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Egyptian Artifacts

Great Sphinx of Tanis

This sphinx ๐“Ž›๐“…ฑ๐“ƒญ๐“ค in the Louvre is one of the largest outside of Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š–! It is known as the โ€œGreat Sphinx of Tanisโ€ because it was found in the ruins of the Temple ๐“‰Ÿ๐“๐“‰ of Amun-Ra ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“บ๐“‡ณ in Tanis ๐“†“๐“‚๐“ˆ–๐“๐“Š–! Tanis ๐“†“๐“‚๐“ˆ–๐“๐“Š– was the capital of Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š– from the 21st-23rd Dynasties. The sphinx ๐“Ž›๐“…ฑ๐“ƒญ๐“ค is made of granite ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ™๐“ˆ–๐“Œณ๐“ฟ – an extremely strong ๐“„‡๐“๐“‚๐“ญ and durable rock ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“‚‹๐“ˆ™!

This sphinx ๐“Ž›๐“…ฑ๐“ƒญ๐“ค is so interesting because the cartouches of the pharaohs ๐“‰๐“‰ป๐“ฆ Merneptah ๐“‡ณ๐“ƒ’๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ˜๐“Šน๐“Šน๐“Šน (19th Dynasty) and Sheshonq I ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“Œป๐“†ท๐“†ท๐“ˆ–๐“ˆŽ (22nd Dynasty) are both seen on the sphinx ๐“Ž›๐“…ฑ๐“ƒญ๐“ค. Why are two ๐“ป pharaoh’s ๐“‰๐“‰ป names ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ–๐“ฆ there? Well, the Egyptians ๐“†Ž๐“๐“€€๐“๐“ช used to recycle monuments, a process called “usurping.” The practice of usurping was when the current pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป would take old pharaoh’s ๐“‰๐“‰ป names ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ–๐“ฆ off of monuments and put their own there! It is basically ancient plagiarism and it occurred quite frequently.

Some Egyptologists say this sphinx ๐“Ž›๐“…ฑ๐“ƒญ๐“ค actually dates back to the Old Kingdom, as the face ๐“ถ๐“บ doesn’t represent any known pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป! A book that I have says the sphinx ๐“Ž›๐“…ฑ๐“ƒญ๐“ค dates to the Middle Kingdom. We will probably never know!

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Egyptian Artifacts

False Door of Bateti

This is the False Door of a man ๐“Šƒ๐“€€๐“ค named Bateti ๐“ƒ€๐“‚๐“๐“๐“๐“‡‹ who was an official during the 5th Dynasty (2494-2345 B.C.E.). This particular False Door is interesting because it shows Bateti ๐“ƒ€๐“‚๐“๐“๐“๐“‡‹ emerging from it – the statue ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ served as a vessel for his soul ๐“‚“ to pass through the door. This False Door stood in the chapel of his mastaba tomb ๐“‡‹๐“ซ๐“Šƒ๐“‰. The False Door remains unfinished and his name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ– should be carved above the statue ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ, but only two ๐“ป hieroglyphic symbols were carved.

Batetiโ€™s full name: ๐“ƒ€๐“‚๐“๐“๐“๐“‡‹

What appears on the False Door: ๐“๐“๐“ (the โ€œ๐“๐“โ€ has been fully carved but the โ€œ๐“โ€ has only been sketched on to the limestone ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ™๐“Œ‰).

False Doors are an extremely important part of ancient Egyptian funerary practices. False Doors served as ways for the living relatives to make offerings ๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช๐“๐“”๐“ฆ to the deceased ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ. The offerings ๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช๐“๐“”๐“ฆ usually consisted of food ๐“‡ฌ๐“€๐“…ฑ๐“”๐“ฅ- bread ๐“ and beer ๐“Š were two common ones! The False Door acted as a link between the land of the living and the land of the dead. The ancient Egyptians ๐“†Ž๐“๐“€€๐“๐“ช believed that the soul ๐“‚“ of the deceased ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ could travel between the two lands ๐“‡ฟ๐“‡ฟ through the False Door. They are also known as โ€œka ๐“‚“ doorsโ€ or โ€œsoul ๐“‚“ doors.โ€

False Doors were usually located on the western ๐“‹€๐“๐“ญ walls of tombs ๐“‡‹๐“ซ๐“Šƒ๐“‰๐“ฆ because the west ๐“‹€๐“๐“๐“ˆŠ is associated with the dead ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ. The west ๐“‹€๐“๐“๐“ˆŠ is associated with the dead ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ because the sun ๐“‡ณ๐“บ sets in the west ๐“‹€๐“๐“๐“ˆŠ – when Ra ๐“‡ณ๐“บ๐“› makes his daily journey across the sky ๐“Šช๐“๐“‡ฏ, sunset ๐“‡‹๐“๐“๐“…ฑ๐“‡ถ is representative of his death.

๐“™๐“‹น๐“Šฝ๐“Œ€

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Egyptian Artifacts

Name Panels of Senwosret I

I am standing in front of the Name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ– Panels for the Middle Kingdom Pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป Senwosret I ๐“„Š๐“‹ด๐“‚‹๐“๐“Šƒ๐“ˆ–. These panels were originally part of his pyramid ๐“‹๐“…“๐“‚‹๐“‰ด complex and were reconstructed from many pieces that were found during excavations.

Senwosret Iโ€™s ๐“„Š๐“‹ด๐“‚‹๐“๐“Šƒ๐“ˆ– throne name, Kheperkare ๐“‡ณ๐“†ฃ๐“‚“, is seen multiple times along with his Horus name โ€œ๐“‹น๐“„Ÿโ€ which means โ€œliving in births.โ€

These large panels represent the world ๐“‡พ๐“‡พ according to Egyptian religious beliefs. The falcon god ๐“Šน Horus ๐“…ƒ๐“€ญ is seen at the top of all the panels because the sky ๐“Šช๐“๐“‡ฏ is the realm of Horus ๐“…ƒ๐“€ญ. Beneath the sky ๐“Šช๐“๐“‡ฏ is the realm of the pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป, or the โ€œtwo lands ๐“‡ฟ๐“‡ฟ.โ€ Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š– was always referred to as the two lands ๐“‡ฟ๐“‡ฟ due to the distinction between Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt.

๐“™๐“‹น๐“Šฝ๐“Œ€

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Egyptian Artifacts

White Sarcophagus of Madja

This beautifully ๐“„ค painted sarcophagus ๐“ŽŸ๐“‹น๐“ˆ–๐“๐“Šญ belonged to a woman ๐“Šƒ๐“๐“‚‘๐“๐“ named Madja who lived during the 18th Dynasty (c. 1550 – c. 1069 BCE). The sarcophagus ๐“ŽŸ๐“‹น๐“ˆ–๐“๐“Šญ was found in a cemetery in West Thebes ๐“Œ€๐“๐“Š–, which overlooked Deir el-Medina.

The thing that is most striking about the sarcophagus ๐“ŽŸ๐“‹น๐“ˆ–๐“๐“Šญ is how the painted images ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“ฆ stand out in contrast to the white ๐“Œ‰๐“†“๐“‡ณ background. On the bottom there are four ๐“ฝ panels, each with different images. From the lest you can see the Eye of Horus ๐“‚€ on a shrine, two ๐“ป female ๐“Šƒ๐“๐“‚‘๐“๐“ mourners, and two ๐“ป priestesses ๐“Šน๐“›๐“๐“ฆ with the sarcophagus ๐“ŽŸ๐“‹น๐“ˆ–๐“๐“Šญ. On the middle panels are two ๐“ปtimages ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“ฆ of the god ๐“Šน Anubis ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“Šช๐“…ฑ๐“ƒฃ on top of a shrine.

The hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช going down the middle of the lid consist of the standard funerary offering formula:

๐“‡“๐“๐“Šต๐“™๐“Šฉ๐“น๐“€ญ๐“ŽŸ๐“Šฝ๐“Šฝ๐“ˆ‹๐“…ฑ๐“Š–๐“Šน๐“‰ป๐“ŽŸ๐“Œ๐“ˆ‹๐“ƒ€๐“…ฑ๐“Š–๐“‚ž๐“†‘๐“‰“ – โ€œAn offering the king gives Osiris, Lord of Djedu, the Great God, Lord of Abydos, Given a voice offering of…โ€

โ€œ๐“Šฉ๐“น๐“€ญโ€ is not a common variation of Osirisโ€™ name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ– but it can be seen on a lot of 18th Dynasty sarcophagi.

๐“Šฝ๐“Šฝ๐“ˆ‹๐“…ฑ๐“Š– is also a variation of Djedu which is more commonly written as โ€œ๐“Šฝ๐“Šฝ๐“…ฑ๐“Š–.โ€

๐“™๐“‹น๐“Šฝ๐“Œ€

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Egyptian Artifacts Reading Hieroglyphs

โ€œStela of the Overseer of the Fortress Intefโ€

This beautiful ๐“„ค limestone ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ™๐“Œ‰ stela ๐“Ž—๐“…ฑ๐“†“๐“‰ธ is titled by the MET as โ€œStela of the Overseer of the Fortress Intef.โ€

This stela ๐“Ž—๐“…ฑ๐“†“๐“‰ธ is dated to Dynasty 11 of the Middle Kingdom (c. 2000-1988 B.C.E.) and we know this because the cartouches of Mentuhotep II ๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“ฟ๐“…ฑ๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช (credited with reunifying Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š–) appear as a dedication from Intef ๐“Ž๐“ˆ–๐“๐“†‘, the owner of the stela ๐“Ž—๐“…ฑ๐“†“๐“‰ธ. Intef ๐“Ž๐“ˆ–๐“๐“†‘ was an official ๐“‹ด๐“‚‹๐“€€ and โ€œoverseer of the fortressโ€ – a title that couldโ€™ve only been given to him after the reunification of Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š–.

Letโ€™s read some hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช! While I would love to translate the whole thing for all of you, there is too much text to fit in an Instagram description, and itโ€™s hard to see some of the hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช on my picture ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“! so I will do as much as I can! Below are the hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช from the first half of top panel of the stela ๐“Ž—๐“…ฑ๐“†“๐“‰ธ! I want to translate the other readable parts for you all too so I will do that soon!

๐“…ƒ๐“„ฅ๐“‡ฟ๐“‡ฟ – Horus, Uniter of the Two Lands

๐“…’๐“„ฅ๐“‡ฟ๐“‡ฟ- Two Ladies, Uniter of the Two Lands

๐“…‰ – Horus of Gold

๐“†ฅ – King of Upper and Lower Egypt

(๐“‡ณ๐“ŽŸ๐“Šค) Nebhapetra (throne name)

๐“…ญ๐“‡ณ – Son of Ra

(๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“ฟ๐“…ฑ๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช) Mentuhotep II (given name)

๐“‹น – Life

๐“‡ณ๐“‡ -Like Ra

๐“†– – Forever

Here it is all together: ๐“…ƒ๐“„ฅ๐“‡ฟ๐“‡ฟ๐“…’๐“„ฅ๐“‡ฟ๐“‡ฟ๐“…‰๐“†ฅ(๐“‡ณ๐“ŽŸ๐“Šค)๐“…ญ๐“‡ณ(๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“ฟ๐“…ฑ๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช)๐“‹น๐“‡ณ๐“‡๐“†–

โ€œHorus, “Uniter of the Two Lands,” Two Ladies “Uniter of the Two Lands,” Falcon of Gold, King of Upper and Lower Egypt Nebhepetre, Son of Ra, Mentuhotep, alive like Ra forever.โ€

Nicole (me) with the Stela of the Overseer of the Fortress Intef.
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Egyptian Artifacts

Horus as a Sphinx

This is a really interesting piece from the British Museum!

It is a sandstone ๐“‚‹๐“…ฑ๐“‚ง๐“๐“Œ—๐“ˆ™ statue ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ of a falcon ๐“ƒ€๐“‡‹๐“Žก๐“…„ headed sphinx ๐“Ž›๐“…ฑ๐“ƒญ๐“ค! Usually sphinxes ๐“Ž›๐“…ฑ๐“ƒญ๐“ฆ are depicted as being the body of a lion ๐“Œณ๐“น๐“„ฟ๐“„› with the head ๐“ถ๐“บ of a man ๐“Šƒ๐“€€๐“ค, but obviously this one is quite different!

This particular statue ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ is dated to c. 1250 B.C.E.; the reign of Rameses II ๐“ฉ๐“›๐“ˆ˜๐“„Ÿ๐“‹ด๐“‡“. This sphinx ๐“Ž›๐“…ฑ๐“ƒญ๐“ค and many other similar ones used to stand guard at Rameses IIโ€™s ๐“ฉ๐“›๐“ˆ˜๐“„Ÿ๐“‹ด๐“‡“ temple ๐“‰Ÿ๐“๐“‰ at Abu Simbel.

Sphinxes ๐“Ž›๐“…ฑ๐“ƒญ๐“ฆ are incredibly powerful creatures because not only do they represent the physical strength ๐“„‡๐“๐“‚๐“ญ of a lion ๐“Œณ๐“น๐“„ฟ๐“„›, but also the power of a pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป. While the pharaohโ€™s ๐“‰๐“‰ป head ๐“ถ๐“บ isnโ€™t represented on this sphinx ๐“Ž›๐“…ฑ๐“ƒญ๐“ค, a falcon is. Falcons ๐“ƒ€๐“‡‹๐“Žก๐“…„๐“ฆ are associated with the god ๐“Šน Horus ๐“…ƒ๐“€ญ, who is the personification of the pharaohโ€™s ๐“‰๐“‰ป power. Since one of Horusโ€™ ๐“…ƒ๐“€ญ roles is as the god ๐“Šน of pharaonic power, it makes sense that sphinxes ๐“Ž›๐“…ฑ๐“ƒญ๐“ฆ can also represent pharaohs ๐“‰๐“‰ป๐“ฆ while using a falcon ๐“ƒ€๐“‡‹๐“Žก๐“…„ head ๐“ถ๐“บ.

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Egyptian Artifacts

Ushabti Broad Collar

This is one of the more interesting pieces that I have ever seen in a museum! I donโ€™t believe I have seen anything like it outside of the Petrie Museum in London! It combines two of my favorite things – ushabtis ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ and Egyptian jewelry!

This broad collar ๐“…ฑ๐“‹ด๐“๐“Žบ๐“‹ is dated to the 21st Dynasty (Third Intermediate Period c. 1069 – 747 B.C.E.). There are 62 ๐“Ž†๐“Ž†๐“Ž†๐“Ž†๐“Ž†๐“Ž†๐“ป faience ๐“‹ฃ๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ธ๐“ผ ushabtis ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ that make up their broad collar ๐“…ฑ๐“‹ด๐“๐“Žบ๐“‹ and they come in green ๐“‡…๐“„ฟ๐“†“๐“› and blue ๐“‡‹๐“น๐“๐“„ฟ๐“ธ๐“ฅ colors! The ushabtis ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ are about 4cm in height so they are pretty tiny! I love tiny things so tiny ushabtis ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ to me are just so cute!! There are also beads of many different colors that adorn the broad collar ๐“…ฑ๐“‹ด๐“๐“Žบ๐“‹.

Normally, ushabtis ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ were buried with the deceased ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ and were meant to be their servants in the afterlife ๐“‡ผ๐“„ฟ๐“๐“‰. I do not know if the ushabtis ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ in this broad collar are supposed to be worker ushabtis ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ or are for adorning a mummy ๐“‡‹๐“น๐“…ฑ๐“€พ for burial!

Normally ushabtis ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ are buried in shabti boxes and inscribed with a spell that tells you what their function was. When Osiris ๐“น๐“Šจ ๐“€ญ called upon the deceased ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ for labor, the deceased would say the spell on the ushabti ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ and it would come to life and perform the labor in place of the deceased ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ!

As a kid I really loved ushabtis ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ because they reminded me of little dolls and my Nonno used to tell me stories about them! He loved them too and he made leaning about them so much fun!

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Egyptian Artifacts Reading Hieroglyphs

Cartouche of Seti I

Hereโ€™s another piece from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology! This is a really simple piece but I really like it! It probably caught my eye because it has the cartouche of Seti I ๐“‡ณ๐“ฆ๐“  on it, and Seti I ๐“‡ณ๐“ฆ๐“  was one of my Nonnoโ€™s favorite pharaohs ๐“‰๐“‰ป๐“ฆ! The afternoon that Nonno and I spent exploring the Petrie Museum was one of the best days of my life!

This piece is a fragment from a larger statue ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ. On the top part of the piece you can even see the bottom part of a broad collar ๐“…ฑ๐“‹ด๐“๐“Žบ๐“‹. It is made of black ๐“†Ž๐“…“ basalt, which is an igneous rock ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“‚‹๐“ˆ™. Basalt forms when lava solidifies on the Earthโ€™s surface or under the ocean. The entire ocean floor is made of basalt which means that it is is the most abundant rock ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“‚‹๐“ˆ™ on Earth (and Mars too)!

The hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช on this piece are very simple and easy to read!

๐“‡“๐“ King of Upperโ€ฆ

๐“‹”๐“โ€ฆand Lower Egypt

(๐“‡ณ๐“ฆ๐“ ) – Maatmenra (Seti I – Maatmenra was his throne name)

Usually the title of โ€œKing of Upper and Lower Egyptโ€ is written as โ€œ๐“†ฅโ€ so it is interesting to see it written as โ€œ๐“‡“๐“๐“‹”๐“.โ€ In the hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช for this piece, the crown of Lower Egypt ๐“‹” was used instead of the bee ๐“†ค.

King of Upper and Lower Egypt ๐“†ฅ can literally be translated to โ€œHe of the Sedge and the Bee,โ€ which is the title that usually preceded the prenomen, which was also known as the throne name or the royal name. The sedge ๐“‡“ was the symbol for Upper Egypt while the bee ๐“†ค was the symbol of Lower Egypt. This title was symbolic that the pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป was ruling over a united Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š–. The first pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป to have this title was the Pharaoh Den ๐“‚ง๐“ˆ– during the First Dynasty!

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Egyptian Artifacts

Small Limestone Stela of Akhenaten

Hereโ€™s another piece from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology! This is a small limestone ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ™๐“Œ‰ stela ๐“Ž—๐“…ฑ๐“†“๐“‰ธ of the pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป Akhenaten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ– (by small, I mean it is only about 8.5cm in height)!

While the image ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“ is very crudely drawn, it is quite obvious that we are looking at Akhenaten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ– here because art during the period of his rule was incredibly unique! On the stela ๐“Ž—๐“…ฑ๐“†“๐“‰ธ, Akhenaten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ– can be seen standing in front of two ๐“ป vases of incense with his arms raised in a worshipping position. The Sun ๐“‡ณ๐“บ, or the Aten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ, can be seen above Akhenatenโ€™s ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ– head ๐“ถ๐“บ.

The Petrie Museum has a lot of unique pieces from Akhenatenโ€™s ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ– reign because Petrie helped to excavate Amarna, which the place in modern-day Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š– where Akhenaten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ– moved the capital to (the capital of Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š– was originally in Thebes ๐“Œ€๐“๐“Š–). The new capital was called Akhetaton โ€œHorizon of the Atenโ€ and it was established ~1332 B.C.E., around the time when the Aten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ was declared to be the only god ๐“Šน.

One of the reasons I enjoyed my trip to the Petrie Museum so much was being able to see all of these unique pieces that really canโ€™t be seen in other museums! Akhenaten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ– is my second favorite pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป, so I really enjoyed seeing all of the Amarna-era pieces!

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Egyptian Artifacts

Statue of Rameses II

This statue ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ of Rameses II ๐“ฉ๐“›๐“ˆ˜๐“„Ÿ๐“‹ด๐“‡“ is one of the largest Egyptian artifacts in the British Museum. The piece is definitely grand, and is even more beautiful ๐“„ค in person. Rameses II ๐“ฉ๐“›๐“ˆ˜๐“„Ÿ๐“‹ด๐“‡“ was Egyptโ€™s ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š– most prolific builder, so it makes sense that objects made in his likeness are also grand!

Nicole (me) with the Statue of Rameses II at the British Museum

Rameses II ๐“ฉ๐“›๐“ˆ˜๐“„Ÿ๐“‹ด๐“‡“ came to the throne after the death ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ of his father Seti I ๐“‡ณ๐“ฆ๐“ , and ruled Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š– as pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป for about 67 years. He was the third pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป of the 19th Dynasty, and is often referred to as โ€œRameses The Greatโ€ because he built ๐“๐“‚ค๐“…ฑ๐“‹ด๐“€ง more monuments than any other pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป and ruled longer than any other pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป.

The monuments attributed to Rameses II ๐“ฉ๐“›๐“ˆ˜๐“„Ÿ๐“‹ด๐“‡“ are some of the best preserved in all of Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š– – it seems that he got his wish to be remembered even so long after his death ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ. Rameses II ๐“ฉ๐“›๐“ˆ˜๐“„Ÿ๐“‹ด๐“‡“ built ๐“๐“‚ค๐“…ฑ๐“‹ด๐“€ง as much as he could so he could ensure that his name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ– lived on. He also usurped a lot of other previous pharaohsโ€™ ๐“‰๐“‰ป๐“ฆ monuments too!

Geology time!!!! This statue ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ was cut from pink/gray granite ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ™๐“ˆ–๐“Œณ๐“ฟ. Granite ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ™๐“ˆ–๐“Œณ๐“ฟ is an extremely strong rock ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“‚‹๐“ˆ™ and resistant to weathering due to its high quartz content (hence why it is used to make countertops in modern times), so that is why the details on this are so well preserved.

This piece was excavated by Belzoni and was originally from Rameses IIโ€™s ๐“ฉ๐“›๐“ˆ˜๐“„Ÿ๐“‹ด๐“‡“ mortuary temple ๐“‰Ÿ๐“๐“‰ at Thebes ๐“Œ€๐“๐“Š– (aka the Ramesseum).