Saqqara in particular, and the Memphite necropolis in general, constituted the arena for the prolific and significant monumental self-presentations of Prince Khaemwaset, fourth son of King Ramesses II (c. 1279–1213 BCE). The present paper explores the role of the prince in fashioning a persona that addressed past, present and future audiences. This discussion is used to contextualise results of the 2009 Saqqara Geophysical Survey Project, showing the greater-than-expected extent of the New Kingdom necropolis south of the Unas Causeway. It considers responses to the deep palimpsest of the sacred landscape of the Memphite necropolis by—and later commemorations within it of—this notable Ramesside individual.

This paper discusses the emergence, and impact, of public perceptions of Ancient Egypt and diverse ideas of “magic” at the Manchester Museum, following the huge response to the episode of the “spinning statuette.” In June 2013, a video of an Egyptian statuette spinning of its own accord in its case in the Egypt Gallery of the Manchester Museum went viral. During the media storm that followed the publication of the video, many hinted at a “magic event,” which could be related to popular perceptions of Ancient Egypt: ideas from movies and popular culture were widely used to explain and comment, often ironically, on the episode. At the same time, in the museum galleries people were jostling to see the statuette and questioning the museum staff. Therefore, this paper will observe how media and museum audiences have used the concept of “magic” in relation to the spinning statuette: what beliefs and attitudes towards “magic” emerge from these comments? Why was the museum criticized for suggesting a “magic” connection? And what have been the outcomes of the episode for the museum and for our understanding of public perceptions of Ancient Egypt?

Egyptology has been changing. At least in the way its practitioners present their findings to a broad public audience. A selection of recent publications for general-interest readership represents something of a reorientation of perspectives on the (Western-led) archaeological ‘discovery’ of Pharaonic Egyptian remains, and the opening up of a subtle counter-narrative, which is something of an anti-archaeology. Rather than attempting to reconstruct what might positively be said of ancient events, their causes and motivations, Egyptologists are increasingly owning up to what is not known or what happened in the aftermath of the ‘main event’ that conditions the nature of the evidence we have at our disposal.

The intact tomb group of the so-called ‘Two Brothers’, dating to around 1850bce, was found at Deir Rifeh in Middle Egypt. Since its transfer to Manchester Museum in 1907, it has been central to the Museum’s extensive Egyptian collection—and of its celebratory history of Manchester Egyptology. Here, established interpretations of the ‘Brothers’s’ remains—often framed as a pioneering case of innovative scientific investigation in Egyptology—are critically assessed to highlight the contingency of such claims.

<!----> <!----> In ancient Egypt, statues provided a terrestrial anchor for nonphysical and preter natural entities, namely deities and the dead. Numbers of statues in wood and metal are likely to have been significant in Pharaonic Egypt, but these have not survived evenly, with a resulting bias in favour of stone. Manufacture of any image was a highly skilled, quasi- divine process in Pharaonic Egypt, effected chiefly by trained and properly initiated people. Somewhat paradoxically, therefore, Egyptian sculpture has often been perceived to be inherently accessible—a cultural judgement that has persistently informed recon structions of the statues’ original settings and functions. Egyptian deities were, as has been suggested, characterised by their multiplicity of manifestations. It might reasonably be assumed that colossal statues of Pharaoh and the gods—so emblematic of 'Ancient Egypt' in general—were the most visible and therefore the most accessible of sculptures for the Egyptians themselves. <!----> <!---->