In this relief Amenemhat I is shown celebrating his thirty-year jubilee (Sed Festival), ritually demonstrating that he was still vigorous and fit to rule. The king is flanked by the jackal-headed god Anubis and the falcon-headed Horus, deities closely associated with coronation rituals; each god offers him an ankh, the hieroglyph for life. To the...
With a board carved in the shape of an axe-blade, and resting upon legs shaped in the form of bull’s legs, this game of Hounds & Jackals also comes with a pull-out drawer to hold the pieces; 5 jackals and 5 hounds. This set of the game Hounds and Jackals was unearthed in 1910 by...
This stele was colored with a mixture of pigment and tempera. First, however, it was sculpted in raised and sunken relief; only later were some of its surfaces embellished with black, brown, green, yellow, and white paint. The stele commemorates for all eternity a man named Amenemhat and his wife, Hemet. Before them are two...
Amenemhat III (Ancient Egyptian: Ỉmn-m-hꜣt meaning ‘Amun is in the forefront’), also known as Amenemhet III, was a king of Ancient Egypt and the sixth ruler of the Twelfth Dynasty in the Middle Kingdom. His father, Senwosret III, elevated him to the throne as co-regent, and he shared the throne as active king for twenty...
This model of a slaughter house was discovered in a hidden chamber beside twenty-three other models of boats, gardens, and workshops that led to the royal chief steward Meketre’s rock-cut tomb. Meketre started working for the kings of the 11th Dynasty under King Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II and continued to serve them until the early 12th...
This wooden statuette depicts a Middle Kingdom woman with a wig of plaited hair parted in the middle, creating a pigtail appearance. Her real hair can be seen within the middle part of the wig peeking through, with slight painted lines indicating hair strands. Such a hairstyle was usually associated with the goddess Hathor. The...
“Paddle dolls” got their nickname from their likeness to modern Ping-Pong paddles. They all include exaggerated images of female genitalia. Some are painted with crude representations of couples having sexual intercourse, while others have pictures of birth-gods. The motif of birth and reproduction shows that “paddle dolls” increased fertility for both the living and, most...
Royal temple lintel of Amenemhat III: a rectangular limestone raised relief from a temple door lintel. The text is arranged symmetrically, with the central cartouche placed over the axis of the doorway. The text cannot be deciphered into a single sentence, since the elements are arranged according to heraldic rather than linguistic principles. In the...
This head, of the Middle Kingdom king Senwosret III, was discovered in front of the 4th Pylon of the Karnak Temple Complex in 1970. Made from rose granite, it depicts the king wearing the Double Crown (Pschent). Measuring at 80cm, the face is easily recognizable as Senwosret III from other portraits of the king, although...
Family portrait featuring a male and two female figures. The man wears a plaited wig that is shoulder length. His ears are oversized, something that was seemingly ‘in fashion’ of the time in depictions of the human form. He wears a lengthy skirt or shenydt that wraps around him just above his hip, his hands...
