Annual Symposium 2024: Aswan: Source of Wonders
The 48th Annual Symposium will take place in Toronto on November 2nd, 2024.
The Symposium will be both In-Person and Online via Zoom
The south of Egypt is a favourite with many travelers, with its history spanning from Predynastic to the present, and numerous fascinating sites – Philae Temple, the last functioning pagan temple in the ancient world and home to the last hieroglyphic inscription; Elephantine Island’s rich archeological heritage including temples, a Nilometer, a temple to Yahweh; the famous granite quarries; the tombs of Qubbet el-Hawa perched high above the River Nile; and so much more.
Our Speakers:
Jitse Dijkstra’s research focuses on religion in Graeco-Roman and Late Antique Egypt. He has conducted fieldwork in the Aswan region since 2001 and is the author of a monograph on the religious transformation in the region, in particular at the island of Philae, in Late Antiquity and a study of the graffiti in the temple of Isis at Aswan. Jitse is a professor at the University of Ottawa, and a papyrologist.
Gayle Gibson studied Egyptian Language and Literature at the University of Toronto, then taught at the Royal Ontario Museum for twenty-five years; since 2015 she has been a Departmental Associate there. She is a Vice President of the SSEA. Since 1998, she has led many archaeological tours to Egypt, where Aswan has been one of her favourite destinations.
Kate Liszka has directed the Wadi el-Hudi Expedition since 2014 along with Meredith Brand and Bryan Kraemer. Wadi el-Hudi is a geologically rich area in the Eastern Desert connected to Aswan. Liszka is also the Benson and Pamela Harer Fellow in Egyptology and Professor of History at California State University San Bernardino.
Cornelius von Pilgrim has been carrying out annual research excavations in Elephantine since 1986. In 2000, he established a supplementary research programme on the east bank of Aswan, where a permanent monitoring of construction activities was introduced, and systematic salvage excavations have since been carried out in the modern city. He has been director of the Swiss Institute for Architectural and Archaeological Research on Ancient Egypt in Cairo since 2003.
Alejandro Jimenez-Serrano is Professor of Egyptology and Near Eastern Archaeology in the University of Jaén (Spain) and is the director of the Qubbet el-Hawa Project since 2008. He is author of the recent book,
Oren Siegel is an assistant professor (CLTA) at the University of Toronto. He works as a field archaeologist for Maria Gatto's Aswan-Kom Ombo Archaeological Project, and his research focuses on the emergence and development of borders and boundaries in Pharaonic Egypt.