Francesco Tiradritti, author of numerous publications including entries in the “Treccani Encyclopedia of Ancient Arts” and editor of “Treasures of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo” will lecture on a seven-year excavation of the tomb of Harwa Feb. 21.
The Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology of The University of Memphis is hosting a slide lecture by Tiradritti titled, “Excavating the Tomb of Harwa, A Priest of Amun in Thebes under the Nubian Pharaohs,” at 7 p.m. in the Fogelman Executive Center. The lecture is free and open to the public. There will be a reception prior to the lecture at 6 p.m.
“It is a special honor to host the visit to Memphis of one of the field’s most significant contributor’s to this understanding,” said Lorelei H. Corcoran, director of the Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology.
Corcoran invited Tiradritti to visit The U of M after visiting the Tomb of Harwa last summer.
“Visiting the tomb in person was spectacular,” Corcoran said. “It is one of the largest tombs on the West Bank.”
Egyptian art students will have the opportunity to speak informally with Tiradritti at The University as well.
This will give students the opportunity to speak with and question a real archaeologist, Corcoran said.
Peter Brand, associate professor of history and director of the Karnak Hypostyle Hall Project, said he thinks students will get a better understanding of the reign of Nubian Pharaohs in Egypt.
Harwa was a priest of Amun and virtual ruler of Upper Egypt during the time of the 25th Dynasty Nubian rulers. Tiradritti and his team discovered relief carvings and ancient funerary texts that shed new light on the themes of life, death and eternal birth.
The Tomb of Harwa and other findings have shown the complex nature of Nubian rule and the relationship to Egyptian culture, said Patricia Podzorski, curator of Egyptian Art and Archaeology at The University.
Tiradritti, director of the Archaeological Mission of the Milan Museum in Egypt, has been in charge of the excavation of the tomb of Harwa in Luxor, Egypt since 1996.
He is also a consultant Egyptologist to the Civic Archaeological Collections of Milan and a member of the Italian mission in Cairo for the construction of the new Egyptian Museum at the Giza Plateau.
Tiradritti holds degrees from La Sapienza University in Rome and the Sorbonne University in Paris and has been curator of many exhibitions.
He will also visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
