Once again, Lucia Gahlin, in conjunction with the Kemet Klub, delivered a great course.  This one looked into the detail of life in ancient Egypt – by breaking the lectures into Four Topics: Community, Settlement, House, Amulets – and very interesting it was too.

Lucia began with this statue of Horemheb, in this scribal pose, before he became pharaoh.  The rolls of fat are indicative of social status – a form of representation which goes back to the Old Kingdom.  Here, in addition to the paunch, there is the low-line of the kilt; which is more the style of this period of the mid 18th Dynasty.

We looked in detail at the culture of Ancient Egypt; Egyptian towns and cities; communities; Priests and funerary Chapels and monuments; and we looked at life in Amarna and the changes in the land during this disruptive period.  We moved on to hierarchy and positions in court,  honorific titles – what they represented and how they might be understood today.  We looked at houses and homes; marriage contracts, literary texts; we investigated tombs of military scenes and weaponry – and very much more.

Lucia discussed what it meant to be a scribe in ancient Egypt, and the earliest known written papyri; the 4th dynasty (Old Kingdom) diary of  Merer.  Discovered at Wadi el-Jarf, it referred to ‘The Horizon of Khufu’ – Khufu’s Great Pyramid at Giza.  It was a fascinating insight into life around the provisioning of the world’s most famous monument.

During this comprehensive 6-lecture course, Lucia covered an incredible amount – from detailed discussions of the grand monuments – down to tiny amulets, and what they all represented for life in ancient Egypt across the different sections of society, from the elite to the workers – a fascinating insight indeed.

Thanks once again Lucia and The Kemet Klub for another detailed, comprehensive and great course.