Author: ancientegyptblog7

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Egyptian Artifacts

Limestone Sculpture of the Goddess Hathor

This limestone ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ™๐“Œ‰ sculpture of the goddess ๐“Šน๐“ Hathor ๐“‰ก is one of my favorite pieces that I saw in the Louvre. This piece is dated to the Ptolemaic Period, and used to be part of a column.

Hathorโ€™s ๐“‰ก name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ– in hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช is quite unique compared to some of the other gods/goddesses. Her name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ– is composed of a composite hieroglyph ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ which literally translates to โ€œHouse of Horus.โ€ Hathor ๐“‰ก was the goddess ๐“Šน๐“ of women ๐“Šƒ๐“๐“‚‘๐“๐“๐“ช, motherhood, joy, music ๐“‰”๐“‡Œ๐“†ธ, happiness ๐“„ซ๐“…ฑ๐“›, and a goddess ๐“Šน๐“ of the afterlife ๐“‡ผ๐“„ฟ๐“๐“‰.

One detail that I love about this piece is that Hathor ๐“‰ก is shown with her cow ears! Hathor ๐“‰ก was usually depicted in Egyptian art as either a woman ๐“Šƒ๐“๐“‚‘๐“๐“ or a cow ๐“„ค๐“†‘๐“‚‹๐“๐“ƒ’, so this little detail is just so cool! Another detail that I love is how her wig is decorated with rosettes! The details are in raised relief, which only make them stand out more.

In Middle Egyptian, the words โ€œbeautiful womanโ€ and โ€œcowโ€ were the same – the only thing that was different was the determinative symbol! This was most likely due to an association with Hathor ๐“‰ก, and to this day remains one of my favorite โ€œfun factsโ€ about hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช!

๐“„ค๐“†‘๐“‚‹๐“๐“ (beautiful woman)
๐“„ค๐“†‘๐“‚‹๐“๐“ƒ’ (cow)

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Egyptian Artifacts

Limestone Stela Dedicated to Hathor

Iโ€™m making another post with Hathor ๐“‰ก in it because why not?! Hathor ๐“‰ก was the goddess ๐“Šน๐“ of women ๐“Šƒ๐“๐“‚‘๐“๐“๐“ช, motherhood, joy, music ๐“‰”๐“‡Œ๐“†ธ, happiness ๐“„ซ๐“…ฑ๐“›, and a goddess ๐“Šน๐“ of the afterlife ๐“‡ผ๐“„ฟ๐“๐“‰.

This limestone ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ™๐“Œ‰ stela ๐“Ž—๐“…ฑ๐“†“๐“‰ธ is dated to the 18th Dynasty (New Kingdom). The stela ๐“Ž—๐“…ฑ๐“†“๐“‰ธ was dedicated to Hathor ๐“‰ก and the 11th Dynasty pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป Montuhotep II ๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“ฟ๐“…ฑ๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช by a priest ๐“Šน๐“› named An. On this stela ๐“Ž—๐“…ฑ๐“†“๐“‰ธ, Hathor ๐“‰ก appears in her cow ๐“„ค๐“†‘๐“‚‹๐“๐“ƒ’ form, while the human figure (probably Montuhotep II) on the left is cut off. An is not pictured on the stela ๐“Ž—๐“…ฑ๐“†“๐“‰ธ, which means it was probably already made and An just had his name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ– added to it. It was most likely placed in a shrine at Deir el-Bahri, because both Hathor ๐“‰ก and Montuhotep II ๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“ฟ๐“…ฑ๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช were both worshipped there. It was not uncommon for pharaohs ๐“‰๐“‰ป๐“ฆ to be worshipped long after they died.

Letโ€™s read some hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช!

๐“Šน๐“„ค๐“ŽŸ๐“‡ฟ๐“‡ฟ(๐“‡ณ๐“Šค๐“ŽŸ) – โ€œThe Great God, Lord of the Two Lands, Nebhapetraโ€ (Nebhapetra is Montuhotep IIโ€™s throne name)

๐“‰ก๐“๐“Š“๐“ท๐“๐“Š–๐“‹† – โ€œHathor, Chief one of Thebesโ€ (Thebes can also be written as โ€œ๐“Œ€๐“๐“Š–โ€ – Iโ€™m just copying the symbol directly from the stela, even though it may look โ€œbackwardsโ€).

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Reading Hieroglyphs

Limestone Relief of Montuhotep II

This limestone ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ™๐“Œ‰ relief of Montuhotep II ๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“ฟ๐“…ฑ๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช (11th Dynasty) is gorgeous ๐“„ค because the hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช are so beautifully ๐“„ค carved! Itโ€™s amazing how pieces that are so old can be in such amazing condition!

This piece is interesting because the direction that you read the hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช from keeps changing! The two ๐“ป lines Iโ€™m going to translate are actually from different inscriptions!!

Letโ€™s read some hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช!

๐“†ฅ๐“…ญ๐“‡ณ(๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“ฟ๐“…ฑ๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช)๐“…’๐“„ฅ๐“‡ฟ๐“‡ฟ๐“™๐“‹น๐“Šฝ๐“Œ€ – โ€œKing of Upper and Lower Egypt, Son of Ra, Montuhotep II, Uniter of the Two Lands, Given Life, Stability and Strengthโ€

๐“†“๐“Œƒ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“ฟ๐“…ฑ – โ€œWords Spoken By Montuโ€

The phrase ๐“…’๐“„ฅ๐“‡ฟ๐“‡ฟ โ€œUniter of the Two Landsโ€ is a variant of Mentuhotep IIโ€™s ๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“ฟ๐“…ฑ๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช Nebty Name. The Nebty Name is honestly more of a title than a name. It means โ€œtwo ladiesโ€ and that refers to the goddesses ๐“Šน๐“Šน๐“Šน๐“ Nekhbet ๐“‡‘๐“ƒ€๐“๐“…๐“ŽŸ and Wadjet ๐“‡…๐“‡Œ๐“๐“†˜, who can both be represented by the hieroglyph โ€œ ๐“…’.โ€ Nekhbet ๐“‡‘๐“ƒ€๐“๐“…๐“ŽŸ is a goddess ๐“Šน๐“ of Upper Egypt and is represented by the vulture while Wadjet ๐“‡…๐“‡Œ๐“๐“†˜ is a goddess ๐“Šน๐“ of Lower Egypt and is represented by the cobra. Showing the two ๐“ป goddesses ๐“Šน๐“Šน๐“Šน๐“ together represented a unified Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š–.

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Reading Hieroglyphs

Seti I and the Goddess Hathor

The relief shows Seti I ๐“‡ณ๐“ฆ๐“  and the goddess ๐“Šน๐“ Hathor ๐“‰ก. Hathor ๐“‰ก was known as the Lady of the West (the underworld ๐“‡ผ๐“„ฟ๐“๐“‰). The West and the Underworld ๐“‡ผ๐“„ฟ๐“๐“‰ were equated by the ancient Egyptians ๐“†Ž๐“๐“€€๐“๐“ช because the sun ๐“‡ณ๐“บ set in the west! Here, she is seen welcoming Seti I ๐“‡ณ๐“ฆ๐“  into her domain, while offering him her menat necklace ๐“‹ง, a symbol of protection. They are even holding hands ๐“‚ง๐“๐“บ! This relief was originally from Seti Iโ€™s ๐“Šช๐“๐“Ž›๐“ฃ๐“‡Œ๐“Œธ๐“ˆ– tomb ๐“‡‹๐“ซ๐“Šƒ๐“‰, which is actually the biggest tomb ๐“‡‹๐“ซ๐“Šƒ๐“‰ in the Valley of the Kings!

Letโ€™s read some hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช!

๐“‰ก๐“ถ๐“ท๐“๐“๐“Š–๐“‹† – โ€œHathor, Chief one of Thebesโ€

๐“ŽŸ๐“‡ฟ๐“‡ฟ(๐“‡ณ๐“ฆ๐“ ) – โ€œLord of the Two Lands, Maatmenraโ€ (Maatmenra is the throne name)

๐“ŽŸ๐“ˆ๐“ฅ(๐“Šช๐“๐“Ž›๐“ฃ๐“‡Œ๐“Œธ๐“ˆ–) – โ€œLord of the Two Lands Seti, Beloved of Ptahโ€ (Seti is the birth name)

๐“™๐“‹น ๐“‡ณ๐“‡๐“บ๐“†– – โ€œGiven Eternal Life, Like Raโ€

Categories
Egyptian Artifacts

Partial Granite Sphinx of Hatshepsut

This is another amazing piece from Gallery 115 at the MET – aka The Hatshepsut Room (as I call it). This granite ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ™๐“ˆ–๐“Œณ๐“ฟ statue ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ is from the joint reign of Hatshepsut ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“Žน๐“๐“„‚๐“๐“€ผ๐“ช and Thutmosis III ๐“‡ณ๐“ ๐“†ฃ It is titled โ€œHead and Shoulders of a Sphinx of Hatshepsutโ€ because it used to be part of a large Sphinx ๐“Ž›๐“…ฑ๐“ƒญ๐“ค.

Six ๐“ฟ large sphinxes ๐“Ž›๐“…ฑ๐“ƒญ๐“ฆ of Hatshepsut ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“Žน๐“๐“„‚๐“๐“€ผ๐“ช were found at Deir el-Bahri ๐“‚ฆ๐“‚‹๐“‚ฆ๐“ฅ๐“‰ during the excavations done by the MET. Though it is hard to see in the picture๐“๐“…ฑ๐“, the sphinx ๐“Ž›๐“…ฑ๐“ƒญ๐“ค does actually have some remainders of the original paint on it! I canโ€™t even imagine how beautiful ๐“„ค it must have looked after it was just carved and painted!

Much like your typical Sphinx ๐“Ž›๐“…ฑ๐“ƒญ๐“ค, Hatshepsut ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“Žน๐“๐“„‚๐“๐“€ผ๐“ช is seen wearing the false beard and the nemes headcloth ๐“ˆ–๐“…“๐“‹ด, which was the normal style for how pharaohs ๐“‰๐“‰ป๐“ฆ were depicted.

A lot of Hatshepsutโ€™s statues ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ๐“ช that are from her temple at Deir el-Bahri ๐“‚ฆ๐“‚‹๐“‚ฆ๐“ฅ๐“‰ are made of either granite ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ™๐“ˆ–๐“Œณ๐“ฟ or red granite ๐“…“๐“Œณ๐“๐“Žถ, which is a very hard rock ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“‚‹๐“ˆ™ (aka very resistant to weathering/breakdown). Granite ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ™๐“ˆ–๐“Œณ๐“ฟ was mined is Aswan ๐“‹ด๐“ƒน๐“ˆ–๐“Œ๐“ฒ๐“Š– and then shipped up the Nile ๐“‡‹๐“๐“‚‹๐“…ฑ๐“ˆ—๐“ˆ˜๐“ˆ‡๐“บ- definitely an incredible journey!

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Reading Hieroglyphs

Stela of Hetepsi

This is a stela ๐“Ž—๐“…ฑ๐“†“๐“‰ธ for a woman ๐“Šƒ๐“๐“‚‘๐“๐“ named Hetepsi ๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช๐“‹ด๐“‡‹ who was a priestess ๐“Šน๐“› of Hathor ๐“‰ก during the Old Kingdom (6th-8th Dynasty, c. 2323-2100 B.C.E.). Hetepsi ๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช๐“‹ด๐“‡‹ is seen holding a sistrum ๐“Šƒ๐“ˆ™๐“ˆ™๐“๐“ฃ in her hand, which is a musical instrument which is associated with the goddess ๐“Šน๐“ Hathor ๐“‰ก.

Letโ€™s read some hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช!

๐“‡“๐“๐“Šต๐“™๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“Šช๐“‰“๐“ˆ– – โ€œAn offering the king gives Anubis, a voice offering of…โ€ (Anubisโ€™ name is shortened here, most likely for spacing reasons because Anubis is usually always written as ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“Šช๐“…ฑ๐“ƒฃ or ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“Šช๐“…ฑ๐“ข).

๐“‡“๐“๐“Šต๐“Šช๐“๐“ – โ€œA royal offeringโ€ (๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช can mean โ€œpeaceโ€ or โ€œofferingโ€)

๐“‰ž๐“๐“‹๐“Šน๐“›๐“ŽŸ๐“ – โ€œPriestess of Hathor, Mistress of…โ€ (โ€œMistressโ€ can also be translated as โ€œLadyโ€)

๐“‰บ๐“ˆ–๐“๐“Š–๐“‡‹๐“Œด๐“„ช๐“…ฑ๐“ – โ€œDendera, who is revered…โ€

๐“๐“‚‹๐“Šน๐“„ค๐“ŽŸ๐“Šช๐“๐“‡ฏ๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช๐“‹ด๐“‡‹ – โ€œ…before the great god lord of the sky, Hetepsiโ€

๐“‡“๐“๐“Šต๐“™๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“Šช๐“‰“๐“ˆ–๐“‡“๐“๐“Šต๐“Šช๐“๐“๐“‰ž๐“๐“‹๐“Šน๐“›๐“ŽŸ๐“ ๐“‰บ๐“ˆ–๐“๐“Š–๐“‡‹๐“Œด๐“„ช๐“…ฑ๐“ ๐“๐“‚‹๐“Šน๐“„ค๐“ŽŸ๐“Šช๐“๐“‡ฏ๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช๐“‹ด๐“‡‹

โ€œAn offering the king gives Anubis, a voice offering for the royal offering, Priestess of Hathor, Mistress of Dendera, who is revered before the great god, lord of the sky, Hetepsi.โ€

Categories
Egyptian Artifacts

“Royal and Divine Triad”

Triads (groups of three ๐“ผ) were popular among ancient Egyptian statuary and mythology. This piece from the Louvre is called the โ€œRoyal and Divine Triadโ€ (Dynasty 19, New Kingdom c. 1279-1203 B.C.E.) because it represents three ๐“ผ of the most powerful figures in the Egyptian pantheon. Rameses II ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ˜๐“‡ณ๐“บ๐“„Ÿ๐“‹ด๐“‡“ or his son ๐“…ญ Merenptah ๐“‡ณ๐“ƒ’๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ˜๐“Šน๐“Šน๐“Šน is on the left, Osiris ๐“น๐“Šจ๐“€ญ is in the middle, while Horus ๐“…ƒ๐“€ญ is on the right. The pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป was viewed as a god ๐“Šน on Earth, Horus ๐“…ƒ๐“€ญ was the king of the gods ๐“Šน๐“Šน๐“Šน, and Osiris ๐“น๐“Šจ๐“€ญ was lord ๐“ŽŸ of the afterlife.

I find this piece super interesting because the pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป kind of inserted himself amongst the most famous of the Egyptian triads – Isis ๐“Šจ๐“๐“ฅ, Osiris ๐“น๐“Šจ๐“€ญ and Horus ๐“…ƒ๐“€ญ – who were supposed to represent the divine family (mother ๐“…๐“๐“, father ๐“‡‹๐“๐“€€, and child ๐“๐“‡Œ๐“€•). In some instances (like with this statue), the pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป would function as the child in the statue.

Not all triads represented families, though that was the most common. Ptah ๐“Šช๐“๐“Ž›๐“ฑ, Sekhmet ๐“Œ‚๐“๐“…“๐“๐“, and Nefertem ๐“„ค๐“†‘๐“‚‹๐“๐“ƒ๐“€ฏ was a family triad that was extremely popular in Memphis. During the New Kingdom (around the time of Tutankhamun ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“‹น๐“‹พ๐“‰บ๐“‡“), the triad of Amun ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–, Ra ๐“‡ณ๐“บ๐“›, and Ptah ๐“Šช๐“๐“Ž›๐“ฑ became very popular due to the powerful nature of these three ๐“ผ deities

Categories
Reading Hieroglyphs

Stela for Irethoreru

This is a stela ๐“Ž—๐“…ฑ๐“†“๐“‰ธ for a man ๐“Šƒ๐“€€๐“ค named Irethoreru and it is dated to the 25th Dynasty (Third Intermediate Period, c. 775-663 B.C.E.). This stela is composed of the igneous rock ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“‚‹๐“ˆ™ syenite, which is very similar to granite ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ™๐“ˆ–๐“Œณ๐“ฟ except for the fact that it contains much less quartz ๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“Œ๐“ˆ™. This property is what allows such beautiful ๐“„ค color contrast between the rock ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“‚‹๐“ˆ™ itself versus the sunken relief. The contrast between the two ๐“ป makes this stela ๐“Ž—๐“…ฑ๐“†“๐“‰ธ particularly stunning in my opinion.

On the right side, we can see Irethoreru making an offering ๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช๐“๐“”๐“ฆ to Osiris ๐“น๐“Šจ๐“€ญ and Isis ๐“Šจ๐“๐“ฅ. All three ๐“ผ figures are standing underneath Horus the Behdetite (the winged solar disc with uraei ๐“‡‹๐“‚๐“‚‹๐“๐“†—), which is a representation of Horus ๐“…ƒ๐“€ญ that was popular on stelae ๐“Ž—๐“…ฑ๐“†“๐“‰ธ๐“ช and temple decorations throughout many Egyptian time periods.

Letโ€™s read some hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช!

๐“Šจ๐“๐“†‡ – Isis (Isis is more commonly written like this โ€œ๐“Šจ๐“๐“ฅโ€œ or โ€œ ๐“Šจ๐“๐“†‡๐“ฅโ€)
๐“…จ๐“‚‹ – Great One
๐“Šน๐“… – Godโ€™s Mother/Goddess

๐“น๐“Šจ๐“€ญ – โ€œOsirisโ€
๐“Šน๐“‰ผ – โ€œGreat Godโ€
๐“ŽŸ๐“‡ฏ – โ€œLord of the Skyโ€ (๐“‡ฏ by itself usually means โ€œabove,โ€ but for this translation itโ€™s just the word sky/heaven which is usually written as ๐“Šช๐“๐“‡ฏ. This is usually Amunโ€™s ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“€ญ title so itโ€™s a little strange to see it associated with Osiris ๐“น๐“Šจ๐“€ญ!)
๐“‹พ – Ruler
๐“†– – Eternity

Categories
Reading Hieroglyphs

Relief from the Tomb of Dagi

This beautiful ๐“„ค limestone ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ™๐“Œ‰ relief is from the tomb ๐“‡‹๐“ซ๐“Šƒ๐“‰ of a man ๐“Šƒ๐“€€๐“ค named Dagi, who served as vizier ๐“…ท๐“๐“บ๐“€€ and treasurer ๐“‹จ๐“…ฑ during the reign of Montuhotep II ๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“ฟ๐“…ฑ๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช (Dynasty 11, c. 2010โ€“2000 B.C.E.). It is unclear if the two ๐“ป men ๐“‹ด๐“‚‹๐“€€ shown in this relief are Dagiโ€™s sons, or if they are other officials ๐“‹ด๐“‚‹๐“€€๐“ฆ. The two ๐“ป men ๐“‹ด๐“‚‹๐“€€ are wearing blue ๐“‡‹๐“น๐“๐“„ฟ๐“ธ๐“ฅ armlets ๐“„Ÿ๐“‹ด๐“Žก๐“๐“…ฑ๐“ช and broad collars ๐“…ฑ๐“‹ด๐“๐“Žบ๐“‹. This type of jewelry, while expensive to obtain in real life, was very common to see in reliefs.

While very simple, the hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช in this relief show the name โ€œ๐“Šจ๐“๐“…ญโ€, which is pronounced as โ€œSaisetโ€ and translates to โ€œSon of Isis.โ€ This is actually one of the earliest examples of the goddess ๐“Šน๐“ Isis ๐“Šจ๐“๐“ฅ actually being used as part of a name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ–.

I am always a big fan of the simple reliefs that have a ton of color. Itโ€™s amazing how artifacts that are so old are still able to retain their color and beauty after thousands of years. No matter how many times I see stuff like this, it always amazes me!

Categories
Egyptian Artifacts

Ushabti of Sati

This is the ushabti ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ of Sati, and the Brooklyn Museum has two ๐“ป of them! The ushabti ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ dates to either the reign of Amenhotep III ๐“‡ณ๐“ง๐“Ž  or Akhenaten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ– (New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, c. 1390-1352 B.C.E.).

This piece is unique because of the color (I love the blue ๐“‡…๐“†“๐“› accents) and extreme attention to detail – the process to make it was so labor intensive that only a few like these were made!! While Sati was not royal (the only title associated with her was โ€œmistress of the houseโ€), these ushabtis ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ were clearly a royal gift just due to the craftsmanship that went into making it.

This ushabti ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ is made out of faience ๐“‹ฃ๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ธ๐“ผ and is mummiform in appearance, with the arms ๐“‚๐“ฆ crossed along the chest. In each hand ๐“‚๐“บ, the ushabti ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ is holding a hoe and a basket. This indicates that the ushabti ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ was meant to do some type of agricultural labor for the deceased ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ in the afterlife ๐“‡ผ๐“„ฟ๐“๐“‰! The ushabti ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ is also wearing a broad collar ๐“…ฑ๐“‹ด๐“๐“Žบ๐“‹.