The association between the ancient Egyptians and dogs is not clearly understood, despite the animal’s early and pervasive presence in the archaeological and cultural record. Three images dated to the Sixth Dynasty depict mouth-to-muzzle contact between an ancient Egyptian workman and a dog: a two-dimensional wall scene, carved and painted in relief on the North wall of Room III in the tomb of Kagemni at Saqqara; a three-dimensional limestone model (JE 72143) from Tomb 7715a, East Field, Giza currently in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo; and a small white enstatite amulet/stamp (UC 38150) from an unknown location, currently in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London. These representations are curious finds from this conservative ancient society that rarely displayed physical contact between humans, much less between human and animal. The interpretation of these images relies on observations of animal behaviour, analyses of carved and painted wall scenes in which dogs appear in the company of humans, and comparative studies of other ancient cultures. This paper presents the author’s most recent conclusions shedding light on our understanding of the basis of the ancient Egyptian’s relationship with canids during the Old Kingdom.

That burials occur in the subterranean chambers connected to non-royal superstructures of the Old Kingdom has led some scholars to interpret the whole of the complex as funerary in its purpose. In addition, it is commonly stated that the non-royal mortuary complexes and their decorations are necessary for maintaining the deceased’s existence in the after-life as well as providing the means for their transformation. These theories concerning the purpose of the non-royal monuments in the Old Kingdom are questionable, for the evidence does not consistently support such claims, and they break down logically when considered in real social settings.

Both textual and iconographic evidence suggest that the superstructures were not central to the funeral rites (except, of course, interment) and therefore should be viewed as having another primary purpose. Further, the supposed necessity of the tombs and specifically their decoration for the preservation and transformation of the deceased breaks down in light of the abundant lack of such things among all social classes of the ancient Egyptians as well as the textual evidence which suggests that the deceased has already obtained the necessary things for transformation and are already an akh even before a living person steps into their tomb to supposedly assist in making them one post-mortem. Indeed, the Egyptians do indicate what is necessary for transformation in their texts, and it is not a decorated tomb.

While Sneferu’s pyramids at Meidum and Dashur have long been known and studied, less is known about his small pyramid at Seila. This is partially because of lack of good excavation until the last twenty years, and then because the publications of that excavation have not been finished. This presentation will address the state of that publication, and will focus on the parallels between the Seila pyramid and Seneferu’s other pyramids. In particular it will address some decorative and ritual elements held in common among the pyramids. The discoveries at Seila both cast light on the other pyramids and force us to ask questions regarding Sneferu’s innovations and intentions. Both his building and decoration program demonstrate innovations which would form many aspects of kingship for the grand era of the pyramid age.

Most ancient Egyptians lived from agriculture. The surpluses were small, and sometimes this surplus could be exchanged for little luxuries, such as olive oil. Small scale commerce was often in the hands of farmers, but it is possible that olive oil production was under the rule of the Temples and pharaohs. The olive oil was a luxury product, and it was limited almost only to the high social positions, because it was more expensive than local oils. But the necessity to produce perfume, unguents, and other products required that they import olive oil from other regions. From the 1st Dynasty onwards, olives and oil came from Syria, Palestine and Libya. In time, oil trade was also imported from Mesopotamia, Greece, the Aegean and Crete.

The use of olive oil was probably influenced by Phoenicia or other Near East regions, and its great demand comes from trendy funerary and religious customs. Olive trees were also used to obtain wood and its branches and leaves to do bunches and funeral wreathes. Olives were used as food, much as today.

There is not an exact date for olive cultivation in Ancient Egypt. Most Egyptologists have suggested that it was not practiced in the Middle Kingdom or New Kingdom. It is true that the Egyptian climate made it problematic for olive cultivation However, the latest archaeological fieldwork and the new techniques that analyze residue in amphorae have discovered that olives and olive oil production was practiced in Egypt.

Luxor, today's ancient Thebes, is the well-known site of some of the most important archaeological remains in Egypt. In addition to the often- visited temples and tombs on both sides of the Nile, recent large-scale engineering efforts to install a city-wide sewer system and a project to lower the ground water have revealed the presence of unknown or previously lost monuments, around the temple complexes of Karnak and Luxor. The eastern limits of the destroyed temple to the Aten erected by Akhenaten have been uncovered. Other recent finds outside the Karnak temple complex include the colonnade of an unknown temple of the 25th Dynasty, the gate of a temple of Khonsu from the reign of Ptolemy XII and the recovery of a Ptolemaic temple to Thoth. Elements of the enclosure wall of the Roman camp built around Luxor temple have been revealed and numerous decorated blocks re-used as house foundations for the medieval city east of the temple have been recovered. These recent discoveries will serve as signposts for future excavations.

The seventh and final season of excavations at Tell el-Borg in North Sinai took place in April 2007. In the course of these excavations, we have uncovered a significant amount of material from the Amarna period. In addition to pottery from this period, a number of reused talatat blocks were found. Most significantly, the names of an unanticipated number of the successors of Akhenaten were found, indicating that royal activity in this frontier zone was robust, and may force historians to reconsider Egypt’s status in Canaan in the LB II period.

This paper will examine the nature and contents of the Late Egyptian love songs. By using specific examples from the actual poems, the paper will illustrate the diverse ways in which the Egyptians approached the question of physical love between – mainly unmarried – lovers. The poems are highly varied in nature, containing materials which are risqué, playful, passionate and sometimes very elegant. Despite their eroticism and frankness and openness about sexuality, the poems are far from pornographic. Rather they show a very healthy and human attitude towards an important aspect of the human make-up. They definitely indicate that the Egyptians were far from puritanical and prudish.

In many depictions of the ancient Egyptian funeral found in private New Kingdom tombs at Thebes and Elkab one can distinguish a sequence of scenes that scholars have recognized as the ‘Heilige Bezirk’. It is a series of micro-scenes which are usually grouped together to form this so-called ‘Sacred District’. I use this term because it is a possible English translation for the aforementioned phrase coined by the Germans. The ancient Egyptians referred to this district, or enclosure, as t3 Dsr. The Egyptian term means sacred, or holy ground, and is most commonly thought by modern scholars to refer to the necropolis. In Theban Tomb 60, which dates to the Middle Kingdom, the funeral cortege is approaching the Hall of the Mww and the caption states that they are traveling to the t3 Dsr. In the New Kingdom there are fuller depictions of this destination and the Hall of the Mww appears to act as the entrance point to the Sacred District. However, the illustrations of this location do not necessarily correspond to our idea of a desert necropolis, which has initiated much theorizing. As the micro-scenes are arranged in a neat, organized manner with visible boundaries, they give the impression of an enclosure. It is difficult to surmise what exactly is being depicted, as is demonstrated by the various interpretations suggested by several scholars. Existing theories suggest that there is a relationship between this area and the sacred desert necropolis of the predynastic kings located in Lower Egypt, and the ‘Butic Burial’ is also often mentioned in conjunction with this area. One level of these scenes seems to take place in a mythological world, or is laden with so much mythological lore that the depictions are unclear and may or may not represent actual segments of a funeral. On another level the location may be legendary, as opposed to mythological, and represent an ancient royal tradition.

Thanks to a fellowship grant from the US State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, administered by the American Research Center in Egypt, I was able to conduct field work in the private cemeteries of Qurnet Murai, Qurna and Dra Abu el-Naga on the west bank of Thebes. My work was concentrated in those private New Kingdom tombs that depict the Sacred District amongst their funerary scenes. The Sacred District begins to appear during the time of Ahmose/Amenhotep I, is most common during the reigns of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III and decreases in frequency shortly thereafter. As it is always included among the tomb’s funerary scenes it is most often found on the left wall of the passage of T-shaped tombs; however, there are a few exceptions. There are no actual events or actions illustrated in the Sacred District; but instead the sequence shows a scenic backdrop for funerary ritual. Although anachronistic, this sanctified depiction held meaning for the officials of the New Kingdom. The question is: what was this significance?

The paper proposes a new identification for the 13 ‘shepherds’ who supported a ‘Horus priest from Buto’ in the Contest for the Benefice of Amun and an identity for the latter, and to situate main elements of the tale in the time of the Assyrian conquest of Egypt, 670-660 BCE. I have presented a preliminary version of the paper at the ARCE meeting in Dallas, but few Canadians were present at my talk (Ron was one of them) and I also have been able to make some more progress with some of the issues involved. I believe the topic dovetails nicely with the Egypt and the Bible colloquium.

This paper examines the artistic treatment of Old and New Testament events that occurred in Egypt: the finding of Moses, scenes from the life of Joseph, the Exodus, the parting of the Red Sea, the flight into Egypt, and repose on the flight into Egypt, to name a few. Using Biblical art as its platform, it draws some compelling parallels between intellectual, religious and political climates of different historical periods.

Even though the roots of Old Testament art can be traced back to Alexandria, Egypt, its form and decoration were, in fact, Hellenistic. Before the Christian era, illustrated copies of the official translation - books of the Alexandrian Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint - formed the basis for Biblical art. Those images persisted into 11th, 12th, and 13th century Byzantine art, then made their way into the landscapes of Italian painting.

Early New Testament art - though developing contemporaneously from the first century onward - was influenced largely by local variations, i.e., Alexandrian, Syrian, Ephesian, African, Italian and Gallic. Despite this ‘freedom of expression’ and break from Hellenistic strictures, Egyptian motifs were still absent from Biblical art, even in Coptic Christian art produced in Egypt.

European works continued in this non-conventional vein until the Renaissance when classical ideals were re-introduced. Despite the Napoleonic expedition to Egypt at the end of the 18th century, the cultural infusion of Ancient Egypt into the arts was further delayed because of French intellectual orientation toward both Ancient Rome and Greece, i.e., neo-classicism. La Revolution Française brought profound and far-reaching consequences to the arts: escape from a world that had become increasingly industrialized and mechanized to exotic and natural settings like Ancient Egypt provided the impetus for the Romantic period. At long last, in the second half of the 19th century through the works of the Orientalists Egypt took her place in art among the great ancient cultures. Old and New Testament scenes were highly embellished and rendered with historical accuracy. Biblical themes became Egypt’s Genesis.

No Abstract Available

Abraham is the first individual mentioned in the Bible to visit Egypt. What sort of archaeological evidence the visit of an individual would leave might be debated, but Abraham's story did circulate in Egypt. This story differs from the biblical version in certain ways. Both Abraham and his story's sojourn in Egypt will be discussed.

The geography of the Israelite Exodus as recorded in the biblical books of Exodus and Numbers has been the subject of intense and regular scholarly investigation since the days of Petrie and Naville. In recent years, a debate has arisen about the authenticity of the geographical terms, with the suggestion being that the biblical narratives are historicized myth. This theory will be challenged in the light of new archaeological excavations and geological work in north Sinai that I have directed since 1999. The new data, I believe, assist in clarifying possible locations of some of the Exodus toponyms.

New studies and the 1997-1970 Hebrew Union College/Harvard Semitic Museum excavations of the Solomonic Gateway at Tel Gezer, Israel, have cast radically new light upon a storied event of Israel ’s early years during the early activities and subsequent rule of David, Solomon, and Jeroboam under Egyptian Suzerainty. The Queen of Sheba and Solomon’s gateway at Gezer, together with the (Egyptologically) shadowy Shishak/Sheshonq I play their own unique roles in this recreation of the pivotal first few years in the life of Israel as a fragile Nation State and successful dual Nation States. The Bible, Alan R. Millard, and Kenneth Kitchen had it “right” after all! And Biblical Archaeology Review published it....well before more recent work actually put some evidence in place to support such a wild notion!

In the summer of 701 B.C.E., the powerful Assyrian army laid siege to Jerusalem, threatening the Hebrew kingdom with destruction. Suddenly, the invaders fled, leaving the City of David intact. Why? The Bible, which tells the story in the Book of Second Kings, says only that an angel slew the many of the foe. The real reason for Assyrian retreat has been one of history’s most enduring mysteries. The Rescue of Jerusalem demonstrates that Jerusalem was saved by the army sent by Egypt’s 25th Dynasty. The pharaoh was Shebitku, who came from Kush (or Nubia), located in what it today northern Sudan. He sent an expeditionary to Jerusalem headed by his 21-year-old cousin, Prince Taharqa.

As is well known, ancient kings commonly celebrated victory in battle with a hymn or poem outlining what happened and praising the deity who provided support. While one encounters these regularly within the biblical corpus, less commonly does one consider similar materials in neighboring cultures. In fact, examination of hymns and poems from ancient Egypt about royal victories – or presumed victories – in battle shows a number of hymns and poems that employ language similar to that found within the biblical corpus. A comparison of II Samuel 22, ostensibly authored by David at the victorious conclusion of an undefined battle, with the thirteenth century BCE Israel Stela of Merneptah, that document so beloved by biblical scholars because of its reference to the people Israel, presents many interesting and provocative parallels worthy of discussion. This paper will present some parallels and include discussion of the implications of the similarities and differences.

Presuming that the connection between Egypt and the Bible that is the topic of this year’s symposium will deal almost totally – if not solely – with the Old Testament, this presentation will shift the focus to the New Testament – in particular, to the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt. Mention of this is found only in the Gospel of Matthew, and the details are very brief. “13 Now after they (the wise men) had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ 14Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, 15and remained there until the death of Herod. … 19 When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, 20‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.’ 21Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel.” Thanks to a number of later works by Hippolytus of Rome, Origen of Alexandria, Patriarch Theophilus I, Sozomon, and the apocryphal gospels of Pseudo Matthew and the Arabic Infancy Gospel, not only is the 3 ½ year length of this sojourn defined, but a detailed itinerary can be reconstructed, along with numerous anecdotes about Jesus, some of which have a direct relationship to the events of his later life.

This paper will describe the journey provided by these sources including places such as Abai Issous, “the home of Jesus” and the cave at Mount Qussqam, which the Copts call the Second Bethlehem. It will also show some of the relics left behind by Jesus and the holy family, and relate some of the more interesting and miraculous events that are purported to have taken place, with a special emphasis on those stories that provide an origin or context to later events described in the New testament gospels.

Anthropological and ethnographic research has shown that feasting fulfilled important purposes in prehistoric societies. It allowed the sharing of food among community members, it provided an opportunity for temporary leaders to display their generosity and acquire prestige and could also lead to the appearance and consolidation of permanent inequality. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to detect in the archaeological record in prehistoric times but this paper endeavours to point out possible markers to identify feasting in predynastic Egypt.

As is well known by many Egyptologists, the long identification of the familiar bovine heads topping both the recto and the verso of the Narmer Palette as Hathor was challenged by Henry Fischer’s 1962 well-argued discussion of these heads as the goddess Bat. The nome deity of the seventh Upper Egyptian nome, Bat’s relationship to Hathor continues to be a murky one, discussions of which have done little to bring clarity to scholars’ understanding. That Bat’s nome abuts the sixth Upper Egyptian nome with its ancient and well-known temple of Dendera dedicated to Hathor, considered Hathor’s home but whose ancient nome standard shows a crocodile, only confuses the picture further. While the questions about the sixth nome, its ancient standard, and the temple for Hathor at Dendera abound, the focus of the present discussion seeks to continue to work at unraveling the relationship between Bat and Hathor from the earliest evidence available as part of my ongoing study of the origins and early roles of Neith, Hathor, Nut, Isis, and Nephthys.

For much of the Dynastic Period, the Egyptians perceived that the Afterlife was a geographical location distant from the world of the living. At some point after the moment of death, the deceased would undertake a journey towards the Afterlife, and there spend an eternity in a destination with its own geographies and landscapes.

At different times throughout pharaonic history, and for different layers of society, these Afterlife locations seem to have taken on a variety of forms. For some of the nobility, the route to the Afterlife was a journey avoiding demonic entities and locations, with dangerous monsters and gateways barring the way. For the pharaoh himself, the route to the Afterlife was often a cyclical journey between sunset and sunrise, wherein the pharaoh joined the sun god’s entourage to do battle with the forces of Chaos and disorder, in order to allow the new day to dawn on the horizon in the East.

This paper will look at the group of royal tombs from the Valley of the Kings dating from the reign of Amenophis III to that of Ramesses I, in order to identify what their decoration might tell us about the journey the pharaoh undertook to achieve eternal existence amongst the gods, and whether any significant patterns or detail of events and divinities encountered can be identified within the tombs’ decorative schema that can help elucidate the landscapes of the late 18th Dynasty royal Afterlife and how their geographies were perceived.

It is a common dictum in Egyptology that the ancient Egyptians had no scripture and no canon. This idea seems to come from a narrow Protestant view of the canon. It also appears to be an effort to marginalize study of the Book of the Dead. I will examine the concept of canon in a wider circle than Protestant Christianity and use those concepts to argue that the Book of the Dead is canonical for the ancient Egyptians.

The Tomb of Anen, TT 120, part of the ROM’s Theban Tombs Project, has concluded after six years of restoration and excavation. This presents a summary of the work and findings.

The mummies and cartonnage coffins of Djedmmatiusankh in the ROM and Paankhenamun in the Art Institute of Chicago share many details of design, structure and technique. This joint paper will argue from these similarities and the evidence of names, that the two were not merely contemporaries, but were very likely husband and wife.

CT scans were performed on each of these mummies in the mid 1990s. This paper will compare the similarities in the mummification technique and the cartonnage used to preserve these individuals. Comparisons of the mummies (particularly their dentition and preservation) will also be demonstrated. 3-Dimensional reconstructions of each mummy will also be shown.

ROM 910.75 is a near life-size bust of a queen in traditional pharaonic regalia. It is usually attributed to the Ptolemaic Period, with some attempts to identify it as Cleopatra VII. However, the statue exhibits some unusual features which have made its date uncertain. This short paper will offer a new perspective on the piece.

The research project “In Search of Ancient Egypt in Canada/À la recherche de l’Égypte ancienne au Canada” has identified material from excavations carried out under the “father of Egyptology”, William Matthew Flinders Petrie, in the collections of five Canadian museums.

The presenters, from Vancouver and from Toronto, will briefly describe the material in each museum, illustrated by photos, the sites from which it came and discuss how the material came to reside there. The stories of each museum point to issues regarding information gaps in museum records and the resultant uncertainty regarding provenance and/or excavator for any number of museum artefacts.

The presentation is based on material from two sources:

1. Information collected for In Search of Ancient Egypt in Canada, sponsored by the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities/ Société pour l’Étude de l’Égypte Ancienne;

2. Research carried out by Teresa Schultz on the collection at the Vancouver Museum.

Some of the results, minus the illustrations, will be published in the upcoming issue of JARCE.