The Shabaqo Stone: From Egyptian Myth to Kushite Identity
Date and Time
Free In-Person Lecture
Speaker: Joshua Aaron Roberson, Associate Professor of Art History (Egyptian Language), University of Memphis; Assistant Director, Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology, University of Memphis
The Shabaqo Stone is a monument that preserves some of the most important religious writings to survive from ancient Egypt. It was carved for Shabaqo, a Kushite king who ruled Egypt during the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty (ca. 722–655 BCE). One of its central texts is the so‑called “Memphite Theology,” which portrays the god Ptah as a universal creator who brings the world into being through the powers of thought and speech. In this talk, Joshua Roberson will introduce the Shabaqo Stone’s historical and religious significance, and reveal a behind-the-scenes look at the first-ever digital documentation of this remarkable monument, carried out at the British Museum in 2019. Explore new insights, recent discoveries, and the cutting‑edge technologies that are transforming our understanding of one of Egypt’s most fascinating theological texts.
Free event parking is available with registration. Parking will be available starting at 5pm. Register by September 22 to receive parking registration instructions.
Presented by the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East and the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture.
About the Speaker:
Joshua Aaron Roberson is a tenured associate professor of art history and Egyptian language at the University of Memphis and assistant director of the Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology. He received his PhD in Egyptology from the University of Pennsylvania in 2007, specializing in Egyptian language. Roberson has worked extensively at sites throughout Egypt, including Saqqara and Abydos, with the University of Pennsylvania; Karnak Temple, with the French National Center for Scientific Research; Elephantine Island, with the German Archaeological Institute; as well as the Valley of the Kings and the private necropolis of El-Asasif, while on fellowship with the American Research Center in Egypt. He has conducted museum research at the University of Pennsylvania, the Cairo Museum, and the British Museum. He has published more than fifty scholarly articles and other short works, as well as six monographs and other book-length works. These include The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Earth (2012); The Awakening of Osiris and the Transit of the Solar Barques (2013); Ramesside Inscriptions: Historical and Biographical, vol. IX (2018); A Lexicon of Ancient Egyptian Cryptography of the New Kingdom (2020); Ancient Egypt, New Technology, co-edited with Rita Lucarelli from University of California, Berkeley and Steve Vinson from Indiana University (2023); and most recently, a new Teaching Grammar of Middle Egyptian (2025).