In month’s Q&A we have questions concerning kingship & the gods, turtles (!!), and the Book of the Dead. Kara also answers some frequently asked questions about her new online course on ancient Egyptian cosmogony and cosmology.

Ancient Egyptian Cosmogony and Cosmology: Secrets of the Primordial Waters

An eight-part lecture series by Dr. Kara Cooney

SHOW NOTES

Kingship & Religion

Overview of the King’s role in state religion
Dunand, Françoise and Christiane Zivie-Coche. 2004. Gods and men in Egypt: 3000 BCE to 395 CE. Translated by David Lorton. Ithaca, NY; London: Cornell University Press.
Baines, Lesko, and Silverman. 1991. Religion in Ancient Egypt. Gods, Myth, and Personal Practice. Cornell University Press.
Maat vs. Isfet
Third Intermediate Period & the High Priests of Amun
Herihor
Piankhy
Royal Ka- Bell, Lanny 1985. Luxor temple and the cult of the royal Ka. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 44 (4), 251-294.
Abydos King List

Book of the Dead and Ideological Textual Knowledge

Gloss
Book of the Dead, Chapter 17

Turtles vs. Tortoise in Ancient Egypt

Fischer 1968. Ancient Egyptian Representations of Turtles. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Papers 13. New York
El-Kady. 2011. The Religious Concept of the Dual Character of the Turtle in Graeco-roman Egypt
Ritner, Robert K. 2000. The "Breathing-permit of Hôr": thirty-four years later. Dialogue: a journal of Mormon thought 33 (4), 97-119

Retainer Sacrifice

Review our episode with Dr. Rose Campbell- Part I & II
Animal Sacrifice/Butcher scene

Recycling for Death: Coffin Reuse in Ancient Egypt and the Theban Royal Caches

If you are a paid subscriber on Substack or Patreon and would like a signed bookplate, you can reply to this post or email us at karacooney@gmail.com.

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Kara’s latest book, Recycling for Death: Coffin Reuse in Ancient Egypt and the Theban Royal Caches, is now available! In this episode UCLA PhD candidate Kylie Thomsen joins the Afterlives crew to talk about the years of research and preparation behind the publication of this meticulous study of the social, economic, and religious significance of coffin reuse and development during the Ramesside and early Third Intermediate periods.

Get your copy of Recycling for Death

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In this episode Kara and Jordan talk to Egyptologist Melinda Nelson-Hurst about her online Egyptology platform, Voices of Ancient Egypt, which teaches you how to read the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs that you’ll see in museums, online, and on your next trip to Egypt – in less time and without the overwhelm.

About our Guest:

Melinda Nelson-Hurst is an Egyptologist (Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania), specializing in the social history and archaeology of ancient Egypt, especially during the Middle Kingdom. In particular, Dr. Nelson-Hurst's research has focused on families and their influence within the state administration, office acquisition, inheritance, and family members' obligations to deceased relatives, as well as on Third Intermediate Period burial assemblages and the history of modern collections.Since 2018, Melinda has run the online Egyptology platform, Voices of Ancient Egypt. Through online courses and YouTube videos with over a million views, Voices of Ancient Egypt brings the study of ancient Egypt out from behind the classroom and library walls, so you can experience it in the real world. Voices of Ancient Egypt’s programs specialize in teaching you to read the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs that you’ll see in museums, on Instagram, and on your next trip to Egypt – in less time and without the overwhelm.

Youtube- Voices of Ancient Egypt

IG- Voices of Ancient Egypt

Voices of Ancient Egypt

YouTube Video on how to write your name in hieroglyphs

Resources for the Episode

Scripts:

Hieratic and Demotic

Hieroglyphs

Stages:

Old Egyptian

Middle Egyptian

Late Egyptian

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

Example 4

View the Rest of the Examples Mentioned in the Episode

SIGN UP FOR SCRIBAL SCHOOL!

Want to learn more? Get all the details about Scribal School and how Melinda's students learn to read hieroglyphs by signing up for Melinda's free class:

"3 Steps to Fast-Track Your Journey from Student to Scribe"

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Many of you asked for it, and it’s finally here—an new online course from Kara is now available. Kara and Amber take a behind-the-scenes look at how her new course on ancient Egyptian cosmogony and cosmology came together and what is covered in this eight-part lecture series.

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Journey into the afterlife with Kara and Amber as they take a look at the Book of the Dead (more properly known as The Book of Going Forth by Day), a well-known collection of spells from ancient Egypt meant to aid the dead in their transition into the afterlife. Kara provides a Coffin Girl’s Guide to the Book of the Dead, focusing on spells that are most associated with New Kingdom sarcophagi, coffins, and burial chambers.

Read more about the DeB 320 royal cache

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In this episode Kara and Jordan answer listener questions from April. To submit a question for the monthly Q&A podcast, become a paid subscriber on Substack or join our Patreon!

A few photos from Kara’s Egypt trip

Show Notes:

Female Genitalia Lexicography

Bednarski, Andrew 2000. Hysteria revisited. Women's public health in ancient Egypt. In McDonald, Angela and Christina Riggs (eds), Current research in Egyptology 2000, 11-17. Oxford: Archaeopress.
Ghalioungui, P. 1977. The persistence and spread of some obstetric concepts held in ancient Egypt. Annales du Service des Antiquités de l'Égypte 62, 141-154.
Westendorf, Wolfhart 1999. Handbuch der altägyptischen Medizin, 2 vols. Handbuch der Orientalistik, erste Abteilung 36 (1-2). Leiden: Brill.

Burial of Children

Barba, Pablo 2021. Power, personhood and changing emotional engagement with children's burial during the Egyptian Predynastic. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 31 (2), 211-228. DOI: 10.1017/S0959774320000402.
Kaiser, Jessica 2023. When death comes, he steals the infant: child burials at the Wall of the Crow cemetery, Giza. In Kiser-Go, Deanna and Carol A. Redmount (eds), Weseretkau "mighty of kas": papers in memory of Cathleen A. Keller, 347-369. Columbus, GA: Lockwood Press. DOI: 10.5913/2023853.22. Export >>
Marshall, Amandine 2022. Childhood in ancient Egypt. Translated by Colin Clement. Cairo; New York: American University in Cairo Press.
Saleem, Sahar N., Sabah Abd el-Razek Seddik, and Mahmoud el Halwagy 2020. A child mummy in a pot: computed tomography study and insights on child burials in ancient Egypt. In Kamrin, Janice, Miroslav Bárta, Salima Ikram, Mark Lehner, and Mohamed Megahed (eds), Guardian of ancient Egypt: studies in honor of Zahi Hawass 3, 1393-1403. Prague: Charles University, Faculty of Arts.

Skin Color and Gender

Shelley Halley, Prof. Emerita of Classics and Africana Studies, Hamilton College
Tutankhamun out of the lotus blossom with ‘naturalistic’ skin
Roth, Ann Macy 2000. Father earth, mother sky: ancient Egyptian beliefs about conception and fertility. In Rautman, Alison E. (ed.), Reading the body: representations and remains in the archaeological record, 187-201. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Tan Men/Pale Women: Color and Gender in Archaic Greece and Egypt, a Comparative Approach by Mary Ann Eaverly

Kara’s ARCE Talk- “Elites Relying on Cultural Memory for Regime Building”

Abstract: Theban elites of the late 20th and 21st Dynasties relied on veneration of 17th and 18th Dynasty kings to support their regimes ideologically. The cults of Ahmose-Nefertari and Amenhotep I were vibrant in the west Theban region, and their oracles were essential to solving many disputes. Herihor connected his militarily-achieved kingship to his position in the Karnak priesthood using the ancestor kings as touchstones. Twenty-first Dynasty Theban elites named their children after 18th Dynasty monarchs; Theban High Priest and king Panedjem named a daughter Maatkare, ostensibly after Hatshepsut of the 18th Dynasty, and a son Menkheperre after Thutmose III. Examination of the 20th and 21st Dynasty interventions of the royal mummies from Dra Abu el Naga and the Valley of the Kings indicates these royal corpses were used as sacred effigies of a sort, rewrapped and placed into regilded containers even after they had been stripped of their treasures and golden embellishments. This paper will examine how immigrants and mercenaries were able to move into Theban elite circles by marshaling ancestral connections to power. Men like Herihor and Panedjem, one of them at least of Meshwesh origins, worked within an Upper Egyptian cultural system that put its temple communities of practice before its military and veiled its politics with pious rituals and oracular pronouncements. Such elites had to negotiate their identities and power grabs through the cultural memory of the region’s royal ancestors.

Episode 83- Thutmose III and the Veneration of the Royal Ancestors
Cooney, Kathlyn M. 2022. The New Kingdom of Egypt under the Ramesside dynasty. In Radner, Karen, Nadine Moeller, and D. T. Potts (eds), The Oxford history of the ancient Near East, volume III: from the Hyksos to the late second millennium BC, 251-366. New York: Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190687601.003.0027.
Cooney, Kara. 2024. Recycling for Death AUC Press.
The Khonsu Temple at Karnak

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In Part 2 of a two-part episode, Kara and multiple Emmy-nominated Executive Producer and novelist Neil Laird continue their conversation about their experiences making television documentaries about the ancient world, how things get done behind the scenes, whether or not romanticizing the past is a bad thing, and what the future may hold for documentary programs.

About Neil Laird

Neil Laird is a multiple Emmy and BAFTA-nominated creator and Executive Producer on long-running series such as Brain Games, Mysteries of the Abandoned, Border Wars, Through the Wormhole With Morgan Freeman, What on Earth?, How It's Made, Secrets of the Underground, Expedition Unknown With Josh Gates and Survivorman.

Neil has worked extensively on both the network and production side of non-fiction TV since 1996. He has developed, overseen, and produced over 1,000 hours of non-fiction programs and specials in nearly every genre, with a particular passion, expertise, and professional contacts in history, mystery, science, and adventure.

Neil’s novels Prime Time Travelers and Prime Time Pompeii are slated for release in 2024.

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In Part 1 of a two-part episode, Kara and multiple Emmy-nominated Executive Producer and novelist Neil Laird talk about their experiences making television documentaries about the ancient world, how things get done behind the scenes, and what the future may hold for documentary programs.

Secrets of Egypt's Lost Queen

Out of Egypt

Digging for the Truth

About Neil Laird

Neil Laird is a multiple Emmy and BAFTA-nominated creator and Executive Producer on long-running series such as Brain Games, Mysteries of the Abandoned, Border Wars, Through the Wormhole With Morgan Freeman, What on Earth?, How It's Made, Secrets of the Underground, Expedition Unknown With Josh Gates and Survivorman.

Neil has worked extensively on both the network and production side of non-fiction TV since 1996. He has developed, overseen, and produced over 1,000 hours of non-fiction programs and specials in nearly every genre, with a particular passion, expertise, and professional contacts in history, mystery, science, and adventure.

Neil’s novels Prime Time Travelers and Prime Time Pompeii are slated for release in 2024.

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This week Kara and Amber discuss color (also known as polychromy) in ancient Mediterranean art and how it is studied and understood today. What role did color play in ancient art? How does polychromy affect the way modern audiences view ancient art? What are the origins of the aesthetic preference for plain white marble sculpture in Western art?

The Color of Life exhibition (Getty Villa)

Kelsey Museum (University of Michigan) resources on color in ancient art

Bibliography for color in ancient art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art resources on color in ancient art

Seated statue of Hatshepsut (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Statue of Leda and the Swan (Getty Villa)

Curator and artist jill moniz

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In this episode Kara and Amber talk about the veneration of ancestor kings in the late 20th-21st Dynasties. During this period the coffins of ancestor kings were manipulated, buried, and reburied in caches like that of Theban Tomb 320 (also known as Deir el Bahri 320). Who was reburying and caching these royal ancestors together and why? Using the coffin of Thutmose III as a case study, they discuss the interplay of the religious, political, and economic factors behind these royal caches.

Kara’s forthcoming book, Recycling for Death: Coffin Reuse and the Theban Royal Caches

More about Theban Tomb 320

Amber’s post on presidential homes and America’s historical landscape

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CW// self harm and suicide

In this episode Kara and Amber discuss the death of Cleopatra VII and whether or not we should trust the ancient Roman accounts regarding the circumstances of her death. Did she really commit suicide, as Roman historians tell us? Or were the accounts of her death by suicide part of a cunning Roman propaganda campaign?

Read more about the death of Cleopatra and the ancient sources on it here and here.

Listen to our other episodes on Cleopatra:

Episode 57 | Reception, Ownership, and Race: Netflix’s ”Queen Cleopatra”

Episode 60 | Part II: Reception, Ownership, and Race: Netflix’s ”Queen Cleopatra”

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EPISODE 81 | This episode is a recording of a live zoom Q&A with our listeners. Thank you to everyone who attended and submitted questions!

Show notes

Byblos
Baal and Seth
Prof. Dani Candelora – Her research focuses on interactions between Egypt and West Asia.
Prof. Marian Feldman, Diplomacy by Design
Amarna Letter 23 – A Goddess Travels to Egypt
1 3 - 1 7 Thus Sauska of Nineveh (goddess statue), mistress of all lands: "I wish to go

to Egypt, a country that I love, and then return." Now I herewith send

her, and she is on her way." (Moran 1992)

Hathor and the Myth of the Heavenly Cow
Spalinger Anthony, “The Destruction of Mankind: A Transitional Literary Text,” Studien Zur Altagyptischen Kultur 28: 2000, 257–282. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25152827
Amenhotep III’s Mortuary Temple & Sekhmet Statues
Kara’s Cambridge Elements – Coffin Commerce
Judith Flanders – “Rites of Passage: Death & Mourning in Victorian Britain”
Peter Saris – “Justinian”
Lady Sennuwy, Boston Museum of Fine Arts
Augustus Meroë Head
Great Sphinx of Tanis, Louvre
Vatican Phases of Construction
Demon Bes – Coptic Magical Papyri
End of the ancient Egyptian Religion, Christian Erasure
Egyptian obelisks
Egyptian object outside of Egypt – Egypt’s Dispersed Heritage Project
Maat
Eloquent Peasant – status dynamics, misuse of Maat
Lichtheim, M. (1992) Maat in Egyptian autobiographies and related studies / Miriam Lichtheim. Freiburg, Schweiz: Universitätsverlag.
Teeter, Emily. (1997) The presentation of Maat : ritual and legitimacy in ancient Egypt / by Emily Teeter. Chicago, Ill: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.
Isfet
Kemp, B. J. (1995) How Religious were the Ancient Egyptians? Cambridge archaeological journal. [Online] 5 (1), 25–54.
James C. Scott, “Weapons of the Weak”

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EPISODE 80 | In this episode, Jordan and Kara interview Malayna Evans, author of Neferura, about the inspiration behind the story, her writing process, and how her knowledge of Egyptology factored into the choices she made as she was writing the book.

About the author

Malayna Evans was raised in Utah and spent her childhood climbing mountains and reading Sci-Fi. She moved to Chicago in her early twenties where she earned an M.A. in the ancient history of the Mediterranean, an M.A. in the ancient history of the Near East, and a Ph.D. in ancient Egyptian history. She enjoys sharing her passion for the ancient world with readers, adores travel, and plays a mean game of cards. A single mom, Malayna lives in Oak Park, IL, with her two children and two very spoiled Frenchies. You can learn more about her on her website or connect with her on Twitter, or Instagram.

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EPISODE 79 | In this episode Kara and Jordan answer this month’s listener questions. They discuss which ancient Egyptians they would like to see a tv show about, colonialism in the ancient world, extreme climate events in ancient Egypt, and more.

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EPISODE 78 | In this episode Kara and Jordan talk with archaeobotanist and Assistant Professor of Archaeology Claire Malleson (American University in Beirut) about agriculture in ancient Egypt. What can archaeologists learn about the way ancient Egyptians lived from botanical remains? What are the traditional narratives about agriculture in ancient Egypt and how is our understanding of it changing? How was the profession of farming seen in ancient Egypt?

Scorpion macehead (Ashmolean Museum)

The Satire of the Trades

“Tiger nut” - Cyperus esculentus and Cyperus rotundus

About Professor Claire Malleson

After a short career in contemporary dance as a designer and technical manager, Claire started Egyptological studies at the University of Liverpool in 2002, and completed her PhD there in 2012 (published in 2019 by AUC Press). Throughout her studies she trained and worked in Egypt as an archaeobotanist at numerous settlement excavations, following graduation she re-located to Cairo to pursue work as a free-lance archaeobotanical specialist, working for multiple international archaeological projects all over Egypt. In 2018 she was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Archaeology at the American University in Beirut, where she teaches Egyptian Archaeology and Archaeobotany. She continues to work as archaeobotanist all over Egypt, gathering data for studies on ancient Egyptian agriculture, and working towards a new book.

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EPISODE 77 | Professor Maggie Geoga joins Kara and Jordan to discuss ancient Egyptian wisdom literature (also known as instruction texts), specifically “The Teaching of Amenemhat,” a Middle Egyptian poem from ca. 1550 to 500 B.C.E. in which the murdered King Amenemhat I advises his son from beyond the grave. They discuss the challenges of studying this ancient text, who the intended audience for this text might have been, and how its reception by the the ancient Egyptians changed over the centuries.

Learn more about “The Teaching of Amenemhat”

Read a translation of “The Teaching of Amenemhat”

Read Prof. Geoga’s article: “New Insights into Papyrus Millingen and the Reception History of The Teaching of Amenemhat”

Read about Emily Post and check out the website dedicated to her rules of etiquette

Maggie Geoga is Assistant Professor of Egyptology at the University of Chicago and a Junior Fellow in the Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography. Her research focuses on ancient Egyptian literature, scribal culture, textual transmission, and reception in both ancient Egypt and later periods. Maggie earned her PhD in Egyptology from Brown University, where she also completed a concurrent MA in Comparative Literature. She is currently working on a monograph on the reception history of the Middle Egyptian poem The Teaching of Amenemhat from ca.1550 to 500 BCE. She also maintains an ongoing project on Jean Terrasson’s 1731 novel Séthos, whose depiction of Egypt strongly influenced numerous eighteenth-century authors, artists, and thinkers and still underlies many contemporary beliefs about ancient Egypt.

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EPISODE 76 | In this episode Kara and Jordan are joined by Drs. Danielle Candelora and Nadia Ben-Marzouk, who discuss their experience co-editing Ancient Egyptian Society: Challenging Assumptions, Exploring Approaches, what inspired the book, and how they wanted it to differ from other studies of ancient Egyptian society.

Get the book here: Ancient Egyptian Society: Challenging Assumptions, Exploring Approaches

Danielle Candelora is Assistant Professor of Ancient Mediterranean History at SUNY Cortland and co-director of excavations at South Karnak. She received her PhD in Egyptology from UCLA. Her research focuses on immigration in ancient Egypt, the reception of foreigners, strategies of identity maintenance and advertisement.

Nadia Ben-Marzouk is Postdoctoral Fellow at Tel Aviv University and the University of Zurich working on the Stamp Seals from the Southern Levant project. Her research explores craft production, producers, and modes of technological transmission in the Bronze and Iron Age Levant, Egypt, and east Mediterranean. She received her PhD from UCLA.

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EPISODE 75 | CW// war, violence, explicit language

In this month’s Q&A episode Kara and Jordan answer questions about Kara’s upcoming book Recycling for Death: Coffin Reuse in Ancient Egypt and the Theban Royal Caches, their favorite fictional books related to ancient Egypt and Egyptology, female identity and rebirth in ancient Egyptian religion, animal mummies, and more.

Show notes:

The Witch Trials of J. K. Rowling
Forest Lawn cemetery
"Where does the Masculine Begin and the Feminine End? The Merging of the Two Genders in Egyptian Coffins during the Ramesside Period," in: Ehrenmord und Emanzipation: Die Geschlechterfrage in Ritualen von Parallelgesellschaften, Geschlecht--Symbol--Religion series, B. Heininger, ed., LIT Verlag (Münster 2009).
"The Fragmentation of the Female: Re-gendered Funerary Equipment as a Means of Rebirth," in: Sex and Gender in Ancient Egypt, C. Graves-Brown, ed., Classical Press of Wales (Swansea 2008), 1-25.
“An eternal aviary: bird mummies from ancient Egypt” (Salima Ikram)
Divine Creatures: Animal Mummies in Ancient Egypt (Salima Ikram)

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EPISODE 74 | In this episode we are crossing the podcast streams of the past and the present, by bringing you a vintage episode of Eric’s Guide to Ancient Egypt in which Eric Wells discusses the ancient Egyptian tale of the shipwrecked sailor. Eric, who earned his PhD in Egyptology from UCLA, produced his podcast from 2015-2016 and has kindly granted us access to his archives. We hope you enjoy it!

Read The Shipwrecked Sailor

More information on The Shipwrecked Sailor (historical background, synopsis, etc.)

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EPISODE 73 | Is Kara’s book The Good Kings “colonialist”? Should a non-Egyptian write a critical history of ancient Egyptian pharaohs? Kara and Amber discuss the possible reasoning behind this perspective, and Kara talks about how her book came together and why she set out to write a book calling into question the typical positivist historical narratives surrounding ancient Egypt’s “good kings.”

Jurman, Claus. Pharaoh’s new clothes. On (post)colonial Egyptology, hypocrisy, and the elephant in the room

Can history be apolitical? (Afterlives of Ancient Egypt, Episode #65)

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EPISODE 72 | In this episode Kara and Jordan answer this month’s listener questions.

Listener Notes:

Time & Calendars:

MET- Telling Time in Ancient Egypt
Nile Scribes- Celebrating the Seasons
SAOC 26. The Calendars of Ancient Egypt. Richard A. Parker
Tomb aligned with Winter Solstice

Wills & Funerals

NJ van Blerk, The basic tenets of intestate (customary) succession law in Ancient Egypt
Will of Naunakhte

Anthropoid Clay Coffins

Cotelle-Michel, Laurence. 2004. “Les Sarcophages en terre cuite”
Wikipedia- Anthropoid Ceramic Coffins
María Rosa Valdesogo blog- The Iconography in a Clay Coffin of Ancient Egypt. A Guarantee of Resurrection.
Kazimierczak, Magdalena, and Konrad Grzyb. “DISTRIBUTION OF THE POTTERY COFFINS AND CERAMIC VESSELS WITHIN THE EARLY DYNASTIC GRAVES FROM TELL EL-MURRA CEMETERY.” Ägypten und Levante / Egypt and the Levant, vol. 30, 2020, pp. 415–44. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/27045094. Accessed 20 Dec. 2023.

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EPISODE 71 | With the growing number of labor disputes and strikes around the world, Kara and Jordan delve into how labor was organized and issues were settled in ancient Egypt. This is part two of a two-part episode. Listen to Part I here.

Also read Jordan’s companion post to this episode, Fashion and Hidden Labor in the Ancient World.

Sources:

Papyrus Stories- The First Recorded Strike in History
Turin Strike Papyrus
Edgerton, William F. “The Strikes in Ramses III’s Twenty-Ninth Year.” Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 10, no. 3, 1951, pp. 137–45. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/542285. Accessed 11 Dec. 2023.
Wente, Edward F. “A Letter of Complaint to the Vizier To.” Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 20, no. 4, 1961, pp. 252–57. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/543915. Accessed 11 Dec. 2023.

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EPISODE 70 | With the growing number of labor disputes and strikes around the world, Kara and Jordan delve into how labor was organized and issues settled in ancient Egypt. Part one of two.

Sources:

Papyrus Stories- The First Recorded Strike in History
Turin Strike Papyrus
Edgerton, William F. “The Strikes in Ramses III’s Twenty-Ninth Year.” Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 10, no. 3, 1951, pp. 137–45. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/542285. Accessed 11 Dec. 2023.
Wente, Edward F. “A Letter of Complaint to the Vizier To.” Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 20, no. 4, 1961, pp. 252–57. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/543915. Accessed 11 Dec. 2023.

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EPISODE 69 | Here’s an uncomfortable fact: Having a woman’s body allows one to be much more easily controlled and commodified in patriarchal systems. We are watching this play out in real time in a post-Roe America, but what role did the female body play in the ancient world, and more specifically: How did ancient Egyptians negotiate female power in ancient patriarchal systems like ancient Egypt? In this episode Kara discusses her research on this topic with Amber, and her effort to gain a better understanding of how ancient patriarchal societies used body differences to control, commodify, and exploit female bodies.

For more of Kara’s thoughts on some feminist schools of thought and their attitudes toward the female body, read her post from last June:

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EPISODE 68 | This month’s Q&A episode features questions on ancient festivals, food, human sacrifice, and marriage and incest in ancient Egypt.

Episode Notes

Food
The Pharaoh’s Kitchen, by Madga Mehdawy
Ikram, Salima. 1995. Choice Cuts : Meat Production in Ancient Egypt. Leuven: Peeters.
Ancient Egyptian Festivals
Coppens, F. 2009. Temple Festivals of the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods. UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology.
Stadler, M. 2008. Procession. UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology.
Beverages
Ancient Egyptian Beer
Discovery of an Industrial Brewery in Ancient Egypt Rewrites the History of Beer
Dr. Amr Shahat’s paleobotany work
Listen to Dr. Rose Campbell’s episode on human sacrifice on Substack at the links below or on Apple Podcasts (Part I and Part II) or Spotify (Part I and Part II):
Campbell, Roselyn. 2023. “Hidden Violence: Reassessing Violence and Human Sacrifice in Ancient Egypt,” in Danielle Candelora, Nadia Ben-Marzouk, & Kathlyn M. Cooney (eds.) Ancient Egyptian Society : Challenging Assumptions, Exploring Approaches. Abingdon; New York: Routledge. Purchase!
Reception of Ancient Egypt - P. Djèlí Clark’s books
Marriage and incest in the ancient world
Ager, Sheila L. 2021. “Royal brother-sister marriage, Ptolemaic and otherwise,” in Elizabeth D. Carney and Sabine Müller (eds.), The Routledge companion to women and monarchy in the ancient Mediterranean world, 346-358. Abingdon; New York: Routledge.
Robinson, Joanne-Marie. 2020. "Blood is thicker than water": non-royal consanguineous marriage in ancient Egypt. An exploration of economic and biological outcomes. Archaeopress Egyptology 29. Oxford: Archaeopress.

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The Pharaoh's Kitchen: Recipes from Ancient Egypts Enduring Food Traditions

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EPISODE 67 | In this episode Kara and Jordan talk with PhD candidate Kylie Thomsen about her research contextualizing statuary reuse using new technologies like photogrammetry and RTI (Reflectance Transformation Imaging).

About Kylie Thomsen

Kylie is an Egyptology PhD candidate in the department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles. She received her bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of Arizona and holds a master’s degree in Egyptology from Indiana University Bloomington. Kylie is currently a researcher and graphic designer for the UCLA Coffins Project, which investigates coffin reuse in ancient Egypt during the Third Intermediate Period. Her dissertation research focuses on the documentation and contextualization of ancient Egyptian statuary reuse, including documenting statues via high-resolution photography, photogrammetry, RTI (reflectance transformation imaging), and traditional art historical methods in order to analyze the statues for signs of recarving, reinscribing, and other indicators of object reuse.

Episode Notes

This article by Daniel Soliman discusses the reuse of two 12th Dynasty colossal statues that were reworked during the reign of Ramesses II.
Soliman, Daniel. “At the Hands of Senwosret III? The Iconography and Style of the Reworked Colossi Cairo JE 45975 and JE 45976.” The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 105, no. 1 (2019): 97–105. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26949435.
Partially Reworked Statue from the Museo Egizio: https://collezioni.museoegizio.it/en-GB/material/Cat_3017
This statue demonstrates that a statue could be completely recrafted into a new object.

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EPISODE 66 | This month’s listener questions covered a variety of topics from ancient Egyptian clothing and furniture to the portrayal of mummies in popular culture.

Episode Notes

Egyptian linen

Pleated dresses from the Museo Egizio of Turin: study of the technical data of fabrics in Moor, A. de (Antoine) et al. (eds.) (2015) ‘Textiles, tools and techniques of the 1st millennium AD from Egypt and neighbouring countries : proceedings of the 8th conference of the research group “Textiles from the Nile Valley” Antwerp, 4-6 October 2013 / edited by Antoine De Moor, Cäcilia Fluck and Petra Linscheid.’, in 2015 Tielt, Belgium: Lannoo.

Tamburini, D. et al. (2021) A multi-scalar investigation of the colouring materials used in textile wrappings of Egyptian votive animal mummies. Heritage science. [Online] 9 (1), 1–26.

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EPISODE 65 | Historians are products of their time, place, and life experiences, and yet in many ways they approach their work with the idea that it can be (at least to some degree) separated from all of those things. In this episode Kara and Amber discuss whether or not history can—or should—be apolitical and how historical narratives inevitably reflect the zeitgeist in which they are written.

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EPISODE 64 | Kara and Jordan discuss iconoclasm in the ancient and medieval worlds with Lexie Henning, the host of the Ancient Office Hours podcast. Below is information about Lexie and some visuals! We include Aya Sofia, also called Hagia Sophia, a 6th century CE multi-domed church turned mosque turned museum turned back to mosque.

We also discuss the 13th century CE church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, which literally means St. Mary on top of (the goddess) Minerva, indicating a Christian claim over what is now defined as pagan.

Both Aya Sofia and Santa Maria Sopra Minerva were victims of iconoclasm, that is having elements of one belief system removed in favor of a different belief system. To that point, check out the removal of the god Amen’s name from a block in Luxor temple in the last image; this removal was ordered by Akhenaten, who was creating a whole new religious system that prioritized the visible sun god Aten.

About Lexie Henning

Lexie is the host of the Ancient Office Hours podcast and Founder/CEO of The Ozymandias Project. She earned her BA in Classics from the University of Missouri (Mizzou) in 2018. Her scholarly interests are in exploring Classical reception through the lens of contemporary storytelling in media, advocating for open access to the ancient world, and making ancient studies applicable in the modern world. In January 2023, she completed an MSc in Southeast European Studies at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, writing her thesis on the effects of Islamic iconoclasm on the Hagia Sophia and its impact on cultural heritage policy in Erdoğan’s Turkey. She now serves as the programs and administration coordinator for UCLA’s Pourdavoud Center for the Study of the Iranian World.

Hagia Sophia (Istanbul, Turkey)

Santa Maria sopra Minerva (Rome, Italy)

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EPISODE 63 | In this month's Q&A episode, Kara and Jordan discuss questions relating to ancient papyri, display and study of human remains in museums, female power in the ancient world, and more.

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CW// Human remains

The red-shroud mummy of a young man named Herakleides—don’t ask us how he died so young; we don’t know—presents some tantalizing insights into certain religious practices of the first century CE in Egypt. On view at the Getty Villa in Malibu, the mummy of Herakleides is unprovenanced, but archaeological evidence suggests it probably comes from el-Hibeh (near the Fayum). The mummified remains of Herakleides are wrapped in a linen shroud painted from head to toe in a red pigment derived from red lead imported from Spain, making it part of a group of portrait mummies known as “red-shroud mummies.”

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In this month's Patreon Q&A Kara and Jordan answer questions about literature, what they did over the summer and other topics. And as a special treat-- Kara debriefs about the recent International Congress of Egyptologists' conference in Leiden.

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EPISODE 59 | In this episode Kara and Amber discuss Patron questions covering topics ranging from Cleopatra to balancing historical accuracy in entertainment and more.

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EPISODE 60 | In Part II of our discussion on Cleopatra VII and reception, ownership, and race we welcome guests Dr. Mai Musie and Professor Rebecca Futo Kennedy. Dr. Musie and Professor Kennedy both study aspects of identity formation, race, and ethnicity in the ancient world and bring their expert perspectives to this discussion of Cleopatra VII, her world, and our modern obsession with her.

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Kara and Jordan meet with Dr. Serena Love to discuss her ongoing work with Seamus Blackley on the collection of ancient yeast and reconstruction of ancient bread making techniques. How does one collect ancient yeast without contamination? What can be learned through experimental archaeology? And most importantly, what did ancient bread taste like?!

Bio: Serena is an anthropological archaeologist with 30 years’ experience working in Egypt, Turkey, Israel, Iraq and most recently in Australia. She earned a PhD from Stanford University with a specialty in geoarchaeology and prehistoric architecture, where her research developed new methods for analysing mudbricks and theoretically blending phenomenology and archaeological science to reach innovative interpretations about social lives in the past. Serena’s publications have focused on symbolic landscapes in Egypt and the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük in Turkey. Serena has lectured internationally and taught archaeology at Stanford, Brown University and University of Queensland, and held a Senior Fellowship at Koç University in Istanbul in 2016. Serena is committed to science communication and community-led research and has spent the past 7 years working with Aboriginal communities in Queensland with grant writing, capacity building and developing curriculum aligned, archaeology themed teaching materials for Australian classrooms. Serena uses archaeology to connect the people of today with the people of the past and she is driven to constantly explore, learn and share the subject wherever possible.

--

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EPISODE 57 | In this episode, special guests Dr. Katherine Blouin and Dr. Heba Abd el Gawad join Kara and Jordan for a conversation about Netflix’s docu-drama Queen Cleopatra and the ways in which modern issues of reception, ownership, and race have played into how Cleopatra is seen today. Dr. Abd el Gawad brings her nuanced perspective as a scholar and an Egyptian to the discussion, and Dr. Blouin helps us get into the deep-cuts of how the threads of imperialism, Orientalism, and patriarchy have been used to weave narratives about Cleopatra that continue to influence how she is viewed as an historical figure.

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This is a recording from live Zoom event held on May 27th for this month's Patreon Q&A with a focus on women, women's experiences and goddesses in ancient Egypt.

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Kara and Jordan explore the world of magic & medicine and how illnesses were treated in ancient Egypt. Did the Egyptians distinguish between magic and medicine in efficacy? What illnesses did the Egyptians suffer from? How were they treated? Stay tuned until the end to hear them read from some actual magico-medical papyri!

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"Don't bring a mace to a gunfight." In our latest Bookclub installment Jordan and Amber cover another book from Egyptologist/author Barbara Mertz (also known as Barbara Michaels and Elizabeth Peters), "Search the Shadows." Spoiler's ahead!!

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Kara and Jordan cover four ancient Egypt-themed headlines from the void in the Great Pyramid to the recently restored zodiac at the Temple of Esna.

Make sure to stay up-to-date with other Egypt and archaeology related news via out substack-- ancientnow.substack.com

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Kara and Jordan answer this month's Patron questions. Want to submit a question? Become a patron

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We are producing a new series of episodes for Afterlives of Ancient Egypt called “Artifact Stories,” in which we choose one thing—be it art, artifact, architecture, etc.—and dive into the details in order to see what insights and perspectives we can draw from it. For each of these episodes we will be publishing a companion post on our Substack, Ancient/Now.

In our first spotlight discussion we are featuring an object whose diminutive size belies the significance of the story it tells about the reign of the 4th Dynasty king, Khufu (ca. 2589-2566 BCE), who most people know as the builder of the Great Pyramid of Giza. To see photos of the statuette, visit Ancient/Now.

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Kara, Jordan, and guest Dr. Jonathan Winnerman answer this month's Patron questions.

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Kara, Jordan, and guest Dr. Jonathan Winnerman tackle the history of the Rosetta Stone and the debate surrounding calls for its return to Egypt. Why is the Rosetta Stone so important? What its role in national politics and how has it its ownership always been contentious since its initial discovery? Afterlives delves into the history of the piece as well as its connection to colonialism, nationalism, and discussions surrounding who "owns" the past.

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In Part II of our travel to Egypt suggestions, Kara and Jordan continue their discussion covering what to wear and bring as well as other non-Cairo/Luxor travel recommendations.

Make sure to check out the Substack companion post that will be released along with the audio: https://ancientnow.substack.com/

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This month's Patreon Q&A is a recording from our Live Zoom event on February 18th. This month's theme was gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt.

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In this week's episode, Kara and Jordan sit down with their friend and colleague Dr Johnathan Winnerman to talk about his work on kingship, sovereignty, and globalism. How did the ancient Egyptian conceptualize of their society and increasing interaction with the 'outside' world? How did they imagine the world around them, and what lessons can we learn in our increasingly changing world society?

Jonathan Winnerman is currently Academic Administrator for Ancient Studies at UCLA. He first joined the UCLA community as a lecturer in Egyptology after completing his PhD at the University of Chicago in the department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations in 2018. His research focuses on kingship, divinity, and the purpose of sovereignty, topics which encourage reflection on our own social, religious, and political structures. In his administrative capacity, he organizes and assists faculty with the writing of grant proposals and works closely with the Global Antiquity Initiative, a program which advocates viewing the ancient world as a single connected expanse where no community is considered peripheral.

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In this week's episode (part I) Kara and Jordan discuss traveling to Egypt and share their travel tips and tricks. Where to stay? What to see? And what to eat? Don't you want to book a trip immediately?!

Make sure to check the Substack Companion Post with extra information and links to all the places mentioned in this episode-- https://ancientnow.substack.com/p/afterlives-of-ancient-egypt-companion?sd=pf

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In this month's Patron questions, we cover more questions on Amarna family genetics, ancient music and instruments, how the god Amun-Re worked, and many more. Thank you to our Patrons for the thoughtful questions and generous support!

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In this episode, Kara and Jordan sit down with friend and colleague Dr. Marissa Stevens. They discuss Marissa's earlier work on Ramesside papyrus, personal piety, and identity. Next, they pivot to Marissa's current work as the Assistant Director of the Pourdavoud Center for the study of the Iranian world, looking at the time when Egypt was under Persian control. Enjoy!

Check out Marissa's Academia page for all of her publications--https://ucla.academia.edu/MarissaStevens

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In this episode, Kara and Jordan cover the ancient Egyptian harem. They discuss a myriad of topics from the use of the term itself to the associated economies like textile production and, of course, the harem conspiracy. If you remember we previously released a harem episode but the quality was poor--we hope this new episode is all the better!

Enjoy!

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In this month's Q&A, we cover the rest of the Tut-focused questions as well as some others from the Patrons looking at career choice, Indiana Jones, and much more. If you too would like to ask a questions, join our Patreon.

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In this week's episode, Kara and Jordan interview Dr. Victoria Almansa-Villatoro about her path into academia, her research interests on the Egyptian language, and a deeper dive into one of her publications, "The Cultural Indexicality of the N41 Sign for bj3: The Metal of the Sky and the Sky of Metal" (2020). How did the Egyptian conceptualize of the earth sky divide? What was the relationship between birth, afterlife, and iron? And what about Tut's meteoritic iron dagger!?

About our guest:

Victoria Almansa-Villatoro obtained her Ph.D. in Egyptology at Brown University in 2022. She is currently a Junior Research Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows (2022-2025) and specializes in the use of language and hieroglyphs' iconicity to understand oral knowledge and ideology in Old Kingdom Egypt. Since 2019 she is a member of the AERA archaeological project in Giza, and assistant director to the Royal Necropolis and Pyramids of Nuri Expedition since 2021.

Academia Page

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It's our first Book Club episode! Kara, Jordan, and Amber discuss Elizabeth Peters’ first Amelia Peabody novel, Crocodile on the Sandbank, including an expert dive into some of the Egyptological aspects of the book.

Don't miss our Substack companion post to this episode.

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Earlier in November we had our last live zoom event of the year with Patrons—a Tutankhamun-themed Q&A episode in honor of the centennial of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922.

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In this episode Kara and Jordan discuss tomb robbery in ancient Egypt. Did the ancient Egyptians booby trap tombs to protect them against grave robbers? Was tomb robbery always considered a crime in ancient Egypt? What punishments did tomb robbers suffer if they were caught?

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In this month's Patreon Q&A Kara and Jordan answer questions ranging from their favorite Egyptian tale (and the most difficult ones to understand) to temple orientation and ancient Egyptian atheism. Keep the questions coming!

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And we're back with our first episode of Season 3!! Kara and Jordan tackle the topic of body shaming (and positivity) in ancient Egypt. What were the "ideal" body types? How were people viewed who were outside those norms? What were their thoughts on aging, disability, thinness, thickness, etc? How do these differ from a modern Western ideal and what can we learn from the ancient Egyptians?

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In this month's Patreon Q&A, Kara and Jordan discuss how the Egyptian's relaxed in their free-time, the "true" effect Alexander the Great had on Egyptian culture, what life was like for the occupied under the Egyptian empire, and we give our recommendations on how to study hieroglyphs.

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In Part II of Eric's episode, we talk all things alt-ac-- his academic story; his transition from dissertation writing to the university administration; and his advice to others looking at a similar path. Kara and Jordan picked Eric's brain about using your PhD to succeed in the "real" world.

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Dr. Eric Wells (he/him) received his PhD from UCLA in Egyptology and is currently an adjunct professor at LMU in the Department of Classics and Archaeology. He is also a chief administrative officer at UCLA for the Life Sciences Core Education Department and the Center for Education Innovation and Learning in the Sciences. You can check out his dissertation on votive stela from Asyut here.

--

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In this week's episode Kara and Jordan interview Dr. Eric Wells of Eric's Guide to Ancient Egypt fame. We address the elephant in the room-- whether of not Eric has plans to restart his podcast, his dissertation research on personal piety, and get into some Egyptological debates.

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Dr. Eric Wells (he/him) received his PhD from UCLA in Egyptology and is currently an adjunct professor at LMU in the Department of Classics and Archaeology. He is also a chief administrative officer at UCLA for the Life Sciences Core Education Department and the Center for Education Innovation and Learning in the Sciences. You can check out his dissertation on votive stela from Asyut here.

--

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CW// alcohol, adult themes, violence and assault

Kara and Jordan answer this month's Patreon Q&A's covering topics from alcohol use and drunkenness to leisure and play, sex workers, and allergies and health.

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In this week's episode Kara and Jordan discuss the God's Wife of Amun position and their relationship to Egyptian politics at the time. Who held this position? What responsibilities came with it? What powers were instilled in the office? We had a great time recording this one!

CW// sexual themes

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Kara and Jordan answer the Patron’s questions from the month of July spanning from queen’s ruling in the temporary absence of the king; evidence for mental illness; managing reading for work versus pleasure; and much more!

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In the part two, Kara and Jordan discuss evidence for climatic events in the ancient past, how Egyptian culture was affected, and occasions where the Egyptians negatively affected their environment, as well. Hope you enjoy!

Afterlives #KaraCooney #ancient #history #podcast

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In this two-part episode, Kara and Jordan tackle the topic of environment and geography. Inspired by the tumult our current Earth is facing with human-induced climate change, we look at how the Egyptians were impacted and influenced by their environment. What was the Egyptian landscape like in the past? How do we see this reflected in their ideology? We cover these topics and more.

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Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and iHeartRadio. If you like what you hear don't forget to subscribe, drop us a five-star rating or review to help new listeners find us, and check out us out on Patreon.

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Our first Patreon Q&A!! Patrons submitted questions via the Discord or Patreon app and we answer them. This episode covers questions from the roots of Christianity in Egypt, travel to Egypt, and the new coffin cache found in Saqqara.

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In part two of the "Family and Kinship" episode, Kara and Jordan focus in on early childhood (and infant mortality), marriage customs, intergenerational wealth, and INCEST. Enjoy!

Check out Amber's companion post to this episode via our Substack.

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From the cradle to the tomb, Kara and Jordan explore families and kinship in ancient Egypt in this week's episode. What do we know about childhood, marriage, divorce, and how family bonds were formed? Are we unique in our modern desire to understand our family origins and genealogy?

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In this week's episode Kara and Jordan look at ancient Egypt in Hollywood. How accurate are Hollywood depictions of the ancient world? Should we even care? How are “bad” representations harmful? Kara and Jordan dive deep into the top three offenders: orientalism, the portrayal of women, and race. Of course, we also discuss our favorite movie (The Mummy, (1999) and our love of Brendan Fraser (call us!)

Show notes

We also started a Substack- Afterlives After Party where we delve further into topics we aren't able to cover on the podcast. Subscribe to have the newsletter drop in your email weekly! Follow Kara on social media, visit her website, and more: https://linktr.ee/karacooney

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In the second part of digging into Egyptological debates, we focus on three burning questions related to the Amarna period: Did Akhenaten invent monotheism? Who was the infamous Smenkhare? And what's up with Tut's tomb? Hope you enjoy the debate! Who do you agree with? What other debates would you like us to cover?

Show notes

We also started a Substack- Afterlives After Party where we delve further into topics we aren't able to cover on the podcast. Subscribe to have the newsletter drop in your email weekly! Follow Kara on social media, visit her website, and more: https://linktr.ee/karacooney

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On today's episode we are digging into Egyptological debates: How were the pyramids built and who built them? Did Akhenaten invent monotheism? Who was the infamous Smenkhare? We chose our top five questions to discuss and debate! Who do you agree with? What other debates would you like us to cover? We hope you enjoy this episode!

Show notes

We also started a Substack- Afterlives After Party where we delve further into topics we aren't able to cover on the podcast. Subscribe to have the newsletter drop in your email weekly! Follow Kara on social media, visit her website, and more: https://linktr.ee/karacooney

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In Part II of our guest interview with Amber, the-wind-beneath-Kara's-wings, we continue our conversation about academic adjacent careers. We talk about the ever changing academic climate, the emotional toil of "leaving" the field, and work-life balance. Remember to listen to Part I first if you haven't already. We hope you enjoy!

Show notes

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and iHeartRadio. If you like what you hear don't forget to subscribe, and drop us a five-star rating or review to help new listeners find us.

[all views are our own]

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Amber steps out from behind-the-scenes this episode as our second guest for the season. We are talking all things academic-adjacent, sometimes also referred to as alt-ac. These are career paths that many of us take post graduate work that is not the traditional route, i.e. becoming a professor. Stay tuned to hear Amber's story from a young girl in the Midwest with an interest in ancient history, to her Master's program in Egyptology at UCLA, museum work, and her many twists and turns since.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and iHeartRadio. If you like what you hear don't forget to subscribe, and drop us a five-star rating or review to help new listeners find us.

[all views are our own]

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CW// Adult content

In the second part of our Valentine's Day themed episode, Kara and Jordan delve farther into the sexy creation myths, gender-bending in coffins, other examples of homosexual relationships (no they weren't conjoined-twins!), and lastly some reading of "love" poetry ('she's a brick house'). Enjoy!!

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and iHeartRadio. If you like what you hear don't forget to subscribe, and drop us a five-star rating or review to help new listeners find us.

[all views are our own]

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CW// adult content

For the month of February, we have two love, sex, and gender focused episodes for everyone. In Part 1, Kara and Jordan explore how the Egyptians defined sex and gender; what were the gender norms; where we can see gender queer or intersex individuals; and what role 'love' played. Lastly, we end on the sexy creation myth stories- how Atum created the world (hint- it's NSFW) and the key role of Isis in the Osiris myth.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and iHeartRadio. If you like what you hear don't forget to subscribe, and drop us a five-star rating or review to help new listeners find us.

[all views are our own]

Show notes

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CW// human remains; violence

In Part 2 of our very first guest interview, we conclude our discussion on human sacrifice in ancient Egypt with UCLA's own Dr. Rose Campbell. We talk more with her about her research on human sacrifice, how she is helping to advance the study of cancer in antiquity, and why the practice of human sacrifice in ancient Egypt did not last. Stay tuned for Part 2 of a fantastic conversation!

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and iHeartRadio. If you like what you hear don't forget to subscribe, and drop us a five-star rating or review to help new listeners find us.

Show notes

More information about Dr. Campbell:

Dr. Roselyn A Campbell is a bioarchaeologist, anthropological archaeologist, and Egyptologist. Her current research is concerned with evidence for violence and trauma in human remains, and understanding how human societies define, use, and sanction violence as a tool of power. She also researches the history and evolution of cancer in ancient human remains. She earned a Ph.D. in Archaeology from the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a B.A. and an M.A. in anthropological archaeology and forensic anthropology at the University of Montana. Dr. Campbell has conducted archaeological fieldwork in Egypt, Peru, Ethiopia, Spain, and the western United States. She is currently the Head Osteologist for the Polish-Egyptian Mission at the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari, and for the North Asasif Project. https://www.roselynacampbell.com/ https://getty.academia.edu/RoselynCampbell/ https://www.cancerantiquity.org/ [all views are our own]

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CW// human remains; violence

In our very first guest interview, we have UCLA's own Dr. Rose Campbell in to talk about how she became a bioarchaeologist and her work on human sacrifice in early dynastic Egypt. What evidence do we have for this practice? How are we to understand violence in the past? Stay tuned for Part I of a fantastic conversation! Show notes

More information about Dr. Campbell:

Dr. Roselyn A Campbell is a bioarchaeologist, anthropological archaeologist, and Egyptologist. Her current research is concerned with evidence for violence and trauma in human remains, and understanding how human societies define, use, and sanction violence as a tool of power. She also researches the history and evolution of cancer in ancient human remains. She earned a Ph.D. in Archaeology from the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a B.A. and an M.A. in anthropological archaeology and forensic anthropology at the University of Montana. Dr. Campbell has conducted archaeological fieldwork in Egypt, Peru, Ethiopia, Spain, and the western United States. She is currently the Head Osteologist for the Polish-Egyptian Mission at the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari, and for the North Asasif Project.

https://www.roselynacampbell.com/ https://getty.academia.edu/RoselynCampbell/ https://www.cancerantiquity.org/

[All views are our own]

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In this listener-suggested episode, Kara and Jordan talk everything Bronze Age Collapse. How are we to understand this so-termed collapse and what were its causes? How can we muddy the typical narrative? What are our sources? And of course- what role did the Egyptians play at the end of the Bronze Age? Listen to find out more!

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ancient #history #podcast #AfterliveswithKara

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We have a mid-season update! We will be taking a short break for the holiday season, continuing in the new year with all brand-new episodes. Listen to hear our other exciting plans! Thanks everyone for your continuing support.

-Kara and Jordan

Follow and review on your favorite podcasting service.

More info at karacooneyegyptologist.com

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In this Crash Course episode, Kara and Jordan discuss Kara's earlier exploration of the relationship between success of a leader and the economy. How are monuments used to interpret the legacy of a leader? How do economic systems uphold inequalities? All of these questions and more will be discussed using examples from the ancient world and today.

ancientegypt #history #podcast #AfterliveswithKara

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In the last installment of demystifying academia, Kara and Jordan cover a variety of topics from defending the dissertation, the horrors of the academic job market 😵, landing a position, and Kara's experience as chair of a department. Oh, and there might be tequila shots as well... this stuff is stressful. We hope you enjoy!

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ancient #history #podcast #academia #AfterliveswithKara

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In this 'crash course' episode, Jordan and I discuss one of my earlier recordings on the religious roots of authoritarian regimes. How did leaders in the past (and today) use religious ideology to support their reigns? Many of these ideas are discussed in more detail in my new book, “The Good Kings”- available where all books are sold.

ancient #history #podcast #AfterliveswithKara #religion #TheGoodKings

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We are doing a feed swap with the The Ozymandias Project: Ancient Office Hours podcast. Check out Kara's episode where Lexie and Kara explore a myriad of topics from Kara's research on coffin re-use to her new book "The Good Kings." Have a listen and we hope you enjoy it! If you want more ancient history themed episodes, like and follow The Ozymandias Project: Ancient Office Hours where you listen to podcasts! The Ozymandias Project

www.theozymandiasproject.com FB, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Patreon.

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In this week’s episode Kara and Jordan discuss Kara’s new book, "The Good Kings." We look at the kings covered - Khufu, Senwosret III, Akhenaten, Ramses II, and Taharqa - and how these kings’ reigns can help us understand modern authoritarian regimes. Hope you enjoy and if you want to know more....”The Good Kings: Absolute Power in Ancient Egypt and the Modern World” is available where all books are sold.

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In this 'crash course' episode, Jordan and I discuss one of my earlier recordings on the prevalence (and constancy) of sickness and death in ancient Egypt. How many men would usually die while out on an expedition for mineral resources? What was life like with a body full of parasites and bacterial infections? What can we learn from the ancient world as we go through a pandemic ourselves? Stay tuned to find out! Show notes

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This week Kara and Jordan discuss The Good Kings: Absolute Power in Ancient Egypt and the Modern World--hitting bookstores everywhere tomorrow!--and Kara's writing process for her popular books.

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In our second Halloween-themed episode, Kara and Jordan take on the topic of 'True Crime' in homage to Jordan's favorite true crime podcasts: Morbid, Crime Junkies, and The Murder Squad

Have you ever wondered if there were serial killers in the ancient world? What examples do we have from ancient Egypt? Who is the infamous Paneb and how did he get away with so many violent crimes? And what about palace intrigue and royal assassination?

CW // violence, sexual assault, murder

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AfterliveswithKara #ancient #truecrime #podcast #ancientmurder

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In part one of our Halloween special, Kara and Jordan delve into all things spooky. Did the ancient Egyptians believe in ghosts? How did the living and the dead interact? What happened to you when you died? Did they have a concept of the soul?

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Ever wonder how scholars work with ancient hieroglyphic texts? Well, here are a few impressions about what it’s like to work with textual data from the workmen’s village of Deir el Medina.

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New episode!! 🚨 Demystifying Academia: Part II

Ever wonder what a dissertations entails? A committee? Defense, funding and teaching? We tell all... Show notes

🎙 Listen to this week's episode on your favorite streaming service

🎥 Watch on YT @ Kara Cooney- Egyptologist

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Want to know what grad school and academia in the Humanities are really about? How do you get in to a funded program? What about a masters program? What is life like as a grad student? As a professor? Jordan and I (try to) demystify the academic experience in a two part podcast.

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Money 💰 rules. We often value wealth so much that we believe rich people to be touched by god, or fate, or whatever you believe in, to rule over us, that we must sacrifice ourselves (and our health) for the good of the economy, as if it were a religion. If economies failed during a king’s reign or a president’s tenure, then it must be his fault, divinely willed, in a sense. This week’s Afterlives podcast includes Jordan and me re-contextualizing a live recording during the darkest days of the 2020 pandemic. This episode is called Divine Economic Right. We hope you enjoy! ❤️ Show notes

Available to stream via your favorite podcasting service. Watch on YouTube.

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Why in the world would anyone study coffins? What can you learn from coffins? That’s our first podcast episode, insight into a new little book I wrote called COFFIN COMMERCE...

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Hi everyone! It took forever, but I finally created a podcast—a super laid-back, comfortable, energetic, fun podcast in which Jordan, my co-host, and I talk about whatever we want —the ancient world, power and politics, women’s studies, the doctoral path, even including all those third-rail topics that seem to draw the most attention on my social media these days.

Hopefully we can provide some fun and edifying banter when you want to be civically engaged but just can’t watch the news. It is my belief that looking at our world through the lens of antiquity can be the distance we need to see the forest for the trees, to analyze more clearly, and to strategize our next move. If you feel like you are the only person in the world who can see the whole game of cards falling down, we want you to know that you are not alone. We see it too. And we study those ancient times when it has happened before. And we want to talk all about it.

Afterlives with Kara Cooney: Recent Episodes

Kara Cooney

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ancient #history #podcast #AfterliveswithKara

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ancient #history #podcast #academia #AfterliveswithKara

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