Prof.dr. O.E. Kaper (Olaf) Faculty    Humanities E-mail    o.e.kaper@hum.leidenuniv.nl Phone    071 527 2041     Date of birth June 19, 1962 Place of birth Laren Study Egyptology Ph.D. June 5, 1997 Dissertation Temples and gods in Roman Dakhleh, studies in the indegenous cults of an Egyptian oasis Date of accession May 1, 2005 Subject Egyptology

Keywords

Egypt, Egyptology, Dakhleh Oasis project, ancient Egyptian religion

My inspiration

The most significant break in the cultural history of Egypt took place in the Greco-Roman period. In my research, I try to document and understand the profound changes that took place, by looking from the viewpoint of the traditional Egyptian religion and iconography. The study of these aspects has a long history in Egyptological research at Leiden. The principal material for my research I gather in the field, in the excavations of the Dakhleh Oasis Project, where I excavate and prepare the publication of several of the temples in the Dakhleh Oasis. This material allows me to study the binding role of religion within a clearly delineated region, and at its changes over time. Egypt offers outstanding opportunities for looking at cultural changes over longer periods of time. The temples of the Dakhleh Oasis, among which that of the god Tutu at Ismant el-Kharab and of the god Thoth at Amheida yield much material for our knowledge of Egyptian culture and religion, but also about the wider issue of Egypt as a province of the Roman empire.

Titles of major publications

• (2003) O.E. Kaper, The Egyptian God Tutu: A Study of the Sphinx-God and Master of Demons with a Corpus of Monuments, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 119, Leuven: Peeters Publishers.
• (2002) O.E. Kaper and H.O. Willems, "Policing the Desert: Old Kingdom activity around the Dakhleh oasis", Egypt and Nubia: Gifts of the desert, R. Friedman (ed.), London, British Museum Publications, pp. 79-94.
• (2001) "Archäologische Forschungen der Rohlfs’schen Expedition in der Oase Dachla (1874)", Begegnungen: Antike Kulturen im Niltal. Festgabe für Erika Endesfelder, Karl-Heinz Priese, Walter Friedrich Reineke, Steffen Wenig von Schülern und Mitarbeitern, C.-B. Arnst, I. Hafemann and A. Lohwasser (eds), Leipzig, Helmar Wodtke und Katharina Stegbauer, pp. 233-251.
• (1998) Life on the Fringe: Living in the Southern Egyptian Deserts during the Roman and early-Byzantine Periods: Proceedings of a colloquium held on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Netherlands Institute for Archaeology and Arabic Studies in Cairo, 9-12 December 1996, O.E. Kaper (ed.), CNWS Publications 71, Leiden, CNWS.
• (1997) O.E. Kaper, Temples and gods in Roman Dakhleh: Studies in the indigenous cults of an Egyptian oasis, PhD thesis Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, privately published.

Links

http://www.hum.leiden.edu/lias/staff/kaperoe.html

http://www.mcah.columbia.edu/amheida/

http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/archaeology/excavations/dakhleh/index.html