This conference demonstrates the vitality of research in the Eastern Desert and along the Red Sea coast in recent decades. Yet, our knowledge of Coptos, the subject of early excavations, remains incomplete. One could speak of “the invisible capital” of Upper Egypt, outshone by nearby Thebes. In museums and in the field, its monuments, scattered both through time and space, give only a faint idea of the grandeur and wealth of the city over four millennia. Despite the intensity of the human des...
