Ancient Egypt on Christmas Eve 2018

Season's greetings!

At the mouth of the Nile Delta

The capital of Egypt during the period of the Old Kingdom was Menefer, which the Greeks came to call Μέμφις (Memphis). In Arabic today, it’s called Manf (مَنْف‎).

It was located on the east side of the Nile, in the direction of the sunrise and, thus, of light and life.  On the west bank of the Nile, in the direction of the sunset, lay its cemeteries, including the great necropolis complexes of Dahshur, Saqqara, and most famously, Giza.

At the mouth of the Nile Delta

Calling all Egyptians, lovers of antiquities and history buffs: this one’s just for you. From December 20 to March 20, you can discover the ancient secrets of pharaohs, gods and mummies at the Guangdong Provincial Museum. Nearly 250 artifacts are on display, all on loan from Museo Egizio, an archeological museum in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, specializing in Egyptian archeology and anthropology. Founded in 1824, it is the world's oldest Egyptian museum and ranks second only to Cairo.

What A Virtually Untouched 4,400-year-old Ancient Egyptian Tomb Might Reveal
(AP Photo/Amr Nabil)ASSOCIATED PRESS

The world of archaeology has been abuzz this week with the announcement by Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities of the discovery of a new tomb. An Egyptian archaeological mission conducting excavations at Saqqara encountered the extremely well-preserved tomb of a royal official by the name of Wahtye. This individual served during the reign of Fifth Dynasty pharaoh Neferirkare as an aid and priest, and the splendor of his tomb reflects that status.

More coverage:

Look Inside the Pristine 4400-Year-Old Tomb of an Egyptian Royal Priest - History

'One of a kind' 4400-year-old tomb of royal Egyptian priest is unearthed - The Province

Egyptian tomb discovered: Statues and hieroglyphics exceptionally preserved - CBS News 

One of a kind royal tomb is 4400 years old, Egypt says - USA Today

The Ancient Egyptian Footwear Project

The Ancient Egyptian Footwear Project (AEFP) is a multidisciplinary, ongoing research of footwear in ancient Egypt from the Predynastic through the Ottoman Periods. It consists of the study of actual examples of footwear, augmented by pictorial and textual evidence

The Earliest Music in Ancient Egypt
Replica of an ancient Egyptian lute, showing the distance between strings and neck (copyrights photo and instrument: H. Köpp-Junk)

Music is a human universal. Already by the middle of the 3rd millennium BCE a great number of Egyptian texts and images referred to music and musicians, and attest to a complex hierarchy of musicians. But the beginnings of Egyptian music are much earlier. What were the types of musicians and instruments in Ancient Egypt, how were they used, and where did they come from?