Symposium 2025 - Weekend Agenda
The 2025 Scholars' Colloquium/Symposium Weekend is a hybrid event, being held Friday November 7 to Sunday November 9. Two days of Scholars' Colloquium - 30 minute presentations on their most recent work by international scholars and researchers - bracketed the themed Symposium.
The 49th Annual Symposium took place on Saturday November 8th 2025, both in-person and on-line. The title was Turbulent Times, Hostile Neighbours: Egypt in the Late Period. From about 700 BC to 332 BC, Egypt had to contend with new and often hostile empires as well as internal strife and shifting alliances. This year’s Symposium explores various aspects of Egyptian civilization during this turbulent Late Period.
The preceding Third Intermediate Period saw fragmentation of the government and the rise of Amun theocracy in Thebes. Then the kings of Nubia swept in from the south and reunified Egypt under their control. Eventually Assyrians from Mesopotamia forced Nubians out of Egypt. While Assyrians were busy dealing with other issues, their Egyptian governor declared independence and ruled Egypt from the Nile Delta city of Sais. Persians were the next superpower to invade, but Egyptians regained independence for one last time, until a second Persian invasion and occupation. The period ended when Alexander the Great defeated Darius III and seized Egypt.
At the Symposium, an international panel of scholars presented how ancient people not only survived through this tumultuous time but also thrived to create beautiful art and flourishing civilizations. Richly illustrated lectures highlighted the speakers’ recent discoveries and latest research.
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 7: COLLOQUIUM DAY 1
4 Bancroft Ave., 2nd Floor
9:00–9:10 Welcome
9:10–9:40 On the evolution of Neith as an Archer
Mariam Ayad (American University in Cairo)
9:40–10:10 Presences out of context: Syria–Egypt relations in the Sixth Dynasty
(Via Zoom) Michele Marcolin (Waseda University; Accademia delle Scienze di Torino)
BREAK
10:30–11:00 Blue-Painted Pottery at the Royal Ontario Museum
Lianna Sternklar (University of Toronto)
11:00–11:30 Before Isis: A Ramesside Revelation from Behbeit el-Hagar
(Via Zoom) Hossam Hegazi (Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities)
11:30–12:00 The earliest "foreignized" god in the Egyptian pantheon
Heri Abruña Marti (Autonomous University of Barcelona)
LUNCH
1:15–1:45 Tanutamon’s dream stela and dream tradition in Ancient Egypt
Salvatore Bellavia (Universitá di Messina)
1:45–2:15 Hieratic Pottery in Canaan
Jared Chammat (University of Toronto)
BREAK
2:35–3:05 Independent Tombs of Women in Ancient Egypt as Indicators of Wealth and Access to Resources
(Via Zoom) May Farouk (Université du Québec à Montréal; Sadat University)
3:05–3:35 Votive Objects in the New Kingdom: Form, Material, Function
Amber Hutchinson (Independent Scholar)
3:35–4:05 Breaking the Mold: A Male 'Fertility' Figurine from the Redpath Museum
Émilie Sarrazin (Yale University)
4:05–4:15 WRAP-UP
7:00– Annual General Meeting
FOLLOWING Members’ Reception
SATURDAY NOV. 7
49th SSEA/SÉÉA SYMPOSIUM, SATURDAY NOVEMBER 7, 2025
TURBULENT TIMES, HOSTILE NEIGHBOURS
5 Bancroft Ave., Rm. 142B
9:00–9:15 Welcome
9:15–10:15 Turbulent Times, Hostile Neighbours? Contextualizing Egypt's Third Intermediate Period
Jean Li (Toronto Metropolitan University)
BREAK
10:30–11:30 The God's Wife of Amun: Origins and Rise to Power
Mariam F. Ayad (American University in Cairo)
11:30–12:30 Continuity and Innovation: Theban Temple-Tombs of the Kushite and Saite Periods
(Via Zoom) Ken Griffin (Egypt Centre, Swansea)
LUNCH
1:45–2:45 The Long Arm of Psamtik II? Neglected Sources for His Nubian War
Jeremy Pope (College of William & Mary)
BREAK
3:00–4:00 The World of Aršāma, Persian Governor of Egypt (ca. 420-400 BCE)
Rhyne King (University of Toronto)
4:00–5:00 Back to the Future: Art of the Late Period
Lawrence M. Berman (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
5:00–5:15 WRAP-UP
SUNDAY NOV. 9: COLLOQUIUM DAY 2
4 Bancroft Ave., 2nd Floor
10:00–10:30 Introducing the new Tutankhamun Gallery at the GEM
(Via Zoom) Yasmine Mohamed (Grand Egyptian Museum)
10:30–11:00 A first look at the Kampp -23- tomb in the North Asasif
(Via Zoom) Casey Kirkpatrick (Simon Fraser University), Abdelghaffar Wagdy (Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities) and Fathy Yaseen (Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities)
BREAK
11:20–11:50 The Role of the mnꜤt in the New Kingdom Household
(Via Zoom) Cannon Fairbairn (University of Birmingham)
LUNCH
1:00–1:30 Late Kushite/Early Saitic Matrix at Memphis: Establishing Connections Between Families and Monuments
(Via Zoom) Nenad Marković (Independent Scholar)
1:30–2:00 Egyptian Monastic Networks: Connectivity, Exchange, and Sacred Topographies (4th–7th c. CE)
(Via Zoom) Pau de Soto (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) and Ariadna Guimerà (Universidad de Málaga)
BREAK
2:15–2:45 Experiencing Otherness: Foreigners as Participants and Props in Imperial Pageantry
Carla Mesa Guzzo (University of Toronto)
2:45–3:15 Unseen history: fragments of the Montuhotep Temple at Deir el Bahari at the Royal Ontario Museum
Gayle Gibson (Royal Ontario Museum)
3:15–3:30 WRAP-UP
