ANCIENT EGYPT

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN MUMMIES: Dame Rai, Prince Ouabkhousenou, Ramses VI, Queen Anhapou and Unknown Woman

2009-10-05T02:20:00.001-07:00

The mummy of the Dame Rai, thought to perhaps be the mother-in-law of Sethi I (19th dynasty) at Cairo Museum, Egypt.

A mummy that is thought to be Prince Ouabkhousenou (son of Amenhotep II) at Cairo Museum, Egypt. Pillagers cut and opened his thorax and head hoping to find treasures.

http://africanhistory.about.com/od/egyptology/ig/Egyptian-Mummies/Mummies-Dame-Rai.htm

Queen Anhapou (right) and a unknown woman (left) at Cairo Museum, Egypt. Ramses VI at Cairo Museum, Egypt. Photograph shows the rough techniques used for unbandaging mummies at the turn of the 20th century.

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ANCIENT EGYPTIAN MUMMIES: Unknown Mummy, Seqenenre Tao II and Ptolemaic Leg

2009-10-05T01:35:00.000-07:00

An unknown mummy at Cairo Museum, Egypt. At the beginning of the century mummies were placed upright against a wall in order to photograph them.
http://africanhistory.about.com/od/egyptology/ig/Egyptian-Mummies/Mummies-unknown-mummy.htm

Seqenenre Tao II, (also called Sekenenra Taa) at Cairo Museum, Egypt. The pharaoh of the 17th dynasty was killed on the field of battle. The image shows the marks from the axe blow and the two spear thrusts that brought about his death.
http://africanhistory.about.com/od/egyptology/ig/Egyptian-Mummies/Mummies-Seqenenre-Tao-II.htm

The fate of very many worn out textiles was to be used in burials. Egyptian mummies, originally wrapped in complete cloths as if dressed, over the centuries became increasingly elaborate, provided with textile padding below and torn strips or "bandages" above. In the Ptolemaic period, the limbs of mummies were often separately wrapped. This leg fragment illustrates well the fine art of mummy wrapping at this time, an apotheosis of rags. http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/textil/other.html

FAITH AND RELIGION IN ANCIENT EGYPT: Nomes and Nomes Signs

2009-09-17T01:51:00.000-07:00

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Nomes or Nome signs refer to primitive images of nome gods, who were mostly in animal and to a lesser extent in plant form, or sacred objects usually served as nome signs. The provinces lying on the north-west edge of the Delta and the provinces in the south of Upper Egypt came into being at a later date, hence the fact that their nome signs are no longer on standards. The nomes were named after their symbols. As an example the Lower Egyptian nome signs have been illustrated here. The sign of the eight Lower Egyptian nome attained special importance as a symbol of Osiris. In Egyptian temples the nome signs were depicted above anthropomorphic nome gods who personified their areas, the twenty-two Upper Egyptian nomes being on the south wall and the twenty Lower Egyptian nomes on the north wall. (The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Egypt; Manfred Lurker, 1995)

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Deities of the Nile: Hapi, Khnum, Satis, Anuket, Heket and Taweret

2009-09-12T01:33:00.000-07:00

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Although Osiris ordained the annual inundation, the god most associated with the river itself was Hapi, depicted as a human figure with a large belly and pendulous breasts. This corpulence represented the bounties of the Nile, whose waters flowed to nurture Egypt. Hymns addressed to the Nile spoke of its bounty, expressing joy at its coming, and sorrow at the plight of Egypt when the Nile floods failed. The inundation was ritually greeted with thanks and jubilation in honour of Hapi, its patron divinity. The god is depicted with a papyrus plant, another symbol of the benefits of the Nile, sprouting from the top of his head.

The Nile was a river of creative forces. Its source was believed to be in the underworld, where it was connected to a subterranean stream. from the underworld it issued to the surface between granite rocks close to the First Cataract near Elephantine in the far south. As the fount of fertility, the source of the Nile was linked to the ram-headed creator god Khnum, who was believed to have fashioned humankind from Nile mud on a potter´s wheel. Satis, the consort of Khnum in the south, together with her companion Anuket, were revered as the dispensers of cool water. Satis was often depicted pouring water onto the earth to endow it with life. Unlike Khnum, she was shown in human form wearing the crown of Upper Egypt with two gazelle horns.

Anuket

Scenes from the New Kingdom Temple including (left) Khnum & Tuthmosis III,(above right) Satis in a boat, and (below Tuthmosis III and Khnum; http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/satistemple.htm)

Nile creatures, such as the hippopotamus, the crocodile and fish, were venerated as gods of fertility. Heket, a frog, was revered as a goddess of childbirth, as was the hippopotamus goddess, Taweret. In the story of Isis and Osiris, Heket was said to have assisted Isis in bringing the murdered Osiris briefly back to life, in order that he could father the god Horus.

(*) Text extract from Ancient Egypt, edited by David P. Silverman (Judy Piatkus Publishers, London 1997)

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THE LITURGY OF FUNERARY OFFERINGS ( E. A. WALLIS BUDGE, 1909)

2009-09-03T03:15:00.000-07:00

This book has text and analysis of the "Book of the Opening of the Mouth". The ritual consisted of offering a long sequence of foodstuffs, beverages, cosmetics and other consumables, along with a litany recited by the priests. This text was also painted on the walls of the royal tomb. This text comprises an important part of the 'Pyramid Texts'.

PREFACE

THE present volume contains the Egyptian text and English translations of two copies of one of the most, important documents connected with the dead which have come down to us, namely, a detailed list of the offerings which were made to the dead, and also of the consecrating formulae which were recited by the chief officiating priest, as he presented them to a mummified body, or to a statue of the deceased. The ancient title of the composition, if it ever had one in early days, is unknown to us, but it has been called the "Liturgy of Funerary Offerings," because the document deals exclusively with the presentation of offerings to the dead, and because this title is convenient for reference.

This Liturgy is associated in the funerary texts in the tombs and papyri with another work entitled the "Book of Opening the Mouth" and this fact suggests that it is a portion of or a supplement to it, and that it is a development of the canonical List of Offerings which we have reason to believe was in existence under the IIIrd or IVth Dynasty. We know that funerary chapels were attached to the. pyramids and mastaba tombs of this period, and that offerings of meat and drink were made in them to the dead daily by properly qualified priests. It follows as a matter of course that the proceedings of the priests were regulated by some system, and that some kind of written service must have been recited regularly, and we are justified in believing that the Liturgy of Funerary Offerings was that which was commonly said for kings and other royal personages, and for men of high civil and ecclesiastical rank.

In the case of the "Book of Opening the Mouth" the object of the recital was, in the earliest times at least, to bring about the reconstitution and resurrection of the dead man, and even in later times, when the work was recited before a statue, on which the accompanying ceremonies were performed, the idea of the Egyptians on this matter remained unchanged. It must be remembered also that the Egyptians intended by means of ceremonies and formulae to bring back the Ka, or double, either to the dead man, from whom it had been temporarily separated, or to a statue which represented him; and when this had been done they believed it to be their bounden duty to provide meat and drink for its maintenance. It was the Ka and the heart-soul (Ba), not the spirit-soul (Khu), which fed upon the offerings, and if meat and drink of a suitable character, and in sufficient quantity, were not provided for them, these suffered from hunger and thirst, and if the supply of offerings failed, they perished by starvation. The texts make it quite clear that the Egyptians believed in a dual-soul; one member could not die, but the other only lived as long as it was fed with offerings by the living and provided with an abode, i.e., a statue. Offerings were brought to the funerary chapels and tombs daily, and additional gifts were presented on the days of all great festivals.

In very primitive times offerings of meat and drink were brought to the graves, and laid there for the souls of the dead to partake of at pleasure, just as is the case at the present day in -many places in the Sudan. When the ceremonies connected with the Book of Opening the Mouth were evolved, it became customary for the offerings to be brought forward at a certain place in the service, and afterwards, little by little, the canonical List of Offerings, and its later development, the Liturgy of Funerary Offerings, came into being.

As in the Book of Opening the Mouth the words spoken by the Kher-heb, or chief officiating priest, were believed to change the meat, and bread, and wine into divine substances, so in the Liturgy also the formula which was said over each element was supposed to change it into a divine and spiritual food, which was partaken of by the souls of the gods and of the dead. The material elements of the offerings were eaten by the priests and the relatives of the dead, and the act of eating brought them into communion with the blessed dead, and with the gods. The age of the belief in the transmutation of offerings cannot be stated, but it is certain that it was well known to the Egyptians under the Vth Dynasty, and there is reason to think that it was not unknown to their ancestors in the latter part of the Neolithic Period, and that it is coeval with the indigenous African belief in the immortality of the soul, and in a life beyond the grave.

The life of the Liturgy of Funerary Offerings was long. It is found in a more or less complete form in many mastaba tombs of the Ancient Empire, in a very complete form in the pyramids of Unas and Pepi II., in incomplete forms on sarcophagi and in tombs of the XIIth Dynasty, and in the tomb of Seti I. of the XIXth Dynasty, and in complete forms in the tomb of Peta-Amen-hp of the XXVIth Dynasty and in papyri written in the first or second century of the Christian Era. The changes textually in the complete copies of the different periods are very few, and we may say that this work was used by generation after generation, in a practically unaltered form, for about four thousand years.

A description of the labours of my predecessors on this important text will be found in the introductory matter to the present volume.

E. A. WALLIS BUDGE.

BRITISH MUSEUM,
August 5th, 1909.

Read this book online at: http://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/lfo/index.htm
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Child Mumy at the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum (San Jose, California)

2009-09-03T02:47:00.000-07:00

Medical Modeling LLC has teamed up with researchers at Stanford University Hospital (Palo Alto, CA), Stanford-NASA Biocomputation Center (Palo Alto, CA)and Silicon Graphics (Mountain View, CA) to find out more about a mummy with an unknown past. The mummy, belonging to the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum & Planetarium in San Jose, Calif., is believed to be that of a four to six year old child who lived around the time of Christ. Researchers have spent the last several months working on unraveling key details about the child mummy named Sherit, an ancient Egyptian name that means “little one”, a name given to the mummy by the museum’s curators.

On May 6th 2005 the mummy, long owned by the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum
and Planetarium, traveled to Stanford University Hospital to be imaged using
computed tomography (CT) and other non-invasive medical imaging techniques.
Researchers at Stanford took over 60,000 images of the mummy in one day, what
is believed to be the largest series of scans ever performed on a mummy. Since
then researchers at Silicon Graphics have been working to unravel some of the
unknowns surrounding this mummy, still wrapped after 2000 years.

Read the complete report and conclusions at:
http://www.medicalmodeling.com/mummy/ChildMummy_ProjectOverview.pdf
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ANCIENT EGYPT MUMMIES: Hospital brain scanner reveals the identity of 2,000-year-old Egyptian mummy (Daily Mail; 27.03.09)

2009-08-24T02:07:00.000-07:00

By Fiona Macrae (27th March 2009)

For two thousands years, their secrets have remained locked inside intricate layers of linen.Now, the details of their life - and death - are being exposed with the help of 21st century technology.

Three child mummies have been virtually unwrapped by sophisticated X-ray scanners more usually used to detect brain tumours in hospitals.Using a CT scanner, scientists have been able to peer through the multiple layers of tightly wrapped linen that protected the youngsters on their journey to the afterlife.

One of the 2,000-year-old mummies before it is passed through the hospital scanner

Within just an hour of starting the scans at BMI The Blackheath Hospital, in London, the scientists made a startling discovery. A gold-masked mummy, long thought to belong to a girl was in fact the remains of a boy of around two years old.

Forensic Egyptologist Janet Davey said: 'We have already been stunned to discover, and amused too, that one of the mummies is in fact a boy.´

Since the mummy has been at the British Museum, in the late 1800s or early 1900s, experts believed it was a girl because of the gold drapery and decorative purple flowers the mummy was holding. 'So it is quite exciting to get the 3-D images and discover it is a boy. The photos are a fascinating window into the past and we will learn many things from them.'

The scanner has yet to provide clues as to how the boy died, with no immediate signs of injury, malnutrition or illness such as brittle bone disease.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1165317/Its-boy-Hospital-brain-scanner-reveals-identity-2-000-year-old-Egyptian-mummy.html#ixzz0P5hpo0Uk

Chronological Timeline of Ancient Egyptian Dynasties

2009-08-17T08:01:00.000-07:00

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(*) All dates prior to the 17th century BCE are approximate.

Predynastic Period c.3500-3100 BCE

Early Dynastic Period c.3100-2686 BCE

'Scorpion'
Narmer

1st Dynasty c.3100-2890 BCE

Menes (Hor-Aha)
Djer
Wadj (Djet)
Den
Anendjib
Semerkhet
Qa'a

2nd Dynasty c.2890-2686 BCE

Hotepsekhemwy
Raneb
Nynetjer
Seth-Peribsen
Khasekhemwy

Old Kingdom c.2686-2181 BCE

3rd Dynasty c.2686-2613 BCE

Sanakhte (Nebka) (c.2688-2668)
Djoser (c.2668-2649)
Sekhemkhet (Djoser Teti) (c.2649-2641)
Khaba (c.2641-2637)
Huni (c.2637-2613)

4th Dynasty c.2613-2494 BCE

Snofru (c.2613-2589)
Khufu (Cheops) (c.2585-2566)
Djedefre (c.2566-2558)
Khafre (Rekhaf) (c.2558-2532)
Menkaure (Mykerinos) (c.2532-2514)
Shepseskaf (c.2514-2494)

5th Dynasty c.2494-2345 BCE

Userkaf (c.2494-2487)
Sahure (c.2487-2475)
Neferirkare Userkhau (c.2475-2455)
Shepseskare (c.2455-2448)
Raneferef (c.2448-2445)
Niuserre (c.2445-2421)
Menkauhor (c.2421-2413)
Djedkare (c.2413-2381)
Unas (Wenis) (c.2381-2345)

6th Dynasty c.2345-2181 BCE

Teti (c.2345-2313)
Pepi I Meryre (c.2313-2279)
Merenre (c.2279-2270)
Pepi II Neferkare (c.2279-2181)

First Intermediate Period c.2181-2040 BCE

7/8th Dynasty c.2181-2173 BCE

Wadjkare
Qakare Iby

9/10th Dynasty c.2160-2040 BCE

Meryibre Kheti (Akhtoy) I
Merykare
Kanrferre
Nebkaure Kheti (Akhtoy) II
Wahkare Kheti (Akhtoy) III
Merikare

11th Dynasty c.2133-1991 BCE

Intef I (Inyotef I) Sehertawy (c.2133-2123)
Intef II (Inyotef II) Wahankh (c.2123-2074)
Intef III (Inyotef III) Nakhtnebtepnefer (c.2074-2066)
Mentuhotep I ? (c.2066-2040)
Middle Kingdom c.2040-1786 BCE

11th Dynasty

Mentuhotep II Nebhepetre (c.2040-2010)
Mentuhotep III Sankhkare (c.2010-1998)
Mentuhotep IV Nebtawyre (c.1998-1991)

12th Dynasty c.1991-1786 BCE

Amenemhet I Sehetepibre (c.1991-1962)
Senusret I Kheperkare(c.1962-1917)
Amenemhet II Nubkaure (c.1917-1882)
Senusret II Khakhperre (c.1882-1878)
Senusret III Khakaure (c.1878-1841)
Amenemhet III Nimaatre (c.1841-1796)
Amenemhet IV Maakherure (c.1796-1790)
Queen Sobeknerfu Neferusobek (c.1790-1786)

Second Intermediate Period c.1786-1567 BCE

13th Dynasty (about 70 kings) c.1786-1633 BCE

Wegaf Khawitawire (c.1783 - 1779)
Amenemhet V Sekhemkare
Harnedjheriotef Hetepibre
Sobekhotep I Khaankhre (ca.1750)
Hor
Amenemhet VII Sedjefakare
Sobekhotep II Sekhemre-Khutawy (ca.1745)
Khendjer
Sobekhotep III
Neferhotep I Khasekhemre (c.1723-1713)
Sobekhotep IV Merihotepre Khaneferre (c.1713)
Iaib (c.1713-1703)
Ay Merneferre (c.1703-1680)
Neferhotep II
and eight more kings

14th Dynasty c.1786-1603 BCE

Nehesy

15th Dynasty c.1674-1567 BCE

Hyksos kings
Semqen ? Aper-Anati ?
Sakir-Har
Khyan (Apachnan)
Apepi I (Apophis)
Apepi II (Khamudi?) (c.1542-1532)

16th Dynasty c.1684-1567 BCE

Hyksos kings
?
?

17th Dynasty c.1650-1567

Sobekemsaf I Sekhemre Wadjkhau
Sobekemsaf II
Intef VII
Tao I Seakhtenre
Tao II Sekenenre
Kamose Wadjkheperre

New Kingdom c.1570-1070 BCE

18th Dynasty c.1570-1293 BCE

Ahmose I Nebpehtyre (c.1570-1546)
Amenhotep I Djeserkare (c.1546-1527)
Thutmose I Akheperkare (c.1527-1515)
Thutmose II Akheperenre (c.1515-1498)
Queen Hatshepsut Maatkare (c.1498-1483)
Thutmose III Menkhepere (c.1504-1450)
Amenhotep II Akheperure (c.1450-1412)
Thutmose IV Men-khepru-Re (1412-1402)
Amenhotep III Nebmaatre (c.1402-1364)
Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten Neferkheperure (c.1350-1334)
Smenkhkare Ankhheperure (c.1334)
Tutankhamen Nebkheperoure (c.1334-1325)
Ay Kheperkheperure (c.1325-1321)
Horemheb Djeserkheperure (c.1321-1293)

19th Dynasty c.1293-1185 BCE

Ramses I Menpehtyre (c.1293-1291)
Seti I Merienptah Menmaatre (c.1291-1278)
Ramses II Meriamen Usermaatre Setepenre (c.1279-1212)
Merneptah Hetephermaat Baenre Meriamen (c.1212-1202)
Amenmes Heqawaset Menmire Setepenre (c.1202-1199)
Seti II Merenptah Userkheperure Setepenre (c.1199-1193)
Merneptah Siptah Sekhaenre/Akhenre (c.1193-1187)
Queen Twosret Setepenmut Sitre Meriamen (c.1187-1185)

20th Dynasty c.1185-1070 BCE

Sethnakhte Userkhaure Setepenre (c.1185-1182)
Ramses III Usermaatre Meriamen (c.1182-1151)
Ramses IV Usermaatre/Heqamaatre-Setepenamen (c.1151-1145)
Ramses V Usermaatre Sekheperenre (c.1145-1141)
Ramses VI Nebmaatre Meriamen (c.1141-1133)
Ramses VII Usermaatre Setepenre Meriamen (c.1133-1128)
Ramses VIII Usermaatre Akhenamen (c.1128-1126)
Ramses IX Neferkare Setepenre (c.1126-1108)
Ramses X Khepermaatre Setepenptah (c.1108-1098)
Ramses XI Menmaatre Setepenptah (c.1098-1070)

Third Intermediate Period c.1070-664 BCE

High Priests (Thebes)

Contemporaries of the 21st dynasty at Tanis

Herihor Siamun Hemnetjertepyenamun (c.1080-1074)
Piankh (c.1074-1070)
Pinedjem I Meriamen Khakheperre Setepenamun (c.1070-1032)
Masaherta (c.1054-1046)
Djedkhonsefankh (c.1046-1045)
Menkheperre (c.1045-992)
Smendes II (c.992-990)
Pinedjem II (c.990-969)
Psusennes (c.969-959)

21st Dynasty

Tanite c.1070-945 BCE
Nesbanebded Hedjkheperre Setepenre (Smendes I) (c.1070-1043)
Nephercheres (Neferkare-hekawise Amenemnisu Meramun (c.1043-1039)
Psusennes I Akheperre Setepenamun (c.1039-1000)
Amenemope Usimare Setepenamun (c.1000-991)
Osorkon the elder (Osochor) (c.991-985)
Psinaches (c.985-976)
Psusennes II Titkheprure (c.976-962)
Siamun Nutekheperre Setepenamun Siamun Meramun (c.962-945)

22nd Dynasty

Bubastite c.945-730 BCE
Sheshonq I Hedjkheperre Setepenre (c.945-924)
Osorkon I Sekhemkheperre Setepenre (c.924–889)
Sheshonq II Hekakheperre Setepenre (ca. 890)
Takelot I Usimare (c.889–874)
Osorkon II Usimare Setepenamun (c.874–850)
Harsiese (ca. 865)
Takelot II Hedjkheperre Setepenre (c.850–825)
Sheshonq III Usimare Setepenamun (c.825–773)
Pamai (c.773–767)
Sheshonq V Akheperre (c.767–730)
Osorkon IV (c.730–712)

23rd Dynasty

Tanite c.817-730 BCE
Pedibastet Meriamen Usermaatre Setepenre(c.818–793)
Iuput I (ca. 800)
Sheshonq IV Usermaatre Meriamen (c.793–787)
Osorkon III Usermaatre Setepenamen (c.787–759)
Takelot III Usermaatre (c.764–757)
Rudamon Usermaatre Setepenamen (c.757–754)
Iuput II Meriamen sibastet Usermaatre (c.754–712)
Nimlot (ca. 740)
Peftjauabastet Nefer-ka-re (c.740–725)
Thutemhat (ca. 720)
Pedinemti (ca. 700)

24th Dynasty c.720-714 BCE

Shepsesre Tefnakht (c.724-717)
Wahkare Bakenrenef (c.717-712)

25th Dynasty 747-656 BCE

Piye Usimare Sneferre (Piankhi) (747-716)
Shabaka Neferkare Wahibre (716-702)
Shebitku Djedkaure Menkheperre (702-689)
Taharka Khunefertemr (689-663)
Tanutamun Bakare (663-656)
Late Dynastic Period 664-332 BCE

26th Dynasty 664-525 BCE

Necho I (664-656)
Psammetic I Wahemibre Psamtek (656-609)
Necho II Wahemibre Neko (609-594)
Psammetic II Neferibre Psamtek (594-587)
Wahibre (Haaibre) (Apries) (587-569)
Ahmose II Khnemibre (Amasis) (569-526)
Psammetic III Ankhkaenre (526)

27th Dynasty 525-404 BCE

Cambyses II (525-522)
Darius I (521-486)
Xerxes (486-465)
Artaxerxes I (465-424)
Darius II (423-405)
Artaxerxes II (405-359)

28th Dynasty 404-399 BCE

Amenirdis (Amyrtaeus) (404-399)

29th Dynasty 399-380 BCE

Nefaarud I (Nepherites I) (399-393)
Psammuthis Userre Setepenptah Pasherienmut (ca. 392)
Hakor Khnemmaere Setpenkhnum (Achoris) (392-380)
Nefaarud II (Nepherites II) (380)

30th Dynasty 380-343 BCE

Nakhtnebef Kheperkare (Nectanebo I) (380-362)
Djedhor (362-360)
Nekhtharehbe Snedjemibre Setpenanhur (Nectanebo II) (360-343)

31st Dynasty 343-332 BCE

Artaxerxes III (343-338)
Arses (338-336)
Darius III (336-332)

The Graeco-Roman Period

Macedonian Kings

Alexander the Great (332-323)
Philip III Arrhidaeus (323-317)
Alexander IV Aegus (317-311)
Ptolemaic Dynasty 323-30 BCE
Ptolemy I Soter (305-282)
Ptolemy II Philadelphus (284-246)
Arsinoe II (278-270)
Ptolemy III Euergetes I (246-222)
Bernice II (246-221)
Ptolemy IV Philopator (222-205)
Ptolemy V Epiphanes (205-180)
Harwennefer (205-199)
Ankhwennefer (199-186)
Cleopatra I (194-176)
Ptolemy VI Philometor (180-164)
Cleopatra II (175-115)
Ptolemy VII Neos Philopator (164-145)
Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II (145)
Cleopatra III (142-101)
Ptolemy IX Soter II (116-80)
Ptolemy X Alexander I (107-88)
Ptolemy XI Alexander II (80)
Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos (80-51)
Queen Bernice IV (58-55)
Ptolemy XIII (51-47)
Queen Cleopatra VII (51-30)
Ptolemy XIV (47-44)
Ptolemy XV (44-30)
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OLD PHOTOGRAPHS AND POSTCARDS: Cairo´s Pyramids (1904), Alexandrie (1907), "Tut Ankh Amen" (1928)...

2009-08-12T05:00:00.000-07:00

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These six cards belong to my collection of early 20th-century Egyptian postcards.

Cairo´s Pyramids (Stamped in 1904)

Alexandrie, Place des Consuls (Stamped in 1907 )

Cairo´s MuseumCairo - Obelisk of Matarieh

The pyramids of Kheops and Khephren

The Paraoh "Tut Ankh Amen" (Stamped in 1928)

ANCIENT EGYPT ART: Gold Bracelets, Meritamun´s Cedarwood Coffin and Ahhotep II´s Bead Bracelets

2009-07-30T03:14:00.001-07:00

Solid gold bracelets set with lapis lazuli and bearing the cartouches of Ramesses II. The lapis lazuli forms the central body of a goose, which has two heads and a tail worked in gold. Found in 1906 in the Nile Delta, the bracelets were probably a gift from the king to a favored courtier.

Cedarwood coffin of Queen Ahmose Meritamun, daughter of Ahmose I and Queen Ahmose Nefertari, and sister and wife of King Amenhotep I, from her tomb at Deir el-Bahri in western Thebes.

In 1859 the intact of a 17th-Dynasty queen, Ahhotep II-who was the widow of King Kamose-was discovered at Dra Abu el-Naga in Western Thebes. More typical of a king´s burial than a queen´s, it contained the queen´s richly gilded coffin and many items of magnificent gold and jewelry, such as these exquisite bead bracelets of gold and semiprecious stones.

D. Pemberton and J. Fletcher (Treasures of the Pharaohs, 2004)

VIRTUAL EGYPT (from Egypt´s Golden Empire): Abydos, Karnak, West Bank, Ramesseum...

2009-07-29T02:44:00.000-07:00

Upper Egypt: http://www.pbs.org/empires/egypt/special/virtual_egypt/egypt.html

Abydos: http://www.pbs.org/empires/egypt/special/virtual_egypt/abydos.html

Karnak: http://www.pbs.org/empires/egypt/special/virtual_egypt/karnak.html

West Bank: http://www.pbs.org/empires/egypt/special/virtual_egypt/westbank.html

Deir El-Medineh: http://www.pbs.org/empires/egypt/special/virtual_egypt/deir.html

Ramesseum: http://www.pbs.org/empires/egypt/special/virtual_egypt/ramesseum.html

Medinet Habu: http://www.pbs.org/empires/egypt/special/virtual_egypt/medinet.html

The Wars of King Kamose, Kamose´s Stelae, and the Flies of Valour

2009-07-29T01:36:00.000-07:00

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Kamose´s exploits against the Hyksos and the Kushites were inscribed in unusually vivid and personal detail on two stelae set up inside the temple of Amun at Karnak. The war narrative begins at a meeting of the king´s privy council, at which Kamose contemptuously rejects his advisors´ urgings to continue his predecessors´ policy of cooperation with the Hyksos regime. Kamose sails north, plundering the towns of Hyksos vassals that "had betrayed Egypt their mistress".

http://www.pbs.org/empires/egypt/special/hieroglyphs/kamose.html

Kamose then beards his Hyksos opponent in his capital of Avaris, "as if a kite were preying on the territory of Avaris, I caught sight of his women on the top of his palace... as they peeped out of their loopholes on their walls, like the young of the lizards". The greatest humiliation for King Apopi is the capture of his messenger, on his way south to rouse the Nubians against Kamose. Apopi´s message to his ally is brusque: "Do you see what Egypt has done against me? ... Come, travel north. Do not grow pale! Behold, he is here in my grasp," he boasts, somewhat prematurely. Kamose in turn boasts that "I caused to be taken back to him... so that my victory should invade his heart and his limbs should be paralyzed."

The upper half of one of the stelae. http://www.ancient-egypt.org/index.html

Kamose is wise enough not to overstretch himself and withdraws to Thebes. He arrives with the rising waters of the Nile flood and receives a warm reception: "women and men came out to see me, every woman embracing her companion." The king then repair to Karnak to offer thanks to Amun. Such a thanksgiving is the usual, even stereotypical, ending to a war narrative in ancient Egypt.

The gold "Flies of Valour", a military decoration for bravery, presented by Kamose or his brother Ahmose to their mother, Queen Ahhotep. She played an active role in the anti-Hyksos wars of her husband King Seqenere Tao and their two sons, serving as regent for Ahmose when he was in the field.

Some extracts from D. P. Silverman (Ancient Egypt, 1997)

´Private Pyramids´: Deir el-Medineh and Abydos

2009-07-28T02:12:00.000-07:00

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Towards the end of the 18th dynasty, necropolis workers and high officials began to build small pyramids above their private tombs. Although there was no concept of ´private´as opposed to royal in the modern sense, the pyramid was simply no longer the exclusive prerogative of the king. Archaeologists have also found remains of small New Kingdom pyramids at sites ranging from Nubia to Memphis.

A series of small pyramids once perched on the hillsides above the royal workmen´s town of Deir el-Medineh. above is a possible reconstruction of such tomb.

A reconstructed pyramid belonging to one of the tombs in the workers´ cemetery at Deir el-Medineh, Thebes.

Section and plan of a pyramidal tomb of Abydos. The corbelled vault resembles ancient Egyptian granaries and ovens.

M. Lehner (The Complete Pyramids, 1997)

FAITH AND RELIGION: Apep, Agent of Chaos.

2009-07-28T01:31:00.000-07:00

To the Egyptians, creation was not a single, isolated event but an ongoing cycle of renewal to be repeated daily with the rising of the sun, as the sun god emerged anew from the mound of creation victorious over the demons of the netherworld who sought to destroy him each night. Chief among these demons and agents of chaos was the giant snake Apep, who tried to hinder the progress of the sun boat with the coils of his writhing body. Every god played a part in warding off Apep´s attacks throughout the night and ensuring ceation each morning. Only by constant and correct obrservance of their cults could the creative cycle be guaranteed and the forces of chaos kept at bay.

The great snake of the underworld, Apep, symbolized the primeval forces of chaos. Described as over 16 m long, his front part made of flint, he tried to capsize, ground and swallow the sun boat as it passed through the night. Tomb of Seti I (c.1294-1279 BC), Valley of the Kings.

Apep was son dangerous that even his name had to be magically killed. Here a knife severs the neck of the hieroglyphic determinative of his name. Tomb of Seti I, Valley of the Kings.

V. Davies and R. Friedman (Egypt Uncovered, 1998)

Mystery of the Screaming Mummy (Kathryn Knight, Mail Online - 10th November 2008)

2009-07-27T02:45:00.000-07:00

On a scorching hot day at the end of June 1886, Gaston Maspero, head of the Egyptian Antiquities Service, was unwrapping the mummies of the 40 kings and queens found a few years earlier in an astonishing hidden cache near the Valley of the Kings.

The 1881 discovery of the tombs, in the Deir El Bahri valley, 300 miles south of Cairo, had been astonishing and plentiful. Hidden from the world for centuries were some of the great Egyptian pharaohs - Rameses the Great, Seti I and Tuthmosis III. Yet this body, buried alongside them, was different, entombed inside a plain, undecorated coffin that offered no clues to the deceased's identity.
It was an unexpected puzzle and, once the coffin was opened, Maspero found himself even more shocked.

There, wrapped in a sheep or goatskin - a ritually unclean object for ancient Egyptians - lay the body of a young man, his face locked in an eternal blood-curdling scream. It was a spine-tingling sight, and one that posed even more troubling questions: here was a mummy, carefully preserved, yet caught in the moment of death in apparently excrutiating pain.

He had been buried in exalted company, yet been left without an inscription, ensuring he would be consigned to eternal damnation, as the ancient Egyptians believed identity was the key to entering the afterlife. Moreover, his hands and feet had been so tightly bound that marks still remained on the bones.
Who could he be, this screaming man, assigned the anonymous label 'Man E' in the absence of a proper name?

Some believed 'Man E' was the traitor son of Rameses III, who'd been involved in a coup to remove him from the throne, others that he was an Egyptian governor who had died abroad and been returned to his homeland for burial. Some believed the unconventional manner of his mummification showed that he was not Egyptian at all, but a member of a rival Hittite dynasty, who had died on Egyptian soil.

As Dr Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, puts it, 'We'd never seen a mummy like this, suffering. It's not normal, and it tells us something happened, but we did not know exactly what.'
Until now. Today, nearly 130 years after his body was first uncovered, a team of scientists has brought the wonders of modern forensic techniques to bear on the enigma.

Using sophisticated-technology, including CT scanning, Xrays and facial reconstruction, to examine the mummy, they uncovered tantalising new clues that could reveal his identity, all under the watchful eye of Five's TV crew, who are making a series of documentaries hoping to unravel some of Egypt's great secrets.

Their findings suggest that Man E is indeed Prince Pentewere, elder son of Rameses III, who, with his mother, Tiy, had evolved a plan to assassinate the pharaoh and ascend to the throne. Certainly, the theory has a number of supporters. Among them is Dr Susan Redford, an Egyptologist from Pennsylvania State University, who points out that an ancient papyrus scroll details a plot by Tiy to dethrone Rameses III in favour of their son, even though he was not the nominated heir.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1083945/Mystery-screaming-mummy.html

MUMMY IDENTIFICATION

2009-07-27T02:18:00.000-07:00

KEYS TO MUMMY IDENTIFICATION

Old Kingdom (Mummies of Royals. Very rare; never usually seen outside of Egypt or the oldest European Collections).

Plastered-Shaped Mummy

Plain Wooden Coffins, Box-Shaped.

When used, stone or pottery Canopic jars were plain.

Middle Kingdom (Mummies of Royals and Nobles).

Plaster Masks (called Cartonnage), generally of simple design, but usually of high quality and beauty.

Wooden Coffins, Box-Shaped.

Coffins have elaborate hieroglyphics, and eyes on the side of the box.

Mummy buried on its side.

Stone or pottery Canopic jars were plain or had human heads.

New Kingdom – Late Kingdom (Mummies of Royals, Nobles, and Wealthy).

Plaster Masks (called Cartonnage), of more complex design (e.g., feathered headdresses). These tend to be more colorful and garish then Middle Kingdom.

The Royal Mummies would have gold or silver masks (e.g., the famous one of King Tutankhamen).

Arthropoid Coffins, Human-Shaped.

Coffins have elaborate hieroglyphics.

Richer burials utilize box-shaped wood or stone sarcophagus, which can be highly decorated (either with paintings or reliefs)

Canopic jars were generally had human heads or those of the Four Sons of Horus.

Papyrus “Book of the Dead” are buried with the mummy.

Ptolemaic-Graeco-Roman (Mummies of all who can afford the price).

Plaster Masks (called Cartonnage), were used/ However, there was a wide variety of types, and many were highly influenced by Greek art (which focused on producing more realistic results). Plaster or gold-foil masks with very Greek characteristics are noted.

Some of the wealthier mummies (especially in later history) have encaustic mummy portraits instead of masks. These portraits are as close to a snap-shot of what the actual individual looked like as could be achieved during this period of history.

The quality of preservation techniques deteriorated. However, the bandaging became quite elaborate to make up for it. Therefore, a mummy with diamond-shaped patterns of bandages will always be from this period.

Canopic jars may or may not be associated with a burial.

http://mutnodjmetsmusings.blogspot.com/2006/10/egyptian-mummies_116205551382121887.html

EVERYDAY LIFE: Childbirth

2009-07-27T01:31:00.000-07:00

A new-born baby would be wash with warm water until the flow of blood in the umbilical cord had ceased and it could be cut with an obsidian knife. The placenta and the cord were placed reventially to one side. In the case of the working-classes they would not be dried and saved to be buried, one day, with their owner, as was the habit of some members of the nobility.

A woman giving birth abd being helped by Hathor and Taweret (Temple of Hathor, Dendera)

A typical birthing scene would have women reciting incantations to the Seven Hathors who presided over the birth, and who would predict the nature of the child´s death. A child born on the twenty-third of the month would be killed by a crocodile; on the fourth by fever; on the fifth by love. Lucky chldren were born on the ninth day of the second month of Akhet - they would die of old age. Even luckier were those born on the twenty-ninth day of the same month: they would die ´well-respected´.

Wall relief of the Seven Hathors (Temple of Dendera)

But if the baby were to live at all, and most didn´t survive infancy, it would need to be protected from want and disease; a protection which only material well-being, however modest, could supply. (Anton Gill, Ancient Egyptians, 2003)

HYMN TO ATEN

2009-07-27T01:18:00.000-07:00

Did Akhenaten himself authored this hymn in praise of Aten? Notice the resemblance to Psalm 104.

O thou great living Aten... Lord of heaven and
earth... thoug risest beautiful on the horizon of
heaven... shining on the eastern horizon,
having filled every land with thy beauty!
Thou hast made the heaven afar off in order to
shine in it.
Thou has made the seasons in order to nurture
all that thou has made.
Thou settest on the western horizon and the
land is in darkness in the manner of death.
Every lion comes forth from his den and all the
serpents bite.
Dawn comes only when thou risest on the
horizon.

The whole world, people do their jobs.
The fish in the river leap before thee; thy rays are
within the sea.
Ships sail both north and south.
Thou settest each one in his place, thou
providest their needs - each one with his
food.
How manifold is what thou hast done.

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN MUMMIES: Padihershef (Boston´s Massachusetts General Hospital)

2009-07-24T01:08:00.000-07:00

The mummy known as Padihershef, originally a stone-cutter from Thebes (some 2500 years ago) has been a longtime resident at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital.

Padi (as he is affectionately known) is a particularly special mummy for he is one of the first Egyptian mummies brought to the United States. More important, he is (according to Wolfe and Singerman) the first complete Egyptian mummy to be exhibited in America. Soon after his arrival on April 26, 1823, he was unwrapped and thoroughly examined at Massachusetts General Hospital. By May 21, he was on exhibit, first in Boston to thousands of people (adults were charged 25 cents, children paid about 12 cents). By October, Padi was on tour, displayed in New York, Charleston (SC), Philadelphia, and Baltimore. According to a Mass General spokesperson, Padi's tour earned the hospital the equivalent of $1 million in today's money.

Padi was eventually returned to Mass General and displayed in the operating theater, where (in 1846) he "observed" the first public use of anesthesia and became the mummy of the "Ether Dome." http://www.mummytombs.com/mummylocator/featured/egyptian.padihershef.htm

FICTIONAL LITERATURE: "Lord of the Horizon", Joan Grant (Methuen and Co. Ltd.; London 1943)

2009-07-24T00:22:00.000-07:00

Lord of the Horizon was the title given to Roidahn, leader of the Eyes of Horus, when Amenemhet I became the first Pharaoh of the great XII Dynasty. This book describes how the new authority having overthrown a rule of fear, brought peace to Egypt; being able to do so because it recognized that the epace of a nation can only be obtained through the happiness of the individual. Through the eyes of Ra-ab Hotep, Monarch of the Oryx, we see his wife and their three children, enjoy with them the glowing sunlight of the Nile Valley, and share the inward life of Pharaoh as though we too had been his close friend.

Conflict, whether between members of a family or between peoples, is a symptom of an inadequate ethic; and unhappiness is a disease which can, and must, be cured. What was true of Egyptians more than five thousand years ago is true in the twentieh century: so the methods by which Amenemhet was cured of the guilt which nearly destroyed him, by which children of diverse characters were taught how to develop their special qualities, by which the cruel became kindly and the narrow-hearted learned tolerance, may find their applciation in the world of today- for the esential problems of mankind do not change millenia. Methuen and CO.

FICTIONAL LITERATURE: Egyptian Woman, a year in the life of a woman during the reign of Ramesses II (Hilary Wilson, London 2001)

2009-07-23T02:08:00.000-07:00

Set in Thebes - the religious heart of Egypt - during the reign of Ramesses II, the story follows the life of Nebetiunet (known as Nebet), her sons and daughters and her friends and neighbours. When Nebet was orphaned at the age of ten, she was taken into the household of her Uncle Nebneteru in Thebes and was established as an apprentice seamstress in the linen workshop of the great Temple of Amen-Ra. She later married a young scribe, Amenmose, and had six children in the first nine years of her marriage. When her children were old enough to be left in the care of the household servants Nebet returned to her career in the temple, where she was promoted to the post of Mistress of the Divine Wardrobe, in charge of making and maintaining the sacred vestment and temple linens. Nebet is also a Chantress, a singer in the choir at the Temple of Asheru. The family are involved in numerous festivals, marriages, a harvest, and a funeral before their world is disturbed by preparation for war with the Hittites. This delightful and authentic tale is not to be missed by any reader with an interest in history or ancient Egypt. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Egyptian-Woman-woman-during-Ramesses/dp/1854798006/ref=cm_lmf_tit_8_rsrsrs0

Hilary Wilson has taught Egyptology in adult education classes since 1979 and for some years have been based at the University of Southampton, New College. As ´Setkemet´, the Egyptian Lady, Hilary shares her enthusiam for all things Egyptological and children, providing demonstrations, workshops and dramatizations on Egyptian themes for junior schools, with the aim of bringing to life everyday realities of this amazing civilization.

Hilary is founder Chairman of Southampton Ancient Egypt Society and Museum Curator with the Bournemouth Natural Science Society (U.K.) Her previous works are People of the Pharaohs and Understanding Hieroglyphs.

Fictional Literature: Beneath the Pyramid (Christian Jacq, Simon and Schuster UK Ltd, 2004)

2009-07-22T01:57:00.000-07:00

Summoned to investigate the mysterious deaths of five guards standing watch over the great tomb of Kheops, a young novice judge from a small village near Thebes is dismayed to find the teeming city of Memphis a hotbed of greed and corruption. And thet´s by no means all. Judge Pazair´s refusal to sing an administrative document he does not understand leads him to stumble upon a mosntruous plot to assassinate the pharaoh, Ramses the Great.

With the aid of Neferet, the woman he loves, and his blood brother, Suti, who has fled the scribes´ school in search of wine, women and glory, Judge Pazair sets out to uncover the truth and rescue the pharaoh from a gruesome fata.

An impossible love, an attempt to overthrow the State, a series of brutal murders and the triumph of lies: can a young, inexperienced judge really succeed against the odds - and stay alive in the process?

Born in Paris in 1947, Chirstian Jacq first visited Egypt when he was seventeen, went on to study Egyptology and archaeology at the Sorbonne, and is now one of the world´s leading egyptologists. He is the author of the internationally bestselling Ramses series, The Stone of Light series and the stand-alone novel, The Black Pharaoh. Christian Jacq lives in Switzerland.

The Mountains of Pharaoh, 2,000 years of pyramid exploration (Leonard Cottrell; Pan Books LTD, 1956)

2009-07-22T00:57:00.000-07:00

"The Mountains of Pharaoh approaches the legend of the Ancient Pyramids from a fresh point of view. It tells the adventurous story of the generations of men -plunderers, cranks and dedicated scholars- who were lured by these fantastic monuments. Describing vicious battles and bitter rows, the author introduces rich human anecdotes which range from high drama to high comedy. Side by side with a wealth of historical information he rpesents an astonishing chapter in the history of archaeology itself. A book of absorbing interest. The Sphere."

Plan of the Third Pyramid of Menkaure (Mycerinus)

A view of the Sphinx (1840)

Sectional diagram of the Second Pyramid of Chephren (Khafre) showing the layout of the subterranean galleries

Denon´s Voyage dans la Haute et la Basse Egypte (1802) and Jomard´s Description de l´Egypte (1809)

2009-07-21T01:18:00.000-07:00

In May 1798 Napoleon Bonaparte put to sea with 38,000 men aboard his fleet, including 175 scholars. In the shadow of the pyramids a victorious battle was fought, but the campaign was a failure. New Egypt, barely won, was lost again at once; but Old Egypt was truly conquered. More scholars followed the soldiers, and they bought home the booty of new knowledge.

The most interpreter of all the ancient novelties was baron Dominique Vivant Denon, adventurer, diplomat and a fine artist. In his book Voyage dans la Haute et la Basse Egypte, published in 1802, he gave to an amazed Europe its first pictorial account on the woderful age-old world along the Nile.

Today is apparent to us how wrongly he saw many things (see Sphinx drawing above). But future archaeology profited enormously by his work. His labours provided essential documentation for Francois Jomard´s Description de l´Egypte in 1809. Here are three examples of the numerous illustrations that adorned that work. Below, a panorama of the Temple of Amon. The artist, in conformity with the custom of the times, did not forget to place himself in the picture.

Below is the principal gate of the Temple of Luxor. This print shows the obelisks which a few years later were sent to France as a gift to Louis Philippe, and which now stand in the Place de la Concorde in Paris.

In the following illustration is the artist again; here he is standing in front of the remains of the statue of Ramses III which guards the entrance to the great colonnade at Karnak.

... ... ...

View of the interior of the cliff temple at Abul Simbel. Pencil drawing by E. W. Lane, 1826-7. British Museum.

Cornice and vault of the Temple of Sethis I in Abydos, still buried in sand. Pencil drawing by E. W. Lane, 1826-7. British Museum.

A Picture History of Archaeology (C. W. Ceram, London 1959)

VIDEOS: Tombs and Temples of the Pharoahs (1920s)

2009-07-19T11:20:00.000-07:00

(*) My most sincere gratitude to Vivi Cecilia Atencio Rojas for sharing this clip with me.

A tour of Egyptian tombs and temples in the 1920s. Footage from this subject is available for licensing from www.travelfilmarchive.com