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Whet your appetite for the archaeology and history of Ancient Egypt! Enjoy a fascinating lecture by scholar-guide Chahinda Karim, “the treasure of Egypt,” who leads our tours to Egypt year after year to rave reviews. Also, zoom in on key Egyptian sites and wonders with fully-illustrated feature articles on Egypt and in-depth looks at ancient Egyptian sites and rulers.

Lecture by Chahinda Karim, professor, American University, Cairo
Location: Museum of Science, Boston

Before Catherine the Great of Russia, Joan of Arc of France, or Empress Wu Zetian of China, Pharaoh Hatshepsut of Egypt left her mark as one of history’s most significant female rulers. Her story is told through archeological evidence, including mummy markings, pottery, and hieroglyphic inscriptions.

When a Woman Ruled Egypt
BAR Mar/Apr 2006
Two centuries before the traditional date of the Exodus, a female pharaoh ruled Egypt. Very few women in the ancient world wielded any real political power. The greatest of these in ancient Egypt was Hatshepsut, who ruled for more than two decades (c. 1479–1458 B.C.) during the early part of the New Kingdom (c. 1539–1075 B.C.), when Egypt was the most powerful land in the eastern Mediterranean. Read more.

“Place of the Beautiful Ones”: When Egyptian Queens Got Elaborate Tombs of Their Own
by Heather Lee McCarthy
Archaeology Odyssey, Mar/Apr 2005
A sudden, dramatic change in Egyptian queens’ burials occurred at the beginning of the 19th Dynasty (1292–1190 B.C.). On the west bank of the Nile at Thebes, a Y-shaped valley that had served as a cemetery for male officials was adapted as a burial place for royal women. The necropolis was then re-named the Place of the Beautiful Ones (Ta Set Neferu), echoing the site’s modern name: the Valley of the Queens. Read more.

Ancient Life: Sustaining Ka: The Longest Journey
Archaeology Odyssey, Jul/Aug 2004
During the early Egyptian dynasties, only deceased pharaohs and their intimates were thought to live on in the next world. Their bodies were mummified and their tombs lavishly furnished with real and symbolic weapons, food, jewelry, toiletries, games and furniture. By the time of Meketra, however, lesser nobles assumed that they were eligible to enter the afterlife. Read more.

Israelites Found in Egypt: Four-Room House Identified in Medinet Habu
by Manfred Bietak
BAR, Sep/Oct 2003
The history behind the biblical tradition of Israel in Egypt has always excited scholars and laymen alike. The subject may seem somewhat worn out, however, especially in view of the current “minimalist” tendencies in scholarship. I do not claim to be a Bible scholar myself—I am an Egyptologist. But sometimes an outsider can shed new light on an important subject. I hope that will be the case here. Read more.

“Look on My Works”: The Many Faces of Ramesses the Great
by Jack Meinhardt
Archaeology Odyssey, Sep/Oct 2003
The 31-foot-tall, 90-ton granite statue of the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II (1279–1213 B.C.) was found in the 1920s in the ancient religious capital of Memphis, 15 miles south of Cairo. In 1954, after Gamal Abdel Nasser assumed control of the newly independent state of Egypt, the statue was cut into three parts, loaded onto trucks, transported to Cairo and re-erected in front of the Cairo railroad station, as a symbol of resurgent Egyptian nationalism. Ever since, Ramesses has been a familiar landmark—the first thing glimpsed by weary travelers about to immerse themselves into the metropolitan commotion. Read more.