Saturday, February 20, 2021 at 2:00 pm (EST) Dr. Kasia Szpakowska (University of Swansea, Wales)
SSEA Toronto Talk
Title: “Demons in the Dark: Nightmares in Ancient Egypt”
Abstract: The dream in ancient Egypt functioned as a liminal zone between the land of the living and the afterlife. However, the dream was also a phenomenon over which the dreamer had little control, and its permeable boundaries allowed both the divine and the demonic inhabitants of the beyond access to the visible world.
About the speaker: Kasia Szpakowska is currently the W. Benson Harer Egyptology Scholar in Residence at California State University, San Bernardino. After earning her PhD at UCLA, she was the Associate Professor of Egyptology at Swansea University, Wales and director of the Ancient Egyptian Demonology Project: 2nd Millennium BCE. Her research focuses on private religious practices, dreams, gender and the archaeology of magic. Currently she is investigating the role of apotropaic devices and images of supernatural beings as mechanisms for coping with physical and mental health afflictions.
Go go to SSEA Website for more details.
