Ancient Egypt BlogThis little replica of the Rameses II 𓇋𓏠𓈖𓈘𓇳𓏺𓄟𓋴𓇓 statue 𓏏𓅱𓏏𓀾 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 𓄤 statue 𓏏𓅱𓏏𓀾 in my post about it!
Here is a picture 𓏏𓅱𓏏 to show you where Rameses II 𓇋𓏠𓈖𓈘𓇳𓏺𓄟𓋴𓇓 (and a replica ushabti 𓅱𓈙𓃀𓏏𓏭𓀾 figure, also from the Museo Egizio) sits on my bookshelf!
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 I’m sure it comes as no surprise to anyone who follows this account, I am incredibly thankful for my Nonno.
I’m thankful for everything that he taught me and for how he made learning so fun. I’m thankful that he loved books and showed me the power of books and the knowledge they contain. I’m thankful for all of the knowledge and encouragement he gave me, because without him, I would not be able to read hieroglyphs.
I’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.
I’m thankful that he showed me the power of hard work and I’m thankful he always encouraged me to work hard and to do my best. I wouldn’t be where I am today (a successful teacher, a self-taught (or Nonno-taught) Egyptologist) without him.
I’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. I’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!
𓏙𓋹𓆖𓎛𓇳𓎛
“Wonderful Things.”
That quote is from Howard Carter when he first peered into the tomb 𓇋𓐫𓊃𓉐 of Tutankhamun 𓇋𓏠𓈖𓏏𓅱𓏏𓋹𓋾𓉺𓇓. Honestly, every time I walk through a museum all I can think is “Wonderful Things” – I feel like that sums up my feelings pretty well!
While I have posted this picture 𓏏𓅱𓏏 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 𓇋𓏠𓈖𓏏𓅱𓏏𓋹𓋾𓉺𓇓 at the British Museum! I am posting this again because today 𓏇𓇋𓈖𓇳 is the 100 𓏲 year anniversary of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s 𓇋𓏠𓈖𓏏𓅱𓏏𓋹𓋾𓉺𓇓 tomb 𓇋𓐫𓊃𓉐!
As a child (and even now) I love the story about how Tutankhamun’s 𓇋𓏠𓈖𓏏𓅱𓏏𓋹𓋾𓉺𓇓 tomb 𓇋𓐫𓊃𓉐 was discovered! The funerary mask, Anubis 𓇋𓈖𓊪𓅱𓃣 shrine, cartouche box, and so many of the other artifacts in the tomb 𓇋𓐫𓊃𓉐 completely fascinated me and definitely played a part in me becoming so interested in ancient Egypt 𓆎𓅓𓏏𓊖 as a child. I have my Nonno to thank for telling me about Tutankhamun 𓇋𓏠𓈖𓏏𓅱𓏏𓋹𓋾𓉺𓇓 and for encouraging my love and fascination with Egyptian history!
In this particular statue 𓏏𓅱𓏏𓀾, Tutankhamun 𓇋𓏠𓈖𓏏𓅱𓏏𓋹𓋾𓉺𓇓 is wearing the nemes head cloth 𓈖𓅓𓋴, false beard, and broad collar 𓅱𓋴𓐍𓎺𓋝. These are all very common things for pharaohs 𓉐𓉻𓏦 to wear to represent themselves as pharaoh 𓉐𓉻, which Tutankhamun 𓇋𓏠𓈖𓏏𓅱𓏏𓋹𓋾𓉺𓇓 felt he needed to do in order to legitimize his rule 𓋾. The bottom part of the statue is 𓏏𓅱𓏏𓀾 decorated with lotus flowers 𓆸𓏪 and papyrus reeds 𓏠𓈖𓎛𓆰.
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, Stargate 𓋴𓇼𓃀𓊀𓈖𓋴𓃀𓄿𓇼𓇳𓏦 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 Stargate 𓋴𓇼𓃀𓊀𓈖𓋴𓃀𓄿𓇼𓇳𓏦!
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 𓊹𓌃𓏪 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 𓋴𓇼𓃀𓊀𓈖𓋴𓃀𓄿𓇼𓇳𓏦 means to me.
So how do you write “Stargate” in hieroglyphs 𓊹𓌃𓏪? Let’s take a look at the hieroglyphs 𓊹𓌃𓏪 from the movie: 𓋴𓇼𓃀𓊀𓈖𓋴𓃀𓄿𓇼𓇳𓏦 – “Gate to the Stars” (Stargate)
𓋴𓇼𓃀𓊀 – Gate/Doorway
𓈖 – To
𓋴𓃀𓄿𓇼𓇳𓏦 – Stars
I love how the root word of both gate/doorway and star are the same word: 𓋴𓃀𓄿. They would both be pronounced like “sba” – its just the determinative symbols that are different! In the movie, 𓋴𓇼𓃀𓊀 is a little messed up and should be spelled like this: 𓋴𓃀𓇼𓊀, but I’ll forgive it because the hieroglyphs 𓊹𓌃𓏪 are actually quite good!
I’ve had this written for a while but haven’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 “First Love” 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 Yoongi’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 “first love” 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 Egypt’s history is just something I love so deeply. Throughout my life, I have so many beautiful memories in my Nonno‘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.
“When 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 didn’t have to say anything, So don’t ever let go of my hand, I won’t let you go ever again either, My birth and the end of my life, You will be there to watch over it all” -First Love
I feel like a picture of me with my favorite Hatshepsut 𓇋𓏠𓈖𓎹𓏏𓄂𓏏𓀼𓏪 statue is appropriate for this type of post! I’m 16 in this picture!
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. I’m very passionate and enthusiastic about my hobbies and interests. My normally stoic/cold exterior completely changes when I’m talking about stuff I love! My Nonno always got similarly excited when speaking about topics he loved.
One of the things I’m learning right now is Korean! I already speak English, Italian, and can read/write hieroglyphs (I would’ve failed as a scribe because I am awful at drawing the symbols – I’m kinda embarrassed to post my “handwriting” 😂) – so why do I want to learn Korean? It’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 한글) was that my name (Nicole) is written “similarly” in both hieroglyphs 𓊹𓌃𓏪 and 한글!!!
𓈖𓇋𓎡𓍯𓃭
니콜
Now, obviously they don’t look similar at all but both are written as “Nikol” in romanized letters! When I was a kid I was insistent that my name in hieroglyphs be written as 𓈖𓇋𓎡𓍯𓃭𓇌 so it would match the English as much as possible – I was stubborn and didn’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, 감사합니다!!!! (gam-sa-hab-ni-da AKA Thank You)!
This picture is one of my absolute favorites. It kinda looks like we are in Egypt 𓆎𓅓𓏏𓊖! 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 𓄫𓅱𓏛 that I would be able to experience that!! The inside of the tomb 𓇋𓐫𓊃𓉐 is beautifully decorated with hieroglyphics 𓊹𓌃𓏪 and paintings!
Just hanging out with my ushabti 𓆷𓄿𓍯𓃀𓏏𓏮𓀾 friends!
I love ushabtis 𓆷𓄿𓍯𓃀𓏏𓏮𓀾 so much, and it’s probably because my Nonno loved them. If you can’t tell, I’m really happy in this picture 𓏏𓅱𓏏 – even with the mask on you can tell I’m smiling big!
Nonno always pointed them out in museums and he would tell me stories about how the ushabtis 𓆷𓄿𓍯𓃀𓏏𓏮𓀾 were buried with the Egyptians 𓆎𓏏𓀀𓁐𓏪 so they could do chores in the afterlife 𓇼𓄿𓏏𓉐 and I thought that was so cool! I also liked them because they reminded me of little dolls!
As the display shows, ushabtis 𓆷𓄿𓍯𓃀𓏏𓏮𓀾 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 𓆷𓄿𓍯𓃀𓏏𓏮𓀾(most of the time people were buried with 365 worker ushabtis 𓆷𓄿𓍯𓃀𓏏𓏮𓀾 -one for each day 𓉔𓂋𓏺𓇳 of the year and then also a bunch of overseer ushabtis 𓆷𓄿𓍯𓃀𓏏𓏮𓀾) often had spells inscribed on them which showed the task they were responsible for!
My Nonno took this picture 𓏏𓅱𓏏 and I love the fact that you can see his reflection in the glass. I know that technically makes this “not a good picture” in photography terms, but that is what makes the picture 𓏏𓅱𓏏 so special to me. I love being able to see him and his point of view while going through old pictures 𓏏𓅱𓏏𓏦 because I miss him so much.
These are the wooden 𓆱𓏏𓏺 ushabtis 𓆷𓄿𓍯𓃀𓏏𓏮𓀾 of Seti I 𓇳𓁦𓏠. While only about 700 of these wooden 𓆱𓏏𓏺 ushabtis 𓆷𓄿𓍯𓃀𓏏𓏮𓀾 remain, it is estimated that Seti I 𓇳𓁦𓏠 had over 1000 of them. What happened to the ones that are missing? They were used for firewood 🤦🏽♀️ My Nonno frequently told me about this – he was not happy that artifacts were destroyed! Anytime Seti I 𓇳𓁦𓏠 came up in conversation (which was often because he was one of my Nonno’s favorite pharaohs 𓉐𓉻𓏦) my Nonno would say “can you believe some idiots used his ushabtis 𓆷𓄿𓍯𓃀𓏏𓏮𓀾 as torches??!!”
Seti I’s 𓇳𓁦𓏠 remaining ushabtis 𓆷𓄿𓍯𓃀𓏏𓏮𓀾 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.
Look at all the hippos 𓌉𓏏𓃯𓏦!!! So I have a story: The first time I ever went to Disney World, I went with my Nonno and Nonna and I think I was four years old at the time! When we went on “It’s a Small World,” I fell in love with the hippo 𓌉𓏏𓃯 that winks at you! The hippo 𓌉𓏏𓃯 became my favorite part of the ride, and even to this day, I look forward to seeing the hippo 𓌉𓏏𓃯! And yes I’m sure this is an unpopular opinion but I LOVE going on “It’s a Small World!” It’s one of my favorites!!!
So when I started studying ancient Egypt 𓆎𓅓𓏏𓊖 with my Nonno, I always loved the hippo 𓌉𓏏𓃯 statues because they reminded me of the hippo 𓌉𓏏𓃯 on “It’s a Small World!” I have included a picture of the hippo 𓌉𓏏𓃯 in Disney World so you guys can also see the similarities!
In Egypt 𓆎𓅓𓏏𓊖, hippos 𓌉𓏏𓃯𓏦 were both feared and respected 𓈙𓆑𓄅. They were feared because they were one of the most dangerous animals in the Nile Valley 𓇗. However, hippos 𓌉𓏏𓃯𓏦 were also thought to be powerful protectors 𓅓𓂝𓎡𓀜 against evil!
A lot of the hippos 𓌉𓏏𓃯𓏦 have lotus flowers 𓆸𓏪 painted all over them to associate them with rejuvenation! The hippos 𓌉𓏏𓃯𓏦 are most likely painted blue/green 𓇅𓆓𓏛 to represent the Nile 𓇋𓏏𓂋𓅱𓈗𓈘𓈇𓏺 and rebirth. What’s really cool is that the “It’s a Small World” hippo 𓌉𓏏𓃯 also has flowers painted on it!