LECTURE PROGRAMME 2011-12

Venue: New Walk Museum, Leicester, LE1 7EA

Meeting time – 2pm.  Please arrive earlier for registration.

 Programme Secretary: Dylan Bickerstaffe. Tel: 01509 650304, email dylan367@yahoo.com
Secretary: Patricia Mason, Tel 01455 614741, email LAES@egyptology-uk.com

2011

September 24th
Karen Exell, Curator of Egyptology, Manchester Museum
The Magician’s Tomb

What were the tools of the trade for an ancient Egyptian magician, and how did he go about his work? We are lucky to have the tomb of just such a man to provide us with some answers.

October 15th
John Wyatt, African Wildlife Expert and Ornitho-Egyptologist
The Divine Bestiary in Ancient Egypt

The pantheon of ancient Egypt is filled with gods and goddesses who were frequently represented as specific animals and birds. John will introduce us to the creatures that became divine in this way.

November 19th
Campbell Price, University of Liverpool
Secrets Still Under the Sand: The Geophysical Mapping of Saqqara

For over twenty years Ian Mathieson used geophysical techniques to view structures beneath the sands at the ancient cemetery of Saqqara. Campbell Price was part of that team and has continued the search for hidden monuments including the tomb of the legendary architect, Imhotep.

December 17th
Suzanne Bojtos, Birkbeck College, London
Pharaoh Thutmose III: War and Peace

Thutmose III is known as a great conqueror and as the young king who shared his throne with his step-mother Hatshepsut. However, there is more to the story than this and Suzanne will give a balanced view of the long reign of Pharaoh Thutmose.

2012

January 21st
Chris Kirby, Herbert Museum, Coventry
Giants in the Lake. The Middle Kingdom Colossi at Biahmu.

Two giant statues raised by Pharaoh Amenhotep III, known as the Colossi of Memnon, gaze across the Nile at Luxor, and are iconic tourist images. Much less well known, however, is that 500 years earlier another great king, Amenemhet III, erected two equally huge statues at Biahmu to gaze across the great inland sea in the Faiyum. Chris followed the work of Petrie on the site and will show us just what this great monument looked like in its prime.

February 18th
Dylan Bickerstaffe, LAES Programme Secretary
Poison, Forgery, and Voodoo. The Harem Conspiracy Against Ramesses III.

Ramesses III was arguably Egypt’s last truly great Pharaoh, so why did his reign end in an attempted coup? This talk examines the evidence to discover who the key players were, how much magic played a part, and finds uncanny modern parallels in the way access was gained to the private quarters of the king.

March 17th
Joyce Tyldesley, KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology
Egypt’s First Queens.

From the most remote and obscure period of Egyptian history come the names of great and powerful queens – and even female kings. Joyce will bring to life such shadowy figures as Neithhotep, Merneith, Kentkauwes, Hetepheres, Meresankh, Ankhesenmeryre, and the legendary beauty, Nitocris.

April 21st
Glenn Godenho, University of Liverpool
Egypt’s so-called First Intermediate Period, and the Tomb of Ankhtifi

After the great pyramid age of the Old Kingdom, Egypt split into separate warring regions during the First Intermediate Period. Alliances and civil war, famine, siege, and cannibalism – Glenn has worked at the tomb of Ankhtifi, which preserves vital information on events during these times.

May 19th
Aidan Dodson, University of Bristol
Ay and Horemheb: From Soldier to King

As fascinating as the reign of Akhenaten is the period following when two men with military backgrounds took the throne. Aidan throws light on the reigns of these two monarchs, showing just how much we know.