ARCE-PA Lecture Thursday, February 17 - "One Leonine Deity – A Multitude of Theories: An Investigation of Egyptian Feline Goddesses and Animal Deities"
Lisa Swart
Dear Friends of ARCE-PA,
The Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Research Center in Egypt proudly presents:
"One Leonine Deity – A Multitude of Theories: An Investigation of Egyptian Feline Goddesses and Animal Cults”
DR. YEKATERINA BARBASH
Assistant Curator, Arts of Ancient Egypt,
Brooklyn Museum of Art
Thursday, February 17, 2011
6:30 PM
Classroom 2
University of
Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
3260 South Street,
Philadelphia, PA
This event is sponsored by ARCE-PA. Entrance fees are $5 for the general public, $3 for University Museum members and PennCard holders, and free for ARCE-PA members.
www.arce-pa.org
www.museum.upenn.edu
About the
event:
This lecture will introduce an
unusual statuette of a crouching female deity with a lion's head, from the
Brooklyn Museum's collection. The animal or combined human-animal forms of
numerous divinities in the ancient Egyptian pantheon reveal the significant
qualities of each deity. This talk will focus on the Statue, exploring the diverse
roles of felines within ancient Egyptian religion.
A leonine nature was attributed to a variety of dangerous and protective goddesses, including Sakhmet and Wadjyt, with whom this statuette may be identified. However, it is also necessary to investigate the statuette's striking resemblance to the enigmatic Underworld guardian figures from late New Kingdom royal tombs and funerary papyri.
Although figures such as this one fit firmly into the religious ideology and style of late New Kingdom Egypt, museum records suggest that the statuette originally contained a cat mummy which is now lost. The presence of a mummified animal inside points to a date of the Late of Greco-Roman period. Consequently, the religious developments leading up to the dramatic surge in popularity of animal cults and mummification in later Egypt will also be examined in relation to this figure.
This paper will consider the role of felines in Egyptian religion throughout history, as well as the late phenomenon of animal cults and mummification. In this context we will attempt to determine the date, function, and significance of this hitherto unattested and mysterious figure.
About our speaker
Egyptologist Yekaterina Barbash joined the Brooklyn Museum in 2008. A
onetime intern in the Museum’s department of Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient
Middle Eastern Art, Barbash received a Ph.D. in ancient Egyptian history, Art,
and Philology from the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, where she was also
awarded an M.A. She is the recipient of a B.A. from New York University and has
studied at the Netherlands Institute of Archaeology and Arabic Studies in
Cairo, Egypt. Dr. Barbash has taught at New York University’s School of
Continuing and Professional Studies, Berkeley College, The College of New
Jersey, and Staten Island CUNY. She has been a member of the Johns Hopkins
University expedition to the Mut Precinct in Karnak, Egypt, where the Brooklyn
Museum also maintains an excavation, and was a researcher at the Walters Art
Museum.
We look forward to seeing you on the 17th!
Sincerely,
Lisa Swart, PhD
Vice President, ARCE-PA
v...@arce-pa.org
www.arce-pa.org
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Lisa Swart, PhD
Vice President, Pennsylvania Chapter
American Research Center in Egypt
3260 South Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
(215) 746-2071
www.arce-pa.org
v...@arce-pa.org