• helen-atkinson

    New York Tutankhamun Exhibit Deserves the Met, not Times Square, Says Zahi Hawass

    For me, the press preview of the Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs exhibition, which opened in New York today, was a momentous event because I’ve never met Dr. Zahi Hawass before, and I got to look him in the eye and shake his hand and even ask him a question. I’ll come to all that in a minute. The exhibition is impressive. I can’t deny that. There was a moment when I actually stopped dead in my tracks, mouth open (soon to be hustled out of the way by a pushy New York journo). This happened when…

  • sean-williams

    Bettany Hughes to Play for Greece in Live Remake of Monty Python Philosophers’ Football Match Sketch

    A key new signing has been made in the lead-up to the biggest sporting event of the year for philosophers: historian Bettany Hughes has joined Greek team Socrates Wanderers in a shock late move in the Philosophers’ Football Match 2010. Hughes, who has appeared in shows such Alexandria: The Greatest Cityand The Spartans joins a star-studded line-up for the show-off that includes comedians Mark Steel, Tony Hawks and Ariane Sharine. They’ll be facing off against a German side, Nietzsche Albion, featuring philosopher Julian Baggini, journalist Mark Vernon and funnyman Arthur Smith (missing his usual vets game for the occasion), as…

  • helen-atkinson

    Bonus! King Tut’s Chariot Set to Roll Into New York Exhibition

    Dr. Zahi Hawass, the charismatic Secretary General of Eygpt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, and chief bodyguard of Egypt’s ancient treasures, likes to make revelations to the media -and he didn’t disappoint atWednesday’s press preview of the final leg of ‘Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs’, set to open at the Discovery Times Square Exposition onApril 23th. He announced, with a typical flourish of portentousness, that King Tut’s chariot will be arriving in about a month to augment the exhibition, which has already toured 7 cities and attracted 7 million visitors. “It is a masterpiece that has never travelled,”…

  • sean-williams

    The Truth behind Saint George

    Saint George killed a dragon, saved a princess and became the patron saint of England. Tomorrow he’ll be honoured with no small amount of flag-waving, beer-drinking and, you’d think, a fair few A&E visits. But who’s the man behind the myth, the man Shakespeare’s Henry V evoked so brilliantly at Agincourt? George – good, strong English name, right? Wrong:George was born into Christian nobility in Cappadocia, a lunar landscape in central Turkey best known for its ‘fairy chimneys’, around the middle of the 2nd century AD. In truth George’s early years are about as ephemeral as Emile Heskey’s England career,…

  • images

    Sandro Vannini’s Photography – Anubis Shrine and “Anubis Fetishes”

    Anubis is the jackal-headed god for the afterlife and mummification, who is seen as a key figure for a Pharaoh to pass into the afterlife. The jackal was associated with associated with death and burials in Ancient Egyptian time for their reputation of scavenging human corpses and eating their flesh. It was common practice to place a figure of Anubis near the entrance of a tomb, and for the priest to don an Anubis mask during the embalming process. This is also one of the reasons the Anubis was selected to sail into New York’s harbour to promote the upcoming…

  • owenjarus

    Life in the Afterlife: Four Day Symposium During Toronto’s Terracotta Warriors Exhibit

    The Royal Ontario Museum will host afour day symposium called Life in the Afterlife at the same time that a giant Terracotta Warriors show will be on display at the museum. Life in the Afterlife will explore ideas on life after death across different cultures. Speakers will be talking about the afterlife in numerous places, including Ancient China, Egyptand the Near East. The symposium also examines China during the rule of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor. The event is aimed at a popular audience. The keynote lecture will be given by journalist Simon Winchester who will be discussing Joseph…

  • lyn

    London Flights to Iran and Iraq Open up Cradle of Civilization to Tourists

    As volcanic ash from Iceland’s volcano continues to cause chaos, there is news that access to Iran‘s ancient sites could soon become easier. From June to October this year, IranAir plans to operate a weekly non-stop flight from London Heathrow to Shiraz. The Saturday service will operate alongside the airlines existing three-day-a-week London-Tehran service, and see a return Shiraz-London flight offered every Sunday. Internal flights already operate from Tehran to Isafahan, Mashhad and Tabriz, as well as to Shiraz. The news comes at a time when Iraq is also opening up to tourists. When the ash clears, adventurous travellers will…

  • Ann

    Finally! Tickets to Amenabar’s Agora Film This Weekend in London

    I’m pretty sure that this is probably the worst intro written to a blogpost ever, but: ‘W00t!’ Alejandro Amenbar’s big film Agora on the life (and death) of philosopher and mathematician Hypatia of Alexandria will (finally) be released ‘at cinemas nationwide’ (that’s UK) on April 23. I’ve been saying (and typing) for the last nine months that I want to really, really see this English-language movie by Amenbar. Meanwhile, Ive been forced to (not) watch it being released in Spain – where the historical drama earned over $10.3million in four days, becoming 2009’s highest-grossing local film – and the USA…

  • prad

    Flat Earth Theory: Ancient Greeks Debunk the Modern Myth

    During a recent lecture I attended by astronomer Paul Murdin, which was hosted by Heritage Key, I learnt something which fascinated me. One of the commonly held beliefs has been that ancient societies before the Age of Discovery believed that the world was flat, but when I raised this during the Q&Asession after the lecture, I was surprised that this is what is known as ‘The Myth of the Flat Earth‘. That’s not to say there’s nothing in the belief that our ancestors feared falling off the edge of the world. Some ancient civilisations did indeed think that the world…

  • owenjarus

    Massive Third Church Discovered at Bawit Depicts Local Hermit Saint Apollo

    A large new church, monastic burials and a vaulted room filled with Coptic wall paintings – new excavation work at the Monastery of Saint Apollo at Bawit is yielding a wealth of remarkable finds. One of the team members, Dr. Ramez Boutros of the University of Toronto, discussed some of the finds at a recent lecture and Heritage Key followed up with an interview. The Monastery of Saint Apollo was founded by the saint around 385-390 AD. Its slightly north to the site of Asyut, which can be seen on the map below. Saint Apollo was a hermit of sorts…