Egyptian Middle Kingdom Plain Folks and Princes - Talk #3 Gayle Gibson

The Middle Kingdom - Plain folks and Princes

During Egypt’s Middle Kingdom (about 2100 bce – 1750), warrior kings built pyramids, erected obelisks, inspired or ordered intriguing statues, and built fortresses to enforce their power. The great temples of Karnak and Deir el Bahari saw their first flowering. But more valuable than all the stone and mud-brick, were the words left for us by people of the time. The classics of Egyptian literature, - the Story of Sinuhe, the Shipwrecked Sailor, the Dispute of a Man with his Ba, and many others were studied and enjoyed to the end of Egyptian culture, and have experienced renewed popularity in modern times. Priests and scribes faced the ruins of Old Kingdom pyramids and tried to understand the nature of the Cosmos, and man’s place in it. Surprising people left poems and songs that expressed a less exalted, but entirely recognizable view of human life.

This set of four talks will discuss the great events and great kings, and also to try to uncover the traces of ordinary lives.

Join Gayle Gibson in this series of 4 talks Middle Kingdom - Plain folks and Princes. You can purchase all 4 talks or 1 at a time. You can sign up for all 4 on any of the event pages - if you see a talk showing sold out, please go to the next and buy the tickets.

We will be recording for those in different times zones to catch up or re watch.

Talk #1 - It is as if they had never been - Nov 13, 2024

The Age of the Pyramids ended with a whimper. Climate change bred civil disorder. Men who claimed to be Kings of Upper and Lower Egypt built pyramids the size of bungalows. The Common People had to place their faith in warlords, like Ankhtyfy of Mo’alla. Civil War between Herakleopolis and Thebes ended in victory for the South. Under Nebhepetre Montuhotep, Egypt experienced a new beginning, a new capital at Thebes, and a new national god, Amun-Re. Through it all, scribes kept the memory of these days alive in stories copied until the end of Egyptian civilization.

Talk #2 - Poetry and Propaganda - Nov 27, 2024

The family of Montuhotep gave way to men with roots in the deep South. Did the new Dynasty begin in blood? Perhaps to distract from civil strife, Amenemhet I and his son, Senwosret I, set a pattern for their descendants: aggression and repression toward Nubia, military control of trade and immigration in the North. Temples, pyramids and obelisks were erected to rival the Old Kingdom. Brillant sculptures were produced, but the royal faces no longer projected divine calm and confidence; their expressions are bitter, fierce, and weary . These kings were mortal.

Egypt’s greatest literature took inspiration from these days: the testament of Amenemhet, the Story of Sinuhe, and the enigmatic Dispute of a Man with his Soul.

Talk #3 - The Great Age - Dec 4, 2024

The Pyramids of the Middle Kingdom now look like heaps of sand and piles of brick, but in their own time, and for centuries after, they gleamed in the sun, surrounded by graceful temples filled with elegant relief. Few people visit them today, but their ingenious structures and accompanying pyramid towns are worth examining. The Queens and princesses of the Twelfth Dynasty, buried close by their fathers and husbands, went to the afterlife equipped with some of the finest jewellery ever made. Even more precious than these jewels, a town of pyramid builders at Lahun was preserved, filled with surprising artifacts of daily life.

Talk #4 - Things fall apart - the centre can not hold - Dec 18

The Twelfth Dynasty came to an end around 1800 BCE with the reign of a woman king, Sobekneferu. National unity gradually unravelled during the Thirteenth Dynasty, despite reasonably competent kings. Climate change, the growth of a powerful kingdom in Nubia at Kerma, and population movements in the North all contributed to the disintegration of the realm.

Throughout the centuries of the Middle Kingdom, science, art and literature flourished. Philosopher-priests pondered and offered answers to the great questions of the origin and eventual dissolution of the cosmos. The great Twelfth Dynasty pyramids have crumbled, but the Coffin Texts, poetry and wisdom literature endure.

This is a series of 4 talks on Wednesdays at 7pm ET Nov 13, Nov 27, Dec 4, & Dec 18

You can purchase one talk for $20 or all 4 for $60 - one free if you purchase the 4 pack.

All talks will be on Zoom and will be recorded for those who can not attend the live talk.

Gayle Gibson is a respected Canadian Egyptologist and a Departmental Associate at the Royal Ontario Museum. She worked for over 20 years as a popular teacher, lecturer and Egypt specialist at the ROM, appears frequently on television as a "guest expert" and has lead many groups around Egypt! Her main area of expertise as an Egyptologist concerns mummies and their coffins. Gibson was partially responsible for identifying Pharaoh Ramesses I, (Ramesses II’s grandfather!) among the forlorn mummies at the old Niagara museum, and giving him an assist on the road home to Egypt.