Upcoming Lectures - London Examines Nefertiti and Chicago, Ancient Egyptian Women in Society

Accessed January 18, 2010 | Egypt at the Manchester Blog and Neighborhood Star | The following are the dates, times, location, topics, and a tiny excerpt of each upcoming lecture:

• Date: March 8, 2010
  Time:6:00pm
  Location: Millennium Park Room at the Chicago Cultural Center - Chicago, IL
  Lecture: The Role of Women in Egypt's History, by Ambassador Nihad Zikry, Assistant Egyptian Minister for Foreign Affairs
  Excerpt:

  At the invitation of the Consulate General of the Arab Republic of Egypt in Chicago, H.E. Ambassador Nihad Zikry, Assistant Egyptian Minister for Foreign Affairs, will speak about the role of women throughout Egypt's history in celebration of Women's History Month.

• Date: February 10, 2010
  Time:3:00pm
  Location: Kanaris Lecture Theatre, The Manchester Museum - Manchester, UK
  Lecture: Re-Writing Nefertiti, by Dr. Joyce Tyldesley
  Excerpt:

  This Showcase Seminar will consider the distorting effect that the Berlin head has had on the public perception of Nefertiti, before reviewing the archaeological evidence for her life and death.

• Date: January 21, 2010
  Time: 7:30pm
  Location: Marie Irwin Community Center - Homewood, IL
  Lecture: Beyond Harpists and Housewives: Women and Their Employment in Ancient Egypt, by Megaera Lorenz, University of Chicago graduate student
  Excerpt:

  "Despite their misleadingly low profile in the historical record, women were active participants in ancient Egypt's economy," said Lorenz. "This talk examines a few of the varied and often surprising ways that ancient Egyptian women found employment"

I believe all of these lectures and workshops are free admission, especially the one at the Cultural Center.

Plans to Make a Formal Request for Nefertiti's Bust are Underway

Originally published December 30, 2009 | Zahi Hawass' Blog | by Dr. Hawass | Recent documentation from January 1913 illustrating deception in the acquisition of the bust of Nefertiti gives Dr. Hawass all the ammunition he needs to make a formal request to the Berlin Museum for the return of this artifact. More news is to come concerning this topic.

Egyptian and German Officials to Meet About Nefertiti Bust

Originally published November 6, 2009 | The New York Times | by Dave Itzkoff

This article briefly discusses the first steps toward a peaceful negotiation about the fate of the bust of Queen Nefertiti. I hope, whatever the result may be, that there will be hard feelings among parties or ties severed due to hurt feelings or pride. In my humble opinion, her rightful owner is Egypt if Hawass can prove that the Germans took her illegally, as that's were she was interred. It doesn't matter the origins of Nefertiti herself (Nubia, Macedonia, or other places that have been mentioned)--this comes as a response to one of the comments about the article.

Queen Nefertiti - the Modern Helen of Troy

Originally published October 19, 2009 | Times Online | by Roger Boyes

Well, maybe "modern" is a bit of a stretch--Nef is just as old as Helen.

In any event, much like the Greek Helen of Troy, Egyptian officials have as their claim that Germany, way back in 1913, "abducted" Nefertiti from her native Egypt. If this is the case, Egypt has the right to have her back; however, Zahi Hawass will have her returned even if the contrary. She is, after all, the epitome of significant (and iconic) Egyptian specimens, recognizable to nearly everyone. Times Online chronicles the continuing saga, the battle between Egypt and Germany. Not to be outdone, the New York Times also reports on the same story.

Perhaps a little more lighthearted is a dialogue between the Huffington Post and the Queen herself (one pissed off majesty as it turns out). It's entertaining and a distraction from all the political craziness (you tell 'em Queenie!), further scrutinized in yet another New York Times article.

Berlin's Neues Museum Finally Reopening to Public

Originally published October 15, 2009 | The Seattle Times | by Geir Moulson

Visit the Berlin Museum's official web site for more information. Es ist ins Deutsch.

Other places reporting the same story, more or less: Times Online and Earth Times

Egypt Takes it Back

Originally published October 10, 2009 | iAfrica News | by Ines Bel Aiba

Nefertiti Moved With Care

Originally published October 5, 2009 | The Straits Times

This author uses quotes around "with extreme care." Apparently s/he isn't buying either the museum's excuse that Nefertiti is too fragile to transport her back home to Egypt. She seemed to travel well, being placed on display in her new home at the Neues. Perhaps the German scholars should have used this excuse: they feared her sinking to the bottom of the Atlantic à la (the) secret mummy aboard the Titanic.

Queen of Egypt's Heart

Originally published August 20 - 26, 2009 | Al-Ahram Weekly Online | by Jill Kamil

The following is an excerpt from an article at Al-Ahram Weekly Online, which describes the famous bust of Nefertiti' long history, both ancient and modern:

Nefertiti's bust has recently made headlines, in newspapers, magazines, and by bloggers on the Internet. BBC News, under the title "German guile won Queen Nefertiti..." described how "newly- published documents show how a German archaeologist used trickery to smuggle home a fabulous sculpture of the Egyptian Queen, Nefertiti." Agence France-Press confidently reported that the famed bust was a 20th-century copy. And Dawn Martinez-Byrne, in a blog, posed several questions that caught my attention because I had heard many of them before -- voiced by Egyptian post- revolutionary intellectuals.

It looks like the Germans are giving Zahi Hawass a dose of his own medicine, claiming that the "Berlin Bust" is far too delicate to travel back to her homeland. I say, those wooden coffers in the traveling Tutankhamun exhibit are far more delicate than Nefertit's bust, being made of far more delicate material.

Did Michael Jackson Model Face After Egyptian Bust?

Originally published August 5, 2009 | Chicago Sun-Times | by Michael Sneed

I was about to exit the lunchroom, freshly brewed coffee in hand, when one of the cover stories of one of the newspapers, buried beneath other newspapers, caught my attention. It read something like, "Look Familiar?" I thought, "Yes" because I've seen it at the Field Museum and remembered the time my sister remarked her resemblance (the Egyptian, not my sister) to Michael Jackson between giggles. That was two years ago. I'm surprised the Sun-Times hadn't picked up on the resemblance while Jackson was still alive. Apparently others like my sister and I noticed the uncanny similarity years ago, as the article at CBS points out.

That's beside the point.

In any event, the article gives background information about the Egyptian woman's bust and reactions to the recent buzz about the striking resemblance.