Amenhotep Son of Hapu: Nobleman and Demi-god
Date: Saturday September 3rd 2026 @ 2pm
By Professor Aidan Dodson
Venue: Oakwood Centre Woodley In-Person only. No advance booking required
Cost: Free for Members and £4 Visitors
Abstract
As a living person, Amenhotep-son-of-Hapu was an official of Amenhotep III, of exceptional prominence, with a vast array of titles, responsible for the management of the king’s principal works, and honoured with numerous statues and a unique mortuary temple of royal type. His posthumous cult would endure long after his death, culminating is his elevation to divine status. As such, he would take over the ancient temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari, later joined there by an even more ancient deified royal builder, Imhotep of the Third Dynasty. The divine duo also popped up in various temples in the Theban area, functioning as healing gods into Roman times.
Biography
Professor Aidan Dodson has taught at Bristol since 1996, and was appointed Honorary Professor of Egyptology in 2018. He studied at Durham, Liverpool and Cambridge Universities, received his PhD from the latter in 1994, and was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 2003. He was Simpson Professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo for the Spring of 2013, and was Chairman of the Egypt Exploration Society from 2011 to 2016. He is the author of some thirty books, the most recent being Duke Alexander and his Sarcophagi: the 10th Duke of Hamilton and the Egyptian stone anthropoid sarcophagi of Pabasa and Irtyeru, published by BAR at the end of 2025. Amenhotep-son-of-Hapu — High Official — Architect — Demigod, written with Ken Griffin of Swansea University, is due to be published by AUC Press at the beginning of 2027.subjects (2014-2020).
