Sofia Aziz and the Brain
Attitudes to the Brain in Ancient Egypt Ms Sofia Aziz 7th June 2025 “All that is solid melts into air” At this lecture, at the Cooper Gallery, Ms Sofia Aziz shared her recent research with a very appreciative audience. Ms Aziz explained that she wanted to explore why the ancient Egyptians (AE) discarded the brain […]
Hapy in Berlin
A selection of what Hapy members saw when they went to Berlin in March 2025 It was a very eventful long weekend. Some of the more notable places we visited. As you can see, we got around a bit. It was only a ten-minute walk from our hotel but some of us took a taxi […]
Dr Gina Criscenzo-Laycock
On the 12th April 2025 we were delighted to welcome Dr Criscenzo-Laycock to speak to us about the First Intermediate Period: so often overlooked and yet such a fascinating period of Egyptian history. Gina started by explaining the development of the ancient Egyptian “nomes” and how they were governed by people appointed by the king, […]
Gods of Egypt
Our chairman Andrew Ward took a broad-brush approach to a very complex and extensive subject. After a short introduction, looking at the origins of worship in the natural world, Andy decided to focus on the creation myths in order to bring some structure to the subject. There were four main centres of theological thinking: 1)The […]
The Tomb of Nefertari
It was great, once again, to welcome our friend John Johnson from the Horus Society to deliver our February lecture and to see such a good turnout for it. John delivered his talk in his usual inimical style, with an equal measure of humour and enthusiasm. His subject, the Tomb of Nefertari, reflected John’s special […]
A Timeline of Egypt
From crude drawings on a rock to the sophistication of Cleopatra’s court, our chairman Andrew Ward traversed 3,000 years of Egyptian history and culture, pointing out notable events and artefacts along the way. The main purpose of this was to see these things in a historical context and to appreciate the great span of time. […]
Displaced: From the Nile to the Derwent. Museum Trip Review
Visit to the Egyptology Special Exhibition at the Derby Museum. On Wednesday the 20th November, a small and committed group made its way to the Derby museum to visit the special exhibition. Despite very bad traffic, the journey was well worth it and we were rewarded with a stimulating and poignant experience. The 80 or […]
Secret Signs: Decoding the Cryptography of Egyptian Texts
Many of us have had fun trying to detangle and translate hieroglyphs on Andy’s online courses*, but Dr Penny Wilson’s talk on Nov 16th was a stimulating reminder that hieroglyphs aren’t just an alphabet, but a powerful and flexible symbolic language. She explored decorations on temples and tombs and showed us how certain signs were […]
The History of the Rosetta Stone Rebellion
On Saturday the 12th October Dr. Jay Silverstein, lecturer at Nottingham Trent University gave a wide ranging and fascinating talk about the context for the production of the world-famous Rosetta Stone. His lecture gave a brief summary of the history of the way in which the Greeks came to rule Egypt following the defeat by […]
Detectives, Death and Debutantes: Agatha Christie and Egypt
Four times Agatha Christie turned to Egypt for inspiration, or five if we include an unpublished novel Snow upon the Desert. This we learned from a most informative talk given by member Helen Fryer. Though she spent more time in Syria and Iraq with her archaeologist husband Max Mallowan, helping him with his finds, Christie […]