Read and Review – Dr Katharina Zinn | Literacy in Pharaonic Egypt (2018)

For this week’s task I have to review Katharina Zinn’s article ‘Literacy in Pharaonic Egypt: orality and literacy between agency and memory (2018)’ in 250 words. I include her abstract below: “The article presents a new conceptual framework for understanding literacy in ancient civilisations to conceptualise ‘literacy’ more broadly as a cultural and social practice. …

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Achaea and Rome: 192 B.C. – 146 B.C.

“Rome was simply too powerful. Yet Achaia could not accept the discrepancy in power without abandoning all pretence of independence.”[1] This post is based on part of my undergraduate dissertation. It deals with the relationship between the Achaean League and Rome, and how due to the changing nature of Roman foreign policy and the increasingly …

Justice in Egypt

This week’s task is as follows: “You have been provided with a translation of a papyrus known as the Slave Sale Papyrus, dating to the early 19th Dynasty translated by Dr Nicky Nielsen. Read the text carefully and provide an overview of the court-case – who is suing whom and why? Who are the main …

Object Study: A Sickle with Flint Blades in the British Museum

Another Object Study on something in the British Museum, this time a sickle with flint blades. Museum Number: EA52861             Registration Number: 1914,0414.1 Dimensions: Height: 11.5cm | Length: 28.5cm Depth: 20.5cm | Weight: 267g Site: Thebes Context: Unknown, donated by George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon (of Tutankhamun fame) Date: 18th …

Decolonising Egyptology

This week I am tasked with answering this question: In what ways do you think Victorian social standards and taboos have influenced the study of Pharaonic Egypt? And do you think we have entirely moved past that in the modern age? When discussing the Victorian social standards, it is always important to consider the impact …

Object Study: A Wooden Mirror in the British Museum

The next task was to undertake an object study of an item in the British Museum that may be considered a child's toy.  3. EA26336 1890,0530.1 Dimensions: (LxWxH): 27.3cm x 16.1cm x 2.76cm. Site: Thebes. Context: Not known; purchased by Rev. Greville Chester in 1890. Date: Archaic. Material: Wood. Description: The only image available for …

Essays: Planning, Research & Writing

I have previously written about dissertations and how to get through them, I thought writing a similar guide to essays would be a good idea. So, to begin, what is an essay? In a few words it is a short written piece on a specific subject. The nuance lies in the question that has been …

Achaean League Coinage and Collective Identity – Coin of the Month: September

I've been published elsewhere! I wrote a blog post for the Classics Department at the University of Warwick about Achaean coinage and collective identity. Click on the link below to access the article. https://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/numismatics/entry/achaean_league_coinage/

What is the Achaean League and Why should we study it?

This summer I am working on another project for the International Conference for Undergraduate Research (ICUR), and this will be the first post dedicated to it. I have already written two articles over the past year about the Achaean League, but this is the first article that will set out the aims of the project …

Two Arches, Two Emperors

A discussion of the Triumphal Arches of Augustus and Septimus Severus, located in the Forum Romanum The Forum Romanum was seen as the centre of the Roman World. During the principate the political centre shifted away from the forum, but the symbolism of it remained, especially during the Triumphal processions. The Triumph was a religious …