THE EGYPTIAN SOCIETY OF SOUTH AFRICA

About TESSA

Background:

Following a series of Egyptological lectures in Cape Town and having escorted a number of tour groups to Egypt, I became aware that there was clearly a place and a need for an Egyptian society in South Africa.

On November 4th 1996 (coincidentally the anniversary of the discovery of the first step to Tutankhamun’s tomb), an inaugural meeting was held and the Cape Town Egyptian Society was initiated with 143 people joining that same evening – the enthusiasm was palpable. Soon afterwards members joined from across South Africa and in a very short time it became apparent that this was a Society with national interest and six months after its founding in April 1997 the Society’s name was changed to THE EGYPTIAN SOCIETY OF SOUTH AFRICA which also provided a useful acronym – TESSA.  A year later we formed and welcomed a branch of the Society in Johannesburg which sadly ceased to exist in 2000.

Chairperson – Ria Robinson
Secretary – Helen Binckes
Founder – Keith Grenville

ACTIVITIES

In accordance with the name it is incumbent on the Society to pursue both a national identity and international visibility. Accordingly, outstanding events have included national lecture tours of South Africa by Professor Kent Weeks (American University in Cairo & Theban Mapping Project), Professors Mostafa el Abbadi and Azza Kararah (University of Alexandria).

To mark the 10th anniversary year of the Society in 2006, the redoubtable Dr. Zahi Hawass (Secretary General – Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities) was invited to address audiences in Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Johannesburg.

Mention should be made of Dr. Toby Wilkinson‘s (Durham & Cambridge Universities) visits to the Society.
A wealth of lecturers from the Universities of Cape Town, Stellenbosch and the Western Cape has graced our podium, as well as a multitude of external lecturers and many in-house lecturers.

In 2003 a literary exhibition called Egypt Described: Herodotus to Hawass was arranged in association with the University of Cape Town at Cape Town’s Irma Stern Museum.

FACILITIES

TESSA boasts a comprehensive Lending Library and Reference/Archive Library with several hundred volumes including rare books. Well supported monthly meetings are arranged in Cape Town at a central meeting place – St George’s Grammar School, Mowbray.

An annual Day School in July has  been a feature of the Society’s calendar since the inauguration.

A quarterly newsletter, SHEMU, containing news and information is circulated to members across South Africa and abroad. It is also distributed to embassies, South African universities, schools, public libraries, press and media organisations as well as British and American Egyptological institutions – a further example of the Society’s focus on national and international communication.

Our logo, designed by the late international artist Angus McBride, symbolises the connection between South Africa and Egypt, using two iconic images which are internationally identifiable with our two countries. The South African component is an outline of Table Mountain in Cape Town – with Egypt represented by the Great Pyramid of Giza and its three satellite pyramids. The logo is redolent of the familiar expression “from the Cape to Cairo” which epitomises the breadth of the goals, aims and objectives of TESSA and of its loyal members.


Keith Grenville

20 July 2008