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blueiscoool · 3 months

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An Egyptian Faience Sekhmet Third Intermediate Period, 21st-22nd Dynasty, 1070-712 B.C.

#An Egyptian Faience Sekhmet #Third Intermediate Period #21st-22nd Dynasty #1070-712 B.C.#statue #ancient artifacts #archeology #archeolgst #history #history news #ancient history #ancient culture #ancient civilizations #ancient egypt #egyptian history #egyptian art #ancient art

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xtruss · 2 years

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52-Foot-Long Book of The Dead Papyrus From Ancient Egypt Discovered at Saqqara

For the first time in 100 years, a full "Book of the Dead" papyrus has been uncovered at Saqqara.

— By Owen Jarus | Thursday January 25, 2023

A vintage illustration from the Papyrus of Ani, which dates to the 19th dynasty of the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt, circa 1250 B.C. There aren't any released images of the newfound Book of the Dead papyrus found at Saqqara. (Image credit: duncan1890 via Getty Images)

Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered a 52-foot-long (16 meters) papyrus containing sections from the Book of the Dead. The more than 2,000-year-old document was found within a coffin in a tomb south of the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara.

There are many texts from The Book of the Dead, and analysis of the new finding may shed light on ancient Egyptian funerary traditions. Conservation work is already complete, and the papyrus is being translated into Arabic, according to a translated statement (opens in new tab), which was released in conjunction with an event marking Egyptian Archaeologists Day on Jan. 14.

This is the first full papyrus to be uncovered at Saqqara in more than 100 years, Mostafa Waziry, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said, according to the statement.

The Step Pyramid of Djoser was constructed during the reign of the pharaoh Djoser (ruled circa 2630 B.C. to 2611 B.C.) and was the first pyramid the Egyptians built. The area around the step pyramid was used for burials for millennia. Indeed, the coffin that housed the newfound papyrus dates to the Late Period (circa 712 B.C. to 332 B.C.), Zahi Hawass (opens in new tab), Egypt's former minister of Antiquities, told Live Science in an email. Information about who owned the papyrus and its precise date will be announced soon, Hawass said.

The Book of the Dead is a modern-day name given to a series of texts the Egyptians believed would help the dead navigate the underworld, among other purposes. They were widely used during the New Kingdom (circa 1550 B.C. to 1070 B.C.).

While 52 feet is lengthy, there are other examples of Book of the Dead papyri of that length or longer. "There are many manuscripts that would have been similar in length, but papyrus manuscripts of ancient Egyptian religious texts can vary quite dramatically in length," Foy Scalf (opens in new tab), the head of research archives at the University of Chicago, told Live Science in an email. Scalf, who was not involved in the latest discovery but holds a doctorate in Egyptology, noted that there are Book of the Dead scrolls that measure over 98 feet (30 m) long.

Second Papyrus

This appears to be the second papyrus containing texts from the Book of the Dead that has been found at Saqqara in the past year. In 2022, a 13-foot-long (4 m) fragmentary papyrus containing texts from the Book of the Dead was found at Saqqara in a burial shaft near the pyramid of the pharaoh Teti (reigned circa 2323 B.C. to 2291 B.C.). It had the name of its owner, a man named "Pwkhaef," written on it.

Despite being buried near pharaoh Teti's pyramid, Pwkhaef lived centuries after the ruler. The burial shafts where this papyrus was found date to the 18th and 19th dynasties of Egypt (1550 B.C. to 1186 B.C.). But the practice of being buried next to the pyramid of a former ruler was popular in Egypt at the time.

The discovery was made by a team of Egyptian archaeologists from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, which has yet to release images of the ancient document. According to the statement, the papyrus will soon go on display in an Egyptian museum.

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theancientwayoflife · 7 years

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~ Neck from a vessel depicting the goddess Hathor flanked by felines. Period: Third Intermediate Period Dynasty: 21st-22nd Dynasty Date: ca. 1070–712 B.C. Place of origin: From Egypt, Eastern Delta, Tell Basta (Bubastis), Temple of Bastet, ancient cache Medium: Silver, gold

#ancient #ancient egypt #neck from a vessel depicting the goddess hathor flanked by felines #third intermediate period #21st dynasty #22nd dynasty #temple of bastet #ca. 1070 b.c.#ca. 712 b.c.

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aboutanancientenquiry · 3 years

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How the Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves uses Herodotus in combination with Egyptian sources in order to understand the meaning and role of a curious ancient Egyptian artefact

Nicholas Reeves

A Rare Mechanical Figure from Ancient Egypt (excerpts)

“One of the more curious pieces to be found among the extensive Egyptian holdings of The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a small and delicately carved statuette in wood representing a woman wearing nothing more than a heavy, shoulder-length wig (fig. 1). Though the figure is unclothed, propriety is maintained by the surviving right hand, which is strategically placed to cover the sex, while a missing left arm appears originally to have shielded the breasts. The modesty is nonetheless feigned, for at the pull of a string the arms are designed to rise and display the subject’s feminine charms in full. This is no ordinary Egyptian statuette, but a “protoautomaton,” an object type encountered occasionally in the archaeological record of the Nile Valley, though seldom at this level of mechanical sophistication and never with such overtly erotic overtones.”

Source of the picture of the statuette about which N. Reeves writes: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/566713

Metropolitan Museum of Arts

Accession Number: 58.36a–c

“Physical Description

The sculpture stands just 4 5/8 inches tall and is carved from a light, close-grained wood. The female subject’s feet are placed side by side on an integral base, and she wears a heavy, striated wig that extends below the shoulders. The figure displays what by ancient Egyptian standards is a relatively full body, that of an adult rather than a young girl, with breasts and genital area summarily defined, the usual dimples above the buttocks, and heavy thighs—a piece modeled both competently and tastefully, albeit in the somewhat bland style that has for years frustrated attempts to assign to the work a precise date.

As already observed, the statuette’s physical stance is a curious one: rather than adopting the usual pose of an ancient Egyptian female figure, with arms held straight down on either side, the subject bends a surviving right arm to conceal her sex behind a strategically placed open hand. Stranger still, this arm was designed to lift and expose in tandem with its lost companion (fig. 2). The motion depended on a true mechanism— a rotating axle introduced into the torso through a square-cut hole in the right shoulder (fig. 3). This aperture gives access to a large, neatly cut void and a small, drilled exit hole. One end of the axle is fashioned as a tenon, and onto this tenon the figure’s right arm is firmly mortised. The axle’s distal end preserves the remains of a similar tenon—now little more than a rounded stump—that originally carried the left arm. The positioning of this missing arm, and the likely reason for its loss, are considered below. The axle (fig. 4) was hand-carved from a single piece of dark hardwood, with its middle section fashioned in the form of a spool around which a string could be wound. This string, now missing, was tied in place through a single, transverse piercing in the center. How the axle was made to turn is revealed by an X-radiograph (fig. 5): this shows the precise form of the axle cavity and the string’s course through a narrow channel running from the floor of the cavity, down the statuette’s left leg, and out through the base (fig. 6 ).10 The mode of operation was simple: grasp the figure by the waist, pull the string to turn the axle, and watch as the arms miraculously rise.11″

“Dating and Likely Origin

The carbon-14 test results provide a reliable point of departure for determining the figure’s date of production. Since the tree that supplied the statuette’s wood was felled no earlier than the late tenth or ninth century b.c., previous attributions to the Twelfth and Eighteenth Dynasties may obviously be ruled out. If the wood was carved soon after the tree was felled, the work may be assigned to the Third Intermediate Period (ca. 1070–712 b.c.), a dating that in fact correlates with the figure’s heavyset femininity. That the statuette appears to have been laid out according to a proportional grid19 strengthens the presumptions of antiquity and local Egyptian workmanship—or at least of a work designed and realized by a native craftsman rather than by a foreign (Mediterranean) artisan following a vague, egyptianizing aesthetic.20″

“Role

What was the intended function of the Museum’s doll-like carving? There are several possibilities for such string-operated figures. A forthcoming textual study by Alexandra von Lieven identifies comparable objects in a long-known autobiography from the early Eighteenth Dynasty: two goddess figures, Nekhbet and probably Wadjet, with operable arms perhaps not dissimilar from those of the Metropolitan’s piece.33 These figures represent component parts of a seemingly unique “super clock” invented by the owner of Theban tomb C2, Amenemhat, and anticipate by a millennium and more the string operated automata later devised by Heron of Alexandria (ca. a.d. 10–70).34 Less sophisticated in design than the Amenemhat mechanism but perhaps closer to what we see represented in the Metropolitan Museum figure are the independent string-operated images mentioned by Herodotus in his description of the Egyptian “festival of Dionysus,” an important text reminding us that ancient Egyptian objects with movable parts are not always to be regarded as childish playthings.35

[2]The rest of the festival of Dionysus is observed by the Egyptians much as it is by the Greeks, except for the dances; but in place of the phallus, they have invented the use of puppets (neurovspasta) two feet high moved by strings, the male member nodding and nearly as big as the rest of the body, which are carried about the villages by women; a flute-player goes ahead, the women follow behind singing of Dionysus. [3] Why the male member is so large and is the only part of the body that moves, there is a sacred legend that explains.36

The well-known group of ivory dancing dwarfs found at Lisht (South Pyramid Cemetery) by the Metropolitan Museum’s Egyptian Expedition in 1933–34 falls into a similar category (fig. 10).37 Discovered on the threshold of a Twelfth Dynasty tomb, this small tableau seems originally to have belonged to a young girl named Hepy, whose other possessions (found alongside the dwarfs) we now see point to an association with the goddess Hathor.38 A principal role of Hathor and of dwarfs in general was, of course, to entertain. One aspect of the goddess’s entertainment skills has been recounted above in the discussion of “The Contendings of Horus and Seth.” For dwarfs, we have a famous inscription in the tomb of Harkhuf at Qubbet el-Hawa, Aswan, which mentions “a dwarf (dng) who dances for the god”—a gift for the young Pepi II (ca. 2246–2152 b.c.) from the land of Iam.39 Another inscription, Pyramid Text spell P465, makes reference to the king himself as “a dng of the god’s dances, an entertainer before [his] great seat.”40 Both dwarf references point up an interesting fact: that the rituals carried out on behalf of the gods consisted of more than simple censing, the offering of food, and the changing of the divine images’ clothes; it is clear that periodically the divine presence required meaningful entertainment also. The evidence combines to suggest for the Lisht dwarfs a cultic role, and this, by extension, hints at a possible and legitimate function for the Metropolitan’s statuette. In whatever manner Hathor’s mechanical image was actually employed—whether by a priest in the immediate presence of a cult image (of Re), or before a wider, festal audience—the reenactment of the goddess’s sexual exposure went far beyond ordinary amusement.41 The function of the Metropolitan Museum figure was both serious and profound: to reenergize the supreme deity, and by so doing guarantee the continued functioning of the cosmos.”

Source: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdfplus/10.1086/685672

For Reeves’ biography and activity see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Reeves

#herodotus #ancient egypt #egyptology #nicholas reeves

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thatshowthingstarted · 4 years

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EGYPTIAN BRONZE SITULA,

Third Intermediate Period, 21ST-22ND Dynasty, Circa 1070-712 B.C,

The tapering vessel is engraved with a scene and accompanying hieroglyphic text, depicting three male figures, in front of a procession of four deities, each captioned: 'Amun-Re, Lord of the Thrones of the Two Lands'; 'Amun-Opet'; 'Mut; 'Khonsu in Thebes, Nefer-hotep'.

There are five columns of text above, reading 'Life, Prosperity, Health, and a Good Lifespan to Khonsu-iir-di-s(u), Justified; his son Di-Amen-en-Khonsu; [his son] Nes-pa-nefer-her', a long column between reading 'Praise of Amen-Re, Lord of the Thrones of the Two Lands, [Foremost in] Karnak, [Lord] of Heaven, Ruler of his [sic] Thebes, that he may give', separating them a horizontal band of hieroglyphs below '[. . . praising or addressing?] the face of (my) Lord Amen[-Re?] in order to request Life, Prosperity, Health and a Good Lifespan; made [by] the Bearer of the Offering-loaves(?) of Amen-Opet, Hori, Justified. He says: [. . . .]'.

5 in. (12.7 cm.) high excl. handle,

Christie’s

#art #design #vessel #egypt #egyptian #bronze #situla #engraving #hieroglyph #text #Christie's #amun-re #amun-opet #prosperity #health #good lifespan #collectors #antic #archeology

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egyptologylessons · 4 years

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The Young Sun God upon a Lotus According to Egyptian 𓂋𓐝𓎀𓀂𓀭𓏪 “rmT” mythology, the young sun 𓇳 “rˁ”god 𓊹 “ntr” was borne 𓄟𓋴 “ms” up out of the primordial waters 𓅮𓄿𓏲𓏏𓏖𓈗 “p3wty” of chaos inside a blue 𓇋𓁹𓅂𓈒𓏫 “irtyw” lotus 𓆸 flower, which opened to reveal him on the first morning 𓃀𓅡𓂓𓇳𓏤𓏤 “bk3”. The artist of this fine pendant characterized the god's tender age with the sidelock of youth 𓈖𓐍𓈖𓀔 “nḫn”. He is seated with knees drawn up as in a hieroglyph 𓌃𓂧𓅱𓀁𓊹 “mdw-nṯr” (divine writing). The tiny uraeus 𓅜𓏏𓆘 “3ḫ.t” on his brow proclaims him as royalty, illustrating the link between the king 𓇓𓏏𓈖 “nsw.t” and the young sun god. Although the figure appears to be on top of a lotus blossom, we are meant to understand him as being inside the flower, in the same way as the contents of an open bowl in Egyptian art can be drawn standing up on its edge. Although the jewel was previously dated to the reign of Ramesses II (𓇳𓏤𓄟𓋴𓇓) “rˁ-msı͗-sw” ‘Him, Born of Re’, the closest parallels date to the Third Intermediate Period, when the motif of child god on the lotus enjoyed a great vogue. Egyptian Third Intermediate Period Dynasty 21–24 (1070–712 B.C.) Gold with glass inlays DIMENSIONS height x width pendant 7.1 x 2.5 cm (2 13/16 x 1 in.). Length chain (doubled) 30 cm (11 13/16 in.) CREDIT LINE Gift of Mrs. Horace L. Mayer ACCESSION NUMBER (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) 68.836 Source: https://collections.mfa.org/objects/155962/pendant-on-a-chain?ctx=2b8dc249-bd52-4d23-af21-b06bb156842e&idx=3 #Egypt #egyptian #ancient #ancientegypt #hieroglyphics #ägypten #thisisegypt #egyptologist #myegypt #egyptianhistory #egyptology #archeology #hieroglyphs #madeinegypt #egypte #egyptians #egyptshots #loveegypt #discoveregypt #egitto #埃及 #مصر #egipto #ancientegyptianjewelry #sungod #egyptiangod https://www.instagram.com/p/CHqYnIfLySh/?igshid=1rha745e1n4s2

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