Showing posts with label hieroglyphs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hieroglyphs. Show all posts

Monday, February 3, 2020

Ancient Egypt News 02/03/2020



Meidum Pyramid
Forget Giza, These Are The Unknown Pyramids Of Egypt You Need To Have On Your Bucketlist
Photo: Flying Carpet Tours

A wonder of the ancient world, the Pyramids of Giza stand tall thousands of years after their construction, a testament to the ingenuity and perseverance of the Ancient Egyptians. Yet, despite their historical significance, many tend to forget that these aren’t the only pyramids in Egypt. In fact, Egypt is home to more than a hundred pyramids, the majority of which are unknown to most people.

Throughout the Old Kingdom, Pharaohs of the Nile were obsessed with the massive construction of pyramids, and although many of the other pyramids pale in comparison to those at the Giza Plateau in terms of size, they are no less interesting or historically valuable.

So without further delay, here are six of the lesser-known pyramids of Egypt.


Tombs containing 20 sarcophagi at the Al-Ghoreifa site
Sarcophagus Dedicated to Sky God among Latest Ancient Egypt Trove

Egypt's antiquities ministry on Thursday unveiled the tombs of ancient high priests and a sarcophagus dedicated to the sky god Horus at an archaeological site in Minya governorate.

The mission found 16 tombs containing 20 sarcophagi, some engraved with hieroglyphics, at the Al-Ghoreifa site, about 300 kilometres (186 miles) south of Cairo.

The shared tombs were dedicated to high priests of the god Djehuty and senior officials, from the Late Period around 3,000 years ago, the ministry said.

More on this story:

Egyptian archaeologists unveil ancient tombs, 2500-year-old artifacts


Face and Shoulder from an Anthropoid Sarcophagus, 332–30 B.C.E. Black basalt. Brookly Museum
Cummer Museum's New 'Striking Power' Exhibit Unravels Piece Of Egyptian Art History
HEATHER SCHATZ/WJCT

Striking Power, a new exhibition at the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, explores the meaning behind the vandalism of ancient Egyptian art. It opens Friday, Jan. 31.

Striking Power unravels the history of iconoclasm in relation to ancient Egyptian art. The exhibit features forty works on loan from the Brooklyn Museum of Art. The deliberately defaced pieces of art will be paired with undamaged examples.

In an interview on First Coast Connect with Melissa Ross, Holly Keris, Chief Curator for the museum, explained the impact of iconoclasm on the Egyptian culture.



Temple of Hathor
15 Ancient Hieroglyphs Tourists Can Go And See

The world wonders in Egypt don’t end with pyramids and sphinxes. All across the country, there are sites that have survived until today to reward anyone who enters with a glimpse into the past.

Hieroglyphs found on temple faces and surrounding tombs have enlightened historians on the cultures the created them. Now tourists can learn about mythology and history while touring the sites where all these things developed.

Most are already familiar with the usual spots that hog up all the attention, but we’ll also include some less popular sites which have the necessary infrastructure and plenty of interesting hieroglyphs to see yet get none of the tourist attention.


Replicas of Pharaonic statues are seen at the workshop of the Replica Production Unit located at Salah Al Din Citadel in Cairo, Egypt. EPA
Artists Create Replicas of Ancient Egyptian Antiquities

Egyptian media has reported that the government plans to sell these first class replicas at Cairo International Airport by the end of the month

Some of the best Egyptian artists, sculptors and craftsmen are creating first class replicas of ancient Egyptian, as well as as Greco-Roman, Coptic and Islamic relics.

They're part of the Replica Production Unit at Salah Al Din Citadel in Cairo, a unit that falls under the Egyptian Ministry of State for Antiquities Affairs. The unit, which was established in 2010, produces replicas using the same methods used by ancient Egyptian workers.


Russell Thomas, Dorothy Gal, and HGO Studio Alum Peixin Chen in Houston Grand Opera's 'Aida'Photo: Lynn Lane
HGO Staging is Not your Parents’ ‘Aida’
Photo: Lynn Lane

Delicate silk billows across the stage, its fluidity complementing the passionate romanticism of a tragic tale set against the rigid hierarchical structure of ancient Egypt and its monolithic scenery.

Starting Friday, the Houston Grand Opera, led by artistic and music director Patrick Summers, will present the return of Giuseppe Verdi’s “Aida” to the Wortham stage in a new rendition by London-based director Phelim McDermott - one that lacks elephants, but not extravagance. His modernized version of the timeless story, a co-production with the English National Opera and the Grand Théâtre de Genève, features silk choreography by visionary artist Basil Twist that amplifies the impact of the already expressive costumes by Kevin Pollard, the dramatic lighting by Bruno Poet and the powerful geometric sets by Tom Pye.


Freshwater School’s “Egyptian Mask Project”
Freshwater Students Show Results of Mask Project

Redwood Curtain is hosting a show of Freshwater School’s “Egyptian Mask Project” in February and March in the theater gallery, 220 First St. in Eureka.

Freshwater teacher Kylah Rush immerses her sixth-grade class in an ancient Egypt unit for the month of January. The students learn science, history, art, writing and even math through the lens of the ancient Egyptians. The unit culminates in the students mummifying chickens and making personalized death shroud masks in the style of the ancient mummified pharaohs.


Replica of a sarcophagus
Exhibition from ROM offers insights into ancient Egypt
RICHA BHOSALE/The Daily Press

“Egypt, Gift of the Nile” on display at Timmins Museum until March 29.

The exhibition explores Egyptian civilization through everyday life, buildings, family life, personal adornment, education and religion, the Timmins Museum stated in a release announcing the new exhibition. The exhibit displays a replica of a sarcophagus which helps explain the Egyptian view on the afterlife.

Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Ancient Egypt News 12/24/2019



Add next here
Egypt's History of Humanity' Monuments Face Climate Change Threat
Ceiling at Karnak  © Michalea Moore 2017

It’s a steamy November day in the southern Egyptian city of Luxor, and the tourists tramping through the ancient temples of Luxor and Karnak are sweating. But the city’s famed 7,000-year-old antiquities are feeling the heat too.

Increasingly high temperatures linked to climate change, as well as wilder weather, particularly heavy rains and flooding, are taking a growing toll on the ancient stonework, said Abdelhakim Elbadry, a restoration expert who works at Karnak temple.

5th Dynasty Egyptian Tomb
Old Kingdom Tomb
Courtesy Mohamed Megahed

During investigation of the funerary complex of the 5th Dynasty pharaoh Djedkare Isesi (r. ca. 2381–2353 B.C.), a team from the Czech Institute of Egyptology discovered the painted tomb of a high-ranking Old Kingdom Egyptian dignitary. After descending a narrow subterranean tunnel that opened up into a series of rooms, members of the team, led by archaeologist Mohamed Megahed, found hieroglyphs on the walls announcing that a man named Khuwy was entombed within the chamber. The writing also enumerates Khuwy’s many titles, including “Secretary of the King,” “Companion of the Royal House,” and “Overseer of the Tenants of the Great House.”

Horus statue at the Funerary Temple of king Amenhotep III
A Granodiorite Colossus of Horus Unearthed in Egypt's Luxor

During excavations carried out at the Funerary Temple of king Amenhotep III, an Egyptian-German archaeological mission led by Horig Sourouzian unearthed a large part of a granodiorite colossus of a standing falcon-headed god Horus.

Sourouzian said the statue is missing the legs, and the arms are broken, but the head and torso are very well preserved.

The 1.85-metres-tall statue depicts the ancient Egyptian deity Horus wearing the divine pleated kilt held around the waist with a horizontally pleated belt.

The last known hieroglyphic inscription at Philae
Hunting for Hieroglyphs at Philae
Photo: Nile Scribes

In October, the Nile Scribes led their first tour to Egypt, stopping in Aswan, Luxor, and Cairo. Agilika Island, located in the river at Aswan, is now the home of Philae Temple. It was moved there in the 1960s, piece by piece, from neighbouring Philae Island, now underwater. The island is a regular spot for visitors to southern Egypt thanks to its gorgeous setting in the Nile, but we were anxious to visit the temple complex for another reason: hieroglyph hunting. Philae contains the last known instances of inscriptions that were written using both the hieroglyphic and Demotic scripts. This week we are introducing our readers to both inscriptions, and showing you how you can see them for yourself on your next visit to Philae.

Anubis Was Ancient Egypt's Jackal-headed Guard Dog of the Dead
DRE/FLICKR (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Death isn't exactly a comfortable topic of conversation in our modern culture. But in countless societies around the world and throughout time, death has been openly discussed, revered and even celebrated. Ancient Egypt is no exception — case in point, the deity Anubis, otherwise known as Inpu or Anpu, aka the god of death.

"Anubis is the Egyptian god of mummification, and one of the many deities related with the afterlife," says M. Victoria Almansa-Villatoro, Ph.D. candidate in Egyptology at Brown University. "He is usually depicted as either some sort of canid, or as a cynocephalus god."

Merit Ptah
The Story of That Famous Female Physician From Ancient Egypt Is Actually Wrong
Stzeman/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0
NOTE: Don't despair. Read the end of the article. Peseshet  is a genuine hero of the modern feminist struggle.
Merit Ptah. In recent decades, the name of this ancient Egyptian doctor, said to have lived nearly 5,000 years ago, has become a figurehead of women in science, technology, maths, and engineering (STEM).

She is credited as being the "first woman known by name in the history of science". But there's a bit of a problem - Merit Ptah probably didn't exist. Not as described, at any rate.

Egyptologist Lara Weiss
‘Egypt is not Just Pyramids and Mummies’

Egyptologist Lara Weiss is curator at The National Museum of Antiquities and has been leading the VIDI research project ‘Walking Dead’ since 2017. The exhibition ‘Sakkara: Living in a necropolis’h will be on display at the museum starting March 9 next year.

Tesla & Pyramids
Why Nikola Tesla was Obsessed with the Egyptian Pyramids
Mstyslav Chernov/Wikimedia

Nikola Tesla died somewhat unappreciated but his fame and the myth around him has continued to grow tremendously into our times. He is now perceived as the ultimate mad scientist, the one who essentially invented our times, credited with key ideas leading to smartphones, wi-fi, AC electrical supply system, and more.

Besides ideas that Tesla implemented and patented, he also had many other interests in different fields of research, some quite esoteric. One of the most unusual was his preoccupation with Egyptian pyramids, one of humanity's most mysterious and magnificent constructions.