Dr. Rune Nyord
Biography
Rune Nyord received his higher doctorate (dr.phil.) from the University of Copenhagen in 2010 and was elected the same year to the Lady Wallis Budge Junior Research Fellowship at Christ’s College. He stayed in Cambridge as Fellow of Christ’s College and Research Associate of the McDonald Institute until 2017, working on a project proposing a broad rethinking of ancient Egyptian mortuary religion funded by the Carlsberg Foundation and the Isaac Newton Trust. During this period, he organised various events for the Lady Wallis Budge Fund, including the inauguration of the series of Budge Symposia with an Anniversary Symposium in 2016 commemorating the election of the first Budge Fellow at Christ’s. In 2017, he cemented the tradition by co-organising the second Budge Symposium (with then-Budge Fellow Kathryn Howley). He respectively edited and co-edited the published proceedings of the two symposia.
In 2017, he left Cambridge for a post at Freie Universität Berlin as part of the large interdisciplinary project Episteme in Motion, where he worked on the transmission and later interpretations of ancient Egyptian funerary texts. In 2018 he moved to Atlanta, where he currently teaches ancient Egyptian art at Emory University.
His research focuses on ancient Egyptian conceptions and experiences of personhood and images, as well as on mortuary religion more generally, both in terms of historiography and in terms of the new interpretations a critical view on disciplinary history can lead to. He is the author of numerous articles and book chapters, editor and co-editor of several volumes, and author of the monographs Breathing Flesh: Conceptions of the Body in the Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts (Copenhagen, 2009) and Seeing Perfection: Ancient Egyptian Images beyond Representation (Cambridge, 2020).
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Peer-reviewed monographs
Nyord, R. 2009. Breathing Flesh. Conceptions of the Body in the Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts (=CNI Publications 37), Copenhagen, xvi + 645 pp.
Reviews: J. Moje, PalArch’s Journal of Archaeology of Egypt/Egyptology 7/4 (2010); G. Batho, The Historian Magazine (http://www.history.org.uk/resources/general_resource_3410.html); L. Gestermann, Orientalistische Literaturzeitung 106 (2011), pp. 80–83; M. Stadler, Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 101 (2011), pp. 501–506;D.A. Warburton, Lingua Aegyptia 19 (2011), pp. 375–386; B. Russo, Bibliotheca Orientalis 71/3–4 (2014), coll. 403–406.
Nyord, R. 2020. Seeing Perfection. Ancient Egyptian Images beyond Representation (=Ancient Egypt in Context 1), Cambridge, iv + 94 pp.
Reviews: S. Griffiths, Ancient Egypt Magazine 21/4 (2021) (https://ancientegyptmagazine.co.uk/ reviews124.htm); A. Brémont, Nonfiction Sep. 22, 2021 (https://www.nonfiction.fr/article-10959-dans-lantiquite-les-images-vivent-aussi.htm).
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Edited volumes
Nyord, R. (ed.) 2019. Concepts in Middle Kingdom Funerary Culture. Proceedings of the Lady Wallis Budge Anniversary Symposium held at Christ’s College, Cambridge, 22 January 2016 (=Culture and History of the Ancient Near East 102), Leiden, viii + 258 pp.
Reviews: D. Beadle, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 44.5 (2020), pp. 13–14; D. Lorand, Bibliotheca Orientalis 77/3–4 (2021), coll. 226–230; M. Wagner, Orientalistische Literaturzeitung 116 (2021), pp. 11–14.
Nyord, R. (ed.) 2018. With Kathryn Howley. Egyptology and Anthropology – Historiography, Theoretical Exchange and Conceptual Development. Proceedings of the Lady Wallis Budge Symposium held at the University of Cambridge, 25–26 July 2017 (=Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 17), Tucson, x + 220 pp.
Nyord, R. (ed.) 2015. With Kim Ryholt. Lotus and Laurel. Studies in Egyptian Language and Religion in Honour of Paul John Frandsen (=CNI Publications 39), Copenhagen, xx + 492 pp.
Nyord, R. 2009. With Annette Kjølby. Being in Ancient Egypt. Thoughts on Agency, Materiality and Cognition. Proceedings of the seminar held in Copenhagen, September 29–30 2006 (=British Archaeological Reports International Series 2019), Oxford, vi + 98 pp.
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Peer-reviewed articles and book chapters
Nyord, R. 2021. ‘The Letter to Nebetitef on her First Intermediate Period Stela in the Michael C. Carlos Museum’, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 107, pp. 3–19.
Nyord, R. 2020. ‘On Interpreting Ancient Egyptian Funerary Texts’, in: J.C. Moreno García (ed.), New Trends in Egyptology (=Claroscuro 19/2), pp. 1–23.
Nyord, R. 2020. ‘Texts for Healing and Protection’, in: I. Shaw and E. Bloxam (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Egyptology. Oxford, pp. 1039–1052.
Nyord, R. 2020. ‘The Nile in the Hippopotamus. Being and becoming in faience figurines of Middle Kingdom Egypt’, in: A.M. Jones and I.-M. Bäck Danielsson (eds.), Images in the making: Art, process, archaeology, Manchester, pp. 19–33.
Nyord, R. 2020. ‘Experiencing the Dead in Ancient Egyptian Healing Texts’, in: U. Steinert (ed.), Cultural Systems of Classification: Sickness, Health and Local Epistemologies, Abingdon, pp. 84–106.
Nyord, R. 2019. ‘Introduction: Egyptian and Egyptological Concepts’, in: R. Nyord (ed.), Concepts in Middle Kingdom Funerary Culture. Proceedings of the Lady Wallis Budge Anniversary Symposium held at Christ’s College, Cambridge, 22 January 2016, Leiden, pp. 1–23.
Nyord, R. 2019. ‘The Concept of ka between Egyptian and Egyptological frameworks’, in: R. Nyord (ed.), Concepts in Middle Kingdom Funerary Culture. Proceedings of the Lady Wallis Budge Anniversary Symposium held at Christ’s College, Cambridge, 22 January 2016, Leiden, pp. 150–203.
Nyord, R. 2019. ‘The Divine Beard in Ancient Egyptian Religious Texts’, in: Y. Volokhine, B. Fudge, and T. Herzog (eds.), Barbe et barbus: Symbolique, rites et pratiques du port de la barbe dans le Proche-Orient ancient et moderne, Bern and Berlin, pp. 47–58.
Nyord, R. 2018. ‘Ancient Egyptian Fertility Figurines (Exhibit)’, in: R. Flemming, N. Hopwood and L. Kassell (eds.), Reproduction: From Antiquity to the Present Day, Cambridge, 2 pls.
Nyord, R. 2018. ‘Death before Time: Mythical Time in Ancient Egyptian Mortuary Religion’, in: R. Willerslev and S. Seebach (eds.), Mirrors of Passing: Unlocking the Mysteries of Death, Materiality, and Time, New York and Oxford, pp. 57–73.
Nyord, R. 2018. ‘“Taking Ancient Egyptian Mortuary Religion Seriously?” Why Would We, and How Could We?’, Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 17, pp. 73–87.
Nyord, R. 2017. ‘Analogy and Metaphor in Ancient Medicine and the Ancient Egyptian Conceptualisation of Heat in the Body’, in: Wee, J. (ed.), The Comparable Body: Analogy and Metaphor in Ancient Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Greco-Roman Medicine, Leiden, pp. 12–42.
Nyord, R. 2017. ‘“An Image of the Owner as he was on Earth”. Representation and personhood in Middle Kingdom funerary images’, in: Miniaci, G., Betro, M., and Quirke, S. (eds.), Company of Images. Modelling the imaginary world of Middle Kingdom Egypt: Proceedings of the International Conference of the EPOCHS Project held 18th-20th September 2014 at UCL, London (=Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 262), Leuven, pp. 337–360.
Nyord, R. 2015. ‘Cognitive Linguistics (in Egyptology)’, in J. Stauder-Porchet, A. Stauder and W. Wendrich (eds.), UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, Los Angeles.
Nyord, R. 2013. ‘Memory and Succession in the City of the Dead. Temporality in the Ancient Egyptian Mortuary Cult’, in: Willerslev, R. and Christensen, D. (eds.), Taming Time, Timing Death. Social Technologies and Ritual, Farnham, pp. 195–211.
Nyord, R. 2013. ‘Vision and Conceptualization in Ancient Egyptian Art’, in: Díaz-Vera, J.E. and Caballero, R. (eds.), Sensuous Cognition. Explorations into Human Sentience – Imagination, (E)motion and Perception (=Applications of Cognitive Linguistics 22), Berlin and New York, pp. 135–168.
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Other journal articles and book chapters
Nyord, R. 2021. ‘Ancient Egyptian texts for the afterlife?’, Ancient Near East Today 9/12.
Nyord, R. 2021. ‘Post til en afdød: Nebetitefs genfundne brev’ [Mail for a deceased person: The rediscovered letter to Nebetitef], Papyrus: Ægyptologisk Tidsskrift 41/1, pp. 22–29.
Nyord, R. 2021. ‘Motile mythologies. (Re)constituting ancient Egyptian ritual knowledge in the early 2nd millennium BCE’, in: G. Ullmann, N. Pissis, and N. Schmidt (eds.), Wissensoikonomien: Ordnung und Transgression in vormodernen Kulturen. Wiesbaden, pp. 199–210.
Nyord, R. 2020. ‘Servant figurines from Egyptian tombs: Whom did they depict, and how did they work?’, Ancient Near East Today 8/2.
Nyord, R. 2019. ‘Verden i en skål: Bemalet fajance fra det Ny Rige’ [The world in a bowl: Painted faience from the New Kingdom], Papyrus: Ægyptologisk Tidsskrift 39/2, pp. 24–31.
Nyord, R. 2018. ‘Det indre og det ydre: Om oldægyptiske afbildningsbegreber’ [Interior and exterior: On ancient Egyptian conceptions of images’], Papyrus: Ægyptologisk Tidsskrift 38/1, pp. 34–37.
Nyord, R. 2018. With Kathryn Howley. ‘Editorial Introduction: Egyptology and Anthropology. Historiography, Theoretical Exchange, and Conceptual Development’, Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 17, pp. vi–ix.
Nyord, R. 2016. ‘Øjeblikket og flodhesten: Om oldægyptiske tidsopfattelser’ [‘The Moment and the Hippo: On Ancient Egyptian Conceptions of Time’], Papyrus. Ægyptologisk Tidsskrift 36/1, Copenhagen, pp. 20–27.
Nyord, R. 2016. ‘The Life and Legacy of Wallis Budge’, Pieces: Christ’s College Newsletter 31,p. 14.
Nyord, R. 2015. ‘Conceptualizations of Embodied Space. The Semantics of Body Parts in Sahidic Compound Prepositions’, in: Nyord, R. and Ryholt, K. (eds.), Lotus and Laurel. Studies in Egyptian Language and Religion in Honour of Paul John Frandsen (=CNI Publications 39), Copenhagen, pp. 241–281.
Nyord, R. 2015. With Kim Ryholt. ‘Preface’ and ‘Bibliography for Paul John Frandsen’, in: Nyord, R. and Ryholt, K. (eds.), Lotus and Laurel. Studies in Egyptian Language and Religion in Honour of Paul John Frandsen (=CNI Publications 39), Copenhagen, pp. ix–xxiii.
Nyord, R. 2015. ‘Scribes of the Gods in the Coffin Texts’, in: Miniaci, G. and Grajetzki, W. (eds.), The World of Middle Kingdom Egypt (2000–1550 BC). Contributions on Archaeology, Art, Religion, and Written Sources, London, pp. 273–307.
Nyord, R. 2015. ‘“Mennesket” bag mennesket: Det oldægyptiske ka-begreb’ [‘The “Person” behind the Person: The Ancient Egyptian Concept of ka’], Papyrus. Ægyptologisk Tidsskrift 35/1, Copenhagen, pp. 30–37.
Nyord, R. 2014. ‘Concluding Remarks on a Recent Debate about Conceptions of the Body and how to Study them’, Lingua Aegyptia 22, Hamburg, pp. 177–182.
Nyord, R. 2014. ‘Permeable Containers. Body and Cosmos in Middle Kingdom Coffins’, in: R. Sousa (ed.), Body, Cosmos and Eternity. New Research Trends in the Iconography and Symbolism of Ancient Egyptian Coffins (=Archaeopress Egyptology 3), Oxford, pp. 29–44.
Nyord, R. 2013. ‘The Gospel of Jesus’s Wife’, Christ’s College Magazine 238, Cambridge, pp. 49–54.
Nyord, R. 2013. ‘Var Jesus gift?’ [‘Was Jesus Married?’], Papyrus. Ægyptologisk Tidsskrift 33/1, Copenhagen, pp. 34–41.
Nyord, R. 2012. ‘On (Mis)conceptions of the Body in Ancient Egypt’, Lingua Aegyptia 20, Hamburg, pp. 165–184.
Nyord, R. 2012. ‘Prototype Structures and Conceptual Metaphor. Cognitive Approaches to Lexical Semantics in Ancient Egyptian’, in: Grossman, E., Polis, S. and Winand, J. (eds.), Lexical Semantics in Ancient Egyptian (=Linguae Aegyptia Studia Monographica 9), Hamburg, pp. 141–174.
Nyord, R. 2010. ‘The Radial Structure of Some Middle Egyptian Prepositions’, Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache 137, Berlin,pp. 27–44.
Nyord, R. 2009. ‘Taking Phenomenology to Heart. Some Heuristic Remarks on Studying Ancient Egyptian Embodied Experience’, in: Nyord, R. and Kjølby, A. (eds.), Being in Ancient Egypt. Thoughts on Agency, Materiality and Cognition. Proceedings of the seminar held in Copenhagen, September 29–30 2006 (=British Archaeological Reports International Series 2019), Oxford, pp. 63–74.
Nyord, R. 2009. ‘Døden i Akhetaton’ [‘Death in Akhetaten’], in: Manniche, L. and Hermansen, B.D. (eds.), Fokus på Amarna. Akhenaton og Nefertitis univers, Aarhus, pp. 92–119.
Nyord, R. 2009. ‘Akhenatons religion’ [‘The Religion of Akhenaten’], in: Manniche, L. and Hermansen, B.D. (eds.), Fokus på Amarna. Akhenaton og Nefertitis univers, Aarhus, pp. 66–91.
Nyord, R. 2008. ‘Forfædre, frugtbarhed og genfærd. Nogle tanker om livet og døden fra det gamle Ægypten’ [‘Ancestors, Fertility and Ghosts. Some Thoughts on Life and Death from Ancient Egypt’], in: Friborg, F. and Jørgensen, M. (eds.), Tidernes morgen. På sporet af kulturens kilder i det gamle Mellemøsten, (=Meddelelser fra Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek 10), Copenhagen, pp. 98–108.
Nyord, R. 2007. ‘The Body in the Hymns to the Coffin Sides’, Chronique d’Égypte 82, Brussels, pp. 5–34.
Nyord, R. 2003. ‘Spittle, Lies and Regeneration. Some Religious Expressions on a Stela from the First Intermediate Period’, Göttinger Miszellen 197, Göttingen, pp. 73–91.
Nyord, R. 2001. ‘En mørk Mellemtid? Hungersnøden i det gamle Ægyptens Første Mellemtid’ [‘A Dark Intermediary? Famine in the First Intermediate Period of Ancient Egypt’], Semiramis 8, Copenhagen, pp. 21–37.
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Book reviews
Nyord, R. 2021. L. Olabarria, Kinship and Family in Ancient Egypt: Archaeology and Anthropology in Dialogue in: Journal of Near Eastern Studies 80/1, Chicago, 204–208.
Nyord, R. 2018. I. Köhler, Rage like an Egyptian: Möglichkeiten eines kognitiv-semantischen Zugangs zum altägyptischen Wortschatz am Beispiel des Wortfelds [wut], in: Lingua Aegyptia 26, Hamburg, pp. 263–270.
Nyord, R. 2016. C. Riggs, Unwrapping Ancient Egypt, in: Cambridge Archaeological Journal 26/4, Cambridge, pp. 748–750.
Nyord, R. 2012. S. Töpfer and M. Müller-Roth, Das Ende der Totenbuchtradition und der Übergang zum Buch vom Atmen. Die Totenbücher des Monthemhat (pTübingen 2012) und der Tanedjmet (pLouvre N 3085), in: Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 102, Vienna, pp. 333–335.
Nyord, R. 2012. E.-S. Lincke, Die Prinzipien der Klassifizierung im Altägyptischen, in: Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 102, Vienna, pp. 321–324.
Nyord, R. 2008. E. Meyer-Dietrich, Senebi und Selbst. Personenkonstituenten zur rituellen Wiedergeburt in einem Frauensarg des Mittleren Reiches, in: Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 98, Vienna, pp. 364–377.
Nyord, R. 2007. R. Shalomi-Hen, The Writing of Gods. The Evolution of Divine Classifiers in the Old Kingdom, in: Lingua Aegyptia 15, Göttingen, pp. 321–328.
Nyord, R. 2007. S. Bickel & B. Mathieu (eds.), D’un monde à l’autre. Textes des Pyramides & Textes des Sarcophages, in: Bibliotheca Orientalis 64, Leiden, col. 121–126.
Nyord, R. 2006. N. Strudwick, Texts from the Pyramid Age, in: PalArch, Amsterdam.
Nyord, R. 2006. G.T. Martin, Stelae from Egypt and Nubia in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, c. 3000 BC–AD 1150, in: PalArch, Amsterdam.
Nyord, R. 2005. R. van der Molen, An Analytical Concordance of the Verb, the Negation and the Syntax in Egyptian Coffin Texts, in: PalArch, Amsterdam.
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Websites