In this lecture, Dr Marina Escolano-Poveda will explore how the Egyptians conceptualised the planets, particularly Mars.

The ancient Egyptians were fascinated with the heavens since the beginning of their history. They tracked the risings and settings of the stars, they reckoned time according to the cycles of the Sun and the Moon, and they identified the planets as entities that moved differently from other celestial bodies. In this lecture, we will explore how the Egyptians conceptualised the planets, and will focus in particular on the planet Mars in its different manifestations from the ceilings of tombs and temples of the New Kingdom to the astronomical tables and horoscopes of the Graeco-Roman period.

Dr Marina Escolano-Poveda is a Senior Lecturer in Classics/Ancient History and Egyptology at the Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology of the University of Liverpool. Her research focuses on the literature, religion, philosophy, and society of Graeco-Roman Egypt. She currently works on the analysis of Graeco-Egyptian astronomical/astrological and early alchemical sources, as well as the Greek Hermetica from an Egyptological perspective.

Image credit: photo by Ahmed Amin, copyright MoTA