Professor Peter Piccione: Pharaoh at the Bat: Egyptian Bat and Ball: The Earliest Archetype of American Baseball

Montcliar Art Museum/ Montclair State University/ Archaeological Institute of America Lecture

Thursday, November 17, 7 p.m.

Professor Peter Piccione, College of Charleston

Pharaoh at the Bat: Egyptian Bat and Ball: The Earliest Archetype of American Baseball

FREE

Egyptologist Peter Piccione discusses the ancient Egyptian royal bat-and-ball ritual Seqer-hemat (“Striking the Ball”), describing its connections to an original secular bat-and-ball game played by Egyptian children and the meanings of the ritual. He will highlight comparisons with modern American baseball as a national pastime, both in its play and its ability to create larger meanings about life, society, heroic achievement, communal identities, and national loyalty.

This program is a collaboration between the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA), the Center for Heritage and Archaeological Studies at Montclair State University, and the Montclair Art Museum.