12 April 2022

Campbell Price : Golden Mummies: Death and the Afterlife in Graeco-Roman Egypt

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Arriving at the site of Hawara in 1888, British archaeologist W.M. Flinders Petrie expected to unearth a cemetery contemporary with the pyramid (and associated temple, the so-called 'Labyrinth') of Amenemhat III of Dynasty 12. Instead, he discovered thousands of mummies of Graeco-Roman date - a proportion of which were decorated with gold leaf and painted portraits.

These finds - many of which were exported to Manchester - epitomise our obsession with, and expectations of, ancient Egyptian: wealth, art, sex and death.

Guilded mummy-mask from Hawara

This lecture reviews Petrie's finds and their reception in the context of a major international touring exhibition from Manchester Museum, and an accompanying book.

Mummy cover

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Dr Campbell Price is Curator of Egypt and Sudan at Manchester Museum, one of the UK's largest Egyptian collections. He studied Egyptology at the University of Liverpool, where he is now an Honorary Research Fellow. Campbell is also Chair of Trustees of the Egypt Exploration Society, the UK's foremost charity supporting Egyptian cultural heritage. He has published extensively, lectured internationally, and regularly contributes to TV and radio.