Eighteen years of pioneering research and teaching on Egyptology and the Ancient Eastern Mediterranean in Greek academia!
Aegean Egyptology (AE) is the official Egyptological Research Group of the Department of Mediterranean Studies of the University of the Aegean. It was back in 2002 and the bright vision of the members of the Temporary Academic Committee of the DMS, predominantly among them Prof. Ioannis Seimenis (Head of DMS, 2001-2003) and Prof. Socrates Katsikas (Vice Rector of the University of the Aegean, 2000-2003), that inaugurated Egyptology as an academic discipline in Greek academia. In 2003, Dr. Panagiotis Kousoulis was elected as Lecturer in Egyptology and established the credentials for the formation and development of AE on Rhodes. Since then, AE has been rapidly expanded to include an active team of researchers and research collaborations with Greek and foreign Universities and Institutions.
AE aims at the promotion of Egyptology in Greece through the elaboration and implementation of pioneered international and interdisciplinary research projects, the organization of international scientific colloquia, conferences and specialized seminars and workshops (predominantly among them the first specialised Egyptological symposium Ancient Egyptian Theology and Demonology, Studies on the Boundaries between the Demonic and the Divine in Egyptian Magic in 2003 and the prestigious Tenth International Congress of Egyptologists in 2008), the development of specialized Εgyptological courses in undergraduate and postgraduate levels, e-learning programmes and summer schools.
More recently, AE is implemented by the first Postgraduate Programme (Master of Arts) in Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology in Greek academia, entitled Archaeology of the Eastern Mediterranean from the Prehistoric Era to Late Antiquity: Greece, Egypt, Near East (2014 onwards), and the Laboratory for the Ancient World of the Eastern Mediterranean (LAWEM, 2015 onwards). Doctoral and postdoctoral research in Egyptology and related fields was inaugurated in 2006 and it is characterized by an exceptionally high standard of originality and focus on a variety of often unexplored fields in Egyptology, archaeology and the ancient world of the eastern Mediterranean. Three doctorate titles were awarded so far: Pavlos Antonatos (2012), Electra Apostola (2015) and Grigorios Kontopoulos (2020). Current doctorate candidates include Dimitrios Garoufalis, Dimitrios Georgiou, Anna Kalaitzaki, Maria Katsigianni, Christos Kekes and Manos Lambrakis. Postdoctoral research is carried out by Dr. Pavlos Antonatos, Dr. Electra Apostola and Dr. Christina Papadaki.
AE areas of research focus especially on the ancient Egyptian belief system (ontology, ritual, magic, demonology, religious language and texts, foreign elements, personal piety), language and script (hieroglyphic, hieratic, Ptolemaic inscriptions, language semantics), funerary ideology and practice, Egyptian interconnections and cross-cultural interactions in the southeastern Mediterranean region, archaic Aegyptiaca in continental and insular Greece, sociopolitical and religious networking in Eastern Mediterranean Antiquity, archaeological field work and epigraphy.
AE is a modern research and educational body, which serves and promotes Egyptology in Greece, re-enhances the research profile of the DMS and places University of the Aegean in a predominant position within the vast and rich Egyptological community and tradition worldwide.
Follow us for modern Egyptological studies in the cradle of knowledge!
Dr. Panagiotis Kousoulis
Director / Professor of Egyptology
