ANE Today, 12 June 2025
Women’s Rights in Marriage in Ancient Egypt, the Friends of ASOR Chicago Tour, our Object of the Week, plus the usual round-up of news, books, and other media.
Women’s Rights in Marriage in Ancient Egypt
By Alison Wilkinson
The ancient Egyptian concept of “marriage” was a social — rather than religiously- or state-ordained — establishment. No single word directly translates to “marriage”, “to marry”, or “to be married”. However, the Egyptian language had various terms and phrases to indicate a marital union:
iri m Hmt “to make as a wife”
iw m Hmt “to be a wife”
iw m hy “to be a husband”
aq r pr “to enter into a house”
grg pr “to set up / establish a house(hold)”
Hms i-r-m / m-di “to sit / live together with”
These hint towards the social and functional aspects of marriage in ancient Egypt.
Friends of ASOR Chicago Tour
Registration is now more than half full for the first Friends of ASOR tour in Chicago! Join us on September 18 and 19 for an exclusive behind-the-scenes experience. We will be kicking off our two-day jaunt on September 18 with the grand opening of a special exhibit on Megiddo at the iconic Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, followed by a walking tour of monuments and landscapes passing through Grant Park, the Museum Campus, and the Gold Star Families Memorial. On Friday, September 19, we will visit the Greek, Roman, and Egyptian galleries at the impressive Art Institute of Chicago to explore significant new developments and to learn about material little seen by the public. After lunch, we’ll continue our tour to the renowned Field Museum of Natural History, home to the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton of its kind, among remarkable collections and exhibitions. Space is limited, so reserve your spot now.
Registration and details can be found here.
In the News:
A 1500-year-old map helped researches find a lost Byzantine city (Popular Mechanics)
Archaeologists reveal mythological scene on ancient sarcophagus found in Caesarea (Jerusalem Post)
Royal tomb unearthed in Gordion could belong to King Midas’ family (Heritage Daily)
Scientists have recreated the long-lost formula for Egyptian blue (Artnet news)
The origin of ancient Greek city-states rewritten (LBV)
AI reveals Dead Sea Scrolls may be older than previously thought (Archaeology Magazine)
Medieval graffiti discovered in the Last Supper Hall in Jerusalem’s Cenacle (Jerusalem Post)
Spectacular early Christian mosaic presented to the public in Israel (Haaretz)
How is Roman concrete still standing after 2000 years? (LiveScience)
Object of the Week:
New Books to Explore:
Readers of the Lost Ark: Imagining the Ark of the Covenant from Ancient Times to the Present, by Kevin M. McGeough
Killing the Messiah: The Trial and Crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth, by Nathanael J. Andrade
Hannibal and Scipio: Parallel Lives, by Simon Hornblower
Forgotten Saint-Simonian Travelers in Egypt: Suzanne Voilquin, Ismayl Urbain, and Jehan d’Ivray, by John David Ragan
Finding Antiquity, Making the Modern Middle East: Archaeology, Empires, Nations, edited by Guillemette Crouzet and Eva Miller
Museum Exhibits:
Rethinking Etruria (Institute for the Study of the Ancient World)
Latest Podcasts:
Diving into the Mikvah at Ostia, Or, When is a Pool Not a Pool? (This Week in the Ancient Near East)
Communities on Display: Re-Centering Egyptian Voices with Heba Abd el Gawad (Peopling the Past)
The Great Jewish Revolt (The Ancients)
Latest YouTube:
Visiting the Real Site of Jesus’s Baptism (History Hit)
Secrets of the Dead: Egypt’s Darkest Hour (PBS Nova)
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In Case You Missed It:
New Discoveries in the Pan Grotto in Paneas
By Adi Erlich and Ron Lavi
Once believed to be the location of Herod’s Augusteum, the cave at Paneas has yielded up some surprising discoveries following recent excavations. Read more here.
Sponsored: ISD Special Pricing on New, Recent, & Forthcoming Titles
ISD is offering special pricing on new, recent, and forthcoming titles in Ancient Near Eastern Studies. Publishers include Archaeopress, Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, Brepols Publishers, Brill | Schöningh, Classiques Garnier, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press, Equinox Publishing, Harrassowitz Verlag, Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, Kohlhammer Verlag, Lockwood Press, Mohr Siebeck, Peeters Publishers, Schwabe, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Publishers, Warring States Project, Zaphon, and more. Click here to see the full list of titles.
Bulletin of ASOR 393 (May 2025)
This issue of Bulletin of ASOR includes articles such as: Nabatean Tent Sites on the Ruhot Plain, Central Negev, and Nomadic Visibility; Olive Oil Production in the North-East Temple of Canaanite Lachish; Qaṭrāyīṯ and the Linguistic History of Ancient East Arabia; Reflections on the Circulation of Extraordinary Items in Early Chalcolithic Southwest Asia: Sourcing the Obsidian Mirror and Giant Blade Core of Kabri (Israel); The Vanished Fire Temple of Sarab-e Murt: A Tentative Interpretation of the Archaeological Evidence; and more. View the full Table of Contents here.
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Published with the assistance of The Lanier Theological Library and Stevan Dana