This finely painted fragment comes from the tomb of Sobekhotep, “Overseer of the Seal“; the highest treasury official under king Thutmose IV. It forms part of a grand tribute scene in which foreign envoys bring precious offerings to Egypt’s court. The men shown here are Asiatics from Syria–Palestine, known to the Egyptians as Retjenu or...
High upon the walls of the Temple of Seti I at Abydos lies a curious carving that has sparked endless wonder. To the casual eye, the shapes appear astonishingly familiar to the modern world; depicting what appears to be a helicopter, a submarine, and even a tank, yet these images were etched more than three...
In the mortuary temple of Ramesses II known as the Ramesseum at Thebes, the walls are alive with scenes not merely of conquest, but of sustenance, renewal, and divine favour. Among these reliefs is a particularly charming composition in which the king appears not once, but twice, in the embrace of a sacred tree. To...
The Book of the Dead of Nakht is one of the most beautifully preserved and spiritually rich funerary papyri to survive from Ancient Egypt’s New Kingdom. Dating to the early 18th Dynasty, around 1400 B.C., it was created for Nakht, a scribe and astronomer of the Temple of Amun at Karnak, who held esteemed religious...
The faïence mask of Hathor was discovered in what is now known as Timna Valley Park, in the southern Aravah (Arabah) desert (Wādī ʿArabah), about 25 km north of modern Eilat. It comes from an Egyptian-style shrine erected near the great copper mines worked during the Late Bronze Age. Hathor, revered as the radiant “Lady...
The Red Chapel of Hatshepsut (often called the Chapelle Rouge) is a small temple constructed of red quartzite to house the sacred barque of the god Amun of Karnak. Erected within the precinct of Amun at Karnak, the largest religious complex in Ancient Egypt, the Red Chapel of Hatshepsut was not secluded; rather, it was...
Sennedjem (“The one who pleases”) lived during the late 18th Dynasty through the 19th Dynasty, working under Seti I and Ramesses II (c. 1290–1250 B.C.). He held the title “Servant in the Place of Truth” (sḏm-ʿš m st-mꜣꜥt), which means he was a craftsman of the royal necropolis, living at Deir el-Medina. His work involved...
Both in life and death, the Ancient Egyptians adorned their world with plants whose meanings reached far beyond the garden. Flowers and fruits were not merely decorative, they were potent symbols, bearing associations of love, fertility, regeneration, and eternal life. In the imagery of tombs, such flora carried a language of their own, one that...
This sandstone relief comes from the early reign of Amenhotep IV (later known as Akhenaten) and based upon the style it is believed this relief was from Karnak Temple, prior to the founding of the experimental capital of Akhetaten (Amarna). Early in his reign, Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten), like many kings before him, undertook ambitious building...
In this finely carved relief, Seti I stands reverently before the enthroned Ra-Horakhty, the composite solar deity crowned with the sun disk and uraeus. The king’s right hand is raised in a delicate gesture: with his little finger, he touches the divine cobra, symbol of celestial fire and royal authority. Far from a casual motion,...
