- Ancient History, Ancient Greek Language and Literature, Egyptology, Ancient Greek tragedy, Narratology and ancient drama, Reperformances of ancient drama, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Ancient Egyptian Religion, and 9 moreTheatre Studies, Theatre History, Classics and Ancient History: society, history and religion of the ancient Greeks, Ancient Egyptian language, Anthropology of Performance, Hellenistic History, Postcolonial Studies, Museology, and Historiography of Theatreedit
- I am a recent graduate of the PhD Program in Theatre and Performance Studies (History/Theory) at the School of Theatr... moreI am a recent graduate of the PhD Program in Theatre and Performance Studies (History/Theory) at the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies, and the Museum Scholarship and Material Culture Certificate Program in the Department of American Studies, at the University of Maryland, College Park. My research focus is early theatre history with a specialization in classical Greek and ancient Egyptian drama and performance.edit
Research Interests:
For 2,300 years one name has pervaded all discourse on theatre history, theory, and practice in the Western world: Aristotle. Theatre scholars have agreed and disagreed over his "Poetics," and nonetheless touted the work as an appropriate... more
For 2,300 years one name has pervaded all discourse on theatre history, theory, and practice in the Western world: Aristotle. Theatre scholars have agreed and disagreed over his "Poetics," and nonetheless touted the work as an appropriate gauge for evaluating theatre. Meanwhile, Egyptologists, classicists, and theatre historians alike have argued for and against the theatrical merits of ancient Egyptian drama: was it theatre, ritual, or both? Aristotle used Greek tragedy as his benchmark for the literary and artistic qualifications that make up "The Poetics." What if his theory were used to evaluate an important ritual drama from ancient Egypt? Those in favor of an ancient Egyptian theatrical tradition might regard "The Triumph of Horus" as the oldest play in existence. The text itself, etched into the outer enclosure walls of the Temple of Horus at Edfu in the south of Egypt, dates to approximately 107-80 BCE. However, this play represents characters, dialogue, and a sequence of events that date much earlier. Dramatic reenactments of the mythical battle between the forces of Horus and the forces of Seth took place annually in Egypt, starting as early as the second millennium BCE. This article evaluates "The Triumph of Horus" and its dramatic forerunners using Aristotle’s theatrical theory in "The Poetics," with the intention of shedding new light on the nature of theatre in ancient Egypt during and prior to the Hellenistic period. Furthermore, the author suggests alternative approaches to identifying and evaluating theatre beyond the Western sphere.
Research Interests:
Archaeological evidence for the content, context, and intention behind ancient Egyptian dramatic texts is extremely limited. In rare instances, performance iconography can provide clues. On the walls of the Temple of Horus at Edfu,... more
Archaeological evidence for the content, context, and intention behind ancient Egyptian dramatic texts is extremely limited. In rare instances, performance iconography can provide clues. On the walls of the Temple of Horus at Edfu, illustrations of dramatic scenes appear in relief alongside the text of what translator H. W. Fairman entitled "The Triumph of Horus." Dating to approximately the second century BCE, the Edfu text represents a dramatic reenactment of the legendary battle between the gods Horus and Seth for the Egyptian throne, a tradition attested on royal documents more than fifteen hundred years earlier. For this reason, Fairman and others have dubbed "The Triumph of Horus" the oldest play in the world. In 2019, theatre students at an American university performed a new staging of "The Triumph of Horus" as well as another dramatic text, "The Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys," as translated by R. O. Faulkner and edited by Miriam Lichtheim. The intention was to determine if embodied practice could reveal new ways of understanding and transmitting knowledge about ancient Egyptian dramatic performance. This article will discuss the development, rehearsal process, and outcome of this production, incorporating research methodology from the field of performance studies.
Research Interests: Ancient Egyptian Religion, Egyptology, Theatre History, Performance As Research, Theatre, and 10 moreAncient Egyptian Iconography, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Ptolemaic Egypt, Ancient Egypt, Theatre Arts, Theatre Historiography, Drama, Performance, History of Theatre, Ancient Studies, Ancient Egyptian Drama, and Iconography of Performance
In this dissertation, the author advocates for an interdisciplinary approach to the study of dramatic texts and theatrical performances in ancient Egypt. Two primary lines of inquiry run through this study. The first is an in-depth... more
In this dissertation, the author advocates for an interdisciplinary approach to the study of dramatic texts and theatrical performances in ancient Egypt. Two primary lines of inquiry run through this study. The first is an in-depth historiography of ancient Egyptian drama and performance in the American discipline of theatre history over the last one hundred years, to better understand the positioning (or lack thereof) of ancient Egypt in American narratives of early theatre history. An important aspect of this historiographical approach is the observation of missed connections between twentieth century Egyptological advances in the discovery and interpretation of dramatic texts, and contemporary conversations in the field of theatre history about the role of ancient Egypt in the formation of the art form. The second line of inquiry follows a Performance as Research (PAR) approach, to evaluate theatrical practice as a useful tool in further interpreting dramatic texts and understanding theatrical performances in ancient Egypt. The goal of this study overall is to encourage collaboration between theatre practitioners, theatre historians, and Egyptologists for a more holistic understanding of the ancient Egyptian theatrical tradition, and to raise awareness of the potential for modern performance of ancient Egyptian dramatic texts.
Research Interests:
Upholding Classical Greek drama as the benchmark for ancient theater, scholars have historically disregarded the notion of a native Egyptian dramatic tradition, due to the religious and ritualistic nature of the limited evidence... more
Upholding Classical Greek drama as the benchmark for ancient theater, scholars have historically disregarded the notion of a native Egyptian dramatic tradition, due to the religious and ritualistic nature of the limited evidence available. Yet Greek tragedy began as a featured competition of the Great Dionysia, the most important festival of the god Dionysus in Athens. Traced to the sixth century BCE, the festival’s religious roots and the dramatic rituals surrounding it reflect those found in Egypt more than one thousand years earlier, in celebration of the Osirian Khoiak Festival at Abydos. The known Egyptian dramatic texts—those texts which exhibit classic Western features of dramatic literature such as dialogue and stage directions—all, in some way, honor Osiris. We can infer from this that the ancient Egyptian concept of dramatic performance was strongly associated with his cult, just as the Greeks associated theater with Dionysiac worship. Herodotus first observed the link between these two gods in the mid-fifth century BCE—a connection the Ptolemies promoted heavily during their reign, essentially presenting Dionysus and Osiris as Greek and Egyptian counterparts of the same deity. This paper examines the Osirian mysteries and related dramas celebrated during the Khoiak Festival, and illustrates their significance in the development of an ancient Egyptian dramatic tradition that pre-dates the advent of theater in ancient Greece.
Research Interests: Ancient Egyptian Religion, Theatre History, Performance Studies, Ancient Greek Religion, Ancient myth and religion, and 13 moreDionysus, Ancient Greek Tragedy Performance History, Ancient Theater, Osiris, Ancient Egyptian cults in Greek and Roman World, Greek and Egyptian cultural contacts, Classical Greek Drama, Bacchic Mysteries, Festival of Dionysus, Ancient Egyptian Drama, Osirian Mysteries, Khoiak Festival, and Origins of Theatre
The ancient Greeks are universally regarded as the founders of theater in the Western world. They were not only masterful playwrights, they documented their performances: when and where they took place, who attended, and how they were... more
The ancient Greeks are universally regarded as the founders of theater in the Western world. They were not only masterful playwrights, they documented their performances: when and where they took place, who attended, and how they were received. We do not have circumstantial evidence like this to corroborate dramatic performances in ancient Egypt, with the possible exception of some which took place in Greek-dominated cities during the Ptolemaic period (305-30 BCE). This has given rise to speculation that theater in ancient Egypt materialized only with the arrival and influence of Hellenic culture. Egyptologists have historically disregarded the notion of a native Egyptian dramatic tradition, because there is simply no way to prove the occurrence of public performances in Egypt outside of the religious sphere. Many scholars have pointed out that any records we have of dramatic material prior to the Hellenistic period are scant and invariably come from a ritualistic context. But are the terms “theater” and “ritual” mutually exclusive? Classical Greek drama widely stands as the benchmark for ancient theater, yet it originated as a featured competition of the Great Dionysia, the largest festival of the god Dionysus in Athens. The religious roots of the Dionysia and the dramatic rituals surrounding it actually reflect those found in Egypt more than one thousand years earlier, in celebration of the mysteries of Osiris at Abydos—also known as the Khoiak Festival.
The known Egyptian dramatic texts—those texts which exhibit classic Western features of dramatic literature such as dialogue and stage directions—all, in some way, honor the god Osiris. We can perhaps infer from this that the ancient Egyptian concept of dramatic performance was strongly associated with his cult, just as the Greeks associated theater with Dionysiac worship. In their respective cultures, both gods represented kingship, agriculture and the harvest, human fertility, death and resurrection. Both cults heavily featured dramatic elements in their worship as well. Many of the Egyptian dramatic texts as well as royal and private funerary stelae point to the Osirian Khoiak Festival as an important focus for public performance-related activities in Egypt, as far back as the mid-second millennium BCE. This paper will argue for a firm dramatic tradition in ancient Egypt that can be traced to the Pharaonic era—pre-dating the advent of theater in ancient Greece—based on ritual and religious experience. It will demonstrate how this tradition was uniquely Egyptian, and no less worthy of being regarded as ancient theater for its religious context than that of the Greeks.
The known Egyptian dramatic texts—those texts which exhibit classic Western features of dramatic literature such as dialogue and stage directions—all, in some way, honor the god Osiris. We can perhaps infer from this that the ancient Egyptian concept of dramatic performance was strongly associated with his cult, just as the Greeks associated theater with Dionysiac worship. In their respective cultures, both gods represented kingship, agriculture and the harvest, human fertility, death and resurrection. Both cults heavily featured dramatic elements in their worship as well. Many of the Egyptian dramatic texts as well as royal and private funerary stelae point to the Osirian Khoiak Festival as an important focus for public performance-related activities in Egypt, as far back as the mid-second millennium BCE. This paper will argue for a firm dramatic tradition in ancient Egypt that can be traced to the Pharaonic era—pre-dating the advent of theater in ancient Greece—based on ritual and religious experience. It will demonstrate how this tradition was uniquely Egyptian, and no less worthy of being regarded as ancient theater for its religious context than that of the Greeks.
Research Interests: Ancient Egyptian Religion, Ancient History, Anthropology of Performance, Mysteries (Greek Religion), Ancient Greek History, and 17 moreAncient Egyptian History, Dionysus, Ancient Greek tragedy, Narratology and ancient drama, Reperformances of ancient drama, Ancient Greek Tragedy Performance History, Ancient Greek Drama, Osiris, Ancient Egyptian cults in Greek and Roman World, Egytptology, Afroasiatic Linguistics, Ancient Near East Literature and History, Greek and Egyptian cultural contacts, Osirian rituals, Ancient Performance, Origin of Dionysus Cult, Festival of Dionysus, Ancient Egyptian Drama, Osirian Mysteries, Khoiak Festival, and The Great Dionysia
For 2,300 years one name has pervaded all discourse on theatre history, theory, and practice in the Western world: Aristotle. Theatre scholars have agreed and disagreed over his "Poetics" and nonetheless touted the work as an appropriate... more
For 2,300 years one name has pervaded all discourse on theatre history, theory, and practice in the Western world: Aristotle. Theatre scholars have agreed and disagreed over his "Poetics" and nonetheless touted the work as an appropriate gauge for evaluating theatre. Meanwhile, Egyptologists, classicists, and theatre historians alike have argued both for and against the theatrical merits of ancient Egyptian drama—was it theatre, ritual, or both? The winning argument has often been in favor of dramatic ritual, with little or no connection to Greek drama and the foundation of modern theatre as we know it. Aristotle used Greek tragedy as his benchmark for the literary and artistic qualifications that make up "The Poetics." What if his theories were used to evaluate an important ritual drama from ancient Egypt? According to Aristotle (as translated by Gerald Else), “the construction of the finest tragedy should be not simple but complex, and at the same time imitative of fearful and pitiable happenings” (Poet. 1452b31-33). This paper will demonstrate that the ancient Egyptian sacred drama "The Triumph of Horus" matches Aristotle’s qualifications for “the finest” tragedy. Those in favor of an ancient Egyptian theatrical tradition might regard "The Triumph of Horus" as the oldest play in existence. The text itself, etched into the outer enclosure walls of the Temple of Horus in Edfu, dates to approximately 107-80 BCE, during the late Ptolemaic period. However, this play represents characters, dialogue, and a sequence of events that date much earlier. Dramatic reenactments of the mythical battle between the forces of Horus and the forces of Seth took place annually in Egypt, starting as early as the second millennium BCE. This paper will reexamine "The Triumph of Horus" (as translated and published by Egyptologist H. W. Fairman) and its dramatic forerunners using Aristotle’s theatrical theory in "The Poetics" with the intention of shedding new light on the nature of theatre in ancient Egypt. Furthermore, the author will suggest alternative approaches to identifying and evaluating theatre from beyond the Western sphere.
Research Interests:
The words "I am a king, great of strength, effective of utterance" appeared on the Stela of Neferhotep I, a 13th dynasty royal record of dramatic activity during the Osirian Khoiak Festival at Abydos. The stela documented the pharaoh’s... more
The words "I am a king, great of strength, effective of utterance" appeared on the Stela of Neferhotep I, a 13th dynasty royal record of dramatic activity during the Osirian Khoiak Festival at Abydos. The stela documented the pharaoh’s direct participation in the ritual renewal of the cult statue of Osiris by taking on the role of Horus, Osiris’ son and rightful heir. The phrase "effective of utterance" (translated into English from the Middle Egyptian by William Kelly Simpson) speaks to the performative context of the ritual reenactments that took place in celebration of the festival. It implies the need for physical volume of voice and clarity of speech, but also potency of the words spoken—the ability to wholly effect a spiritual transformation in honor of Osiris, god of the dead. This paper explores the concept of “effective utterance” in ancient Egyptian ritual performance, using as its case study a text related to the cult of Osiris called “The Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys,” as translated by Raymond O. Faulkner and Miriam Lichtheim from Papyrus Berlin 3008. The paper discusses the staging of this dramatic piece in a live theatrical performance at the University of Maryland School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies, and assesses the value of performance as research (PAR) in the study of ancient Egyptian oral culture and ritual performative practice.
Research Interests:
In December 2019, theatre students at the University of Maryland performed a new staging of The Triumph of Horus, an ancient Egyptian ritual drama translated into English by Herbert Walter Fairman. Once hailed by Educational Theatre... more
In December 2019, theatre students at the University of Maryland performed a new staging of The Triumph of Horus, an ancient Egyptian ritual drama translated into English by Herbert Walter Fairman. Once hailed by Educational Theatre Journal as “the oldest play in the world,” The Triumph of Horus follows the falcon god Horus, son of Isis and Osiris, as he goes forth to battle his uncle Seth, god of chaos, for the Egyptian throne that is rightfully his. The original text, inscribed on the walls of the Temple of Horus at Edfu, dates to the Ptolemaic period in Egyptian history. This fact has prompted many scholars to attribute its theatrical qualities to the Greek influence so prevalent at the time. But the annual reenactment of the mythical battle between Horus and Seth is attested in earlier documents such as the Stela of Ikhernofret, dating to the twentieth century BCE. Unfortunately, surviving material evidence that might provide more definitive information about these early Egyptian performances is extremely limited. The Temple of Horus, however, offers something else. Illustrations of dramatic scenes appear in relief alongside the hieroglyphic inscriptions of the text, providing rare iconographic evidence that could be used in a practice-as-research setting. Our UMD production used Fairman’s text and the Edfu images as a roadmap to recreate an ancient performance of The Triumph of Horus. This presentation, which incorporated live performances in the Mabel K. Whiteside Greek Theatre at Randolph College, shared some of the methods that were used to stage the central battle sequence in the play.
Due to the ephemeral nature of performance, material evidence for the content, context, and intention behind ancient Egyptian dramatic texts is extremely limited. What remains are the texts themselves (often in pieces) and iconographic... more
Due to the ephemeral nature of performance, material evidence for the content, context, and intention behind ancient Egyptian dramatic texts is extremely limited. What remains are the texts themselves (often in pieces) and iconographic evidence such as that found on the walls of the Temple of Horus at Edfu. There, illustrations of dramatic scenes appear in relief alongside the text of what translator H. W. Fairman entitled “The Triumph of Horus: An Ancient Egyptian Sacred Drama.” Inscribed sometime during the second century BCE, the Edfu text refers to a dramatic reenactment of the battle between Horus and Seth for the Egyptian throne, a performance tradition attested more than fifteen hundred years earlier on the stelae of Ikhernofret and the pharaoh Neferhotep I. For this reason, Fairman and others have referred to “The Triumph of Horus” as the oldest play in the world, suggesting its potential as a significant contribution to the early theatre history canon. In December of 2019, theatre students at the University of Maryland performed a staging of “The Triumph of Horus” as well as another important dramatic text from the Late Period, “The Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys,” as translated by R. O. Faulkner. The intention of this production was to determine if embodied practice could reveal new ways of understanding and transmitting knowledge about ancient Egyptian dramatic performance. This paper will discuss the development, rehearsal process, and outcome of this unique production, incorporating research methodology from the fields of theatre historiography and performance studies.
Research Interests:
Iconographic evidence of performances in medieval Europe is scarce compared with that of the Renaissance. Rarer still is evidence that demonstrates stylistic crossover between the two periods. Denys Van Alsloot’s "Triumph of the... more
Iconographic evidence of performances in medieval Europe is scarce compared with that of the Renaissance. Rarer still is evidence that demonstrates stylistic crossover between the two periods. Denys Van Alsloot’s "Triumph of the Archduchess Isabella" offers both. One of eight paintings that visually record the celebrated Ommegang in Brussels on May 31, 1615, this vibrant piece provides a window into a key moment of transition in theatre history. Historians have only just begun to tap the potential for interdisciplinary scholarship that resides in the "Triumph" and the entire "Ommegang" series. This discussion will highlight the work’s historical significance and its value as a pedagogical tool in the theatre history classroom.
Research Interests:
When Kurt Sethe identified the phrase “speaking words” as dialogue on the Shabaka Stone in 1928, he incited a lively debate that continues to this day over the dramatic potential in certain ancient Egyptian texts. The question of whether... more
When Kurt Sethe identified the phrase “speaking words” as dialogue on the Shabaka Stone in 1928, he incited a lively debate that continues to this day over the dramatic potential in certain ancient Egyptian texts. The question of whether these texts and other artifacts provide evidence for theatre in ancient Egypt lingers in Egyptological and theatre-historical circles. Theatre scholars reserve a special place for ancient Egypt in the introductory chapters of their history textbooks, attributing ritual origins of theatre to the “Abydos Passion Play.” Egyptologists would recognize this “play” as the dramatic ritual reenactments that took place at Abydos in celebration of the Osirian Khoiak Festival. But while the words “ritual” and “origins” regularly apply to Egypt in both contexts, the definitive “theatre” remains elusive. This paper will interrogate why the scholarly bias against a theatrical tradition in ancient Egypt continues to prevail. It is clear that one reason is the colonial nature of the field of Egyptology. The modern discipline began with Napolean’s conquest of Egypt in the early nineteenth century. Since then French, German, British, and American scholars have all dominated the field at one time or another. Their methods of inquiry are deeply rooted in a logocentric, positivist tradition that analyzes an ancient North African culture through a decidedly European cultural lens. The goal of this paper is to examine the Egyptological historiography of drama and performance along with the historiography of ancient Egypt in theatre history, and to identify new interdisciplinary methods of inquiry.
Research Interests:
When Kurt Sethe identified the phrase “speaking words” as dialogue on the Shabaka Stone in 1928, he incited a lively debate that continues to this day over the dramatic potential in certain ancient Egyptian texts. The question of whether... more
When Kurt Sethe identified the phrase “speaking words” as dialogue on the Shabaka Stone in 1928, he incited a lively debate that continues to this day over the dramatic potential in certain ancient Egyptian texts. The question of whether these texts and other artifacts provide evidence for theatre in ancient Egypt lingers in Egyptological and theatre-historical circles. Theatre scholars reserve a special place for ancient Egypt in the introductory chapters of their history textbooks, attributing ritual origins of theatre to the “Abydos Passion Play.” Egyptologists would recognize this “play” as the dramatic ritual reenactments that took place at Abydos in celebration of the Osirian Khoiak Festival. But while the words “ritual” and “origins” regularly apply to Egypt in both contexts, the definitive “theatre” remains elusive. This paper will interrogate why the scholarly bias against a theatrical tradition in ancient Egypt continues to prevail. It is clear that one reason is the colonial nature of the field of Egyptology. The modern discipline began with Napolean’s conquest of Egypt in the early nineteenth century. Since then French, German, British, and American scholars have all dominated the field at one time or another. Their methods of inquiry are deeply rooted in a logocentric, positivist tradition that analyzes an ancient North African culture through a decidedly European cultural lens. The goal of this paper is to examine the Egyptological historiography of drama and performance along with the historiography of ancient Egypt in theatre history, and to identify new interdisciplinary methods of inquiry.
Research Interests:
For 2300 years one name has pervaded all discourse on theatre history, theory, and practice in the Western world: Aristotle. Theatre scholars have agreed and disagreed over his Poetics, but have nevertheless touted the work as an... more
For 2300 years one name has pervaded all discourse on theatre history, theory, and practice in the Western world: Aristotle. Theatre scholars have agreed and disagreed over his Poetics, but have nevertheless touted the work as an appropriate gauge for evaluating theatre. Meanwhile, Egyptologists, classicists, and theatre historians alike have argued for and against the theatrical merits of ancient Egyptian drama: was it theatre, ritual, or both? The winning argument has often been in favor of dramatic ritual, with little or no connection to Greek drama and the foundation of modern theatre as we know it. Aristotle used Greek tragedy as his benchmark for the literary and artistic qualifications that make up the Poetics. What if his theory were used to evaluate an important ritual drama from ancient Egypt? Those in favor of an ancient Egyptian theatrical tradition might regard "The Triumph of Horus" as the oldest play in existence. The text itself, etched into the outer enclosure walls of the Temple of Horus at Edfu, dates to approximately 107-80 BCE. However, this play represents characters, dialogue, and a sequence of events that date much earlier. Dramatic reenactments of the mythical battle between the forces of Horus and the forces of Seth took place annually in Egypt, starting as early as the second millenium BCE. This paper will evaluate "The Triumph of Horus" and its dramatic forerunners using Aristotle’s theatrical theory in the "Poetics", with the intention of shedding new light on the nature of theatre in ancient Egypt.
Research Interests:
Upholding Classical Greek drama as the benchmark for ancient theater, scholars have historically disregarded the notion of a native Egyptian dramatic tradition, due to the religious and ritualistic nature of the limited evidence... more
Upholding Classical Greek drama as the benchmark for ancient theater, scholars have historically disregarded the notion of a native Egyptian dramatic tradition, due to the religious and ritualistic nature of the limited evidence available. Yet Greek tragedy began as a featured competition of the Great Dionysia, the largest and most important festival of the god Dionysus in Athens. Traced to the Sixth Century BCE, the religious roots of this tradition and the dramatic rituals surrounding it reflect those found in Egypt more than one thousand years earlier, in celebration of the Osirian Khoiak Festival at Abydos. The known Egyptian dramatic texts—those texts which exhibit classic Western features of dramatic literature such as dialogue and stage directions—all, in some way, honor the god Osiris. We can perhaps infer from this that the ancient Egyptian concept of dramatic performance was strongly associated with his cult, just as the Greeks associated theater with Dionysiac worship. Herodotus first observed the link between these two gods in the mid-Fifth Century BCE—a connection the Ptolemies promoted heavily during their reign, essentially presenting Dionysus and Osiris as Greek and Egyptian counterparts of the same deity. This paper examines the Osirian mysteries and related dramas celebrated during the Khoiak Festival, and illustrates their significance in the development of an ancient Egyptian dramatic tradition that pre-dates the advent of theater in ancient Greece.
Research Interests: Ancient Egyptian Religion, Ancient Greek Tragedy Performance History, Ancient Greek Drama, Ancient Egyptian cults in Greek and Roman World, Greek and Egyptian cultural contacts, and 7 moreAncient Performance, Origin of Dionysus Cult, Festival of Dionysus, Ancient Egyptian Drama, Osirian Mysteries, Khoiak Festival, and The Great Dionysia
This lecture delves into the enigmatic subject of ancient Egyptian theatre, a cultural aspect often overlooked in Egyptological scholarship. Drawing from her doctoral dissertation of the same title, Dr. Hedges discusses the central... more
This lecture delves into the enigmatic subject of ancient Egyptian theatre, a cultural aspect often overlooked in Egyptological scholarship. Drawing from her doctoral dissertation of the same title, Dr. Hedges discusses the central themes, figures, narratives, and contexts of the extant dramatic texts from ancient Egypt—where they came from, who discovered them, and how they have been interpreted and transmitted throughout the fields of Egyptology and theatre history. This talk also explores what an ancient Egyptian theatrical performance might have looked like, who the actors and audiences were, and what made this theatrical tradition unique from those that followed in ancient Greece and Rome.
Research Interests:
Upholding Classical Greek drama as the benchmark for ancient theater, scholars have historically disregarded the notion of a native Egyptian dramatic tradition, due to the religious and ritualistic nature of the limited evidence... more
Upholding Classical Greek drama as the benchmark for ancient theater, scholars have historically disregarded the notion of a native Egyptian dramatic tradition, due to the religious and ritualistic nature of the limited evidence available. Yet Greek tragedy began as a featured competition of the Great Dionysia, the largest and most important festival of the god Dionysus in Athens. Traced to the Sixth Century BCE, the religious roots of this tradition and the dramatic rituals surrounding it reflect those found in Egypt more than one thousand years earlier, in celebration of the Osirian Khoiak Festival at Abydos. The known Egyptian dramatic texts—those texts which exhibit classic Western features of dramatic literature such as dialogue and stage directions—all, in some way, honor the god Osiris. We can perhaps infer from this that the ancient Egyptian concept of dramatic performance was strongly associated with his cult, just as the Greeks associated theater with Dionysiac worship. Herodotus first observed the link between these two gods in the mid-Fifth Century BCE—a connection the Ptolemies promoted heavily during their reign, essentially presenting Dionysus and Osiris as Greek and Egyptian counterparts of the same deity. This paper examines the Osirian mysteries and related dramas celebrated during the Khoiak Festival, and illustrates their significance in the development of an ancient Egyptian dramatic tradition that pre-dates the advent of theater in ancient Greece.