How the High Priests Transformed Abydos

Perhaps like the popes of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the High Priests of Amun based Karnak temple in Luxor (ancient Thebes)  at times held such power that their might rivaled that of the rulers they served.  At Abydos, pilgrimage center and main site of the worship of Osiris, the god of rebirth and resurrection, the High Priests of Osiris during the New Kingdom (ca. 1525 - 1085 BCE) also held significant power, but their stories are less well-known to the general public.  One family of powerful clerics at Abydos rose to great prominence during the time of the legendary pharaoh Ramesses the Great, and the best-known of these High Priests, a man named Wenennefer, left monuments  of unusual creativity and innovation all across the sacred landscape of Abydos.  Acting much as archaeologists do today, Wenennefer and some of his circle seem to have researched monuments, tombs, and places sacred to the earlier kings of Egypt, leaving traces of their activity in some of the oldest sites connected both to Osiris, the king of the underworld, and to the earliest kings of Egypt.  Recent excavations by Stephen Harvey's team and others have revealed further evidence of the extent and nature of the fascinating activity of these ancient intellectuals and scholars, who did much to leave their own mark upon one of Egypt's most important spiritual centers.
 
Speaker: By Dr. Stephen Harvey, Stony Brook University