Thomas Lebée | Ecole du Louvre (original) (raw)

Papers by Thomas Lebée

Current Research in Egyptology 2023 (Basel, 10-14 September 2023)

Funerary stelae are core items of funeral equipment in the late periods of ancient Egypt. Bearing... more Funerary stelae are core items of funeral equipment in the late periods of ancient Egypt. Bearing their owner’s name and image, they usually depict their owner adoring a deity, with an offering formula that does not differ much from similar compositions dating back to the Old Kingdom. A considerable number of these pieces have survived from antiquity, despite their material fragility. Unfortunately, their enthusiastic collection in ancient times has deprived most of them of their archaeological contexts. Peter Munro’s "Die spätägyptischen Totenstelen", and further works from
this corpus, have since provided us with complete typologies and stylistic criteria to locate in time and space, if only broadly, these interesting artefacts that are often used for many purposes in studies of the first millennium BC.
At first glance, late funerary stelae may be considered mundane artefacts, with common adoration scenes and offering formulae. Yet they are, fundamentally, a medium on which the deceased is depicted presenting himself in front of chosen divinities, in a conventional format affected by
collective trends and individual variations. As such, they offer a wealth of precious data on prosopography and local contexts, social and personal self-presentations, and the expression of devotion at the time.
This presentation aims to propose some perspectives to analyse the cultural significance of these stelae. Our purpose is to study the late funerary stelae as a fragmentary corpus of texts and pictures,
in order to ponder how they came to be, and what phenomena they may reflect. We will, for example, find increasing evidence of the developments in the devotion to Osiris, as shown in texts and pictures, to the detriment of Ra, who was more prevalent in the beginning of the period. We will also try to consider what these documents may tell us of their elusive contexts of production.

Current Research in Egyptology 2022. Proceedings of the Twenty-Second Annual Symposium, Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3, 26-30 September 2022, 2023

Auguste Mariette is an outstanding figure among the pioneers of Egyptology. Discoverer of the Ser... more Auguste Mariette is an outstanding figure among the pioneers of Egyptology. Discoverer of the Serapeum of Memphis, founder of the Antiquities Service and the Cairo Museum, he also wrote the intrigue of Aïda and designed the Egyptian pavilions to the World Fairs of his time. He also worked during a very interesting time, one generation after Champollion, when Egyptology was gradually becoming institutionalised and developing its methods.
The best material to study his legacy is the contemporary documents in which the peculiar world of the 19th Century Egyptian archaeology appears still vividly to us. Among them, the letters are of utmost importance: they give us a discourse often immediately contemporary to the facts, with little distance or reinterpretation. The writer also uses his own voice in them–obviously adapted to the issue at stake, which is not without interest. Nevertheless, many works often compile the same sources since Mariette’s death, while many other documents lies in the archives or have been discovered since that time.
However, we are now benefiting from the willingness of most institutions to open their archives, and from the new publishing and sharing possibilities offered by digital technology. In the wake of Auguste Mariette’s bicentenary, we have set up an ongoing free digital edition of his letters. The paper will present this project and its first results concerning the history of the Serapeum excavations, the Bulaq Museum, Mariette himself and his relations with his peers. We also hope to attract the interest of all those who wish to share historical documents and to present our methodology and the tools we have used for this purpose.

Égypte, Afrique & Orient, 2021

Les visites d’Émile Guimet (1836-1918) au musée de Boulaq en 1865-1866 eurent un impact détermina... more Les visites d’Émile Guimet (1836-1918) au musée de Boulaq en 1865-1866 eurent un impact déterminant sur sa vocation de collectionneur et la création, quelques années plus tard, de son musée d’étude des religions (ouvert à Lyon en 1879 et transféré à Paris en 1889). Grâce à son témoignage, il est possible de revenir sur le contexte et les modalités de ces visites, qui s’inscrivent dans les débuts des circuits touristiques réguliers en Égypte. Le regard de l’orientaliste lyonnais permet aussi de prendre conscience du caractère novateur de la manière dont
Auguste Mariette (1821-1881) rendait accessible ses collections égyptologiques.

The visits of Émile Guimet (1836–1918) to the Musée de Boulaq in 1865–66 had a determining impact on his vocation as a collector and the creation, a few years later, of his museum of the study of religions (opened in Lyon in 1879 and transferred to Paris in 1889). Thanks to his testimony, the context and modes of these visits, part of the beginnings of regular organised tours in Egypt can be examined. The Lyon orientalist thus also became aware of the innovative way Auguste Mariette (1821–1881) made his Egyptological collections accessible.

Books by Thomas Lebée

Correspondances égyptologiques, 2020

Olivier PERDU Conception du catalogue et des documents de communication Mona VALLERY Photographie... more Olivier PERDU Conception du catalogue et des documents de communication Mona VALLERY Photographies Grégory HEYVAERT, Patrick IMBERT, Raphaële MEFFRE, Peter NAHUM et Olivier PERDU Ce catalogue est publié à l'occasion de l'exposition temporaire « Daressy : un savant, des archives » présentée par la chaire de Civilisation pharaonique du Collège de France avec le concours de sa bibliothèque d'égyptologie au 11 place Marcelin-Berthelot, Paris 5 e , du 6 au 23 mars 2017. PAGE DE DROITE GEORGES DARESSY ET SON ÉPOUSE DANS LA PALMERAIE DE MEMPHIS ARCHIVES PRIVÉES. CLICHÉ G. HEYVAERT

Conference Presentations by Thomas Lebée

Société française d'égyptologie, 25 février 2017 Olivier Perdu, Claire Bourgouin, Thomas Lebée ... more Société française d'égyptologie, 25 février 2017
Olivier Perdu, Claire Bourgouin, Thomas Lebée

Discussion sur l'égyptologue Georges Daressy (1864-1938), dans le cadre de l'exposition "Daressy : un savant, des archives. Trente-six années en Égypte au tournant du XXe siècle" organisée au Collège de France (6 - 23 mars 2017).

European Association of Archaeologists Annual Meeting, 2024

The necropolis of Elaeus, at the tip of the Thracian Chersonese, was fortuitously excavated by Fr... more The necropolis of Elaeus, at the tip of the Thracian Chersonese, was fortuitously excavated by French troops under fire during the 1915 Gallipoli campaign. Despite these peculiar premises, qualified archaeologists were affected to the improvised dig, while operating along military actions and with the minimal amount of resource. Finds were sent by the army to Paris and despite the publicity of the excavations, their subsequent thorough reports and a few campaigns in the following years, the Elaeus material draw little attention afterwards.
During the next stage of their life, as museum pieces, these artefacts were exposed to the risk of invisibilization inside a tremendous collection, but digital tools used for collections management contribute currently to their analysis and ultimately to their dissemination among both scholars and the general public. Moreover, the study of the unpublished excavation diary sheds new lights on this corpus excavated in extraordinary circumstances. A publication will soon make available these additional insights to the public, benefiting from the result of years of documentary work and previously unknown materials.
The intended communication aims to use this project in order to illustrate the variety of data that can be gathered from archives, but also the difficulties to identify a documentation scattered beyond ordinary sources for Antiquity scholarship. It will also address how such first-hand documentation, now objects of study in their own rights, may enhance further study on archaeological material and their lost immediate context.

24th Current Research in Egyptology (Liverpool), 2024

Egyptology was born in the 19th century, in a context of fierce competition between the Western P... more Egyptology was born in the 19th century, in a context of fierce competition between the Western Powers. As a logical consequence of its inception in the century of nationalism, it is often analysed through the lens of this fractured and quarrelsome background. Such emphasis on external factors does indeed align in some measure with the perception of the protagonists of the time themselves; national scopes may moreover offer a convenient historiographic framework, with clear criteria of analysis that roughly match the institutional gathering of archival documents.
However, a constant attention to national allegiance as a determining factor in sensibility and behaviour may induce a simplistic perception of the situation that overlooks the complexity of individual agency and interpersonal relations. Fellow countrymen rarely form a monolithic group devoid of internal conflicts, and several scholars of note had trajectories that defy national compartmentalisation. An excessive attention on national ties is especially questionable in the study of the development of a science, where individual initiative remains more determining than state policy, even if the latter can create opportunities and means of action. Reevaluating early Egyptologists’ attitude towards their peers from other countries, and more broadly any foreigners and other nations (including Egypt) could then be of interest, including a look to possible divergences between their public and private positions, since their activities were often dependant of state sponsorship and at least acquiescence from the diplomatic corps.
The projected communication aims to assess the relevance of the national scope in the context of Egyptology before the First World War, compared or combined to other alternative structures for analysis. As a tribute to the CRE spirit of fellowship and cooperation, we also intend to recall how much international scholarly enterprises and friendships contributed to the development of Egyptology in the 19th century.

Journée d’étude en hommage à Évelyne Faivre-Martin. À travers les yeux du scribe. Regards sur les objets archéologiques de la Préhistoire, du Proche-Orient et de l’Égypte, 2024

L’existence même d’une Préhistoire égyptienne fit l’objet d’âpres débats dans la seconde moitié d... more L’existence même d’une Préhistoire égyptienne fit l’objet d’âpres débats dans la seconde moitié du dix-neuvième siècle. La discussion s’est tout particulièrement focalisée sur la manière d’appréhender des silex taillés trouvés en Égypte : étaient-ils la preuve d’un « âge de pierre » égyptien ? Deux figures majeures de l’égyptologie française réagirent notamment à cette question : François Chabas (1817-1882) et Auguste Mariette (1821-1881), chacun avec une approche qui lui était propre. Chabas, figure éminente de la philologie égyptienne de sa génération, s’intéressait aussi à l’archéologie régionale de sa Bourgogne d’adoption, où il fréquentait les cercles savants férus de recherches sur les temps préhistoriques ; Mariette, directeur du service de conservation des antiquités de l’Égypte, était pour sa part un homme de terrain, familier des sites égyptiens et introduit dans les milieux académiques parisiens. Tous deux intervinrent dans la discussion par leurs prises de positions publiques et diverses communications privées, pour certaines publiées et pour d’autres conservées en archives. Au-delà du rôle de ce débat dans la construction progressive d’une archéologie de l’Égypte préhistorique et de sa méthode, les réflexions qu’il a suscitées ne sont pas sans intérêt. Nous nous proposons de revenir sur cette controverse en prêtant une attention particulière à la manière dont les vestiges matériels ont été analysés et débattus afin d’aboutir à un discours historique. Cette étude de cas permet de mettre en évidence l’arsenal des moyens déployés pour atteindre une démonstration solide ou démontrer la fragilité de certains raisonnements, face à des objets difficiles à dater et sans contexte pleinement exploitable. Les interventions de nos deux égyptologues permettent aussi de se pencher sur les modalités de contradiction et de démonstration qu’ils ont choisies dans ce débat savant. Outre une analyse aussi rationnelle que possible, ils s’escrimèrent à mobilier l’étude macroscopique, la collecte d’autres spécimens à des fins de comparaison, le recours à des sources historiques, … jusqu’à envisager même la réalisation d’une vitrine de musée comme argument à présenter au public dans ce débat ; ces tactiques sont autant d’outils encore présents et parfois incontournables dans nos disciplines.

Second Gate of the Priests Conference. From Thebes to Tanis: Egypt During the 21st Dynasty (Cairo, Misr University for Science and Technology, National Museum of Egyptian Civilization; 10-12 December), 2023

Among the wealth of materials exhumed from the Bab el-Gasus cache were a small number of funerary... more Among the wealth of materials exhumed from the Bab el-Gasus cache were a small number of funerary wooden stelae. Despite the attention devoted to the tomb and the coffins clustered in it, these discreet artefacts remained since their discovery quite overlooked, if not ignored. Their very number is not consistently reported, when they are mentioned at all; their recent redistribution among Egyptian museums has made them still harder to track. Even if some are published, seldom have they been analysed in the context of the cache and compared between them.
However, these stelae are certainly not without interest. They are obviously informative in the immediate context of the cache that sheltered the Theban priestly elite of the 21st Dynasty. Bearing the picture, names and titles of their owners, they provide us with prosopographical details; more broadly, these few stelae offer rare glimpses of the evolution of this type of material at that time, for which few examples are recorded, let alone so closely located in time and space. Aside from changes in style and iconography that may help the dating of other specimens, they also reflect a shared and shifting apprehension of afterlife expressed in an adaptable but deeply conventional medium. As such, these artefacts are simultaneously a testimony of social affirmation, ritual practice and cultural belief in a time of transition.
The intended communication aims to offer a study of these stelae in order to underline their significance as part of the Bab el-Gasus find and as precious examples of funerary stelae of the beginning of the Third Intermediate Period. By comparison with other stelae and burial assemblages of the time, we aim to show that they may serve as a milestone in the development of funerary customs in the generations following the Ramesside age.

European Conference of Egyptologists (Warsaw, June 2023), 2023

Written mediation is essential in the scholarly system; it naturally played a key role in the dev... more Written mediation is essential in the scholarly system; it naturally played a key role in the development and formalization of knowledge on Egyptian antiquities during the 19th century. This formative period can be circumscribed between the Description de l’Égypte and the Lettre à M. Dacier, on one hand, and on the other the Catalogue général du musée du Caire and the Wörterbuch der Ägypytischen Sprache: in a few generations, modalities of scholar publications had drastically evolved on various levels. The gradual elaboration of Egyptology is structured by the diffusion of seminal monographs and the increasing role of dedicated reviews. All of them gave this new science its foundations, its reference canon and sometime its battlefields. But more than a library catalog, the editorial production of the first Egyptologists is an epistemological phenomenon in its own rights, and a field of study worth of investigation.
The editorial process is indeed constrained by many factors that evolved during this century of technical and cultural changes. Without proper supporting structure, scholars had to acquaint themselves with entrepreneurship or seek funding, patronages and partnerships with craftsmen of the trade in order to see their works distributed and able to reach their audience. Their career visibility was thus dependent on economical and technical issues strangers to their actual skills. With a growing corpus of material becoming available to study and discuss, the need for illustrations, and hieroglyphic quotations made also the typographical aspect of the endeavor critical. This prompted the uneasy and costly development of hieroglyphic fonts, and long-going debates around transliteration of the ancient Egyptian language. Such practical considerations are recorded to have been so determining as to influence whole aspects of the writings: external constraints of various orders were shaping the scholarly discourse.
Projected publications, when they could be put in press, subsequently met uneven outcomes depending on a range of factors. Alongside general trends that reproduce the more successful formulae, individual choices in the publication of academical works are also to consider. Major figures of the discipline at that time, like Champollion, Lepsius, Mariette, Maspero and others offer an array of situations, according to their careers, networks, constraints and possibilities. Depending of their positions and insights, they adopted more or less conscientiously various strategies in order to give their works the appropriate reach. In the meantime, they collectively contributed to the success of the birth of Egyptology, their works being the cornerstones of the ongoing process of recognition and institutionalization of Egyptology as a proper science in the scholarly circles and the general opinion.
The intended communication will attempt to analyze how 19th centuy Egyptologists tried to disseminate their works to peers, successors and broader audience. By investigating the context of their works, this study aims to propose a new appreciation of the challenges faced by the forefathers of our discipline.

Symposium Bissing Links (Allard Pierson Museum), 2022

For over thirty years, Friedrich Wilhelm von Bissing has been in correspondence with Gaston Maspe... more For over thirty years, Friedrich Wilhelm von Bissing has been in correspondence with Gaston Maspero, figurehead of the French Egyptology and the Service des antiquités in Egypt; he fortunately kept Bissing’s letters, now held by the Institut de France library (ms. 4005). Those dozens of letters offer valuable insights into the formative years of Bissing and his early career.
Those documents shed a peculiar light upon the picture of Egyptology in the 1900s, at a moment where Gaston Maspero was for the second time head of the Service des antiquités, and had to compose with rival interests inside the archaeological committee, both from civil administrators and German scholars established in Egypt for the Catalogue général du musée du Caire editorial project – Bissing being a firm ally of Maspero against his own countrymen from Berlin. A cursive reading of these letters enable us to observe the perception of the contemporary developments of archaeology, from discoveries of global renown to the day-to-day life of the excavations supervision by the Service. Bissing reveals himself with an unusual spontaneity, with his broad range of interests and his diverse works along the years, spiced by colourful comments about his peers. Those letters are also choice material to study Bissing as a collector, since Maspero was his primary contact to acquire pieces once himself was settled in Bavaria, both for his own collection and on behalf of the Munich Glyptothek.
The proposed paper intends to present those archives and put them into perspective, in the light of Bissing and Maspero respective careers and networks of activities, seeking also omissions or unanswered remarks in the dialogue of so divergent a pair and the extent of their connivance.

The Digital Orientalist Twitter Conference 2020, 2020

François Chabas (1817-1882), while kept away from academic circles by his business (and to an ext... more François Chabas (1817-1882), while kept away from academic circles by his business (and to an extent, his reclusive nature also) managed nonetheless to become one of the leading figures of French egyptology in the third quarter of the 19th century. His own ability to study by himself as an autodidact was essential in his achievements; years passing, he eventually participated in a rich and diverse network of correspondence. Hundreds of letters received by Chabas (and copies of many of his replies) are now held by the Institut de France library.
In this paper I will try to make the best of available data while libraries are closed, to begin a study of these documents and what they tell us about how a provincial and amateur orientalist managed to communicate with the most distinguished of his European pairs. The raw material of this experiment will be the description of the archives (http://www.calames.abes.fr/pub/#details?id=IF2C11688). I will expand on using free tools and online ressources (Wikidata, OpenRefine, Palladio) to get usable data that can be visualised and analysed in order to apprehend this corpus.

Études des salles égyptiennes du Louvre et du musée Guimet de Paris au XIXe siècle, sous l'angle ... more Études des salles égyptiennes du Louvre et du musée Guimet de Paris au XIXe siècle, sous l'angle de la contextualisation des collections : cadre, parcours, auxiliaires à la visite.
Communication présentée au colloque international "Arts & vestiges : contextualisation, exposition, scénographie" (INHA, 14-15 octobre 2019).

Dissertations by Thomas Lebée

Le Departement des antiquites egyptiennes du Musee du Louvre possede une des plus importantes col... more Le Departement des antiquites egyptiennes du Musee du Louvre possede une des plus importantes collections de steles tardives au monde. Notre etude se concentre sur deux typologies majeures : les steles funeraires et les steles de donation. Apres avoir analyse ce qui pouvait etre exploite de l’histoire de la constitution de cette collection et de sa mise en valeur, nous nous sommes attaches a chacune d’elle pour en degager les principaux elements notables : representativite de la collection, datations, particularites iconographiques, representativite de la culture egyptienne contemporaine, ... Dans nos annexes, nous avons etabli une fiche pour chacune des 70 steles de notre corpus, avec notamment une image de grande dimension, sa traduction et la bibliographie associee. Nous avons egalement indexe les noms divins, les epithetes, les noms de particuliers et les titres, par graphie et par stele.

Volume d'annexes Données chiffrées : - Historique des acquisitions - Corpus de comparaison ... more Volume d'annexes

Données chiffrées :
- Historique des acquisitions
- Corpus de comparaison
Index épigraphiques
Cartes

[Le reste du mémoire peut être consulté en contactant l'auteur ou à la bibliothèque de l'École du Louvre]

Ouvert au public en 1863, le musée d’antiquités égyptiennes de Būlāq fut le premier musée public ... more Ouvert au public en 1863, le musée d’antiquités égyptiennes de Būlāq fut le premier musée public d’égyptologie d’Égypte. Jusqu’au transfert de ses collections au musée de Ǧīza en 1889, il présenta aux touristes croissants du « voyage d’Égypte » et aux spécialistes le produit des fouilles menées par le Service des antiquités de l’Égypte. Nous avons essayé de décrire précisément les conditions pratiques dans lesquelles fut aménagé ce musée exposé aux crues du Nil, infesté de serpents, soumis aux caprices du vice-roi et à un budget dérisoire. Ayant tenté de retracer l’histoire de ses aménagements successifs, nous nous sommes intéressé aux efforts considérables menés par Mariette et Maspero pour susciter et accompagner l’intérêt des visiteurs (européens aussi bien qu’égyptiens) pour l’Égypte ancienne.

Dans nos annexes, nous avons réuni et daté une cinquantaine d’images du musée. Nous avons aussi recherché la parcelle du musée dans Le Caire actuel, et reproduit un certain nombre de plans ; cela qui nous a permis de restituer plusieurs plans retraçant l’évolution du bâtiment et ses états successifs. Nous joignons également plusieurs documents de contextualisation, notamment une synthèse sur les Notices et Guide publiés par le musée et la transcription d’une rapport du directeur après un vol.

Posters by Thomas Lebée

[Poster and flash conference at the international conference "Playing and operating : Functionali... more [Poster and flash conference at the international conference "Playing and operating : Functionality in museum objects and instruments" (ICOM - CIMCIM - CIMUSET, Philharmonie de Paris), 4th-6th February 2020.]

Among the “wonderful things” discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun were two trumpets, the only ones conveyed to us from Egyptian antiquity. They were carefully brought to the Cairo Egyptian Museum and displayed with the rest of the treasure. The instantaneous fame of the boy-king is well-known, as the spread of the myth of the Curse of the Pharaohs, that seemed to strike anyone that had participated in the archaeological desecration of the tomb. The two trumpets had a peculiar story in this narrative: after some unfortunate material damage and subsequent restorations, they were used in a performance for the BBC in 1939, to record what sounds could have graced the Pharaonic ears. Both were thus broadcast worldwide; but their performance had unforeseen impact in popular culture.
Some months later, the World War II had broke out, and people began to think that the prophetic blowing of the trumpet had been instrumental in triggering the disaster. From this point onward, the story repeated itself at various occasions during the major troubles that Egypt faced aftermath, from the Six Days War up to the 2011 revolution.
The trumpets of Tutankhamun are a fascinating case of urban legend crystallisation. The beliefs of an antic curse focused around those two musical instruments, who had to be activated by the performance to unleash their terrible powers is a striking illustration of the symbolic impact of these museum artefacts and their performance on popular imagination, here further increased by the cultural significance of Pharaonic culture in modern Egypt national representation.

Drafts by Thomas Lebée