The Nile High Club: Drinking, Drugs and the Divine

Recommended age: 18+ years

Duration: Approximately 2 hours

Religious festivals in Ancient Egypt were inextricably linked to gods or goddesses. Unlikely to pass the rigorous controls of modern-day advertising standards (or RSA for that matter), the Festival of Drunkenness was just one celebration where overindulgence was seen as a gateway to the divine. Festival-goers sought to use their intoxication as a tool to communicate with the gods or deceased relatives.

Enjoy a cheeky beverage and a selection of Egyptian-inspired canapés while you immerse yourself in this entertaining and thought-provoking discussion with archaeologist Mary Hartley, hosted by Associate Professor Alice Motion.

Following the chat, you’ll be guided to Ramses & the Gold of the Pharaohs where you’ll receive our exclusive object spotlight tour presented by Egyptologist Natasha Baramilis.

Your ticket includes:

• A drink on arrival and a chef’s selection of Egyptian-inspired canapés
• 45-minute talk + Q&A with a leading expert
• Ticket to Ramses & The Gold of the Pharaohs (valued at $52) and skip the queue for express entry
• Within the exhibition, enjoy an exclusive in-person spotlight tour by an expert as they share the stories behind their favourite objects
• Following your tour, enjoy access to Ramses & the Gold of the Pharaohs until the Museum closes at 9pm

Note: Ticket price does NOT include VR experience or exhibition audio guide.

Mary Hartley studied Egyptology at Macquarie University from 2001 through to 2017. She completed her BA in Ancient History, then completed her MA (Egyptology), with a thesis titled “The Eighteenth Dynasty Banquet: a Portal to the Gods”. This work analysed the depictions of banquet scenes found on 18th Dynasty tomb walls in Thebes. After completing a Research Project, she then began her PhD in 2013.

This work was based on the remains of thousands of canid bones found in the Teti cemetery north at Saqqara and their significance to the religious practices of the ancient Egyptians. She has been a team member of more than 20 archaeological digs in Egypt working at Luxor, Saqqara, and Dendara. She began as an archaeological illustrator, and then assisted in the retrieval and recording of human remains before working with animal remains as the team zooarchaeologist.

Alice Motion is Deputy Director of the Sydney Nano Institute and Associate Professor and Deputy Head of School in the School of Chemistry at the University of Sydney where they lead the Science Communication, Outreach, Participation and Education (SCOPE) research group. The overarching theme of Alice’s research and practice is to connect people with science. The SCOPE research group are exploring ways to share science with new and diverse audiences through arts-based collaborations and school partnerships, and the democratisation of science through citizen science and open science.

Alice was awarded the Eureka Prize for Promoting Understanding of Science in 2020. Alice is the creator of Live From The Lab, founder of the Breaking Good citizen science initiative and host the ABC Weekend Breakfast segment ‘Science in Motion’.

Natasha Baramilis has been studying Egyptology for over ten years and is intrigued by what tomb scenes reveal about their individual owners. Upon graduating from her Bachelor’s degree, she accompanied Professor Naguib Kanawati on his fieldwork trip to Egypt, working in Meir and Beni Hassan.

During this trip she truly understood how tomb scenes differed from one another, leading her to complete her Masters thesis on the ‘Individuality of Tomb Scenes in the Old and Middle Kingdom’. Presently, Natasha is completing her PhD research which focusses on understanding the connection between tomb scenes and the lives of their owner.

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