Barbara Richter is a Lecturer in Egyptology in the Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures, where she teaches the various stages and scripts of the ancient Egyptian language. She earned her Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in Egyptology from the University of California, Berkeley, and holds an A.B. degree in Music from Stanford University.
Dr. Richter’s research focuses on multi-layered expressions and the interrelationship between texts, reliefs, and architecture in Egyptian monuments. The ancient scribes highlighted particular words or phases by means of word or sign plays. Due to the polyvalency of the script, these plays on sight and sound carry multiple layers of meaning, which can create a magically effective, three-dimensional space. Dr. Richter enjoys helping her students discover these clever scribal techniques in their readings of ancient texts.
In addition to the study of texts and reliefs in Egyptian temples, Dr. Richter is preparing the translation and stylistic analysis of a Ptolemaic child’s coffin in the Hearst Museum of Anthropology. She is also a contributing researcher for the Script Encoding Initiative of UC Berkeley’s Linguistics Department, which is encoding the extended sign list of Egyptian hieroglyphs into Unicode.
COURSES
EGYPT 100AB (Introduction to Egyptian Hieroglyphs)
EGYPT 204A (Introduction to Demotic)
EGYPT 204B (Demotic Texts)
EGYPT 205 (Ptolemaic Egyptian Hieroglyphs)
EGYPT 101AB (Intermediate Egyptian)
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
The Theology of Hathor of Dendera: Aural and Visual Scribal Techniques in the Per-wer Sanctuary. Wilbour Studies in Egyptology and Assyriology 4. Atlanta: Lockwood Press for Brown University, 2016.
“Hidden Images of Ritual Power: A New Look at Crypt South 3 in the Temple of Hathor at Dendera.” In Rethinking the Visual Aesthetics of Ancient Egyptian Writing: Proceedings of the Conference, ed. Stephen Quike, Rita Lucarelli, and Hany Rashwan. Oxford: Archaeopress. In press.
"The Priesthood of Hathor at Deir el-Medina: Devotion to the Goddess by Her Clergy and Their Families." In Weseretkau "Mighty of Kas": Papers in Memory of Cathleen A. Keller, ed. Deanna Kiser-Go and Carol A. Redmount. Columbus, GA: Lockwood Press, 2023, 235-270.
“Gods, Priests, and Bald Men: A New Look at Book of the Dead 103 (‘Being Beside Hathor’).” In The Book of the Dead, Saite through Ptolemaic Periods: A Study of Traditions Evident in Versions of Texts and Vignettes, ed. Malcolm Mosher. SPBD Studies 12. Prescott, AZ: SPBD Studies, 2019, 519–540.
“On the Heels of the Wandering Goddess: The Myth and the Festival at the Temples of the Wadi el-Hallel and Dendera.” In 8. Ägyptologische Tempeltagung: Interconnections between Temples: Warsaw, 22. – 25. September 2008, ed. Monika Dolińska and Horst Beinlich. Königtum, Staat und Gesellschaft Früher Hochkulturen 3.3. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2010, 155–186.
“The Amduat and its Relationship to the Architecture of Early New Kingdom Burial Chambers.” Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 44, 2008, 73–104.
Scribal training and the use of multi-layered aural and visual scribal techniques in magical, funerary, and liturgical texts
Interplay between texts, reliefs, and architecture in Egyptian monuments
Intercultural connections in Ptolemaic and Roman Eras, especially in religious practices
