Lauren Dogaer

Lady Wallis Budge Junior Research Fellow in Egyptology

Research:
My research explores the religious and funerary practices of Graeco-Roman Egypt, with a particular focus on the Theban region. I have investigated the socio-cultural dynamics between members of the clergy and mortuary priests, examining how individuals associated with temples and the necropolis participated in the wider Theban religious system. A central aspect of my work so far concerned the collaboration among these groups during the numerous religious festivals held in the area throughout the Ptolemaic and Roman periods.
A key component of my research involves the study of Demotic and Greek papyrus archives belonging to mortuary priests. These archives—discovered in tombs within the Theban necropolis—offer valuable insights into the lives of the deceased individuals interred there, as well as the mortuary cults maintained in their honor. Drawing on this material, my postdoctoral project investigates the reuse of tombs in the Theban necropolis during the Ptolemaic Period. By combining papyrological and archaeological evidence, I aim to construct social profiles of the individuals buried in this area, analyzing patterns of spatial association and potential occupational or social clustering. This work ultimately sheds light on broader processes of social diversification in Theban burial practices compared with earlier phases of Egyptian history.

Publications:
– (forthcoming) With S. Vuilleumier and C. H.W. Fong, From One Shore to the Other New Perspectives on Funerary and Religious Practices in Ptolemaic and Roman Thebes. Proceedings of the International Conference held at the University of Basel, September 14th–16th 2022 (Swiss Egyptological Studies 5), Basel.

– (forthcoming) ‘A Division of Labour across Clergies? Socio-Cultural Connections between Theban Priesthoods Reviewed’ in S. Vuilleumier, et al., From One Shore to the Other New Perspectives on Funerary and Religious Practices in Ptolemaic and Roman Thebes. Proceedings of the International Conference held at the University of Basel, September 14th–16th 2022 (Swiss Egyptological Studies 5), Basel.

– (2025) ‘The Treasury of Amun: A Question of Guarding or Keeping the Door’, Enchoria 38, p. 35-48.

– (2025) ‘P. BnF 239: A Demotic Wine Account on the Recto of a Document of Breathing’, Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 152 (1), p. 1-17.

– (2024) With K. Vandorpe, ‘Amun’s Userhat Boat and its Role in the Theban Festivals. Data from the Theban Royal Bank Archive Contextualized’, Bulletin de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale 124, p. 165-192.

– (2024) With C. H.W. Fong, E.L. Hertel, M. Kilani, G.K.H. Lunden, Current Research in Egyptology 2023. Proceedings of the Twenty-Third Annual Symposium, University of Basel, 10-14 September 2023, Oxford.

– (2020) ‘The Beautiful Festival of the Valley in the Graeco-Roman Period: a Revised Perspective’, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 106 (1-2), p. 205-214.