THE EGYPTIAN SOCIETY OF SOUTH AFRICA
Shemu Articles
SHEMU
Shemu is the Society’s quarterly newsletter, issued in January, April, July and October. Shemu is an Egyptian word meaning ‘harvest’.
The rise of the Nile flood in July marked the New Year for ancient Egyptians and this, the first season from July to October, was called akhet (inundation), go be followed by peret (time of emergence) from November to February as the Nile waters subside. The final season from March to June was shemu, a word that came to mean ‘harvest’.
The TESSA newsletter is sent to members, relevant organisations and institutions in South Africa, the USA, UK and Egypt. Please e-mail the Secretary on capevent1@gmail.com.
Arsinoë II Philadelphos – a female pharaoh?
By Dr Maria Nilsson QUEEN Arsinoë II Philadelphos has been a topic of scholarly discussion for many generations, primarily focusing on her socio-political role as the wife of Ptolemy II. The academic world is divided as one part argues for and the other against a...
Discovering the Valley of the Golden Mummies
By Dr. Zahi Hawass The discovery of more than one hundred Greaco-Roman mummies in Bahariya Oasis has swept the media worldwide with a force not seen since the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb. The Valley of the Golden Mummies at Bahariya Oasis is the final...
Black Kings on Pharaohs Throne
By Jil Kamil EGYPTOLOGY is constantly enriched as new evidence comes to light, and every discovery provides food for thought One of the most important finds of recent years has been a cache of statues found in 2003 by the Universityof Geneva’s archaeological mission...
Updated Article on the Frederick Goodall painting The Subsiding of the Nile
By Keith Grenville The famous painting The Subsiding of the Nile – Frederick Goodall 1822 – 1904 held in Cape Town The Subsiding of the Nile shows the Giza Plateau from the south-east, with the Great Pyramid of Khufu on the right, and the Pyramid of Khafra on the left...
Marking the revival of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina
A review by Eucalyptus In the words of H.E. Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak, wife of the President of Egypt and Chair of the Board of Trustees of Bibliotheca Alexandrina: “The goal of this enormous project is to honour the past, to celebrate the present and to invent the Future...
Zahi Hawass in Cape Town & Johannesburg
As the guest of The Egyptian Society of South Africa marking the society’s 10th anniversary The Society hosted Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities in South Africa on a short lecture tour – visiting Johannesburg where he...