Carlos Conversations

In 1921, William Arthur Shelton, a professor in Emory's Candler School of Theology, purchased an Old Kingdom mummy from the sacred site of Abydos in Middle Egypt. In storage at the Carlos Museum for over 90 years, its linen in tatters, its head in a separate box, and many bones missing or exposed, the mummy provided an extraordinary challenge for conservators Renee Stein and Mimi Leveque. This video documents their almost year-long treatment of the mummy in close consultation with curator Peter Lacovara, students and faculty at Emory University, doctors at Emory Hospital, and other consultants.

In Sacred Spots, Rebecca Stone, Associate Professor of Art History and Curator of Ancient American Art, and John Polisar, Coordinator of the Jaguar Conservation Program for the Wildlife Conservation Society, discuss the most feared and revered animal of the Americas, and its importance in the shamanic religious traditions of the ancient people of this region.

In September of this year, the Carlos Museum will open the exhibition Life and Death in the Pyramid Age: The Emory Old Kingdom Mummy, which will focus attention on a 4,000 year old mummy that was purchased for Emory in Egypt in 1920 by Professor William A. Shelton of the Candler School of Theology. Earlier this year, two renowned Egyptologists, Janet Richards of the University of Michigan and Salima Ikram of the American University in Cairo, saw the mummy for the first time, before conservators began their restoration work. Hear their first thoughts about the mummy, with Carlos Curator of Egyptian Art Peter Lacovara.

Vishnu in his ultimate form, with all his many avatars represented, is the topic of conversation between Laurie Patton and Joyce Flueckiger, Professors in Emory's Department of Religion.

Laurie Patton and Joyce Flueckiger, professors in Emory’s Department of Religion, discuss an eleventh century sandstone sculpture of Vishnu in his ultimate form.

Host Sandy Goldberg of Antenna Audio holds an intimate conversation with Dr. Gay Robins, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Art History at Emory, in which they explore the imagery on the Museum's Coffin of Tahat scene by scene. As they hear Dr. Robins and view the detailed images on their iPod or computer, listeners will understand the ancient Egyptian conception of the coffin as a microcosm of the universe, with the deceased at the center.

In the second of the two new podcasts, Carlos Curator Peter Lacovara of Egyptian Art, Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at Emory, Shalom Goldman, and Gay Robins, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor in Emory’s Art History Department, explore the radical changes to Egyptian religion and art brought about by the "heretic" pharaoh Akhenaten, the restoration of the traditional religion during the reign of his son, Tutankhamun, and the place that both these kings, despite their rather short reigns, hold in the popular imagination.

John Dunne and Lobsang Negi of the Department of Religion and Chuck Raison of Emory Medical School look at a 14th century Tibetan image of a Buddha in the collection, observing and commenting on its posture of meditation. They discuss the importance of meditation in the practice of Tibetan Buddhism, the role of the art object as a contemplative focus, the effects of meditation in reducing stress and the implications for western medicine.

An ancient Greek drinking cup decorated with an image of a siren generates a conversation between Peter Bing, Associate Professor in the Department of Classics, and the Museum's Curator of Greek and Roman Art Jasper Gaunt. They discuss The Odyssey, where the sirens first appear, noting that Homer never actually describes what the sirens look like, leaving writers, painters, and even filmmakers free to interpret them as they have wished over the last 2000 years. Margaret Atwood ends the pod cast with a reading of her poem Siren Song.

In 2006, the Museum was able to reunite the head and body of an ancient statue of the Greek goddess Aphrodite, which had been separated for many years. Jasper Gaunt, Curator of Greek and Roman Art at the Carlos, Richard Patterson of the Philosophy Department and Carlos Conservator Renee Stein, discuss the fascinating story of the first nude statue of a Greek goddess.