Daphna Ben-Tor

Daphné Ben-Torn received a B.A. in archaeology, and M.A. and Ph.D in Egyptology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She served as curaor of Egyptian archaeology at the Israel Museum from 1992 until my retirement in 2016. She curated a number of exhibitions with associated catalogues, and published objects from the collection. Her scholarly work focuses on Egyptian-Levantine relations in the second millennium BC, based primarily on scarabs from both regions.

The project

Title: Egyptian cultural impact on the Middle Bronze Age rulers of Byblos

"The exceptional position of Byblos as the primary Levantine trading port with Egypt during the third and second millennia BC is expressed in Egyptian records as well as in the archaeological remains at the site. As the key port from which regular supplies of goods from the Lebanon were sent to Egypt, Byblos gained a unique status in the Egyptian court. This is particularly evident in the finds associated with the Middle Bronze Age at Byblos, which include elaborate Egyptian royal gifts, as well as objects reflecting the exceptional privileges granted by the Egyptian court to the rulers of Byblos. These artifacts date exclusively from the period of the Middle Kingdom in Egypt, yet it was recently suggested by a number of scholars that their importation to Byblos was done during the Hyksos period after they were plundered from their original contexts in Egypt. The aim of this study is to demonstrate that these artifacts were brought to the Levant in the period corresponding to the Middle Kingdom in Egypt, and that they reflect the unique relationship between Egypt and the rulers of Byblos during this period, while confirming the exclusive status of this port city and its rulers at that time."

Hosting institution: Musée du Louvre

Selective bibliography

• 2016   Pharaoh in Canaan: The Untold Story. Exhibition Catalogue. The Israel Museum.
• 2018    Sealings from the Administrative Unit at Tell Edfu: Chronological and Historical Implications. Pp. 83-90 in The Hyksos Ruler Khayan and the Early Second  Intermediate Period in Egypt: Problems and Priorities of Current Research, ed. I. Forstner-Müller and N. Moeller. Ergänzungshefte zu den Jahresheften des ÖAI 16. Vienna: Austrian Archaeological Institute.
• 2020 “Scarabs”, in C. Lilyquist, Excavations at Thebes: The Earl of Carnarvon and The Metropolitan Museum of Art at Carnarvon Tomb 62 and Surround, online resource at https://oi.uchicago.edu/research/individual-scholarship/individual-scholarship-christine-lilyquist (accessed 02.06.2020)
• 2021 Egyptian-Levantine Relations in the Hyksos Period – the Southern Levant vs. the Northern Levant”, in M. Bietak, S. Prell (eds.), Changing Clusters and Migration in the Near Eastern Bronze Age: Collected Papers of a Workshop held in Vienna 4th-6th of December 2019 (Wiesbaden: CAENL 12, 2021), 243-52.
• 2023 “The God Presenting the Scimitar-Sword on the Cylinder Seal from Beth Shean: Ba’al-Seth r Resheph” in M.V.Almansa-Villatoro, S. Stubnova Nigrelli, and M. Lehner eds.) The House of Heqanakht: Text and Context in Ancient Egypt. Studies in Honor of James P. Allen (Leiden: Brill), 18-28.