Research
During her fellowship Naglaa Ezzeldaan will research the Amsterdam papyrus APM09223. This is a unique hieratic document housed in the Allard Pierson, belonging to the priest Somteus, a draughtsman of the temple of Amon, son of Herieb and Hathorete. This papyrus is an abbreviated version of the Book of the Dead, comprising six sheets that total around two meters in length and feature ten columns written in black ink. It contains sixteen spells, including fifteen from the Book of the Dead and one from the opening of the mouth ceremony (the process of magically reactivating the senses of the deceased prior to burial), all written in late hieratic. The sequence of spells and illustrations is distinct, with no parallels found in the 662 Ptolemaic manuscripts listed on the TOTENBUCH website, suggesting it may represent a specific tradition. Additionally, the manuscript features unique vignettes and was inscribed by a single scribe with a distinctive handwriting style.
Fellow
Naglaa serves as an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Archaeology and Civilizations at the Faculty of Arts, Helwan University. She earned her MA in Egyptology from Helwan University in 2018 with her thesis Unpublished Hieratic Mummy Bandages from the Book of the Dead. Currently, she is pursuing her PhD, which centers on a Ptolemaic Book of the Dead papyrus in hieratic. Her research interests encompass the evolution of funerary texts from the New Kingdom through to the Ptolemaic period. During her Piet and Etty Sijpesteijn Fellowship she focusses on the paleography (analysis of the handwriting) of the Book of the Dead of Somteus to find out more about its provenance.