ARCE-DC: Thebes from Amenhotep III to Tutankhamun: Altered, Abandoned, Mutilated, and Rejuvenated

Lecture Information

The fifty years between the reign of Amenhotep III and that of Tutankhamun (ca. 1375-1325 B.C.) transformed Thebes, the home of national god Amun-Re, several times.

This talk will provide an overview of those changes and attempt to provide new insights into their political, religious and cultural backgrounds.

From Amenhotep III’s development of a newly conceived Thebes of Amun, to the origins and rise of Amenhotep IV’s Aten god, to the proscription of Amun and his divine family during Akhenaten’s reign, and then the return of Amun’s cult and the king’s patronage under the post-Amarna kings through the reign of Tutankhamun, the ways in which Thebes itself was a material display of deeply changing religious beliefs and power bases will be illustrated and discussed

Speaker Bio

Dr. Betsy M. Bryan is the Alexander Badawy Professor Emerita of Egyptian Art and Archaeology at Johns Hopkins University, where she taught from 1986 to 2022. Dr. Bryan specializes in the history, art, and archaeology of the New Kingdom in Egypt, ca. 1600-1000 B.C., with a particular emphasis on the 18th Dynasty, ca. 1550-1300 B.C. Her research interests include the organization and techniques of art production as well as the religious and cultural significance of tomb and temple decoration.

About ARCE-DC:

ARCE DC is one of a dozen local chapters around the US and Canada that belong to the American Research Center in Egypt.

Its mission, like that of ARCE itself, is to support research on all aspects of Egyptian history and culture, foster a broader knowledge about Egypt, and strengthen American-Egyptian cultural ties.

Our chapter offers its own lectures, and sends email alerts to our members about Egyptology news and lectures online from around the world.