Egyptian Heroes: The Right Stuff in the land of the Pharaohs – Gayle Gibson

Tue, Jan 19, 2021, 7 to 8:30 pm Eastern Standard Time (UTC-5)

Tickets here.

What sort of person did the ancient Egyptians admire? Tonight we’ll meet Imhotep and the Vizier Amenhotep sa Hapu. Heroes of ancient Egypt.

You can tell a lot about someone by knowing who their heroes are. The same is true for cultures. In many cultures, it’s a war hero or a religious figure who shines. What sort of person did the ancient Egyptians admire? Tonight we’ll meet Imhotep, the man who supervised the building of the first pyramid, and who then went down in history as a doctor and sage. Long after his death, he was paired as a wise man with a man who’d lived more than a thousand years after him, the Vizier Amenhotep sa Hapu, who helped King Tut’s grandfather build some of the largest statues and temples of all time. Like Imhotep, he was venerated as a divine being as late as the time of Cleopatra.

Gayle Gibson is a respected Canadian Egyptologist and a departmental associate at the Royal Ontario Museum. She worked for over 20 years as a popular teacher, lecturer and Egypt specialist at the ROM and appears frequently on television as a “guest expert.” Her main area of expertise as an Egyptologist concerns mummies and their coffins. Ms. Gibson was partially responsible for identifying Pharaoh Ramesses I, (Ramesses II’s grandfather!) among the forlorn mummies at the old Niagara museum, and giving him an assist on the road home to Egypt.

Attendees will receive a Zoom link via email the day before and on the morning of the event.