Biography:
Joshua Aaron Roberson received his Ph.D. in Egyptology, specializing in Egyptian language, from the University of Pennsylvania in 2007. He serves currently as tenured Associate Professor of Art History and Egyptian Language at the University of Memphis and as Assistant Director of the Institute of Egyptian Art & Archaeology. He has worked extensively at sites throughout Egypt, including Saqqara and Abydos, with the University of Pennsylvania; Karnak temple, with the French Nation Center for Scientific Research; Elephantine island, with the German Archaeological Institute; as well as the Valley of the Kings and the private necropolis of El-Asasif, while on fellowship with the American Research Center in Egypt. He has conducted museum research at the University of Pennsylvania, the Cairo Museum, and the British Museum. Dr. Roberson is an internationally recognized expert in multiple disciplines within Egyptology, with an extensive publication history on ancient Egyptian religion and cosmology, cryptography, language, and literature, including more than fifty scholarly articles and other short works, as well as six books, including the The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Earth (2012); The Awakening of Osiris and the Transit of the Solar Barques (2013); Ramesside Inscriptions: Historical and Biographical, vol. IX (2018); A Lexicon of Ancient Egyptian Cryptography of the New Kingdom (2020); Ancient Egypt, New Technology, co-edited with Rita Lucarelli from UC Berkeley and Steve Vinson from Indiana University (2023); and most recently, a new Teaching Grammar of Middle Egyptian (2025).
Education Details:
Publications:
Monographs, Single-Author
In preparation. The Shabaqo Stone: Grammar, Text, and Critical Apparatus.
In preparation. An Ancient Egyptian Enigmatic Chrestomathy: Selected Texts for Advanced Classroom Instruction.
2025. A Teaching Grammar of Middle Egyptian (Atlanta: Lockwood).
2020. A Lexicon of Ancient Egyptian Cryptography of the New Kingdom, Enigmatic Writing in the Egyptian New Kingdom vol. 2, Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde Beiheft 12, 2 (Berlin: De Gruyter). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110683851-toc
2018. Ramesside Inscriptions: Historical and Biographical, volume IX (Wallasey, UK: Abercromby Press).
2013. The Awakening of Osiris and the Transit of the Solar Barques: Royal Apotheosis in a Most Concise Book of the Underworld and Sky, Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis, vol. 262 (Fribourg and Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht). DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5167/uzh-135412
2012. The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Earth, Wilbour Studies in Egypt and Ancient Western Asia, vol. 1 (Atlanta: Lockwood).
Monographs, Co-Authored
In preparation. With L. Humphrey, Ramesside Inscriptions Translated and Annotated, volume IX (Wallasey, UK: Abercromby Press).
With G. Charloux, R. Angevin, S. Marchand, H. Monchot, A. Oboussier, and H. Virenque, Le parvis du temple d’Opet à Karnak. Exploration archéologique (2006–2007) (Cairo: IFAO).
Volume Co-Editor
2023. With Rita Lucarelli and Steve Vinson, Ancient Egypt – New Technology, Harvard Egyptological Studies 17 (Leiden and Boston: Brill). Available in print and via Open Access: https://brill.com/edcollbook-oa/title/55882?language=en
Series Co-Editor
2022. With With C. Geisen: Tara Prakash, Ancient Egyptian Prisoner Statues. Fragments of the Late Old Kingdom, Material and Visual Culture of Ancient Egypt 8 (Atlanta: Lockwood).
2022. With C. Geisen: Silvia Zago, A Journey through the Beyond: The Development of the Concept of Duat and Related Cosmological Notions in Egyptian Funerary Literature, Material and Visual Culture of Ancient Egypt 7 (Atlanta: Lockwood).
2022. With C. Geisen: Betsy Bryan, Mark Smith, Christina DiCerbo, Marina Escolano-Poveda, and Jill S. Waller, eds., One Who Loves Knowledge. Studies in Honor of Richard Jasnow, Material and Visual Culture in Ancient Egypt 6 (Atlanta: Lockwood).
2021. With C. Geisen: Christina Geisen, Jean Li, Steven Shubert, and Kei Yamamoto, eds., His Good Name: Essays on Identity and Self-Presentation in Ancient Egypt in Honor of Ronald J. Leprohon, Material and Visual Culture of Ancient Egypt 5 (Atlanta: Lockwood).
Book Chapters
2016. “Chapter 21: The Royal Funerary Books,” in K. Weeks and R. Wilkinson, eds., The Oxford Handbook of the Valley of the Kings (Oxford: University Press), 317–332. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199931637.013.021
2012. “The Seal Impressions,” in G. Charloux, et al., Le parvis du temple d’Opet à Karnak. Exploration archéologique (2006–2007) (Cairo: IFAO), 316–332. Also see “Monographs: co-authored,” above.
2011. “Chapter 5: A Good Burial,” in C. Routledge, ed., Quest for Immortality, The Bolton Collection (Taipei, China: Media Sphere and United Exhibits Group), 244–253 (English and Chinese).
Journal Articles
2024 in preparation. “Some Observations on the Transmission of the Book of the Earth in TT33.”
2024 in press. “Ancient Egyptian Conceptions of the Afterlife,” in Rita Lucarelli and Lara Weiss, eds., The Bloomsbury Handbook to Religion in Ancient Egypt: A Decolonized, Lived Perspective.
2024. “Syntactic and Modal Markers (“Particles”) in the Texts of the Shabaqo Stone,” in Brian Muhs and Foy Scalf, eds., A Master of Secrets in the Chamber of Darkness: Egyptological Studies in Honor of Robert K. Ritner, Presented on the Occasion of His 68th Birthday, Studies in Ancient Cultures 3 (Chicago: University press), 261–276.
2023. “The Iconicity of the Vertical in Egyptian Cosmological (Con-)Texts,” in Ilona Zsolnay, ed., Seen Not Heard: Composition, Iconicity, and the Classifier Systems of Logosyllabic Scripts, Oriental Institute Seminars 14 (Chicago: Oriental Institute), 31–62.
2023. Co-author, with Rita Lucarelli and Steve Vinson, “Looking back, looking forward: Ancient Egypt – New Technology,” in R. Lucarelli, J.A. Roberson, and S. Vinson, eds., Ancient Egypt – New Technology, Harvard Egyptological Studies 17 (Leiden and Boston: Brill). ix–xi.
2023. Co-author, with Heleen Wilbrink, “Cleo – The Artificial Intelligence Egyptology Platform,” in R. Lucarelli, J.A. Roberson, and S. Vinson, eds., Ancient Egypt – New Technology, Harvard Egyptological Studies 17 (Leiden and Boston: Brill), 592–604.
2020. “The ‘Jackal Hymn of the West’ in the Book of the Night,” in A. Stauder and D. Klotz, eds., Enigmatic Writing in the Egyptian New Kingdom. Revealing, Transforming, and Display in Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde Beiheft 12, 1 (Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter), 149–194. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110683882
2020. “A Brief Excursus on the Mechanisms of Cryptographic Sign Substitution,” in A. Stauder and D. Klotz, eds., Enigmatic Writing in the Egyptian New Kingdom. Revealing, Transforming, and Display in Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde Beiheft 12, 1 (Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter), 141–148. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110683882
2019. “Whose Error Anyway? Epigraphic and Orthographic Variation in a Book of the Earth as Evidence for Multiple Master Documents in the Sarcophagus Chamber of Ramesses VI,” Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 55: 161–171. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.5913/jarce.55.2019.a010
2018. “Tête-à-tête: Some Observations and Counter-Arguments Regarding a Contentious Phonological Value,” Lingua Aegyptia 26: 185–202.
2018. “A New Interpretation for a Supposed Hapax in Sinuhe, B 186,” Göttinger Miszellen 255: 5–8.
2018. “A Brief Etymological Note on the Toponym Nefrusy / Neferusi,” Göttinger Miszellen 254: 6.
2017. Co-author, with G. Charloux et al., “Le temple « primitif » de Ptah à Karnak,” Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale 117: 125–159.
2012. “A New Nautical Idiom for Hoisting Sails (in the Underworld)?” Göttinger Miszellen, vol. 233: 43–50.
2010. “The Trampled Foe: Two New Examples of a Rare Amuletic Form,” Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, vol. 96: 219–222.
2010. “Observations on the so-called ‘sw sḏm=f,’ or Middle Egyptian Proclitic Pronoun Construction,” in Z. Hawass and J. Wegner, eds., Millions of Jubilees: Studies in Honor of David P. Silverman, SASAE 39, (Cairo: SCA), vol. 2, 185–205.
2009. “A Solar Litany from the Tomb of Ramesses IX,” Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, vol. 45: 227–232.
2009. “Inside or at Home? An Observation on Syntax in the Serpent’s Prophesy, Shipwrecked Sailor 167–69,” Göttinger Miszellen 222: 51–56.
2009. “The Early History of “New Kingdom” Netherworld Iconography: A Late Middle Kingdom Apotropaic Wand Reconsidered,” in D.P. Silverman, W.K. Simpson, and J. Wegner, eds., Archaism and Innovation: Studies in the Culture of Middle Kingdom Egypt (New Haven and Philadelphia: Yale and University of Pennsylvania), 427–445.
2007. “An Enigmatic Wall from the Cenotaph of Seti I at Abydos,” Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 43: 93–112.
Academic Book Reviews
In press. Review of K. Cooney, Recycling for Death. Coffin Reuse in Ancient Egypt and the Theban Royal Caches, for the Journal of the American Oriental Society.
2019. Review of J.C. Darnell and C.M. Darnell, The Ancient Egyptian Netherworld Books, for the Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 53: 210–213.
2018. Review of W. Sherbiny, Through Hermopolitan Lenses. Studies on the So-Called Book of Two Ways in Ancient Egypt, for the Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 54: 149–153. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.5913/jarce.54.2018.r017
2017. Review of S. Quirke, Exploring Religion in Ancient Egypt, for the Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, vol. 53: 331–332.
2017. Review of F. Neveu, The Language of Ramesses, translated from the French by Maria Cannata, for the Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, vol. 53: 332–335.
2014. Review of N. Harrington, Living with the Dead: Ancestor Worship and Mortuary Ritual in Ancient Egypt, for the Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, vol. 50: 237–39.
2014. Review of B. Gunn, Studies in Egyptian Syntax (second edition), for the Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, vol. 50: 235–37.
2008. Review of M. Bárta, Sinuhe, the Bible, and the Patriarchs, for the Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, vol. 42 (2005–06), 167–68.
2008. Review of J. Naydler, Shamanic Wisdom in the Pyramid Texts: The Mystical Tradition of Ancient Egypt, for the Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, vol. 42 (2005–06), 166–67.
2004. Review of N. de G. Davies, The Rock Tombs of El Amarna, 3 vols., for the Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, vol. 41: 203.
2003. Review of C. Manassa, The Great Karnak Inscription of Merneptah, for the Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, vol. 40: 109–110.
Popular Articles, Encyclopedia and Catalogue Entries
2019. “Language and Script”; “Decipherment”; “Cosmology”; “Seals and Seal Impressions”; “Amun,” five articles in Lisa K. Sabahy, ed., All Things Ancient Egypt: An Encyclopedia of the Ancient Egyptian World (ABC-CLIO).
2016. “Anatomy of a Palimpsest: The Not-So-Strange Case of the Abydos ‘Helicopter’,” Kmt: A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt 27/1: 61–66.
2015. “A Season in Hell (with apologies to Arthur Rimbaud): The Annihilation of the Damned in Ancient Egypt,” Expedition, vol. 57/2 (Fall, 2015), 17–23.
2011. “Egyptian Creation Myths,” “The Valley of the Kings,” “Egyptian Magic,” “Egyptian Solar Deities,” “Egyptian Hieroglyphs,” “Egyptian Scribal Academies,” “Tale of Sinuhe,” “Medinet Habu,” “Communicating the Environment in Egyptian Art,” “The Early New Kingdom,” and “The Later New Kingdom,” eleven articles in K. McGeough, ed., World History Encyclopedia. Era 2: Early Civilizations, 4000–1000 bce, vols. 3 and 4 (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO).
2009. Co-author, with G. Charloux et al., and French-English translator, “Recent Excavations at the Opet Temple in Karnak,” Kmt: A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt 20/1: 18–26.
2009. Co-author, with G. Charloux, et al., “Karnak: Sous le temple d’Opet,” Archéologia 463: 28–39.
2008. “The Rebirth of the Sun: Mortuary Art and Architecture in the Royal Tombs of New Kingdom Egypt,” Expedition 50/2: 14–25.
2006. “Relief Fragment,” in G. Nosan and E. Feery, eds., Art of the Two Lands: Egypt from 4000 B.C. to 1000 A.D. (Verona: Mondadori), 86–87.
Digital Content and Native Online Materials
2022–23. Seal impressions data (photos, line drawings, and metadata) from Elephantine excavation project “Realities of Life” (2015–2020), curated for Ifield and iDAI.object websites of the German Archaeological Institute.
2021. “Ancient Egyptian Book of the Earth – Tomb of Ramesses VI,” Database of Religious History. DOI: https://religiondatabase.org/browse/1117. Accessed June 2021.
2018. Co-author, with S.J. Seidlmayer et al., “Report on the Excavations at Elephantine by the German Archaeological Institute and the Swiss Institute from autumn 2015 to summer 2016.” Available online at: http://www.dainst.org/project/25953. Accessed May 21, 2019.
2017. “Stela of Chola”; “Terracotta head of a man, possibly Vespasian”; “Lion in repose”; “Nedjemu statue”; “Igeg shrine”; “Middle Kingdom offering tray”; and “Pre-Dynastic macehead,” seven 3D models of objects in the Art Museum of the University of Memphis, with descriptions and bibliography, published online at: https://sketchfab.com/joshuaaaronroberson/models. Accessed May 21, 2019.
2015. “God in the Flesh: The Role of the King in Ancient Egypt,” in World Religions: Belief, Culture and Controversy, online database (ABC-CLIO). Subscription-based content available at: http://www.abc-clio.com/ABC-CLIOCorporate/product.aspx?pc=WRELW. Accessed May 21, 2019.
