Afterlives of Ancient Egypt with Kara Cooney

Kara and Amber unpack what Kara has described as perhaps the most consequential object of her career: the coffin used to (re)bury Thutmose III. The story behind this king’s coffin spans centuries—running from the height of the 18th Dynasty—when it was first made—through the Late Ramesside turmoil—when it was first exhumed—and into the 20th–21st Dynasties—when the coffin was opened, closed, and reopened to source gold and use the bo...

Akhenaten physically manifested his cult to the sun, building a capital city at a break in the cliffs that created the perfect sunrise hieroglyph on the east bank, a city filled with open air temples into which the sun’s rays could reach directly. He created no statues to represent divine solar power, no intercessor between god and king; the sun’s warmth and light could not be contained in a cult statue. To honor the sun god, Akhen...

CW: This episode includes discussion of sexual themes, including incest and child sexual abuse. Listener discretion advised.

In this episode, Kara and Amber take on one of Amarna’s most famous images—the so-called “house altar” showing Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and their three daughters beneath the Aten (Ägyptisches Museum/Neues Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Inv. no ÄM 14145). At a glance, this relief seems to show a sweet privat...

Egyptian priests didn’t just waft incense and mutter incantations; they had to run the cosmic machine, make sure the sun rose and set, the Nile rose and receded as appropriate. From feeding the gods to managing temple estates, priesthood sat where divinity, money, and monarchy intersected. It’s not that the Egyptian priests were so simple-minded as to believe humans were needed for grand actions of cosmic continuance, but rather th...

[Content Warning: This episode includes discussions of sexual themes(!), power(!!), and the exploitation of bodies(!!!).]

Join Kara Cooney and Amber Myers Wells for a deep dive into one of the most peculiar and beautiful objects from the tomb of Tutankhamun (we think!)—a painted wooden head emerging from a blue lotus. Was it meant to show the child god Nefertem? A cosmic birth scene? A sensual drug trip? Or all of the above? In this...

Content Warning: Adult themes of sex and sexuality; death and trauma

In this podcast episode, we take a deep dive into pregnancy and giving birth in ancient Egypt. How were fertility issues dealt with? How was conception conceptualized? What was the childbirth process like? What role did magical rituals and belief in the gods play? What role did midwives, doctors, wet nurses, and others play in the process? And what can we gain from...

How was magic/ritual practice used in the lives of ancient Egyptians to resist and gain a sense of agency? In this episode of Afterlives of Ancient Egypt, Kara, Jordan, and extra special guest Dr. Jonathan Winnerman delve into the concept of 'magical resistance,' exploring how ancient Egyptians and people today use magic and rituals to gain a sense of power and agency. They discuss broad definitions of magic, because yeah scholars ...

What happens when an ancient Egyptian king recycles a statue—and then an empire steals it more than 3,000 years later? In this episode of Afterlives of Ancient Egypt, Kara Cooney and Amber Myers Wells take you on a deep dive into the life, reuse, and relocation of the colossal statue fragment known as the “Younger Memnon” (British Museum, EA 19). Once a towering monument to Amenhotep III, then reused by Ramses II, and finally carte...

Anya and I had so much fun in our recent Substack Live with Classical Wisdom. Anya was in Greece, I in California, and the topic was ancient Egypt. One of our main points of discussion was the newly conserved hypostyle hall at Karnak, which Anya had just seen in person. Enthusiastic as I am about this extraordinary space, I expressed a teeny tiny bit of concern about fresh paint colors being newly revealed. Don’t get me wrong: the ...

In this episode, Kara and Jordan tackle supporter questions from the month of April, ranging from tomb decoration, Egyptian concepts of fate and destiny, religious texts, and our craziest theories—as well as some rabbit holes. If you would like to submit a question, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Paid subscribers join our live Q&A and get all their questions answered!

The show notes below support our conversation, and there is...

There is this strange and confusing text about a pissed off goddess sent off to destroy the world and gobble up all of humanity. The sun god Re sends her out on a mission of destruction. She’s called the Eye of Re, meaning she’s a part of her father, the god, but also somehow separate, a goddess in her own right named Hathor. The Egyptians seem to be telling us that when you have a problem that needs immediate solving, you send a w...

Summary

Join Kara and Jordan on a thrilling, hair-tingling journey through ancient Egypt's wild dynastic power shifts! From the dramatic reign of Tutankhamun to the strategic brilliance of Hatshepsut, explore how these rulers navigated assassinations, epic battles, and family drama to seize the throne. Discover the parallels between ancient power struggles and today’s political landscape, and dive into the ultimate royal showdowns f...

This episode’s conversation delves into the role of music and rituals in ancient Egypt, the mysterious artifacts held by Egyptian statues, and the evidence for ancient Egyptian coups compared to modern political tensions.

Awakening of the Gods - Mythvison

* Galczynski & Price (2023). “Fashioning Sensescapes through Ancient Egyptian Dress” in Textiles in Motion. Dress for Dance in the Ancient World

* Harper’s Songs

* Dance in ancient Eg...

What does sun worship mean? The sun is the giant ball of fire in the sky. It warms us, embraces us. It lights up the air all around us, and its absence creates coldness, an implicit threat of non-return, something we must placate with entreaties, offerings, brave deeds. The sun is the most powerful element in our sky, heroically returning to us every morning, helping us start our daily labors of farming or carpentry or war, and as ...

The concept of monotheism often hijacks the history of ancient Egyptian king Akhenaten because he funneled all his attention to one, previously little-known god, the Aten, the visible sun in the sky. Many scholars ask: Was Akhenaten, ancient Egypt’s so-called “heretic king,” the world’s first known monotheist? Did he say that other gods did not exist? Did he impose the belief that the Aten was superior to all other gods? In this ep...

This episode is a recording from our quarterly live event series where supporters are invited to chat with us live over Zoom and ask all their burning questions—if you would like to support our work, consider becoming a paid subscriber:

Show Notes

Thutmose II (?) Tomb Discovered?!

* Live Science: Thutmose II tomb discovery raises new mysteries: Where is his mummy, and why wasn't he buried in the Valley of the Kings?

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* Thutmose II Bio...

Who should inherit the throne when the ancient Egyptian king is killed? The strong brother of the king or the younger son who needs serious time to mature? This was a vital question that the Egyptians solved through mythology.

Egypt found itself in a power vacuum; it was the first political crisis the land had ever experienced. The primary god-king was dead, killed by his own brother. Who should become king next? Should Seth, the m...

What, exactly, is the was scepter? Essentially, it’s a stick with the head of a long-snouted, big eared animal, held by divinities in their hands to demonstrate their power. This familiar symbol of power and dominion held by kings and deities, usually masculine, in artistic representations throughout ancient Egyptian history appears often in art motifs. Images of was scepters are even pictured holding up the sky in Book of the Dead...