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“Body Image and Structuring the Identity: An Analysis of Body Ornaments in Predynastic Egypt” Maryan Ragheb

The June 2022 speaker at the Essex Egyptology Group was Maryan Ragheb, who is a 6th year PhD candidate at UCLA (California), and she told us about the research she’s doing that will be the subject of her dissertation. She’s at the point in the process where she has quite a bit of her data and has drawn some preliminary conclusions but still has more questions than answers. As her title says, she is interested in what can be discovered about identity expression in early Egyptian history from their body ornaments. So she began by defining “identity” for us. In essence this is how an individual demonstrates themselves to part of a broader group or community, and indicates their place within it. You can have more than one identity and most of us do. Identity expression is a performative action – it is something you choose to do, and it… Read More »“Body Image and Structuring the Identity: An Analysis of Body Ornaments in Predynastic Egypt” Maryan Ragheb

“Jewels of the Nile: Ancient Egyptian Treasures from the Collection of the Worcester Art Museum” Dr Peter Lacovara

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At the beginning of November 2021 Dr Peter Lacovara talked to us at the Essex Egyptology Group via Zoom about an upcoming exhibition, Jewels of the Nile, which will be opening on 18th June 2022 at Worcester Art Museum, MA and running until the end of January 2023. He began by giving us some background as to how he got involved with the collection at Worcester Art Museum (and subsequently the exhibition). When he moved from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in the late 1990s to the Michael C. Carlos Museum in Atlanta the latter museum had a small collection of Egyptian objects and his brief was to expand it. He got a grant from the Museum Loan Network Grant Collections to visit the museums in New England (which were the ones he knew best) to look at what they had in storage, and then have pieces conserved/repaired and… Read More »“Jewels of the Nile: Ancient Egyptian Treasures from the Collection of the Worcester Art Museum” Dr Peter Lacovara

“Flies, Lions and Oyster Shells: Military Awards or Tea for Two” Taneash Sidpura (EEG Meeting Talk)

String of 7 fly amulets

In August Taneash Sidpura came to the Essex Egyptology Group to talk to us about the topic of his PhD research – golden flies, golden lions & oyster shells. These pendants are often stated to be military awards handed out by Pharaoh to people who distinguished themselves in battle, but having researched these items Sidpura disagrees with that assessment. He began his talk by giving us some background to the items & their assumed meaning. It’s typical of nobles to record self praise on stelae & in their tomb inscriptions. Generally this is related to the king, and how wonderfully the noble did the things the king wanted him to do. Sidpura showed us some examples of these sorts of texts including the 12th Dynasty stela of Sobek-khu. These texts also record the gifts and rewards that the king has given them for doing these things. Lots of these gifts… Read More »“Flies, Lions and Oyster Shells: Military Awards or Tea for Two” Taneash Sidpura (EEG Meeting Talk)

“Ancient Egyptian Jewellery” Carol Andrews (EEG Meeting Talk)

In February Carol Andrews came to talk to the Essex Egyptology Group about Ancient Egyptian jewellery – in particular that worn by women. She structured her talk as an overview of the various types of jewellery and for each type she looked at both the archaeological evidence and at the artistic representations of the jewellery. Men wore as much jewellery as women, and in fact there are very few if any forms that were specific to women. One of the common forms of jewellery worn by both sexes is the broad collar, constructed of several concentric strings of beads with pendants on the outermost string. At the ends of the strings there may be large ornate terminals, and the heavier collars needed a counterpoise at the back to keep it attractively balanced around the neck. The first surviving example dates to the Middle Kingdom, but they are depicted on statues… Read More »“Ancient Egyptian Jewellery” Carol Andrews (EEG Meeting Talk)