Bob Partridge Memorial Lecture 10/06/13: The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt

The next Manchester Ancient Egypt Society lecture will be given by Dr. Toby Wilkinson.

The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt

Monday 10th June, 7:30pm

Days Inn, Sackville Street, Manchester, M1 3AL

All welcome

Ancient Egypt has all the ingredients of an epic novel – glittering courts, dynastic intrigues, murky assassinations and epic battles; individual stories of heroism and skulduggery, of triumph and tragedy; powerful women and tyrannical kings – but the real history is even more surprising. The Ancient Egyptians were the first group of people to share a common culture, outlook and identity within a defined geographical territory governed by a single political authority – concepts of nationhood that continue to dominate the planet. As the world’s first nation-state, the history of Ancient Egypt is above all the story of the attempt to unite a disparate realm and defend it against hostile forces from within and without. In this lecture, Toby Wilkinson sets out to reveal Ancient Egypt in all its complexity, including the relentless propaganda, the cut-throat politics, the brutality and repression that lay behind the appearance of unchanging monarchy, as well as the extraordinary architectural and cultural achievements for which the pharaohs are justly famous.

Dr Toby Wilkinson is a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge. He is a regular media commentator on Egypt, has lectured on Ancient Egypt throughout the UK and overseas and has contributed to many television and radio programmes. Toby is the author of 8 books on Ancient Egypt, the most recent of which, The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt, was named by the Times, the Sunday Times, and BBC History Magazine as one of the history books of the year, and won the Hessell-Tiltman Prize for the best popular history of 2010.

MAES lecture, 8/4/13: Chris Naunton, “Regime Change in 25th Dynasty Thebes”

Sphinx of Taharqa. BM EA 1770.

The next Manchester Ancient Egypt Society lecture will be given by Dr. Chris Naunton, Director of the EES

Regime Change and the Administration of Thebes During the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty.

Monday 8th April, 7:30pm

Days Inn, Sackville Street, Manchester, M1 3AL

All welcome

The Piye Stela suggests that the Nubian king of that name invaded Egypt and defeated a series of local, independent to re-establish central authority after a brief period when the country had become divided. In fact however there are good reasons to think that the country had been divided for some time and that the Kushites already had control of quite a bit of it, but never really had total control of the whole of the Two Lands. The study of the administration immediately beneath the level of King, and the titles held by important individuals in particular, can tell us a great deal about the processes involved and the reality behind the propaganda.

Dr Chris Naunton is Director of the Egypt Exploration Society. He studied Egyptology at the universities of Birmingham and Swansea and wrote his PhD thesis on regime change in the Twenty-fifth Dynasty. He has excavated in the field at Abydos and in el-Asasif, Western Thebes but his research focuses now on the EES archives and the history of Egyptology. He is the presenter of the 2012 BBC film Flinders Petrie: ‘The Man Who Discovered Egypt’.

MAES Study Day: Stories, Myths and Hieroglyphs 23rd March 2013

Shabti spell on Acc. No. 3727b.

Manchester Ancient Egypt Society will be running its annual study day on Saturday 23rd of March.

The morning will be dedicated to ancient Egyptian stories and myths, with Joyce Tyldesley and Helen Stewart, a MAES member who is a professional story teller, so you’ll get to hear some of the best tales told as they were in ancient times!

In the afternoon, Claire Ollett from the University of Liverpool (and who runs the Blackburn AE soc, THEBES) will continue the story theme with the tale of hieroglyphs -the origins, development and usage of hieroglyphic writing and a closer look at the stories behind individual signs – why these signs were used, what they meant and their wider meaning in the context of Egyptian thought.

So a great chance to practice your hieroglyphs and find out more about the signs and how they were used.

• The day begins at 9:30 and finishes around 4:30.

• There will be a raffle for charity, book auction to raise funds for MAES and a fun photo-spotting competition.
• Tea / coffee / biscuits provided morning and afternoon.

• You need to make your own lunch arrangements, but there are lots of places in the shopping centre to buy / eat food.

Tickets are £25 for members, £30 guests, from Gillian Cook, 298 Manor Avenue, Sale, Cheshire, M33 4NB (0161 976 1165)

There is a limit on numbers so please book early! Cheques to MAES.

MAES Lecture 12 November 2012 – ‘A Page from the Book of Genesis’: Changing visions of the Fayum Landscape

A lecture by Dr. Claire Malleson at Manchester Ancient Egypt Society

Monday 12th November, 7:30pm

Days Inn, Sackville Street, Manchester, M1 3AL

‘A Page from the Book of Genesis’: Changing visions of the Fayum Landscape

Representing different things to different people, the Fayum region can be viewed as the land of the Labyrinth and the Lake, a rich fertile oasis, the home of some of the most important Middle Kingdom remains, and a focus of interest regarding the changing environment in Egypt. This lecture will present some of the very different perceptions of the Fayum, from Ancient Egypt, classical Greece and Rome, Medieval Islamic scholars and early European travellers. It will examine who influenced who, and how literary trends and story-telling played a critical role in shaping our ideas as well as tracking some of the perceptions of the region which have remained the same throughout history.

Having studied Egyptology at Birkbeck College and Bloomsbury Summer Schools in London Claire started her MA (part time) in Liverpool in 2002, graduating in 2004, the topic of her thesis being Investigating Ancient Egyptian Towns: a Case Study of Itj-tawy. She began her PhD (part-time) at Liverpool in 2005 and started working on sites in Egypt, training as an archaeobotanist with Dr Murry at Giza (Mark Lehner’s site), going on to work as a botanist at other sites in Egypt. She completed her PhD in 2012, her thesis titled ‘Imagined and Experienced: Changing Perceptions of the Fayum Landscape.’ As well as Giza, she has worked at the archaeological sites of Tell el-Retaba, Medinet Gurob, Sais, Tell Mutubis, Tell el-Borg, Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham and, in the UK, Sedgeford in Norfolk and Chester Roman Amphitheatre.

MAES Lecture 14th May 2012: Egypt’s Developing Delta – Tombs, Treasure and Railways!

Manchester Ancient Egypt Society will host its annual AGM and a lecture by Dr. Penny Wilson of Durham University on Monday the 14th of May 2012, at Days Inn, Weston Building, Sackville Street, Manchester, 7.15pm

The lecture will look at the political and social development of major cities and archaeological sites in the Delta from the Late Period through to the modern day. The capital cities of Tanis and Sais introduced the notion of city-states and temple burials to Egypt, while the move to the western side of Egypt, especially at Alexandria opened Egypt to the trade networks of the Aegean and western Mediterranean. All of these things had important effects on culture and society in ancient Egypt, none more so than our approach to the archaeology of the area and how it was subsequently affected by modern developments in irrigation and railways. By the end of the talk I hope you will have an idea of the challenges of studying the north of Egypt and as taste of its grandeur and beauty – ancient and modern!

Manchester Ancient Egypt Society June Study Day: Epigraphy at Saqqara

The Manchester Ancient Egypt Society will be holding a study day at the Days Inn, Sackville Street on Saturday 23 June featuring lectures by Dr Yvonne Harpur and Paolo Scremin to raise funds for the pioneering photographic work of the Oxford Expedition to Egypt being carried out in Old Kingdom tombs at Saqqara.

–          Members and non-members are invited to come and find out about life in the field with the expedition staff, and enjoy a well-illustrated description of the expedition’s past, present and future projects in Egypt.

–          Learn about how the team are bringing the past to life and overcoming the technical and logistical difficulties of tomb photography, and the secrets to achieving the best results.

–          Hear the story of the earliest fully decorated tombs of Ancient Egypt at Maidum, the destruction of these beautiful works of art by treasure seekers and vandals, and the reconstruction work being carried out on the fragments that have been rescued.

The recent revolution in Egypt should be a timely reminder of the importance of tomb documentation in Egyptology. The vast majority of tombs have never been documented in detail for more advanced or specialised types of research. Hear more about the expedition’s most recent rescue project, initiated last year in response to rapidly changing circumstances in Egypt and see some rare and unique scenes and details from the best Old Kingdom tombs.

Dr Yvonne Harpur is the Field Director of the Oxford Expedition to Egypt, a Research Fellow at Linacre College Oxford University and Assistant photographer of the expedition.

Paolo Scremin, the Deputy Field Director of the Oxford Expedition to Egypt is an Academic Visitor at Linacre College Oxford University and the professional photographer of the expedition.

For more details or to book a place please email MAES Secretary Sarah Griffiths at sarahgwen1@hotmail.com

Study Day: The Middle Kingdom in Ancient Egypt

A Manchester Ancient Egypt Society Study Day

Saturday 24 March 9:30am to 4:45pm
Longfield Suite, Prestwich
Tickets £25 members, £30 non members
Booking in advance required

Come and explore the Middle Kingdom with the Manchester Ancient Egypt Society!

Our speakers for the day are:

• Victor Blunden – “Art, architecture and life in Middle Kingdom Egypt”

• Dr. Steven Snape – “Life and Death in the Provinces: Beni Hasan and Deir Rifeh in the Middle Kingdom”

• Dr. Joyce Tyldesley – “The Royal Women of the Middle Kingdom”

• Dr. Campbell Price – “Royal Favour and Classic Forms: Private Sculpture of the Middle Kingdom”

As numbers are limited, please book in advance.

Registration 9.30-10.00 am, close approx. 4.45 pm.
Cost £25 for members and £30 for non-members – this includes refreshments but not lunch, but there are plenty of cafes etc nearby!
Please send cheques including your contact details to:

Gillian Cook
298 Manor Avenue
Sale
Cheshire M33 4NB.

For more information email the MAES Secretary, Sarah Griffiths, at sarahgwen1@hotmail.com
More information about MAES: http://www.maesweb.org.uk/
For venue details: http://www.bury.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=7033