Jonny Russell is PhD candidate and lecturer at LIAS.

More information about Jonny Russell

Fields of interest

• Ancient Egyptian healing practices c. 2000 BCE – 200 CE
• Medical history of the ancient Near East and Mediterranean
• Egyptian religious, ritual, and funerary practices
• Egyptian written languages

PhD Research

Ethnomedical Theory in Ancient Egypt: Explanatory Models and their Historical Contextualisation

Supervisors: Prof. Olaf Kaper (Universiteit Leiden), Prof. Tanja Pommerening (Johannes Gutenberg Universität, Mainz), Prof. Jochen Althoff (Johannes Gutenberg Universität, Mainz).

I am researching the historical significance of ‘explanatory models’ exhibited by Egyptian healing papyri from the second millennium BCE down to the first centuries of the first millennium CE. Explanatory models are used by ethnomedical traditions to make sense of body-related phenomena – they are grounded in both biophysical realities and lived experience, and are dominated by culturally-specific semiotics. By examining the source material from such an extensive time frame—the later periods of which being characterized by a marked increase in interconnectivity—I intend to produce a diachronic analysis of ideas relevant not only to Egyptian history, but also that of the ancient Near East and Mediterranean.

Curriculum Vitae

2017-: Began NWO and LIAS funded PhD research and teaching at Leiden University
2017: Research MA in Egyptology, Leiden University: cum laude
2012: BA in Egyptology and Ancient History, Swansea University (UK): First-Class honours

Associated

‘Frühe Konzepte von Mensch und Natur: Universalität, Spezifität, Tradierung’ Graduiertenkolleg 1876, Johannes Gutenberg Universität, Mainz: https://www.grk-konzepte-mensch-natur.uni-mainz.de/

Publications