Ancient Egyptians took their board games seriously. The backgammonlike senet started out as a mere pastime, but over nearly 2 millennia it evolved into a game with deep links to the afterlife, played on a board that represented the underworld. Now, a version of the game sitting in a California museum might reveal when this dramatic transformation took place.
Senet probably wasn’t the world’s first board game, but it was one of the first to become a smash hit. It seems to have risen to popularity in all tiers of Egyptian society about 5000 years ago—and was still being enjoyed by Egyptians 2500 years later.
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Rita Lucarelli Egyptologist
The Greek historian Herodotus is widely known as the “father of history”. His magisterial Histories, written in the 5th century BC, has provided modern scholars with a wealth of rich detail on the Greco-Persian wars and the Mediterranean society in which he lived.
However, Herodotus has also attracted the ire of his readers for the apparent errors and inventions that permeate his text. The Greek biographer Plutarch once famously described him as “malicious”, and said that those who hoped to detect “all his lies and fictions would have need of many books.”
An 3,400-year-old inscribed Egyptian anchor uncovered in Israel is on display for the first time at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, within the exhibition “Emoglyphs. Picture-Writing from Hieroglyphs to the Emoji.”
As reported by Haaretz, the artifact was spotted by chance by an Israeli veterinarian swimming off the shores of Atlit, south of Haifa.
“I saw it, kept on swimming for a few meters, then realized what I had seen and dived to touch it,” Rafi Bahalul told Haaretz. “It was like entering an Egyptian temple at the bottom of the Mediterranean.”
A Ramses II obelisk, parts of which were unearthed in Egypt last August, is set to be fully re-assembled and displayed in downtown Cairo’s busy Tahrir Square, after the foundation of the monument was successfully installed in the center of the well-known traffic circle.
The step came as part of the government efforts to revamp the iconic square and draw attention to Egypt’s rich ancient history, with Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities having transported eight blocks of the statue unearthed in August 2019 at Zagazig, a city in Lower Egypt.
When Mohamed Ghaly's workshop was reduced to rubble in February, he could never imagine that a new cultural centre dedicated to an instrument with Pharaonic roots would thrive just months later.
The semsemia, similar to a harp and made of beechwood with steel strings, is believed to have ancient Egyptian roots. It appears on ornate engravings on tombs.
Ghaly, a carpenter by trade, is one of the last craftsmen in Egypt keeping the cultural heritage of the instrument alive.
With its most famed objects going to a fancy new site, this most iconic of museums is approaching a crossroads, and some worry Egypt isn’t facing up to the very real challenges.
...The majestic Egyptian Museum sends out its siren song, a neoclassical vision in salmon pink that seems at odds with the madness that envelops it. This stately old dame has been attracting visitors since 1902, all of them enticed by its collection of treasures, from the sparkly equipage of pharaohs and their chilling mummified remains to ancient stoneware and everyday items used by the masses.
Smells are everywhere and humans have always been conscious of them, but ancient Egyptians were among the first to document and judge smells.
What are smellscapes?
The word smellscape refers to all the smells found in a given area. Many smellscapes together form a smellmap. The modern method of smellmapping starts with smellwalking – walking around in the city and recording the smells one encounters. Since odors cannot be recorded digitally, the notes can be either in writing or by recording one’s voice.
Tantalising radar shadows have revived hopes that one of history's most beautiful, and controversial, women — Queen Nefertiti — may indeed be buried in secret chambers within King Tut's famous tomb.
British and Egyptian Egyptologists earlier this week conducted a three-day radar scan of the world-famous tomb discovered by Howard Carter in 1922.
Thuya was an Egyptian noblewoman of the Eightieth Dynasty who was the mother of queen Tuye and the wife of Tuya. She is best known for being the grandmother of Akhenaten and Tutankhamun, two great pharaohs of the same era. Together with her husband, Thuya was buried in the Valley of the Kings in the famous tomb KV46, until she was found in 1905.
Every two months, the Nile Scribes bring you summaries of the latest news and discoveries in Egyptology, both from the field and the library. They introduce you to the newest archaeological finds or rediscovered artefacts from museum collections, plus other new theories stirring in the Egyptological Zeitgeist.
The beginning of summer has revealed a wide array of new finds including brightly-decorated coffins, parts of an older church hiding under a basilica, and a large amount of rock art near Aswan.
A sunken ship found in the Nile river may have lain undisturbed for over 2,500 years, but now it is finally ponying up its secrets. Scientists think that this ship has revealed a structure whose existence has been debated for centuries.
In fragment 2.96 of Herodotus' Histories, published around 450 BCE, the Ancient Greek historian - who was writing about his trip to Egypt - describes a type of Nile cargo boat called a baris.
According to his portrayal, it was constructed like brickwork, lined with papyrus, and with a rudder that passed through a hole in the keel.
The Giza plateau in Cairo, Egypt, has fascinated experts and the public alike for decades.
Questions on who built the pyramids and why, as well as what is hidden beneath the Sphinx have never been fully answered.
Matthew Sibson, an ancient history and civilisations expert, believes there are still many secrets to uncover and in his most recent video, he explores a little-known opening at the back of the Sphinx which may lead to a Pharaoh's ancient burial chamber below.
