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Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas ๐ŸŽ„ // Buon Natale! ๐ŸŽ„

This year for Christmas/Advent, my sister ๐“Œข๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ made our Mom ๐“…๐“๐“ an advent calendar of beautiful ๐“„ค homemade ornaments for the Christmas tree ๐“†ญ๐“…“๐“†ญ using pictures ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“ฆ from past Christmases! One of the pictures ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“ฆ she chose was a picture ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“ of us at the MET with Hatshepsut ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“Žน๐“๐“„‚๐“๐“€ผ๐“ช! This picture ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“ definitely qualifies as โ€œChristmas Themedโ€ because my sister ๐“Œข๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ is wearing a Santa hat, plus this was actually taken during Christmas 2015!ย 

My Nonno loved Christmas and he loved spending Christmas together ๐“ˆ–๐“Š— as a family ๐“…•๐“‰”๐“…ฑ๐“๐“€€๐“๐“ฆ. Christmas 2019 was my Nonnoโ€™s last Christmas, and Iโ€™m so glad we got to spend it with him. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (we celebrate both days) are very hard now that he isnโ€™t here with us. I miss him so, so much. 

Letโ€™s read some hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช – this time it will be Christmas ๐ŸŽ„ themed vocabulary! 

๐“‹ด๐“ƒ€๐“„ฟ๐“‡ผ – Star

๐“†ญ๐“…“๐“†ญ – Tree

๐“„ซ๐“‚๐“บ – Gift, Present

๐“…๐“๐“ – Mother 

๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ˆ–๐“€• – Baby/Infant

๐“Œ™๐“ฒ๐“๐“…‚๐“›๐“‹พ – Shepherd

๐“„ซ๐“„ฃ๐“/๐“„ซ๐“๐“„ฃ๐“บ/๐“„ซ๐“„ฃ๐“บ/๐“„ซ๐“„ฃ – Joy, Happiness (Wide Heart)

๐“‰”๐“‚‹๐“๐“› – Peace

๐“‰”๐“ˆ–๐“‡‹๐“„ฟ๐“ธ๐“ฆ – Sweet Food

๐“Šƒ๐“‚‹๐“ˆŽ๐“ฒ๐“ˆ—๐“ˆ˜๐“ˆ‡ – Snow

๐“ˆ–๐“Š— – Together 

๐“…•๐“‰”๐“…ฑ๐“๐“€€๐“๐“ฆ – Family

From me ๐“ and my family ๐“…•๐“‰”๐“…ฑ๐“๐“€€๐“๐“ฆ to yours, I hope you all have a joyful ๐“„ซ๐“„ฃ๐“, happy ๐“„ซ๐“„ฃ๐“บ, and Merry Christmas ๐ŸŽ„! 

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Replica Statue of Rameses II

This little replica of the Rameses II ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ˜๐“‡ณ๐“บ๐“„Ÿ๐“‹ด๐“‡“ statue ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“€พ from the Museo Egizio in Torino was given to me by my Nonno, and I love it so much!

You can read more about this beautiful ๐“„ค statue ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“€พ in my post about it!

Here is a picture ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“ to show you where Rameses II ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ˜๐“‡ณ๐“บ๐“„Ÿ๐“‹ด๐“‡“ (and a replica ushabti ๐“…ฑ๐“ˆ™๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ figure, also from the Museo Egizio) sits on my bookshelf!

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Today in the USA is the Thanksgiving Holiday, which is a day where we gather with our families to express our gratefulness for all that we have. As Iโ€™m sure it comes as no surprise to anyone who follows this account, I am incredibly thankful for my Nonno.

Iโ€™m thankful for everything that he taught me and for how he made learning so fun.  Iโ€™m thankful that he loved books and showed me the power of books and the knowledge they contain. Iโ€™m thankful for all of the knowledge and encouragement he gave me, because without him, I would not be able to read hieroglyphs.

Iโ€™m thankful for all of his hard work and the sacrifices he made in order to make sure my family is able to live a good life. Everything good we have is because of him.

Iโ€™m thankful that he showed me the power of hard work and Iโ€™m thankful he always encouraged me to work hard and to do my best. I wouldnโ€™t be where I am today (a successful teacher, a self-taught (or Nonno-taught) Egyptologist) without him.

Iโ€™m thankful for the day we spent together in Pompeii (pictured above) because it was the best day of my life. It was my dream to go to Pompeii with my Nonno and I am so happy we were able to go. Iโ€™m thankful for every museum trip, every Disney vacation, and for the days we all just simply hung out together.

I also want to say thank you to the rest of my family – my mom, dad, sister and brother who all support me with this account. My dad drives us to museums and carries my bags, my mom is the director/video recorder/photographer, my sister is also a photographer and my brother gives me lots of support!

Also, a big THANK YOU to everyone on here who has followed along! I appreciate every single one of you!

๐“™๐“‹น๐“†–๐“Ž›๐“‡ณ๐“Ž›

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Blog Egyptian Artifacts

“Wonderful Things”

โ€œWonderful Things.โ€ย 

That quote is from Howard Carter when he first peered into the tombย ๐“‡‹๐“ซ๐“Šƒ๐“‰ย of Tutankhamunย ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“‹น๐“‹พ๐“‰บ๐“‡“. Honestly, every time I walk through a museum all I can think is โ€œWonderful Thingsโ€ – I feel like that sums up my feelings pretty well!ย 

While I have posted this picture ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“ before, it is one of my absolute favorites and one of the many wonderful things that I have seen! This is my Nonno and I with Tutankhamun ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“‹น๐“‹พ๐“‰บ๐“‡“ at the British Museum! I am posting this again because today ๐“‡๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ is the 100 ๐“ฒ year anniversary of the discovery of Tutankhamunโ€™s ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“‹น๐“‹พ๐“‰บ๐“‡“ tomb ๐“‡‹๐“ซ๐“Šƒ๐“‰! 

As a child (and even now) I love the story about howย Tutankhamunโ€™sย ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“‹น๐“‹พ๐“‰บ๐“‡“ย tomb ๐“‡‹๐“ซ๐“Šƒ๐“‰ย was discovered! The funerary mask, Anubisย ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“Šช๐“…ฑ๐“ƒฃย shrine, cartouche box, and so many of the other artifacts in the tomb ๐“‡‹๐“ซ๐“Šƒ๐“‰ completely fascinated me and definitely played a part in me becoming so interested in ancient Egyptย ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š–ย as a child. I have my Nonno to thank for telling me about Tutankhamunย ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“‹น๐“‹พ๐“‰บ๐“‡“ย and for encouraging my love and fascination with Egyptian history!ย 

In this particular statue ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“€พ, Tutankhamun ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“‹น๐“‹พ๐“‰บ๐“‡“ is wearing the nemes head cloth ๐“ˆ–๐“…“๐“‹ด, false beard, and broad collar ๐“…ฑ๐“‹ด๐“๐“Žบ๐“‹. These are all very common things for pharaohs ๐“‰๐“‰ป๐“ฆ to wear to represent themselves as pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป, which Tutankhamun ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“‹น๐“‹พ๐“‰บ๐“‡“ felt he needed to do in order to legitimize his rule ๐“‹พ. The bottom part of the statue is ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“€พ decorated with lotus flowers ๐“†ธ๐“ช and papyrus reeds ๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“Ž›๐“†ฐ. 

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Stargate Graphing Project

Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis are my most favorite tv shows of all time! I started watching them when I was a teenager and instantly loved them. As someone who loves both ancient Egypt and science, Stargateย ๐“‹ด๐“‡ผ๐“ƒ€๐“Š€๐“ˆ–๐“‹ด๐“ƒ€๐“„ฟ๐“‡ผ๐“‡ณ๐“ฆย was the perfect combination of both! This picture is of a project that I did for my pre-calc class in high school! We had to make a picture on a graphing calculator using equations, and of course I chose to graph a Stargateย ๐“‹ด๐“‡ผ๐“ƒ€๐“Š€๐“ˆ–๐“‹ด๐“ƒ€๐“„ฟ๐“‡ผ๐“‡ณ๐“ฆ!ย 

I idolized both Daniel Jackson (archaeologist) and Samantha Carter (astrophysicist) and wanted to be just like both of them! I guess my wish came true because over 15 years later, I am teaching hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช to all of you, and I teach astrophysics to high school students! Sam Carter is actually the reason I became a scientist – seeing her do science inspired me! I wanted (and still want) to be just like her! Its crazy how a tv show had such a tremendous and positive impact on my life – its honestly hard to put it into words how much Stargate ๐“‹ด๐“‡ผ๐“ƒ€๐“Š€๐“ˆ–๐“‹ด๐“ƒ€๐“„ฟ๐“‡ผ๐“‡ณ๐“ฆ means to me. 

So how do you write โ€œStargateโ€ in hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช? Letโ€™s take a look at the hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช from the movie: ๐“‹ด๐“‡ผ๐“ƒ€๐“Š€๐“ˆ–๐“‹ด๐“ƒ€๐“„ฟ๐“‡ผ๐“‡ณ๐“ฆ – โ€œGate to the Starsโ€ (Stargate)

๐“‹ด๐“‡ผ๐“ƒ€๐“Š€ – Gate/Doorway

๐“ˆ– – To 

๐“‹ด๐“ƒ€๐“„ฟ๐“‡ผ๐“‡ณ๐“ฆ – Stars

I love how the root word of both gate/doorway and star are the same word: ๐“‹ด๐“ƒ€๐“„ฟ. They would both be pronounced like โ€œsbaโ€ – its just the determinative symbols that are different! In the movie, ๐“‹ด๐“‡ผ๐“ƒ€๐“Š€ is a little messed up and should be spelled like this: ๐“‹ด๐“ƒ€๐“‡ผ๐“Š€, but Iโ€™ll forgive it because the hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช are actually quite good! 

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“First Love”

Iโ€™ve had this written for a while but havenโ€™t posted it because it is very feelings-y and very different from my usual posts. I am a huge fan of the group BTS. They are a Korean boy band whose music has basically gotten me through 2020. While I love all of their music, one of their songs has really struck a chord with me because it basically puts my feelings about ancient Egypt into words. The song is called โ€œFirst Loveโ€ and it is written and performed by Min Yoongi (aka SUGA). While you would expect a song with this title to be about a person, it is in fact about Yoongiโ€™s love for the piano from a very young age and his lifelong journey with his childhood piano.


I have always called Ancient Egypt my โ€œfirst loveโ€ so when I listened to the song and I read the translation I immediately related to it. While I am passionate about many things, Egypt is always the thing that I will return to because Egyptโ€™s history is just something I love so deeply. Throughout my life, I have so many beautiful memories in my Nonnoโ€˜s basement looking through his books and staring up at the bookcases hoping to one day be able to read every single word that they contain. So many memories of listening to my Nonno explain the significance of each piece in museums. These feelings of childish wonder are emotions that I always wish to return to.

โ€œWhen I was fed up and lost, Back then when I fell into a pit of despair, Even when I pushed you away, Even when I resented meeting you, You were firmly by my side, You didnโ€™t have to say anything, So donโ€™t ever let go of my hand, I wonโ€™t let you go ever again either, My birth and the end of my life, You will be there to watch over it allโ€ -First Love


I feel like a picture of me with my favorite Hatshepsut ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“Žน๐“๐“„‚๐“๐“€ผ๐“ช statue is appropriate for this type of post! Iโ€™m 16 in this picture!

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Hieroglyphs and Korean!

So something you might have guessed about me is that I love to learn!! Something else about me is that when I like something – I really REALLY like it and need to learn everything about it. Iโ€™m very passionate and enthusiastic about my hobbies and interests. My normally stoic/cold exterior completely changes when Iโ€™m talking about stuff I love! My Nonno always got similarly excited when speaking about topics he loved.

One of the things Iโ€™m learning right now is Korean! I already speak English, Italian, and can read/write hieroglyphs (I wouldโ€™ve failed as a scribe because I am awful at drawing the symbols – Iโ€™m kinda embarrassed to post my โ€œhandwritingโ€ ๐Ÿ˜‚) – so why do I want to learn Korean? Itโ€™s because of BTS!! I love their music and want to be able to understand it instead of reading translations!

One thing I noticed when I was learning the Korean alphabet (called Hangeul ํ•œ๊ธ€) was that my name (Nicole) is written โ€œsimilarlyโ€ in both hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช and ํ•œ๊ธ€!!!

๐“ˆ–๐“‡‹๐“Žก๐“ฏ๐“ƒญ
๋‹ˆ์ฝœ

Now, obviously they donโ€™t look similar at all but both are written as โ€œNikolโ€ in romanized letters! When I was a kid I was insistent that my name in hieroglyphs be written as ๐“ˆ–๐“‡‹๐“Žก๐“ฏ๐“ƒญ๐“‡Œ so it would match the English as much as possible – I was stubborn and didnโ€™t care about phonetics.

Learning Korean has been so fun and so interesting (and very difficult) because it is so different from the other languages I know, however, I did like this similarity between hieroglyphs and Korean! It seems like I relate everything back to ancient Egypt in one way or another!

If you read this, ๊ฐ์‚ฌํ•ฉ๋‹ˆ๋‹ค!!!! (gam-sa-hab-ni-da AKA Thank You)!

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Memories at the MET

This picture is one of my absolute favorites. It kinda looks like we are in Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š–! It was from one of my birthday trips to the MET – I believe this is my 16th birthday (I am 30 now).

I have such amazing memories here – there was a time when there was no glass covering the walls inside the mastaba (fun fact: mastaba means bench in Arabic)- I will never forget being inside this tomb seeing it without glass – as it was meant to be seen. Nonno was so happy ๐“„ซ๐“…ฑ๐“› that I would be able to experience that!! The inside of the tomb ๐“‡‹๐“ซ๐“Šƒ๐“‰ is beautifully decorated with hieroglyphics ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช and paintings!

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Ushabti Friends!

Just hanging out with my ushabti ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ friends!

Me and the Ushabti display at the Brooklyn Museum!

I love ushabtis ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ so much, and itโ€™s probably because my Nonno loved them. If you canโ€™t tell, Iโ€™m really happy in this picture ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“ – even with the mask on you can tell Iโ€™m smiling big!

Nonno always pointed them out in museums and he would tell me stories about how the ushabtis ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ were buried with the Egyptians ๐“†Ž๐“๐“€€๐“๐“ช so they could do chores in the afterlife ๐“‡ผ๐“„ฟ๐“๐“‰ and I thought that was so cool! I also liked them because they reminded me of little dolls!

As the display shows, ushabtis ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ come in all different sizes and colors. Depending on the time period they were also made of varying materials such as faience, clay, limestone or sometimes even bronze (which is much rarer).

The ushabtis ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ(most of the time people were buried with 365 worker ushabtis ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ -one for each day ๐“‰”๐“‚‹๐“บ๐“‡ณ of the year and then also a bunch of overseer ushabtis ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ) often had spells inscribed on them which showed the task they were responsible for!

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Blog Egyptian Artifacts

Wooden Ushabtis of Seti I

My Nonno took this picture ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“ and I love the fact that you can see his reflection in the glass. I know that technically makes this โ€œnot a good pictureโ€ in photography terms, but that is what makes the picture ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“ so special to me. I love being able to see him and his point of view while going through old pictures ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“ฆ because I miss him so much.

Wooden Ushabtis of Seti I at the Vatican Museum

These are the wooden ๐“†ฑ๐“๐“บ ushabtis ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ of Seti I ๐“‡ณ๐“ฆ๐“ . While only about 700 of these wooden ๐“†ฑ๐“๐“บ ushabtis ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ remain, it is estimated that Seti I ๐“‡ณ๐“ฆ๐“  had over 1000 of them. What happened to the ones that are missing? They were used for firewood ๐Ÿคฆ๐Ÿฝโ€โ™€๏ธ My Nonno frequently told me about this – he was not happy that artifacts were destroyed! Anytime Seti I ๐“‡ณ๐“ฆ๐“  came up in conversation (which was often because he was one of my Nonnoโ€™s favorite pharaohs ๐“‰๐“‰ป๐“ฆ) my Nonno would say โ€œcan you believe some idiots used his ushabtis ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ as torches??!!โ€

Seti Iโ€™s ๐“‡ณ๐“ฆ๐“  remaining ushabtis ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ are in museums throughout the world and I have always been on the lookout for them whenever I go to a museum! Originally, my Nonno and I would always point them out to each other. Now whenever I see them, they are a reminder of my Nonno.