This small statue, which depicts King Akhenaten making offerings, was discovered in a house in the residential area of Tell el-Amarna. This type of statuette served as a figurative embodiment of the human pharaoh, enabling the magic rituals in the celebration of religious rites connected with Aten. Akhenaten was a pharaoh who reigned during the...
The necklace of Khenmet is surmounted by a strand of gold beads of increasing diameter towards the centre, consisting of six rows of gold beads. Four rows are formed by the succession of the hieroglyphs ankh, was, djed, symbolising life, power, stability respectively. At the ends of the necklace are attached two exquisite gold falcon...
Two puppies stand side by side with slightly lowered heads, as if hesitating to approach some problem or adversary they cannot yet handle. They must have belonged to a subregister of a larger composition-perhaps a hunt in the desert. The impression of overlap is achieved by the use of incised lines that slope up into...
Several headrests were found among the treasures in Tutankhamun’s tomb. This carefully carved ivory one depicts the god Shu holding up the celestial vault. If one goes to sleep on one’s side, then one’s head ends up a few centimetres above the surface one is lying on, a distance equal to the breadth of one’s...
This vulture pectoral of Tutankhamun is a stunning piece of ancient Egyptian jewelry that was found in the tomb of the young pharaoh Tutankhamun. This pectoral, or chest ornament prominently features the goddess Nekhbet, the patroness of Upper Egypt. The vulture pectoral was found in a box within the treasury. It is unusual in that,...
“When Alexander the Great arrived in Egypt, he overthrew the hated Persian overlords and was welcomed as a saviour. He repaid them by showing due reverence to their long-held traditions. After his death, as the Greek empire broke up and his closest advisers squabbled over the spoils, a Macedonian general named Ptolemy seized the Egyptian...
The heart was not just a physical organ in Egyptian culture but was seen as the repository of one’s moral life. Protecting it was crucial for ensuring a favourable judgment in the afterlife. Due to the heart’s significance, it was one of the few organs left in the body during mummification or reinserted after preservation,...
Striding leopard from the tomb of king Thutmose IV The figure is made of six pieces of wood put together – the body, four legs, and the tail – and has two rectangular mortises on its back for the insertion of tenons. Originally, the piece would have featured inlaid eyes, which have since been lost....
This head of an Amarna Period female royal was found within the remnants of the workshop of the sculptor Thutmose. Sculpted from quartz with traces of pigment upon the lips and eyes, the face is that of a young female, possibly and likely a daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, but there is a possibility it...
Interestingly, the Harper’s Song accompanying this scene within the Chapel of Pa-Aten-Em-Heb, has a somewhat agnostic lyric, telling the listener through song, that lamenting and worrying about an Afterlife is seldom constructive, and one should enjoy life on Earth, rather than obsess and worry over death: “Make holiday, don’t weary of it/ Look, there is...
Ankhesenamun was born Ankhesenpaaten, and was the daughter of Nefertiti and Akhenaten. It is believed she was born around 1350 B.C., the third daughter of the royal couple, born in year 5 or 6 of Akhenaten’s reign. Ankhesenpaaten, which translates to, “She Lives Through the Aten” or “Living Through the Aten,” later went on to...
24th December, 2024: Opinion Piece “In a chamber beyond a tomb full of treasures, a sarcophagus adorned with gilded gold takes centre stage, with the serene face of the instantly recognizable beauty of beauties carved delicately into the hard stone or wood. Inside, the perfectly embalmed mummy of a queen lays, beyond the wrappings, her...
To the Egyptians, Hippopotami were associated with the protective goddess Taweret who was associated with childbirth, pregnancy, and motherhood. The Egyptians saw hippos as a fearsome creature who protected their young from predators, with the ferociousness of the hippo encapsulating protective love. Therefore, the nature of the hippo became a symbol of guardianship during pregnancies,...
