Decoding Egypt’s Past – Die nächsten 4000 Jahre Elephantine-Papyri

In the organizer's words:

Speaker: Sandro Schwarz and Prof. Dr. Verena Lepper

Lecture on the exhibition:

The Nile Island Elephantine comes to life with the special exhibition on the Museum Island, presented in the James-Simon-Galerie and the Neues Museum. In this first comprehensive exhibition worldwide, outstanding Berlin objects are shown together with selected top international pieces. The diverse contents of the texts are contextualized by archaeological finds and interpreted in a contemporary way.

Elephantine is an island on the Nile in southern Egypt. This trading and border center was home to a uniquely diverse population. Different languages, cultures and religions came together here. It is the only place in the world where cultural history can be "read" through written sources over a period of 4,000 years. Thousands of texts are written on papyrus or clay fragments in ten different languages and scripts, including hieroglyphics, Aramaic, Coptic and Arabic. They are now held in 60 collections in 24 countries and have been deciphered, translated and digitally indexed in Berlin as part of a major European research project.

Berlin is home to one of the world's largest collections of Elephantine alongside the Musée du Louvre and the Brooklyn Museum, both partners in the exhibition. The texts report on plurality, family, religion, trade, law and medicine.

Free participation.
No registration required.

Meeting point: in front of the auditorium of the James-Simon-Galerie