This year, the “Cross-Cultural Interaction in Egypt Through the Ages” conference unfolds at Ewart Memorial Hall, the storied auditorium on The American University in Cairo’s (AUC) Tahrir Campus. For a three-day exploration from 5 to 7 December, scholars gather on cross-cultural interaction, an academic deep dive into how Egyptians, from the ancient court of the Hyksos to the modern metropolis, have exchanged ideas, technologies, languages, and rituals with neighboring civilizations. The conference is organized by the AUC in partnership with the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE), founded in 1948. ARCE has long been noted for conservation and expanded its mission, partnering with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and global institutions, to enhance the study and sharing of Egypt’s heritage. The conference highlights Egypt’s history, sprawling across millennia, with a record of constant encounter with cultures, traders, migrants, and neighbors from the pharaonic courts to the Greco-Roman, Coptic, Islamic, and colonial eras. It is expected to draw specialists whose expertise ranges from Bronze Age diplomacy to Islamic-era manuscript traditions. It also examines how these layers of contact shaped Egypt and how Egypt, in turn, left its mark on the…
