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About
the Faculty
 Colleen Manassa
Egyptology
colleen.manassa@yale.edu
Colleen Manassa (B.A., Yale 2001, Ph.D. 2005) joined the faculty of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations as the Marilyn M. and William K. Simpson Assistant Professor of Egyptology in 2006. Her research interests include Egyptian grammar, New Kingdom literary texts, military history, funerary religion, and social history.
Her first monograph, The Great Karnak Inscription of Merneptah: Grand Strategy in the 13th Century BC, presented a new translation and commentary of Merneptah’s longest historical inscription. She explored the lexicographic and grammatical complexities of the texts, including its interesting mixture of Middle, Late Middle, and Late Egyptian forms, as well as its historical context, particularly the participation of the Sea Peoples. A use of comparative military history enabled the first reconstruction of the strategic and tactical events of Merneptah’s Year 5 Libyan War.
Colleen Manassa’s latest monograph is a revised and expanded publication of her PhD Thesis, The Late Egyptian Underworld: Sarcophagi and Related Texts from the Nectanebid Period, which presents the reuse of Underworld Books on Thirtieth Dynasty and early Ptolemaic sarcophagi in their Late Period context. The study demonstrates that Late Period priests not only understood the then millennium-old Underworld Books, but continued to edit the texts, and most importantly integrated parts of different books to form new compositions. A joint monograph with John Coleman Darnell entitled Tutankhamun’s Armies: Battle and Conquest in Ancient Egypt’s Eighteenth Dynasty appeared in August, 2007. Tutankhamun’s Armies provides an overview of the historical and religious trends of the Amarna Period, including Amunhotep III’s solar worship and a new explanation of Akhenaten’s own religious “revolution.” One chapter is devoted to military organization and the development of Egyptian weaponry, while three further chapters examine Amarna military strategy towards Nubia, Western Asia, Libya, and domestic police actions. Nubian fortress architecture, the integration of Nubia as Egypt’s sister state in the durbar festival, new interpretations of the Amarna Letters, and Libyans in a painted papyrus from Amarna are among the many topics in these chapters.
Her current projects include the joint monographs An Introduction to Middle Egyptian Grammar (with Cara Sargent) and Inscribed Material from the Quarries of Gebel el-Asr (with John Darnell). Articles in progress also include a publication of a hieratic economic text from the Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscripts Library and re-examinations of two New Kingdom works of historical fiction.
Prof. Manassa teaches widely on the history and literature of ancient Egypt, including a new joint course with Prof. Beatrice Gruendler entitled “Egyptian Literature through the Ages,” which uses genre-based comparisons to examine literature of the Nile Valley from the third millennium until the present day. In addition to surveys of Egyptian Middle Kingdom literature and historical texts, she has offered text courses entitled “Egyptian and Nubian Historical Texts” and “Late Egyptian Stories.”
Recent Publications
Monographs
2007 The Late Egyptian Underworld: Sarcophagi and Related Texts from the Nectanebid Period, Ägypten und Altes Testament, Otto Harrassowitz.
2007 Tutankhamun’s Armies: Battle and Conquest during Ancient Egypt’s Late Eighteenth Dynasty, John Wiley & Sons (with John Darnell)
Articles
2009 “A Graffito of Paris in Luxor Temple and the Myth of Helen’s eidolon,” Chronique d’Égypte, forthcoming
2008 “Sounds of the Netherworld,” Festschrift für Jan Assmann, forthcoming
2007 “Relief of Offering Bearers from the Tomb of Montuemhat,” in Art for Yale: Acquisitions for a New Century, Yale University Art Gallery.
2006 “The Judgment Hall of Osiris in the Book of Gates,” Revue d’Egyptologie 57: 109-149.
2006 “The Crimes of Count Sabni Reconsidered,” Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 133: 151-163.
  
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