Lectures
The sun temple of Heliopolis. Egyptian-German Excavations 117 years after Ernesto Schiaparelli – Dietrich Raue
The sun temple of Heliopolis. Egyptian-German Excavations 117 years after Ernesto Schiaparelli - Dietrich Raue
info@museitorino.it
011 44 06 903
From Monday to Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
On Tuesday 28th February 2023, at 6 pm, in collaboration with ACME (Amici e Collaboratori del Museo Egizio) we will host a lecture held by Dietrich Raue.
Heliopolis is an icon of ancient Egyptian religion and culture. The cult of Heliopolis explains the political order of Egypt through the myth of creation. Few other places worldwide have a continuous tradition of worship sponsored by rulers for a period of no less than 2,400 years. Its reputation as a source of the wisdom of Ancient Egypt supposedly brought the progenitors of European science and philosophy (e.g. Platon) to this temple and its library. In modern times the urban site of the temenos was widely considered to be devoid of monuments. The first systematic excavations undertaken by the Egyptian-German Mission (2012-2021) revealed, however, the first evidence the paleo-landscape and topography of the site through time, as well as important individual monuments and features of the 4th–1st millennium BCE. The project addresses the architecture and epigraphy of the temenos in its latest phase, representing the last period when it had international fame. The upper layers of the 4th century BCE can still be documented by geophysical survey and excavations almost everywhere at the site. Especially the coexistence of structures and monuments of various periods is still not well understood. The project will furthermore re-contextualize the considerable number of Heliopolitan monuments that were shipped from Alexandria to Rome and other locations in order to generate a more precise idea about the visual nature of the Heliopolitan sanctuary in Egypt. A second component of the proposed project investigates the reasons for the historical neglect of Heliopolis. The temple suddenly lost its royal patronage in the late 4th century BC resulting in the reuse and movement of objects during the Greco-Roman Period, while Heliopolis continued to live in the textual culture. Thus, Heliopolis was the only major sanctuary in Egypt to be disassembled during the Roman Period, when most other sanctuaries in the country remained active.
Introduction: Christian Greco, director of Museo Egizio.
The event will be held in English, free admission to the conference room subject to availability.
The lecture will be broadcast via streaming on the Museum's Facebook page and Youtube channel
Dietrich Raue studied Egyptology, Near Eastern Archaeology and Classical Archaeology at the universities in Heidelberg and Berlin. In 1996 he had his Ph.D. from University of Heidelberg (dissertation: Heliopolis und das Haus des Re. Eine Prosopographie und ein Toponym im Alten Reich). From 1987 to 2017 he participated in excavations at Elephantine, Dra Abu el-Naga, Theben Tomb 95, Hierakonpolis, Dahschur, Saqqara, Giza, Heliopolis/Matariya.
- 1996-1999 research project: Pottery of the Old Kingdom.
- 2000-2010 scientific member of the Cairo branch of the German Archaeological Institute; 2007-2010 director of the German-Swiss excavations at Elephantine, Egypt.
- Since 2012: co-director of Egyptian-German excavations in Heliopolis/Matariya
- 2010-2022: keeper of the Egyptian Museum –Georg Steindorff– of Leipzig University, Germany.
- 2015 Habilitation at the University of Leipzig. Thesis: Elephantine und Nubien vom 4. – 2. Jt. v. Chr.
- since 2022: Honorary Professor of Eyptology at Leipzig University
- since October 2022: First director of the German Archaeological Institute – Cairo Branch
Research topics: Nubia; history and archaeology of Heliopolis; settlement archaeology of the 3rd millennium BC; tomb architecture in the 4th Dynasty; pottery of the Old Kingdom; prosopography of the New Kingdom; resources of Egypt in the Ethiopian highlands; history of Egyptology.
Heliopolis is an icon of ancient Egyptian religion and culture. The cult of Heliopolis explains the political order of Egypt through the myth of creation. Few other places worldwide have a continuous tradition of worship sponsored by rulers for a period of no less than 2,400 years. Its reputation as a source of the wisdom of Ancient Egypt supposedly brought the progenitors of European science and philosophy (e.g. Platon) to this temple and its library. In modern times the urban site of the temenos was widely considered to be devoid of monuments. The first systematic excavations undertaken by the Egyptian-German Mission (2012-2021) revealed, however, the first evidence the paleo-landscape and topography of the site through time, as well as important individual monuments and features of the 4th–1st millennium BCE. The project addresses the architecture and epigraphy of the temenos in its latest phase, representing the last period when it had international fame. The upper layers of the 4th century BCE can still be documented by geophysical survey and excavations almost everywhere at the site. Especially the coexistence of structures and monuments of various periods is still not well understood. The project will furthermore re-contextualize the considerable number of Heliopolitan monuments that were shipped from Alexandria to Rome and other locations in order to generate a more precise idea about the visual nature of the Heliopolitan sanctuary in Egypt. A second component of the proposed project investigates the reasons for the historical neglect of Heliopolis. The temple suddenly lost its royal patronage in the late 4th century BC resulting in the reuse and movement of objects during the Greco-Roman Period, while Heliopolis continued to live in the textual culture. Thus, Heliopolis was the only major sanctuary in Egypt to be disassembled during the Roman Period, when most other sanctuaries in the country remained active.
Introduction: Christian Greco, director of Museo Egizio.
The event will be held in English, free admission to the conference room subject to availability.
The lecture will be broadcast via streaming on the Museum's Facebook page and Youtube channel
Dietrich Raue studied Egyptology, Near Eastern Archaeology and Classical Archaeology at the universities in Heidelberg and Berlin. In 1996 he had his Ph.D. from University of Heidelberg (dissertation: Heliopolis und das Haus des Re. Eine Prosopographie und ein Toponym im Alten Reich). From 1987 to 2017 he participated in excavations at Elephantine, Dra Abu el-Naga, Theben Tomb 95, Hierakonpolis, Dahschur, Saqqara, Giza, Heliopolis/Matariya.
- 1996-1999 research project: Pottery of the Old Kingdom.
- 2000-2010 scientific member of the Cairo branch of the German Archaeological Institute; 2007-2010 director of the German-Swiss excavations at Elephantine, Egypt.
- Since 2012: co-director of Egyptian-German excavations in Heliopolis/Matariya
- 2010-2022: keeper of the Egyptian Museum –Georg Steindorff– of Leipzig University, Germany.
- 2015 Habilitation at the University of Leipzig. Thesis: Elephantine und Nubien vom 4. – 2. Jt. v. Chr.
- since 2022: Honorary Professor of Eyptology at Leipzig University
- since October 2022: First director of the German Archaeological Institute – Cairo Branch
Research topics: Nubia; history and archaeology of Heliopolis; settlement archaeology of the 3rd millennium BC; tomb architecture in the 4th Dynasty; pottery of the Old Kingdom; prosopography of the New Kingdom; resources of Egypt in the Ethiopian highlands; history of Egyptology.
The sun temple of Heliopolis. Egyptian-German Excavations 117 years after Ernesto Schiaparelli - Dietrich Raue
info@museitorino.it
011 44 06 903
From Monday to Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
