Afterlives of Ancient Egypt with Kara Cooney Kara Cooney

In this episode Kara and Jordan discuss animals in ancient Egyptian society. What does the archaeological evidence tell us about the ancient Egyptians’ attitudes and practices towards non-human members of their society?
Show notes
Herodotus Book II, 65-66
There are many household animals; and there would be many more, were it not for what happens to the cats. When the females have kittened they will not consort with the males; and these seek them but cannot get their will of them; so their device is to steal and carry off and kill the kittens (but they do not eat what they have killed). The mothers, deprived of their young and desiring to have more will then consort with the males; for they are creatures that love offspring. And when a fire breaks out very strange things happen to the cats. The Egyptians stand round in a broken line, thinking more of the cats than of quenching the burning; but the cats slip through or leap over the men and spring into the fire. When this happens, there is great mourning in Egypt. Dwellers in a house where a cat has died a natural death shave their eyebrows and no more; where a dog has so died, the head and the whole body are shaven.
Oracular amuletic decree (ISAC, Chicago, Illinois)
Veterinary Papyrus
Janssen, “Commodity Prices from the Ramesside Period” including animals
The Temple Cats of Philae Island Organization Facebook and Instagram





Get full access to Ancient/Now at ancientnow.substack.com/subscribe

During the process of recommodification and reburial by 21st Dynasty elites, several royal mummies in the Deir el Bahri 320 (also known as TT 320) burial cache were badly damaged. In this episode, Kara and Amber discuss the evidence we have for the ritual repair of these mummies carried out during their reburial, including the term rdit Wsir, “to make an Osiris.”
Ritner, Robert, 2009, The Libyan Anarchy: Inscriptions from Egypt’s Third Intermediate Period.
Ritner, Robert, 1993, The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice.
Read more about the DeB 320 royal cache



Get full access to Ancient/Now at ancientnow.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode Kara and Jordan answer listener questions from April. To submit a question for the monthly Q&A podcast, become a paid subscriber on Substack or join our Patreon!
A few photos from Kara’s Egypt trip
Show Notes:
Female Genitalia Lexicography
* Bednarski, Andrew 2000. Hysteria revisited. Women's public health in ancient Egypt. In McDonald, Angela and Christina Riggs (eds), Current research in Egyptology 2000, 11-17. Oxford: Archaeopress.
* Ghalioungui, P. 1977. The persistence and spread of some obstetric concepts held in ancient Egypt. Annales du Service des Antiquités de l'Égypte 62, 141-154.
* Westendorf, Wolfhart 1999. Handbuch der altägyptischen Medizin, 2 vols. Handbuch der Orientalistik, erste Abteilung 36 (1-2). Leiden: Brill.
Burial of Children
* Barba, Pablo 2021. Power, personhood and changing emotional engagement with children's burial during the Egyptian Predynastic. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 31 (2), 211-228. DOI: 10.1017/S0959774320000402.  
* Kaiser, Jessica 2023. When death comes, he steals the infant: child burials at the Wall of the Crow cemetery, Giza. In Kiser-Go, Deanna and Carol A. Redmount (eds), Weseretkau "mighty of kas": papers in memory of Cathleen A. Keller, 347-369. Columbus, GA: Lockwood Press. DOI: 10.5913/2023853.22.  Export >>
* Marshall, Amandine 2022. Childhood in ancient Egypt. Translated by Colin Clement. Cairo; New York: American University in Cairo Press. 
* Saleem, Sahar N., Sabah Abd el-Razek Seddik, and Mahmoud el Halwagy 2020. A child mummy in a pot: computed tomography study and insights on child burials in ancient Egypt. In Kamrin, Janice, Miroslav Bárta, Salima Ikram, Mark Lehner, and Mohamed Megahed (eds), Guardian of ancient Egypt: studies in honor of Zahi Hawass 3, 1393-1403. Prague: Charles University, Faculty of Arts.
Skin Color and Gender
* Shelley Halley, Prof. Emerita of Classics and Africana Studies, Hamilton College
* Tutankhamun out of the lotus blossom with ‘naturalistic’ skin
* Roth, Ann Macy 2000. Father earth, mother sky: ancient Egyptian beliefs about conception and fertility. In Rautman, Alison E. (ed.), Reading the body: representations and remains in the archaeological record, 187-201. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
* Tan Men/Pale Women: Color and Gender in Archaic Greece and Egypt, a Comparative Approach by Mary Ann Eaverly
Kara’s ARCE Talk- “Elites Relying on Cultural Memory for Regime Building”
Abstract: Theban elites of the late 20th and 21st Dynasties relied on veneration of 17th and 18th Dynasty kings to support their regimes ideologically. The cults of Ahmose-Nefertari and Amenhotep I were vibrant in the west Theban region, and their oracles were essential to solving many disputes. Herihor connected his militarily-achieved kingship to his position in the Karnak priesthood using the ancestor kings as touchstones. Twenty-first Dynasty Theban elites named their children after 18th Dynasty monarchs; Theban High Priest and king Panedjem named a daughter Maatkare, ostensibly after Hatshepsut of the 18th Dynasty, and a son Menkheperre after Thutmose III. Examination of the 20th and 21st Dynasty interventions of the royal mummies from Dra Abu el Naga and the Valley of the Kings indicates these royal corpses were used as sacred effigies of a sort, rewrapped and placed into regilded containers even after they had been stripped of their treasures and golden embellishments. This paper will examine how immigrants and mercenaries were able to move into Theban elite circles by marshaling ancestral connections to power. Men like Herihor and Panedjem, one of them at least of Meshwesh origins, worked within an Upper Egyptian cultural system that put its temple communities of practice before its military and veiled its politics with pious rituals and oracular pronouncements. Such elites had to negotiate their identities and power grabs through the cultural memory of the region’s royal ancestors.
* Episode 83-

In Part 2 of a two-part episode, Kara and multiple Emmy-nominated Executive Producer and novelist Neil Laird continue their conversation about their experiences making television documentaries about the ancient world, how things get done behind the scenes, whether or not romanticizing the past is a bad thing, and what the future may hold for documentary programs.
About Neil Laird
Neil Laird is a multiple Emmy and BAFTA-nominated creator and Executive Producer on long-running series such as Brain Games, Mysteries of the Abandoned, Border Wars, Through the Wormhole With Morgan Freeman, What on Earth?, How It's Made, Secrets of the Underground, Expedition Unknown With Josh Gates and Survivorman.
Neil has worked extensively on both the network and production side of non-fiction TV since 1996. He has developed, overseen, and produced over 1,000 hours of non-fiction programs and specials in nearly every genre, with a particular passion, expertise, and professional contacts in history, mystery, science, and adventure.
Neil’s novels Prime Time Travelers and Prime Time Pompeii are slated for release in 2024.


Get full access to Ancient/Now at ancientnow.substack.com/subscribe

In Part 1 of a two-part episode, Kara and multiple Emmy-nominated Executive Producer and novelist Neil Laird talk about their experiences making television documentaries about the ancient world, how things get done behind the scenes, and what the future may hold for documentary programs.
Secrets of Egypt's Lost Queen
Out of Egypt
Digging for the Truth
About Neil Laird
Neil Laird is a multiple Emmy and BAFTA-nominated creator and Executive Producer on long-running series such as Brain Games, Mysteries of the Abandoned, Border Wars, Through the Wormhole With Morgan Freeman, What on Earth?, How It's Made, Secrets of the Underground, Expedition Unknown With Josh Gates and Survivorman.
Neil has worked extensively on both the network and production side of non-fiction TV since 1996. He has developed, overseen, and produced over 1,000 hours of non-fiction programs and specials in nearly every genre, with a particular passion, expertise, and professional contacts in history, mystery, science, and adventure.
Neil’s novels Prime Time Travelers and Prime Time Pompeii are slated for release in 2024.


Get full access to Ancient/Now at ancientnow.substack.com/subscribe

This week Kara and Amber discuss color (also known as polychromy) in ancient Mediterranean art and how it is studied and understood today. What role did color play in ancient art? How does polychromy affect the way modern audiences view ancient art? What are the origins of the aesthetic preference for plain white marble sculpture in Western art?
The Color of Life exhibition (Getty Villa)
Kelsey Museum (University of Michigan) resources on color in ancient art
Bibliography for color in ancient art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art resources on color in ancient art
Seated statue of Hatshepsut (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Statue of Leda and the Swan (Getty Villa)
Curator and artist jill moniz



Get full access to Ancient/Now at ancientnow.substack.com/subscribe