Let's keep on wondering...
To culminate the EES’ Wonders of Egypt theme for 2024, we hosted a Hybrid Study Day on Saturday 6 July 2024 at the Society of Antiquaries of London and Online via Zoom. This followed our inaugural Hybrid Study Day at this venue last year, and we once again ran a successful event with over 150 people joining us in-person and online.
Dr Carl Graves leading the first discussion session of the Hybrid Study Day with in-person speakers Professor Mohamed Gamal Abdelmonem and Professor Doris Behrens-Abouseif.
This study day explored some of Egypt's most impressive monuments, including the Great Pyramid of Giza and the lighthouse of Alexandria, two of the seven wonders of the ancient world. EES Director Carl Graves chaired the event and brought together our two virtual and two venue-based presenters for the afternoon, where attendees experienced these well-known sites from Egypt through new perspectives, and the concept of wonder itself was questioned.
Denying, ignoring, forgetting the past doesn't just make our present less interesting; it physically cauterises our potential for the future. So, let's keep on wondering, let's keep on caring!
This day also launched our Annual Appeal – 2024: Future plans for future generations. As part of our Building the Future campaign, we want to support the next generation by running a series of internships in our collections to help us manage their packing and relocation. Help us to lay the foundations for future access to our collections, please donate to our Appeal before the end of 2024.
Our in-person presenters Professor Mohamed Gamal Abdelmonem (above) and Professor Doris Behrens-Abouseif (below) presenting within the Society of Antiquaries of London.
Our first in-person presenter was Professor Mohamed Gamal Abdelmonem, who has recently become Chair of Architecture and the Founding Director of Research at the Department of Architecture and the Built Environment, at the University of York. He presented his innovative project at Hawara. Through virtual reality, his project has digitally reconstructed the site of Hawara to reunite the archaeology with objects discovered there now in museums. Attendees were also lucky to have a glimpse of the upcoming Virtual Hawara Museum. Secondly, EES President Professor Doris Behrens-Abouseif presented on the Islamic history of the Lighthouse of Alexandria. She introduced the topic with representations of lighthouses in other cultures before moving on to Arabic sources of the Pharos in Egypt.
Our online presenters Dr Nicholas Brown (above) and Professor Bettany Hughes (below) presenting via Zoom during the hybrid study day.
Our first online speaker for the event was Dr Nicholas Brown, an archaeologist in Egypt since 2011, who recently received his PhD in Egyptology at UCLA in Los Angeles. The Valley of the Kings was his focus, as the audience was given a chronological examination of the royal tombs in this necropolis. He also touched upon the founder of the necropolis and the human element that can still be seen within this cemetery. Professor Bettany Hughes, award-winning historian, author and broadcaster, closed our summer study day by considering two of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: the Great Pyramid at Giza and the Lighthouse of Alexandria, as well as the concept of wonder itself.
Dr Carl Graves leading the final discussion session of the Hybrid Study Day with online speakers Dr Nicholas Brown and Professor Bettany Hughes.
The event ended with an invitation to attendees to think about what is a wonder to them and what site from the ancient world they would add to the famous list of seven wonders. Check out #EESStudyDay on X (formerly Twitter) to see the examples from our speakers and add your own to our thread! Make sure to follow us on social media to hear about our events in future.
