The inscription on the base of this statuette of the official Bes reads ‘Count and Prince, Companion of His Majesty’. Bes is portrayed sitting in a position that was widely used in the Old Kingdom (c. 2660–2180 BC), at the beginning of the New Kingdom (c. 1550–1070 BC) and again by the officials, including this...
According to the myth the sister goddesses Isis and Nepthys cared for the body of Osiris and later they protected his son Horus as a young child. The three deities depicted in this triad amulet are some of the main protagonists in the Osiride myth that tells the murder and revival of the god Osiris...
This is the anthropoid wooden coffin of a man called Besenmut, who was a Priest of Montu at the Theban Temple. Dating from the 26th Dynasty, c. 664-525 B.C. also known as the Sais Dynasty or Saite Period, which was the last true Native Egyptian ruling Dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian empire before the later conquests of the Persian and Greeks, which eventually led to the collapse of Ancient Egypt under Roman rule.
This coffin, belonging to a woman called Takhebkhenem, is made of wood, with polychrome painted decoration. The British Museum notes that, “the vignettes, which are executed in a very conservative style, show the deceased carrying a sistrum before Osiris, her mummy on a bier, and a strange hawk-headed kneeling figure, described as Osiris, there is...
Relief of Mentuemhat in his robes as a priest of Amun and carrying the wand used to consecrate food offerings to the god. Raised relief in the style of his time, but showing some influence of Middle Kingdom work. Mentuemhat is one of the most recognizable nonroyal names from ancient Egypt. He was a rich...
This golden earring depicting the Ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor was discovered in the location of the ancient city of Meroë, capital of the Kingdom of Kush for several centuries from around 590 B.C., until its collapse in the 4th century A.D. The golden Hathor earring would have been a representation of the goddess and may...
Lord of the sky, solar god, and god of kingship — Horus is among Egypt’s oldest deities. The falcon soaring in the sky embodied the god’s qualities, and Horus was represented as a falcon or falcon-headed man. As heir to the divine kingship of Egypt, he appears here with the royal uraeus (cobra) and the...
This statuette represents the god Anubis or Wepwawet, the jackal guardians of burial sites. The figure is solid cast from copper alloy, and the details of its fur are incised. The figure may originally have decorated the top of a shrine. In some versions of ancient Egyptian religious beliefs Anubis assisted in the mummification and...
The chest of the sarcophagus of the vizier Gemenefherbak is protected by a winged scarab, a personification of the reborn morning sun. On the back of the box, the deceased is shown twice worshiping the djed pillar, a symbol of Osiris, lord of the netherworld. In spite of the size of the object and the...
The conglomerate sarcophagus of Nectanebo II was discovered after being used as a bath in the Attarin Mosque, the former Church of St Athanasius, in Alexandria, Egypt. Drill holes at the bottom of the coffin, used for drainage, had been installed and are still very noticeable. Unfortunately, due to it being used as a bath,...
