[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 episode, we explore the sculpture’s religious symbolism, Amarna influences, sketchy findspot, and what it tells us about birth, rebirth, and the power of divine femininity. One object, endless meanings.

Don’t miss Kara’s companion post to this episode on Ancient/Now!

Show notes

Tutankhamun Head of Nefertem, New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, reign of Tutankhamun, ca. 1332-1323 BC. Found at the entrance of his tomb (KV62). Valley of the Kings, West Thebes. Now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. JE 60723

Howard Carter’s object card (Griffith Institute)

Wikipedia

Blue lotus flower

References

Hawass, Zahi. 2007. The Head of Nefertem. In King Tutankhamun. The Treasures of The Tomb. Thames & Hudson, London 2007, p. 16.

Hoving, Thomas. 1980. Tutankhamun: The Untold Story. Rowman & Littlefield (reprint, 2002).

James, T. G. H. 2000. Tutankhamun. White Star: Metro Books.

Munro, Peter. 1980. "Tutanchamun als Sonnengott." In the exhibition catalogue Tutanchamun in Köln. von Zabern, Mainz, p. 140–141.

Schlögl, Hermann 1977. Der Sonnengott auf der Blüte: eine ägyptische Kosmogonie des Neuen Reiches. Aegyptiaca Helvetica 5. Genève: Éditions de Belles-Lettres.

Seton-Williams, M. V. 1980. Tutanchamun. Der Pharao. Das Grab. Der Goldschatz. Ebeling, Luxembourg, p. 120.

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 the experiences of these ancient people today? We ultimately come to understand that ancient Egyptian birth was a private matter that took place in the home, that the baby and mother received the support of intimate and extended family, that the new mother was welcomed back into society with celebrations of her beauty and fecundity, a rite of passage in which community was integral. Indeed, all of this is exactly what pregnant individuals and new parents are missing and seeking out in 2025.

We might assume that it is better to be pregnant now than in the ancient world. And in some ways it is— antibiotics, anesthesia, and sonograms save lives everyday. But we also know healthcare access is not equal across race and socio-economic status, governments are defunding care facilities, and a woman’s right to choose are all under threat. To make matters worse, as of a 2023 JAMA study, U.S. pregnancy-related deaths are on a steep uptake since 1999, especially amongst Indigenous and Black communities. The defunding of pregnancy and childbirth-related services, like Planned Parenthood, is one contributing factor. Given that cuts to abortion access are meant to push women back into traditional, shut-in, patriarchal roles, please don’t expect a glorification of the ancient world here. But we can’t laud the modern situation either. Let’s just say that we can learn useful lessons from both sides of our human selves. It’s complicated.

All of our current medical possibilities have created their own unintended overmedicalized consequences that no one in the ancient world had to suffer. Today’s drug-induced births, often chosen for the convenience of medical staff, create contractions that are ten times more painful than normal contractions. The high number of chemically induced births demands that modern American mothers labor for hours under epidural spinal pain blocking, accompanied by heavy opioids. The inability to feel anything during the birth process takes agency away from the mother entirely. She cannot move; she pushes from her back. No squatting and birth bricks for her. No gravity to assist the descent of the baby in the birth canal. Instead, very long labor can result in traumatized mothers with ripped tissue, babies squeezed and pulled out of the birth canal.

Many modern births result in overmedicalized interventions, thus the high rate of cesarean sections, which are 5x more likely to cause complications than vaginal births. The COVID-19 pandemic hit pregnant and post-childbirth individuals particularly hard. Even celebrities— people we would assume would have the best medical treatment available— have had near-death experiences (Read about Serena Williams’ ordeal).

In many ways, the modern (American) birth process is a system perfected to create trauma and loneliness. I think if we had the choice presented to us with clarity, most of us would want to give birth the ancient way—with community and agency—but with modern aids like surgical ways of dealing with a cord wrapped around the baby’s neck, or a stuck shoulder, or a placenta blocking the birth canal, or means of stopping hemorrhaging, or antibiotics to stop infection. Somehow our discussions about childbirth have become very black and white, such that anyone demanding a midwife is putting their baby in mortal danger to the level of Oh-You-Would-Have-Wanted-The-Nazis-to-Win-World-War-II kind of rhetoric. But the ancient world can provide some much-needed nuance in our perspective of maternal agency, healthy outcomes, and community involvement.

One of the most shocking findings of a recent study was the prevalence of mental health-related death in the 4th trimester (the time between birth and 12-week post-partum). Modern childbirth usually places the mother in charge of her baby alone. New parents are not getting the support and care they need. Instead of the embrace of the community in the ancient world, women today experience loneliness, anxiety, and isolation.

But we are still those same people, in many ways, with the same desires, emotions, and bodies. And we don’t like being cut off from care. We want human connection during this essential rite of passage. It is no surprise that we are seeing a rise in midwifery and doulas as a way for pregnant individuals to take back the process. A doula is like a claim of emotional support, direct from the ancient world. Midwives are not just women taking care of women in the old ways, but a rejection of the formal doctor-knows-all over patient relationship. TikTok and other social media apps are also comparing how divergent countries deal with pregnancy and childbirth—making many Americans curious about more non-hyper-medicalized options.

The modern world is so disassociated from community care that we have outsourced it, paying a postpartum nanny if you can afford it, to help support the parent during the precarious 4th trimester, for example. The ancient (patriarchal) world would have placed the new mother and baby in the arms of other mothers, aunts, and grandmothers. The ancient pre-patriarchal world would have allowed more caregiving from the father, uncles, and grandfathers, too.

We don’t mean to romanticize the old ways. Indeed, in the ancient world, pregnancy and childbirth carried extraordinary risks and complications. One study on ancient Greece argued for a childbirth mortality rate as high as 30%. Though some recent studies of pre-modern Europe have pushed back against the idea that pregnancy and childbirth were always über dangerous— pregnancy complications, birth obstructions, hemorrhage, and infection were all too common.

Prof. Anne Austin’s bioarchaeological work (2024) at Deir el-Medina found a high rate of female deceased in young adulthood, which could be linked to childbirth complications. Experts have even identified mummified individuals who died during childbirth with the fetus still in the birth canal (though one is debated…). Babies who died as a result of miscarriage, stillbirth, or early childhood deaths received special burial treatment, often within the confines of the home or in pots. The ancient Egyptians didn’t place their youngest and most vulnerable into the necropolis; they were kept in the home, usually under the floor.

Yes, childbearing was and is hard, but it wasn’t all doom and gloom…. There was magic and a hippo goddess!!

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Show Notes

Fertility Treatments & Issues

* Votive figurines

* Waraksa, E. Female Figurines from the Mut Precinct: Context and Ritual Function. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 240. Fribourg; Göttingen: Academic Press; Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2009.

* Teeter, E. Baked Clay Figurines and Votive Beds from Medinet Habu. OIP 133. Chicago: Oriental Institute, 2010

* Plant aphrodisiacs – Blue lotus & mandrake

* Ibrahim, Venice and Shehatta Attia. 2022. Some sedative plants in ancient Egypt: Egyptian blue lotus, hemp, mandrake & opium poppy. In Győry, Hedvig (ed.), Aegyptus et Pannonia VIII: Acta symposii anno 2021, volume 2, 259-297. Budapest: MEBT-ÓEB

* Counsell, D. J. 2010. Blue lotus: ancient Egyptian narcotic and aphrodisiac? In Cockitt, Jenefer and Rosalie David (eds), Pharmacy and medicine in ancient Egypt: proceedings of the conferences held in Cairo (2007) and Manchester (2008), 51-55. Oxford: Archaeopress.

* Comestic Spoons

* Peter Lacovara – The Meaning and Symbolism of Swimming-Girl Spoons from Egypt

Conceptualizing Conception

* Roth, Ann Macy. 2000. Father earth, mother sky: ancient Egyptian beliefs about conception and fertility. In Rautman, Alison E. (ed.), Reading the body: representations and remains in the archaeological record, 187-201. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

* Ancient Egyptian creation myths

Gender Preferences and Infanticide

* Mahi, Ali Tigani El. 2000. Prehistoric population controls in the Sudanese Nile Valley: a consideration of infanticide. Beiträge zur Sudanforschung 7, 103-118.

* Schneider, Thomas. 2015. God's infanticide in the night of Passover: Exodus 12 in the light of ancient Egyptian rituals. In Arbel, Vita Daphna, Paul C. Burns, J. R. C. Cousland, Richard Menkis, and Dietmar Neufeld (eds), Not sparing the child: human sacrifice in the ancient world and beyond: studies in honor of Professor Paul G. Mosca, 52-76. London; New York: Bloomsbury T&T Clark. DOI: 10.5040/9780567659170.ch-003.

Depictions of Pregnancy in Egyptian Art

Childbirth Practices and Rituals

* Samir, Nermeen. 2023. Childbirth postures within the Egyptian mammisis. In Abdelhalim Ali, Ali and Dagmar Budde (eds), Mammisis of Egypt: proceedings of the first international colloquium, held in Cairo, 27-28 March 2019, 279-290. Le Caire: Institut français d'archéologie orientale.

* Andreeva, Anna, Erica Couto-Ferreira, and Susanne Töpfer. 2014. Childbirth and women’s healthcare in pre-modern societies: an assessment. Dynamis 34 (2), 279-287. DOI: 10.4321/S0211-95362014000200001.

* Ladinig-Morawetz, Franz-Stephan. 2023. Defining "magic" using the example of Egyptian gynaecology. In Aguizy, Ola el- and Burt Kasparian (eds), ICE XII: proceedings of the Twelfth International Congress of Egyptologists, 3rd-8th November 2019, Cairo, Egypt 2, 1109-1115. [Cairo]: Institut français d'archéologie orientale.

* The Role of Birth Wands and Bricks

* Roth, Ann Macy and Catharine H. Roehrig. 2002. Magical bricks and the bricks of birth. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 88, 121-139.

* Miller, Jordan. 2021. Emblematic representation on ancient Egyptian apotropaic wands. Archaeological Review from Cambridge 36 (2), 119-141. DOI: 10.17863/CAM.86209

* Involvement of the gods – Bes, Tawaret, Hathor, and Isis

Midwives, Doulas, and Village Support

* Austin, Anne. 2024. Healthmaking in ancient Egypt: the social determinants of health at Deir el-Medina. Culture and History of the Ancient Near East 138. Leiden; Boston: Brill. DOI: 10.1163/9789004700871.

* O. Cairo J 72452, where the workmen’s crew got off for a childbirth

* Amulets for childbirth that most likely originated from Deir el-Medina suggest that childbirth could have been within the purview of a zA.w or xrp-Srq.t (Austin 2024).

* Geraldine Pinch, “Childbirth and Female Figurines at Deir El-Medina and El-‛Amarna,” Orientalia 52, no. 3 (1983): 405–14.

* Arnette, “Purification Du Post-Partum et Rites Des Relevailles Dans l’Égypte Ancienne.”

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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 really fight about what magic is and what it isn’t, its role in the assassination of Ramses III, and the fine line between state–sanctioned and subversive magical practices.

The inspiration for this episode was a Substack article from Ancient Rome, Modern Witch which looked at how ancient Romans used magic as a form of resistance. And also please remember HBO’s Rome when Servilla curses Attia with all the elite witchcraft in her ancient Roman toolkit.

With everything that is going on in the world—wild gesture—people are seeking different methods of resistance, including modern forms of magic.

Now we aren’t telling you to go out and curse anybody, because that shit always comes back at you (!), but please use this podcast and the plentiful show notes below as inspiration to create some some good, magical, ancient defensive tactics for the days to come….

Show Notes

* FREE DOWNLOAD – Robert Ritner, SAOC 54. The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice. (Fourth Printing, 2008).

* Frazer’s Golden Bough (1890) – a seminal (read masculine AF) work on comparative mythology and religion

* Magic → religion → science and rational materialism (!!)

Harem Conspiracy

* Papyrus Rollins

“It happened because writings were made for enchanting, for banishing, for confusing, because some gods were made into wax and some men also– and furthermore for enfeebling the limbs of men and which writing were placed in the hand of Pay-bak-kamen…” (P. Rollins)

* Goedicke, Hans (December 1963). "Was Magic Used in the Harem Conspiracy against Ramesses III? (P.Rollin and P.Lee)". The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology. 49: 71–92. doi:10.2307/3855702. JSTOR 3855702.

Protection

* Isis Knot and other amulets

“Spell for a knot amulet of red jasper. “You have your blood, O Isis; you have your power, O Isis; you have your magic, O Isis.” As for him for whom this is done, the power of Isis will be the protection of his body, and Horus son of Isis will rejoice over him when he sees him; no path will be hidden from him, and one side of him will be towards the sky and the other towards the earth. A true matter; you shall not let anyone see it in your hand, for there is nothing equal to it.” (Formula 156, Book of Coming Forth by Day)

* Killed Captives at boundary markers

* Mut Precinct (unpublished)

* Mirgissa Deposit

Curses

Spell against an Enemy

- “You will stop, whoever comes! I am the one who enters the sleeping place and comes from upon the ground. A man who fights. You will stop! Where are you with regard to me? I will enter your belly as a fly, and I will see your belly from the inside. I will turn your face into the back of your head; the front of your foot into your heel. Your speech is no use; it will not be heard. Your body will be weak and your knee will be feeble. You will stop! I am Horus, the son of Isis, I will leave on my feet.” (McDowell, 117)

Tomb Fragment (National Museum of Scotland)

“It is to you that I speak; all people who will find this tomb passage! Watch out not to take (even) a pebble from within it outside. If you find this stone you shall transgress against it. Indeed, the gods since (the time of) Pre, those who rest in [the midst] of the mountains gain strength every day (even though) their pebbles are dragged away. ’Look for a place worthy of yourselves and rest in it, and do not constrict gods in their own houses, as every man is happy in his place and every man is glad in his house. As for he who will be sound, beware of forcefully removing this stone from its place. As for he who covers it in its place, great lords of the west will reproach him very very very very very very very very much.”

Execration Ritual(s)

“Every rebel of this land, all people, all patricians, all commoners, all males, all eunuchs, all women, every chieftain, every Nubian, ever Strongman, every messenger, every confederate, every ally of every land who will revel in Wawat, Zatju, Yam, Ianeh, Masit, and Kauw, who will rebel or who will plot by saying plots, or speaking anything evil against Upper or Lower Egypt forever.”

“spit on him four times . . . trample on him with the left foot . . . smite him with a spear . . . slaughter him with a knife . . . place him on the fire . . . spit on him in the fire many times”

* Breaking of the Red Pots Ritual

Letters to the Dead

Cairo Bowl (CG 25375)

“Given by Dedi to the priest Antef, born of Iwnakht. As for this serving-maid Imiu who is sick, you do not fight for her night and day with every man who is doing her harm and every woman who is doing her harm. Do you wish your threshold to be desolated? Fight for her today as though it were something new, so that her household may be established… Save her from all the men and women who are doing her harm! Then your house and your children will be established! Thanks for listening!”

Specialists

* Priesthoods & Corruption- can we see the increase in votive animal mummies in the Late Period as evidence of increasing corruption in the priesthood á la the Catholic buying of indulgences?

* Divination

* Wise women

* Austin, Anne and Cédric Gobeil 2016. Embodying the divine: a tattooed female mummy from Deir el-Medina. Bulletin de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale 116, 23-46. DOI: 10.4000/bifao.296.

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 carted off to London as a result of 19th-century colonialism, this statue has lived many lives—and it still looms large in the British Museum. It’s the first thing you see when you turn the corner to the Egyptian galleries…

Tune into learn how a two-toned block of granite became a symbol of solar kingship, modern colonial power, and the politics of museum display. From Shelley’s Ozymandias to the ethics of repatriation, it’s a conversation about ownership, ideology, and the stories we choose to tell. What a magnificently complicated piece.

Don’t miss Kara’s written companion post to this episode, “The ‘Younger Memnon’: A Colossal Lesson in Power, Reuse, and Colonial Trophy Hunting,” on the Ancient/Now Substack.

Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

The Younger Memnon, British Museum EA 19

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 newly conserved hypostyle hall looks bright and fresh, but we must remember that these colors are now exposed to air and light, and that means degradation. I have to assume the columns have been convered in some modern material to avoid decay, but one worries nonetheless. I am very much torn about all this conservation, and a large part of me is happy to have them more safely preserved under layers of soot and dirt. But that’s problematic protectionism, perhaps. In addition, I mentioned to Anya how the cracks between the column drums are now covered with modern conservation materials—which indeed better reconstructs how they would have looked in the Ramesside period. But, it limits our study: the joins between column drums are now invisible, and given many of them were put back in the wrong places after collapse, there is no way to further study the individual parts and construction methods of the hypostyle hall. We must be very grateful to Peter Brandt for his team’s published documentation of the hypostyle hall before this extensive conservation. Indeed, in my own work with coffin reuse I find myself apoplectic when a coffin has been so conserved that I cannot see where painted plaster has fallen away from the wood. Making the object perfectly beautiful almost always destroys further research possibilities; indeed, it also makes the object more modern than it is ancient…but this is a topic all on its own, and I’ll leave it there!

Anya and I also discussed the extraordinary geology underneath the Giza Plateau—because that is what was recently discovered with ground penetrating radar: rock formations. It is our own human minds that are making this geology into human / alien constructions. The Giza pyramids were built on this plateau for a reason; this is and was a dynamic and awe-inspiring place. There was a rock formation on this plateau in the shape of a crouching lion! Because that leonine outcropping was shaped into a human headed Sphinx with nemes headdress and beard by the ancient Egyptians, we humans have cognitively transformed this entire space into a humanly constructed one. I would urge caution: this is an earthly plain perceived as magical and empowered, thus chosen by 4th Dynasty kings for their mountains of stone. If we put this into a Chicken and Egg dynamic, the plateau came first; it is the Egg. But the Chickens—those three pyramids— are so overwhelming to our senses that they have somehow transformed our view of the Egg. To really understand the power of this space, and these recent discoveries, I urge us all to imagine a Giza Plateau in the millennia before human claims and transformations.

And then Anya’s internet connection died (!), at which point I strangely and abruptly ended the live feed! Ah well, but we at Ancient/Now have learned a few things about live Substacks and will attempt a few of our own. So be on the lookout.

Thank you Kimber S Prewit, Isabelle Plante, Jim Sanders, Tee Ree, Ama Diya aka Alaya Dannu, and many others for tuning into my live video with Classical Wisdom! Join me for my next live video in the app. :)

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 some wacky stuff. We hope you enjoy diving down some of these rabbit holes yourself!

Show Notes:

Cannibal Hymn & Eating the Gods

* Daily Cult Ritual

* Lacovara - The Meaning and Symbolism of Swimming-Girl Spoons from Egypt

* Mandrakes & Lilies as Aphrodiasiacs

* Swapping Sex for Drugs: Mandrake Mythology and Fertility in Genesis 30

* Kate Bosse-Griffiths, “The Fruit of the Mandrake in Egypt and Israel,” in Amarna Studies and Other Selected Papers (ed. by J. Gwyn Griffiths), pp. 82-96, Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 182 (Fribourg, Switzerland and Göttingen, 2001).

“In love poems and in contexts where rejuvenation is the theme, such as in the festival city of Amenhotep III, we find many images and representations of this beautiful but toxic little fruit.”

* Ducks in Ancient Egypt

* Rozenn Bailleul - LeSeur - Between Heaven and Earth - Birds in Ancient Egypt

“…he [the tomb owner] is also guranteed renewed sexual vigor and thus rebirth, which is implied by the presence of the waterfowl, inhabited in the marshes, the quintessential place for creation and domain of the goddess Hathor” (162).

Keeping the Joy in Egyptology

How do we engage with the “truth” without being killjoys!?

 “The authenticity of the ancient world is always cooler than any made up shit that Hollywood can come up with.”

What ya’ll think!?

Tomb Decoration

* Tomb Decoration and lamps

* Stocks, Denys A. 2020. The materials, tools, and work of carving and painting. In Davies, Vanessa and Dimitri Laboury (eds), The Oxford handbook of Egyptian epigraphy and palaeography, 115-128. New York: Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190604653.013.8.

* Ostraca UC39608

* "Year 29, month 2 of spring, day 9; on this day, distribution of the linen fibre to the crew to make into lamp(wick)s…”

* Textile-pattern ceilings

* Elizabeth Barber - Reconstructing The Ancient Aegean/Egyptian Textile Trade

Fate & Destiny

* Dream Interpretation

* Kasia Szpakowska- Dream of Early Ancient Egypt

* Szpakowska, Kasia 2011. Dream interpretation in the Ramesside age. In Collier, Mark and Steven Snape (eds), Ramesside studies in honour of K. A. Kitchen, 509-517. Bolton: Rutherford.

* ‘King in the Egg’

Divine flesh's holy egg, of noble mien; Come from the womb he wore the crown; Conquered the earth while yet in the egg (THE GREAT SPHINX STELA OF AMENHOTEP II AT GIZA)

* Tale of the Doomed Prince

* Seven Hathors

Then came the Hathors to determine a fate for him. They said,,"He will die through the crocodile, or the snake, or the dog.”

* Westcar Papyrus

* The god Shai

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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 woman, a really angry woman. Re’s problem is nothing short of rebellion against his rule. He’s become old and worn out, and no one is listening to his orders anymore. Time for a clean slate, Re thinks. Let’s annihilate the humans! (I mean, who hasn’t had such thoughts lately, right?) My daughter Hathor can do the deed!

Except, Re second-guesses himself after seeing the carnage. Creator gods always feel bad when they witness the deep-sixing of their creation, after all, thinking well maybe I want these pesky humans around after all. They do give me offerings… They’re not bad all the time… But once unleashed, the goddess will not be calmed, enraged in her thirst for blood. Can Re pull the Eye of Re back in time? What will he do?

The Destruction of Mankind is not a tale exactly, but it’s not a religious text either. The first version was inscribed on one of the gilded wooden shrines surrounding Tutankhamun’s burial ensemble, meaning its creation must predate that time. Some think it finds its origins in the confusing post-Amarna period when people were extra traumatized by Akhenaten’s solar obsessions. Other scholars believe it predates Tutankhamun’s reign and finds its origins in deep questioning about the place of humanity in the world: Why are we here? Do we matter at all?

In this episode Kara and Amber dive deep into the myth of the “Destruction of Mankind,” a confusing blend of religious text and fairy tale. The discussion explores the themes of divine judgment, the power dynamics between masculine and feminine deities, and the emotional versus rational dichotomy within patriarchal systems. The narrative returns to how the sun god Re considers obliterating humanity but then chooses to keep his creation, ultimately using trickery to mitigate the destruction. The brutal lioness version of the goddess must be turned into a soft and pliable version of herself using humanity’s favorite elixir—beer, died red to resemble human blood.

Kara and Amber delve into Ancient Egyptian mythology, the roles of gods and goddesses, and the social and emotional implications this mythology holds for contemporary patriarchal structures. The crux of it all is: if the Eye of Re is an offshoot of her father Re, can her violent power be considered resistance, or is she just a tool?

There’s lots going on here, so check out the links:

Theban Mapping Project: Photo of the Heavenly Cow in the tomb of Seti I (KV 17)

Theban Mapping Project: Line drawing of the Book of the Heavenly Cow I the tomb of Seti I (KV 17) (copy reversed from orientation of the original)

Sources

Guilhou, Nadine. 2010. “Myth of the Heavenly Cow.” In Jacco Dieleman and Willeke Wendrich (eds.), UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology. Los Angeles. http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/viewItem.do?ark=21198/zz002311pm.

Hornung, Erik. 1982. Der Ägyptische Mythos von der Himmelskuh. Eine Ätiologie des Unvollkommenen. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; Auflage.

Lichtheim, Miriam. 2006. Ancient Egyptian Literature: Volume II: The New Kingdom. 2nd ed. University of California Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1ppr00.

Spalinger, Anthony. 2000. “The Destruction of Mankind: A Transitional Literary Text.” Studien Zur Altägyptischen Kultur 28, 257–82. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25152827.

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 featuring invaders like the Hyksos, Libyans, and Nubians. Buckle up for tales of epic reigns, royal intrigue, and the cunning ways rulers took their crowns in a world where the only constant was change.

Show Notes

Too Short of Reign

* Djet → Merneith (as queen regent, at least, and to her son Den, should he live)

* Cooney, When Women Ruled the World— see Chapter 1 on Merneith!

In the end, what was Merneith’s legacy? Do we remember her? Or, more important, did the Egyptians? The answer may be the expected and deflating no. Memory of her would be short-lived, as patriarchy demanded, even if it was her cautious, feminine rule that saved Egypt’s kingship. She does appear on a king list found in the tomb of her son—but just a few reigns later, on inscriptions from the last part of Dynasty 1 from the tomb of Qa’a, one of Den’s successors, there is no longer any mention of Merneith

* Recent discoveries of wine from the tomb of Merneith

* Amenemhat III → Sobekneferu (the last ruler of Dynasty XII)

* Cooney, When Women Ruled the World— see Chapter XX on Sobekneferu!

* Newberry, P. E. 1943. Co-regencies of Ammenemes III, IV and Sebknofru. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 29, 74-75

* Callender, V. G. 1998. Materials for the reign of Sebekneferu. In Eyre, C. J. (ed.), Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Egyptologists, Cambridge, 3-9 September 1995, 227-236. Leuven: Peeters.

* Pignattari, Stefania 2018. Amenemhat IV and the end of the Twelfth Dynasty: between the end and the beginning. BAR International Series 2906. Oxford: BAR Publishing

* Tutankhamun → Smenkhare/Neferneferuaten/Nefertiti

To the historian familiar with Egypt’s patterns of succession, the most compelling thing about Tutankhamun’s youthful kingship is the fact that he had no female regent that we can identify as the decision-maker (Cooney, When Women Ruled the World).

* Dodson, Aidan 2022. Tutankhamun: king of Egypt. His life and afterlife. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press.

* Dodson, Aidan 2009. Amarna sunset: Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, Ay, Horemheb, and the Egyptian counter-reformation. Cairo, New York: American University in Cairo Press.

* Reeves, Nicholas 2019. The decorated north wall in the tomb of Tutankhamun (KV 62) (The burial of Nefertiti? II). Amarna Royal Tombs Project - Valley of the Kings, Occasional Paper 3. [n.p.]: ARTP

* Reeves, Nicholas 2020. The tomb of Tutankhamun (KV 62): supplementary notes (The burial of Nefertiti? III). Graphics and animations by Peter Gremse. Amarna Royal Tombs Project - Valley of the Kings, Occasional Paper 5. [n.p.]: ARTP.

* Reeves, Nicholas 2016. Tutankhamun's mask reconsidered. In Elleithy, Hisham (ed.), Valley of the Kings since Howard Carter: proceedings of the Luxor Symposium November 4, 2009, 117-134. Cairo: Ministry of Antiquities.

* Reeves, Nicholas 2015. Tutankhamun's mask reconsidered. Bulletin of the Egyptological Seminar 19, 511-526.

* Reeves, Nicholas 2015. The tomb of Tutankhamun: a double burial? British Archaeology 145, 36-39.

A Reign too long

* Pepi II—> discord and a series of short-lived rulers

* Kanawati, Naguib. Conspiracies in the Egyptian Palace, Unis to Pepy I (London: Routledge, 2003), 4.170.

* Ramses II—>Merneptah, the 13th son

* Kitchen, Kenneth (1982). Pharaoh Triumphant: The Life and Times of Ramesses II, King of Egypt. London: Aris & Phillips. ISBN 978-0-85668-215-5.

* Brand, Peter J. (2023). Ramesses II, Egypt's Ultimate Pharaoh. Lockwood Press. ISBN 978-1-948488-49-5.

Lack of Heir or a Sudden Change of Heir

* Mentuhotep IV → Amenhotep I

* Callender, Gae (2003). "The Middle Kingdom Renaissance (c. 2055–1650 BC)". In Shaw, Ian (ed.). The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 137–171. ISBN 978-0-19-815034-3.

* Translation of Wadi Hammmat Graffito

* Hatshepsut

But Hatshepsut wasn’t the sole king. And she wasn’t a man. There was a king still living, Thutmose III, who would rule another 30 years after the death of his aunt, making those sons of Nefrure, if they existed, very old—40 or 50 or dead—by the time Thutmose III himself passed on: older and established men who did not need a queen-regent mother to guide them. For Hatshepsut and Nefrure, the timing was actually a catastrophe (Cooney, When Women Ruled the World).

* The Women Who Would be King

* Ay/Horemheb → Ramses

* “The New Kingdom of Egypt under the Ramesside Dynasty,” in: Oxford History of the Ancient Near East, Karen Radner, Nadine Moeller, and D.T. Potts, eds., Oxford: Oxford University Press (2022).

Assassination or Asassination Attempts

* Possibly usurpation by Userkaf (Teti murdered)

* Kanawati, Naguib. Conspiracies in the Egyptian Palace, Unis to Pepy I (London: Routledge, 2003), 4.170.

* The murder of Ramses III

* Turin Judicial Papyrus

Internal Threat/ Usurpation

* Pepi I (lots of damnatio memoriae of Teti/Userkaf officials)

* Mentuhotep IV → Amenemhat I

* Amenmesse/Seti II/ Siptah/ Tausret/ Setnakhte

Tawosret would have no legacy, no children. If she was still of childbearing age when she took the kingship (very likely) and hoped to bear a son, then that plan hadn’t worked. Any sexual- romantic partner of King Tawosret would have been looked upon with great suspicion anyway, and there is no record of such a man. The next king would not be her son. Instead, we see a continuation of the power of that mighty and overly large extended family of Ramses the Great (Cooney, When Women Ruled the World).

* the Third Intermediate Period!

External Threat

* Second Intermediate Period— Hyksos and Nubia

* Third Intermediate Libyan Dynasties

* 25th Dynasty

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 Egypt

* “The Daily Offering Meal in the Ritual of Amenhotep I: An Instance of the Local Adaptation of Cult Liturgy,” co-authored with J. Brett McClain, Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 5, 41-79 (2005).

What are the things the statues hold?!

* Fischer, Henry G. 1975. An elusive shape within the fisted hands of Egyptian statues. Metropolitan Museum Journal 10, 9-21.

Political Turmoil in Ancient Egypt

* Good Kings: Absolute Power in Ancient Egypt and the Modern World

* Conspiracies in ancient Egypt

* Teti “assassination” mentioned in Manetho

* Pepi I Harem issues mentioned in the Autobiography of Weni

* Amenemhat I's “assassination” mentioned in the Tale of Sinuhe and The Instructions of Amenemhat

* Ramses III Harem Conspiracy

In year 30, third month of Inundation, day 7, the god attained his horizon, the King of Upper and Lower Egypt Sehetepebre. He flew to heaven and was united with the sun's disk [i.e. he died]; the flesh of the god was merged in him, who made him. Then was the Residence hushed; hearts were filled with mourning; the Great Portals were closed; the courtiers crouched head on lap; the people grieved.

Now His Majesty had dispatched an army to the land of the Temhi, and his eldest son [Senwosret I] was the captain thereof, the good god Sesostris. Even now he was returning, having carried away captives of the Tehenu and cattle of all kinds beyond number. And the Companions of the Royal Palace sent to the western border to acquaint the king's son with the matters that had come to pass at the Court. And the messengers met him on the road, they reached him at time of night. Not a moment did he wait; the Falcon flew away with his henchmen, not suffering it to be known to his army. Howbeit, message had been sent to the Royal Children who were with him in this army, and one of them had been summoned. And lo, I stood and heard his voice as he was speaking, being a little distance aloof; and my heart became distraught, my arms spread apart, trembling having fallen on all my limbs. Leaping I betook myself thence to seek me a hiding-place, and placed me between two brambles so as to sunder the road from its traveller.

(Excerpt from the Tale of Sinuhe)

Tell us what you think!!

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 such, the sun usually takes on the guise of a masculine ruler. Indeed, solar worship is permeated with elements of kingship—thrones, crowns, scepters, sovereignty. This is masculinity incarnate. Ancient cultures did not feminize the sun; its fiery abilities are associated with masculinized omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence. The ruler, he is always watching; he knows all. He is wealth unparalleled, like pure yellow gold that seems to give off its own light from the depths of the mine.

In ancient Egypt, people created solarism in tandem with the formation of their state, perfecting it as they marched through the millennia. They built straight sided pyramids, their angles personifying solar rays hitting the earth, essentially creating mountains of miraculous sunlight. The obelisk was a monolith of red granite, meant to be a shaft of light hitting the earth in perfect symmetry and purpose, its placement in temples like Heliopolis charging it with the sun god’s intimate presence.

Amenhotep III of the 18th Dynasty transformed himself into Egypt’s “Dazzling Sun,” the epitome of transformative kingship. His son, also named Amenhotep, would change his name to Akhenaten—The One Who Is Effective for the Aten—showing his intimate, and unique, connection to that physical ball of fire in the sky. His new solar theology was one focused on the physicality of the sun—its warmth, its ability to make things grow, its light that allows people to see. For Akhenaten, everything was about this precious light. He built temples with no covering so that the sun’s rays could touch every part. His radical, new theology was about the sun’s creation of everything, everywhere.

In this episode Kara and Amber discuss solarism in ancient Egyptian religion and how it coincided with the rise of divine kingship, solar hymns, the Great Hymn to the Aten, and the theological universalism that emerged in the late New Kingdom from the contemplation of the divine centered on the sun and light. And we contemplate how the sun doesn’t just create things, but also destroys them.

Sources

Suty & Hor stela

Read more about the Great Hymn to the Aten

Great Hymn to the Aten – Original text

Baines, John. 1998. The dawn of the Amarna age. In O'Connor, David B. and Eric H. Cline (eds.), Amenhotep III: perspectives on his reign. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press p. 271–312.

Lichtheim, Miriam. 2006. Ancient Egyptian literature. A book of readings, volume II: The New Kingdom. Berkeley, CA; London: University of California Press.