Cover Story
Luxor temple: where kings become gods After coronation, the new pharaoh would head to the temple at Luxor to assume the royal ka that flowed from the gods Horus and Re all the way down Egypt’s line of rulers. Nigel Fletcher-Jones takes us on a procession… Features
A painter’s paradise: the life of John Craxton The artist John Craxton had a close relationship with archaeology. It began in his early years in England, where he encountered excavations of Roman mosaics, medieval churches, and an idiosyncratic… 
Domitian: dominus et deus Are bad Roman emperors really that different from good Roman emperors? Nathalie de Haan and Eric M Moormann look at the case of Domitian, an accomplished military man and prolific… 
Kallos: eternal beauty What did kallos mean to the Greeks? As the Museum of Cycladic Art explores this concept, Lucia Marchini talks to Nikolaos Stampolidis to uncover divine, mortal, and internal beauty in… 
Peru: the hills are alive For some ancient Peruvian societies, the past and the future were alive, as were the dramatic landscapes they lived in. Lucia Marchini speaks to Cecilia Pardo, Jago Cooper, and Tom… News
New details about a Roman villa complex and mosaic found in Rutland revealed The excavation has unearthed a large mosaic in what is thought to be the dining room or entertaining area of the villa, which was occupied between the 3rd and 4th… 
Silver Scythian goddess plate discovered in Russia This is thought to be a fertility goddess known as Artimpasa, or, in ancient Anatolia, as Cybele. 
Museum previews: what to look forward to in 2022 In 2022, we can look forward to the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo, a new Anglo-Saxon visitor at Ad Gefrin in Northumberland, and Norway's new National Museum… 
More museums reopen in Lisbon, London, and Boston Lisbon's Núcleo Arqueológico da Rua dos Correeiros museum, London's Courtauld Gallery, and Boston's Museum of Fine Arts have all reopened. 
Charting the creative process in an Egyptian chapel On the north and south walls of the Chapel at the Temple of Hatshepsut, mirrored reliefs show a procession of figures bringing offerings to the enthroned female pharaoh Views
Words of wisdom: ‘Give to him who gives’ Ideas For the man who gives willingly, even if he gives much, rejoices in the gift and feels glad in his heart. The man who takes for himself, observing no sense… 
Exhibitions from around the world (December 2021 – March 2022) Museum, What's on Due to changing coronavirus measures, the dates listed below may have changed since we went to print, and museums and galleries may close. Check the websites and social-media accounts of… 
Sutton Hoo, 1939 The Picture Desk Shown here is one of Wagstaff’s images, with the ghostly outline of the ship, whose planks had eroded in the acidic soil, clearly visible. In the foreground, Basil Brown (wearing… 
Julio César Tello Rojas People “Our present Hispanic-Peruvian civilisation cannot stand except on an indigenous pedestal.” Reviews
The Eurasian Steppe: People, Movement, ideas The Eurasian Steppe: People, Movement, Ideas is an ambitious scholarly volume tracing the origins of the European identity in the Eurasian steppe, the vast expanse of land that stretches from… Exhibitions from around the world (December 2021 – March 2022) Due to changing coronavirus measures, the dates listed below may have changed since we went to print, and museums and galleries may close. Check the websites and social-media accounts of… Museum previews: what to look forward to in 2022 In 2022, we can look forward to the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo, a new Anglo-Saxon visitor at Ad Gefrin in Northumberland, and Norway's new National Museum… 
The First Ghosts: Most Ancient of Legacies Ancient Mesopotamian literature, written in cuneiform from around 3000 BC, is haunted by omens and ghosts. Most of the sources on ghosts come from the 1st millennium BC, written in… 
Homer: The Very Idea Some time in the 8th century BC, with the Greek alphabet just decades old, two monumental poems, the Iliad and Odyssey, were committed to writing and so became the first… 
From the editor
In November, the Avenue of the Sphinxes in Egypt opened to much fanfare with a dramatic staging of an ancient procession, livestreamed so that people around the world could watch online. This 2.7km-long route, lined with more than 1,000 sculptures of sphinxes and rams, connects the temples of Karnak and Luxor, where pharaohs would head to assume the divine royal essence (or ka) that flowed through Egypt’s long line of kings. Once a year, the king would take part in the Opet festival, a grand procession from Karnak to Luxor temple that was associated with rebirth and renewal. As we head into a new year, with a spirit of renewal in the air, Nigel Fletcher-Jones delves into the ceremonies held at the site and the rulers – like Rameses II, whom we see in the imposing statue on our cover – who made their mark on the temple over thousands of years.
Divinity was a well-established element in Egyptian kingship, but for the Romans it was rather more complicated. While worthy emperors were deified after their deaths, Domitian made the bold decision to adopt the title dominus et deus (‘lord and god’) while he was still alive, ruffling senatorial feathers. Nathalie de Haan and Eric M Moormann, curators of a new exhibition on this powerful figure, consider the differing images of Domitian put forward by the ruler himself and by his detractors. Was he really so different from other emperors?
Next we turn to the art of the Nasca and Moche cultures of Peru. Both cultures illustrated a range of objects with imagery of ritual battles, sacrifices, and hybrid gods with features drawn from different animals. From the vibrant painted pots and dyed textiles of the Nasca, preserved in the desert for centuries, to the wooden sculptures of the Moche, protected by layers of guano, these artefacts offer insights into people’s relationships with different landscapes and also the past, both of which were often seen as alive in the ancient Andes.
For our final two features, we look at different aspects of the Greek world. First is its profound influence on the 20th-century artist John Craxton. As Ian Collins writes, his enduring philhellenism is captured in some of his joyous, brightly coloured paintings, but, particularly in his earlier years, he was also interested in the historic landscapes of his English homeland. Finally, we explore the concept of kallos in ancient Greece, and the manifestations of this ‘beauty’ – external and internal – in art, thought, and everyday life.
I hope you enjoy this issue, and have a Happy New Year.
