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Egyptian Artifacts

Hippos at the Brooklyn Museum

There are a couple of things I always look for when I go to a museum and the blue ๐“‡…๐“†“๐“› faience Hippos ๐“Œ‰๐“๐“ƒฏ๐“ฆ are one of them! At the MET, the blue ๐“‡…๐“†“๐“› hippo ๐“Œ‰๐“๐“ƒฏ is named William and is kinda the unofficial mascot of the museum, so I just tend to call all of the hippos ๐“Œ‰๐“๐“ƒฏ๐“ฆ William no matter what museum I am at!

William was made Between the 12th and 17th Dynasties. In Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š–, hippos ๐“Œ‰๐“๐“ƒฏ๐“ฆ were both feared and respected ๐“ˆ™๐“†‘๐“„…. They were feared because they were one of the most dangerous animals in the Nile Valley ๐“‡—. However, hippos ๐“Œ‰๐“๐“ƒฏ๐“ฆ were also thought to be powerful protectors ๐“…“๐“‚๐“Žก๐“€œ against evil! William has lotus flowers ๐“†ธ๐“ช painted all over him to associate it with rejuvenation! William is most likely painted blue ๐“‡…๐“†“๐“› to represent the Nile and rebirth.

I love the little hedgehog thatโ€™s on display too!!!

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Egyptian Artifacts

Fragment of a Statue of Akhenaten

My Nonno and Nonna took my sister and I to the Brooklyn Museum for the first time over 15 ๐“Ž†๐“พ years ago – one of the things I loved most about it was the beautiful collection of artifacts from the Amarna Period – aka the rule of Akhenaten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ–!

This piece is a fragment of a statue ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ of Akhenaten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ–. Although the cartouches have been โ€œerased,โ€ stylistically, the statue ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ is obviously of him due to the way the chest is carved.

Petrie is credited with finding this – he found 17 ๐“Ž†๐“€ partial statues ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ๐“ช of Akhenaten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ– and Nefertiti ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“‡๐“๐“ญ during his excavation of the city in the 1890s. He also found tons of statues ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ๐“ช that seemed to be purposefully smashed. Akhenaten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ– and Nefertiti ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“‡๐“๐“ญ were definitely unpopular due to not only moving Egyptโ€™s ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š– capital but also because they changed the religion from polytheistic to the monotheistic worship of the Aten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ. This mass destruction of the statues ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ๐“ช showed that the Egyptians ๐“†Ž๐“๐“€€๐“๐“ช wanted to erase Akhenatenโ€™s ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ– rule.

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Egyptian Artifacts

Bronze Statue of Neith at the Brooklyn Museum

The Bronze Age started due to the rise in the Sumerian civilization in Mesopotamia. Due to war and trade, bronze ๐“ˆ”๐“ค๐“ˆ’๐“ฆ was able to come to Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š– around 700 B.C.E. and replace the traditional stone ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“‚‹๐“Šช and clay statues. The bronze ๐“ˆ”๐“ค๐“ˆ’๐“ฆ pieces are great antiquities because they can preserve small details over long periods of time. The Brooklyn Museum had a lot of beautiful bronze ๐“ˆ”๐“ค๐“ˆ’๐“ฆ pieces!

Bronze ๐“ˆ”๐“ค๐“ˆ’๐“ฆ statuary ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ became very popular starting around the Third Intermediate Period (26th Dynasty), and became very abundant in the Ptolemaic Period, which resulted in mass production and a loss of craftsmanship and quality.

Neith ๐“ˆ–๐“๐“‹Œ๐“€ญ was one of the goddesses ๐“Šน๐“Šน๐“Šน๐“ of war and rose to popularity during the 16th Dynasty because her central city of worship, Sais, was the capital of Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š– at the time. She is also the protector of Duamutef ๐“‡ผ๐“…๐“๐“†‘, the son of Horus whose canopic jar contains the stomach. Due to this, she was seen as a protector ๐“…“๐“‚๐“Žก๐“€œ of the dead ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ along with Isis ๐“Šจ๐“๐“ฅ, Nephytys ๐“‰ ๐“๐“†‡, and Selket ๐“Šƒ๐“‚‹๐“ˆŽ๐“๐“. She is usually seen wearing the red crown ๐“‚ง๐“ˆ™๐“‚‹๐“๐“‹” of Lower Egypt or with a shield and crossed arrows on her head.

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Egyptian Artifacts

Colorful Hieroglyphs

Just some beautifully ๐“„ค painted hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช from the Brooklyn Museum to brighten your day ๐“‰”๐“‚‹๐“บ๐“‡ณ! On the right side, you can even make out the hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช for Osiris ๐“น๐“Šจ๐“€ญ!

The rest of it is unreadable because itโ€™s incomplete. I just love this relief because of the bright colors – it really stood out in the galleries because of the paint. Itโ€™s amazing how the paint still looks so beautiful ๐“„ค even after thousands of years!

My first thought when I saw this was โ€œ ๐“„ค๐“†‘๐“‚‹๐“…ฑ๐“ญ๐“‡‘๐“‡‘โ€ or โ€œhow beautiful this is.โ€

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Egyptian Artifacts

Bronze Statue of Imhotep at the Brooklyn Museum

My Nonno always made a point to make sure we saw Imhotep ๐“‡๐“…“๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช in every museum that we went to. It was part of the fun of going to the museum!! After seeing โ€œThe Mummyโ€ for the first time when I was about ten ๐“Ž† years old, I had already known about Imhotep ๐“‡๐“…“๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช for years from a historical perspective!!

Imhotep ๐“‡๐“…“๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช, meaning โ€œHe who comes in peace,โ€ was a non-royal man who became deified. This is a very rare occurrence, as it was thought by the Egyptians ๐“†Ž๐“๐“€€๐“๐“ช that the Pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป was the only god ๐“Šน on the Earth. Imhotep was not deified in his lifetime – it was 2,000 years after his death that he began to be worshipped as a god ๐“Šน. Not much is known about Imhotep ๐“‡๐“…“๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช from his lifetime – much information about Imhotep ๐“‡๐“…“๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช is from Demotic texts or stelae ๐“Ž—๐“…ฑ๐“†“๐“‰ธ๐“ช that were written thousands of years after his death ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ.

Imhotep ๐“‡๐“…“๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช was regarded as the Son ๐“…ญ of Ptah ๐“Šช๐“๐“Ž›๐“ฑ, who was the god ๐“Šน of craftsmen and architects. He was also part of the Memphis Triad, which consisted of Ptah ๐“Šช๐“๐“Ž›๐“€ญ, Sekhmet ๐“Œ‚๐“๐“…“๐“๐“ and Imhotep ๐“‡๐“…“๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช.

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Egyptian Artifacts

Bronze Statues of Isis, Horus and Osiris

Here’s a picture featuring bronze ๐“ˆ”๐“ค๐“ˆ’๐“ฆ statues ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ๐“ช! of Isis ๐“Šจ๐“๐“ฅ, Horus ๐“…ƒ๐“€ญ, and Osiris ๐“น๐“Šจ๐“€ญ at the Brooklyn Museum!

Osiris ๐“น๐“Šจ๐“€ญ was one of the main figures of Egyptian religion. This is because Osiris ๐“น๐“Šจ๐“€ญ was the god ๐“Šน of the dead and the ruler of the afterlife, and Egyptians spent their entire time living preparing for their death and meeting with Osiris ๐“น๐“Šจ๐“€ญ. When the pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป was alive, he was thought to be the living image ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“‹น of the God ๐“Šน Horus ๐“…ƒ๐“€ญ, but more importantly when the pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป died, he was thought to then become an Osiris-like figure.

The image ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“ of Isis ๐“Šจ๐“๐“ฅ feeding Horus ๐“…ƒ๐“€ญ as a baby is one of the most popular images ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“ฆ of the Late Period through the Ptolemaic Period. Symbolically, Isis ๐“Šจ๐“๐“ฅ was thought to be the mother ๐“„ฟ๐“๐“ of the pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป, and was often associated with motherhood ๐“…๐“๐“, the protection of women, and a user of magic. As Isis ๐“Šจ๐“๐“ฅ became a more popular religious figure, she was associated with cosmological order and was considered to be the embodiment of fate by the Romans. This image ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“ of a mother ๐“…๐“๐“ holding a child is thought to have inspired the well known Catholic images of the Virgin Mary holding Jesus as a baby.

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Egyptian Artifacts

Sarcophagus with Nephthys

This is the side of a beautifully ๐“„ค painted sarcophagus at the Brooklyn Museum!

The goddess ๐“Šน๐“ Nephthys ๐“‰ ๐“๐“†‡ is portrayed where the head of the deceased would be laid because she is regarded as a protector ๐“…“๐“‚๐“Žก๐“€œ of the dead ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ. This tradition began during the New Kingdom. Nephthys ๐“‰ ๐“๐“†‡ was Sethโ€™s ๐“Šƒ๐“๐“„ก๐“ฃ wife, the sister ๐“Œข๐“ˆ–๐“ of Isis ๐“Šจ๐“๐“ฅ, and during later parts of mythology the mother ๐“…๐“๐“ of Anubis ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“Šช๐“…ฑ๐“ƒฃ through a union with Osiris ๐“น๐“Šจ ๐“€ญ.

Even though Nephthys ๐“‰ ๐“๐“†‡ is associated with Seth ๐“Šƒ๐“๐“„ก๐“ฃ, she is regarded as a positive figure in the later evolutions of Egyptian mythology, and she even helped Isis ๐“Šจ๐“๐“ฅ find Osirisโ€™ ๐“น๐“Šจ scattered body pieces and put him back together after Seth ๐“Šƒ๐“๐“„ก๐“ฃ cut him up!

One of her titles is โ€œMistress of the House.โ€ She is often associated with vultures, hence why she is frequently depicted with wings. The headdress that she wears are the hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช for her name! Something super interesting is that even though Seth ๐“Šƒ๐“๐“„ก๐“ฃ and Nephthys ๐“‰ ๐“๐“†‡ are husband and wife they are rarely shown together. Instead, Nephthys ๐“‰ ๐“๐“†‡ is usually depicted with Isis ๐“Šจ๐“๐“ฅ and Osiris ๐“น๐“Šจ ๐“€ญ.

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Egyptian Artifacts

Stela of Takhenemet

Painted wooden ๐“†ฑ๐“๐“บ stelae ๐“Ž—๐“…ฑ๐“†“๐“‰ธ๐“ช first became appeared during the 18th Dynasty, but didnโ€™t become popular until the 21st Dynasty. This particular stela ๐“Ž—๐“…ฑ๐“†“๐“‰ธ is from the 25th Dynasty and was found at Thebes ๐“Œ€๐“๐“Š–. Usually these stelae ๐“Ž—๐“…ฑ๐“†“๐“‰ธ๐“ช were put in the burial chamber with the deceased ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ.

Stela of Takhenemet at the Brooklyn Museum

This stela ๐“Ž—๐“…ฑ๐“†“๐“‰ธ shows a woman named Takhenemet who is paying homage to the god ๐“Šน Ra-Horakty ๐“…Š๐“”๐“”๐“ค. Ra-Horkaty ๐“…Š๐“”๐“”๐“ค is the merging of the gods ๐“Šน๐“Šน๐“Šน Ra ๐“‡ณ๐“บ๐“› and Horus ๐“…ƒ๐“€ญ. Here, Ra-Horkaty ๐“…Š๐“”๐“”๐“ค is actually dressed like Osiris ๐“น๐“Šจ๐“€ญ would be traditionally dressed. During this period, the merging of deities was very common.

Whatโ€™s interesting about the stela ๐“Ž—๐“…ฑ๐“†“๐“‰ธ from this period is usually the deceased ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ is paying homage to a god ๐“Šน with help from another deity, however, here Takhenemet is not accompanied by another god ๐“Šน ; she is alone. This is probably just a style change, but it is interesting to note!

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Egyptian Artifacts

Ushabti of Sati at the Brooklyn Museum

Look at how gorgeous this is ๐“„ค๐“†‘๐“‚‹๐“…ฑ๐“ญ๐“‡‘๐“‡‘!!!

I have always been a huge fan of ushabtis ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ, mostly because my Nonno loves them so much and he was so excited to talk about them when we went to museums! When I was a kid I loved how they would โ€œcome to lifeโ€ in the afterlife ๐“‡ผ๐“„ฟ๐“๐“‰ and would do chores for the deceased ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ! I mean, how cool is that??!! I used to think they were like dolls!

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! 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.

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–.

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Egyptian Artifacts

Coffin of Nespanetjerenpere

Look at how gorgeous this is ๐“„ค๐“†‘๐“‚‹๐“…ฑ๐“ญ๐“‡‘๐“‡‘!!!

I spent so long just trying to take in all of the beautiful ๐“„ค ๐“…ฑ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“ช images of the gods ๐“Šน๐“Šน๐“Šน that are on this Mummy Cartonnage at the Brooklyn Museum! Cartonnage is a material that is linen or papyrus mixed with plaster! This is from the Third Intermediate Period, and dates from the 22nd through 25th Dynasties.

This mummy case ๐“…ฑ๐“‡‹๐“€พ belonged to a priest ๐“Šน๐“› named Nespanetjerenpere. While to many the images ๐“…ฑ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“ช may seem like random pictures of the gods ๐“Šน๐“Šน๐“Šน, it is actually a collection of carefully selected religious symbols meant to help guide Nespanetjerenpere on his journey to the afterlife ๐“‡ผ๐“„ฟ๐“๐“‰ and associate him with and ensure divine resurrection.

The ram headed pendant on his chest is meant to represent the sun godโ€™s journey across the sky ๐“Šช๐“๐“‡ฏ during the day ๐“‰”๐“‚‹๐“บ๐“‡ณ – and through the underworld ๐“‡ผ๐“„ฟ๐“๐“‰ at night ๐“Žผ๐“‚‹๐“Ž›๐“„›. The images ๐“…ฑ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“ช of the gods ๐“Šน๐“Šน๐“Šน can almost be thought of as the picture-book version of the Book of the Dead.

On the back, Horus ๐“…ƒ๐“€ญ and Thoth ๐“…ค๐“€ญ are seen with a Djed pillar ๐“Šฝ, which is the symbol of stability. The Djed pillar ๐“Šฝ is thought to be the spine of Osiris ๐“น๐“Šจ๐“€ญ, so itโ€™s very cool that this image ๐“…ฑ๐“๐“…ฑ appears on the back of the mummy ๐“…ฑ๐“‡‹๐“€พ!