Sculpting Identity: Royal Ideology during the Early 12th Dynasty

This Event will be held on Zoom. A link will be emailed before the event. 

A number of new trends appear in the royal statuary of the 12^th Dynasty, springing from the fusion of Old Kingdom and 11^th Dynasty traits present in the images of its founder, Amenemhet I. This material demonstrates the gradual development of a new portrait of kingship reflective of key changes in the royal ideology of the period. An evaluation of the known corpus of 12^th Dynasty royal sculpture suggests a connection between this new form of visual identity and the development of the practice of coregency. For nearly 50 years, scholars have debated the existence of a series of coregencies spanning Egypt’s 12^th Dynasty. For many, the validity of the concept rests on the proposed period of shared power between Amenemhet I and his son, Senwosret I. This talk will provide an up-to-date analysis of all of the data related to a potential period of co-rule between these kings. In addition, the royal statuary from their reigns offers insight into some of the technical aspects related to coregency during the 12^th Dynasty.