From the Valley of the Kings to Philae: Ancient and Modern Pilgrimages
The lecture will deal with a series of research projects in Egypt mainly dealing with the subject of ancient pilgrimages to religious and other sites. Issues discussed will include the pilgrimage routes in ancient Egypt, why the Egyptians went on pilgrimages, how the Christians began to emulate “pagan” pilgrimage practices, and the conflicts that arose between the groups over control of the pilgrimage destination points.
The lecture will highlight my own personal field work in Egypt at such sites as the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings and the temple of Isis on the island of Philae and the temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel (among others).
Pilgrimage and Graffiti: Historical Tagging as Personal Piety
When the priest Petosiris, sometime in the 6th century AD wrote his name upon the side wall of the Isis temple in Philae, he was performing a most spiritual act. That his religious world around him was collapsing and that the domination of the Byzantine rulers and their Christian priests was changing how his life continued, must have left him with a bitter feeling towards Egypt in general. This lecture will examine the continuation of religious pilgrimages in Egypt during the last stages of traditional Egyptian culture and how foreign religious practices and political concerns, both Greco-Roman and Nubian, were expressed. We will concentrate on two main sites of the presenter's field research: the Isis Temple on Philae Island and the Royal Tombs in the Valley of the Kings where many interesting ancient graffiti tell a complex tale of religion and politics in Roman/Byzantine Egypt.
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