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Lawrence Room Talk 2021: Working from home in Egypt in the Second Millennium BC: Interpreting the role of work and rest in the houses of Amarna

Image of Egyptian Headrest in the Lawrence Room
Lawrence Room Egyptian Headrest

Lawrence Room Talk 2021: Working from home in Egypt in the Second Millennium BC: Interpreting the role of work and rest in the houses of Amarna

 

Image of Dr Kate Spence

This year's speaker will be Dr Kate Spence, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Archaeology and a Fellow of Emmanuel College. Dr Spence works on architecture and urbanism in ancient Egypt and Sudan, focusing particularly on the mid Second Millennium BC. Her current fieldwork is at the site of Sesebi in Sudan. 

Working from home in Egypt in the Second Millennium BC: Interpreting the role of work and rest in the houses of Amarna

This talk takes as its starting point the headrest from the collection in Lawrence Room at Girton and considers the role of rest and work in ancient Egyptian houses at Amarna around 1340 BC. The ground plans of hundreds of houses are preserved from the site but what can be said of the lives that went on within them? The role of working from home in the ancient city is explored, alongside the role of rest; these are considered alongside issues of status which were ever-present in the lives of the ancient Egyptians.