The seminar will feature two speakers from Macquarie University discussing their recent research.

Christopher Haddad will discuss the approach to deciphering an apotropaic amuletic text concerned with warding off evil spirits, rediscovered by Macquarie University’s Museum of Ancient Cultures in late 2018. Christopher will discuss the challanges involved in reading the tiny, damaged text and its subject matter invoking saints and angels to fight with demons and evil spirits.

Ellen Ryan will discuss the role of high ranking officials in the administration of government using private texts inscribed on tomb walls, statues and stelae during the New Kingdom period (c.1539-1077 BCE). The analysis of the texts reveals the delicate balance between leading and following in the social hierarchy of a monarchy.

Christopher Haddad studied ancient Greek and Roman history and IndoEuropean languages at Macquarie University, Sydney, completing his PhD in 2018. In late 2019 Christopher will take up a scholarship at the Fondation Hardt pour l’étude de l’antiquité classique, Geneva, before continuing his studies at the University of Oxford.

Ellen Ryan completed her PhD in Egyptology at Macquarie University in 2018. Her research is currently investigating concepts of leaders, leadership, and governance in Ancient Egypt. Ellen regularly engages in fieldwork in the private tombs in the Theban necropolis (Luxor, Egypt) and the necropolis at Dendera. With Assoc. Prof. Yann Tristant Ellen co-edited the first catalogue of the Egyptian collection housed at Macquarie’s Museum of Ancient Cultures (2017).