Ancient Egyptian Science, Demotic Texts & the Making of Knowledge | Marina Escolano-Poveda

In this episode of Egyptology Now, I speak with Egyptologist Dr Marina Escolano-Poveda about ancient Egyptian writing, demotic texts, temple knowledge, astronomy, astrology, and the transmission of scientific ideas in Greco-Roman Egypt. Marina’s path into Egyptology began with a fascination for hieroglyphs, but her research has taken her into some of the most complex and revealing areas of the field: demotic literature, Egyptian temple libraries, ancient astronomy, horoscopes, alchemy, multilingual scientific traditions, and the reconstruction of damaged papyri. Together, we discuss how Egyptian priests preserved and transmitted knowledge, how Greek and Egyptian intellectual traditions interacted, why Egypt was central to the history of ancient astronomy, and what newly discovered astral ostraca can tell us about the work of an ancient astrologer. We also talk about the challenges of working with fragmentary papyri, the importance of fieldwork for understanding texts, and what it means to train the next generation of Egyptologists. This conversation is for anyone interested in ancient Egypt, Egyptology, ancient science, writing, museums, manuscripts, and the many ways researchers reconstruct the past. 🎧 Also available as a podcast on Spotify. Subscribe to Egyptology Now for more long-form conversations with researchers, museum professionals, and specialists working on ancient Egypt today. #Egyptology #AncientEgypt #AncientScience 00:00 Ptolemy and Egypt 01:01 Meet Marina Escolano 01:23 Learning Hieroglyphs Young 03:38 Spain to Johns Hopkins 07:42 Why Study Demotic 10:07 Teaching in UK Programs 13:02 Temple Libraries and Priests 16:42 Tracing Text Lineages 20:30 Greek Egyptian Knowledge Exchange 24:17 Astronomy Zodiac and Transmission 28:41 New Horoscopes from Ostraca 30:44 Reading Horoscope Layouts 31:32 Handbooks and Body Traits 32:54 One Astrologer’s Hand 33:57 New Finds and Calculations 35:07 Temple Roots of Alchemy 38:52 Hermetica and Knowledge Spread 40:36 Decoding Multilingual Science 41:30 Demotic Planet Terminology 44:20 Rebuilding Fragmentary Papyri 45:41 Rylands Papyrus Disaster 48:40 MSI Reconstruction Workflow 51:41 Why Fieldwork Matters 53:40 Teaching Future Egyptologists 55:53 Big Questions in Greco-Roman Egypt 59:44 One Question for a Priest 01:00:21 Closing and Support