3-Week SASA Reading Group: Tomb robberies in Ancient Egypt: Prevention, persecution, and punishment

Participants will get an insight into an exceptional case within Egyptology, which allows them to draw from both textual and archaeological sources. They will dig (!) into the tomb robbery business during the late New Kingdom and investigate the questions “Who? Where? Why? How?”. Doing so, they will puzzle together the remaining evidence and follow the investigators’ path along the tombs of the kings at Thebes.  This examination will allow us to shed some light on the general functioning of the Theban landscape, the funerary practices at the beginning of the New Kingdom, and the juridical system concerning tomb robberies around the time of the Late New Kingdom (i.e. XXth Dynasty). Through the possibility of discussions and freely shared opinions – any questions are welcome – the participants will receive an Egyptological perspective on this particular time and will be offered a methodological insight into how a historical discipline draws…