Bloomsbury Summer School & Academy

✨ AN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN TALE OF POSSESSION, ORACLES, AND EXORCISM

A princess in a distant land falls gravely ill.

Her desperate father turns to the most powerful ruler of the age: the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II.

But this is no ordinary illness. An experienced royal scribe discovers that the princess is possessed by an evil spirit, and only an oracle of the god Khonsu can reveal how she may be saved...

🎬 It sounds like the plot of a Hollywood epic—but this remarkable story is preserved in an ancient Egyptian inscription known as the Bentresh Stela, now housed in the Louvre.

Even more intriguingly, the stela itself is an ancient mystery: although it claims to date to the reign of Ramesses II, it was actually created some seven centuries later.

📜 Discover this fascinating text and many others on Reading Hieroglyphs: Dreams, Epiphanies, and Oracles at the Court of Pharaoh with Dr Luigi Prada (Uppsala University).

🏛️ Includes a special session in the British Museum Study Room, reading directly from original ancient Egyptian papyri.

📅 6–10 July 2026
📍 In person at UCL, Bloomsbury.

(Photo Credit, Ramessess II, Authors own, British Mueum)

Find out more at www.bssac.uk, Link in Bio.

📜🔍 Can you read the stories hidden within ancient Egyptian monuments?

For those already familiar with the basics of hieroglyphs, this immersive five-day course offers the opportunity to delve deeper into the language of Ancient Egypt.

Join Kit Devine (MPhil Oxon) as you work with increasingly sophisticated inscriptions, explore monuments created for kings and officials, and develop a richer understanding of the language and culture of the ancient Egyptians.

👑 Discover how Egyptians wrote about their rulers and gods.

📖 Build confidence reading more complex texts.

🏺 Gain new insights into the history, beliefs, and monuments of one of the world's most fascinating civilisations.

📅 29 June – 3 July 2026
📍 In person at UCL, Bloomsbury

(Photo Credit, Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs on Stone Wall Inside Hatshepsut Temple in Valley of the Kings, Luxor, Egypt-Egyptonline).

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🔍👑 Ancient Egypt wasn't always a land of powerful pharaohs and magnificent monuments...

Behind the grand temples and royal tombs lay a world of intrigue, corruption, magical beliefs, theft, and scandal.

Join Dr Christina Geisen of the British Museum for a fascinating exploration of the darker side of ancient Egyptian society, from tomb robbers and criminal investigations to accusations of sorcery and royal conspiracies.

🏺 Discover the real people behind the history.

📜 Examine evidence for crimes, disputes, and everyday challenges rarely featured in traditional accounts of Ancient Egypt.

✨ Uncover a side of Egyptian civilisation that is as human, complex, and compelling as it is surprising.

📅 29 June – 3 July 2026
📍 In person, livestreamed, and video recorded

(Photo Credit, Painting “A ransacked Egyptian tomb-1933-1934” Science online)
BSSA Webpage-Link in Bio.

🇫🇷🏺 BOOKING NOW OPEN! Ancient Egypt in Paris: Exploring the Egyptian Collection at the Louvre.

Imagine spending four days in Paris exploring one of the world's greatest collections of Ancient Egyptian treasures in the company of a leading Egyptologist.

Join Dr Luigi Prada for this unique Egyptological experience centred on the world-famous Egyptian Department of the Louvre Museum — home to one of the largest and most important collections of Egyptian antiquities anywhere in the world.

👑 Discover remarkable masterpieces spanning thousands of years of Egyptian history.

📜 Learn about the fascinating origins of the collection, first opened in 1827 under the direction of Jean-François Champollion, the scholar who deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs.

🏛️ Enjoy expert lectures exploring the history of Egyptology, from its 19th-century beginnings to the present day.

🔍 Take part in guided visits through the Louvre's Egyptian galleries, bringing the stories behind these extraordinary objects to life.

🍷 Meet fellow enthusiasts at a welcome dinner and share your passion for Ancient Egypt in one of Europe's most beautiful cities.

Whether you're an Egyptology enthusiast, history lover, or museum devotee, this promises to be an unforgettable journey through the history of Ancient Egypt and the history of Egyptology itself.

(Photo credit, The Great Sphinx of Tanis, Louvre, Paris)

📅 Friday 23 – Monday 26 October 2026

📧 For further details:
[email protected]
and also on BSSA webpage, Link in Bio.

👑📜 Cleopatra's Hieroglyphs:

What if you could read hieroglyphs from the age of Cleopatra herself?

Reading Hieroglyphic Texts from the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods .

What did hieroglyphs look like in the age of Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, and the Roman Emperors?

This fascinating on-demand course offers a rare opportunity to explore the rich world of Graeco-Roman hieroglyphic texts — a subject seldom available, even at university level.

🏺 Join Dr Luigi Prada as he guides you through original inscriptions dating from the time of Alexander the Great, Cleopatra VII, Julius Caesar, and Emperor Hadrian.

📜 Learn to read texts carved on temples, tombs, obelisks, and stelae from across the Ptolemaic and Roman periods.

🔍 Work directly with high-resolution images of artefacts from the British Museum and the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, discovering the subtle details and craftsmanship of the original inscriptions.

✨ From monumental temple walls to beautifully carved sacred texts, this course opens a window onto the final centuries of hieroglyphic writing and the remarkable civilisation that continued to preserve it.

The perfect next step for those already familiar with Middle Egyptian hieroglyphs and ready to explore the world of Cleopatra's Egypt.

(Photo Credit,Cleopatra and Caesarion in a temple scene at Dendera. Egypt Exploration Society-online)

📚 Explore our recorded courses:
Link in Bio.

📜✨ Hieroglyphs: The Next Step.

You've mastered the basics—now it's time to take your hieroglyphic skills further.

Building on the foundations of Beginning Hieroglyphs, this engaging on-demand course with renowned Egyptologist Dr Bill Manley introduces you to increasingly sophisticated ancient Egyptian texts and monuments.

🏺 Explore more elaborate inscriptions created for kings, officials, and temples.

👑 Learn how the ancient Egyptians wrote about pharaohs, gods, and the world around them.

📖 Develop a deeper understanding of the language itself, including how to talk about the past, present, and future, and how to express more complex ideas.

🔍 Through practical reading sessions, you'll expand your knowledge of Middle Egyptian and gain greater confidence in interpreting original hieroglyphic texts.

From royal monuments to sacred inscriptions, discover how a deeper understanding of hieroglyphs opens a window onto the beliefs, history, and culture of Ancient Egypt.

✨ Ready to go beyond the basics? This is the next step in your hieroglyphic journey.

📚 Explore our recorded courses:
Link in Bio.

(Photo Credit, Anubis at the temple of Seti l at Abydos, Out of the tomb online)

📜🏺 Beginning Hieroglyphs.

📜 What if you could start reading Ancient Egyptian from day one?

Join renowned Egyptologist Dr Bill Manley and begin your journey into the fascinating world of hieroglyphs.

Ever wanted to learn how to read the language of Ancient Egypt?

If hieroglyphs have always seemed mysterious, this popular on-demand course is the perfect place to start.

Join renowned Egyptologist Dr Bill Manley, one of the most respected hieroglyphs teachers in the field, for a unique introduction to the writing system and language of the ancient Egyptians.

🔍 No prior experience is required.

📖 Through a series of presentations and practical sessions, you'll progress from understanding the basics of hieroglyphic writing to reading genuine ancient Egyptian inscriptions.

🏺 From day one, you'll begin exploring monuments and artefacts from world-famous museum collections, discovering how the ancient Egyptians recorded their beliefs, achievements, and daily lives.

✨ Designed especially for complete beginners, this engaging and rewarding course opens the door to one of the world's most fascinating ancient languages.

Why simply admire hieroglyphs when you can start learning to read them?

(Photo credit, The Abydos King List from a wall of the Temple of Seti I at Abydos. Ancient Egypt Foundation-Online)

📚 Explore our recorded courses:
Link in Bio.

📜✨ A Taste of Hieroglyphs.

Have you ever looked at an ancient Egyptian inscription and wondered what it says?
Hieroglyphs may seem mysterious, but learning to read them is more accessible than you might think.

Join renowned Egyptologist and teacher Dr Bill Manley for this engaging on-demand introductory course designed specifically for complete beginners.

🔍 Discover the basics of ancient Egyptian writing.

🏺 Learn how hieroglyphs work and what they reveal about the ancient world.

📖 Through guided presentations and practical reading sessions, you'll begin to decode inscriptions found on monuments and artefacts displayed in some of the world's most famous museums.

✨ No prior experience is required—just curiosity and a fascination with Ancient Egypt.

Whether you're considering a deeper study of hieroglyphs or simply want to understand the writing system behind one of history's greatest civilisations, this course is the perfect place to begin.

📚 Explore our recorded courses:
Link in Bio.

(Photo credit,Hunefer’s Judgement in the presence of Osiris, Book of the Dead of Hunefer, 19th Dynasty, New Kingdom, c. 1275 B.C.E., papyrus, Thebes, Egypt (British Museum)

🏺✨ An A–Z of Ancient Egyptian Statues.

🏺 Ancient Egyptian statues were not simply carved and displayed—they were believed to come to life..

But how were these remarkable sculptures created, and what secrets do their inscriptions still reveal today?

Far more than works of art, statues played a vital role in Egyptian religion, memory, and daily life. They were carefully designed, carved, transported, installed, inscribed, and even "activated" to serve important purposes for both the living and the dead.

👑 Join Dr Campbell Price for a fascinating journey into the rich world of ancient Egyptian statuary.

🔍 Discover how statues were made, the materials and quarrying techniques used to create them, and the remarkable efforts involved in transporting and installing these monumental works.

📜 Explore the inscriptions carved onto statues, including examples that have only recently been translated into English.

🏺 Learn how to recognise different statue types, understand their meanings, and uncover what they can reveal about Egyptian society, belief, and identity across thousands of years of history.
Whether depicting kings, queens, officials, or gods, every statue has a story to tell.

(Photo credit, Sekhmet, Media Habu, Egypt Museum -online)

📚 Explore our recorded courses:
Link in Bio.

👑🏛️ Ancient Persia: New Perspectives

Ambition. Betrayal. Revenge. Murder.

The story of the Achaemenid dynasty is one of the most dramatic family sagas in ancient history—and at its heart lies the rise and fall of the world's first superpower.

From the visionary leadership of Cyrus the Great to the final days of Darius III and the arrival of Alexander of Macedon, this fascinating on-demand course explores the people behind one of history's greatest empires.

🌍 Discover how the Persian Empire grew from humble beginnings to become a vast realm stretching across continents.

👑 Meet the kings, queens, courtiers, and rivals whose ambitions shaped the ancient world.

📜 Drawing on Persian sources rather than the often hostile accounts of Classical writers, Professor Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones offers a fresh perspective on an empire that was remarkable not only for its power, but also for its ability to govern through cooperation, inclusion, and respect for diverse cultures.

(Photo credit, bas-relief- Persepolis. The Collector-online)

Join us for this engaging recorded course and uncover the story of Ancient Persia from the Persian point of view.

📚 Explore our recorded courses:
Link in Bio