Ian Mathieson Memorial Lecture

Arriving at the site of Hawara in 1888, W.M. Flinders Petrie expected to unearth a cemetery contemporary with the pyramid (and associated temple, the so-called 'Labyrinth') of Amenemhat III of Dynasty 12. Instead, he discovered thousands of mummies of Graeco-Roman date - a proportion of which were decorated with gold leaf and painted portraits. These finds epitomise our obsession with, and expectations of, Egyptian ideals of beauty and wealth. This lecture reviews Petrie's finds and their reception in the context of a new international touring exhibition from Manchester Museum, launching in February 2020.

Dr Campbell Price is Curator of Egypt and Sudan at Manchester Museum.