Writing in the sarcophagus appeared to be from the Book of Two Ways.
Egyptians believe the travel needed to reach the eternal kingdom is full of obstacles.
The texts were drawn inside the sarcophagus.
Archeologists have discovered a 4,000-year old Egyptian sarcophagus with an unprecedented finding: an ancient map of the afterlife. A sarcophagus is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. Discovery of the map was reported by the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, which is an annual peer-reviewed academic journal covering research and reviews of recent books of importance to Egyptology. It was established in 1914 by the Egypt Exploration Society.
DW asked Egyptologist Ludwig Morenz what we can expect to discover from the 30 ancient coffins recently found in Luxor — the first such find since the end of the 19th century.
J.B. Greene (1832-1856) might be relegated to dusty obscurity, just another amateur 19th-century photographer and archaeologist, had one of his Egyptian landscapes—an 1854 view of an island in the Nile and its low surrounding hills—not been published in Beaumont Newhall’s canonical “The History of Photography: From 1839 to the Present Day.” Generations of college students have been fascinated by that starkly modern picture, with its long lines and open planes verging on pure abstraction, and the enigmatic person who made it.
Four-thousand-year-old mummies have cholesterol buildup in their arteries, suggesting that heart disease was likely more common in ancient times than once thought, according to a new study.
Prior studies have examined arterial calcium accumulation in mummified human hearts and arteries using dissection and X-ray computed tomography (CT) scanning. But these studies showed damage that only occurs in the later stages of heart disease and presents an incomplete picture of how widespread heart disease risk may have been thousands of years ago.
Dr Khalid El Enani, Minister of Antiquities and Dr Mustafa Waziri, General –Secretary of the Higher Council of Antiquities head for Luxor, some 800 km south to Cairo, on Monday.
They inspected the site of digging carried out by the archeological mission under Ministry of Antiquities at ancient cemetery of Al-Assasif village in the western bank of the Nile River next Luxor.
I really enjoy working on listed and heritage buildings. These projects bring a unique challenge; you need to think differently to bring out the best in buildings that have often been lost in time.
The project to repair and upgrade the Grade-II listed Bolton Museum was definitely a complex project for Bolton Council. It made us challenge the ways we normally do things, and ultimately had me engrossed in the world of ancient Egypt in a way I certainly didn’t expect!
For more than 3,000 years, a series of kingdoms flourished along the Nile Valley in what is today southern Egypt and northern Sudan, a region known in antiquity as Kush and by modern scholars as Nubia. In Ancient Nubia Now, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), presents more than 400 works of art from its collection, made over thousands of years of Nubian history—masterpieces that highlight the skill, artistry and innovation of Nubian makers and reflect the wealth and power of their kings and queens.
When one thinks about historical Egyptian culture, it is hard not to think beyond the scope of what popular media and our education have focussed on: the great pyramids, the curious pantheon, the rules of pharaohs, the traditions with death, and, of course, mummies. And while “Egyptian Mummies: Exploring Ancient Lives” at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts has one of those keystones as the centrepiece for its current ongoing exhibit, it is the context of those laid to rest and the things which satellite these well-preserved people that shine a light on oft-neglected aspects of Egyptian history. At this exhibit, you will find pieces of everyday Egyptian life maintained just as carefully as the ornate sarcophagi.
EGYPT archaeologists were left stunned after draining out a flooded tomb to reveal a perfectly intact piece of history hiding in the thick mud.
Tony Robinson visited Gebel el-Silsila to meet with archaeologist John Ward for his new Channel 5 show “Egyptian Tomb Hunting,” who had uncovered what he believed to be an entrance to a hidden chamber. The hole, which scaled down more than 20 feet, was completely filled with water. Unsure on the source of the pool, the pair used pumps in a bid to get a look at what could be hiding inside.
Picture of the Week
Detail of the funerary papyrus of Taminiu, showing demons
From Thebes, Egypt
Third Intermediate Period, around 950 BC
The demons which the deceased must pass on the way to the Afterlife
There were many obstacles on the path to the Afterlife in ancient Egyptian belief. They often took the form of demons. The various funerary books were intended as assistance to the deceased, with the spells needed to overcome every problem.
Some Underworld demons guarded the gates to the Mansion of Osiris, where the deceased was judged. These were often depicted, as here, in a mummified form, crouching and holding sharp knives. The demons were often shown with their heads twisted round behind them, or face on. Most had the heads of recognizable animals, often ones that were no threat in the living world, such as rams or hares. Others, like the double snake-headed demon, were creatures of fantasy. Another demon gatekeeper was the upright snake, with human arms and legs. This individual was the last guardian who stood at the doorway of the judgement chamber.
The other scene on this papyrus shows the deceased woman, Taminiu, receiving cool water from Nut, appearing as a sycamore goddess. Her ba, the small human-headed bird, is at her feet. Behind her is the goddess Maat, whose head is replaced by the feather that is her emblem.
S. Quirke, Ancient Egyptian religion (London, The British Museum Press, 1992)
British Museum
Imhotep was an Egyptian chancellor to the pharaoh Djoser, who is believed to have also been the mastermind behind the Step Pyramid in Saqqara. The Third Dynasty is remembered as being a great author of wisdom texts and also a physician, but the location of his tomb has been unknown for thousands of years, despite great efforts to find it. Until now.
Tony Robinson revealed during his new Channel 5 series “Opening Egypt’s Tomb” how a group of locals stumbled across what archaeologists believe to be Imhotep’s tomb.
Through Gemstones, a Glimpse into ancient Egyptian Civilization Though these restrung beads were found in a grave in Amara West, in Sudan, they were also likely to have been worn in life, too. The reddish-orange beads are carnelian, the faded-blue beads are faience, and the white are ostrich eggshell, which was very popular in ancient Egypt. (Photo: Spencer et al. Amara West: Living in Egyptian Nubia , 69)
On the second day of fieldwork in Abydos, Egypt, Penn doctoral student Shelby Justl stumbled upon something rare: an inscribed piece of ancient limestone called an ostracon. “You rarely find writing in Egyptian archaeology. Writing is either on papyrus, which decays easily, or on stone that fades over time,” she explains. “I translated the text and determined this was a land-transfer document, a bill of sale of two arouras of land.”
In 1919, a Chicago man with an opulent handlebar mustache had a radical idea. That man was James Henry Breasted, founder of the Oriental Institute (OI) at the University of Chicago. His radical idea was that scholars should look toward the ancient Middle East, rather than only examining ancient Greece or Rome, to understand the story of western civilization. Now, 100 years later, OI is celebrating its past by looking toward its future.
Breasted was born in 1865 in Rockford, Illinois. He began studying Egyptology at graduate school at the University of Berlin, becoming the first American to hold a PhD in the subject. He started teaching at the University of Chicago in 1894. In addition to his interest in the ancient Middle East, he could read, write, or speak several languages, including Greek, Latin, Aramaic, Syriac, Assyrian, Ancient Egyptian, and more.
While wrestling can be found all across the African continent, historical context has greatly focused on ancient Egypt. The country’s incredible Pharaonic tradition and later connection to the Roman Empire made it a topic of interest for Western study. The Victorian era saw the rise of Egyptologists from the English and French gentry, which led to the subsequent proliferation of information on Egypt that also overshadowed the remainder of the continent. As such, much of the information of wrestling’s ancient roots can be traced back to Egypt.
Egypt’s Minister of Antiquities Dr. Khaled Al-Anani announced on Thursday two new archaeological discoveries carried out by an Egyptian expedition in the Valley of the Kings, known as the Valley of the Monkeys in Luxor, under the auspices of prominent archaeologist and Egyptologist Dr. Zahi Hawass.
Dr. Hawass, head of excavation mission, said that the Egyptian expedition, which has been working in the Valley of the Monkeys since December 2017, has succeeded to uncover an industrial area there for the first time ever.
From the various looks we have sported across the centuries, the Ancient Egyptian look stands out as one of the more memorable ones in the history of makeup. This is not a surprise, for the Ancient Egyptians were avid lovers of cosmetics. Their heavily kohl-lined eyes are instantly recognizable and often recreated in Hollywood blockbusters, the most famous portrayal being Elizabeth Taylor’s Cleopatra.
Our Dark Materials: Rediscovering an Egyptian Collection examines Stanford University's forgotten collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts, which provides insight into the experiences of ordinary Egyptians in daily life and death.
This publication is a digital supplement to a physical exhibit on view in 2018–2019, providing additional content and interactive features. The site uses a non-linear multimedia platform to highlight the special aspects of Stanford University Archaeology Collections’ Egyptian collection: the artifacts’ material qualities, the ways they reflect everyday life and death, and their connections to the history of Egyptology.
Egyptian history is taking over Rio de Janeiro's Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil ( CCBB ) starting October 12. 'Ancient Egypt: from day-to-day to eternity' will feature 140 pieces straight fromMuseo Egizio , in Turin, Italy, which boasts the second-biggest collection on Egypt in the world – trailing only the Cairo Museum, in Egypt's capital.
But curators Pieter Tjabbes and Paolo Marini want more. The idea is to also captivate people unfamiliar with the subject. Tjabbes explains that the exhibit will combine antiquities and 'instagrammable' spots conducive to photos that spread through the internet and ultimately become advertising for an event.
The ancient doodle was designed to help the dead reach the afterlife by guiding them through the perilous obstacles of the underworld.
The coffin and its artwork were discovered in a burial shaft in the Egyptian necropolis of Dayr al-Barsha.
An inscription on two wooden panels recovered by archaeologists is a mix of hieroglyphs and symbols known to the Ancient Egyptians as The Book of Two Ways.
It depicts two zigzagging lines that detail two routes the dead can use to reach Osiris – the Ancient Egyptian god of the dead – in the afterlife.
On four consecutive evenings, from 15 to 18 October, the Cairo Opera Ballet Company and the Cairo Opera Orchestra, conducted by Mohamed Saad Basha, will stage the ballet Cleopatra. The ballet is choreographed by José Perez.
This is the first time that the Cairo Opera House has produced its own take on the famous queen, following a commission of Egyptian composer and conductor Mohamed Saad Basha earlier this year.
“I was commissioned to compose music for a new ballet, Cleopatra, by the Cairo Opera House in February,” composer Saad Basha told Ahram Online.
A Donkey Called Rameses Scene from the New Kingdom tomb of Panehsy and Tarenu, TT16 (Dra Abu el-Naga)
In the village of Deir el-Medina, the home of the workmen who built the royal tombs of the Valley of the Kings, donkeys were big business. While scenes from the New Kingdom show pharaoh riding a horse-drawn chariot into battle, neither horses nor camels played a part in the day-to-day lives of villagers – camels weren’t even introduced into Egypt until a millennium later (see here). Donkeys were the principal beast of burden, and still play an important part in village life in Egypt today.
"Kenneth Branagh’s ‘Death on the Nile’ to Be Filmed in Egypt." Wonder Woman’s Gal Gadot, Black Panther’s Letitia Wright, and Call Me by Your Name’s Armie Hammer are all set to star in Kenneth Branagh’s Death on the Nile (photos: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images, Rich Fury/Filmmagic, Christopher Polk/Getty Images)
Kenneth Branagh’s Death on the Nile, the sequel to his 2017 box office hit Murder on the Orient Express, has finally been cleared for production, Den of Geek reports. Filming is already underway at Longcross Studios outside London and on location in Egypt. . .
Security forces on Saturday arrested a criminal gang with 193 statues and a sarcophagus in Giza which dates back to the fourth dynasty of ancient Egypt.
The suspects have found the ancient pieces inside a cemetery in Giza. The public prosecution and the Tourism Ministry were notified to take legal action.
In February 2019, a man was arrested over illegally digging under his house in Giza in search for artifacts, as part of Tourism police's crackdown against illicit trade in antiquities.
Picture of the Week
This rare model of the Egyptian scarab beetle creator god Khepri, with a human head and arms emerging from a scarab’s exoskeleton. In many cases, Khepri is presented in a very matter-of-fact way (either as a large beetle or as a human with a scarab for a head) but the above example deserves special mention. It's most likely from the Late Period, ca. 664-332 BC. Now in the Egyptian Museum of Berlin.
Dung beetles were thought to generate spontaneously from the soil and their dung-rolling mirrored the daily journey of the sun disc across the sky. As such, they were potent symbols in Egyptian iconography, representing the solar deity Khepri.
A former Masonic temple that wouldn’t look out of place on the streets of Cairo is for sale in Melbourne’s leafy east.
The 1927-28 Emulation Hall is sure to catch buyers’ eyes, being decked out in Egyptian motifs including gold-winged scarab beetles, sacred serpents, astrological symbols, lotus flowers, winged discs and “the eye of Horus”.
This “rare and distinctive” Egyptian Revival style saved the Canterbury curiosity from imminent demolition in 2012, earning it heritage status for being of architectural, historical and aesthetic significance to Victoria, according to the Heritage Database.
Antique securities from companies that operated in Egypt were typically illustrated with pharaonic themes and hieroglyphs. Standing on their own as true pieces of artwork, their mysterious designs made possible investors dream of promising outcomes. People bought these share certificates in the 19th and 20th century when the stock exchanges of Alexandria and Cairo flourished. But are the hieroglyphs on these certificates actually legible?
Every two months the Nile Scribes update our readers on the most recent Egyptological publications. From popular reads to peer-reviewed scholarship, we hope to illustrate the wide variety of topics discussed in Egyptology, and perhaps introduce you to your next read! Below are 10 books that were released this summer (July and August).
Writing, Violence, and the Military: Images of Literacy in Eighteenth Dynasty Egypt (1550-1295 BCE)
Greco-Roman Cities at the Crossroads of Cultures: The 20th Anniversary of Polish-Egyptian Conservation Mission Marina el-Alamein
Perfekt, Pseudopartizip, Stativ: Die afroasiatische Suffixkonjugation in sprachvergleichender Perspektive
Le temple de Ptah à Karnak III
The Egyptian Collection at Norwich Castle Museum: Catalogue and Essays
The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Moon: Coffin Texts Spells 154–160
New Horizons: The Pan-Grave ceramic tradition in context
Stone Tools in the Ancient Near East and Egypt
The Tekenu and Ancient Egyptian Funerary Ritual
The naos of Amasis: A monument for the reawakening of Osiris
The new archaeological season has begun, showing promise in Luxor, the capital of world tourism. There are currently five archaeological missions, including three Egyptian missions, one Spanish, and one American conducting excavations there. Several new mission and
projects have been approved for the new season.
Luxor is known for its rich tombs and pharaonic temples, which all seem like they will see a strong tourist season.
Note: What the Petrie Museum had to say about this article on their 'unofficial' Facebook page: The discovery of this cemetery is very interesting, but nonsense hieroglyphs really aren't unusual despite the way this is reported. There are many examples during mature Egyptian dynasties, and this burial is from the Graeco-Roman period. The use of blue is also interesting as black would have been a much more accessible ('cheaper') colour, so maybe not quite such a non-elite burial.
When ancient burials are discovered in the sands of Egypt, the stories we hear are usually similar. High-ranking officials and nobles buried with rich grave goods, elaborate coffins, and often cartouches naming the deceased, so we know who they were. But a recent discovery paints a rather different picture.
Archaeologists have found dozens of 2,000-year-old burials near the necropolis of Saqqara that are much more minimal, even clumsy. Perhaps this is the resting place for people from the working or middle class, rather than the elite.
The ruins of a temple belonging to King Ptolemy IV have been unearthed during an excavation at Kom Shaqao, Sohag by a mission from the Antiquities Ministry.
Parts of the ruins had been discovered by chance during the supplying of sewage lines in the city of Tama, Sohag early in September.
The Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Mostafa al-Waziry said in a statement on the ministry’s official Facebook page that the sewage work was immediately stopped by a task team from the Ministry of Antiquities, assigned to conduct archaeological excavations in the area.
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Archaeologists have revealed the face of an Egyptian princess who lived almost 4,000 years ago by painstakingly piecing together the wooden shards of her sarcophagus.
The fragments expose the likeness of a royal, possibly Princess Hatshepset, daughter of Pharoah Ameny Qemau, who lived towards the end of Egypt's Middle Kingdom.
Her image will be seen for the first time on Channel 4's Egypt's Lost Pyramid programme, which follows the two-year excavation and study of the royal's final resting place.
Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered a large ram-headed sphinx that is linked to King Tutankhamun’s grandfather.
The sphinx, which is 16.4-feet long, 11.5-feet high and 5-feet wide, was found beneath several feet of debris at Gebel-el-Silsila, an ancient quarry on the Nile. Only its head was visible prior to excavation.
The sculpture is believed to be from the time of King Tut’s grandfather, the pharaoh Amenhotep III, who ruled in the 14th century B.C.
Unpacking 19th Dynasty Coffin (video)
The unpacking of the 19th Dynasty coffin of Sennedjem upon arrival at the National museum of Egyptian Civilization.(NMEC) The fumigation of his mummy.
