Italian Egyptologist Dr. Francesco Tiradritti, a 2013 Getty Scholar and professor at the Kore University of Enna, speaks on his research at the tomb of Harwa in this free lecture that is open to the public.
Harwa was an enigmatic person in ancient Egyptian history. He lived at the beginning of the 7th century BC, when the Nile Valley was in the hands of the Nubian Pharaohs of the 25th Dynasty. He held the position of Great Steward of the Divine Votaress, a position that allowed him to manage the huge resources of the state of Amun-Re of Karnak This position was held for three centuries by the members of the clergy and embraced the whole southern Egypt. The importance of Harwa is mainly demonstrated by the eight statues portraying him in various attitudes which are now kept in the major Egyptian collections all over the world (Cairo, Aswan, Paris, London and Leipzig).
The excavations in the Tomb of Harwa have been carried out since 1995 by the Italian Archaeological Mission to Luxor. These excavations have yielded useful data to improve the knowledge of Harwa and the historical period in which he lived. The data from the excavation indicates that Harwa was, not only a dignitary holding huge powers, but the actual ruler of the whole of southern Egypt, ruling on behalf of the pharaohs of the 25th Dynasty.
