Now as Then

Robyn Price
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Educator, Anthropologist, Archaeologist

Episodes

  1. 07/02/2020

    Season 2 Episode 6: Pyramids: Mighty to Shiny

    In this episode, we will discuss how Egyptian pyramids have changed as a symbol of power, from mythological and foundational elements in ancient Egypt to a source of commercialization and attraction in modern Egypt. We will also discuss how this change occurred, under the context of Orientalism and cultural appropriation of elements of the pyramids in written sources, as well as in modern replications that alter what they pyramids were meant to represent. Daniel Lee,Undergraduate UCLA Featuring: Matei Tichindelean, CotsenInstitute of Archaeology Transcript [Sec. 1: Introduction] DANIEL LEE: Thank you for tuning in. I’m Daniel Lee and you’re listening to Now as Then, where we discuss the ways in which ancient Egypt has shaped many aspects of our history and culture, as well as the world we live in today. In this episode, we examine how the pyramid was not only a symbol of the afterlife and royalty, but actually a highly complex structure that has affected aspects of politics, economy, astronomy, and architecture throughout history. Pyramids. It’s probably safe to say they’re the archaeological symbol of Egypt. In fact, pyramids have become so representative of Egypt that millions of people still visit the Giza pyramids every year today. It’s certainly quite odd to see the pyramids, which symbolized such political and religious power in the past, now being used as tourist attractions. Just how have pyramids, which originally served as monumentary tombs, become such symbols of commercialization? To understand the history of the pyramid, and how its value as an icon has changed, we’ll first have to talk about its origins. [Sec. 2: History and Design] We start from the long, long past of Egypt, and we’re talking way back, like before the first dynasty of the Old Kingdom even began. Back then, Egypt wasn’t really an organized society, but people still lived in smaller social groups in separated settlements. These early societies carried on their first funerary services near “natural pyramids,” or basically mounds or hills that these people settled near to.1 The traditional notion of pyramids as linked to reaching the sun and thus divinity apparently started from this point, but we’ll talk about that later. The important thing to take away from this tradition, however, is that the geometric shape of a pyramid eventually became associated with exclusivity to the higher classes of society, as larger natural pyramids were reserved to people of power, such as generals or officials. It’s pretty similar to how we ascribe greater value to things at the top of the pyramid, which is the highest and most exclusive point. Think of whenever you draw a social or a food pyramid. It’s not that strange at all! Still, man-made pyramids would be constructed several centuries later. J. Donald Fernie’s article “Marginalia: Astronomy And The Great Pyramid” provides great insight into the history of the development of pyramidal design.2 In the article, Fernie states that the first pharaohs of the Old Kingdom weren’t even buried in artificial pyramids, and instead in underground burial chambers called “mastabas,” which were called so because of their resemblance to brick benches in villages of the same name. The transition from rectangular mud mastabas to the more stone-cut and limestone-built pyramids happened rather suddenly, with the first recorded pyramid being the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, also known as the Pyramid of Djoser, the first king of the third dynasty, from the 27th century BCE. In comparison, the Great Pyramid of Giza was only built about a century later! Sadly, a lot of the pyramid building ended by the 6th dynasty of Egypt, though there was a small revival later when the Kingdom of Kush was in power. What’s fascinating about these early pyramids is that they weren’t actually simple in their design, but rather used very specific measurements in their construction, which involved components of astronomy. For instance, the Descending Passage in the Great Pyramid of Giza lines up with the celestial north pole. Other theories exist, such as that the 10:9 ratio of the pyramid and its height multiplied is close to the actual speed of light, or that its base lengths divided by its height is close to the mathematical component pi. While these relations are indeed fascinating, it’s important for us to be wary of how much of these relations were truly intended given the scientific limitations, such as the measurement of light, at that time. The opposite is still true, but we’ll talk more about that when we discuss European pyramidology, so stay tuned! While specific measurements of the pyramid leave some room for argument, pyramids certainly did contain components of architectural complexity. While the initial theories of pyramid construction involved the use of an external ramp in tandem with things like cranes or corkscrew design, modern archaeological evidence actually leads to the conclusion that the pyramids were built using internal ramps constructed within them3 External ramps would still be used, but they would later be stripped to form the inner parts of the pyramids as the build progressed, so that no resources would be wasted. Talk about cannibalism! Because of their complexity, pyramids also often experienced architectural failures that caused distortions in the overall shape of the pyramids, as seen from Kurt Mendelssohn’s instances of failures in pyramidal architectural designs from his 1971 article.4 Given their size, the majority of the pyramid not forming the inner walls or the exterior can contribute to pressurization, which can lead to the crumbling of the pyramid. The Meidum Pyramid was abandoned mid-construction for this reason, resulting in a step pyramid-like structure, while the Bent Pyramid was altered to form a more stable structure after an initial crumbling. In fact, this is exactly why the pyramid is called bent! When ancient Egyptians rebuilt the pyramid, they made the upper part have a smaller slope, giving it an oddly curvy look. So why are the history and the design of the pyramids important? Well, it’s important to take note that larger pyramids built during the Old Kingdom, such as the Great Pyramid of Giza, didn’t just take their symbol of power from nothing. Though they differed in complexity, pyramids in Egypt incorporated architectural design as a way of amplifying the various ritual symbols ascribed to their earlier forms of burial mounds, such as elements of the sun and the stars, or even the afterlife. In the next section, we’ll discuss more on how these ritual elements are represented within pyramids, and how they can form an image of “mysticism.” [Sec. 3: Ritual Functions] In ancient Egypt, religion was more than just one solid belief. Instead, it was more like a larger belief system that touched on many cult values from various cultures, and attempted to group them together through the use of large ideas represented by major deities. It’s no wonder that each deity has such radically opposing characteristics in each myth. Sometimes, deities could even represent completely opposite ideas. A great example of this is the deity Seth, who is at times regarded as the destroyer of the world, while at times its protector! One factor that played into unifying cult beliefs was actually through building pyramids. Linked with the representation of wealth and power, pyramids were ritual tombs constructed to commemorate the passing of a figure of authority. It makes sense, then, that the greatest pyramids would be built by those of royalty. Within pyramids, ritual texts combined ideas from different cults as a form of establishing political stability. The strongest case for this can be seen from pyramid texts on divine conflict. Divine conflict is a recurring theme in ancient Egyptian texts, often representing the real conflicts that took place between nations or religious cults.5 This also meant that they would record stories of royal succession, a hot topic when it comes to conflict in Egypt, through divine representations. One of the most prominent divine conflicts is that between Horus and Seth, the two successors of Osiris following his death. In various written forms, such as the famous Contendings of Horus and Seth, the conflict of royal authority that leads to justification of succession of power becomes the center of the narrative. That might make the story sound like a serious war epic, but it really wasn’t. The Contendings of Horus and Seth was actually more of a comedic twist on the famous conflict, and even involved vulgar actions such as taking Set’s testicles! If you want to hear more  about the myths about Horus and Seth, you can check out Season 1 Episode 4: Falcons and Pharaohs, or more specifically about Seth in Season 2 Episode 1: Seth Apart. In particular, the physical components of each deity, as in Horus’ eye and Seth’s testicles, serve as symbols of the political struggle through their mutilation throughout the narrative. Hence, the eye of Horus, the victor of the struggle, became the symbol of royal strength and political power in Egypt. In other cases, the identification of Horus with Osiris, the neutral, observing entity, hints to the importance of the concept of order and unification within the narrative of pyramid texts. The trinity of Horus, Osiris, and Isis would also later be used in the Coptic tradition in its emulation of the holy trinity of the Bible, and similarly the three angles of the pyramid as well as the three pyramids at Giza, ascribing greater ritual relevance of the pyramid. If you want to learn more about Isis’ representations in other cultures, or the Cult of Isis, or Coptic depictions of Isis’ motherhood of Horus, you can check our Season 2 Episode 4: The Purpose of Isis or Season 1 Episode 5: Lik

    40 min

  2. 07/02/2020

    Season 2 Episode 5: Tombs, Funerals, and Underworlds, Oh My!

    Have you ever wanted to explore the old tombs of Ancient Egypt? Ever wonder why they were made? Or what exactly the journey to the underworld looked like? In this episode of Now as Then, we’ll be diving into Ancient Egyptian tombs, the ways they assisted the dead to the underworld, and the ways that the contents found within them still pervade western media to this day. From there, we’ll be touching on the ways media uses tombs to capitalize off of Ancient Egypt, and the ways that Ancient Egypt has continued to be culturally relevant, in part due to tombs. Sophie Nenninger, UCLA Undergraduate Featuring: Bob Nenninger   Featuring: Kylie Thompsen, UCLA PhD Student Transcript             Section One: Introduction Musical Intro SOPHIE NENNINGER: So imagine it’s the 1800s and you’re unexplored traveling into Egypt for the first time. Now you’ve never been and as you’re seeing the grand artifacts and architecture of the ancient kingdom, you’re wondering, Yo, what’s up with all this dead stuff? Hi, welcome to season two episode five of now versus then, I’m Sophie Nenninger and today we’re going to be talking about the tombs of ancient Egypt. So right off the gate, let me address the idea of death in ancient Egypt that has been perpetrated by the Western world. Because of all the preserved tombs mummies and sarcophagi, Egypt has been branded as an exotic mummy obsessed kingdom. And while that is not entirely untrue, it does depict Egypt in a two dimensional light, which I will be working to uncover within this episode. Starting off the podcast we’ll explore the original tombs of ancient Egypt, what they look like and the things they were buried with the dead. Moving on to the Victorian era. We’ll be talking about Egyptomania and the 1800s and the ways that the aesthetics of tombs were integrated into the art and architecture of Britain. From there, it’s the roaring 20s and the ways that art deco was inspired by King Tut’s tomb and as well as some of the fashion trends inspired by the sarcophagi. Lastly, we’ll be covering the modern world how fashion has capitalized on some of the Egyptian tomb aesthetics and interpreted the artwork into popular culture. [Musical Transition]             Section Two: Ancient Egyptian Tombs (00:02:07) NENNINGER: So the Egyptians had been burying their dead in tombs since the pre dynastic period, which was about 6000 to 3100 BCE. But these tombs are not our traditional idea of what an ancient Egyptian tomb would look like. They were graves lined with brick in the ground, often containing pottery and small in contrast to the pyramids of the Old Kingdom.1 Our interviewee Kylie Thompson mentioned these kinds of tombs and our conversation about the big tombs of ancient Egypt. And because I messed up the audio, I’ll introduce her here. Kylie is a PhD candidate for Near Eastern language and cultures department at UCLA, and she focuses in Middle Kingdom funerary archaeology, here she was explaining the timeline of tombs that existed in the ancient Egyptian kingdoms. KYLIE THOMPSEN: You want to start at like the earliest point of what we consider of, you know, Ancient Egypt. You start with tombs that are just directly into the ground. It’s kind of a lot like, you know, our modern cemeteries, you know, buried with, you know, obviously the bodies and maybe some objects really depending on sort of social status. That’s a huge thing, especially in the ancient world, we deduce a lot of information about people through their tombs, and what was in them and how large they were, things like this. Doesn’t always mean the same thing, but it helps us understand more about them as time progressed from the pre dynastic period, and you go into the Old Kingdom, that’s when you get like things called mastaba tombs. So you still have like shafts and chambers and what have you under the ground but then you have this large mud brick structure on top so you can just imagine being an ancient Egyptian walking around and there are these you know, giant superstructures. Of course, that would be you know, probably quite intense. So you can- and it’s intense for us to even though we don’t have them perfectly preserved, you go to Egypt. Now you can sort of see what these look like. And then you kind of continue on with this. You have these mastaba tombs, but you also get pyramids and these, I kind of touched on this before, but you’re going to get drastically different types of tombs, depending on social status. And so if you’re the king, the Pharaoh, you start to have pyramids built. The upper elite –These things are sort of hard to, you know, when we’re using like our modern day, sort of conceptions of like, what elite is, but suffice it to say upper elites, they have these fill these mastaba tombs. Sometimes rock cut to tombs, so things like into a cliff. But you know, then you have also massive pyramids with a lot of stuff inside. We don’t know exactly what because that’s another important thing about ancient Egyptian tombs most were looted, objects were taken out to be reused. The tombs themselves were reused, right. So we are missing a lot of information. Pyramids, you know, sort of persisted for a while for, you know, through the Middle Kingdom. That’s the time period that I’m interested in. And then they sort of fall off. And now when we get to the new kingdom, which I think this is another thing people think about when thinking about tombs is for example, King Tut’s tomb. He’s a new kingdom King. And that’s where you have like the Valley of the Kings. This is used for, you know, a couple hundreds of years. And these are, you know, you have sort of this mountainous–that’s probably not the right word, but you have all these different cliff faces and tombs were being dug into this into the rock. And you have all these different chambers and King Tut. So famous not because he did anything super exciting but just because he’s actually the only sort of King that we have his funerary equipment almost completely preserved–we do know that some stuff was looted in antiquity. But so like all these, you know, this idea we have of all the gold and all the different things and the decoration that all comes from King Tut’s tomb and that’s why he’s, you know, captured the imagination of, you know, like almost everybody, right? And yeah, and that sort of, you know, continues on these rock cut tombs are what are most, you know, it’s what most people are doing, who have the means to have these types of tombs. But yeah, so it’s a long history. It’s a couple thousand years, but that’s sort of like a quick and dirty rundown to styles throughout the ages. NENNINGER: So like Kylie said, the tombs built to bury the dead actually varied quite a bit. They went from these original cemeteries to mastabas to pyramids to tombs cut out of the sides of mountains, to chambers built in the Valley of the Kings and to the eventual merging of Egyptian burials with Roman and Greek tradition in the Ptolemaic period. And I know that in our modern perception of tombs, you might just think, oh, we have cemeteries. They’re not too different from tombs, but tombs in cemeteries were relatively uncommon at this time in societies other than Egypt. That’s not to say they didn’t exist, but not to the level of ancient Egypt.2 The tomb that I’m choosing to focus on today was the tomb of Seti I who was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh in the 19th dynasty. His tomb was located in the East Valley of the Kings and is the longest tomb in the valley at 137 meters.3 I’m choosing to use this tomb because the reliefs are incredibly extravagant, and I think the depictions on the walls encapsulate a lot of what we consider today to be cliche Egyptian aesthetics due to the nature of the excavation of the tomb. The function of the tomb itself was to assist the dead to the afterlife. Seti’s tomb was large enough to house the texts of multiple books which were there as a guide for Seti, the Book of the Dead was inscribed on the walls of the tomb to guide the king to the duat, or the underworld. In an essay by Bojana Mosjav, she details the meanings and inscriptions and the artwork on the walls, the secret names of Ra that were invoked for the protection of the pharaoh, his image ingrained on the wall, bringing him back to life with the heavenly cow ready to carry him into the sky. His sarcophagus was laid under the night sky, the sky goddess embracing the tomb sparkled with stars. Thus, the tomb itself functions as a piece of the physical underworld, a space tied between life and death.4 So from what we know about all of these kinds of tombs in the interiors of them, how were they supposed to, like, assist the dead to the underworld? THOMPSEN: So that’s a great question because I think it’s what most people sort of forget about when thinking about tombs that it was a space for the dead to be transformed. And then eventually, you know, make it into the afterlife. There’s so many different elements that come into play. Again, depending on what type of tool it is, but I’ll just sort of give a generalized answer that can sort of somewhat be applied throughout history to a degree. But you have, you know, for example, you have like the actual burial chamber right, a tomb could be much larger, it has a funerary chapel where people bring offerings to the dead. You have, you know, different sub chambers, like empty chambers, all these different things where objects are going, you have text on the walls and hieroglyphs that have sort of if you’ve ever heard of like the Book of the Dead people, you know, they’ll say like, Book of the Dead spell 117 something like this. So again, I think even just that language, kind of like, you know, captures the imagination. B

    40 min

  3. 07/02/2020

    Season 2 Episode 4: The Purpose of Isis

    We discuss how the goddess Isis has changed throughout time from when she was first created in ancient Egypt to nowadays where she is still revered by some in the world. Gabriela Ramirez, 1st Year Undergraduate Jordan Galczynski, Graduate Student Transcript [Introduction-0:00] Gabriela Ramirez: Thank you for tuning in. My name is Gabriela Ramirez and you’re listening to Season Two, Episode Four of Now as Then, where we discuss the ways in which Ancient Egypt has changed the different aspects of our culture in our world today. In this episode, the purpose of Isis, we’re going to discuss how the goddess Isis has changed throughout time from when she was first created in ancient Egypt to nowadays where she is still revered by some in the world. The Cult of Isis still exists today. GR: So what is it about this goddess that makes her so famous? Even most people who don’t revere her in any way, know who she is, and know that she has some connection to Ancient Egypt. Even some know that she’s an Egyptian goddess. But what is it about her that makes her so popular? We find out that throughout history she has been worshipped by many, but she has not always retained the same meanings that she has had from ancient Egypt. So let’s dive into the original meanings of Isis from ancient Egypt when we first hear about her purpose there. [Section 1: Isis in Ancient Egypt-1:46] GR: In ancient Egypt, when we learn about Isis, she has very much taken on the role of a mother goddess and wife to Osiris. She is specifically the mother of Horus, and in The Contendings of Horus and Set, she helps her son become the ruler of the gods and goddesses, cradling him like a baby, though there are two main forms of Horus, Horus the younger and Horus the elder. (If you would like to learn about the different forms and popularity of Horus, check out Season One, Episode Four: Falcons and Pharaohs.) In fact, some figurines of Isis are of her cradling the baby Horus and nursing him. One such figurine can be found at the John Hopkins Archaeological Museum. It has a turquoise color, and you can tell that it is Isis by the symbol that is on her hair, the “chair” symbol. She holds Horus near her breast so that she can feed him. This image of Isis cradling baby Horus speaks to her qualities as a mother: caring, protective and supportive. (If you’d like to learn more about the image of Isis nursing baby Horus, check out Season One, Episode Five: Like a Virgin: Madonna and Child.) Thus, the Egyptians viewed her in the same way, a mother, asking her for guidance and protection, just like how she did for Horus and his troubles. Here’s Jordan Galczynski, a graduate student at UCLA, with more information on the topic. Jordan Galczynski: I think often Isis gets kind of equated with motherhood and you know, childbirth and like the protective mother. So I think that’s often especially later on in Egyptian history she gets she gets the mother kind of signal. Earlier on, I mean, she has like the kind of regenerative aspects to with putting together Osiris and then making the first Horus. So she was very integral in starting kingship in ancient Egypt. But yeah, I think most cases it’s she’s connected to motherhood, children. Protection things like this. GR: So even though Isis possesses different qualities and grander powers, such as the power of regeneration, the Egyptians considered her a mother goddess, having all of the qualities of a mother and protecting Ancient Egyptians like her children. [Section 2: Isis in Greco-Roman culture-4:20] GR: When foreigners began to invade and travel to Egypt, the Egyptian culture became syncretized into other civilizations, especially Greek and Roman cultures. In some cases, some Egyptian gods and goddesses were forgotten. However, Isis did not die so easily like the others. With a strong Greek influence in Egypt, especially in the Delta region, many of the Greeks began to syncretize, or merge, Isis into their culture, even along with their own gods and goddesses. Oftentimes, the Greeks would compare her to Aphrodite. It is very interesting that she would be compared to Aphrodite given her role in ancient Egypt was a mother goddess. Aphrodite does not necessarily possess motherly qualities. In fact, she is vain about her own beauty. However, the Greeks compared Isis to the fertility aspects of Aphrodite since Isis impregnated herself when she regenerated Osiris from the dead. The comparison between Aphrodite and Isis possibly gives the latter a new purpose as a goddess of fertility. Though it is not a very popularized idea, there are still some who compare Isis to Aphrodite for this purpose. However, Isis was syncretized into Greek mythology in another somewhat unusual way. There were some Greeks who believed that Isis was the goddess of the seas. Now, in Greek mythology, it’s Poseidon who’s the god of the seas; this could possibly be another connection to Isis as possible, grander powers. According to the 2019 book Isis Pelagia: Images, Names and Cults of a Goddess of the Seas, it says that “the Egyptians perceive the seas as frightening, a place where there are risks that can lead to capsizing or even death.” Even if the Egyptians did not value the seas, the Greeks definitely did as they built their entire culture around the Mediterranean Sea. So, because the Greeks began to perceive, through Egypt secretization, how much power Isis could have, they believed that her power must be demonstrated through the power of the waves. Therefore, to some cults of Isis in Greece, Isis’s purpose was to be the goddess of the seas, praying to her to keep them safe as they cross the seas as a sign of her power. It is very different from the purpose of a mother goddess. GR: Across the “pond” in Rome, Isis gained huge popularity than she ever had before. There she was so absorbed into Roman culture that she was considered an All-Goddess, a goddess with so much power that she had powers from most of the other deities in Roman mythology. According to the 2016 book, ISIS: Eternal Goddess of Egypt and Rome, some Romans viewed her as a savior “as she eventually becomes a beneficial goddess of nature, a saviour, and to many, the sole goddess.” Again, the savior purpose appears in the Roman culture, attributing to her great power and many Romans believed that she was so much more powerful than the other Roman deities that they worshipped Isis more. Their worship was so great that they began to build temples and statues for her. The Art History Museum in Vienna, Austria, in the Collection of Antiquities, there’s a statue of Isis from Roman culture, and it’s from the Middle Imperial period from the first half of the second century CE; it was found in Naples, Italy. Now this statue has some Egyptian culture on it, like the broken sistrum in her right hand or the jar of the holy Nile water in her left hand, or maybe the headdress of the sun disk, between cow horns, borrowed from the ancient Egyptian goddess, Hathor. The main difference is she is dressed in Roman garments, specifically black Roman garments. In the description of the statue, the dark parts of the robes are meant to contrast against the “white marble of the incarnate of the goddess” to demonstrate her purity. This statue is a great representation of Isis’s popularity among the Romans, and her popularity swept over the entire Roman Empire and remained there for many more decades. Jordan has more to add about Isis’s popularity in Rome. JG: I think specifically of the Romans, adopt the Cult of Isis and bring the cult back to you know, the Italian peninsula. So you find we find temples dedicated to Isis in Pompei. You can there’s one, there’s one in Rome. We have people being you know, priests of Isis, Italians, Romans. Even stories The Golden Ass, The Metamorphosis is a story about a individual a Roman going trying to initiate into the Isis cult, and all the mysteries that and you know is part of this. GR: The mystical and exotic aspect of Isis being from ancient Egypt, also very much appealed to the Romans. The main significance here of Isis from the Greeks and the Romans is that to them, she was not a mother goddess. To some Greeks, she was a powerful goddess, the goddess of the seas. Although it definitely surprised me, I can see why they viewed her as a goddess of the seas, due to her power and connection to water from two very different civilizations. The Greeks knew that they had to appeal to her for safe passage on the seas. Then we move on further to Roman culture, and she’s seen as an All-Goddess, almost as if she was monotheistic, even though some Romans were still polytheistic and did worship the other gods and goddesses. But they were many, many Romans who saw her as a generic, mystical, All-Goddess with a lot of power to bring salvation to them. It was very different from her role as a mother goddess, someone who would protect the Egyptians. [Section 3: The Disappearance of the Cult of Isis’s Popularity-11:33] GR: As I continued my research, I noticed that I could not find sources that stated she was very popular during the Middle Ages or the Renaissance era. And I think the reason for this has to do with the rising popularity of Christianity. Here’s what Jordan says about the popularity of Christianity and how it affected Cults of Isis at the end of the Roman Empire. JG: I think just like, you know, Christianity being so popular and you can’t, you know, in Christian thought you there’s one god right you can’t worship other gods. So the popularity of Christianity and in being Christian at least in, you know, Europe and such, takes over. Even in Egypt right we have there they convert very quickly to Christianity so I just think yeah the popularity of monotheism right. monotheistic religio

    25 min

  4. 07/02/2020

    Season 2 Episode 3: Tutmania

    You’ve probably heard of the famous King Tut. Be it museum exhibits or Tut-themed paraphernalia, it seems like the whole world is obsessed with this boy king. But why does he so enamor us today, and how have our depictions of him created and perpetrated an Orientalist narrative that has had negative consequences in both the past and the present? Listen in to find out! Isabel DawsonUndergraduate, UCLA Rowan DawsonStudent, Redwood HS Rebecca DawsonStudent, Redwood HS Featuring: Maryan RaghebPhD Candidate,UCLA Transcript Section 1: Introductions (0:00) ISABEL DAWSON: When you think about Ancient Egypt, who or what comes to mind? Is it the pyramids at Giza? Is it the Nile river? Is it the gods, like Anubis or Ra? REBECCA DAWSON: If you’re like us, you’ll think of the famous King Tut. You might even picture his golden mask, perhaps one of the most well-known artifacts to ever come out of Ancient Egypt. ISABEL: But have you ever wondered who Tut really was? How someone who lived and died thousands of years ago continues to influence our world today?  ROWAN DAWSON: And does that mask even belong to him? Well, more on that later. ISABEL: I’m Isabel Dawson- ROWAN: -I’m Rowan Dawson- REBECCA: -and I’m Rebecca Dawson. We’re recording this today in the closet of our home. We’re so excited to be talking about King Tutankhamun today, and we hope you listeners are just as excited to hear about him too. ISABEL: This is episode 3 of season 2 of Now as Then, an ongoing podcast series about the perception of Ancient Egypt throughout time. Our episode, “Tutmania,” intends to delve deeper than the superficial knowledge most people have of the famous boy king today.  ROWAN: First, we’ll go back to Ancient Egypt in the 18th dynasty to talk about Tut’s reign itself and the political and religious mess he found himself with. His family, and their policies, became pretty important here. We’ll also discuss his immediate legacy…or should I say, lack of it. REBECCA: Then we’ll jump to the 20th century, starting with Howard Carter’s excavation of his tomb and the Tutmania that swept through Europe to the impacts on the field of Egyptology that these findings held. ISABEL: Last, and certainly not least, we’ll discuss how we, in the modern day, perceive King Tut. From the souvenirs and movies he’s inspired, to his status as the icon for Ancient Egypt in pop culture…and to how our Western depictions of him ultimately contribute to the harmful idea of Orientalism…there’s a lot to say, and we’ll get to all that. But first, we need to go to the past… Section 2: King Tut’s Reign (2:26) ROWAN: So, King Tut must’ve been a pretty good ruler, right? He had that tomb full of treasure, and I’d say he’s the most famous pharaoh now. REBECCA: Yeah, I saw that movie, uh, The Curse of King Tut’s Tomb? Tut saves all of Egypt. He’s the good guy, the hero. 1 ROWAN: He also fires lasers and has mechanical golden wings—I wouldn’t count on Hollywood for accuracy…but anyways, he must’ve been pretty influential for his time, right?2 ISABEL: Well, not quite. To understand King Tut’s reign, we have to examine Akhenaten, the pharaoh believed to be Tut’s father. You see, Egypt had this long history of polytheism, and they worshipped a large pantheon of gods, including Amun. Akhenaten, however, changed all this. He moved from the traditional capital Thebes to a new one he created in present-day Amarna which was called Akhetaten, or “the Horizon of Aten.” Instead of worshipping Amun and the gods Egypt had for centuries, he uprooted religious tradition to worship a single god, the Sun Disc Aten. Akhenaten wanted to remove funding from the temples of Amun and to effectively erase the deity from history.3 Now, you can understand this wasn’t a very popular idea. Causing religious upheaval isn’t really the best way to gain the favor of those around you. But let’s get back to King Tut. His reign was spent reversing Akhenaten’s policies. He reestablished the worship of Amun, which can also be seen reflected in his name: originally Tutankhaten, he changed it to Tut-ankh-AMUN, which roughly translates to “all life is in the hands of Amun.” He left Amarna and worked to restore the religious traditions Egypt had been following for centuries.4 ROWAN: So why isn’t he the hero, then? REBECCA: Well, despite doing all of this, his name was tarnished because of its association to his father. We know this because of artifacts like the Abydos King List, which was found in the temple of Ramses II, who reigned in the 19th dynasty. See, these king lists weren’t really used to give an accurate, chronological list of all the pharaohs that previously reigned. Instead, they listed the names of kings seen as legitimate—kings the pharaohs of the 19th dynasty, in this case, approved of. In the Abydos King List, the name of Tutankhamun is missing. Actually, the whole Amarna period is missing.5 This tells us a lot about how the rulers who came after him wanted him to be remembered. They didn’t want anything associated with the Amarna period and its religious upheaval to be acknowledged. His legacy was all but erased after he died. ISABEL: Speaking of which, how did he die? ROWAN: There’s been tons of theories over the years. It could’ve been a number of things that ultimately brought about his early death. No one knows for sure, but it was probably a mixture of a malaria infection and poor health. He had a clubbed foot and probably had to walk with a cane—you can actually find a lot of those in his tomb. There’s also evidence of a leg fracture and infection. Other theories suggest diseased bones or other accidents. A lot of his health problems probably stemmed from the fact that he was a product of incest. His only two daughters were also inbred and were stillborn. Their mummies were found in his tomb, too.6 REBECCA: Oh, how sad. ROWAN: His tomb itself seems to suggest it was prepared quickly—I mean, no one expects a 19 year old to die. For one, it’s much smaller than any other king’s—it was probably meant for an official, but was just repurposed for his use. There’s even brown marks where mold must’ve been on the paintings on the tomb walls. That means that the paint wasn’t even dry yet before the tomb was sealed .7 His life was truly too short. ISABEL: The more I learn about King Tut, the sadder I get. His reign was cut short with an early death at the age of 19, and despite doing all he could to restore Egypt’s religious traditions, his name was tarnished. His story is really very tragic. REBECCA: Yeah, he wasn’t seen as a hero like in the movies, at least in his time. But all those details don’t make for a sellable narrative, I guess. Anyways, as I mentioned before, Tutankhamun was basically unknown to the world for centuries after his death. That is, until, the year 1922. Section 3: Tomb Discovery (6:43) ISABEL: “Friday, October 27, 1922: Left Cairo for Luxor.”  “Wednesday, November 1: Commenced operations in the Valley of the Kings…” “Saturday, November 4: At about 10am I discovered beneath almost the first hut attacked the first traces of the entrance of the tomb Tutankhamen…”  “Sunday, November 5: Here before us was sufficient evidence to show that it really was an entrance to a tomb, and by the seals, to all outward appearances that it was intact…I was much puzzled by the smallness of the opening in comparison with those of other royal tombs in the valley. Its design was certainly of the 18th Dynasty. Could it be the tomb of a noble, buried there by royal consent? Or was it a royal cache?”  “Sunday, November 26: Feverishly we cleared away the remaining last scraps of rubbish on the floor of the passage before the doorway, until we had only the clean sealed doorway before us…It was sometime before one could see, the hot air escaping caused the candle to flicker, but as soon as one’s eyes became accustomed to the glimmer of light the interior of the chamber gradually loomed before one, with its strange and wonderful medley of extraordinary and beautiful objects heaped upon one another. There was naturally short suspense for those present who could not see, when Lord Carnarvon said to me `Can you see anything’. I replied to him `Yes, it’s wonderful.’”8 You just heard excerpts from the diary of Howard Carter, the man credited with discovering King Tut’s tomb.  REBECCA: So what “wonderful” things did Carter find? ROWAN: Plenty of things, and practically everything intact which was definitely rare as many tombs were plundered. One of the reasons Tut’s tomb was so special was because it had only been robbed twice, probably close to his funeral, and almost everything was left behind. This gave us an insight into what a more undisturbed tomb would have looked like. But back to the “treasure:” There were chests, huge alabaster vases holding fragrant oils, animal-shaped couches and stools, jewelry, golden fans, shrines…the list goes on.9 The tomb was truly packed with stuff, as can be seen from the excavation photos. Artifacts were piled on top of each other, and there wasn’t much room to work.10 REBECCA: What was the significance of all these items? What do they tell us about what ancient Egyptians thought about their kings and the afterlife?  ISABEL: They tell us a lot! Inscriptions on the chest Rowan mentioned earlier say Tut will be blessed with all the benefits one can have when they enter the afterlife, like wine and incense.11 The paintings on the walls of the Burial Chamber are also really important artifacts and generally depict the acceptance of the pharaoh into the afterlife. The North Wall shows the Opening of the Mouth ceremony, where T

    36 min

  5. 07/02/2020

    Season 2 Episode 2: Journey Down the Nile

    With a river as widely known as the Nile, you’d think the average would know a little more about it. You’re in luck! Listen in, and I’ll tell you everything you need to know about the Nile River and its purposes over time. We will then explore how changes over time brought the Nile to where it is today; and then see how time might’ve changed the way we even think about it. Ruby Prosser, UCLA Undergraduate Featuring: (not pictured) Amr Shahat, PhD Candidate, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLA Transcript [Introduction 00:00-2:59] RUBY PROSSER: *background music* Perhaps the most famous river in the world, The Nile River has been a source of life for Egyptian civilization for thousands of years. It is the world’s longest river, spanning more than 6,800 kilometers (~4225 miles) and runs through 10 different countries. While it is so long, its drainage is a mere fraction of rivers such as the Amazon, Congo, and Danube. All of this water not draining out into the ocean flooded and irrigated the river’s banks and provided sustenance for the people who lived near. 1There were also widely known cultural beliefs about the river such as its personification as a god, explaining the Nile’s power to give life in the otherwise desert climate of Egypt. 2And for its time, the Nile was also known as an extensive trade route, and inspired plans for socio-political structures and settlements throughout Egypt.3 You wanna hear more? Let’s go for a “Journey Down the Nile”. PROSSER: Thanks for dropping by, my name is Ruby Prosser and welcome to Season 2 Episode 2 of of Now As Then, a podcast series exploring differences and similarities in perceptions of Ancient Egypt over time. In this episode called “Journey Down the Nile”, I will be talking about many aspects of Pharaonic, Ptolemaic/Roman, and modern Egypt that had built up as well as changed Western perceptions of the Nile River. We’ll be learning some of these changed perceptions were created in part by ideas of globalization and ethnocentrism, and contribute to damaging practices of commercialization and notions of Orientalism. This is a whole lot to hear right now, and I promise I’ll be explaining all of this… but that’s for later. For our special guest, we are joined throughout the podcast with the wonderful Amr Shahat. AMR SHAHAT: My name is Amr Shahat I am a fourth-year PhD student in Egyptian archaeology and my specialization is archaeobotany. So when I dig in archaeological sites I look for food and plant remains and I explore the history of culture and cultural interaction through the lens of plants. How do they use these plants for their food system, agriculture, medicine, clothing and for trade interactions? PROSSER: Great! There’s so much more to hear, so stick around! *Switch up music* [Section 1: Ancient Egypt 3:00- 14:24] [Subsection: Agriculture] PROSSER: *background music* So we’ve all heard the phrase “Water is life”. And for ancient Egyptian civilizations, the Nile River was the source of all things needed to survive. The Nile River first provided irreplaceable water, and then humans learned to control it for agriculture. With years of surpluses, this aspect of Egypt was a flourishing one, but farmers had to have technology to calculate ways to get the best crop yield. *river sounds* Let’s start with the very basics according to Nezar AlSayyad, a professor and urbanist with interests in Islamic architecture and urban history. Water goes through natural processes, like precipitation, can gather in a lake, glacier, and be released by rivers and streams into the ocean. The most natural form of water ancient Egyptians learned to control was, of course, the river that we call the Nile today. We can learn about the Nile’s natural cycle in the terms of the ancient Egyptians and their agricultural calendar. The three seasons were named Akhet, Peret, and Shemu, or Inundation, Growing, and Harvest. These parts had about four months each, and were all very distinctive parts of the Nile’s agricultural “cycle”. First, Akhet or Inundation was the four month’s time in which the Nile’s water levels rose up to extensively flood the soil on the banks of the river. This left farmland well-watered and very fertile for the next growing season. *background music ends* This sudden rise in the waters, though, created devastating floods, ruining the farmland and the previous harvest of crops if not measured correctly. I’ll talk a little more about Hapy *sparkle sound*, the personification of the power behind these floods, when we talk about the Nile’s cultural significance. Further, to combat this power, ancient Egyptians created a very, very advanced irrigation system. This system allowed for many canals to reach the innermost parts of land to water the crops. Systems like shadufs, which were long poles attached to a water bucket, allowed for farmers to easily allocate the river water to these canals. The next season is called Peret, when farmers plant multiple crops in the silt, including but of course not limited to barley, onions, wheat, and lettuce. Ancient Egypt used tools such as the ox-drawn plow, hoes, and large baskets to plant after inundation. Breaking up the fertile soil after it had been inundated was important to actually make sure the seeds could be viable and sprout.4 After another four months of plowing the fields and harvesting, the final season of Shemu, or harvesting came along. A primary source shows us multiple storage records of distributions in the food surplus, suggesting ancient Egyptians were harvesting in surplus for many years.5 Because of this people were able to make and store other artifacts like textiles, also shown in the record. Ancient Egyptians celebrated this surplus and the season Shemu with a festival associated with the goddess Renenutet. 6 *background music* We know there were celebrations, but Amr, what did they celebrate? SHAHAT: So there is a celebration of two important days. The harvest day in March, and there’s a day in January around, I think,  January 21st where after the flood is complete and when winter starts and the water is cold. They consider that time the cleanest and the purest time for the Nile water. They call it the day of Wathas, it means swimming, the Nile is safe to swim in and drink from. And they consider Christianity and Islam the host religions and it’s the other way actually, they continue these ancient beliefs around the Nile even under [the current] time period. *background music ends* PROSSER: Wow, it’s crazy how the efficiency of their yield from the river has been celebrated for that long! The efficiency of the agricultural system also definitely proved itself through the surplus, and this suggests Egyptians also had materials to trade. According to AlSayyad, there soon became development of reed and wooden rafts which converted the Nile into a highway for trade, communication, and political integration. With further developments in technologies to farm and trade, there was successful handling of the Nile River over the first few Dynasties. Great! [Subsection: Culture] *high pace, switch up music* PROSSER: Think back to when we talked about inundation, and the power behind the flood to either give life or create destruction. Those are cultural beliefs about the Nile! At this point, let’s introduce a little information about the religiosity of ancient Egyptians, or how religious the general population was. Barry Kemp, an archaeologist and Egyptologist, recognizes that many ancient Egyptians followed a “popular religion”, but were also used in New Kingdom periods as a way to possibly boost personal relationships with the deities they prayed to.7 It was more of the nobles and elites that would practice spells, rituals, and other prayers. Nonetheless, it’s important to learn about what many people believed about the Nile River in the Pharaonic time. Ancient Egyptians unified most gods with the characteristics of the central god Ra, or the King of Gods. Because of this, the Nile River god, Hapy, is depicted with many similarities to Ra and lesser known Khenum, an early god of waterfalls. Another deity associated with the Nile is Renenutet, a powerful goddess in control of nourishment, fertility, and harvest. You can probably remember that she was celebrated at Shemu, the harvest festival.8 *background music* Amr, who was Hapy and how was his religious presence effective for the ruling class? SHAHAT: In ancient Egypt the embodiment of the Nile flood and the balances and beauty that the Nile comes with is embodied by the god Hapy. You see that kings, when they focus on agriculture, especially in the middle kingdom after they recover from civil war, they started to focus on irrigation systems and development. So we also find emphasis on god Hapy, and Amnemhat the 3rd to celebrate and presents himself as god Hapy on Earth, bringing bounty to the Nile, et cetera, he has a presentation of himself as Hapy bringing food and fish and plants to the Egyptians. This statue is in the Egyptian museum, it’s very impressive. *background music ends* PROSSER: Very impressive indeed! Many images of Hapy represent inundation itself, which we remember was the flooding of the soil on the banks along the Nile. In Pharaonic times he is normally represented male aligned, but also androgynously being a “stout man with female breasts” giving him a duality of sorts. That duality plays out in his gender presentation and control of both fertility and drought. In Sety I tomb, there are multiple other facets that show the phenomenon of dual conception. For example, we have the North and South river valleys, and familiar double tomb inscriptions of the god having a papyrus plant in one hand and a lotus plant in the other. I know you’re thinking: Ruby, what does that stuff mean? The

    39 min

  6. 07/02/2020

    Season 2 Episode 1: Seth Apart

    The deity Seth is intimately associated with Ancient Egypt’s sense of duality with how he opposes Osiris and Horus. But as time moves forward, when other cultures begin to take Ancient Egypt’s religion and use it as their own or as inspiration, does Seth retain these aspects? Samantha Lin, Undergraduate  UCLA   Caleb Faver, UndergraduateTAMUG Also featuring: Jeff Newman, PhD Candidate,UCLA Transcript: OSIRIS: Seth, why? SETH: Oh, you know exactly why brother ISIS: Oh, Osiris, I suppose it falls to me to revive you. RA: Seth, you are prepared for tonight? SETH: As always, my King. APEP: [Hisses] RA: Then I trust you to protect me with all your strength. SAMANTHA LIN: Now, what was that all about? CALEB FAVER: Yeah, what was that? Wasn’t Osiris the pharaoh or something? And Seth just killed him! LIN: Exactly! And scattered his body parts all over too. FAVER: And at the same time. He’s what, protecting the head honcho of the gods, Ra? LIN: Interesting, isn’t it? LIN: Welcome to “Now as Then” Season Two Episode One. I’m Samantha Lin. FAVER: And I’m Caleb Faver, and today, with the help of a certain expert, JEFF NEWMAN: Hi, my name is Jeff Newman. I am currently a fourth year PhD student in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures. I study Egyptian archaeology. LIN: We’re discussing the god of chaos and the desert, Seth. LIN: So what do you know about Seth? FAVER: Well, you know how Loki stabbed his brother in the back? LIN: Ah, yes. FAVER: He’s like that. But other than that, not much. LIN: So, Seth is the god of the desert, storms, foreigners and chaos. And well, like you said, he stabbed his brother. Were you paying attention to the beginning? FAVER: Oh, yeah. Osiris is his brother. Did he have other siblings? LIN: He did indeed. You might have heard of them! Isis and Nephthys. FAVER: Wait, isn’t Isis Osiris’ wife? LIN: Yup. Seth married his sister as well. FAVER: Really? LIN: Yeah. And he’s Anubis’ dad. FAVER: That seems… LIN: On the topic of Anubis! You know how he has a jackal head? FAVER: Yeah, and Horus has a falcon head. LIN: You know what animal Seth has on his head? FAVER: From the images I’ve seen it’s a mix between a dog and an aardvark? LIN: Yeah, that’s probably as close as you’re gonna get. The animal he is from the shoulders up is called the Set animal. Kinda Sets him apart from the other gods that his animal is, well, his and doesn’t exist, right? FAVER: Haha, but yeah, I can see how that makes him different from the others just by nature. LIN: Right. And when the Set animal hieroglyph is written, most of its words like “suffering” and “violent storms” have an association with chaos, which happens to be what Seth is a god of. 1 FAVER: Just straight up chaos? LIN: Just straight up chaos! which might I add is very important to ancient Egyptian culture. You see, think about the layout of their land. FAVER: I remember learning about this actually. Among the river valley civilizations, Egypt started it up around the Nile. Their lives were led by the Nile, since when it flooded, it deposited silt that let them grow their crops. Yeah? And if you’re interested to learn more, check out our episode on the Nile. LIN: Perfect. Now, what’s important is that you remember the other important geographical feature of Egypt. It’s smack in the middle of… FAVER: The desert. LIN: The desert! The important part of this is just how diametrically opposed these two things are in every way. FAVER: The desert is full of course, rough, irritating sand that gets everywhere. LIN: While the river valley is filled with crops. FAVER: The desert’s also harsh and hot and hard to travel through. It’s chaotic and dangerous to be in. LIN: Meanwhile, Egypt around the Nile is considered home where it’s safe and there’s food and water. FAVER: The sands are bright red, LIN: While, the silt is a glistening black. FAVER: So earlier when you said Seth was the god of the desert, you were saying he’s basically the god of all these bad concepts. LIN: Exactly. And guess who the god is of all these good concepts? I’ll give you a hint: He’s dead now. FAVER: Oh. LIN: Yes! Oh-siris. His domain is all those good things we mentioned. In addition to being associated with kingship. 2 It doesn’t end there either. It’s probably clear by now that the ancient Egyptians had a strong sense of duality. Black and red, Osiris and Seth, and Ma’at and Isfet. FAVER: What was those last two? LIN: Well, Ma’at is basically order, involved with things such as justice in moderation. The goddess Ma’at is the daughter of Ra, god of the sun and one of the gods responsible for creating the world. Very important. FAVER: So isfet is disorder. LIN: And it’s the pharaohs’ job to make sure that Ma’at overcomes Isfet. So, you know, society can function. FAVER: And if Osiris and Horus are related to the pharaohs, LIN: You guessed it. Also associated with disorder is our good friend Seth. It doesn’t end there either! LIN: Egypt may have good natural defenses, what with all the sand and water, but it still ended up falling to foreign rule. And guess who’s also the god of foreigners? FAVER: Seth. Imagine if after invading they said, “Hey, Seth seems pretty neat!” and took him as their representative. LIN: There’s no need for that! That totally happened. 3 FAVER: Wow! So Seth was kind of the worst, just totally evil. LIN: Incorrect! FAVER: Oh, okay. LIN: Were you paying attention in the beginning? FAVER: Hmm. In that segment, Seth was protecting the king from a snake. Oh, wait, this is the part I know well actually! LIN: Go wild. FAVER: The creator of the gods and the world, Ra, would descend into to the underworld every night as the representation of the sun setting. Waiting for him every night was Apep or Apophis, a giant serpent and yet another embodiment of chaos, who would try to sink Ra’s boat and keep the sun from rising the next day. FAVER: So during this time, it was the job of certain gods to keep the king safe. Namely Bastet, the Eye of Ra, and Seth. Seth has been depicted as spearing Apep in the Book of the Dead 4, a clear show just how he goes about doing his job. LIN: Awesome! Thank you, Caleb! You see, after all this, there’s something else Seth is associated with: power. That staff you see lots of representations of him holding is called a Was-scepter, which represents power. And look at this. 5 Look familiar? FAVER: Huh. You sent me a picture of one of the heads of a scepter. It looks like his head. And is that Seth carved into the wood?6 For the symbol of power to have his animal shape and have his face engraved in it sure explains how he’s able to fend off the evil serpent so well. NEWMAN: With a deity like Seth, he originally sort of has a, instead of a danger aspect to his sort of cosmic flavor, that originally seems to be more dealing with power and strength. So he seems early on to be more of a god that’s associated with chaos, but not necessarily the bad form of chaos, but the chaos that exists in life naturally. And you can even see it in some of the earliest Egyptian religious texts that we have, that while Seth is very much a dangerous deity, he’s also a protective deity. And this kind of goes to a concept that you see throughout Egyptian religion, in that if you can get like a demon or some sort of very terrible, dangerous force, figure out a way to have that horrible thing, work in your favor, you can sort of harness it. Sometimes we refer to it as something being apotropaic. So it’s finding one of these like dangerous forces and sort of harnessing it to use to help protect whatever your own initiative is. That sort of seems the way that the Egyptians thought of Seth, at least early on in Egyptian history. But then, of course, even in the Pyramid Texts, the famous Contendings of Horus and Seth, we also have references to that early on as well, too. And yes, it does seem that the Egyptians felt that Seth was oftentimes in opposition to the two gods that were most associated with kingship, Osiris and his son, Horus. But this also goes to another Egyptian concept, which is that there’s always a balance in life. But what the Egyptians sort of nuanced this idea, this balance idea is that you can never have one fully eliminate the other; it’s not good to have one be completely eliminated. What’s good is that there’s a balance of both. And that’s sort of how I sort of interpret Seth, at least early on in Egyptian history. He’s kind of that necessary evil. FAVER: So after all, this Seth is the worst, but also the most important to the Pantheon. LIN: In a way, yes, he defends the most important God alongside Bastet. So he isn’t just a single facet. FAVER: Are you even allowed to exist in such two different spheres? Doesn’t Ra merge with Osiris when he enters the underworld? LIN: Yes. And yes. You also have to remember that after he died, Osiris became the god of the underworld, another very important part of ancient Egyptian culture. Between killing Osiris and protecting Ra, Seth is very involved in the most important concepts of rebirth. You’re most well versed in Norse mythology, right? FAVER: So it’s like that where things can be interpreted in different ways. In Norse’s case, it’s because there’s only really two books to draw material from. LIN: Ancient Egyptian religion is like the opposite of that. Before being really consolidated, different cities had their own cults favorites. It’s not as clear cut as Greek mythology where Agamemnon bad or Achilles ma

    20 min

  7. 02/28/2024

    Season 3 Episode 2: Cleopatra

    Cleopatra has become a captivating figure throughout the world. Yet, her depiction in the media may not be representative of who she truly was. From Western Asia to Ancient Egypt, these views deserve the same respect as the ones dominated by Europe. In this podcast, we’ll use these depictions to present a more accurate portrayal of Cleopatra and promote future integration.  Hosted by: Cuddy Steadman, Undergraduate, Brown Brendan Rathier, Undergraduate, Brown Julia Xia, Undergraduate, Brown Also featuring: Dr. Kerri Lorigan, Associate Professor Langston University Transcript Segment 1: Introduction (0:00) Brendan: When you think of Egypt, what first comes to mind?  Cuddy: Pyramids? Julia: Mummies? Brendan: King Tut? Brendan: While all of these are important symbols, there’s no way you forgot about one of the most famous Egyptian figures: Cleopatra. Constantly referenced throughout modern culture and media, the Last Queen of Egypt has captivated the interests of so many people today. Yet, our perception has not always been this way. In fact, immediately after her death, it might have been the complete opposite.  Intro Music Brendan: Hi, my name is Brendan Rathier… Cuddy: My name is Cuddy Steadman… Julia: And my name is Julia Xia… Brendan: And in this podcast, we’re going to discuss, debunk, and debate some of the largest topics surrounding Cleopatra. From famous Roman philosophers to Shakespeare’s grand plays, we’ll discuss how the queen’s legacy has changed beyond her death.  Julia: We’ll also be joined by Dr. Kerri Lorigan, an Associate Professor at Langston University. With a specialty in Roman Egyptology, Dr. Lorigan will offer insight into these different depictions and how we should be viewing this famous figure.  Cuddy: Finally, we hope to dissect some issues still contested today: How did Cleopatra die? What was her skin color? All of these questions and more will be answered in “Now as Then” Episode 3.2: Cleopatra.  Intro Music Segment 2: Cleopatra Intro & Early Reception (1:44) Brendan: There’s no better way to introduce Cleopatra than by starting at the very beginning. Born around 69 BCE to Ptolemy XII, she served as the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Egypt. Following her father’s death, Cleopatra ascended to the throne alongside her younger brother and husband Ptolemy XIII. However, after a power struggle erupted between the two rulers, Cleopatra was exiled to Syria.  Julia: That’s far from the end of her though! She later returned to Alexandria with an army and gained the support of Julius Caesar, who had invaded Egypt to take over his rival Pompey, and with his support, she regained power in Egypt. At the same time, Cleopatra had an open affair with Caesar and gave birth to their child, Caesarion. This relationship would continue until Caesar’s assassination in 44 BC. At this time, she saw to it that her new brother-husband was also killed. Cuddy: That’s certainly a lot of death. But isn’t there more to the story? Brendan: You’re certainly right Cuddy! While Caesar and Cleopatra were a popular pair, the most famous relationship was between her and Marc Antony. After Antony visited Egypt around 41 BCE for military aid, the two fell in love with one another and had three children. This affair angered Caesar’s heir Octavian, who had arranged for Marc Antony to marry his sister instead. As such, Octavian would wage this propaganda war against the couple and cited Cleopatra’s status as a woman and foreigner who wanted Roman power. Cuddy: Wow, so even when she was alive, Cleopatra’s perception was constantly distorted against her.  Brendan: Yeah, it really is depressing… Unfortunately, this rivalry between the two rulers would take an even worse turn at the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE. After the fight, Cleopatra’s entire fleet was defeated by Rome, causing them to escape to Alexandria. From here, the fighting continued with Octavian invading Egypt directly. Finally, after falsely hearing that Cleopatra had died, Marc Antony committed suicide in 30 BCE. Soon later, Cleopatra took her own life as well rather than serving as a captive to Octavian. So, amidst a decade of betrayal and love, Cleopatra’s death marked the end of Egyptian rule in Egypt. Julia: That’s true… While this engaging story has been recited throughout history, it is only one perspective on the queen. Dominated by Western tropes, this standard narrative focuses on dramatization, romance, and power. There are so many aspects of her life that are absent from this story. However, as it is the victors that write history, most of the sources we do have about Cleopatra are not Egyptian, but rather Roman and Greek. Ranging from philosophers to politicians, these powerful figures have rewritten Cleopatra’s legacy to support their agendas. So, let’s focus on a few of these depictions and see how they compare. Specifically, we’ll focus on their depiction of Cleopatra’s death and some of her actions beforehand. Let’s get to it! Wanna start Cuddy?  Cuddy: Sure! Two of the Romans who wrote about Cleopatra were Plutarch and Cassius Dio, and both of their depictions of the queen follow a similar pattern. In the moments leading up to her death, the two cite Cleopatra’s charisma and cleverness as key attributes. In fact, during her capture by Octavian, both writers illustrate such traits in action. Because Octavian wished to keep Cleopatra alive to showcase his success to Rome, the queen was determined to stop herself from ever leaving Egypt. Julia At first, she used her charisma to plead with Octavian to let her die. But, after gaining little progress, she reversed her stance and made it appear as if she was eager to live. This approach had much more success, as Octavian loosened restrictions on Cleopatra.  Cuddy: Exactly! According to the two Romans, this then allowed the queen to lock herself in a room with two servants, dress herself in royal attire, and give herself a noble death. So, in the final moments of her life, Plutarch and Cassius Dio give her some dignity. Julia: Yeah at least they showed some respect by acknowledging her devotion to Egypt. Still, the scene is tainted with tropes of sexuality and slyness. What’s worse, is that these initial transcriptions have set the basic understanding of Cleopatra today. Brendan: OK, so after hearing all of these stories. You’re probably asking, how did Cleopatra really die? Well, the answer is: we don’t know! While the works by Plutarch and Cassius Dio, (and other Roman authors) go into speculation, there isn’t a conclusive answer. Some say that she killed herself with a poisonous dagger, while others cite an apsis snake being the prime conspirator. Even more dramatized depictions speculate that she was bitten in the butt or breast (I believe that’s the one Octavian supported). Let’s ask Dr. Lorigan what she thinks:  Dr. Lorigan (6:44-7:46): She’s a very strong and ambitious woman and I don’t feel like she is the type of woman to give up and poison herself. I think that probably Octavian had her murdered. He controlled the narrative about her death, so these things about the snakebite come actually out in his memoirs after he’s made himself Augustus. He pushes the idea that she got bitten by a snake. But we know that after he found her and she was dead, he had her son Caesarion hunted down: he was the son of Caesar. So now, he had removed all of the threats to the throne. So probably the most credible theory is that he had her killed because honestly, this woman who had fought so hard (she murdered her younger brother, she got married to him and then married her other brother, she dealt with Caesar, she dealt with Marc Antony) to keep Egypt and fight for her position. I just don’t see her as a woman that could’ve committed suicide.  Brendan: What a hot take huh? In addition to Dr. Lorigan, Ana Rosso from the International Society of the History of Medicine thoroughly researched this topic too. In her report about Cleopatra’s death, she determined that the viper would be the most likely snake to kill her as it is pain-free and easily concealable., Cuddy: That’s true, but even though there is speculation, there is no way for us to know exactly how she died. Julia: I think it’s unfortunate that the earliest accounts of Cleopatra’s death are once again controlled by non-Egyptians. So many of these writers started the theories we know today. It is really important that we’re aware of their motives when consuming Ancient Egyptian content. We also need to start introducing sources beyond the Western Hemisphere. While the Romans may refute it, being bit in the breast is far from the queen’s legacy.  Brendan: Fortunately, we do have some sources from Egypt about Cleopatra’s life, and they represent a different side of her. For example, an Egyptian hieroglyph inscribed in stone around 51 BCE cites Cleopatra as a “goddess who loves her father”. Additionally, in the Temple of Dendera, images on the walls depict Cleopatra standing behind her son Caesarion, who would become the next heir to Egypt. Because Hathor acts as a mother to the god Horus, which is embodied in the pharaoh, Cleopatra intentionally depicts herself as the goddess to protect and guide her son as the next ruler., Cuddy: You know, another unique characteristic about that is the height of the two figures. Usually, the mother is depicted as shorter than the son. But, in this illustration, Cleopatra is the same height as Caesarion, showing her dominance in the relationship. These two depictions show a different side of Cleopatra: while Plutarch and Cassius Dio try to degrade the ruler as ruthless and cynical, here we see Cleopatra as both a d

    33 min

  8. 02/28/2024

    Season 3 Episode 4: The Nile and Divinity

    This podcast aims to explore the intimate connections between divinity and the Nile during three specific time periods: that of Ancient Egypt, Greco-Roman exploration of Egypt, and the Renaissance into the Enlightenment Era. Through primary and secondary source research, it is evident that Ancient Egyptians turned to religion to explain the power and importance of the Nile in everyday life. By creating a sort of godly notion associated with the Nile, this divine allure and mythological lore surrounding the river drew in scholars, conquerors, and tourists to come to Egypt and explore the mysteries which it had to offer. Upon the arrival of foreigners in Egypt, the godly ideas associated with the Nile were then perpetuated through scholarly writings by the visitors which were brought back to their homelands. Thus, as a result, the association of the Nile with divinity permeated into foreign societies in order to provide an explanation for their lack of knowledge surrounding the patterns of the river.  Hosted by:      Maria de Souza, Undergraduate, Brown Helen Primis, Undergraduate, Brown Lainey Lynott, Undergraduate, Brown Also featuring: Karen Bouchard,Librarian,Archaeology and the Ancient World,Brown University Transcript: Segment 1: Introduction (0:00 – 1:00) Lainey: ***intro music*** Hello everyone and welcome to season 3 episode 4 of Now As Then! Today we are going to be diving into the Nile River and discussing the perceptions and associations of the Nile throughout time. The Nile’s impacts on ancient Egyptian society and other civilizations throughout the globe have been profound, so let’s get right into it! We are coming to you now from the AV Room of the Rockefeller Library at Brown University, my name is Lainey Lynott. Helen: I’m Helen Primis Maria: And I’m Maria Souza Lainey: We’re all first years at Brown University aiming to explore the idea of how Ancient Egyptians turned to religion to explain the power and importance of the Nile in everyday life. Helen: During our research, we discovered that the divine allure of the Nile drew in scholars, conquerors, and tourists alike to explore ancient Egypt.  Maria: These visitors to Egypt then continued to perpetuate the godly ideas associated with the Nile in their own societies in order to provide an explanation for their lack of knowledge surrounding the patterns of the river. ***trumpets** Segment 2: Ancient Egyptian Perspective (1:05 – 5:16) Maria: To start off, how exactly did the Ancient Egyptians interact with the Nile? Lainey: Well, daily life in Egypt was deeply intertwined with the surrounding environment. And the importance of the environment in Ancient Egypt was manifested in the plethora of excavated religious objects, songs, prayers, and sculptures that celebrated the environment which enabled the Egyptian empire to thrive over millennia. Helen: Yes, and the case is no different for the Nile – if anything it was the most celebrated aspect of the Egyptian environment. Since the predynastic period, the Nile served as the main source of water and food to feed the Ancient Egyptian population.  Maria: The Nile had an annual inundation cycle during the summer caused by the heavy rainfall ***rain noises***in the Ethiopian highlands. During the flood, the river levels would rise and water the land of Egypt.  Lainey: In the book, “Egyptomania: A History of Fascination, Obsession and Fantasy,” Ronald Fritze, an American historian, writes about how Egyptians referred to their homeland as Kmt, translating to “the black land,” after the dark soil that nurtured their civilization.  Helen: Each year, the inundation was a long awaited moment for most of the population, as the empire’s farming population needed the flood to water the soil so their crops would grow. And as a way to highlight the Nile’s importance in Egyptian society, the god Hapi was originated, the god that personified the inundation of the Nile each year.  Maria: In Egyptian Art, Hapi is illustrated as having a bulky, androgynous figure. Unlike other gods, Hapi has a big and visible belly and large breasts.  Lainey: Yes, and they were specifically portrayed in a more feminine light to represent the fertility that the Nile offered from the inundation. Since the Nile was imperative to Egyptian life, Hapi was sighted as one of the most important Egyptian gods amongst Ancient Egyptians.  Maria:  Hapi was also often referred to as the unifier of Lower and Upper Egypt. We looked at a sunk relief from the Great Temple at Abul Simbel on the West Bank of the Nile River to help illustrate Hapi’s prevalence in Egyptian society.  Helen:  This temple was erected for the worship of Pharaoh Ramesses II and the sunk relief has Hapi portrayed twice. On the left side we see him holding a lotus flower, the symbol for Upper Egypt, and then on the right holding stems of a Papyrus, the symbol for Lower Egypt.  Lainey: Both Hapis are holding what is called a sema-tawy, which includes two tied plants meant to represent the eternal unification of both Lower and Upper Egypt.   Helen: And aside from representing Hapi in art pieces and texts, Ancient Egyptians also conducted prayers, like the Hymn of the Nile, where they asked Hapi to bless them with the annual inundation: [transition to sound and more dramatic reading of the Hymn]  Maria: ***water noises***“When you overflow, O Hapy, Sacrifice is made for you; Oxen are slaughtered for you, A great oblation is made to you, Fowl is fattened for you, Desert game snared for you, As one repays your bounty. One offers to all the gods of that which Hapy has provided, Choice incense, oxen goats, And birds in holocaust.”  Helen: It is interesting to observe in this tune/text from the Middle Kingdom the tone of despair that underlies the words of the prayer. They expressed how prosperous the Nile is to Egypt, how much they needed that prosperity in their lives, and how everyone sacrificed everything for the inundation and for it to unleash its powers over the Egyptian grounds. This showcases how people explained and understood the Nile in terms of their own religion and godly perceptions, and in this case of the ancient Egyptian civilization itself.  Lainey:At the same time the Nile was key for agriculture in Egypt, the river also served as the primary source of transportation to Ancient Egyptians. The direction of the river’s current flow and prevailing winds all favored an easy commute between different areas of Egypt, increasing communication between different people and facilitating trade.  Helen: To express this importance, Egyptians placed models of Nile river boats in the deceased person’s tomb to guarantee them transportation for eternity. The Nile was a gift that Egyptians wanted to carry with them even in the afterlife. This demonstrates the societal draw to the Nile on a religious basis, as a key aspect of ancient Egyptian religion was the afterlife.  Section 3: The Greco Roman Period: (5:20- 11:00) Maria: ***Greek music*** To continue moving through our overarching timeline, we are now going to move from the Ancient Egyptian perspective and launch into ***drumroll*** the Greco-Roman Period!  Helen: We start our journey in around 500 BCE when Greek historian Hecataeus of Miletus embarked on his visit to Egypt. Widely considered to be the first Greek on ground in Egypt and record his findings, the true tragedy of Hecateaus of Miletus’ time in Egypt is that no copies of his findings still exist today.  Lainey: Moving on into the 450s BCE, we get our first Greek-recorded account of Egypt from Hecataeus’ successor, Herodotus. Herodotus’ compilation of writings are commonly known as The Persian Wars or The Histories. And he recounted his experiences in Egypt in Book 2 of his 9 book collection.  Maria:  By sharing his works with the Greek public, Herodotus sparked an obsession with Egypt in Greece. Particularly Herodotus’ “Account of Egypt” served as the catalyst for Greek Egyptomania to take flight in Greek society and began a long line of academic, mythological, and personal writings of life in Egypt– particularly with questions and ideas surrounding the Nile.  Helen: Herodotus recounted his experience witnessing the Nile’s yearly flood during his time in Egypt. He then raised a particular mysterious idea which enthralled the Greek intellectual community: “Of the sources of the Nile no one can give an account, for the part of Libya through which it flows is uninhabited and desert.”  ***trumpets***  Lainey:  Within Greek mythology, potamoi are specific river gods that correlate to given rivers around the world; and as Egyptomania became popularized in Greek society, Nilus emerged as the divine representative for the Nile in Greek religious practices.  Helen: And then there are also naiads (which can be equated to the female versions of potamoi) that were also used to symbolize the inexplicable habits and actions of water, and the naiad associated with the Nile was Caliadne, a daughter of Nilus.  Maria: As we mentioned before, Hapi was the Egyptian god responsible for the inundation of the Nile each year. In Greek mythology, we see the Greeks use Nilus’ divine power as the explanation for the Nile’s flood each year just as the Egyptians did with Hapi.  Helen: And Caliadne then was associated with the Nile’s fertile nature and how the flood each year brought the Egyptians a plethora of natural resources. We now see a sort of pattern between the two societies – the Greeks and the Egyptians – using gods to explain the habits of the Nile.  Lainey: Moving further on into the Greco-Roman era, we now arrive at the Alexander the Great Era of Hellenistic Egyptomania. ***cheers and applause*** Helen:And Al

    25 min

  9. 02/29/2024

    Season 3 Episode 5: Deconstructing the Construction of the Pyramids

    The ancient Egyptian pyramids have been admired for thousands of years and along with that admiration has come varying theories for how the pyramids were constructed. Over the years, many alternative western theories have arose, often discrediting and underselling the achievements of the ancient Egyptians and these alternative theories have contributed to the perception of Egypt as a mystical place that is part of the “orient”. Through primary and secondary sources from the ancient Greeks to contemporary research, we explore how the perception of the construction of the pyramids have changed over time, break down why Egypt specifically has experienced this, and how archaeologically attested evidence and Egyptologist research have proposed the most likely explanation for the creation of the pyramids. The pyramids continue to be a testament to the ingenuity and skill of the Ancient Egyptians and discovering how the pyramids were created gives us a more genuine appreciation of ancient Egypt. Hosted by: John Huang (Undergraduate, Brown) Alex Ziegler (Undergraduate, Brown) Sidhant Sharma (Undergraduate, Brown) Wheeler Padgett (Undergraduate, Brown) Transcript: Introduction: John: Hello everyone, welcome to our podcast: Deconstructing the Construction of the Pyramids, Episode 5 of Season 3 of the Now as Then podcast. My name is John Huang and I’m joined by my mates, Alex Ziegler (“hi with your name”), Sidhant Sharma (“hello with your name”), and Wheeler Padgett (“hey with your name”). Before we get started, we want to give a big thank you to Alexandra Poterack, Karen Bouchard, Laura Stokes, Izzy Ulasz, and of course Dr. Robyn Price for all of their help in the crafting of this episode.  Sid: Today we will be talking about the Ancient Egyptian pyramids. Throughout history, visitors to Egypt have been amazed by the Pyramids of Giza. In this podcast, we will be exploring how travelers across generations have hypothesized about the creation of the pyramids, from ancient Greeks and Romans to English and French colonists to finally, current day archaeologists, Egyptologists, and scientists. Wheeler: There are over 100 pyramids in Egypt, the most famous of which are the three pyramids at Giza. Most pyramids were constructed during the Old Kingdom period. They were built to serve as monuments to the gods and tombs of the pharaohs, that would house their souls after their deaths. The first pyramids were the Step Pyramids, which were layered, rough monuments originally designed by the architect Imhotep. Over time, the design was refined by the Ancient Egyptians, making the pyramids larger and more intricate until they reached the design that captures the attention of so many people today. These gigantic tombs have enthralled the world for thousands of years. ———————————————————————————- Alex: The Ancient Greeks were one of the earliest groups to record their travels to Egypt. Beginning with Hecataeus of Miletus, many Greek scholars were fascinated by Egypt and wrote of its culture and history. Herodotus’s Histories are the oldest remaining example of these texts. Published in 430 B.C.E., the Histories are mainly an account of the Greek and Persian wars; however, they also contain “An Account of Egypt” describing Herodotus’s time there. Shortly after the time of Herodotus, Alexander the Great, who was Macedonian but shared much of Greek culture, conquered Egypt and established the city of Alexandria and his own Pharaonic rule of Egypt. For the next 300 years foreign rulers continued to govern Egypt through what was known as the Ptolemaic Period. During this time Greek writers such as Diodorus of Sicily and Strabo, wrote their own descriptions of Egypt and the Pyramids.  Sid: Civil war in the latter end of the Ptolemaic period perfectly set the stage for the later Roman visitors. They ruled Egypt from 30 BCE all the way until about 641 AD and had a wide range of attitudes towards the pyramids and their construction. The major primary accounts come from historians and philosophers, the most famous of which was Pliny the Elder. However, the views of the Roman emperors and common people, while not as well documented, were also significant.  John (Narrator): Wouldn’t it be nice to hear this from the sources themselves? Fortunately, today we’re diving into some conversations with some of the first few visitors to Egypt. However, these sources are all depictions of the ancient Egyptian world by scholars from the Western world. Therefore, it is important to consider how Egyptology and archaeologically backed perspectives differ from this. With that in mind, here’s Herodotus with his views first. Alex: (Herodotus) As the first to record my visit to the Pyramids I have determined that they were built by a collection of evil kings during the 8th Century. The king Cheops commissioned the first pyramid at Giza. The natives there told me that the pyramid was built like a flight of stairs “[using] appliances made out of short pieces of wood to lift the blocks of stone.” . 100,000 men worked over 20 years to complete the Pyramid of Cheops. The construction of the Pyramids was extremely expensive; it is recorded that they spent 1,600 talents of silver on radishes, onions and garlic alone . John: (Narrator) “Interesting, but what did Roman historians like Pliny have to say about this?” Sid (Pliny): I personally don’t see why we are even considering these Ancient Greek tales. After all, the Roman empire was but an improved version of Greek civilization. Historians like me synthesized the knowledge of multiple Greek historians, with theories including: 1600 talents was spent on food for laborers, salt and alkalis were used to create ramps for the building blocks of the pyramids and then flooded and destroyed by the Nile annually, or that bridges were made from mud bricks that were given to individuals to build their houses once the pyramids were made. I sorted through and analyzed works from popular authors like Herodotus, Dionysius, and lesser known ones like Duris of Samos and Alexander Polyhistor, critically analyzing each one and coming to the conclusion that “it took 360,000 men twenty years to build the Great Pyramid and the time for all three pyramids of Giza combined was 88 years and four months”. I was the original Encyclopedia Britannica! Sid (Voiceover): Hang on, a mix of sources with nobody verifying the quality of any of them? That sounds like a recipe for disaster! Unverified theories floating around were given further validity when referred to by historians like Pliny, and contributed to the mystique that’s always enveloped Ancient Egypt. But back to the interviews, maybe others will be different. John (narrator): Now we have heard from some of the most prominent Greek and Roman historians, but what did other Greek historians like Diodorus Siculus think of the Pyramids?  Alex (Diodorus): The Egyptian Pyramids are a true masterpiece. Their size and craftsmanship “fill the beholder with wonder and astonishment.”. Herodotus’s theory is truly impossible because cranes were not invented at the time the pyramids were built, therefore, could not have been used to move the stones into place. I believe that mounds of sand were used as ramps to move the great stones up the Pyramids.  360,000 men were employed in the erection of the Great Pyramid over the span of 20 years. There is no trace remaining of their construction “so that they do not have the appearance of being the slow handiwork of men but look like a sudden creation, as though they had been made by some god and set down in the surrounding sand.”.  John (Narrator): Were the Romans as amazed by the pyramids as their precursing visitors? Let’s hear from Julius Sextus Frontinus first. Sid (Frontinus):  Not to brag, but I was the mastermind behind the incredible aqueducts system of Rome, something that can only be described as “indispensable”. By contrast, these Egyptian pyramids are idle and useless! Sure I’m an expert in materials and could have theorized about how these massive structures were created, but I choose not to engage in this tomfoolery.  John (Narrator): Other Romans allowed themselves to engage in the admiration of these gargantuan creations, like the historians Ammianus Marcellinus and Tacitus.  Sid (Ammianus)- My dear Julius, you are sorely mistaken. While most Roman philosophers like yourself and the great Pliny himself found the pyramids rather pointless, pun not intended, there were a select few of us fascinated by them and I, Ammianus Marcellinus, a soldier turned historian, was one of them. I love how Tacitus, a politician who wrote about Egyptian history put it, saying the pyramids were “mountain” like buildings, built on “almost impassable sands”. I couldn’t agree more, even saying that they were one of the seven wonders of the world, and that human labor has never produced anything this high and mighty before. I firmly agree with Herodotus’s theories about their creation, we shouldn’t be as quick to dismiss the Greeks! John (Narrator): Similar attitudes were also reflected in the Roman kings and artists. Here’s Gaius Cestius, a Roman emperor sharing his opinions. Sid (Cestius): Historians and philosophers have dominated the discourse about the construction of the pyramids through the years, when in fact it should be the emperors and the Roman public. My predecessor Caesar and successor Hadrian were amazed by the pyramids, and as was I, even building my tomb inside a pyramid! Just the other day, I read an incredible poem by the Roman poet Horace, who uses the difficulty involved in the construction of the pyramids, but the incredible result achieved, as a metaphor for the proces

    28 min

  10. 02/29/2024

    Season 3 Episode 3: Isis & Women

    Ever heard of Isis? (Hint: you probably did.) Ranging from the Christian Roman Empire to the painting on Nefretiti’s tomb, Isis has been here, there, and everywhere. Interestingly, there seems to be a cyclical relationship between Isis and women. Isis represented the general autonomy of Egyptian women. Likewise, Egyptian royals, such as Cleopatra and Nefertiti, used Isis to legitimize their rule in Ancient Egypt. Over time, the appeal of Isis became so great that she became a protective figure from Dynastic Egypt to the Roman Christian World. Hosted by: Megan Vu, (Undergraduate, Brown) Nyimah Thompson, (Undergraduate, Brown) Selena Yuan, (Undergraduate, Brown) Richard Fleming, (Undergraduate, Brown) Transcript INTRODUCTION (PART 1) (00:00:10-00:01:30)  Megan: Picture this, you’re at the Nile River. Maybe you’re fishing, where the sun hits the water at just the right angle to get that rainbowy-kaleidoscopic effect. Or maybe, you’re weaving baskets with the soft, but tough grass from the Nile Shore. While looking for the best grass to use, you stumble across a woman hiding a shiny, golden coffin among the reeds. But here’s the kicker; the coffin is carrying Osiris (the to-be God of the Underworld), but the woman is his wife: the goddess Isis.  Hello, fellow viewers! It’s Megan here, back with an episode for Now As Then. I’m a student from Brown University, right here in the beautiful city of Providence, Rhode Island. While I’m currently studying medicine, I also like studying classics and ancient civilizations in my free time (in this case, Ancient Egypt). I’m also joined by my other colleagues Selena, Richard, and Nyimah. Care to give yourselves a short intro?  Selena: Hi, I’m Selena, and I’m planning on studying applied-math and economics. I know, quite different from archaeology.  Nyimah: What’s up? I’m Nyimah, a freshman who’s planning to study psychology.  Richard: Hello, I’m Richard. I’m studying computer science, and I’m planning on working with machine learning.  INTRODUCTION (PART 2) (00:01:31-00:06:12)  Megan: Haha, this is one of the reasons why I love this class. It truly has the ability to draw people in from far and wide, and from various backgrounds! Now that we all got to know each other, let’s talk about the star of our show: Isis.  Nyimah: In general, Isis seems to be a protector, capable of unifying all of Egypt, and even has rejuvenating magic2. Now, let me bring up an interesting question: what’s her relationship with Egyptian women? Do we think that she empowers them? Or that she really doesn’t?  Megan: That is an interesting question. Before that though, who exactly was Isis?  Selena: Let’s start with her name. According to an Egyptologist named Joyce Tydesley, Isis’ original Egyptian name was Aset. It changed to Isis sometime during the Greco-Roman rule (332 BC -395 AD). Her name was depicted by a sign of a throne. She could also appear with a small throne on her crown. Both pictures usually symbolize royalty.  Richard: Yeah, and also her name quite literally translates to “Queen of the Throne.”  Nyimah: God, what a powerhouse. Remember the time that we went to the John Hay Library? We saw their special collections and found a huge compilation of Egyptian hieroglyphs.  Megan: Yeah! I remember that. I also remember seeing an image where Isis had both the crown of Upper and Lower Egypt, which is quite fascinating. It’s usually uncommon for a woman to hold this much power. But what’s her story like?  Selena: So, the legend of Isis had multiple variations, but in its most simplest form, it goes something like this. Isis was the sister and wife of the god Osiris. In fact, they were twins and were said to have fallen in love in the womb5. Their stories were actually one of the great romantic tragedies back then.  Nyimah: The most famous rendition that I know of is by Plutarch, a Greek philosopher. In his version, Osiris was murdered and dismembered by his jealous brother Seth. After, Isis  Megan: Oh! I remember hearing about this. In my version, though, Isis devoted herself to finding the different parts of Osiris. The gods were so impressed by her dedication that they helped put Osiris back together.  Richard: Oh yeah, that story was super fitting of what her initial powers were. She was the protector of women and creator of magic. And even after thousands of years, she became the Queen of the Universe.  Nyimah: That really is quite interesting. She also influenced different parts of Egyptian society, even mummification rites!  Megan: You’re right! Remember when we took that class trip to the Rhode Island’s School of Design, we went to their museum, and I remember seeing a cool artifact. I’m the furthest thing from an Egyptologist, but it was called a pectoral. And, for our listeners by the way, a pectoral was something strung around the neck of the deceased. It’s sort of an amulet that was believed to have powers of protection. It was carved to look like Isis, with her arms spread out. But what was interesting was that she had wings or feathers of some sort, aligning underneath her arms9.  Selena: I remember seeing that. Her wings were so intricate, and I found out her wings represented freedom. It would originally be sewn into the dead’s linen as a means of protection for their journey into the afterlife. Egyptians were huge on amulets, so whatever shape the amulets took on was representative of their powers. In other words, this pectoral was a symbol of Isis to protect their dead in the afterlife.  Richard: Yeah, it really feels like Isis is giving you a big hug. Her outstretched wings truly emphasize her status as a protector.  Nyimah: Speaking of the afterlife, let’s look at an example. There’s a tomb belonging to a New Kingdom pharaoh called Seti I. In his tomb there are depictions of Isis all around or right above the body11. Remember the story of her and Osiris from earlier? Isis was believed to restore the souls of deceased humans to wholeness as she did with her husband.  Megan: Isis was huge on magic. Overall, it seems as though she’s associated with the ideas of freedom and divine protection. This idea was so attractive. Over time, Isis became this sort of protective figure during Dynastic Egypt all the way to the Roman Christian world.  Selena: So, to sum it up, Isis was a symbol of female empowerment. She reflected the freedom and autonomy of Egyptian women, particularly in royalty like Nefertari, Cleopatra, and Hatshepsut.  EGYPTIAN WOMEN (00:06:14-00:16:21)  Megan: Now we all agree that Isis was an incredibly powerful goddess, right? From our earlier discussion, she’s associated with the ideas of freedom, divine protection, and motherhood. In fact, there’s a hymn for Osiris from the New Kingdom that accurately summarizes Isis’s character. “His sister was his guard, the mighty Isis who protected her brother, seeking him without tiring, not arresting until she found him.” Overall, we get this sense that Isis was dedicated, a protector and that’s what makes her so fascinating.  Nyimah: she was a powerful symbol of female independence. For now, it’s important to look closer at women’s rights. For example, they can learn to read and write freely, participate in trade and business, buy and own property, speak out in court, and even divorce their own husbands.  Selena: Right, It’s so fascinating how people tend to forget this. Like Greek women, especially those of the lower class were subjected to the home where they took care of children and performed domestic duties. They did this because they thought women were a sin in a sense.  Megan: And yes, I would agree. For another class, I did extra reading and stumbled across this article called Women in Ancient Greece. Essentially women were forced to stay inside the home because it was believed that they would be seduced by other men in societies like Ancient Greece. There was this idea that women were immoral and lacked self-restraint.  Selena: Exactly. Especially with the idea that the woman’s sole purpose was to bear children. So, forcing women to stay in the home was a means to reduce the chance of her getting seduced.  Richard: Yeah. But I think it would be difficult to give an exact answer. There’s no surefire way of knowing, except for looking at Egyptian art from the Dynastic period. Usually, upper-class women and daughters were included in these pieces of art by virtue of their relationship to a particular man. In this way, these women conform to the stereotypical view of the idea that the Egyptian female was a passive support for her husband or father from the Dynastic Egyptian tombs. Seems like they want to reinforce the idea that the man rather than his wife was the head of the household.  Megan: And I would agree. But there were exceptions to that rule. Let’s first go to our first woman from the old Kingdom. Her name was Lady Nebet and she worked as a supervisor and writer within Ancient Egypt. She was titled daughter of Gev, daughter of Thoth and daughter of Horus. Since Horus was the son of Isis. It’s like she’s claiming that she’s directly related to the goddess.  Nyimah: Isis was considered a powerful sorceress and healer. It was also said that she had taught women such skills. Egyptian women also worked as a supervisor or writer to help get income from outside the house. It gives a sense that Lady Nebet has a bunch of power and autonomy within society similar to Isis.  Richard: Yeah definitely, Isis represented the autonomy of women through funeral rites during the old kingdom. Women could work as professional mourners. Usually, they were specialists who were hired to enhance the status of

    27 min
  • 10 Episodes

About

Educator, Anthropologist, Archaeologist

Information

  • Creator
    Robyn Price
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2020
  • Episodes
    10
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Show Website
    Now as Then