Please make a note our April meeting has changed. The lecture by Hilary Forrest will now take place on Monday 16th April, and not 9th April as previously advertised. Same time, same place, different Monday!
Latest News
In 2012, Manchester Ancient Egypt Society celebrated its Silver Jubilee, making us one of the longest established Egyptology groups in the UK.
At the core of our activities are the ten monthly meetings we arrange each year, when leading Egyptologists visit Manchester specially to share with us the findings of their latest research.
We also organise Egyptology conferences and trips to museums with Egyptology collections – all part of a varied annual programme of activities aimed at anyone with an interest in this fascinating ancient culture.
Delta Digs Study Day! Saturday 17th March.
Statue of Wadjet at Buto. Photo: Penny Wilson
Booking is now open for our annual Manchester Ancient Egypt Society study day. This year we present “Delta Digs” with Penny Wilson, Joanne Rowland and Rosalie David.
Join us for a fascinating day of exploration of the Delta and its history, including the rise of Sais to Royal Capital, Predynastic settlements at Merimde Beni Salama, the Tanis treasures and Graeco-Roman “Boom & Bust”.
9:30am – 4:30pm at the Longfield Suite, Prestwich. Details and bookings here:
Ramesses the Great: Pharaoh of the Exodus?
Ramesses II at the British Museum
Join MAES members Sarah Griffiths & Michael Tunnicliffe to explore the Egyptian and Biblical evidence for the life, reign and legacy of one of Egypt’s greatest kings: Ramesses II.
Saturday 3rd March 10:30am – 4:30pm at the Cross Street Chapel, Cross Street, Manchester, M2 1NL.
All welcome. For more details visit the MANCENT site.
The Magic of Artistic Production!
Campbell Price is giving our annual Bob Partridge Egyptology Lecture, in memory of our late Chairman, on Monday 12th February.
Artisans, particularly those engaged in producing sculpture, held an especially important place in Ancient Egyptian society. This lecture explores the ‘magic’ of artistic production and traces the evidence of some artisans, who often left their mark on works they created or used their access to skills and resources to make very special objects for themselves.
Campbell Price is Curator of Egypt and Sudan at Manchester Museum, one of the UK’s largest Egyptology collections. He undertook his BA, MA, and PhD in Egyptology at the University of Liverpool, where he is now an Honorary Research Fellow. He has published widely on ancient Egyptian material culture, most recently Pocket Museum: Ancient Egypt (Thames and Hudson, 2018). Campbell has lectured widely throughout the UK, and internationally.
Manchester Conference Centre / Pendulum Hotel, Sackville Street, Manchester, M1 3BB. 7:30pm.
Cat in the Marshes, Tomb of Nebamun
Egypt, Crete & the Levant this Monday!
Our first 2018 MAES meeting is next Monday, 8th January. We welcome back Dylan Bickerstaffe who will be presenting his lecture ” Separated at Birth? Egypt, Crete and the Levant”.
Why were bulls, vultures, and snakes such prominent symbols in the cultures of ancient Egypt and Minoan Crete? The Egyptian king was a ‘mighty bull’, and there were cults in Egypt for the Apis, Buchis, and Mnevis bull. In Minoan Crete votive bull figurines were placed in shrines; numerous images depicted scenes of bull leaping; and several myths and legends focused on bulls – not least the mighty man-bull, or Minotaur. But this theme may also be found in extremely ancient cultures in the Levant, Mesopotamia, and Anatolia – and here, too, were the common symbols of vultures, and snakes. Images of totemic animals are just one of several artistic themes which we will see paralleled in these ancient cultures.
Come and join us Monday from 7:30pm at the Manchester Conference Centre. Visitors welcome!
New Hieroglyphs Courses
The University of Manchester’s Egyptology Online are now offering three courses in hieroglyphs (for beginners, intermediate and advanced students) which are taught entirely online! See here for more details!
Ancient Egyptian Fake News or Tale of Genuine “Daring-do?”
Did an Egyptian-led Phoenician expedition circumnavigate Africa in the late-seventh century BC? Herodotus certainly thought so! Come to our next MAES meeting and find out!
Monday 11th December
Kevin Harrison: Around Africa by Trireme: Necho’s Phoenician Mariners … an Ancient Example of ‘Fake News’ or of Genuine ‘Daring-do?’
7:30pm visitors welcome!
For more details click here:
Two big events for 2018!
MAES is proud to announce we are co-hosting two major Egyptology events in 2018!
On 7th April we are holding a joint MAES / Egypt Exploration Society Study Day: “Life in the Royal Workmen’s Towns of Ancient Egypt” at the University of Manchester.
And the Fourth British Egyptology Congress (BEC) is coming to the University of Manchester 7-9th September.
Tickets for these events will be released nearer the time – please check our website for more details here:
We look forward to seeing you!!!
New MAES Season begins soon!
MAES lectures return on Monday 11th September with our former Chairman Colin Reader speaking about Meidum! You can find our more about our lectures and download a copy of the programme here:
As well as our annual study day in March 2018, we have two extra study days in November and April!
We hope to see you in September!
Mon 8th May: Peter Robinson – The Ancient Egyptians Map their World
Our next meeting is on Monday 8th May!
(Please note due to a calendar error this has been advertised previously as 15th May).
Peter Robinson joins us to look at how the ancient Egyptians were able to map their world and, in some cases, the Afterlife they expected to go to after death, and what this shows us about how the ancient Egyptians thought about the worlds of the living and the dead.
Peter is the Treasurer of Poynton Egypt Group, and is a trustee of the Canada-based Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities. He runs the Friends of Nekhen website for the supporters of the Hierakonpolis expedition in Egypt and as an Editorial Assistant to Ancient Egypt Magazine, he produces maps for each edition.
