Academic Bio
Ella Karev is an Egyptologist and papyrologist whose research focuses on the social and economic aspects of enslavement and bound labor throughout Egyptian history, with a particular interest in post-New Kingdom Egypt. Both in reference to enslaved and unenslaved persons, Ella also researches body modification (including branding) and perception of the physical self.
Her dissertation, “Slavery and Servitude in Late Period Egypt”, focused on defining enslavement in pre-Ptolemaic Egypt, including investigations into slaves as economic tools, geographical origins of slaves, and systems of protection as motivators for self-sale into slavery.
Ella received her PhD (Hons.) from the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago in 2022, her MA from the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago in 2018, and her BA in Archaeology of the Ancient Near East and Classics from Tel Aviv University in 2016.