Egypt Museum ancient Egypt art culture and history

Tutankhamun Couch representing Ammit

This strange combination couch of Tutankhamun represents the dreadful Ammit, the monster who waits during the final judgment in the court of Osiris and who devours the unjust deceased. Three ritual funerary couches were found in the antechamber of Tutankhamun. They are made of stuccoed gilded wood in the form of sacred animals whose eyes...

Stele of Amenemhat and his family

This rectangular stele made out of painted limestone shows Amenemhat with his wife, son, and daughter. All the figures are shown seated except his daughter. She stands before an offering table heaped with different kinds of offerings.  The son is depicted seated between his mother and father. Beneath the seated lady, there is a basket containing...

Litany of Re: Depiction of Re-Osiris

When Re was in the underworld, he merged with Osiris, the god of the dead, and through it became the god of the dead as well. The union of the gods Re and Osiris (in the guise of a ram-headed mummy which wears the sun’s disk between its horizontal, corkscrew horns). The “Amduat”, like the...

Amuletic disk (Hypocephalus)

Amuletic disk (Hypocephalus)

The term hypocephalus refers to a piece of Late Period and Ptolemaic funerary equipment. It is specifically an amuletic disc made of cartonnage, bronze, textile, or rarely from papyrus and even wood, emulating a solar disc. It was made for Tasheritenkhonsu. Linen and plaster, inscribed in ink. It dates to the Late Period, 26th Dynasty,...

Two Dog Palette

The Two Dog Palette

The both sides of the two dog palette are carved in low relief with scenes depicting the frenzy o an animal hunt. The imagery includes real animals, such as the pair of Cape hunting dogs that frame the top (from which the palette takes its name). They dogs are shown alongside mythical creatures, including felines...

Relief of Osiris and Isis

Detail of a wall relief depicting Osiris and Isis in the Temple of Seti I in Abydos, the cult center of Osiris, lord of the dead. The necropolis is a place of pilgrimage and burial and at least ten temples were originally constructed there.  Among those ten temples, three remain that are of special note. These...

Two Ladies Amulet of Psusennes I

This gold amulet was found on the mummy of King Psusennes I. The two ladies amulet combines two important deities, the vulture goddess Nekhbet and the cobra goddess Wadjet, the titulary deities of Upper and Lower Egypt who signified the union of the land. The two ladies are Nekhbet, the vulture goddess associated with Nekhen...

Statue of Thoth as an Ibis

This statue represents the god Thoth in the form of a sitting ibis. The artist’s careful choice of materials, the bronze of the head and the white limestone of the body, give the statue the appearance of a real bird. The feathers of the body are in light relief while the tail, which is separate...

Statue of King Ramesses VIII Presenting Amun

Statue of Ramesses VIII Presenting Amun-Re

The statue of King Ramesses VIII presenting Amun-Re is an example of hasty workmanship. It lacks vigor. One of the few statues that survive from the Ramesside Period, it demonstrates that the great era of creativity had ended. The face of the statue is heavy with a troubled expression devoid of interior strength. The wig,...

Statue of King Ramesses VI smiting Libyan Captive

Statue of Ramesses VI smiting Libyan Captive

Statue of King Ramesses VI standing, grasping the hair of a Libyan captive in his left hand and an axe in his right. A short military campaign might have ensued and from Ramesses VI’s second year on the throne onwards these troubles seem to have stopped. This campaign could be connected with an unusual statue...