Dr Hana Navratilova co-authors "cultural biography" of pyramid
Harris Manchester Supernumerary Fellow and Tutor for Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Dr Hana Navratilova has co-authored a significant new work on Egyptian archaeology
Image: Richard Lee / Metropolitan Museum of Art
Life of a Pyramid: A Cultural Biography, written alongside Dr Lea Rees of Oxford’s Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and University of Cologne, tells the story of the pyramid complex of King Senwosret III at Dahshur in Egypt from its construction in a classical period of the ancient Egyptian state and its early use (and reuse) through to contemporary times.
In between, the book charts how the site became a focus of interest for medieval geographers and historians, and later for early modern travellers from across the world.
Dr Navratilova commented: “We wanted to step away from this image of a pyramid as a static monument, frozen in time. We really wanted to follow one pyramid as a living entity – because archaeological sites are always part of a living community and a living landscape.”
Life of a Pyramid (Oxford University Press) is one of three books that Dr Navratilova has published recently. Graffiti Quest (Brill), which she co-edited with another Harris Manchester Fellow, Dr Linda Hulin, and others, was released in August. Meanwhile, Graffiti in the Pyramid Precinct of Sneferu at Meidum – Legacy Records (Abercromby Press), co-authored with Professor Khaled Hassan (Cairo University and Grand Egyptian Museum), was published in September.