Month: July 2022

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Egyptian Artifacts

Solar Barge – The Book of the Dead

One of the greatest aspects of the Brooklyn Museumโ€™s Egyptian collection is The Book of the Dead for a man named Sobekmose, who had the title โ€œGoldworker of Amun.โ€ Sobekmose was buried in Memphis and that is where this papyrus ๐“…“๐“‘๐“๐“› was found. This Book of the Dead dates to the 18th Dynasty (early New Kingdom 1500-1480 B.C.E.). It is displayed as one complete papyrus ๐“…“๐“‘๐“๐“›!

The Book of the Dead contained instructions/spells for the deceased ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ as they made their way through the underworld ๐“‡ผ๐“„ฟ๐“๐“‰. The red text that you see is used to indicate the start of a new spell, the end of a spell, or the names of certain mythological figures.

I love this particular image ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“ – it shows the sun ๐“‡ณ๐“บ god Ra ๐“‡ณ๐“บ๐“› in his solar barge that he used to bring the sun ๐“‡ณ๐“บ across the sky ๐“Šช๐“๐“‡ฏ during the day ๐“‰”๐“‚‹๐“บ๐“‡ณ, and then through the underworld ๐“‡ผ๐“„ฟ๐“๐“‰ at night ๐“Žผ๐“‚‹๐“Ž›๐“„›. Raโ€™s ๐“‡ณ๐“บ๐“› journey across the sky ๐“Šช๐“๐“‡ฏ is supposed to be representative of his birth/resurrection (sunrise), growth (day) and then death (sunset). Then, Raโ€™s ๐“‡ณ๐“บ๐“› journey would repeat for another day.

I love how the solar barge is sitting on top of the determinative hieroglyph for โ€œsky ๐“‡ฏโ€ and that the Egyptian stars ๐“‡ผ๐“‡ผ๐“‡ผ are also there!

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Egyptian Artifacts Reading Hieroglyphs

Relief of Rameses II

There are two ๐“ป different types of reliefs; raised and sunken reliefs. In a raised relief, the images project upward from the rock, while in a sunken relief, the images are carved within the rock.

Most of the time, especially for temple and royal inscriptions, the Egyptians ๐“†Ž๐“๐“€€๐“๐“ช chose to to raised reliefs because it was less likely to be completely washed out by the sun ๐“‡ณ๐“บ! Sunken reliefs were mainly used when time was of the essence, because sunken reliefs took less time to carve or when the rock was too hard/dense. Sunken reliefs actually became more popular starting with the 18th Dynasty.

Full Relief of Rameses II at the Brooklyn Museum.

This relief shows Rameses II ๐“‡ณ๐“„Š๐“ง๐“‡ณ๐“‰๐“ˆ–. What is interesting is the hieroglyphs are sunken reliefs, while the images ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“ฆ of the pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป are raised reliefs.

Usually reliefs were either one or the other, however, this relief has both sunken and raised aspects to it! Many of his titles/cartouches are used in this relief.

Close-Up of the Hieroglyphs.

๐“ŽŸ๐“‡ฟ๐“‡ฟ โ€œlord of the two landsโ€
๐“‡ณ๐“„Š๐“ง๐“‡ณ๐“‰๐“ˆ– Rameses II (Usermaatre – throne name)

๐“ŽŸ๐“ˆ๐“ฅ โ€œlord of appearancesโ€
๐“ฉ๐“›๐“ˆ˜๐“„Ÿ๐“‹ด๐“‡“ Rameses II (Ramessu mery-Amun – birth name)

๐“Œบ๐“ฉ๐“›๐“„Ÿ๐“‹ด๐“‡“ – Rameses II (Ramessu mery-Amun – birth name variant)

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Egyptian Artifacts

Colorful Hieroglyphs

A lot of the time, the pieces that catch my eye in the museums are the limestone fragments that contain colorful hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช.

Colorful Hieroglyphs at the Brooklyn Museum

I donโ€™t know why I like these seemingly unassuming pieces so much, but I do. Itโ€™s probably because theyโ€™re so colorful! Once upon a time, most Egyptian reliefs were as colorful as this piece, however with the passage of time, most of the colors faded. Itโ€™s so cool to almost catch a glimpse of what the colors were like thousands of years ago!

This limestone raised relief came from the wall of a tomb ๐“‡‹๐“ซ๐“Šƒ๐“‰. It is dated to the 18th-19th Dynasties of the New Kingdom. I love how detailed the hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช are!

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Egyptian Artifacts

Wooden Boat Models

I absolutely love the wooden ๐“†ฑ๐“๐“บ tomb ๐“‡‹๐“ซ๐“Šƒ๐“‰ models. I could literally spend hours just looking at them!

Wooden Boat Models at the Louvre (featuring Nonno’s reflection)

Wooden ๐“†ฑ๐“๐“บ models were very popular in the Middle Kingdom and were usually put in tombs ๐“‡‹๐“ซ๐“Šƒ๐“‰. The boats ๐“‚ง๐“Šช๐“๐“Šž๐“ฆ were symbolic, and were meant to help the deceased on their journey in the afterlife ๐“‡ผ๐“„ฟ๐“๐“‰. When a person died, their body was carried in a boat ๐“‚ง๐“Šช๐“๐“Šž across the Nile ๐“‡‹๐“๐“‚‹๐“…ฑ๐“ˆ—๐“ˆ˜๐“ˆ‡๐“บ in a symbolic representation of the journey of the soul ๐“‚“- from the land of the living to the land of the dead ๐“‡ผ๐“„ฟ๐“๐“‰. This directly mirrors Raโ€™s ๐“‡ณ๐“บ๐“› daily journey across the sky ๐“Šช๐“๐“‡ฏ.

Tombs usually contained two ๐“ป boats ๐“‚ง๐“Šช๐“๐“Šž๐“ฆ: one sailing in a northward direction, and one sailing in a southward direction.

So many wooden ๐“†ฑ๐“๐“บ model boats ๐“‚ง๐“Šช๐“๐“Šž๐“ฆ have been found because boats ๐“‚ง๐“Šช๐“๐“Šž๐“ฆ were essential to daily Egyptian life along the Nile River ๐“‡‹๐“๐“‚‹๐“…ฑ๐“ˆ—๐“ˆ˜๐“ˆ‡๐“บ. Boats ๐“‚ง๐“Šช๐“๐“Šž๐“ฆ were not only essential for transporting people, goods and construction materials, but also for the gods ๐“Šน๐“Šน๐“Šน and their journeys as well.

This particular boat ๐“‚ง๐“Šช๐“๐“Šž is so beautiful ๐“„ค because so many of the oarsmen are there! I also love this picture because my Nonno took it – you can even see his reflection in the glass ๐Ÿ’™.

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Egyptian Artifacts

Reliefs from Amarna – featuring Nefertiti!

This is a painted limestone sunken relief of Nefertiti ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“‡๐“๐“ญ.

Relief of Nefertiti at the Brooklyn Museum

Even though her name does not appear on the relief, thanks to the uniqueness of the Amarna art style, it can be easy to tell who is who in the art. The headdress that Nefertiti ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“‡๐“๐“ญ is wearing in this relief is the same headdress that the famous Nefertiti ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“‡๐“๐“ญ bust in Berlin wears! You can also see the phrase โ€œ ๐“™๐“‹นโ€ which means โ€œgiven lifeโ€ above her head. The rest of the inscription cannot be read.

The second relief is a raised relief and it was once part of a larger image. It shows feet in sandals! The description from the museum says itโ€™s from an unidentified woman ๐“Šƒ๐“๐“‚‘๐“๐“ or queen ๐“‡“๐“๐“๐“ˆž. This could be Nefertiti ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“‡๐“๐“ญ, or one of her and Akhenatenโ€™s ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ– daughters.

Feet In Sandals relief at the Brooklyn Museum

The third piece is a bust. According to the museum, scholars used to think this was a bust of Akhenaten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ–, Smenkhare ๐“‡ณ๐“Šƒ๐“‰ป๐“‚“๐“‚ฆ๐“†ฃ, or Tutankhamun ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“‹น๐“‹พ๐“‰บ๐“‡“. However, more recently, it is thought to show Ankhesenpaaten, the second daughter of Akhenaten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…ž๐“๐“ˆ– and Nefertiti ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“‡๐“๐“ญ. Ankhesenpaaten was the wife/queen ๐“‡“๐“๐“๐“ˆž of Tutankhamun ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“‹น๐“‹พ๐“‰บ๐“‡“ and during his rule changed her name to Ankhesenamun to reflect the switch back to the old religion. The name Ankhesenamun means โ€œshe who lives through Amun.โ€

Tutankhamun ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“‹น๐“‹พ๐“‰บ๐“‡“ also went through a name change when he switched Egyptโ€™s ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š– religion back – his original name was Tutankhaten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“‹น๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ!

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Egyptian Artifacts

Raised Relief of Akhethotep

This is a raised relief in limestone ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ™๐“Œ‰ of an Old Kingdom official ๐“‹ด๐“‚‹๐“€€ named Akhethotep ๐“๐“…ž๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช๐“€€.

Raised Relief of Akhethotep at the Brooklyn Museum

This piece is from Saqqara and is dated to the Fourth Dynasty. This relief is a beautiful example of Old Kingdom relief style (eyes ๐“น๐“๐“ฆ are carved facing the front but the nose ๐“†‘๐“ˆ–๐“‚ง๐“‚‰ and mouth ๐“‚‹๐“บ are in profile) and it shows how a lot of the Egyptian art style persisted throughout the entire length of the civilization. These same features can be seen throughout Egyptian art for thousands of years.

Akhethotepโ€™s ๐“๐“…ž๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช๐“€€ name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ– is located in front of his head ๐“ถ๐“บ. If you notice, the determinative symbol (๐“€€) is โ€œmissingโ€ from his name in the relief, and is instead written like this: ๐“๐“…ž๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช. The symbol isnโ€™t actually missing – since the hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช in this particular relief are read from right to left, the larger image ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“ of him is used to represent the determinative symbol! The ancient Egyptians ๐“†Ž๐“๐“€€๐“๐“ช loved to maximize the aesthetics and would often do things like this in order to maximize space on the reliefs! A partial version of Akhethotepโ€™s ๐“๐“…ž๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช๐“€€ name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ– can also be seen above his head ๐“ถ๐“บ.

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Egyptian Artifacts

Statue of an Official Named Nesthoth

This statue ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ is of an official ๐“‹ด๐“‚‹๐“€€ named Nesthoth. Wealthy Egyptians ๐“†Ž๐“๐“€€๐“๐“ช would often have a statue ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ made of themselves because the Egyptians ๐“†Ž๐“๐“€€๐“๐“ช believed that the soul ๐“‚“ of a person could inhabit the statue ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ after death ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ. Having such a statue in a temple ๐“‰Ÿ๐“๐“‰ meant that the deceased ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ person would always be present during temple processions.

Statue of an Official Named Nesthoth at the Brooklyn Museum

This statue ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ is made of a rock ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“‚‹๐“ˆ™ called diorite. Diorite is classified as a coarse grained intrusive igneous rock ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“‚‹๐“ˆ™, meaning it was formed from the solidification of magma deep underground. Though it canโ€™t be seen in this statue, the โ€œcoarseโ€ classification means that the rock ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“‚‹๐“ˆ™ has crystals between the sizes of 1mm-10mm in diameter. While Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š– has an igneous rock base (as all continents do), diorite was a rare rock ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“‚‹๐“ˆ™ to find in Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š– because Egyptโ€™s bedrock is mostly granitic. Since diorite was rare and difficult to work with, this statue ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ was most likely incredibly expensive to commission!

The base of the statue ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ contains the standard offering formula โ€œan offering the king gives Osirisโ€ (๐“‡“๐“๐“Šต๐“™๐“‹”๐“น๐“Šจ๐“€ญ). The rest of the hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช are too difficult for me to read!

The god ๐“Šน Thoth ๐“…ค๐“€ญ(in his baboon form) is seen with Nesthoth. Thoth ๐“…ค๐“€ญ was the god ๐“Šน of writing ๐“Ÿ๐“›๐“ฅ!

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Reading Hieroglyphs

Reading Hieroglyphs from the Stela of Hatshepsut

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

Today Iโ€™m going to focus on one of my favorite pieces – the Stela of Pharaoh Hatshepsut! Iโ€™m sure it comes as no surprise to many of you that this is one of my favorites! I have been obsessed with Hatshepsut ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“Žน๐“๐“„‚๐“๐“€ผ๐“ช since I was a kid, and getting to see this stela ๐“Ž—๐“…ฑ๐“†“๐“‰ธ up close was a dream come true.

Close-up of the Stela of Hatshepsut at the Vatican Museum.

You can see two cartouches – Hatshepsutโ€™s throne name Maatkare (๐“‡ณ๐“ฆ๐“‚“) and Thutmosis IIIโ€™s throne name Menkhepra (๐“‡ณ๐“ ๐“†ฃ). In between the two cartouches is the phrase โ€œ๐“™๐“‹น๐“‡ณ๐“บ๐“‡โ€ which translates to โ€œGiven life like Ra.โ€

โ€œ๐“™๐“‹น๐“‡ณ๐“บ๐“‡โ€ can also be written as โ€œ๐“™๐“‹น๐“‡ณ๐“‡โ€ (the ๐“บ hieroglyph is missing). So why did the artist carve the hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช this way? Itโ€™s for the aesthetics – to make the symbols line up properly and take up the right amount of space!

Whatโ€™s also cool is โ€œ๐“™๐“‹น๐“‡ณ๐“บ๐“‡โ€ can be used before either of the cartouches! Usually this phrase is put before a pharaohโ€™s ๐“‰๐“‰ป name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ– but since these symbols are non-directional they can be used either right to left or left to right. What a way to maximize space on the stela ๐“Ž—๐“…ฑ๐“†“๐“‰ธ!

Fun fact: You can tell which direction to read the hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช on any piece based on the direction a bird is pointing! Since this bird (๐“…ญ) is pointing to the left, the symbols would be read from left to right.

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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.

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Egyptian Artifacts

Cat Mummies!

Here are some cat ๐“…“๐“‡‹๐“…ฑ๐“ƒ  and animal mummies at the MET! Also on an unrelated note if you look to the far left, you can see the back of an Imhotep ๐“‡๐“…“๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช statue! 

The ancient Egyptians ๐“†Ž๐“๐“€€๐“๐“ช made a lot of animal mummies – over four million ibis ๐“‰”๐“ƒ€๐“…ค mummies and seven million dog ๐“ƒ›๐“…ฑ๐“ƒ›๐“…ฑ๐“ƒฅ mummies have been found in Saqqara alone! The ancient Egyptians ๐“†Ž๐“๐“€€๐“๐“ช actually never wrote down (at least in what archaeologists have found) the role that animal mummies played in religion or society. This leaves a lot of room for inferences! Although animal mummies are the most common form of Egyptian artifact, they are among the least understood of all objects. Maybe at some point an explanation will be found!

One of the possible explanations of the significance of animal mummies can be tied to the Egyptian cultural aspect surrounding animals. Believe it or not, there is no Middle Egyptian word for โ€œanimalโ€ – there was the word ๐“Œš๐“…“๐“„› but it translates more accurately to โ€œbeastโ€ then all animals in general. Animals were usually referred to by their name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ– instead of as a singular category. Their name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ– was usually very similar to the sound the animal made! For example, the Middle Egyptian word for cat is ๐“…“๐“‡‹๐“…ฑ๐“ƒ  (miu) which can be pronounced like โ€œmeow.โ€ The word for dog is ๐“ƒ›๐“…ฑ๐“ƒ›๐“…ฑ๐“ƒฅ (iwiw) which can almost sound like โ€œwoof woof.โ€

Why is this significant? It shows that the Egyptians ๐“†Ž๐“๐“€€๐“๐“ช didnโ€™t regard animals as different from humans or less than humans (unlike the Greeks and Romans, and eventually Western cultures). Animals were living things that contained a ba ๐“…ก๐“บ (part of the soul ๐“‚“ that is active in this world and the spiritual world). They could become gods through death and mummification just like humans.