Mihos Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Concerning the children of the kap-
> with all the children of the royal harem and
> foreign dignitaries in a given power center like
> Karnak or Memphis-would any of you like to share
> how you envision this worked?

> Were for example, the children of a royal wife who
> fell from favor, excommunicated? What if the
> mother died in childbirth for example, who were
> the parents of that royal child of the kap
> afterwards? Would the Chief Wife be considered
> mother of all the children of the kap- especially
> the royal daughters of the king?

/Xrdw n kAp/ = "chidren of the /kAp/"

In this article

Feucht, E. 1985. The Xrdw n kAp Reconsidered. In S. Israelit-Groll, ed., Pharaonic Egypt. The Bible and Christianity: 38-47. Jerusalem: The Magnes Press/The Hebrew University.

it was proposed that the evidence suggests that the /Xrdw n kAp/ were members of an institution, who kept their title when they were grown up. It is probable that the title indicates an education at the court. The /Xrdw n kAp/ could be officials of lower, middle or high rank. In the New Kingdom, foreigners could gain the title. They were not children of foreign chieftains, as has been sometimes maintained.

Janssen and Janssen (1990: 143) has also proposed that the /Xrdw n kAp/ were not made up strictly of royal princes and other "children of the Harem," but included Egyptians of high, middle and low rank, who were to be "companions" for the royal children. They grew up and were educated in the same manner as royal children, and provided life-long friendships to these princes and princesses. In a sense, these children (usually it was males who held the title of /Xrd n kAp/, BTW), were the pages and ladies-in-waiting one could find in almost royal court of Europe.

Some of these children, the male /Xrd n kAp/ and the female equivalent, /Xkrt nsw/, "Ornament of the king," once grown, often held low - medium level civil or administrative positions in royal government. Janssen and Janssen mention that one /Xrd n kAp/ called Benia, went on to become a master builder (architect), while others became, for example, a draftsman for the temple of Ptah, a shipbuilder (Iunena), and yet another, merely a doorkeeper.

Yet, being part of the /kAp/ institution had its rewards. A number of viziers and high priest of important cults could count their mothers as part of the /Xrdw n kAp/, being /Xkrt nsw/ to the royal court until their marriage to these men's respective fathers. So, being part of the /Xrdw n kAp/ could be a stepping stone for a comfortable life in the civil service to the royal house, or, if not directly rewarded, for their progeny.

Reference:

Janssen, R. M. and J. J. Janssen. 1990. Growing Up in Ancient Egypt. London: Rubicon Press.

HTH.

Katherine Griffis-Greenberg

Doctoral Candidate
Oriental Institute
Doctoral Programme in Oriental Studies [Egyptology]
Oxford University
Oxford, United Kingdom





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/01/2007 12:52AM by Katherine Griffis-Greenberg.