During the period 17-19 April 2007, the regular Petersburg Egyptology Readings took place. The readings are the most important annual conference of Russian Egyptologists. They are organized by the State Hermitage, the St Petersburg Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Oriental Studies and the Oriental Department of St Petersburg State University. This year representatives of ten scientific institutions coming from six cities around Russia and the Ukraine participated in the Readings. Eighteen reports were delivered, dealing with issues surrounding the history, language and culture of Ancient Egypt from the early dynasties up to the Ptolemaic period.

I.V. Bogoslavskaya (St Petersburg State University) delivered a report on "‘Out of the Ordinary' Adornments" looking at a range of jewelry items from the Middle and New Dynasties from the standpoint of their functionality and touching on the question of whether they were for everyday use or were intended exclusively for burial rites.

A.O. Bolshakov's (Hermitage) report on "Literature and Anomaly" showed that all narrative texts, both religious and literary, appeared in Egypt as a result of political, social and religious crises.

O.A. Basilieva's (State Museum of Fine Arts) report entitled "Symbolism of tknw images" surveyed images of the curiously drawn tknw figures which were present in depictions of a funeral procession.

A.E. Demidchik's (Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University) paper entitled "Several Remarks on the State Structure of the Heracleopolis Monarchy" demonstrated a number of specific features of the system of rule in the 10th- 11th dynasties, including the absence of the post of vizier.

O.I. Zubova (Pavlova) (Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences) devoted her report on "The Formula ‘Chorus in Osiris' in the Texts of the Pyramids" to one of the aspects of the Osiris ideas about the ruler.

The report on "Several Features of the Organization of Painted Space in Chapels of Private Tombs" by F.I. Kulikov (Gorno-Altai State University) showed that the system of spatial links of tomb wall paintings in a number of cases appears to be more complex than we usually think.

The report by M.V. Kurochkin (SPU) on "The Question of Interpreting Tutmos III's Manoeuver before the Battle of Megiddo" shows.that the usual treatment of Tutmos III's selection of an inconvenient road when he approached Megiddo, that it was supposedly due to incompetence and demonstration of heroism is erroneous; rather this was a carefully thought out military operation.

In her report "On One of the Early Lists of the Book of Amduat: the Case of Useramon," N.V. Lavrentieva (State Museum of Fine Arts) attempted to show that the first and for a long time the only record of Amduat in private tombs - that of the vizier Useramon - was dictated by the political situation of the reigns of Hatshepsut and Tutmost III.

I.A. Ladynin's (Moscow State University) report on "Egyptian Sacral Royalty under Foreign Dominion as Seen by the Pe-Dep Priests in 311 B.C. (stkk. 7-12 ‘Stelae of the Satrap')" directed attention to the empty cartouche in one of the scenes on a fragment of clepsydra and tried to explain its appearance, which was linked to a new royal ideology.

A.N. Nikolaev (Hermitage) reported on "Stelae of the 1st - 4th Dynasties as an Historical Source. Special Functional Aspects," summarizing the results of his dissertation research into early Egyptian stelae.

In the report by E.A. Romanova (Institute of Oriental Studies, National Academy of Sciences, the Ukraine) entitled "On the Issue of Reconstructing Several Scenes from the Decoration of the Chapel of Prince Kauaba, G7110-7120" the author tried to put together fragments to reconstruct several wall images from the heavily damaged chapel of the son of Pharaoh Cheops.

A.V. Safronov (Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences” reported on "A New Vizier of Pharaoh Tausert" in which he analyzed several oστpακων from the second half of the New Kingdom, showing the existence of one additional vizier during the time of the rule of the woman-pharaoh Tausert.

M.I. Sokolova (Institute of World History, Russian Academy of Sciences) reported on "An Analysis of Differences between Various Lists of CT1-26," demonstrating the results of detailed research into texts of the first aphorisms of the Texts of Sarcophagi.

A.G. Sushchevsky (St Petersburg State University) delivered a report "On the Principles of ‘Old' and ‘New' Orthography" in which he showed that so-called ‘group letters' are a qualitatively new stage in the development of hieroglyphics and that, evidently, they are precisely the source of Near Eastern alphabets.

O.V. Tomashevich (Moscow State University) reported on "The Kings' Wives: Issues of Prestige After Death" in which he surveyed the development of funeral monuments to queens in the Old Kingdom.

S.I. Khodzhash's (State Museum of Fine Arts) report on "Concubine Statuettes from the Collection of the A.S Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts" presented an extensive survey of this small group of magical statuettes.

M.A. Chegodaev (Russian State Humanities University) read a report "On the Ancient Egyptian Category Ax," the most important category of the Egyptian religion and came to the conclusion that it was basic to description of the existence of the deceased in the world beyond the grave.

E.A. Yatsuk's (St Petersburg State University) report on "Legal Documents of the Second Half of the New Kingdom: Problems of Translation and Interpretation" examined the content of several legal texts on papyrus and directed attention to the way special terms and expressions were used in them.