Well-known Egyptologist Prof Aidan Dodson will be giving a talk for the Canterbury Festival on 16 September in St Peter’s Methodist Church, Canterbury, about the beautiful and iconic Queen Nefertiti.

Prof Dodson is well-known from his appearances on many TV documentaries including Tut’s Treasure’s: Hidden Secrets, Egypt’s Buried City and King Tut’s Tomb – The Hidden Chamber. He has also been consultant on numerous films and TV programmes including Egyptian Journeys with Dan Cruickshank, and has written many acclaimed books on Egyptology. 

The image of Nefertiti is instantly recognisable  from the beautiful bust in the Berlin Museum. Great Royal Wife of the famous, or notorious, Pharaoh Akhenaten, she has become a subject of fascination, speculation and legend. A woman of power, the step-mother – or possibly the mother – of Tutankhamun, Prof Dodson’s talk will investigate what we know, what we can infer and what we might be able to guess from the evidence we have about this enigmatic queen. Unafraid to put forward controversial theories, Prof Dodson suggests that she may be the mysterious ‘Pharaoh’ who reigned after Akhenaten and before Tutankhamun. 

The talk begins at 4pm and is preceded by tea and homemade cakes at 3pm. 

Another talk by local historian Dr Sheila  Sweetinburgh is being held on the same day. Dr Sweetinburgh is Principal Research Fellow and Co-Director of the Centre for Kent History and Heritage who specialises in the Middle Ages. Her talk is To Move the Mind: Reading Salvation in the Late Medieval Parish Church in which she uses surviving  examples of medieval wall paintings, mostly from Kent and including one from Faversham, to investigate and try to explain how the people of the time related to and understood them, and what effect they might have had. 

The talk beings at 11am, tea and coffee will be available from 10am.