Egypt Museum ancient Egypt art culture and history

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...

Fragments from the Book of the Dead of Khary Wesay

Not much is known about Khary Wesay, other than he lived during the 19th Dynasty, yet the remnants of his Book of the Dead remain a beautiful discovery from Ancient Egypt. Through these well preserved fragments, one can take a technicolour journey through the Afterlife along with Khary Wesay and his wife Puia. New Kingdom,...

Maya and his wife Merit, depicted in a life-sized limestone double-seated statue.

Maya and Merit

Maya was a high ranking official, with titles such as, “Overseer of the Treasury“, who lived towards the end of the 18th Dynasty. With the collapse of the Amarna Period (Akhenaten and Nefertiti’s Aten experiment purposely dissolved), Maya was an important figure who held special status during the reigns of Tutankhamun (it is said Maya...

Moscow Shroud 5747 before preservational reconstruction, with 19th century backing frame which was held by gelatinous glue which the 2015 conservationists painstakingly removed.

Mummy shroud of a woman & a boy

This reconstructed mummy shroud of a woman and a young boy from Saqqara, with the gods Osiris and Anubis dates from the 2nd Century, A.D. In 2015, conservationists from Moscow, New York and Paris, worked intricately to restore this piece to its former glory, and this below is the result. Notice the removal of the...

Double seated statuette of Kinebu and Isis

Double seated statuette of Kinebu and Isis

This double seated statute of Kinebu and his wife, a singer for Amun, named Isis (Ancient Egyptian: Aset or Iset), was usurped (reused/recycled) by the pair, and originally dates from the reign of Amenhotep III, c. 1390-1353 B.C. rather than the lifetime of Kinebu and Isis, who lived and died during the reign of Ramesses...

The deified Ahmose Nefertari, as depicted within TT 359, Deir el-Medina

Ahmose Nefertari, the deified Queen of Egypt

Ahmose Nefertari was the sister and Great Royal Wife of king Ahmose I, the first king of the 18th Dynasty. After taking the reins from the Hyksos’s hands and unifying a dismantled Egypt, Ahmose I was the first ruler of Egyptian origin to bring Egypt into what is referred to as it’s Golden Age, also...

Sphinx Head of King Amenhotep II

Sphinx Head of Amenhotep II

A detail of Sphinx Head of King Amenhotep II. Amenhotep II (sometimes called Amenophis II and meaning ‘Amun is Satisfied’) was the seventh king of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. Amenhotep inherited a vast kingdom from his father Thutmose III, and held it by means of a few military campaigns in Syria; however, he fought...

Ramesses II sat between the god Amun and his consort the goddess Mut

Ramesses II sat between the god Amun and his consort the goddess Mut

This seated triad statue of king Ramesses II, sat between the deities, and immortal consorts Amun and Mut, is made from solid granite and comes from the Temple of Amun at Karnak, modern Luxor, and dates from c. 1279–1213 B.C. The three sit eternally in each other’s company, embracing as they smile ahead. Ramesses, is...

Anubis in human form at the Temple of Ramesses II, Abydos.

Anubis in human form

Arguably one of the most famous Ancient Egyptian deities recognized in the modern world, Anubis (jnpw), known to the Egyptians as Anpu, is an icon of the ancient world. From books to movies, his likeness still remains a favourite, and he is recognized worldwide, often springing to mind when Ancient Egypt is mentioned in entertainment...

Amethyst head of Arsinoë II, Queen of Ptolemaic Egypt. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 42.190

Amethyst head of Arsinoë II, Queen of Ptolemaic Egypt

Arsinoë II was a Queen of Ptolemaic Egypt, who also held the Egyptian titles of King of Upper & Lower Egypt, making her pharaoh. Being wife of King Lysimachus; a Thessalian officer and successor of Alexander the Great, and King of Thrace, Asia Minor and Macedon, Arsinoë was also the Queen of Macedonia, Thrace, and...