Thursday, August 28, 2025

WE WEEP FOR JOHN J JOHNSTON



WE weep for our dear British Egyptologist friend John J Johnston, a cultural historian and one of the world's leading authorities on Antinous, who died suddenly and wholly unexpectedly on August 28, 2025.


John was a professional lecturer, writer, and editor. An eloquent speaker and raconteur with an engaging manner and dapper style, his research interests encompassed Egyptian mortuary belief and practice, gender and sexuality in the ancient world, Hellenistic and Roman Egypt, the history of Egyptology, and the reception of the ancient world in modern popular culture.


A former Vice-Chair of the Egypt Exploration Society (2009-2015), he lectured extensively at major academic and cultural institutions in Britain and other countries.


In addition to contributing numerous articles to both academic and general publications, he co-edited the volumes "Narratives of Egypt and the Ancient Near East: Literary Linguistic Approaches" (Peeters, 2011), "A Good Scribe and an Exceedingly Wise Man" (Golden House, 2014), and an anthology of classic mummy fiction, "Unearthed" (Jurassic London, 2013). 


Formerly, a member of the Editorial Board of the journal "Egyptian Archaeology" (2011-2020), he was a Trustee of By Jove Theatre Company (2020-25), and Editor-at-Large for "Horrified Magazine" (2020-25). 


He made onscreen contributions for major documentaries on the Blu-Ray releases of more than twenty, gloriously restored, Hammer Films, originally produced between 1958 and 1976, in addition to making onscreen contributions to the television documentaries "Egypt's Unexplained Files" (360 Productions Ltd, 2019), a ten-episode series, "Tutankhamun in Colour" (BBC, 2020), and "The Curse of Tutankhamun" (Viacom International, 2020).


No comments:

Post a Comment