Dr. Chris Elliott
PhD in Archaeology
Southampton University 2016–2019.
Thesis: The Past as Property: Cleopatra’s Needle and the Reception of Ancient Egypt.
Currently Visiting Fellow, Archaeology Department, University of Southampton.
Professional Member of the International Association of Egyptologists.
Ambassador for the International Society for the Study of Egyptomania. (ISSE)
Committee member and Reviews Editor, Association for the Study of Travel to Egypt and the Near East (ASTENE)
Egypt Exploration Society member since 1993, and helped to set up their original web site.
Publications
Needles from the Nile. Forthcoming 2022, Liverpool University Press.
‘Awful Grandeur and Deceptive Artifices. Robert Willis and Ancient Egyptian Architecture’. In Robert Willis: Science, Technology and Architecture in the Nineteenth Century. Proceedings of the International Symposium held in Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge UK, 16–17 September 2016. Instituto Juan de Herrera, Madrid.
Egypt in England. English Heritage Publishing. Swindon: 2012.
‘Egypt in London – Entertainment and Commerce in the 20th Century Metropolis’. Chris Elliott, Katherine Griffis-Greenberg and Richard Lunn. In Imhotep Today. Eds. Jean-Marcel Humbert and Clifford Price. UCL Press. London; 2003.
Articles
2023
Chris Elliott. ‘Cats, Commerce, and Cemeteries: The Mummified Felines of Beni Hasan’. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Volume 109, Issues 1-2, June-December 2023.
2021
Elliott, C. 2021. ‘Rock Stars – Obelisks as Individuals’, in G. Delia, E. Lundius, G. Marchiori, and E. Tiribilli (eds), Proceedings of the fifth British Egyptology Congress (2020). Available at: www.ees.ac.uk/ees-congress.
2020
Aegyptiaca 5. ‘The Needle and the New Zealander: Cleopatra’s Needle as Memento Mori for Empire. 434–45.
https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/aegyp/article/view/76127
2018
‘Injury and Induration’. Journal of the Association of Public Analysts (Online). 2018 46 1-8.
http://www.apajournal.org.uk/html/japa_vol_46_pg__01-08.html
‘Light or Lighter? ’Midnight Oil, magazine of the Historic Lighting Club. Autumn 2018, Issue 96.
2017
Aegyptiaca 1. ‘Bandages, Bitumen, Bodies and Business: Egyptian mummies as raw materials’. 26-46.
https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/aegyp/issue/view/3487/showToc
2016
Birmingham Egyptology Journal Occasional publication 3, 2016. Conference Proceedings
Elliott, C. ‘Pyramisks and Obelids – Pitch Imperfect? The reception of ancient Egyptian architectural elements in pre-nineteenth century Europe’. 1-18.
2014
ARCE (American Research Center in Egypt) Bulletin 204, Summer 2014. 34-39. ‘Influences of Egypt’ Trans-Atlantic Egypt: Egyptian Revival Architecture in Britain and America.
2013
Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 2013 Volume 99. 171-191. ‘Compositions in Egyptian Hieroglyphs in Nineteenth Century England’.
BBC History Magazine Vol. 14 No. 3, March 2013, 78-83. Interview: ‘Egypt in Britain’.
Discover Britain October/November 2013 Issue 176. ‘Egypt in England’. 34-38.
KMT A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt Vol. 24 No. 2 Summer 2013. ‘In Imitation of Egypt: The Afterlife in England of Ancient Egyptian Architecture’. 67-81.
Reviews
Alternative Egyptology – Critical Essays on the Relation between Academic and Alternative Interpretations of Ancient Egypt. Ed. B. J. L. van den Bercken. Leiden: Sidestone Press. 2024. For the Egypt Exploration Society. Available online for members.
The Luxor Obelisk and its Voyage to Paris. Apollinaire Lebas. Introduced and translated by Bob Brier and Colette Fossez Sumner. For Egyptian Archeology. 2022.
The Afterlives of Egyptian History: Reuse and Reformulation of Objects, Places, and Texts. In Honour of Edward Bleiberg. Edited by Yekaterina Barbash and Kathleen M Cooney. For Egyptian Archaeology. 2022.
Shepheard’s of Cairo: the birth of the Oriental Hotel. Tarek Ibrahim. For ASTENE Bulletin. 2022
Wonderful Things Vol. 3. Jason Thompson. For Birmingham Egyptology Journal. 2019
Peer reviewer for Journal of Egyptian History. March 2019.
Cleopatra’s Needles. Bob Brier. For Egyptian Archaeology. 2016.
Conferences, Symposia, and Seminars
2021
British Egyptology Congress 5. Online. ‘Rock Stars: Obelisks as Individuals’.
https://www.ees.ac.uk/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=72e5c76f-b955-426f-81ed-88fd9944fbfe
2018
Heritage of London Trust Annual Conference. 15 June 2018. ‘Egypt in London’.
Sackler Colloquium. British Museum. London. 19 and 20 July 2018. ‘The Museum and the Monolith’.
British Egyptology Congress 4. Manchester. 7-9 September 2018. ‘Pepper Pots of the Pharaohs’.
2017
Birmingham Egyptology Symposium. 17 February 2017. ‘The New Zealander on the Bridge’.
Association of Public Analysts Conference. 27 October 2017. ‘Injury and Induration’.
ASTENE Conference – 23 July 2017. ‘You Wanna Piece of Me?’
St. Catherine Foundation ‘Egypt in London’ event. 4 November 2017.
2016
Rome, City of Obelisks – Egypt Exploration Society Study Day. 27 February 2016. Pointers for Pilgrims: Egypt and its obelisks in the Christian world.
Birmingham Egyptology Symposium. ‘Pyramisks and Obelids – Pitch Imperfect?’
Conference: Robert Willis: Science, Technology and Architecture in the 19th Century. 16 & 17 September 2016, Gonville and Caius College Cambridge. ‘Robert Willis and Ancient Egyptian Architecture’.
Tea With the Sphinx. 23 and 24 September 2016. ‘The New Zealander on the Bridge’.
2014
Egypt in England – Egypt Exploration Society Study Day. 22 March 2014. Egypt in England.
2012
The Hartwell Seminar 2012 – Ancient Egypt in the Garden. Bucks Garden Trust, Hartwell House, August 11 2012. The Egyptian Influence in the Garden: Structures and Symbolism.
Lectures
Online talk for the Egypt Exploration Society. Picknicking on the Pyramid. 2021.
Heritage of London Trust Patrons. Cleopatra’s Needle talk and visit. 2021.
Talks to Egyptology societies throughout the United Kingdom, including Berkhamsted, Bristol, Carlisle, Glasgow, Herne Bay, Lincoln, Northampton, Stafford, Swansea, and Taunton.
Podcasts
2024 – Interviewed for the 99% Invisible podcast on the Great Pyramid of Memphis and Egyptian influences on American architecture and design.
Television
2006 – Interviewed at Cleopatra’s Needle by Adam Hart Davis for How London Was Built.
I Have Also…
2015. Successfully proposed Amelia Edwards for a Blue Plaque at the house where she lived in London.
2012. With English Heritage staff, curated the Egypt in England exhibition at the Wellington Arch in London.
2007. Assisted as a volunteer in the creation of a computerised database for the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
Cycled 500km across the Sinai in 1998 and 500km from Luxor to Aswan and back in 2001 to raise funds for Mencap.