The Enigmatic Treasure of a Nubian Queen
Date and Time
Free Hybrid Lecture Event
Speaker: Denise M. Doxey, Norma Jean Calderwood Curator of Ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Queen Khensa was a Nubian royal and principal wife of King Piankhy, the Kushite ruler (664–653 BCE) who conquered Egypt and established the Twenty-fifth Dynasty. She was buried in a pyramid tomb whose contents were largely plundered in antiquity. Even so, her burial still contained a variety of intriguing objects, from precious-metal vessels and fine jewelry to tools, figurines, and natural history specimens. The function of many of these items remains a mystery. In this talk, Denise Doxey will present what survives of Khensa’s mortuary offerings and discuss new ideas about how these treasures may have functioned in royal Nubian funerary ritual and belief.
Advance registration recommended.
Free parking is available at the 52 Oxford Street Garage starting at 5 pm.
Presented by the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East and the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture.
About the Speaker
Dr. Denise Doxey is the Norma Jean Calderwood Curator of Ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Previously she was Keeper of Collections for the Egyptian Section of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (now the Penn Museum). Doxey holds a MPhil in Classical Archaeology from the University of Oxford and a PhD in Ancient History from the University of Pennsylvania. She has taught at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University. In addition to numerous articles, she is the author or coauthor of five books on the history and art of ancient Egypt and Nubia. She is the president of the Board of Governors of the American Research Center in Egypt.
Ewer with trefoil mouth
743–664 B.C.
Travertine (Egyptian alabaster)
Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition
Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston