Lørdagsseminar om Bes

Bes. Glyptoteket ÆIN 220 (foto: Anders Sune Berg)

Mødedato: Lørdag d. 25/9 2021 kl. 11-16
Lokale: KUA1 22.0.11

11.00 – Foredrag 1, v. Lise Manniche, mag art., PhD
12.15 – Frokost (medbring selv mad og drikke)
13.00 – Foredrag 2 v. Olaf Kaper, Professor of Egyptology, Leiden University
14.15 – Pause
14.45 – Foredrag 3, v. Christian E. Loeben, August Kestner Museum Hannover

I forbindelse med BES-udstillingen på Glyptoteket (30/4-31/10 2021) vil lørdagsseminaret handle om Bes. Udstillingen er blevet til i samarbejde med Allard Pierson Museet i Amsterdam og August Kestner Museet i Hannover.

I Amsterdam var Olaf Kaper gæstekurator for udstillingen, og i Hannover, hvor udstillingen rejser til efter København, er Christian E. Loeben kurator. Det er således disse to, der sammen med Lise vil fortælle den lille, grimme, kære dæmongud Bes.

Lyden af Bes v. mag.art., PhD. Lise Manniche

I de senere år er der kommet fokus på “lyde” i det gamle Ægypten, ikke bare klangen af musikinstrumenter, men lyd generelt. Dette særlige fagområde kaldes nu for “arkæoakustik” eller “soundscapes” (modsat “landscapes”). Efter at have beskæftiget mig med Bes’ udseende, hans betydning for fertilitet og fødsler, og i et vist omfang med hans musikinstrumenter er det derfor nærliggende at præsentere “Lyden af Bes” i en lidt bredere sammenhæng og med særlig fokus på hans stemme, og hvordan han brugte den.

The small gods of Ancient Egypt: examining Bes and Tutu v. Olaf Kaper, Professor of Egyptology, Leiden University

The gods of the ancient Egyptians were very many indeed, and the gods were grouped together in many different ways. Bes belongs to a class of gods that we may call “small gods”, with the use of an ancient Egyptian term. This lecture will discuss the place of Bes in the pantheon and compare him to the god Tutu, with whom Bes is sometimes depicted together.

By looking at the role of the small gods, we can understand better how the Egyptians saw their world and how they dealt with the overwhelming amount of divine beings that could help or threaten them.

Bes and Thoeris, two “small gods” in Ancient Egypt: same competence – different careers v. Christian Loeben, Museum August Kestner, Hannover

It is a remarkable phenomenon: The goddess Thoeris, Egyptian Ta-Weret (“The-Great-One”), has enjoyed adoration for the longest time in Egyptian history. However, Bes who really became Bes only as late as in Dynasty 26 (c. 600 B.C.E.) would very quickly supersede the venerable goddess as the most popular deity in the realm of Egyptian private life.

The lecture will analyse the mechanisms behind it and will finally show that the career of Bes in the later phases of Egyptian religion was not only an extraordinary one but was also exceedingly diverse.