We are sorry to inform you that this lecture has been cancelled due to the Coronavirus concerns at Harvard University. We look forward to hearing Inês Torres speak at a future date.

Thank you!

This lecture is co-sponsored by the the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University and will take place on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 in Room 203 at the Tozzer Library at Harvard University.

Creativity and Innovation in Non-royal Tombs of the Old Kingdom:

The mastabas of Akhmeretnisut at Giza

a lecture by

Inês Torres

Ph.D. Candidate in Egyptology, Harvard University
Research Associate, American Research Center in Egypt

The Giza mastaba of Akhmeretnisut (G 2184), excavated in 1912 by the Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition, has been occasionally mentioned in the scholarly literature due to its innovative iconographic program. However, an exhaustive analysis of this unusual funerary complex has never been undertaken, thus providing an opportunity for a deeper discussion of the art, iconography, and architecture of private tombs of the Fifth Dynasty (c. 2494-2345 BC) at Giza. 

This lecture will present the most recent research conducted on the mastaba of Akhmeretnisut and discuss the importance of this tomb for the understanding of private funerary monuments of the Old Kingdom. The decorative program of this mastaba is unparalleled in several ways: not only does it contain scenes unattested elsewhere, the spatial arrangement of the decoration is very unusual. Therefore, the mastaba of Akhmeretnisut is an excellent example of how the rules of decorum could be bent by the tomb owner to express creativity and display innovations in both iconography and architecture.