Chana Algarvio

Chana Algarvio is a doctoral student specializing in Egyptology and Achaemenid Studies at the University of Toronto. She currently holds the SSHRC Doctoral Award (2025–2028) and the Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Graduate Scholarship (2025), and previously received the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (2024–2026) and the Faculty of Arts & Science Doctoral Recruitment Award (2024). She is affiliated with the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities, the Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Institute of Iranian Studies, the Association for Iranian Studies, the Bibliographical Society of Canada, and Manuscript Studies in Toronto .

Chana's doctoral research focuses on Egyptian iconographic influence in the material culture of the Achaemenid Empire, sitting at the intersection of the material history of Egyptian culture in foreign lands, Persian imperialism and art history, and the semiotics of ancient luxury and administrative interregional objects. Her goal is to establish a new understanding of the Persian practice of adapting foreign iconography, created first by Achaemenid kings, and that the Persians possessed a conscious and deep comprehension of Egyptian ideologies, advantageously reconstructed for imperial needs and communicated through objects made of semi-precious stone, clay, and metal. Her research aims to deepen our knowledge of Egypto-Persian relations, artistic and artisanal networks in imperial contexts and the ancient world, and the visual representation of ancient identities in bi-/multicultural settings. 

Prior to her doctoral studies, Chana completed her M.I. in Library & Information Science with a collaborative specialization in Book History & Print Culture at the University of Toronto in 2022, acquiring research interests in the materiality, physicality, production, and use of books in Pharaonic Egypt and the ancient world. She also has a general interest in the cross-cultural influence of Egyptian iconography in the Mediterranean and Western Asia, as well as foreign influences on Egyptian art and Egyptian depictions of foreigners.

Education

• MI, University of Toronto (Library & Information Science)
• MA, University of Toronto (NMC)

Current Supervisor(s)

Katja Goebs

Publications

• "Archaeology in the Stacks: The Ptolemaic Cartonnage at the Fisher Library." Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities 51 (2025): 1–14.
• "Eternal Works: Stone as a Book Medium in Pharaonic Egypt." In Too Much Writing, Too Few Scribes: Extra-scribal Writing in the Late Bronze Age Mediterranean (1650–1100 BCE), edited by Cassandra Donnelly, 141–157. Archaeopress, 2025.
• "Permanence of Intellectual Creation Through the Materiality of Stone: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Ancient Egyptian Book Culture." In Looking Beyond the Text: New Approaches to Scribal Culture and Practices in Ancient Egypt, edited by Margaret Geoga, Aurore Motte, and Judith Jurjens, 240–261. Harvard Egyptological Studies. Brill, 2025.
• From Mauritania to Japan: Multi-materiality and Physicality of Non-Western Manuscripts in the Robertson Davies Library. Massey College, 2024.
• "Communicating and Assimilating Foreign Ideologies Through Art: The Diffusion of Egyptian Iconography from Middle Bronze Age Levant to Achaemenid Persia." Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 40 (2023): 1–35.
• "Rethinking 'the Book' through Ancient Egyptian Tomb Walls." Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada 60 (2023): 1–40.
• "Deposited Treasures: The Papyri Collections at the Fisher Library." The Halcyon: Newsletter of the Friends of The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library 68 (2021): 18–19.

Presentation

• Multicultural Mobility in Achaemenid Egypt: Funerary Stelae as Foreign Identity Markers. Paper presented at the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Boston. (November, 2025)
• A Material Culture Network Approach to Egyptian Iconography in the Achaemenid Empire. Paper presented at The Connected Past, Coimbra. (September, 2025)
• Persian Adaptation of Egyptian Iconography in the Achaemenid Empire. Public lecture given for the University of Liverpool’s Archaeology, Classics, and Egyptology Work in Progress Seminar Series. (October, 2024)
• Persika in Egyptian Art. Paper presented at the Summer School of Ancient Egyptian and Sudanese Art, Oxford. (July, 2024)
• Permanence of Materiality: Stone as a Book Medium in Egypt. Paper presented at the conference “Looking Beyond the Text: Scribal Practices in Ancient Egypt,” Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz. (May, 2023)
• Religious Beliefs and Funerary Practices in Ptolemaic Egypt: Examining the Papyrus Collections at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library. Paper presented at the Egypt Exploration Society Congress, Swansea. (September, 2022)
• Royal and Divine Motifs in Foreign Lands: Egyptian Iconography in Western Asia. Public lecture given for the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities, Toronto Chapter. (May, 2022)
• Divine Power of the Written Word: Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs and Stone. Paper presented at the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing Annual Conference, Amsterdam. (July, 2022)
• Relations to the Dead: Use and Disuse of Ancient Egyptian Funerary Books. Paper presented at the Bibliographical and Book Studies in Canada Conference. (May, 2021)
• Evolution of Royal Iconography in the Old Kingdom: King and His Insignia. Paper presented at the American Research Center in Egypt Annual Meeting. (April, 2021)

Teaching Experience

• Course Instructor, INF2132H (Ancient Books and Records in Special Collections)
• Teaching Assistant, NMC102H (Heartland of Ancient Empires)
• Teaching Assistant, NMC259H (Literature of Ancient and Late Antique Iran)
• Teaching Assistant, NMC253H (Egyptian Myths)
• Teaching Assistant, NMC276H (Ancient Egyptian Science)
• Teaching Assistant, CLAA05H (Ancient Mythology I: Mesopotamia and Egypt)