Was Amelia Edwards chasing adventure down the Nile—or charting a new course for Egyptology?

Listen to our LIVE episode recorded in Pride month with specialist on the development of Egyptology in the 19th Century and EES Director, Dr Carl Graves, joins our host Charlotte Jordan at the Egypt Exploration Society. The episode focuses on the founder of the Egypt Exploration Society, Amelia B Edwards, but unpacks elements of her life that you may not yet have encountered. First, Amelia is introduced as the author of her famous travelogue A Thousand Miles up the Nile, which details what this trip entailed, but also how the book was curated by Amelia for a specific readership. A recent EES book: Amelia B Edwards: The ‘Queen of Egyptology’, written by our special guest, lays the foundation for our discussion about Amelia’s life before her trip to Egypt. This focuses on the reasons that led her to travel, including periods of depression and melancholy around losing her parents, as well as when her first wife left her. Finally, we reflect on who Amelia is to us and how her life highlights that everyone’s journey into Egyptology is different. We conclude on how she continues to inform the future of the EES.

Learn more at https://www.ees.ac.uk/ or follow us on Social Media: @TheEES or @egyptexplorationsociety or #AwayWithThePharaohs.