Research Fields
- Semiotics of hieroglyphic script and Egyptian art;
- Middle and Neo-Egyptian languages;
- ancient Egyptian legal languages and legal system;
- Egyptian(izing) finds in Israel;
- iconography of kingship in Karnak and Amarna
About
Trained as a lawyer (LLM from the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium) and as an Egyptologist (theHebrew University of Jerusalem), Arlette David has published various interdisciplinary studies on the ancient Egyptian legal system, its conceptual frame, textual productions, linguistic registers, and legal categorization embedded in the hieroglyphic and hieratic scripts. Today, Prof. David investigates the interplay between pictures, script, and texts in various contexts, with new analyses of Egyptian works of art. Her recent work concerns pictures of kingship at the times of Akhenaten and Nefertiti from Karnak and Amarna.
Selected Publications
2021 Book: Renewing Royal Imagery - Akhenaten and Family in the Amarna Tombs (https://brill.com/view/title/57605)
2021 Article: “Akhenaten and Nefertiti's Morning Toilet in Karnak” (Journal of Near Eastern Studies 80/2)
2021 Article: “Akhenaten's Window and the Aegean Connection” (Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 30)
2010 Book: The Legal Register of Ramesside Private Law Instruments (Harrassowitz)
2006 Book: Syntactic and Lexico-Semantic Aspects of the Legal Register in Ramesside Royal Decrees (Harrassowitz)
Selected Awards
Prize of the Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Contest 1986
Max Schlomiuk Prize 2003
Teaching
B.A.
Reading Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs
Ancient Egyptian Artists: Life, Work, Models, Techniques
Middle Egyptian for beginners
Middle Egyptian intermediary level
Introduction to Ancient Egyptian Art and Culture (Predynastic to Second Intermediate Period)
Introduction to Ancient Egyptian Art and Culture (New Kingdom to Ptolemaic Period)
Art as a System of Signs: Decoding Ancient Egyptian Images
Patterns of continuity and change in ancient Egyptian art
M.A.
Despair, Disgust, and Life's Chaos: Ancient Egyptian Laments
Ramesside for Beginners
Egypt in Israel: Ancient Egyptian Inscriptions Found in Israel
Entertaining an Egyptian King with Tales of Magic: Papyrus Westcar
Ancient Egyptian Artifacts: Magic and the Senses
Killing Pharaoh: The Teaching of King Amenemhat I
Shipwrecked in Wonderland: An Ancient Egyptian Mythical Narrative
Working with Ancient Egyptian Material Culture
Contribution of ancient Egyptian law to the history of thought
Ancient Egyptian tales of adventure
The Levant and Egypt, archaeology and art: cultural transfers