'Life to Thy Spirit'

Some objects from ancient Egypt just make you go, ‘wow’.

This workmanship, so early in Egyptian history, is simply amazing.

This ritual libation dish comes from Egypt’s first dynasty, ca. 3000 B.C.

The dish has two hieroglyphs: a pair of arms that read ‘ka’ (life force), and the cross-like ‘ankh’ which translates as ‘life’. Together they could be interpreted as ‘life to thy spirit’.
Alternatively, ‘Ankh-ka’ may be the name of an official of the first dynasty.

The dish was designed so that the arms would envelop water poured into the dish, which then flowed out through the bottom of the ankh.

The artist had created a never-ending supply of magic water, ritually charged with the force of life.

This dish is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Accession Number: 19.2.16).

The warrior king struck down in battle

In January last year we heard news of a new royal tomb discovered at Abydos belonging to a ‘lost’ king, Senebkay. 

He was from a forgotten Abydos dynasty that flourished briefly during Egypt’s Second Intermediate Period.

Senebkay reigned when Egypt was no longer ruled over by one great pharaoh, but broken into several states, with new regional dynasties of kings springing up in Thebes, Abydos and the Delta, which had been occupied by foreigners known as the Hyksos. 

The University of Pennsylvania team that discovered the tomb now have some revelations on the life and violent death of King Senebkay.  He was murdered, there is little doubt about that.  18 wounds on his skeleton indicate that he was attacked repeatedly by axe, and probably initially whilst he was on horseback.

The shape of his pelvis and leg bones suggest that Senebkay was a horse rider, and the angle of the wounds on his legs, lower back and his head imply that he was first attacked from below, pulled off the horse and then finished off with blows to the head.

Exactly who triumphed over Senebkay that day is not clear, although the Abydos dynasty seems to have disappeared at around the time the Theban kings in the south made a major play for control over all of Egypt and swept north, eventually driving out the Hyksos foreigners in the Delta.  Hopefully further analysis will tell us more about this dramatic period in Egypt’s history.

This is a view of the tomb of the King Senebkay when it was discovered last year. Photo: Josef Wegner, Penn Museum.

THE GREAT HYPOSTYLE HALL. Form AND Function

Most Egyptian temples possess a hypostyle hall of some sort.  They served two functions: one spiritual, one pragmatic.

Temples were not just regarded as a home on earth for the gods, but also replicas of the universe at the moment of creation.

In the beginning (sorry, couldn’t help myself), the creator god Atum willed a small island to rise from the cosmic, primordial sea.  As you progress through a temple, the floor level rises until you arrive at the deepest part of the temple, representing the primeval hill.  This is the most sacred part of the temple where the god’s cult statue was kept. The hypostyle hall symbolised the thicket of papyrus reeds that sprang up in the swampy edges of the primeval mound.

Karnak Temple's Great Hypostyle Hall was constructed with 12 large central columns, 20 metres (65 feet) tall with massive bell-shaped papyrus flowers in full bloom. Surrounding these were 122 ‘small’ columns, 14 metres (46 feet) tall with capitals resembling closed papyrus floral buds.

On the practical side, the Egyptian architects were careful about the span of stone architraves and roofing slabs.  Too great a length and they could crack under their weight.  Therefore a great number of columns was required to support the roof. 

This fantastic image is used with the kind permission of Canadian photographer, Owen Murray. Check out his website at www.ommphoto.ca. 

Owen is undertaking a detailed, high-res photographic study of the ENTIRE Great Hypostyle Hall as the foundation for a definitive epigraphic survey of the texts and scenes.  This is part of the Great Hypostyle Hall Project, a joint endeavour of the University of Memphis, Tennessee, and the Université de Québec à Montréal.

 To discover more about the Great Hypostyle Hall and the work being undertaken there, visit: http://memphis.edu/hypostyle.

A GREAT HONOUR FOR A YOUNG PRINCE

Prince Mentuherkhepshef is unique.

He is the only prince to be buried in his own decorated tomb (KV19) in the Valley of the Kings.
Mentuherkhepshef was a son of King Ramesses IX from Egypt’s 20th Dynasty.

Inside the tomb are seven scenes showing the prince adoring or making offerings to various gods. One of these is Ptah-Tatenen.
In the 19th Dynasty, Ptah-Tatenen first appears as a union of two Memphite gods, Ptah and Tatenen, who was then worshipped as a royal creator god.
He is depicted in human form wearing a crown consisting of a pair of ram’s horms, surmounted by a sun disk and two tall feathers.

Many of us are familiar with Ptah, an ancient god who self-created and then thought the world into being. 
Tatenen is lesser-known but also appeared early on in Egyptian mythology. He was born in the moment the primordial mound rose from the watery chaos and so became god of the fertile earth emerging from the receding waters of the inundation.

Photo: Kairoinfo4U

THE ABU SIMBEL SUN FESTIVAL

It will be standing-room only at Abu Simbel!

One of the most remarkable features of Ramses II’s great temple at Abu Simbel is what is now known as the Sun Festival.

In a feat of amazing precision, the temple was aligned so that twice a year – on February 21 and October 21 – the first rays of the morning sun would penetrate the entire length of the temple and illuminate the shrine in its innermost sanctuary and the statues of the four gods seated there.

When the temple was relocated further up the mountain in the 60s, it saw the solar event occurring one day later than it did originally.

HOLDING HANDS FOR 3,500 YEARS

“Your hand is in my hand, 
my body trembles with joy, 
my heart is exalted 
because we walk together.” (New Kingdom love poem)

Incurable romantics, stand up and be counted!

I absolutely love this piece in the Egyptian Museum in Berlin. All that remains from a statue of Akhenaten and Nefertiti are these hands, clasped forever.

It was found in the ruins of Akhenaten’s custom-built city, Akhetaten (modern day Amarna) and is generally considered to show Nefertiti (left) gently holding the hand of her husband, Akhenaten (right).

Akhenaten was driven by two burning passions: his adoration of the Aten, the sun-disc, and his beautiful bride, Nefertiti.

Along with his dramatic religious reform, the king also introduced a new art form; more dynamic and sensual than the traditional rigid style.

ONE OF A KIND

Bending the rules.

In the West Bank tomb of Rekhmire in Luxor, a large painting in several registers shows his elaborate funeral banquet.

This detail has the famous scene of a servant girl who is shown with her back to us in a three-quarter view that is unique in Egyptian art.

Egyptian art was designed to display each part of the body as fully as possible. To do this they pictured different features from different points of view – either frontal or in profile.

This servant girl, however, is show in three-quarter view with her back turned towards us - the only known instance of this aspect in ancient Egyptian art.

Rekhmire was an 18th Dynasty vizier of Southern Egypt, Mayor of Thebes and Steward of the Amun Temple at Karnak during the reigns of Thutmose III and Amenhotep II. His tomb (TT 100) is located in the Sheikh Abd el-Qurna necropolis on the West Bank at Luxor and is one of the so-called "Tombs of the Nobles".

This etching was made by Ernst Weidenbach during Richard Lepsius' expedition of Egypt, 1842-45.

TUT'S BEARD KNOCKED OFF ... AGAIN

This isn’t the first time Tutankhamun’s beard has been glued on.

When the king’s golden mask was first revealed in 1925 the beard was still in place, proclaiming Tutankhamun’s divinity and connection with Osiris, lord of the Underworld.

It was held in place with a pin that fitted a hole under the mask’s chin.  The beard is heavy, more than two kilograms, and it broke off when the mask was first removed from Tutankhamun’s head.

Tutankhamun's mask was first displayed in the Egyptian Museum it was without the beard attached.

In 1944 it was decided to reattach the beard – with glue.  It is that 1940s glue that has been holding the beard in place ever since.

This was until late last year when the mask almost fell when the display case bumped it as it was being lifted off.

The curator grabbed the mask to break the fall and the beard separated.

Once again they reached for the glue.  Unfortunately this time it was a rushed job and the glue was applied messily.

Thankfully we are reassured by Christian Eckmann, a German restoration expert called in by the Egyptian Museum, that the incredibly strong epoxy glue can be reversed, and the proper conservation measures taken.

Here is a clear photo of the newly glued-on beard, taken last Saturday, 24th January, by Hassan Ammar.

THE AMAZING GIZA PLATEAU

‘Travelling- it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller’- 14th century Moroccan explorer, Ibn Battuta”

Here is the famed Giza Plateau, home of the Great Pyramids; sacred ground for the ancient Egyptians for two millennia.

King Khufu raised his giant pyramid around 2560 B.C., during Egypt’s mighty 4th Dynasty.  Almost 2,000 years later, ca. 600 B.C. in the 26th Dynasty, the pyramid chapel of Queen Henutsen, attached to the southernmost of the three subsidiary pyramids of Khufu’s Great Pyramid, was converted into a temple for the goddess Isis.  Isis became known as ‘Mistress of the Pyramids’.

This amazing photo is used with the kind permission of Australian photographer, Paul Pichugin (https://www.facebook.com/AusPhotographer).

AMENHOTEP III SPOTTERS GUIDE

King Amenhotep III’s sculptors developed a likeness with distinctive features. They give us the means to be able to pick him out from a line up quite confidently. Here are a few of his most striking characteristics:

1. Almond-shaped eyes. The eyes of Amenhotep III’s statues are consistently almond-shaped and obliquely set.

2. Looking down. Amenhotep's statues often have a downward gaze towards the viewer, with the eyeballs angled back from the top to the bottom lid. The larger the statue, the greater the angle was cut.

3. Chubby cheeks. Amenhotep III is often shown with a round face, with plump, youthful-looking cheeks.

4. Full lips. The contours of his lips are defined by a crisply-cut outline.

These specific features were reproduced in a variety of ways throughout his reign, from quite natural-looking portraits to more severe styles.

This large statue of Amenhotep III (EA 4) is in the British Museum.
It originally stood in his memorial temple at Kom el-Hettan, site of his famous Colossi of Memnon, and was probably intended to receive offerings and prayers for the eternal sustenance of the king’s spirit.

Photo: Mandy and Chris