Egypt Museum ancient Egypt art culture and history

Face and upper torso of king Akhenaten

Face and upper torso of king Akhenaten

This fragment depicts face and upper torso of Akhenaten with the exaggerated but sensitive features characteristic of representations of this king. The full scene would have shown the king worshiping his sole god, the Aten. This relief is currently on long-term loan to the Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung in Berlin. Akhenaten was a progressive king...

Mummy of Neskhon

Mummy of Neskhon

At the time of her unwrapping, when surveying the mummy of Neskhon; plumpness of her physique and well-endowed bust seemed to indicate pregnancy or motherhood to archaeologists, and to this day it is widely believed she was either pregnant or had died during childbirth. Neskhon (“She Belongs to Khons [Khonsu, the Egyptian God of the...

Objects from Theban Tomb MMA 840

Objects from Theban Tomb MMA 840

This group of objects was found in a plundered chamber in Tomb MMA 840, excavated by Herbert Eustis Winlock (1884-1950), an archeologist who worked for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, reached by a shaft in the portico of a rock-cut tomb in the Asasif section of the Theban necropolis. Among the finds were parts of...

Daughter of Nefertiti & Akhenaten. Amarna Princess

Amarna Princess – Daughter of Nefertiti & Akhenaten

This head of an unknown princess dates from the Amarna Period, and the family resemblance among the sculptures of the period is noticeable here. The youthful face and enlarged, elongated heads tended to be a choice for the Amarna artists to depict the daughters of the king. Found in Amarna, this head is now on...

Anubis in Roman garb appears on a mosaic titled after the November month, discovered in Tunisia.

Mosaic of Anubis in Tunisia

Anubis in Roman garb appears on a mosaic titled after the November month, discovered in Tunisia. Anubis, by this time, had also become merged by some with the Greek god Hermes, and went by the name Hermanubis in Graeco-Egyptian religion. This mosaic is currently on display at the Musée archéologique de Sousse, Sousse, Tunisia. In...

Sarcophagus lid of Tjentwerethequa

Sarcophagus lid of Tjentwerethequa, “Priestess of Amun”

Sarcophagus lid of Tjentwerethequa, “Priestess of Amun” Third Intermediate period, Early 22nd Dynasty, c. 1000- 901 B.C. It is believed, Tjentwerethequa’s grandson, a senior priest of Amun-Re named Iufenamun, was of the priesthood responsible for the reburial of the old kings into the secret caches, which hid the past rulers of Ancient Egypt away from...

Relief of Soldiers Honoring Their Lord

Relief of Soldiers Honoring Their Lord

Fragment of painted limestone raised relief of soldiers honoring their lord. Group of military men are acclaiming the rewarding of General Horemheb. Right arm of Horemheb at extreme upper right corner. Two lines of incised inscription at top left center. Inscription: “Standard Bearer to the cavalry squadron of Meryt-Aten (named Khai)” or “Standard bearer of...

Head of King Djedefre

Head of King Djedefre

Quartzite head of King Djedefre from Abu Rawash. Djedefre was the son of King Khufu ruled Egypt for 8 years and built his pyramid in Abu Rawash area in the north of Giza. His name was written inside a royal cartouche and was the first king to take the title of ‘Son of Re’ that...

A false fringe of human hair in pin curl ringlet style. Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. 1901.40.56

A false fringe of human hair in pin curl ringlet style

A false fringe of human hair in pin curl ringlet styleEarly Dynastic Period, 1st Dynasty,Excavated by Sir Flinders Petrie from the tomb of king Djer (also known as Zer or Sekhty), Tomb O, Umm el-Qa’ab, Abydos, Egypt. Wigs were composed of various materials such as human hair, wool, plant fibers, and horsehair. The most expensive...

Calcite figures of two men on stepped red plynths. Tomb of Idy.

Tomb of Idy

Idy was an Egyptian man who lived and died within the 6th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt’s Old Kingdom, c. 2345-2181 B.C. He was a nomarch (provincial governor of the varied nomes of Egypt, similar to a local administrator or perhaps a modern local councillor or possibly mayor type figure). He held titles such as Royal...