Tutankhamun and hieroglyphics: Egyptology in two informative talks
In these four remaining months of the year 2022, two hugely important feats in Egyptology will be celebrating their 100th and 200th aniversary: 200 years since the hieroglyphics were successfully deciphered, and 100 years since the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb. The UAB's Institute for Ancient Middle Eastern Studies (IEPOA) will also be celebrating these events with two free informative talks, on 14 September and on 25 November from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Auditorium of the Faculty of Arts & Humanities. The UAB is also working on an exhibition entitled "Més enllà de Tutankamon", which will be inaugurated in November at the Exhibitions Hall of the Communications Library.
On 14 September, the conference "Je tiens l’affaire! – Jean-François Champollion. Bicentennial of the deciphering of the Egyptian hieroglyphics" will be offered by Josep Cervelló, lecturer in Egyptology at the UAB and director of the IEPOA. Cervelló will speak about the passionate race to find the Rosetta Stone among European scholars, particularly from France and England, to be able to read the hieroglyphics and how after deciphering them, Egyptology was born as a specialised field of knowledge within the studies of the ancient world. The talk, which coincides with the day on which, 200 years ago, Champollion pronounced his famous phrase, "Je tiens l'affaire!" ("I've got it!"), will also include the participation of the musical band Neteru Ensemble aInd rhapsode Miquel Santaeulalia.
The talk on 25 November is entitled «26 November 1922: Yes, wonderful things! – Howard Carter. Centennial of the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb», by lecturer in Egyptology at the UAB José Lull, who will speak on the life of Howard Carter, his work in Egypt, his achievements and failures, and his remarkable persistence and strong will to find the tomb of Tutankhamun until finally reaching the magical moment on 26 November 1922, in which after perforating the tomb's second enclosure wall, he saw "wonderful things".
Thirty Years of Egyptology at the UAB
This year also marks an important moment in Egyptology and the UAB: the 30th anniversay of the first lectures on Egyptology, offered as part of the IEPOA's master's degree in Eastern Studies: Egyptology and Assiyriology.Since the 1992/93 academic year, Egyptology has been consistently present in the academic courses offered at university, until finally creating the current official master's degree in Egyptology; and is also present at PhD level, in undergraduate degrees, and in massive open online courses (MOOC).
The UAB is the only university in a Spanish-speaking state to offer subjects and academic courses on Egyptology in all higher education areas and levels.
In celebration of these feats in Egyptology, the UAB is preparing an exhibition entitled "Més enllà de Tutankamon" [Beyond Tutankhamun], which will be open to the public from 2 November to 20 December at the Exhibitions Hall of the Communications Library. The exhibition is organised by the UAB's Office of the Vice Rector for Communication and Culture in collaboration with the Institute for Ancient Middle Eastern Studies, the Faculty of Arts & Humanities, and the Department of Antiquity and Middle Ages Studies.