While the golden kings exhibition has left Canada for southern climes, those in Vancouver will have an opportunity to learn more about him and more specifically how his artefacts reinforced his position as pharaoh.
Professor Katja Goebs research looks at Egyptian pharaohs and the artefacts that cement their hold on power. Her most recent book Crowns in early Egyptian Funerary Literature: Royalty, Rebirth, and Destruction, examines the white and red crowns ofUpper and Lower Egypt. They possess a wide-ranging symbolism that transcends the terrestrial sphere to encompass the divine and the cosmos, death and rebirth, she wrote in the book preview.
On June 22 she will be giving a talk, at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver Canada, about how King Tuts treasures upheld his role as an Egyptian pharaoh.
Even though Tut was a short-lived king, his reign occurred at a crucial time in Egyptian history. He ascended to the throne not long after the death of Akhenaten -whose rule wascharacterized by a revolution in Egyptian religion. The Aten, the sun disc, become the focus of worship and an iconoclasm was unleashed that saw other Egyptian religious figures be chiselled out.
Tut, although he was only a child, witnessed the end of this system and the return of traditional Egyptian beliefs. Each item in this glorious collection served to underpin a kingship ideology that portrayed the pharaoh asson and representative of the sun-god by employing both traditional and innovative motifs, reads the preview for Professor Goebs lecture.
It takes place at 6 pm (local time) in room 208 in the Buchanan Tower, 1873 East Mall. Its a free event.
Inaugural lecture
This will be the first event hosted by the newly formed Vancouver chapter of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities.
There is important research going on in the west coast city. Last fall I wrote about Professor Thomas Schneiders work on Egyptology during the Nazi era. It is fascinating stuff and, presuming all goes well, Professor Schneider will be discussing his research in an upcoming book.
The Vancouver chapter can be contacted at Vancouver@thessea.org