Finding the 'Elusive' Libyans w/ Jason Silvestri

In this episode of Afterlives of Ancient Egypt, Kara, Jordan, and guest Jason Silvestri delve into the enigmatic history of the Libyans during Egypt’s Third Intermediate Period. Jason shares his academic journey into Egyptology, discusses the discovery of ancient Libyan words in the Qeheq papyrus, and highlights his exciting archeological work at El Hibeh.

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About our Guest: Jason Silvestri

Jason Silvestri (BA ’19, Univ. of Toronto; MA ’21 UC Berkeley) is the Lady Wallis Budge Junior Research Fellow at Christ’s College, Cambridge and PhD Candidate in Egyptian Archaeology at UC Berkeley’s Dept. of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures (MELC), where he is writing a dissertation on the social and political history of the Libyan Period (Dyns. XXI-XXIV). He has also worked extensively on Libyan-Egyptian interconnections, and has published the earliest known evidence of an Ancient Libyan language, the Qeheq Papyrus. In addition to his textual work, he is also an archaeologist, and has worked for several projects in Italy, Greece, and Egypt.

Academia

https://elhibehproject.org/

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Show Notes

• Check out Jason’s article on oldest extant text that possibly preserve the Berber language

• Third Intermediate Period

Map of the modern day countries of Egypt and Libya (source)

• Libyan Period

Egyptian depiction of Libu- people characterized by their garments, tattoos and feathers from the Tomb of Seti I (source)

• Egyptian glyph rendering of the term “Libyans”- 𓍿𓅓𓎛𓌙𓀀 or 𓍿𓎛𓈖𓏌𓇋𓇋𓅱

Scene from Medinet Habu depicting a battle between the Sea Peoples and the army of Ramses III

• Candelora, Danielle 2019. The eastern Delta as a middle ground for Hyksos identity negotiation. Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo 75, 77-94.

• Hubschmann, C., (2010) “Who Inhabited Dakhleh Oasis? Searching for an Oasis Identity in Pharaonic Egypt”, Papers from the Institute of Archaeology 20(1), 51-66. doi: https://doi.org/10.5334/pia.341

• Code Shifting

• Use of the term “tribe” within anthropological studies

• Banishment Stela

Banishment Stela (Louvre C 256)

• The Amazigh Language Family

Silvestri, J. P. (2023) The Oldest Berber Text(s)? Egyptian Evidence for the Ancient Libyan Language(s). Etudes et documents berbères. [Online] N° 49-50 (1), 319–348.

• Afroasiatic Language Family

• Cooper, Julien Charles 2021. Beja and Cushitic languages in Middle Egyptian texts: the etymologies of queen Aashayet and her retainers. Lingua Aegyptia 29, 13-36. DOI: 10.37011/lingaeg.29.02.

• Cooper, J. (2020). Egyptian Among Neighboring African Languages. UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, 1(1). Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2fb8t2pz

• El Hibeh

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Want to learn more about the Libyan Period? Suggested Readings:

• Ritner, R. K. (2009) The Libyan anarchy : inscriptions from Egypt’s Third Intermediate Period / translated with an introduction and notes by Robert K. Ritner ; edited by Edward Wente. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature.

• Moreno García, J. C. (2014) Invaders or just herders? Libyans in Egypt in the third and second millennia bce. World archaeology. [Online] 46 (4), 610–623.

• Broekman, G. (2011) Theban Priestly and Governmental Offices and Titles in the Libyan Period. Zeitschrift für ägyptische sprache und altertumskunde. [Online] 138 (2), 93–115.