Sept. 16 – How and why did the ancient Egyptians combine different shapes and images, creating a figurative universe tangible in their material culture? What role did those pictures have? What can archeology tells us of that imagined world? Some of the greatest scholars of Ancient Egypt Civilization will try to answer these questions during an Egyptology international conference sponsored by the University of Pisa. The appointment is in London, at the Institute of Archaeology at University College, from Thursday Sept. 18 to Saturday Sept. 20. The purpose of the conference is to redesign the imagery of ancient Egypt during the Middle Kingdom (2000-1600 BC), which was populated by a wide range of forms, ideas, animals, hybrid beings, symbolic figures and objects: these “Images of Society” give the title to the meeting. The summit also hosts Josef Wegner, director of the archaeological mission of the University of Pennsylvania in Abydos, who recently discovered the graves of the forgotten kings of the XIII Dynasty. Part of the conference will be dedicated exclusively to his sensational discovery. Other featured speakers are: Stephen Quirke, Harco Willems, Ellen Morris, Wolfram Grajetzki, David Wengrow, and Susan Allen.
