How did the ancient Egyptians go from semi-nomadic herdsmen on the fringes of the Nile Valley to highly organised pyramid builders and the world's first nation state? In this talk, Val Billingham will draw on evidence from the Predynastic and Early Dynastic periods to trace how rising prosperity enabled an elite group to set itself apart, amass wealth and power and harness people and resources to serve the life and afterlife of dynasties of divine rulers.
Val Billingham has a BA in Ancient History and Archaeology and a PhD in Egyptology, both from the University of Birmingham, and has served twice as a Trustee of the Egypt Exploration Society. She taught several extramural courses on ancient Egypt for the Universities of Birmingham and Warwick and has lectured on eastern Mediterranean voyages for Thomson Cruises. Val took a break from her public sector career in 2000 to finish her first novel, “The Voyage of the Sun God”, about the harem conspiracy against Ramesses III. The novel was published in German as “Die Reise des Sonnengottes” by Bastei Verlag in 2002. It is available in English on Amazon, under Val's pen name, Susan Llewellyn.
Val continues to write, publish and self-publish Egyptological and other fiction. She is looking forward to retirement, in two or three years' time, when she will devote herself full time to writing fiction set in ancient Egypt and modern Egyptology.
