the shift from temple wall reliefs to more public-facing and portable objects, Chapter 5 examines the appearance of divine nursing on stelae. This group of seven stelae represents the range of forms the divine nursing motif took during the New Kingdom and its expanded audience. The imagery takes on elements and implications of self-presentation, communication, relationships, and ritual. Finally, Chapter 6 considers the themes and patterns that appear across these case studies, how they compare with prior research on divine nursing imagery, and how they might influence future approaches to the scenes. I propose that to better understand divine nursing scenes it is more effective to consider divine nursing as an action that could be incorporated or adapted into existing imagery, rather than a static image with largely the same implications across period and location. It was a means of creating relationships and informing the social identity of king, goddess, and image commissioner.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):