Date: May 1, 2010, 5:00pm

Chapter: Illinois

Speaker: Virginia L. Emery, Doctoral Candidate in Egyptology, Dept of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago

Location: The Oriental Institute, LaSalle Bank Room

Description: The study of Egyptian architecture traditionally has focused on temples and tombs as massively constructed stone edifices, passing over a consideration of a third category of monumental architecture: palaces.  Although temples and tombs have been well studied, both architecturally and functionally, palaces have received less attention in the archaeological world, leaving questions of identification and interpretation yet unanswered.  However, the initial investigation and comparison of ancient Egyptian palaces indicates that many of these questions of identification and interpretation can be answered by appealing both to textual sources and to exemplars provided by non-royal architectural styles.  This talk will highlight some of the most crucial issues involved in identifying ancient Egyptian palaces and some of the most intriguing questions of interpretation.