Towards the end of the 20th Dynasty, around 1155 B.C., one of Ancient Egypt’s most powerful rulers, Ramesses III, became the victim of an extraordinary palace conspiracy. The plot, now known as the Harem Conspiracy, was intended not merely to assassinate the king, but to alter the royal succession. At its centre stood Tiye, one...
This is a vignette (illustration) from the Book of the Dead of Userhat (British Museum. EA10009), an 18th Dynasty papyrus (c. 1450 B.C., around the reign of Amenhotep II), belonging to a Theban royal scribe and official. The scene shows four greenish-grey baboons (hamadryas type) standing upright on their hind legs with arms raised in...
More than 3,400 years ago, an Egyptian royal chamberlain named Neferoubenef commissioned a beautifully illustrated Book of the Dead to accompany him into eternity. Today, twelve surviving fragments of this remarkable papyrus are preserved in the Louvre Museum, offering a vivid glimpse into how one man hoped to overcome the dangers of the afterlife and...
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...
Ani was a high-ranking scribe and treasury official who lived in Thebes during the 19th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, likely under the reign of Seti I or Ramesses II (c. 1290–1250 B.C.). Though his titles vary, he is often called the “Scribe of the Divine Offerings,” indicating a prestigious role in the temple economy. He...
This vividly painted fragment comes from a Book of the Dead scroll dating from the 19th Dynasty. The scene depicts a male scribe, identified by his title “Scribe of the House of the King”, offering incense and homage to the enthroned god Osiris, who is flanked by Isis. Behind the scribe stands a female figure...
In Ancient Egyptian belief, the afterlife, known as Aaru, or the Field of Reeds, was not some ethereal realm of clouds and choirs, but rather a perfected reflection of life along the Nile. To the Egyptians, paradise was not an abstract heaven above but an idealised Egypt itself: abundant, eternal, and unmarred by suffering or...
Taxation in Ancient Egypt was the very lifeblood of the state, binding ploughman, priest, and pharaoh in a tapestry of obligation. Long before coinage glinted under Persian and Greek rule, dues were rendered in grain, livestock, crafted wares, and, perhaps most valuable of all, labour itself. Our clearest windows onto this bustling fiscal world are...
The Lake of Fire in Ancient Egyptian belief is a compelling and multifaceted concept, primarily depicted in funerary texts such as the Book of the Dead. This lake, known in Egyptian as the “Lake of Flames,” served as both a perilous obstacle and a source of purification for the deceased navigating the Duat, the Egyptian...
In Ancient Egyptian belief, Ammit (also spelled Ammut or Amamet) was the personification of punishment, a final threat to those who fail to live a just life. With a body part lion, part hippopotamus, and part crocodile; the three largest and most dangerous animals known to the Egyptians, her name translates to “Devourer“, she is...
