Who says snow and Egypt don’t go together? Symposium, King Tut, hit Toronto this month!
Toronto is a good place to be for Egyptian lovers this month.
While the weather in Toronto isn’t exactly like Cairo (snowfall is common during November), there is going to be lots of important Egyptian activities happening.
First the big event – King Tut is coming to town!
The North American show, which made its last stop in Indianapolis, is opening at the Art Gallery of Ontario on November 24. Advance tickets are on sale now. The show is going to go beyond King Tut’s tomb to explore Egypt as it was during the Amarna period. One of the most important artefacts on display is the largest statue of Tut ever found – 10 feet long.
The second major event is happening this weekend. It’s a three-day Egyptian symposium, hosted by the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities (SSEA) and the Royal Ontario Museum. Presentations take place at the University of Toronto campus and the museum. Schedules are posted on the SSEA website.
Saturday’s segment will focus on Egypt and the Bible. A timely subject considering that the Dead Sea Scrolls are on display in Toronto. The Saturday segment costs $95 for members of the public ($90 if registration is online). Students with valid ID can get in for $45 ($40 if registration is online).
Friday and Sunday will feature shorter talks, on a wide range of topics, which are geared more towards scholars. These talks are free.
In total there are nearly 30 papers being presented.
Heritage Key has just reported that one of those presentations is an announcement of a rather touching discovery. A team of scientists have found the husband of a famous 3,000 year old Toronto mummy - the husband’s location? Chicago.
A few other presentations I want to highlight here.
The pyramid at Seila
Professor Kerry Muhlestein, of Brigham Young University, will be in town. One of the talks he’s going to be giving is an update on research at the pyramid of Seila.
The discoveries at Seila both cast light on the other pyramids and force us to ask questions regarding Sneferu’s innovations and intentions
This pyramid was built by the pharaoh Sneferu, the first king of the 4th dynasty (the dynasty that built the Great Pyramids by the way). Seila is smaller than the pyramids that Sneferu built at Meidum and Dashur and is only a fraction the size of the ones at Giza.
Says Muhlestein in his abstract:
“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.”
He will talk about how the pyramid at Seila compares to Sneferu’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.”
Re-tracing Exodus
Professor James Hoffmeier of Trinity International University will be talking about his work in the Sinai Desert. He will be sharing new information about what the Amarna era pharaohs (Tut, Akhenaten etc) were doing on the frontier.
He will also be discussing recent research that, he says, will help figure out the places the Israelis (fleeing from Egypt) came across in the Book of Exodus.
In his abstract:
“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.”
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