About
I am an art and architectural historian specializing in the ancient Mediterranean, especially Egypt when it was a Roman province. I have advanced degrees in art history, Egyptology, and museology, and two decades of professional experience in museums and galleries large and small. Before joining Appalachian State, I spearheaded major curatorial projects at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History (where I am a current Research Associate in the Section of Anthropology and Archaeology) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
I work with temples located in Egypt and northern Sudan (ancient Nubia), like the Met’s temple of Dendur. I consider the longue durée of these monuments complete with color and multivalent contexts. I aim to rewrite both modern understanding of ancient histories and contemporary histories (especially related to ethics in collecting and displaying cultural heritage) of ancient art and architecture. I am committed to transparent and decolonial approaches in research and in my classes, which include Egyptian Art and Architecture, The Art of the Ancient Roman World, History of Museums, and the Art of the Mediterranean World 250-1450.
I am a three-time Project Director awardee of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Other agencies and institutions that have funded my research and museum work include the Maryland State Arts Council and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. My publications have appeared in Egyptian Archaeology, the Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections, the Metropolitan Museum Journal, the Journal of Roman Archaeology, Archaeologies: Journal of the World Archaeological Congress, the 2019 edited volume The Ancient Art of Transformation, and the 2023 edited volume, Discourses of Travel, Exploration, and European Power in Egypt from 1750 to 1956. I am currently working on my first book manuscript, Egypt in Empire: Temples from Augustan Egypt. Education
Ph.D., Art History, University of Iowa
Summer Program in Archaeology, American Academy in Rome
M.A., Museum Professions, Seton Hall University
M.A., Art History and Egyptian Art and Archaeology, University of Memphis
B.A., Art History, Arizona State University Publications
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
“Dendur and Deleuze: The becoming-icon of Egyptology at the Met.”
Archaeologies: Journal of the World Archaeological Congress, 19, no. 1 (2023): 83–103 (doi:
10.1007/s11759-023-09474-5).
“Coloring the Temple of Dendur.”
Metropolitan Museum Journal 53 (2018): 8–23 (doi:
10.1086/701737).
Peters, E., C. Roberts, and P.P. Creasman. “Recent Research on the “Carnegie Boat” from Dahshur, Egypt.”
Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 16 (December 2017): 99–103.
Peters, E. and D.C. Patch. “Living Color: The Met Museum’s Temple of Dendur.”
Egyptian Archaeology 50 (Spring 2017): 5–10.
Essays in Edited Volumes
“Architecture as Allegory: Napoleonic Expeditionary Imagery and Signs of Egypt in Nineteenth-Century French Painting.” In
Discourses of Travel, Exploration, and European Power in Egypt from 1750 to 1956, edited by Valerie Kennedy, 61–80. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2023.
“Octavian Transformed as Pharaoh and as Emperor Augustus.” In
Ancient Art of Transformation: Case Studies from Mediterranean Contexts, edited by R. Gondek and C. Sulosky Weaver, 107–134. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2019 (doi:
10.2307/j.ctv13nb7mr).
Park, L. and
E. Peters. “In the Middle of Things: Learning from Inside the Carnegie International.” In
The Dispatch, edited by I. Schaffner with L. Park, 52–5. Pittsburgh: Carnegie Museum of Art, 2019.
Peters, E., M. Felsen, and M.P. Saba. “Experiencing Ancient Polychromy at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Temple of Dendur.” In
From Macro to Micro: Examining Architectural Finishes, edited by M. Jablonski and K. Travers Moffitt, 189–196. London: Archetype Publications, 2018.
Book Reviews
“Egyptian Art (as Greek Art) as Roman Art: Historiographies and Potential Futures.” Review of The
Trade and Triumph of Egyptian Objects in Rome: Collecting Art in the Ancient Mediterranean, by Stephanie Pearson. Journal of Roman Archaeology (FirstView doi:
10.1017/S1047759423000545).
Review of
Caesar in the City of Amun: Egyptian Temple Construction and Theology in Roman Thebes, by David Klotz. The Classical Review 65, no. 1 (April 2015): 218–220 (doi:
10.1017/S0009840X14002340).
Encyclopedia Entries
“Dendera,” “Edfu,” “Philae Island,” “Roman Egypt,” and “Temples, Ptolemaic-Roman.” In
All Things Ancient Egypt: An Encyclopedia of the Ancient Egyptian World, edited by L. Sabbahy, 1:133–5; 1:145–7; 2:403–5; 2:451–4; 2:520–3. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2019.
Digital Publications and Blog Posts
“Curator—Curatorial Studies Towards Co-creation and Multiple Agencies.”
Contemporaneity: Historical Presence in Visual Culture 5, no. 1 (2016): 122–128.
https://doi.org/10.5195/contemp.2016.182.
“Students + Staff blog series.” Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh Innovation Studio Weblog (blog) and University of Pittsburgh Constellations (blog), February 16, 2016; March 10, 2016; May 6, 2016; June 30, 2016.
Peters, E., M. Felsen and M.P. Saba. “Color the Temple: Using Projected Light to Restore Color.” Metropolitan Museum of Art Digital Underground (blog), December 24, 2015:
https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/digital-underground/2015/color-the-temple.
Upcoming Talks and Conferences
“Teaching through Cycles of Continual Coloniality in the Art of the Ancient Roman World,” College Art Association Annual Conference, in the “Rethinking the Roman Empire for the Classroom” panel, Chicago, February 2024. Memberships
American Alliance of Museums
American Research Center in Egypt
Archaeological Institute of America
College Art Association
International Council of Museums
Multiculturalism, Race & Ethnicity in Classics Consortium
