Ancient Egypt Letters 143
Your thoughts on issues raised by the magazine.
Africa
Statuette of Khufu
Dr Campbell Price describes the unique statuette of one of Egypt’s most famous pharaohs.
An intrepid lady traveller: Amelia Edwards ventures A Thousand Miles up the Nile in 1873.
Towards the end of the 19th century, when wives were regarded as the property of their husbands and not expected to have a university education or an independent career, several remarkable women emerged as influential in the field of Egyptology.…
Ancient Egypt news in brief
A round-up of some of the latest news from the world of ancient Egypt.…
Disease in ancient Egypt
A new study from the University of Cambridge, published in the journal Advances in Parasitology, shows that ancient Egypt and Nubia had markedly different levels and types of parasitic disease compared to neighbouring ancient civilisations due to the geography of…
New dating for Karanis
Radiocarbon dating of crop remains excavated at the Graeco-Roman site of Karanis (in the Fayum) shows that the town was inhabited at least into the middle of the 7th century AD – 200 years after it was thought to have…
Nut and the Milky Way
There has been much debate about the exact nature of the perceived link between the Milky Way and the goddess Nut. A new study, published in the Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, suggests that rather than the Milky Way…
Lost Nile branch and Giza anomaly
Researchers from the University of North Carolina (USA), using remote sensing and other geophysical methods, have identified sections of an extinct branch of the Nile which flowed close to the line of Old and Middle Kingdom pyramids between Giza and…
Military rest stop in northern Sinai
The remains of a royal fortified military rest area have been discovered at Tell Habwa (northern Sinai) by a mission from the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. The team found the remains of a mud-brick building near the beginning…
Wonderful Things: Essays in Honor of Nicholas Reeves
REVIEW BY CAMPBELL PRICE This is perhaps the most closely related set of papers to be included in a single Festschrift that I’ve ever encountered. Given Nicholas Reeves’ well-known work in the Valley of the Kings, and on Tutankhamun in…
Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs Illustrated
REVIEW BY HILARY FORREST This is a most unusual book – bound in an antique Chinese fashion originating from the Ming period, with pages tied together between boards with string. The content, however, relates not to China, but to mainstream…
The Cleopatras: The Forgotten Queens of Egypt
REVIEW BY SARAH GRIFFITHS Finally! An in-depth biography of not just one, but seven Ptolemaic queens named Cleopatra – and a few more besides. There is a plethora of books focusing on the most famous of these queens, Cleopatra VII,…
A Mystery from the Mummy-Pits
REVIEW BY ROGER FORSHAW Frank Holt’s very readable account of Ankh-Hap, a Ptolemaic-era mummy appropriated in the 19th century from a tomb in Egypt, is a unique, informative, and fascinating contribution to the study of ancient Egyptian mummified remains. The…
The Excavations at Ismant Al-Kharab: Vol. II, The Christian Monuments of Kellis: The Churches and Cemeteries
REVIEW BY MICHAEL TUNNICLIFFE Ancient Kellis was a site in the Dakhla Oasis that was occupied from Late Ptolemaic times to the end of the 4th century AD. Excavations have exposed houses, cemeteries, temples, and churches. Important documents were found…
Win a copy of After 1177 BC: The Survival of Civilizations by Eric H Cline
Where was this photograph taken? If you know, email the Editor (peter@ancientegyptmagazine.com) before 31 August with your answer, giving your full name, address, and contact number. One lucky reader will have their name selected at random from all the correct…
Ancient Egypt Magazine 142
• Zenobia of Egypt: when the Queen of Palmyra ruled the Land of the Pharaohs
• The last Cleopatras: their legacy as women of power
• Precise construction of funerary structures: Qubbet el-Hawa (Aswan)
• Predynastic art: Egypt’s earliest imagery
• Rediscovering Egypt: the Harrogate Collection in Swansea
• The meaning of Joseph’s Egyptian name
• Travels in an antique land: two under-visited sites in Abydos
Digging Benin City: Investigations have begun at one of Africa’s most celebrated and notorious sites
Nigerian archaeologists are working with the British Museum and UK colleagues to research and excavate in Benin City. Mike Pitts visited the site to learn more.
New memorial to commemorate the forgotten South African dead of World War I
A new memorial is being constructed to commemorate the forgotten sacrifice of 1,700 black South African servicemen who died during the First World War. The monument, funded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), will be known as the Cape…
Beliefs and narratives: Images from Predynastic Egypt
Barbara A Boczar explores the imagery of Egypt’s Naqada periods.
Palmyra, Blemmyes, Diocletian, and Egypt
Ancient Egypt Magazine explores an often overlooked period of Egyptian history: the short-lived control of Egypt by Palmyra, and the incursions of the Eastern Desert Blemmyes.
Rediscovering Egypt – Part 1: The Harrogate Collection in Swansea
Many artefacts from a museum in Harrogate are currently on display in the Egypt Centre at Swansea University in Wales. The Centre’s curator Ken Griffin explains how this three-year loan came about.
Precise construction of funerary structures at Qubbet el-Hawa (Aswan)
Antonio Tomás Mozas Calvache, Jose Luis Pérez, and José Miguel Gómez show how the creation of 3D models of three adjacent tombs highlights the extraordinary precision of Twelfth Dynasty tomb-builders.
The Cleopatras – Part 4: The last Cleopatras
Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones completes his series on the later Ptolemaic queens and assesses their legacy as women of power in the ancient world.
Hilary Wilson on… Milk
It was not just an important food item for the ancient Egyptians: milk had magical properties.
Ancient Egypt April listings
PHARAOH In association with the British Museum, this exhibition celebrates 3,000 years of ancient Egyptian art and culture through more than 500 individual pieces from the British Museum’s permanent collection, curated specially for Melbourne. Highlights include a carved green siltstone…
The meaning of Joseph’s Egyptian name
Joseph L Thimes explores a range of different translations of the Egyptian name given to his namesake, the biblical Joseph.
Travels in an antique land: Mud-brick, mud-brick, glorious mud-brick
Each issue, AE magazine goes off the beaten track to explore some of Egypt’s lesser known sites, new museums, and newly opened monuments, with tips to help the independent traveller. In this issue, Karl Harris explores two under-visited sites at Abydos.
Identity in Persian Egypt: The fate of the Yehudite Community of Elephantine
REVIEW BY MICHAEL TUNNICLIFFE During the Twenty-seventh Dynasty (c.525-404 BC), Egypt was part of the sprawling Persian Empire. Material survivals from this time are scarce, and the Persians themselves left few documents relating to Egypt. One important exception comes from…
Coptic Culture and Community: Daily Lives, Changing Times
REVIEW BY MICHAEL TUNNICLIFFE This work comprises 14 essays spanning the late Roman Period to the present day, focusing on the daily life of the Copts, who have always been a minority community. The aim is to understand daily concerns…
How Pharaohs Became Media Stars: Ancient Egypt and Popular Culture
REVIEW BY SARAH GRIFFITHS This new Archaeopress volume, with its eye-popping cover, is in effect a manifesto for ‘Egypopcult’, an emerging multi-disciplinary project studying ancient Egypt as reflected in contemporary popular culture, going beyond the use of Egyptian motifs, narratives,…
Win a copy of Dendera: Temple of Time by José María Barrera
Where was this photograph taken? If you know, email the Editor (peter@ancientegyptmagazine.com) before 30 June with your answer, giving your full name and address. One lucky reader will have their name selected at random from all the correct answers and…
Dendera: Temple of Time
REVIEW BY SARAH GRIFFITHS When José María Barrera visited the Temple of Dendera for the first time, he was left breathless by the spectacular celestial ceiling of the pronaos – so much so, he returned a few years later armed…
Personal Religion in Domestic Contexts during the New Kingdom: The Impact of the Amarna Period
REVIEW BY ANNA GARNETT The site of Tell el-Amarna presents a unique opportunity to understand aspects of the daily lives of ancient Egyptian people more than 3,000 years ago. The high level of preservation of the ancient city and its…
The treasure of Tanis: A discovery rivalling that of Tutankhamun’s tomb.
Situated in the north-eastern part of the Nile Delta, ancient Djanet (Tanis) was the residence and burial place of the kings of the Twenty-first and Twenty-second Dynasties. In the late 1930s and early ’40s, a complex of royal tombs was…
Dwarf lamp stand
Dr Campbell Price describes an unusual lamp stand from the collection of the Petrie Museum in London.
Ancient Egypt news in brief
A round-up of some of the latest news from the world of ancient Egypt.…