The Czech Institute of Egyptology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague, would like to invite you cordially to two upcoming lectures taking place on Wednesday afternoon September 2, in room C426 at Celetná 20. The lectures are organised as part of the Czech Science Foundation Grant GA ČR 19-07268S: “Continuity, Discontinuity and Change. Adaptation Strategies of Individuals and Communities in Egypt at Times of Internal and External Transformations”.

 

1) Gabriele Pieke (Reiss-Engelhorn Museen, Mannheim),: „Remembering forward. On the Transmission of Pictorial Representations in non-royal Tomb Decoration„

Date and place:

Wednesday September 2, 14.00–15.00 in Room C426.

 

Abstract:

Apart from the actual burial, ancient Egyptian tombs served several purposes from the very beginning. The funerary monuments played a crucial function for the afterlife and were a well regarded place for elite self-representation. Consequently the iconographic program of tombs was defined in multiple layers, fulfilling various functions at the same time. Already in the production process various kind of recipients were considered, answering the specific needs of context and function and thereby linking tradition with advanced representations and past with the presence. With regard to the transmission of themes and motifs, a rather complex practice can be noted. Relevant factors are the location of the monument, the access and deliberate linking to predecessor as well as the ongoing transformation and reinterpretation of canonical or newly created images.

The paper discusses this process of image transmission with non-royal tombs using illustrative examples from the Old to the New Kingdom. Among others they testify the relevant impact of local traditions and underline proximity as a key impetus of tomb decoration even in the context of the main cult places.

 

2) Silke Caßor-Pfeiffer (Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Ägyptologie): „From Suckling the King to Suckling the Gods“

Date and place:

Wednesday September 2, 15.00–16.00 in Room C426.

 

Abstract:

The suckling of the king was a widely used ritual scene in pharaonic Egypt in a funerary as well as temple context. We find the depiction of these scenes from the 5th dynasty onwards to the beginning of the Ptolemaic time on the occasion of the death and subsequent rebirth, the birth and the coronation of the king (or its repetition during for example the Sed-festival). However, since the late Period, the Egyptian child gods tend to take over the part of the king in some of these ritual scenes as well as the ritual itself seems partly to be absorbed by milk offerings scenes to various gods. The present paper shall give a first exemplary diachronic overview over the iconography, content, and context of these royal scenes and their evolution to a divine scene in the Late Period and Graeco-Roman times.