West Midlands Egyptology Society

We continue our return from hibernation in person on Monday 5^th June, commencing at 7pm. Entry will be FREE. Look forward to seeing you there!

Birmingham Midland Institute, 9 Margaret St, Birmingham B3 3BS

Speaker: Dr Chris Elliott

Title: Wisdom from the East

Overview: Ancient Egypt and Freemasonry. How Euclid taught Geometry to the Egyptians, Thrice Great Hermes, the Egyptian Constitution of King Athelstan, Mrs Belzoni and the Pharaoh’s apron, the Rites of Memphis and Misraim, and Freemasons and Cleopatra’s Needles. Please feel free to share the above and invite friends!

We are back in person on Monday 3rd April 2023, commencing at 7pm. Entry will be FREE

Speaker: Dr Jay Silverstein

Title: Eau de Cleopatra: The Secrets of The Mendesian Perfume

 Abstract: The obsession with fragrance in antiquity transcended the profane power of perfume. Through scent, humans could transfer themselves through the barrier to the divine world. Of the many cherished fragrances of antiquity, the most renowned was known as The Mendesian. The scent carries the name of where they were invented. Mendes was renowned throughout the ancient Mediterranean world. The sister city of Mendes and the city that eventually usurped power from its neighbour is Thmouis. Archaeological discoveries at Thmouis demonstrate that by the time of Cleopatra VII, Thmouis had not only taken political power but had also staked a claim in the manufacture and distribution of the Mendesian fragrances. Through my talk, I will guide you through the archaeological discoveries of this fascinating perfume story.

Rachael Cornwell: The Linguistic Spiral in the History of the Egyptian Language – Wednesday 11th March

Rachael is a 2nd year PhD candidate in Egyptology at the University of Liverpool, funded by the AHRC. Her research is focused on the linguistic changes over the history of the Egyptian language from Old Egyptian to Coptic, and her thesis is focused on the changes between synthetic and analytic forms in the diachronic development of Egyptian. Her wider research interests involve comparative linguistics, and she has also undertaken research in comparing various aspects of the ancient Egyptian and ancient Greek languages. Rachael also organises the University of Liverpool’s Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology Work in Progress seminar series.
As the world’s longest attested language, Egyptian offers a unique opportunity to study language development, and the multitude of linguistic changes which occurred to its variety of verbal constructions.

This talk will investigate the creation of the pattern known as the linguistic spiral or linguistic cycle in a variety of Egyptian verbal constructions, which was constructed through the accumulated impacts of individual linguistic changes.
In particular this will involve studying the developments of verbal constructions from Old Egyptian through to Coptic, to establish which linguistic processes occurred to create the manifestation of the linguistic spiral for each construction. This will then allow for a comparison of the similarities and differences between the processes which affected each verbal construction, as well as a conclusion regarding how similar the linguistic spiral pattern was across the developments of different Egyptian verbal constructions, and consequently how similarly different constructions within the same language developed.

Alice Baddeley: Travelling ancestors at Deir el-Medina? The case of anthropoid Bust BMEA61083 – Wednesday 12th February 

Anthropoid busts have been associated with ancestor worship since their early discovery in the Nineteenth Century by Egyptologists. Since then, this interpretation has been espoused, despite vast quantities and variants of busts. This paper will examine BMEA61083 as an indicator of ancestor
worship but with the ability to be moved about the site at Deir el-Medina and perhaps into the Theban area more generally.

Alice Baddeley is a recent Masters graduate of Egyptology from the university of Liverpool. Her primary research interests lie in the reception of ancient Egypt with a focus on it’s appearance in cinema. She has contributed reviews on books and films in the Rosetta journal and the Journal of History and Cultures as well as papers at the Tea With The Sphinx conference and the Birmingham Egyptology Symposium. Her further research includes aspects of Egyptian settlement archaeology including anthropoid busts.

Our new home for the season

For our remaining talks during the 2019-2020 season we will be located in the Birmingham Midland Institute.

Address:

9 Margaret St,

Birmingham

B3 3BS

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Birmingham+%26+Midland+Institute/@52.4814126,-1.9037679,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x689a53a8dc427cb9?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi_kfHv3rnlAhVSQxUIHdmsAnQQ_BIwDXoECAoQCA

Getting here on Public Transport

6 minute walk from Birmingham Snow Hill train station.

Parking

There are a number of council run car parks in the city centre that are within walking distance to our venue. Click on this link to see more information on council run car parks.

FIRST TALK AFTER THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS: Chris Elliot – Wednesday 9th October   

More than 200 years of the cultural legacy of Ancient Egypt expressed through Egyptian style architecture in England. Mock temples pyramids and obelisks. The What, Where and Why of buildings ranging from mill to mausoleum and cinema to synagogue’. Chris has written on Ancient Egypt’s influence on our culture for the Journal of Egyptian archaeology and a variety of other publications including Ancient Egypt magazine, BBC history Magazine, the Daily Mail travel section and many others. He appeared in the TV series ‘how London was built’ talking about Cleopatra’s needle and has been a member of EES since 1993 helping to set up their website.

You can find out more about him at the website: http://www.egyptinengland.com

We will have a talk in both June and July before we break for the summer period. For more information on our talks visit our page here.

We are planning a trip to visit the Tutankhamun trip in London in 2019 and Bolton Museum. Please stay tuned for more details!

Hieroglyph Classes

We are pleased to announce our first Hieroglyph classes for September 2018. Please note attendees must be available for all three sessions. To book, please follow the link to our Eventbrite page and complete the form: Click here to book tickets

Venue: Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

Time: 10am- 4:30pm – 16th, 23rd, 30th September 2018

Cost: Concessions/Students: £60* P.P,  Adults: £70* P.P

*Please note that Eventbrite admin fees will be added to the price of the course. These will be shown on our Eventbrite page.

Lunch will not be included but attendees are welcome to bring a packed lunch or to use one of the options in the city centre as the museum is well located.

The WMES will be returning to Merseyside for an exciting look at the Book of the Dead exhibition at the famous Victoria Gallery & Museum. For more information, please go to our Trips and Events page at the top of this page in the blue bar. Alternatively click here.

Our call for papers has been extended. This is for our upcoming conference happening this November at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. For more information please click here.