Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Lecture by Denise M. Doxey, Norma Jean Calderwood Curator of Ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Queen Khensa was a Nubian royal and principal wife of King Piankhy, the Kushite ruler (664–653 BCE) who conquered Egypt and established the Twenty-fifth Dynasty. She was buried in a pyramid tomb whose contents were largely plundered in antiquity. Even so, her burial still contained a variety of intriguing objects, from precious-metal vessels and fine jewelry to tools, figurines, and natural history specimens. The function of many of these items remains a mystery. In this talk, Denise Doxey presents what survives of Khensa’s mortuary offerings and discuss new ideas about how these treasures may have functioned in royal Nubian funerary ritual and belief.
Presented by the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East and the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture.
Lecture by Denise M. Doxey, Norma Jean Calderwood Curator of Ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Queen Khensa was a Nubian royal and principal wife of King Piankhy, the Kushite ruler (664–653 BCE) who conquered Egypt and established the Twenty-fifth Dynasty. She was buried in a pyramid tomb whose contents were largely plundered in antiquity. Even so, her burial still contained a variety of intriguing objects, from precious-metal vessels and fine jewelry to tools, figurines, and natural history specimens. The function of many of these items remains a mystery. In this talk, Denise Doxey presents what survives of Khensa’s mortuary offerings and discuss new ideas about how these treasures may have functioned in royal Nubian funerary ritual and belief.
Presented by the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East and the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture.
