Weekly Roundups- April 21st
Looted antiquities, asteroids, money $$$, and more- our favorites from this past week
US Returns Two Antiquities to the People of Libya
Over $500,000 worth of antiquities were repatriated to Libya last week, including the “Veiled Head of a Lady,” picture below. These objects were all looted from the city of Cyrene in the 1980’s and 90’s. In particular, the “Veiled Lady” was seized from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) where it had been on view since 1998.
This brings up so many ethical questions of where museums are sourcing their objects. Luckily the District Attorney of Manhattan was able to return these objects to the people of Libya. And it’s not just the MET, many many museums have objects of dubious provenance (an object’s record of ownership/export). For a local LA example: Getty has both repatriated objects that were proved to be illegal exported and, more recently, has been accused of having looted artifacts.
Fabulous Twitter thread by @MarabelCeline on the cultural significance of kohl, a cosmetic substance often used as eyeliner. The team testing kohl containers to find the chemical signatures of the substances used in the cosmetic called kohl. The results? Not one set recipe and even some *poisonous* lead. Find the full article here.
The student loan pause has been extended until the end of the summer
Thankfully, the student loan pause has been extended through Aug. 31st. Here at Afterlives access to education is a topic near and dear to us. And yes—there will be politics talk on this Substack—sorry, not sorry. The defunding of education is very dangerous and affects Black and Brown people disproportionally. Kara comments:
Wow but Republicans hate funding education now that Black and Brown people get it too.
Putin’s war shows autocracies and fossil fuels go hand in hand
Oil and autocracy. What about autocracy and copper and gold? In ancient Egypt, precious minerals, like copper and gold would have been strictly controlled by the central administration, just like autocracies today.
In the Middle Kingdom, we have an interesting phenomenon where nomarch (local leaders of a province) who controlled access into the deserts (read: stone and precious minerals; trade routes) were able to accumulate more wealth and power. Their tombs are lavishly decorated and we even have one leader carving for himself a colossal statues (see Djehutihotep). The later Middle Kingdom kings cracked down on this, centralizing their power and forcing all the provincial elites to come to the capital at Itj-Tawy.
Asteroid Apophis to sweep close 7 years from now
Love astronomy and Egypt?! The asteroid Apophis will zoom past earth seven years from now (on a Friday the 13th !!! *spooky*)
But who is Apophis in the Egyptian tradition? Apophis, or Apep in Egyptian, was the embodiment of chaos (isfet) in the ancient Egyptian mindset. Apep is the cosmic enemy of Ra who is the upholder of Maat (justice, right). He is depicted as a great snake or serpent. Apep lives in the darkness or the underworld, while Ra, the solar deity, sails across the sky every day. However, Ra must battle Apep upon reaching the underworld during the night, and Apep must be slayed in order for Ra to be born again in the morning. Seth is often depicted helping Ra, standing on the prow of his solar barque to spear the great serpent.
Feminine Power: the divine to the demonic
The British Museum has a new exhibition looking the power and diversity of the divine female in world culture and beliefs from ancient contexts to today. Kara teaches a course on Women and Power in the ancient world and the students often ask why many ancient cultures have ‘strong’ goddesses while also disdaining against powerful women in reality:
I am always asked how a culture with strong goddesses can undercut their human women. Well, it happens all the time. And the goddesses are much much older than the patriarchal systems that oppress the actual women.
Kara, Jordan, and Amber go to ARCE
ARCE (American Research Center in Egypt) is having its annual conference in Irvine this week. All three of us will be attending and are looking forward to seeing colleagues and friends. This will be our first in-person conference since the beginning of the pandemic. Hopefully we haven’t lost all of our social skills…wish us luck! And we will report back with our highlights, so stay tuned for next week’s round up.
