This colossal statue of Ramesses II, also known as the illustrious Ramesses the Great (c. 1279–1213 B.C.), is hewn from radiant red granite quarried at Aswan. It was unearthed in 1820 by the Italian explorer Giovanni Battista Caviglia at Mit Rahina, ancient Memphis, where it once stood proudly on the southern flank of the Temple...
November 1st 2025: A New Dawn at Giza, as The Grand Egyptian Museum Opens Its Doors At last, the wait is over. After more than two decades of planning, building, pausing, and dreaming, the Grand Egyptian Museum has opened beside the Giza Plateau, a monument not only to Ancient Egypt but to modern perseverance. The...
In Ancient Egyptian belief, Sopdet was a divine feminine personification of the star Sirius. Representing the star, whose annual heliacal rising coincided with the inundation of the Nile, Sopdet was associated with the most important event in the Ancient Egyptian agricultural year. Because she heralded fertility and renewal, Sopdet was seen as a bringer of...
Each year, on the last night of October, the western world observes Halloween; a festival of flickering lights and shadows, when children dress up in both whimsy and ghoulish costume, and the dead are remembered with sweets, stories, and laughter. Its name derives from All Hallows’ Eve, the vigil before All Saints’ Day, yet its...
In the village of Deir el‑Medina, on the West Bank of ancient Thebes, archaeologists in the early 20th century uncovered something curious: broken pieces of pottery, known as ostraca, inscribed with a tale of a ghost and a high priest. One shard, now held in Turin’s Museo Egizio (S.6619), was discovered in 1905 by Ernesto...
This finely carved diorite fragment once formed a full depiction Amun within a triad statue depicting him alongside his consort, the goddess Mut, and King Seti I. The composition would almost certainly have shown the king standing between the divine pair, as was customary in Ancient Egyptian art. In such triads, the pharaoh’s position between...
This gold band, once part of the neck of a silver vessel, offers a tantalising glimpse into the ritual and mythological world of Ancient Egypt during the reign of Ramesses II or shortly thereafter (circa 1279–1213 B.C.). Found at Tell Basta (ancient Bubastis) within the Temple of Bastet, the fragment bears rich symbolic decoration despite...
Born to humble parents in Armant, near Thebes, Senenmut (whose name poetically translates as “Mother’s Brother” or “Fraternal to the Goddess Mut”) rose from obscurity to become one of the most remarkable figures of Egypt’s 18th Dynasty. His life unfolds like a parable of intellect and ambition: a commoner who entered the royal household, served...
A reminder that even in the shadow of eternity, the craftsmen of Thebes found time for life’s more earthly pleasures, this playful and rather daring sketch from the workmen’s village captures a rare glimpse into the more private humour of Ancient Egyptian life. Painted swiftly in black ink, it shows a man and woman engaged...
This imposing statue depicts Nakhthorheb, a high-ranking noble and priest from Hermopolis Parva in the eastern Delta. He kneels in eternal devotion, hands resting upon his thighs, dressed in a pleated kilt and wearing a bag-shaped wig, his face composed in serene concentration. The statue’s inscription, written in clear hieroglyphs, offers prayers to the god...
