As the chief intermediary between gods and men, the Egyptian king is often shown kneeling in adoration. This silver statuette was undoubtedly part of a group composition in which the king faced a larger figure of a god. Temple inscriptions suggest that for much of Egypt’s history, silver was valued more highly than gold. However,...
Ancient Egyptian hollow and smooth gold snake bracelet. The scales and details of the snakes’ head were chased after casting. Snake bracelets were very popular in antiquity. This type of bracelet was worn coiled around the wearer’s arm, the continuation of a fashion known earlier in the Greek world in the Classical and Hellenistic periods....
Statue of Queen Arsinoe II identified with Isis, mother goddess and patron of magic. It is considered one of the masterpieces of Ptolemaic sculpture, which combines Greek and Egyptian elements. The statue is in a traditional Egyptian striding pose. She stands facing forward with her arms lowered along the sides of the body and her...
This silver winged scarab is inlaid with lapis lazuli, red jasper and green feldspar. It seems to have been fixed to a larger object since there are fasteners on the back side. The winged scarab was a powerful image of solar rebirth for the deceased. Amulets in the form of scarab beetles had become enormously...
The Rosetta Stone is a stele composed of granodiorite inscribed with three versions of a decree issued in Memphis, Egypt, in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty on behalf of King Ptolemy V Epiphanes. It was found in a small village in the Delta called Rosetta (Rashid). It is called the Rosetta Stone because it...
In Ancient Egypt the figure of the grey heron (Bennu or bnw) with a long beak and a double feathered crest was surrounded by mythical associations. When the flooded Nile waters slowly retreated, the heron was among the first birds to appear on the top of the mounds protruding from the water. In the morning...
The Dendera zodiac is a widely known Egyptian bas-relief from the ceiling of the pronaos of a chapel dedicated to Osiris in the Hathor temple at Dendera. It is containing images of Taurus and the Libra. This chapel was begun in the late Ptolemaic period; its pronaos was added by the emperor Tiberius. This led...
This scarab amulet is made of gold, a metal strongly associated with the sun. The blue enamel symbolizes the life-giving waters of the Nile. Scarab amulets were frequently wound into a mummy’s bandages to protect the deceased and ensure rebirth. The ancient Egyptians understood the sun god to manifest himself in multiple forms, chiefly those...
The preparations carried out on the mummy thus took place almost according to the prescriptions relating to the mummification of human corpses, since the falcon was the sacred animal of the god Horus. The body of the mummified animal was first wrapped in linen strips and after the mummy. Then thus shaped into a form...
According to spell 151 of the Book of the Dead, in the tomb chamber, a magic brick with an amulet of Anubis jackal representing the god should be placed on the west wall, facing east to the mummy of the deceased. In this role, the seated jackal Anubis is protecting the dead from any aggressor....
