Egypt Museum ancient Egypt art culture and history

Ostracon Showing a Cat Waiting on a Mouse

Ostracon of a Cat Waiting on a Mouse

In this ostracon, a cat funerary priest approaches a mouse with offerings. The mouse wears a lotus flower on its head, sits on a chair, sniffs a flower, and holds out a cup to be filled. The cat, standing on his hind legs, fans the mouse and offers a roasted duck and a piece of...

Stool of Tutankhamun with Sema Tawy Symbol. Egyptian Museum, Cairo. JE 62039

Stool of Tutankhamun with Sema Tawy Symbol

The stool of Tutankhamun is made of wood and covered in gold leaf, showcasing the exquisite craftsmanship of ancient Egyptian artisans. The elements of the stool are joined to each other with copper pins. The chair’s legs were modeled to look like the legs of a lion. The lion held a privileged status in ancient...

The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, by Elizabeth Payne

The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt

“The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt explains how archaeologists have pieced together their discoveries to slowly reveal the history of Egypt’s people, its pharaohs, and its golden days. Long ago, a great civilization thrived along the banks of the Nile River. Ruled by awesome god-kings called pharaohs, Egypt was a land of bustling cities, golden palaces,...

The Rosetta Stone. British Museum EA2

The Rosetta Stone

The Rosetta Stone is a stele composed of granodiorite inscribed with three versions of a decree issued in Memphis, Egypt, in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty on behalf of King Ptolemy V Epiphanes. The stele was found in a small village in the Delta called Rosetta (Rashid). It is called the Rosetta Stone because...

Figurine of a Woman Making Beer

Statuette of a Woman Making Beer

This lively statuette of a woman is presented in the act of making beer, kneading dough in a strainer over a large jar. The woman is wearing only a close-fitting, medium-length white skirt and a necklace. The pale blue shape of which can be clearly seen around her neck. Her hair is covered by a...

Girdle with Cowrie Shells

Girdle with Cowrie Shells

This girdle with cowrie shells was found with other pieces of jewelry in the plundered chamber 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 a rectangular wooden coffin with green hieroglyphs on a yellow background as well as...

Relief of the god Amun-Re

Relief of Amenhotep I as Amun-Re

A limestone lintel from the Temple of Amun-Re at Karnak depicts the deified King Amenhotep I, shown wearing the headdress of the god Amun-Re. Shown here a remain of a wall that has a niche that probably housed a statue. It’s topped by the Egyptian cavetto cornice and we can see the Niswt Bity title...

Relief of King Senusret I before the god Min-Amun

Senusret I before Min-Amun

In this relief King Senusret I presents offerings to the god Min-Amun, shown in his ithyphallic form. Min, Egyptian god of fertility. He was invoked for animal, vegetable and human fertility. Min is represented in human form with legs placed close together like those of a mummy and an erect phallus. A flail is depicted...

Queen Nefertiti Kissing her Daughter

Relief of Queen Nefertiti Kissing her Daughter

In sunk limestone relief, at left Nefertiti, preserved head and neck, kissing a princess whose arm is extended around her mother. At right, three mutilated columns of text and above, one ray of the Aten holding an ankh. Flesh folds indicated on necks of both figures. Queen wears braided wig with diadem. The princess wears...

Relief of a Honeybee

Relief of a Honeybee

Detail of a relief on a column depicts a honeybee on a column in the High sacred Precinct of Amun-Re, Karnak Temple Complex. The Egyptian name for honey was “bit”, a word also used for bees. Beekeeping in Egypt has been attested since the III millennium BC, but perhaps it was practiced in even older...