A woman’s power in the ancient world (and perhaps even today) was always compromised from the outset, and this lecture by Dr. Kara Cooney will address the root causes of this social inequality. Given this social reality in the ancient world, how then did women negotiate their limited leadership roles? Were they able to rule “behind the throne” so to speak? How are we to find a woman’s power when it was so habitually cloaked by a man’s dominance? This lecture will address those questions and ask how much of this ancient reality still touches us today.
Kathlyn (Kara) Cooney is a professor of Egyptian Art and Architecture and Chair of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA. Cooney’s research in coffin reuse, primarily focusing on the 21st Dynasty, is ongoing. Her book Recycling for Death will appear in the coming year with American University Press in Cairo. This research investigates the socioeconomic and political turmoil that has plagued the period, ultimately affecting funerary and burial practices in ancient Egypt. This project has taken her around the world over ten years to study and document more than 300 coffins in multiple collections, including Cairo, London, Paris, Berlin, and Vatican City. Her latest book, When Women Ruled the World: Six Queens of Egypt, was published in 2018 by National Geographic Press. Her next book, The Good Kings: Absolute Power in Ancient Egypt and the Modern World appears with National Geographic Books in 2021.