古埃及文明中的“法老”概念

The Concept of"Pharaoh"in the Ancient Egyptian Civilization

“法老”是现今表达古埃及国王称谓的常用词汇,然而在古埃及王室铭文记录中,国王虽然持有五个神圣王衔,却从未自称“法老”。事实上,“法老”在象形文字中被书写为“”,是古王国时期的一种王室建筑。从新王国中期后,“法老”在保留原有词义的同时,被用来指代身份特殊的埃及国王,尤其被外来统治者利比亚人、努比亚人、希腊人和罗马人用来强调不同于传统埃及国王的新国王身份。“法老”身份的变化体现出埃及王朝更迭的特征。学界以这样一个具有特定时代性和特殊认同性的概念笼统指代整个古代埃及历史时期,并不准确。

Although"Pharaoh"is the term most commonly used to refer to ancient Egyptian kings,in the royal texts,the Egyptian kings held five sacred titles,they never referred to themselves"Pharaoh".In fact,during the Old Kingdom,"Pharaoh",was written as"",used to refer to part of the royal palace.After the mid-New Kingdom period,while the term retained its original meaning,it also came to be used to refer to Egyptian kings with a specific status,especially by foreign rulers such as Libyan,Nubian,Greek and Roman,thus emphasizing a new status that differed to that of traditional Egyptian kings.This change in the Pharaoh's"identity was thus reflective of features of dynastic change.The application of such an epochal and specific concept to the entire ancient Egyptian historical period inevitably results in a generalization that lacks precision.