This map of ancient Egypt details the key settlements of the Ancient Egyptian civilization. Also shown are many of the important Ancient Egyptian sites and temples that remain today. The various capitals of the period are highlighted on the map in addition to the locations of the natural resources and minerals exploited by the Ancient...
Ancient Egyptian faience beaded fishnet dress. It is the oldest surviving example of a dress in this style. And yes, it would have put the wearer’s body on display in a way that is barely acceptable at a burlesque by today’s standards. The dress has been reassembled from approximately seven thousand beads (no record mentioned how...
The Gayer-Anderson cat is a bronze figure depicting one form of the goddess Bastet. The goddess was usually shown as a cat-headed woman, or in the form of a cat. Her principal cult center was Bubastis in the Nile Delta. Bastet was a mother goddess and benign counterpart to the more aggressive lion goddess Sekhmet. The...
This large model shows a courtyard where the inspection of cattle took place. Meketre, his son, and four scribes sit under a columned canopy with scribes and guards standing nearby. Cattle are driven before them by several farmers and herdsmen in order to be counted for inspection purposes. All men are wearing short kilts and...
This signet ring belonging to a person call Sa-Neith, who held the following titles: ‘Prophet and Divine Father’, ‘Director of Chapels (of the goddess Neith)’, ‘Priest of Horus’, ‘He whose two Diadems are Great’, ‘Lord of the City of Letopolis (in the delta; possibly the city of origin of the owner of the ring)’. The...
Granite is extremely hard, but the sculptor of this statue was able to give the king’s plump face and small features a softly natural quality, perhaps suggesting the subject’s actual appearance rather than an idealized version. Originally, this fragment surmounted an oversize figure, achieving the same monumental quality as the pyramids being built at this...
This statue of Khasekhemwy last king of the 2nd Dynasty of Egypt, enthroned with conquered foes incised around the base, it is the oldest surviving stone royal sculpture from ancient Egypt. The king is wearing the White Hedjet Crown of Upper Egypt and is wrapped in a long robe with long sleeves associated with the...
This bust of Ramesses II closely resembles a statue of Ramesses in the Egyptian Museum of Turin. However, the Cairo piece wears a long wig, rather than the Blue Khepresh Crown worn by the Turin statue (Cat. 1380). A uraeus can be seen at the king’s forehead, and he is shown with a young face,...
The diadem of princess Khenmet is formed of a series of horizontal and vertical decorations made of gold with inlays of semiprecious stones and glass paste. Each horizontal element is composed of a rosette flanked by two bell-shaped flowers heavily inlaid with carnelian, turquoise, and lapis lazuli. This decoration is repeated eight times. Two delicate...
These six board game pieces were associated with a game called ‘Mehen’ coil, because it was played on a circular limestone board that took the form of a coiled snake, its skin divided into squares. Three playing pieces represent recumbent lions, and three recumbent lionesses. The game of the snake, or Mehen, was a board...
