Abstract
The Civilization of Pharaonic Egypt stretches along the Nile for almost 3 500 years, but its imprint extends far beyond these temporal and geographical limits if we include its formative periods and its influence on neighboring and later civilizations, right up to our own. The discipline that studies this civilization, Egyptology, was born in 1822 with the deciphering of the hieroglyphs by Jean-François Champollion, who a few years later taught at the Collège de France, his already mature vision of future developments.
The inauguration of The Civilization of Pharaonic Egypt Chair provides an opportunity to reflect on the state of Egyptology at the dawn of its third century. On the one hand, it is undoubtedly buoyed by the dynamism of archaeology in Egypt and supported by our society's continuing interest in it, amplified by unprecedented media coverage. On the other hand, it is the subject of contradictory discourses of appropriation or questioning of its historical foundations.
Aware of these stakes, Egyptologists can go beyond the necessary erudition to better define their position and enrich their approach thanks to the contributions of anthropology and comparatism, while at the same time enabling their discipline to make a greater contribution to current debates in the human and social sciences. With this in mind, the first lectures will focus on two themes at the heart of the definition of Pharaonic civilization : the development of the cult of Osiris on the one hand, and the role of eloquence and the functioning of court society on the other.
