The sarcophagus of the priest Pa-nehem-isis [Pnehmêse] is a remarkable example from the Ptolemaic Period, with its large face and its profusion of inscriptions and images, covering the whole surface. The figures have been carved in the hard stone with great precision. The deceased is wearing the tripartite wig and a broad collar. No other...
A black glass obsidian amulet in the form of two fingers of the right hand. The finger joints are indicated as well as the cuticles. Traces of yellowish dirt at separation of fingers. A detailed likeness of the index and second fingers of the right hand was one of the many amulets placed on the...
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....
This relief depicts the cobra on a neb basket from the king’s Two Ladies name. Small Late Period and Ptolemaic reliefs or sculptures that depict a subject in a partial or unfinished way but are themselves finished objects constitute a special class of object. Guidelines like those for artists are often prominently exhibited as part...
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. The stele was found in a small village in the Delta called Rosetta (Rashid). It is called the Rosetta Stone because...
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 contains images of Taurus and the Libra. The chapel was begun in the late Ptolemaic period; its pronaos was added by the emperor Tiberius. This led Jean-François...
