Hidden deep within the ochre cliffs of the Valley of the Kings lies one of Ancient Egypt’s most breathtaking royal sepulchres: the tomb of Pharaoh Seti I, who reigned during the 19th Dynasty around 1290–1279 B.C. Known to modern Egyptologists as KV17, this tomb is not only among the longest and most exquisitely decorated, but...
Granodiorite statue of King Thutmose III depicted as a sphinx. The sphinx depicts the king reclining on the Nine bows, which represent the traditional enemies of Egypt brought to submission. The sculpture once stood in the Karnak Temple Complex near Thebes. However, it was discovered in 1903 buried with thousands of statues, steles, amulets, inlay...
Tucked into the sandstone flank of the Valley of the Kings, KV 62 is hardly more than a corridor, a stair and a single painted chamber, but what a chamber! Built in haste for the boy-king who is thought to have died unexpectedly, Tutankhamun’s tomb became, thanks to Howard Carter’s discovery on November 4th, 1922,...
The gold diadem of Tutankhamun was designed to secure the wig of the king during ceremonies and to protect his forehead in the hereafter. It is a multicolored masterpiece, decorated with gold cloisonnés inlaid with circles of carnelian and edged with inlays of turquoise, lapis lazuli, and blue glass. At the center front are the...
This greywacke statue of Thutmose III was found in the Karnak Cachette in 1904. With the legs below the knees missing, the statue measures at 90cm tall. The Karnak Cachette was discovered by Gaston Maspero in 1903 and excavated by Georges Legrain between 1903 and 1907. It was a treasure trove of finds, with over...
The battle of Kadesh is one of the world’s largest chariot battles, fought beside the Orontes River, King Ramesses II sought to wrest Syria from the Hittites and recapture the Hittite-held city of Kadesh. There was a day of carnage as some 5,000 chariots charged into the fray, but no outright victor. The Kadesh Treaty...
In this exquisite pectoral, a winged large scarab beetle riding on a sacred barque flanked by the goddesses Isis and Nephthys with their arms outstretched as a sign of protection. The scarab serves a double function: as a heart scarab and as the ba of the sun god lighting the way to the underworld. The pectoral...
The Senet Game board of Imenmes who was an ancient Egyptian official, who was ‘Overseer of the Cattle of Amun’. From the New Kingdom onward, the track for the game of Senet was usually engraved on the surface of a wooden box featuring a drawer for the playing pieces, while in previous periods the game...
Taken from Spell 144 of the ‘Book of the Dead’, they were the keepers of the gates of the Underworld, menacing the enemies of order with their sharpened knives. “Egyptians were probably the first to be aware of the nobility inherent in the human form and to express it in art. One can sense the...
Along with its sheath, this ceremonial dagger was a royal gift from king Ahmose to his mother Ahhotep, in whose burial it was discovered. The blade decorated with a typically Aegean technique but Egyptian iconography, bears the titulary of the king on one side and a hunting scene on the other side. Being a gift...
