ancient egypt magazine issue 79

Volume 14 No.1Issue 79August/

September 2013

www.ancientegyptmagazine.com

£4.90

Funerary Cones

Circumcision

Cleopatra?

Mentuhotep: The Great Re-Unifier

ANCIENT EGYPT December 2012/January 20132

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The Specialist in Egypt for over 30 years

soliman 30 years.indd 1 02/11/2009 12:06:10

AEPrelim75.qxd 21/11/2012 15:25

ffeeaattuurreessFrom the Editors Egyptological news from Egypt and elsewhere.55

rreegguullaarrssMaps of Egypt and Timeline 4Book Reviews 41How to Subscribe 58Back Issues 59

Readers’ Letters 60Competition 61Events Diary 63Netfishing 65Egyptology Society Details 66

Walk Like an Egyptian... among the Egyptianising tombs of Kensal GreenCemetery with Cathie Bryan.

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AANNCCIIEENNTT EEGGYYPPTTwww.ancientegyptmagazine.com

August/September 22013VOLUME 14, NNO 1: IISSUE NO. 779

EDITOR: JJ. PPeter PPhillips56 Albert Street, Beswick,

Manchester M11 3SU0161 223 9407


DEPUTY EDITOR: Sarah Griffiths

CONSULTANT EDITORS:Professor Rosalie David, OBE,

Dr. Joyce Tyldesley, Dr. Raymond Betz

STAFF CONTRIBUTORS:Victor Blunden, Peter Robinson,

Hilary Wilson

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2828Epigraphic Survey/Chicago House2011-2013 Field SeasonW. Raymond Johnson brings readers news ofthe work of his team in Luxor during the lastseason.

To Be Or Not To Be: Circumcision inAncient EgyptFinding evidence for this ancient practice can betricky says Connie Lord.

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“The Name’s Over The Door”:Ancient Egyptian Funerary ConesPeter Clayton looks at this neglected butimportant source of information.

A Ptolemaic Bust in MariemontMuseum: The Detective Story... is recounted by Raymond Betz.

Maths in Ancient EgyptEgypt’s important role in the early history ofmathematics is explained by Elizabeth Hind.

Per Mesut: for Younger ReadersHilary Wilson explains the meaning of“Brothers and Sisters”.

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The Use of Ivory in Ancient EgyptMagda van Ryneveld describes the use of thispopular and versatile material.

Nephepetra Mentuhotep: the Great ReunifierThe warrior king from the south left an enduringlegacy, as Sarah Griffiths discovered.

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3ANCIENT EGYPT August/September 2013

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ANCIENT EGYPT August/September 20134

Maps and Time-line

by Peter Robinson.

RRIIGGHHTT::detailed map ofthe Theban area

Periods

Dyna

stie

s

MAP of EGYPT Time-lline

28-30

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NNEEWWSS FFRROOMM EEGGYYPPTT ((aanndd IIssrraaeell))

No one who reads this can be unaware of recentevents in Egypt, which have been headline newsworldwide. As Ramadan begins, it seems that the

situation has calmed somewhat, but it is unlikely that thetrue stability needed for economic recovery will beregained in the near future.

JJPPPPSSpphhiinnxx FFoouunndd iinn IIssrraaeell

A fragment of an Egyptian sphinx statue has been dis-covered at the Biblical site of Tel Hazor by archaeologistsfrom the Hebrew University in Israel. The broken granitefragment includes the paws and part of the forearms ofthe sphinx, and is dedicated to Menkaura of the FourthDynasty, builder of one of the three Giza pyramids. Thisis the only monumental Egyptian statue ever found in theLevant and the first Menkaura sphinx to be discovered.An inscription places the statue originally in a temple atHeliopolis; how it got to Tel Hazor (which is north of theSea of Galilee, between Ramah and Kadesh) is a mystery;there is no evidence for relations between Egypt and theLevant during the Fourth Dynasty so it was probably sentby a later pharaoh as a gift to the King of Hazor, possiblyduring the rule of the Hyksos (c. 1650-1550 BC) who orig-inated in Canaan.

NNeeww MMiiddddllee KKiinnggddoomm TToowwnn DDiissccoovveerreeddThe remains of a Middle Kingdom town have been dis-covered by the Ministry of State for Antiquities at the siteof a Hyksos fort at Tel el-Yahoud in northern Egypt.Dating to c. 2000-1700 BC, the town includes houses,royal palaces, a temple to Sutekh, a Hyksos era cemeteryand a 4 metre-tall mud brick structure. A number ofobjects have also been unearthed, including scarabs,amulets and Nineteenth Dynasty floor tiles from thepalace of Rameses II and Merenptah. The site is a signif-icant discovery, as it reveals more about the daily life ofAncient Egyptians from the New Kingdom until theGraeco-Roman era.

TTwwoo BBooaatt EExxccaavvaattiioonnssThe excavation of Khufu’s four and a half thousand year-old second solar boat has recently begun at Giza. A jointJapanese and Egyptian team have begun removing cedarplanks from the pit alongside the Great Pyramid ready forrestoration. Eventually the boat will be reconstructed anddisplayed alongside the first boat at the entrance of thenew Grand Egyptian Museum being built at Giza.

The French Institute of Oriental Archaeology in Cairo(IFAO) have recently begun the restoration of threewooden planks from two funeral boats of King Den (FirstDynasty, c. 3000 BC) at Abu Roash. These planks wererecently unearthed in the northern area of MastabaNumber Six.

MMyysstteerriioouuss TTooee RRiinnggss The Amarna Project team have discovered two skeletonseach with a copper alloy toe ring, the first such rings to bediscovered in Egypt. The two bodies were found in acemetery just south of Akhetaten (Amarna) and date fromthe reign of Akhenaten. The rings are thought to havebeen worn in life and may have been magical healingdevices; one of the bodies, a male in his late thirties, suf-fered from a broken foot and femur. One other toe ringdiscovered previously was made of gold and found on themummy of a priest of Karnak called Hornedjitef, now inthe British Museum.

SSGG

FFrroomm tthhee EEddiittoorrss


A fragment of a sphinx statue found by Hebrew University ofJerusalem archaeologists at the excavations at Tel Hazor,

Israel. Photo: courtesy of Hebrew University archaeologists,Prof. Amnon Ben-Tor and Dr. Sharon Zuckerman.

AEFrom Editor 79.qxd 20/07/2013 14:35


IItt’’ss AAllll iinn tthhee TTeeeetthh!!French researchers from the University of Lyon have usedthe teeth from Egyptian mummies to investigate long-term patterns of drought in Ancient Egypt, and theirfindings suggest that the Nile Valley grew increasinglyarid from 5500 to 1500 BC. Chemical analysis of theenamel of mummies from a range of dynasties (held atthe Musée des Confluences de Lyon) confirms previousresearch suggesting the end of the Old Kingdom coincid-ed with a period of intense drought, and also showsanother significant increase in aridity during the sixthcentury BC during the Late Period. The analysis wasbased on the relative levels of two oxygen isotopes in thediet and drinking water of the individuals; the team plansto publish further results to show whether or not thechanges in climate affected agriculture and diet.

SSGG((MMoorree)) NNeewwss ffrroomm tthhee AAmmaarrnnaa PPrroojjeecctt TTeeaamm

Following the end of the spring excavation season atAmarna, a team led by Professor Jerry Rose has beeninvolved in the 2013 physical anthropology study of thehuman bones found in the South Tombs Cemetery.Including the whole or partial skeletons of 141 individu-als found since the 2012 study period, the full total ofindividuals since excavation began in 2006 is 401.

The bones are carefully cleaned and recorded and formthe source material for a number of research projects.One of the most interesting of these involves examiningthe hair, which in some cases remains on the skulls as a fullhead of hair. Jolanda Bos, from The Netherlands, anarchaeologist and heritage consultant who has studiedhair plaiting and beadwork among African societiesjoined the team for this study.

She found a wide variety of types of hair, ranging fromvery curly black hair, to middle brown straight hair, show-ing the ethnic diversity of the Amarna sample. No wigswere found, the preference being for hair extensions forwhich abundant evidence is present. The extensions wereeither braided or tied into the hair of the individual. Onalmost all skulls which were analysed, fat was used tomodel the hairstyles and on all skulls very fine pieces of

textile were found covering the hair. Whether or not thiswas only done for burial or whether it was the generalpractice in daily life as well remains unclear. The textilefound on the top of the head retained traces where fatcones had been placed and the remains of possible fatcones were discovered on most of the skulls examined [aparticularly interesting fact, since there has been a theorythat the fat cones depicted on tomb wall scenes were sym-bolic rather than actual (see p. 42) – Ed.].

At least three examples of ‘sidelocks of youth’ were alsofound on children’s skulls. Evidence of what may be floralgarlands draped around the heads of the deceased wasalso found.

For details of how to donate to the work of the Project,see the web-sites:

www.amarnatrust.comwww.museum-tours.com/amarna/

OOTTHHEERR NNEEWWSSAncient WWorld CConference8th- 99th June 22013The annual conference now organised by Ancient WorldConferences Ltd. at University College London has formany years gathered prominent Egyptologists to presenta series of lectures of a very high standard. This year’sevent did not disappoint.

Philippe Collombert gave two excellent presentations:the first described the fascinating fifty years of excavationof the royal necropolis of Pepy I by the FrenchArchaeological Mission at Saqqara. The apparently fea-tureless desert surrounding the Sixth Dynasty pharaoh’spyramid hid a series of subsidiary pyramids, which theFrench team brought to light one by one over the years,and in doing so discovered the names of several queenswho had been be previously unknown to Egyptology.Their efforts were sadly interrupted by the 2011 revolu-tion, during which the most recently excavated finds wereunguarded. The team did no further excavation duringthe 2012 season, concentrating instead on repairing thedamage done by local looters during three or four days ofmayhem.

Philippe’s second lecture, in complete contrast,described the discovery by him of a box in a cupboard inthe French Institute in Cairo. Inside the box were scraps

ffrroomm tthhee EEddiittoorrss

6

A busy week at the Middle Site, where the excavation squaresare densely packed with grave pits.

Photo: courtesy of the Amarna Project.

A beautiful faience ring with openwork floral design excavated in a disturbed grave in the Upper Site.

Photo: courtesy of the Amarna Project.



ANCIENT EGYPT August/September 2013 7

The remains of the pyramid and mortuary complex of Teti at Saqqara (with the Step Pyramid of Djoser in the background), discussed by Philippe Collombert in the second of his two presentations at the Ancient World Conference. Photo: RBP.

The Meidum Pyramid. Colin Reader discussed the possible reasons for its strange shape, and the likely pharaohs responsible forits erection, in his presentation which closed the Ancient World Conference. Photo: JPP.


of papyrus written in Old Kingdom hieratic, which hadbeen left there and forgotten at the outbreak of theSecond World War. By dint of meticulous detective work,they were identified as the day-to-day diaries of an over-seer or overseers of works at the pyramid site of King Teti– perhaps building a subsidiary pyramid there (see previouspage, top).

Andrew Shortland explained the ways in which a com-bination of methods, including radio-carbon, dating isnow beginning to establish Egyptological chronology in ascientifically verifiable manner, whilst Peter Jamesrecounted his engineering work in anchoring thestonework in the burial chamber of the Step Pyramid,among many other heritage projects worldwide.

Elizabeth Bloxham told us of the archaeologicalimportance of quarry sites in the Wadi Hammamat andthe need to protect the very vulnerable information theycan reveal.

The Labyrinth (actually the mortuary temple of thePyramid of Hawara) was in Greek and Roman times amore impressive monument than the pyramids of Giza,yet by the time of its re-discovery by Lepsius, it hadalmost disappeared beneath the humps of sand that nowcover its scanty remains. Dylan Bickerstaffe described theclues which are enabling us to reconstruct, at least in part,its original appearance.

The discovery of KV64 in the Valley of the Kings(reported in AE70) caught the attention of Egyptologistsworldwide, yet this represents only a small part of thework of The University of Basel’s Kings’ Valley Project,as Suzanne Bickel revealed to us. A surprising fact shementioned is that royal burials account for only a third ofthe tombs in the Valley. Suzanne’s team are investigatingmany of these lesser tombs; some may turn out to be asimportant as KV64, which contained the mummy of theChantress of Amun Nehemes-Bastet.

Jo Marchant told us about her research into theAntikythera Mechanism, the two thousand year-old

astrolabe that is proving to be even more sophisticatedthan previously thought.

Colin Reader closed the conference with his lecture onthe Meidum Pyramid (see previous page, bottom); using hisprofessional experience as an engineering geologist, Colinanalysed the likely cause of the present shape of the pyra-mid before going on to identify its likely builder. [All willbe revealed in an article by Colin in a future edition ofAE!]

JJPPPPBritish MMuseum CColloquium 11th-112th July 22013Nubbia iin tthe NNew KKingdom:: LLived EExxperience,pharaonic ccontrol aand iindigenous ttraditionsThis year’s conference presented insights from the latestarchaeological research at major New Kingdom settle-ments and cemeteries in Nubia, a period where theEgyptian state claimed complete political control and cul-tural dominance over “wretched Kush”.

After a brief survey of the landscape and environment,Derek Welsby, Assistant Keeper, Archaeology of Sudanand Egyptian Nubia at the British Museum, presentedresearch from the Kawa Excavation Project, Kawa(known to the Egyptians as Gematon) being one of thebest preserved urban centres and a site of importancefrom the Kerma period onwards. Previous excavationshave provided evidence for Egyptian occupation duringthe Eighteenth Dynasty and during the reigns of Shabaqoand Taharqo, so the team have been concentrating on thesix hundred years in between.

Amara West’s stratigraphy makes it an ideal site to studythe settlement history not only of the site itself but, as an



Colin Reader, Chairman of the Manchester Ancient EgyptSociety, and a presenter at the Ancient World Conference.

Photo: JPP.

Sesebi, one of the sites discussed at the British MuseumColloquium. Photo:Anna Garnett.


Egyptian settlement in a foreign land, the lived experienceof New Kingdom urban sites in Egypt, according to NealSpence, Keeper of the Department of Ancient Egypt andSudan, the director of the British Museum’s Amara Westproject. Founded by Sety I as the administrative centre ofEgyptian occupied Kush, evidence found on the AmaraWest site points to many changes in the structure andfunction of town spaces over time, with increasingNubian cultural markers pointing to a more multiculturalpopulation in later phases.

Three lectures discussed the movement of people andartefacts between Egypt and Nubia, including fromManfred Bietak of the Austrian Academy of Sciences,evidence from Tell el Dab’a (the Hyksos capital Avaris) forthe presence of Nubian soldiers in the Delta during theHyksos period. Other sites discussed over the two daysincluded Sai Island, Sesebi (see opposite, bottom right), GebelBarkal and Tombos, with research covering pharaonicarchitecture, epigraphy, literature and funerary customs.

This year’s Raymond and Beverly SacklerDistinguished Lecture in Egyptology was given by VivianDavies, former Keeper at the British Museum, whoreported on the 2012 epigraphical survey of a large rockoutcrop (Hagr el-Merwa )at Kurgus, which was inscribedmethodically by two separate Egyptian campaigns ledfirst by Thutmose I and later by his grandson ThutmoseIII (with a later addition during the reign of Rameses II).The site was deliberately chosen by the Egyptians becauseit was sacred to the local populations, and only the sur-faces already bearing local inscriptions were decorated,showing a deliberate attempt to dominate the site. Bycomparing these new translations to other inscriptionsalong the campaign route, including a newly discoveredstela from Gebel Barkal, the team are hoping to gain abetter understanding of the Kush campaigns (whichinvolved dragging a large number of boats over thecataracts) and their impact on the indigenous populations.

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RReettiirreemmeenntt ooff PPrrooffeessssoorr RRoossaalliiee DDaavviiddReaders may be aware that AE’s Consultant EditorRosalie David (see left) has now retired from her post asDirector of the KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptologyat the University of Manchester. Her career at theUniversity, initially as Keeper of Egyptology at theManchester Museum, has been an outstanding one andher contribution to Egyptology both in Manchester andworldwide is second to none. Her Certificate ofEgyptology course became the springboard into the sub-ject for many who are active in the profession today(including both the former Editor and current Editor ofthe magazine) and her work on the scientific examinationof mummies, following in the footsteps of MargaretMurray, evolved into the foundation of the KNHCentre. She is now an Emeritus Professor of theUniversity and will of course continue to be deeply influ-ential through her lectures and publications for manyyears to come.

Mrs Kay Bellinger, who will be known to many readersas a long-term friend and supporter of Rosalie’s work,sent the following tribute to her :

“Rosalie and I first met when I was a passenger on aNile boat where she was a lecturer. I was amazed at thenumber of lectures she gave and indeed the wonderfulsupport by her husband Antony. Gradually, through amutual friend from Sheffield, we became very close. Ather retirement lunch we both noted a table in Christie’sBistro where the KNH Centre was born. As I said on that



Emeritus Professor Rosalie David. Photo: JPP.


occasion our lives have been charted and people come inand out at strategic moments to help us continue on life’sjourney.

What thrills me is the wonderful team that has gottogether, which proves that Rosalie has the ability tounderstand human beings as well as mummies! I had nohesitation in joining with her, and those two wonderfullady Egyptologists Margaret Murray and AmeliaEdwards were obviously behind us.

In the Valley of the Kings some years ago, Rosalie andI had just visited three tombs when a prominent Egyptianwalked up to us and said ‘Ah Rosalie David; when you arein Egypt she sings’. After thanking him, Rosalie turned tome and said ‘Come on Kay, we are going to a fourthtomb.’

I think no finer tribute can be paid to a most remarkablecareer.”

JJPPPPThe ''Mystery' oof tthe SSpinning SStatuette at MManchester MMuseumThey say that there is no such thing as bad publicity. Inthe current financial climate, where museums are increas-ingly looking to justify their existence, this seems especial-ly true. Little did we know at Manchester Museum thatthe movement of one Egyptian artefact – and not, assome have misreported, a mummy! – in its display casewould generate such interest.

The now-famous statuette (see right) at the centre of thesensation depicts a man who, judging by the style of thepiece, lived during the late Middle Kingdom (c. 1800-1750 BC). The statuette is about ten inches tall and ismade of a hard, dark stone, which the Accessions Registerlists as ‘serpentine’. It was donated in 1933 by Miss AnnieBarlow of Bolton, a major benefactor of Bolton Museum,as part of a small group of objects – several identified asfakes. Hieroglyphic texts on the back pillar and front ofthe base carry an offering formula, to Osiris ‘Lord ofLife’, for the benefit of a man called Nebsenu (if that isthe correct reading of the name). He bore the designationHry n tm – an ‘obscure title’ according to philologist SirAlan Gardiner. Nebsenu could never have imagined howdramatically he would be plucked from obscurity in thetwenty-first century AD.

Nebsenu’s fame has been the result of a short video clip,generated from time-lapse footage. Just after we openedour new Ancient Worlds galleries at the Museum, Inoticed that Nebsenu’s statue was in a series of odd posi-tions – while his fellow statuettes stayed precisely wherethey are, in a locked and alarmed case. If someone wasplaying a trick, it was a very good one. And so the storywas born. We installed a time-lapse camera, which tookone photo a minute for one week. The resulting footagewas distinctly odd and our marketing department recog-nised on an opportunity to highlight the Museum’sEgyptian collection.

The response to the story has been incredible. Millionshave viewed the original YouTube clip, and countlessmore have seen the video on other websites. The Museumhas received thousands of emails offering interpretation

and a whole class of primary school children individuallywrote to tell me their own explanations for the movement.It is hard to think of a more obvious example of ‘engag-ing’ the public. The explanation is fairly simple – subtlevibrations from footfall and traffic – though the precisephysics of the motion are still being debated. Regardless,some people prefer a more creative interpretation – proofagain of the heady combination of Ancient Egypt andthe apparently unexplained.

If even a fraction of the people who have come to theMuseum just to see Nebsenu stay to learn somethingmore about Ancient Worlds, then the press attention willhave been worthwhile.

CCaammppbbeellll PPrriicceeCurator of Egypt and Sudan,

Manchester Museum.


The statuette of Nebsenu in Manchester Museum. Photo: courtesy of the Manchester Museum.



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12 ANCIENT EGYPT August/September 2013

Ivory is a creamy-white, finegrained dentine. It isopaque and fairly hard – an

excellent material for carving.The term ‘ivory’ includes thetusks of hippos, walrus as wellas elephants. Those of ele-phants were (and still are today)more sought after and thereforemore expensive.

During the PredynasticPeriod elephants still grazed inthe Nile Valley. Rock engrav-ings found in caves (see centre,below) indicate that severalgroups of people such ashunters and mountain dwellersinhabited the area. Their repre-sentations in rock sheltersincluded a variety of animalsfrom their region with, amongthem, elephants. It is interestingto notice that during these earlytimes in history, people werealready using ivory for carving.From Egypt a beautiful ivoryknife from Gebel el-Arak hassurvived, dated as Proto-Dynastic period (see right). It is aflint knife with an ivory handledecorated with finely carved fig-ures, boats and a variety of ani-mals.

As human activities such aspolitical upheavals, agricultureand trade increased, animalslike the elephant graduallymoved further south. Craftssuch as basketry, weaving andpottery developed and objectsof luxury and personal adorn-ment became popular. Differentmaterials were used in makingthese objects such as ivory andebony and they were often dec-orated with carvings of birds,figures, boats and animals. Asanimals gradually becameextinct in the Valley, these mate-rials were imported: ebony fromSyria, lapis lazuli from the Eastand ivory from African coun-tries such as Nubia.

SSttaattuueetttteess aanndd PPllaaqquueessIt was during these early times– before the First Dynasty –that small ivory statuettesappeared (opposite, top left).They were mostly of women,with the earliest examples fromBadari. Typical of these fig-urines is the dimple above eachbuttock – only a very shallowdrill hole. Small ivory plaquesalso appeared at this time, suchas in the Abydos tomb ofPharaoh Scorpion. They wereabout the size of a largepostage stamp, usually with ahole in one corner to beattached to a box or a jar, andwere inscribed with an earlyform of hieroglyphs. AtSaqqara, ivory labels werefound inscribed with the namesof Djet of the First Dynastyand his official Sekhemka-sedj.These labels indicated con-tents, quantity and place oforigin of the contents of thebox or jar. From the tomb ofDen of the First Dynasty (alsoat Abydos) came a label por-traying the pharaoh smiting hisenemy – an Easterner (opposite,bottom left). Pharaoh is identi-fied by his name in the serekh,above which is the figure ofHorus. Den wears the royalheaddress with a uraeus, one ofthe earliest examples of apharaoh portrayed wearing theroyal cobra.

Ivory was imported fromNubia until late in the Dynasticperiod. The main Egyptianmarket for trade with Nubiawas most probably atElephantine (from the ancientEgyptian name Abu – meaning‘Elephant Town’). From thetime of Rameses II we find ascene in the temple of Beit el-Wali (opposite, top right) illustrat-ing the pharaoh being present-ed with several objects includ-

THE UUSE OOF IIVORY IIN AANCIENT EEGYPTAncient Egyptians were fond of including luxury materials intheir art and, as Magda vvan RRyneveld discovered, one of the

most popular and versatile was ivory.

ABOVE: The beautifully-carved ivory Gebel el-Arakknife, now in the Louvre, Paris.

BELOW: A representation of animals, including anelephant, from a rock shelter in Egypt. Drawing by

the author.

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ing ebony logs, gold collars, ostrich eggs and feathers, aswell as elephant tusks.

CCaarrvviinngg iinn IIvvoorryyThe technique of ivory sculpture was influenced by thecylindrical shape of the tusk. The ivory figurines differfrom figures carved in stone; arms were often made sepa-rately, but both arms were held straight to the sides of thebody, and joints were often hidden under the clothes ofthe figure, which were either carved or applied in gesso.

As ivory is easy to carve (as compared to stone), carving todecorate an object could be done in minute detail. It wasalso easier to drill small holes, for example in a hand of afigure to hold a sceptre or in a bead to put a stringthrough. The texture of ivory also made it an ideal mate-rial to use for inlay-work as small pieces can more easilybe cut to the exact size and shape needed.

Ivory was used to create certain objects such as smallstatuettes, cosmetic objects, seals, labels and plates, musi-cal instruments and writing utensils. A small statuette of a

ABOVELEFT: A Predynastic ivory figurine of a woman with drill hole decoration, now in the British Museum.

RIGHT: Elephant tusks (top right) and other exotic goods and animals being presented to the king in a relief from Beit-el Wali.Detail of a painting of the scene from the tomb, now in the British Museum.

BELOWThree ivory labels, dating from the First Dynasty and now in the British Museum. The one on the left depicts King Den in a

smiting pose, one of the earliest depictions of a king wearing the royal uraeus.




king was found near the early temple at Abydos by SirFlinders Petrie (see left). It is 8.8cm in height and datesback to c. 3000 BC. The figure is that of a pharaohwrapped in a ceremonial cloak and wearing the highwhite crown of Upper Egypt. The figure has stoopingshoulders, the neck thrust forward and the chin lowered,a pose that may indicate an elderly person. The ceremo-nial cloak is typical of those worn during the Sed Festival.The material of the cloak shows a diamond pattern aswell as a delicately carved border design, demonstratingexceptional carving technique.

Ivory was also very popular for the making of cosmeticobjects such as fashionable hairpins and combs, whichwere often beautifully decorated with birds, flowers andanimals. An exceptional ivory comb was found at Abydos(below left). The centrepiece of this comb is a serekh withthe hawk of the god Horus and the name of the pharaohDjet. Above the wings of the bird is a barque with a hawk.The shape of the comb is a simple square and the teethare less than a quarter of the total height of the comb.

Musical instruments such as clappers were also made ofivory. A beautiful pair was found in the annexe of thetomb of Tutankhamun, measuring 15.7cm in length.

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LEFT::Ivory statuette of a king in his sed costume, fromAbydos; Predynastic Period, now in the British Museum.

BELOW LEFT: Drawing of the ivory comb from Pharaoh Djet,First Dynasty. Drawing by the author.

BELOW RIGHT: Ivory was used extensively in the making ofluxury furniture; this is the leg from a table or chair in the

shape of a animal’s hoof. Now in the British Museum.



Ivory clappers (above right, lower photo)were usually slightly curved, followingthe tusk shape, to form arms toppedwith elegant hands. The young king’s

writing equipment (below) also includedivory objects: a small ivory water dish,two ivory scribal palettes and an ivoryand gold papyrus burnisher.

15

TOP LEFTBone and ivory combs, withcarved animal handles, fromthe New Kingdom, now in theAshmolean Museum, Oxford.

TOP RIGHTTutankhamun’s folding stoolwith duck-head legs decoratedwith ivory inlay. Now in theEgyptian Museum, Cairo.

ABOVEAn ivory clapper in the shape ofan arm, with incised braceletdecoration. Now in thePhiladelphia Museum.

LEFTReplicas of Tutankhamun’sscribal palettes. Ivory was usedto make a number of differentitems in the king’s scribalequipment.


IIvvoorryy aass DDeeccoorraattiioonnIvory could also be used to decorateobjects made from other materials,including furniture, board games, jew-ellery and weaponry. Boxes and chestswere often decorated with ivory, andseveral fine examples were found in thetomb of Tutankhamun: one box withvery fine herringbone parquetry (aboveright) used more than forty-five thousandindividual pieces of ivory. One of themost exquisite examples of furniture isthe boy king’s folding chair with legsthat end in duck-heads inlaid with ivory(previous page, top right). A variety of mate-rials was used to decorate the seat andback of the chair, which also includeivory. The workmanship is of outstand-ing quality. Several ivory senet boardgames (above left) were also found in thetomb as well as ivory boomerangs whichwere probably used for hunting birds inthe reeds. In jewellery, ivory is mainlyused for beads, but an ivory bracelet wasfound in the Annexe of Tutankhamun’stomb; it was decorated with delicatelycarved running animals such as gazelle,horse and hare.

Ivory was extensively used duringancient times by the Egyptians and othercivilisations and is still a very popularmaterial to work with. Unfortunatelythis has led to the illegal hunting of ele-phants; early this year an entire herd ofeleven animals was killed in a reserve ineast Africa just for their tusks. The con-tinuing demand for ivory is bringing ele-phants and other ivory-bearing animalsto the brink of extinction.

MMaaggddaa vvaann RRyynneevveelldd

Magda, a Committee Member of theAncient Egypt Society of Johannesburg,is a regular contributor to AE. She lec-tured in the History of Art and theHistory of Graphic Design for seven-teen years in South Africa.

Photos: RBP unless otherwise stated.


TOP LEFTTutankhamun’s tomb contained

a number of senet boards,which were made from ivory or

decorated with ivory inlays.This example is now in the

Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

TOP RIGHTTutankhamun’s ivory box with

herringbone decoration - morethan 45,000 pieces of ivory

went into the making of thispiece. Now in the Egyptian

Museum, Cairo.

RIGHTIvory was a popular medium forthe making of small statuettes.

This monkey figure is in theBrooklyn Museum.



The death of the long-reigning Pepy II (c. 2184 BC)marked the end of theOld Kingdom and the loss

of strong central control. A seriesof weak kings ruled fromMemphis in the early FirstIntermediate Period, but in reali-ty power lay with independentlocal governors. Then a new lineof northern kings appeared c.2160 BC, referred to in latersources as the ‘Herakleopolitan’kings who were probably fromHerakleopolis Magna. But asthese kings attempted to consoli-date their power, the ruling fami-ly of Thebes declared its inde-pendence; whether they were pro-voked, taking advantage of apower vacuum in the north, ormaking an aggressive bid forpower, the result was a long peri-od of political and military strug-gle between north and south.

The EEleventh DDynastyThebes, capital of the fourthnome of Upper Egypt, had trans-formed, during the First

Intermediate Period, from small provincial town into theseat of southern power, ruled by aseries of ‘Overseers of Priests’.One such nomarch called Intef,claimed to be “Great Overlord ofUpper Egypt”; although he didnot rule a unified country, he waslater commemorated as thefounder of the Theban line ofkings on a Twelfth Dynasty votivestatue and in Thutmose III’sKarnak king list.

His successor, also listed atKarnak, is known asMentuhotep-aa “The Ancestor”,the first Mentuhotep, founder ofthe Eleventh Dynasty, who wassucceeded by his sons Intef I andIntef II, who were in turn fol-lowed by Intef III (see family treeopposite). The Intefs’ claim to roy-alty is shown by the adoption ofHorus names and nomen car-touches, although they did nottake the full five pharaonic titles.All three were buried at el-Tarifin Thebes, their saff (‘row’) tombssurrounded by the smaller tombsof their courtiers.

NNEEBBHHEEPPEETTRRAA MMEENNTTUUHHOOTTEEPP:: THE GREAT REUNIFIER

The warrior king from the south, founder of Egypt’s classical age, Nebhepetra Mentuhotep is best known for his mortuary temple but, as Sarah GGriffiths

discovered, he left a far more enduring legacy.

ABOVE AND BELOW:Nebhepetre Mentuhotep wearing the whitecrown of Upper Egypt, seen in a relief from

his Deir el-Bahri temple, and now in theMetropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Photos: RBP.

SGMentuhotep.qxd 23/07/2013 17:41


A CConfusion oof NNamesNebhepetra Mentuhotep II (‘Pleased is the Lord Ra,Montu is satisfied’) was most probably the son of Intef III.His mother Iah was also the mother of his wife Neferu,who may have died before providing an heir, asMentuhotep’s only known child, Mentuhotep III, was theson of Queen Tem. Both queens were buried in the king’sDeir el-Bahri temple complex with six other royal women,Priestesses of Hathor, who all died young (one dying inchildbirth).

Mentuhotep was named after the god of war and of theTheban nome. There has been some confusion over hisnames and titles; some refer to him as Mentuhotep I, buthe is more widely known as Mentuhotep II, withMentuhotep-aa considered to be the first of that name,although not the ruler of a unified country.

He also changed his titles several times throughout hisfifty-one year reign, marking his progression from Thebannomarch to ruler of Egypt, and reflecting the momentouspolitical changes during his reign. Following the patternset by the Intef kings, he began with a Horus and birthname:

Sankhibtawy ‘Who causes the Heart of the Two Lands to live’:

(son of Ra) Mentuhotep

Sometime before Year 39, his Horus name was changedto:

Netjeri-hedjet ‘Lord of the White Crown’

or Nebhedjet

and the king took a throne name: Nebhepetra nb-Hpt-rasuggesting actual kingship over Upper Egypt. This waswritten at first using Gardiner sign Aa5:

but later changed to the oar sign (Gardiner sign P8):

This change may reflect the growing cult of Amun-Ra,which became established during the reign of Intef II andslowly took over from the cult of Montu, the oar playinga role in the water-based festival associated with Amun.

By Year 39 Mentuhotep had taken full royal titulary andwas known asSematawy‘He who united the Two Lands’, a clear reference toreunification (see opposite, top).

ABOVE LEFT: A painted sandstone statue of Mentuhotep II wearing his sed robe, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Photo: RBP.

ABOVE RIGHT: The Eleventh Dynasty family tree showing the most probable relationships.Adapted from Dodson and Hilton, 2004.



Reunification The reign of Mentuhotep II is attested by a large rangeof sources such as temple reliefs, rock inscriptions,courtier tombs and stelae, but many of the monumentshave been badly damaged, leaving a patchy record. Thereare several references to reunification but we do not havethe actual date. It is likely to have been a long drawn-outprocess. There are references to courtiers carryingweapons instead of official regalia; weapons were alsofound in the graves of ordinary men and large numbersof wooden soldiers found in the tombs of courtiers sug-gest a high degree of insecurity in the earlier part of thereign.

Intef II had already pushed northwards beyond Abydosbut was then blocked by the Asyut nomarchs and theboundary between Upper and Lower Egypt remainedrelatively constant throughout the early reign ofMentuhotep II. But in Year 14, Abydos rose in revolt asthe Herakleopolitans attempted to retake the Thinitenome. The actual events leading up to the reunificationhave not been recorded; the most likely scenario is thatMentuhotep II marched north to crush the rebellion,eventually laying siege to Herakleopolis. The south hadthe advantage, with a stronger, more centralised govern-ment and control of the Nubian gold supplies, while theHerakleopolitans were hampered by continued conflictwith their northern neighbours. Their capital fell toMentuhotep, apparently with the loss of just sixty men onthe Theban side; following this victory, other princesswitched their allegiance to the Theban cause to avoid“the terror” which had been unleashed by Mentuhotep’sarmy.

The level of violence in armed conflict during this peri-od is shown in the bodies of sixty slain soldiers foundburied in an undecorated pit (MMA 507) close to theking’s Deir el-Bahri temple. According to Winlock, theirfacial fractures indicate damage from missiles rainingdownwards, sustained during an attack on a fortress, mostprobably Herakleopolis. Their burial site suggests thesemen were honoured dead who fought for the reunificationof the country; although it is possible they died in Nubiaor a local conflict after the reign of Mentuhotep II.

We know that Mentuhotep had taken the full royal titu-lary and had celebrated his sed festival by Year 39, so it ishighly probable that reunification had been achieved bythis point: power now lay in the hands of the Thebancourtiers, with Thebes as the new capital city. The kingrecorded his achievements as a great warrior on his mon-uments; the scene in his Dendera chapel (see right) leavesEgypt in no doubt as to who was in control, with the kingwearing the double crown and smiting two entwinedplant stems at least one of which is the papyrus of LowerEgypt. Mentuhotep may have had to deal with outbreaksof fighting in the north throughout his reign, but thepower in the north had been broken.

A NNew AAdministrationHaving secured the country internally and establishedhimself as sole king of Egypt, Mentuhotep was able toturn his attention towards Egypt’s traditional enemies (the

ABOVE: A block from Mentuhotep’s Deir el-Bahri templeinscribed with the later version of his titles: Nebhepetra (withthe ‘oar’ symbol, Gardiner sign P8) and a serekh containing

the name Sematawy, ‘He who united the Two Lands’.Photo: RBP.

BELOW: Mentuhotep in a ‘smiting scene’ from his chapel atDendera. His unfortunate enemy in this relief is the papyrus

representing Lower Egypt, rather than the traditional ‘nine bows’.

Drawing: SG after Habachi (1963).



“nine bows”) and extending his influence beyond Egypt’sborders. At Gebelein, he is seen smiting Nubians, Asiaticsand Libyans, suggesting campaigns in Nubia, Palestineand the Western Desert. As Thebes changed from provin-cial town to state capital, Mentuhotep reorganised theadministration of the royal court, making the positions ofTreasurer (‘Overseer of Sealed Goods’), and Steward(‘Overseer of an Estate’) state roles, introducing other OldKingdom state offices, including Vizier, while restrictingtitles of rank such as iry-pat (‘Member of Elite’). Thisstrengthening of central government increased the king’scontrol over his officials, reducing the power of the previ-ously independent nomarchs, some of whom werereplaced by Theban loyalists, while others were retainedbut kept under regular supervision.

The courtiers who served Mentuhotep II in the last partof his reign are some of the best known Middle Kingdomofficials, including Vizier Dagi (TT 103) whose limestonesarcophagus was one of the earliest to contain a full set ofcoffin texts, Treasurer Khety (TT 311), who held a promi-nent role in the king’s sed and was the first official to depictthe king on his tomb stela, and Meketra (TT 280) who isbest known for the wooden models found in his tomb (seeleft), marking a new funerary development (providing forthe afterlife without the need for large expensive tombstructures and reliefs).

Mentuhotep tthe GGodMentuhotep may have established himself as a great war-rior holding administrative control over the country, buthe still had to prove beyond doubt his right to rule Egypt.He reasserted the cult of the king in a campaign toemphasise his lineage, and was the first king to becomedivine during his lifetime. He intended to be worshippedas a god at his Deir el-Bahri temple, a practice adopted bylater New Kingdom kings but, as his temple sanctuaryreliefs show, the king was not divinely born, but ratherhad his immortality ‘bestowed on him’ by the gods, animportant departure from earlier royal burials. Heclaimed to be ‘the son of Hathor’, building a chapel toher at Gebelein and is depicted at Dendera, Aswan andKonosso (in Nubia) wearing the crowns of Amun andMin showing he and the gods were united.

“Splendid aare tthe PPlaces oof NNebhepetra”Nebhepetre Mentuhotep was a prolific builder, but few ofhis monuments have survived as the fine limestone struc-tures were quarried away by later kings. He may haverestricted his royal building programme to the area of hissouthern powerbase as no monuments bearing his namehave been found north of Abydos. New temples andchapels were built at Gebelein, Armant, Tod, Elkab andElephantine, with the first stone temple at Abydos, and aDendera chapel to Hathor that Habachi (1963) declareddemonstrated “a great mastery of art” in the quality ofthe reliefs.

The earliest building of the Amun temple at Karnakcan be traced back to an eight-sided sandstone columndated to Intef II and a surviving door lintel showingMentuhotep II seated on a chair decorated with the

ABOVE: A beautifully crafted model of a girl carrying a basketof offerings on her head, from the tomb of Meketra; thismodel highlights the high quality of artwork of the earlyMiddle Kingdom and represents a new development in

provision for the afterlifeBELOW: A fragment of relief from the Deir el-Bahri templeshowing the king with a royal uraeus protecting his brow.

Both of these items are now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Photos: RBP.


Sematawy name, which suggests the king built at Karnakafter reunification; his chapel may have been the first stonebuilding erected there.

Mentuhotep’s most important monument was hisunique and innovative mortuary temple (see above andbelow) which combined the Old Kingdom valley templeand causeway with radical new elements, becoming theinspiration for the New Kingdom ‘Houses of Millions of

Years’. The temple, built in the natural cliff amphitheatreof Deir el-Bahri, was dedicated to Montu-Ra, Amun andthe deified king. It was built directly in line with Karnak,linked to that temple by the Beautiful Festival of the Valley,the procession of Amun across the Nile to the West Bankwhich dates from the third part of Mentuhotep’s reign.

The main temple building was a massive square two-tiered structure, surrounded on all sides by an ambulatory

ABOVE: The temples at Deir el-Bahri; the more complete Hatshepsut temple to the right was clearly inspired by the innovativeMentuhotep II temple, the remains of which can be seen to the left.

BELOW: The Mentuhotep II temple in the foreground, with the ramp leading up to the base of the main structure. The Hatshepsut temple is seen in the background.

Between the two are the fragmentary remains of Thutmose III’s temple.

Photos: RBP.




lined with octagonal sandstone pillars, reminiscent of thefacades of the saff tombs of the king’s Intef predecessors.It may have been topped by a small pyramid, althoughArnold (1979) argues that without interior strengthening,a pyramid of this size would collapse; instead he proposesa square-shaped top that may have simulated the primevalmound. This led to a terrace, with a hypostyle hall con-taining eight rows of ten pillars and the king’s tomb, agranite chamber containing a shrine-shaped alabasterchapel, cut 150m deep inside the mountain and foreshad-owing the later royal tombs of the Valley of the Kings.Robbed in antiquity, only fragments of coffin, woodenmodels, and pieces of the skull and lower jaw remained inthe tomb. The temple was decorated with very fine reliefs,although only a small percentage has survived.

In front of the temple there is the entrance to a deeptunnel which was famously discovered by Howard Carterwhen his horse stumbled into it; it has since been knownas the Bab el-Hosan, or ‘Gate of the Horse’. This leads to a

small burial chamber which contained an empty unnamedcoffin and a seated stone statue of Mentuhotep in his sedcostume and red crown (see left). The king is shown withblack skin associating him with Osiris, fertility and regen-eration; the temple was the first royal structure to openlyreflect Osirian beliefs. This dummy burial may have beena sanctuary for offerings to the king’s ka, a ritual burial, orpossibly a separate Osiris tomb.

Clearly the inspiration for the later Hatshepsut temple,Mentuhotep’s complex included a causeway and largeopen courtyard lined with rows of trees and statues of theking, which were mysteriously decapitated and buried inantiquity, most likely when the temple was quarried forstone in the Ramesside period.

The DDecline oof tthe DDynastyBy the end of Mentuhotep II’s reign, Egypt was stable andprosperous, with large royal construction projects and areturn to high quality art production. And yet less thantwenty years after Mentuhotep’s death, the EleventhDynasty collapsed. His successor Sankhkara MentuhotepIII, who was most likely his son, ruled for twelve years,built a number of temples and shrines, including a triplesanctuary at the site of Medinet Habu (an innovationadopted by the Eighteenth Dynasty kings) and construct-ed protective fortifications in the eastern Delta. His shad-owy successor Nebtawyra Mentuhotep IV was omittedfrom the king lists and Turin Canon and may have been ausurper. His short reign was followed by that ofAmenemhat I, who was most likely his Vizier. Amenemhatmay have taken power by a coup, or stepped up in theabsence of a royal heir; but his succession marked the endof the Eleventh Dynasty and, with the founding of a newcapital near Lisht, the end of Thebes as the centre of royalpower until the founding of the New Kingdom.

Mentuhotep’s LLegacy - aa nnew GGolden AAge?Mentuhotep II was a powerful and successful king,enjoying a long and prosperous reign. Reunification ledto flourishing international trade and the re-emergenceof Egyptian influence abroad, setting the stage for theimperial expansion of later dynasties. Later pharaohsrevered him as one of the greatest kings of Egypt, equalto Menes and Ahmose, founders of the Old and NewKingdoms. New Kingdom rulers such as Ahmose I hon-oured him as the founder of the Theban powerbase andhis worship as a god continued at least to the end of theRamesside period.

Reunification also led to a golden age of literature andthe appearance during the Twelfth Dynasty of classicssuch as the Tale of Sinuhe; the ‘late Middle Egyptian’ formof writing also appeared early in the Middle Kingdomremaining the classical language for royal and religioustext as long as the hieroglyphic script was in use.Mentuhotep’s role in laying the foundations for Egypt’sclassical period was still celebrated in Twentieth Dynastyprivate tombs.

As a monumental builder, Mentuhotep’s ‘House ofMillions of Years’ was revolutionary, inspiring the greatroyal mortuary temples of the New Kingdom and estab-

ABOVE: Mentuhotep II wearing his sed robe; this statue, nowin the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, was originally found in thedummy burial of the Deir el-Bahri temple, the entrance to

which was discovered by Howard Carter’s horse.Photo: RBP.



lishing the link between the Karnaktemple and the West Bank mortuarytemples, the earliest fusion of divine androyal cult. Although his dynasty did notlong survive him, NebhepetraMentuhotep laid the foundations for agolden age of Egyptian history; hisreign also marked the beginning of therise of a local god called Amun, whowould over the next four hundred yearsbecome the most powerful god in Egypt.

SSaarraahh GGrriiffffiitthhssSarah is the Deputy Editor of AE.

She is also Secretary of theManchester Ancient Egypt Society

and has just completed the University of Manchester

Certificate of Egyptology course.

Further RReadingArnold, D. (1979) The Temple of

Montuhotep at Deir el-Bahari. New York:Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Dodson, A. and Hilton, D. (2004) TheComplete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt.London: Thames & Hudson.

Grajetzki, W. (2006) The Middle Kingdomof Ancient Egypt: History, Archaeology andSociety. London: Duckworth.

Habachi, L. (1963) King NebhepetreMenthuhotp: His Monuments, Placein History, Deification and UnusualRepresentations in the Form ofGods. Mitteilungen des DeutschenArchaologischen Institut, Abteilung Kairo,Vol.19, pp. 16-52.

Winlock, H.E. (1941) NebhepetreMentuhotpe of the Eleventh Dynasty.The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology,Vol.26, pp.116-119.

ABOVEAn Eighteenth Dynasty stela setup at The temple ofMentuhotep II at Deir el-Bahriby the New Kingdom pharaohAmenhotep I to honour theGreat Unifier.Both kings are shown asOsiride statues.Stela now in the BritishMuseum.

Photo: Victor Blunden.



The General Cemetery of All Souls, Kensal Greenwas established in 1832 in west London (to thewest of the Kensington area) and still conducts

burials and cremations daily. The cemetery holds over250,000 interments, including the burials of over 550members of the titled aristocracy, and many famous and

infamous characters. Fully 152 of the 65,000 monumentsare designated Grade II or Grade II* Listed, as being ofspecial architectural or historic interest. Kensal Greenwas innovative in having most of the site consecrated bythe Church of England, but reserving the eastern sectionfor Dissenters and others to practise their own rites.

WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIANEgyptianising TTombs

In KKensal GGreen CCemetery CCaatthhiiee BBrryyaann,, author of a new guide, takes us on a tour

of some of the best Egyptianising tombs in London’s first historic garden cemetery.

ABOVE (left)The granite obelisk of

Thomas Russell Crampton(1816-1888), a pioneer oftelegraphy and one of themost original locomotiveengineers of his time. Hisobelisk is surrounded by

smaller granite pillarsforming a railing.

Photo: courtesy of theFriends of Kensal Green

Cemetery.

ABOVE (right)The mausoleum of SirGeorge David Harris

(1827-1902), one of theoriginal members of theLondon County Council,with a close-up of thesundisk with uraei (seeleft) which is true to the

proportions of theAncient Egyptian form

and is likely to have beenmodelled on examples inDescription de l'Egypte.

Bryantkensalegyptianising.qxd 23/07/2013 19:10

ABOVEA solid pylon-form vault with cavetto cornice and the Shaw

crest, marking the interment of barrister William Shaw(c.1766-1852), but noted for its inscription honouring his

father, who died as a consequence of the treachery of Ibrahim Bey in 1779.

BELOWThis classically-inspired monument to Scottish landowner

John Gordon (1802-1840) was modelled on two tombs in thePère Lachaise Cemetery in Paris; the only Egyptian elementsare the pharaonic heads forming the acroteria (decorativepedestals) which once held a large urn, stolen in 1997.

Photos: Tony Bryan

ABOVEA memorial to Sir Ernest Joseph Cassel (1852-1921), railwayfinancier, philanthropist and friend of King Edward VII, who

financed the Aswan Dam and Asyut Barrage in 1897; themonument of Portland stone is modelled on a temple pylon

gateway.

BELOWThe monument to the first wife of Andrew Ducrow (1793-

1842), a circus impresario known as the “Colossus ofEquestrians”, whose feats of horsemanship were only

equalled by his vanity and foul language. Originally painted,the tomb is built of plaster on brick with artificial stonemouldings and is a hybrid of Greek and Late Egyptian

influences, guarded by sphinxes but with a winged Pegasusreflecting Ducrow’s love of horses.

Photos: Tony Bryan.




BELOW LEFTA royal Egyptianising tomb for George William Frederick

Charles, Second Duke of Cambridge (1819-1904), grandsonof George III, and his dancer/actress wife Sarah. Responsiblefor all military matters during the Nile Campaign of 1884-5,

his performance was “less than satisfactory” and he wasforced by Queen Victoria to hang up his spurs.

BELOW RIGHTThe pylon-form Aberdeen granite Egyptian chapel of ColonelCharles Seton Guthrie (1805-1874) of the Bengal Engineers inIndia, whose collection of Indian hard stones is on display at

the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Photos:Tony Bryan

ABOVEThe Richardson obelisk, the tallest monument in the ceme-

tery, describes Joseph Richardson (c.1790-1855) as the“Inventor of the Instruments of the Rock, Bell and Steel Band”,a strange musical instrument played for Queen Victoria, butonly his son Samuel is buried beneath; Joseph has a moremodest headstone elsewhere in the cemetery. Beside theobelisk is the Greek Doric temple memorial of impresario

Imrè Kiralfy (1845-1919), although his ashes were reburied ina similar mausoleum in Brooklyn.

Photo:Tony Bryan



Cathie BBryanholds degrees in Egyptian Archaeology from UniversityCollege London and in Anthropology from Hunter Collegein New York City and has a Business Masters from NewYork University. A frequent contributor to AE, she wasits Paris Correspondent until 2004, when she returned tothe UK. Cathie works in a freelance capacity for the pub-lic programme of the Petrie Museum of EgyptianArchaeology, UCL, where she gives lectures, walkingtours, and gallery talks.

Walk LLike aan EEgypptian iin KKensal GGreen CCemeteryCathie’s illustrated guide to the cemetery covers a historicalintroduction to Ancient Egyptian forms and motifs in WesternFunerary Monuments, an overview of Egyptian temple architec-ture and a tour (with maps and photographs) of many more of theEgyptianising monuments of the cemetery. It is published by TheFriends of Kensal Green Cemetery, an independent registered

charity dedicated to the preservation, conservation and restora-tion, for public benefit, of the Cemetery. The Cemetery is open tovisitors every day of the year and the Friends offer regular publicand private guided tours, as well as an annual Open Day and sea-sonal evening lectures.

(see www.kensalgreen.co.uk for details).Friends’ publications are available to visitors in the Dissenters’

Chapel after the Sunday afternoon tour and after lectures, at theFriends’ bookstall on Open Day, and by post. Walk Like anEgyptian in Kensal Green Cemetery is available by post in the UKfor £7.50 (including UK post and packing), with a cheque payableto FOKGC, from: Mr. Henry Vivian-Neal, 25 Rainham Road,London NW10 5DL

For mail order outside the UK, payment is by cheque drawn ona British Bank in pounds sterling. Please ask about the cost ofpost and packing before placing an order at: [email protected] write to:

FOKGC, c/o The General Cemetery Company, Harrow Road,London W10 4RA, UK.

27

ABOVEThe obelisk monument to John McDougall Stuart(1815-1866), regarded as the greatest explorer

of inland Australia. The original obelisk wasdislodged and lost during World War II, andreplaced in 2011 using Wawick granite from

India.

Photo: Tony Bryan

ABOVEThe obelisk of Robert Owen (1771-1858), social reformer and philan-

thropist who established the model community of New Lanark nearGlasgow. Owen himself is buried in Scotland. Alongside is the Reformers’

Memorial, “erected to the memory of the men and women who have generously given their time and means to improve conditions and enlarge

the happiness of all classes of society”.

Photo: Tony Bryan


The 2012-2013 archaeological field season of theEpigraphic Survey, Oriental Institute, of the Universityof Chicago, based at Chicago House in Luxor, ran

from October 15th, 2012 and successfully concluded onApril 15th, 2013 in collaboration with the Egyptian Ministryof State for Antiquities. Documentation, conservation, andrestoration activities were accomplished at four sites:Medinet Habu, Luxor Temple, TT 107, and the KhonsuTemple at Karnak.

MEDINET HABUDocumentation and collation of the inscribed walls of thesmall Amun temple of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III contin-ued under the supervision of senior epigrapher BrettMcClain, with most of the drawings of the façade and

ambulatory areas finished. Epigraphic staff included JenKimpton as epigrapher, Margaret De Jong and Sue Osgoodas senior artists, and Krisztián Vértes and Keli Alberts as epi-graphic artists. Egyptologist/artist Krisztián completed hisanalysis of the different colour phases of the temple com-plex for inclusion in the publication, and tutored the epi-graphic staff in new techniques for digitally inking the fac-simile drawings using Wacom drawing tablets. EpigraphersTina Di Cerbo and Richard Jasnow continued their digitaldocumentation of the graffiti in the Medinet Habu com-plex, focussing this year primarily on the southern Ptolemaicannex (see opposite, bottom). Epigrapher Julia Schmiedcontinued registering architectural fragments in the block-yard, and continued her documentation and analysis offragmentary material from inscribed Third Intermediate

Epigraphic SSurvey/Chicago HHouse2012-22013 FField SSeason

W. Raymond Johnson, Director of the Survey, brings readers news of thework of his team in Luxor during the last season.


AEChicagoHouse.qxd 24/07/2013 00:09

Period residence doorways, while conser-vator Lotfi Hassan and his team workedon the reassembly of a number ofRameses III inscribed doorways for theMedinet Habu blockyard open-air muse-um. Staff photographer Yarko Kobyleckyassisted by Ellie Smith photographedmany of these groups for drawing, refer-ence, and publication. At the request ofthe Ministry of State for Antiquities,Yarko photographed the newly cleanedpaintings and reliefs of Ptolemy VIII in theQasr el Aguz Temple nearby. StonemasonFrank Helmholz and his crew cut and laidthe first course of newly quarried sand-stone blocks of the Domitian Gate (seeopposite and right), replacing blocks thatwere destroyed by groundwater saltdecay. They also cleaned and document-ed a small, fragmentary gate outside the

precinct from the time of EmperorClaudius that will be dismantled andrestored next season.

29

OPPOSITE PAGE

Mahmoud Abdel Haris cutting stoneat Medinet Habu, January 2013.

Photo: Frank Helmholz.

THIS PAGEABOVEConservators Nahed Samir and LotfiHassan with the finished Domitiangate lintel, 27th March 2013.

LEFTTina Di Cerbo digitally recordingChristian graffiti at Medinet Habu,March 2013.

Photos: Ray Johnson.



LUXOR TEMPLEDocumentation, collation, and analysiscontinued on the Thecla Church blockmaterial by architect Jay Heidel who con-centrated his efforts on the blocks ofArch Number 2 (see above). Jay alsodesigned the next three panels in a series

of educational panels in English andArabic for the temple precinct. Seniorepigrapher Brett McClain continued hisanalysis of the Bentresh block material –including new joins – in preparation fordrawing next season. Artist/EgyptologistKrisztián Vértes inaugurated the facsimile

RIGHT Jay Heidel digitally ‘inking’ an

inscribed granite block from LuxorTemple, March 2013.Photo: Ray Johnson.

BELOW LEFT Krisztián Vértes pencilling Roman

frescoes in the Imperial CultChamber, Luxor Temple,

January 2013.Photo: Yarko Kobylecky.

BELOW RIGHTMargaret De Jong and Brett

McClain review drawings at TT 107,on February 12th 2013.

Photo: Ray Johnson.



documentation (and digital inking) of thethird century AD Roman frescos andAmenhotep III reliefs in the Imperial CultChamber (see opposite, bottom left).Conservator Hiroko Kariya continuedmaintenance and conservation of thejoined, inscribed wall material in theLuxor Temple blockyard open-air muse-um. In late March structural engineerConor Power assessed the structure ofthe temple and found it stable, in largepart due to the effectiveness of theUSAID Egypt/MSA dewatering programthat has reduced the groundwater levelsfor Karnak and Luxor Temples.

THEBAN TOMB 107Documentation of the inscribed façade ofTT 107, the Theban Tomb of AmenhotepIII’s Malqata Palace Steward Nefersekheruwas finished this season, and will be col-lated next season (see opposite, bottomright). Boyo Ockinga and Susanne Binderundertook an architectural study of thefaçade of the tomb, including the originaldamaged entrance and later, possiblymediaeval, brick jambs built into it.

KHONSU TEMPLEDocumentation of the reused blocksembedded in the walls of Rameses III’sKhonsu Temple at Karnak continued,supervised by epigraphers Brett McClainand Jen Kimpton (see above and right).Of special focus was reused material thathas earlier inscribed decoration higher inthe walls, which relates to reused materi-al the Epigraphic Survey has already doc-

umented in the flooring and foundationsof the temple (in collaboration with theAmerican Research Center in Egypt),including examples from the reigns ofThutmose IV, Rameses II, and Sety II.

AcknowlegementsSincerest thanks to the inspectors withwhom we worked at all four sites and tothe Ministry of State for Antiquities(MSA), particularly former Minister ofState for Antiquities Dr. MohamedIbrahim, present Minister Dr. AhmedEissa, director of foreign missions Dr.Mohamed Ismail, and MSA Luxor DirectorDr. Mansour Boraik.

Ray Johnson

LEFTYarko Kobylecky photographingceiling blocks at Khonsu Temple onMarch 25th 2013.

Photo: Pia Kobylecky.

BELOWKeli Alberts drawing reused blocksat Khonsu Temple, April 2013.

Photo: Ray Johnson.




In the fifth century BC, Greek historian Herodotuswrote that the Egyptians were the first of the ancientpeoples to circumcise children. Unlike many practices

in the hierarchical society of ancient Egypt, this was notthe prerogative of the nobility or priesthood only. Itappears from the scant pictorial and textual evidence thatthis surgical procedure was carried out by priests, not doc-tors, which could explain why the operation is not men-tioned in medical texts, although it should be noted thatno text relating to priestly duties makes mention of thepractice either.

There is only one possible account of the operation, inthe Ebers Papyrus. However, it is based on a rather sus-pect translation by Bendix Ebbell:

“Remedy for a prepuce which is cut off and blood comes out ofit …”

Ebbell, in the above translation, ignores the determina-tive of a tree, and translates the word as ‘prepuce’ (fore-skin). Ebbell is now regarded as an over-enthusiastic anduncritical translator and therefore most of his interpreta-tions of the Ebers’ remedies should not be taken at facevalue. A more correct translation by later authors:

“Remedy for an acacia thorn if it is extracted and blood comesout of it.”

unfortunately cannot be used as evidence for circumcisionin the medical papyri. However, despite the lack of textu-al evidence in the medical papyri, there is no doubt thatcircumcision was carried out on boys in ancient Egypt;indeed it is likely to be the world’s oldest recorded opera-tion. It is believed to have originated in Egypt and later tohave been adopted by the Israelites and Phoenicians.

The ‘Battlefield Palette’, showing enemies of Egypt who are clearly circumcised. Now in the British Museum. Photo: RBP.

TO BBE OOR NNOT TTO BBE:TO BBE OOR NNOT TTO BBE:CIRCUMCISION IIN AANCIENT EEGYPT CIRCUMCISION IIN AANCIENT EEGYPT

Circumcision was practised in Ancient Egypt for more than fourthousand years, but finding evidence of it can be tricky.

Connie LLord investigates.

Lordcircumcisiona.qxd 24/07/2013 00:35

The earliest artistic evidence for cir-cumcision is in the form of a slatepalette, now housed in the BritishMuseum, the recto of which portrays alion attacking his enemies (see opposite).These enemies lay strewn throughoutthe image, naked and clearly circum-cised. It is dated to the Naqada III era (c.3500-3200 BC). Here it must be notedthat it is the enemies of Egypt that arecircumcised, not the Egyptians them-selves (Egypt here is represented by thelion; the people of Egypt are notshown). This perhaps adds to the argu-ment of some scholars that the practiceof circumcision travelled from north tothe south and not the other way around.However, from wherever it came, it isclear that circumcision was practised inEgypt by the Predynastic Period and oninto the Old Kingdom, when it was anextremely common, if not mandatory,practice.

Texts, sculptures and mummies fromEgypt show that babies did not undergothe operation; not a single boy wearingthe sidelock of youth hairstyle is showncircumcised, unlike the Hebrews who,from the time of their first patriarch, cir-cumcised male children at the age ofeight days. It is more likely that inancient Egypt the act was reserved foran initiation into manhood.

Many textual and artistic artefacts canbe used to understand circumcision inAncient Egypt. On a stela from Nagaed-Deir, dated to the First IntermediatePeriod, a man states “I was circumcisedtogether with 120 men”, suggesting thatan entire age group took part in a singleceremony. However, as time proceeds,this becomes scarce and any texts fromthe Middle Kingdom onwards usuallyconcentrate on a single boy.

Dated to the Old Kingdom (begin-ning of the Sixth Dynasty) is the famouswall scene from the tomb ofAnkhmahor (see above right), believed torepresent the operation of circumcisiontaking place. The scene shows a ka-priest carrying out the operation onboys aged about ten to twelve years old,suggesting that this is a religious rite.The prominent position of this scene onthe walls of Ankhmahor’s tomb suggeststhat it has special significance for thetomb owner, perhaps representing apivotal moment in either the life ofAnkhmahor himself or an initiationceremony for his sons. It has been pro-

posed that this scene is more surgical innature, portraying a life-saving proce-dure instead of a simple circumcision;the image on the left hand side of thescene may depict an attempt to reduce aparaphimosis (a condition in which aswollen and infected prepuce retractsand cannot be returned, causing greatdiscomfort and the possibility of gan-grene). Any act that saved Ankhmahor’slife or, just importantly, allowed him tofather offspring, would be deemed ofsufficient significance to adorn the tombwalls. This would explain why no othersuch scenes have been discovered in thethousands of tombs excavated. If so, thescene reflects a high level of medicalunderstanding and practice available ata very early stage of Ancient Egyptianurban life.

A similar scene of New Kingdom datecan be found at the Temple of Mut atKarnak (see below). It is very damagedand only the lower part of the sceneremains. It portrays two boys being heldfrom behind. In front of them, a man is


ABOVEThe so-called ‘circumcisionscene’ from the Old Kingdomtomb of Ankhmahor. This may represent the circumcision operation or anoperation on an infected fore-skin.

Drawing: Mary Hartley.

BELOWA New Kingdom scene in theTemple of Mut at Karnak whichmay also be a depiction of circumcision beingcarried out.

Drawing: Mary Hartley.


squatting and operating on the foremostboy. From the position of the scenewithin the Temple of Karnak, it is prob-ably that the boys shown are of the royalfamily.

Reliefs in Old Kingdom tombs oftenshow servants naked. In the tomb ofKagemni at Saqqara, for example thereare scenes showing naked fishermen,hippopotamus-hunters and men milkingcows. In each case the men appear tohave been circumcised (see above).Statues from the Old Kingdom alsodepict men and boys that have under-gone this rite of circumcision (see below).

While the famous Australiananatomist Grafton Elliot Smith deducedfrom his findings in the prehistoriccemetery of Naga ed-Deir that all adultAncient Egyptian men were circum-cised, it would appear that the practicebecame less common as time went on.Of the New Kingdom royal mummiesthat he examined, Amenhotep II,Thutmose IV and Rameses IV and Vwere circumcised, but Ahmose andAmenhotep I were not.

The reasons for the act of circumci-sion were, according to Herodotus,cleanliness and purity. He claims that

ABOVE RIGHTA milking scene from the walls

of the Old Kingdom tomb ofKagemni at Saqqara. The

servant on the left holding therope has been circumcised

Photo: RBP.

RIGHTOld Kingdom wooden

statuettes in the EgyptianMuseum, Cairo, again

showing that the subjects ofthe figures have been

circumcised. Photo: RBP.

OPPOSITE PAGEThe sphinx-like god Tutu, wor-

shipped at Kellis during theLate Period. A relief now in

Boston Museum. Photo: RBP.



the Egyptians “preferred purity to air”. This claim isgiven weight by a stela dating to the Twenty-FifthDynasty, which states that local rulers from the Deltafailed to gain an audience with the pharaoh Piankhbecause they were “uncircumcised and did eat fish”. Afifth ruler, Nimlot, was granted an audience because hewas “pure and did not eat fish”.

Dating to the second century AD, the Papyrus TebtunisII 292-293 states that circumcision was still a mandatorymeasure for priests to undergo in order to ensure theirpurity, even though the practice of circumcision mayhave waned over time.

Female circumcision in ancient Egypt is far more con-troversial and the evidence less certain. Today female cir-cumcision is carried out in strict secrecy; if this was alsothe case in Ancient Egypt, it could explain the lack ofevidence for the practice. A single textual source from theMiddle Kingdom has been used by some authors as evi-dence for female circumcision during the Pharaonic era.This inscription on the Twelfth Dynasty sarcophagus ofSit-hedj-hotep, currently housed in the Egyptian Museumof Cairo describes a magical spell in which a magician isactivated when he anoints himself with certain bodilysubstances from an uncircumcised girl and uncircumcisedbald man:

“But if a man wants to live, he should recite it [the spell] everyday, after his flesh has been rubbed with the balephd (translationunknown) of an uncircumcised (‘m’) girl and the flakes of skin ofan uncircumcised (‘m’) bald man.”

The idea that this text is evidence for female circumci-sion during the Pharaonic Period is heavily dependent onthe translation of ‘m’ meaning ‘uncircumcised’. Whilesome scholars agree with this translation, Faulkner, in hisrenowned Middle Egyptian dictionary, makes no mentionof it, instead translating ‘m’ as ‘smear’.

While Herodotus wrote of the practice of male circum-cision, he was silent on the idea of female circumcision inAncient Egypt. However, around 25 BC, the Greek geog-rapher Strabo visited Egypt and Kush and claimed thatone of the most zealously pursued customs was “to raiseevery child that is born and circumcise the males andexcise the females”. However, it is possible that he wascommenting on practices in the Kushite region, ratherthan those of Ancient Egypt. While textual evidence,albeit scant, may support the theory that female circum-cision was carried out in Ancient Egypt, it must be notedthat no female mummy has thus far displayed evidence ofthis practice.

In an evaluation of twenty-seven male mummies fromthe Ptolemaic/Early Roman Period Kellis 1 cemetery inthe Dakhla Oasis, nine were confirmed as circumcised.Within this group, the ages ranged from approximatelyfifteen to fifty years, matching the belief that it was seenas a rite to be taken at the end of childhood. Males underthe age of eleven show no evidence of circumcision, whilein the ‘uncircumcised’ older males, circumcision couldnot be definitely confirmed and so was concluded asbeing absent. While no specific age can be attached to the

practice, most writers refer to its being carried out in thesecond decade of life. The fact that only a third of themale mummies had been conclusively circumcised mayconfirm the observation that circumcision was not aswidespread during the Graeco-Roman Period as it was inearlier times; however, it was certainly not an uncommonpractice. Although the Dakhla Oasis was home to a largenumber of Roman settlers, those buried in the Kellis 1Cemetery were most likely of Egyptian descent, as theRomans did not believe in circumcision; the EmperorHadrian (117- 138 CE) likening it to castration and out-lawed both.

According to some scholars, by the Roman Period cir-cumcision had waned in popularity, being mandatoryonly for priests. While it would be a leap to suppose thatall nine Kellis 1 mummies had been priests, it is certainlypossible that one or two of the nine had been, as Kellishad a large temple complex dedicated to the god Tutu (seeabove), a protective god worshipped by ordinary people.

While not plentiful, there is textual, artistic and physicalevidence for the surgical procedure of circumcisionthroughout the history of Egypt. Hopefully, as morearchaeological information is uncovered, further conclu-sions regarding this practice will also come to light.

CCoonnnniiee LLoorrddConni Lord completed her Ph.D. in Egyptology in 2012 at the KNHCentre for Biomedical Egyptology, at the University ofManchester. Her thesis concentrated on the anthropologicalevaluation and histological examination of 49 mummies from theKellis 1 Cemetery in the Dakhla Oasis. She currently works in theNicholson Museum within the University of Sydney, Australia.

FFuurrtthheerr RReeaaddiinnggBAILEY E. (1996) “Circumcision in Ancient Egypt.” Bulletin of the

Australian Centre for Egyptology, 7, pp. 15-28.

SPIGELMAN M. (1997) “The Circumcision Scene in the Tomb ofAnkhmahor: The first record of emergency surgery.” Bulletinof the Australian Centre for Egyptology, 8, pp. 91-99.



Ancient Egyptian terracotta funerary cones are proba-bly amongst the least collected amongst the smallerEgyptian antiquities that carry names, and they have

been hardly noticed academically. Despite this, they areamongst the most important smaller Egyptian antiquitiesthat can produce extremely invaluable information. Theyusually take the form of a tapering terracotta cone with aflat circular end carrying an inscription in relief, and thereare some rare examples with a square end. They are gener-ally 10-12 inches (25.5x30.5 cms) long, and most of themare found broken, either in antiquity or more recently tomake them easier to dispose of or transport (see a completecone, number 420, above). Flinders Petrie recorded how, in1887, he had broken or sawn off the long ends for con-venience, and he thus “reduced a collection of 250 exam-ples to a more manageable bulk”. The circular flat end faceis around four inches (10cms) in diameter. Most examplesare from Thebes and date to the New Kingdom, DynastiesEighteen to Twenty, although there are some later examplesof Twenty-sixth Dynasty date (see Mentuemhat, below).What they represent has been a matter of some debatealthough the general opinion is that they represent slim

loaves of bread. Their actual use was apparently to beinserted in rows, narrow end first and butt end facing out-wards, above the entrance to a private tomb chapel. Onlya few have been found or seen in situ, and there are evenfewer representations in tomb paintings of them in positionover the doorway, where fairly large numbers appear tohave been ranged, sometimes in two rows, above theentrance (see below).

The importance of these mundane and hardly attractiveobjects lies in the amount of information they can provide.Larger examples can have quite decorative representationson them in relief flanking the inscriptions. Many simplyhave the name of the owner and his occupation but thelarger examples provided for more illustrious people givenot only the name of the tomb owner, his rank, titles andoccupation but often also details of his immediate family.They form an incredibly useful source of information for the

“The Name’s Over The Door”Ancient EEgyptian FFunerary CCones

Peter Clayton looks at a neglected and often overlooked, but importantsource of information from Egyptian antiquity.


Line drawing of a wall painting in the Theban tomb (no. 181) ofNebamun and Ipuky, showing four rows of cones inserted above the

doorway. Despite the evidence of this painting, no funerary coneshave been found belonging to the two men, who were both sculptors

in the reigns of Amenhotep III and IV (Akhenaten). The highly-coloured wall paintings from the tomb appear in many books on

Ancient Egyptian art. After Dibley & Lipkin, p. 4.

A complete cone (no. 420) of Mentuemhat, Fourth Prophet of Amun;Theban Tomb 34. Length 26cms.

On it he records his wife’s name, “the Lady of the House Shepenmut”.

AEConesa.qxd 24/07/2013 02:13

prosopography [the investigation of the common charac-teristics] of the tomb owners at Thebes.

How the inscriptions were produced is an intriguing ques-tion. Some of the cones, especially the multi-linear ones,are quite incredibly detailed. Most of the inscriptionsappear on the cones in relief and so they were presumablyreproduced from some kind of incuse die or matrix. Theobvious method of production would be to cut the inscrip-tion incuse [as an inverse image] on a flat surface, possiblya hard wood (rather like modern woodcuts are carved fromboxwood) to give the positive in the wet terracotta beforeit was fired. However, no such dies in any material areknown to have survived.

The major reference work on the cones was, until recent-ly, A Corpus of Inscribed Egyptian Funerary Cones by N. deGaris Davies and edited by M. F. Laming Macadam, pub-lished in 1957. This consisted of ‘Part 1, Plates’ only; Part 2was never published. This large and unwieldy book, itmeasures 17¾ x 14 inches (45 x 35.5 cms, not an easy sizefor book shelves), has four hand-written pages of Prefaceand 45 plates featuring line drawings of the faces of 611cones at actual size, an Index A of “Names of Persons” (inorder of their transliterated names), and Index B of “Titlesand Epithets” (similarly ordered as Appendix A). On theplates, the line drawings are arranged in order first by thosehaving seven vertical lines of inscription, reducing in orderto single inscriptions (1-369), then by those with horizontallines of inscription (370-578), and the last group of cones(579-611) feature those having figures with their inscrip-tions. Only one cone (no. 1) has even lines, a ‘scribe of allthe precious stones’ named Merymaat, who includes hisfather and mother’s names, yet his tomb is unknown. It isthus relatively easy to identify a cone from the drawings,the problem arises when collating it to either of Macadam’sindexes if one is not conversant with reading transliteratedinscriptions – it often comes down to scanning the indexesuntil the cone’s number is spotted, and then the owner’sname and any titles can be identified, but they are still intheir transliterated form. It is obviously not the easiest wayof identifying a cone if one is only a tyro.

A new publication, A Compendium of Egyptian FuneraryCones, by Gary Dibley and Bron Lipkin, has done a greatservice in making the identification of cones far easier andhas gone a long way to make them accessible to those whodon’t read Ancient Egyptian, even in transliteration (seeright) The book size is far more manageable than Macadam(11¾ x 8¼ inches, 95 x 21 cms). The original 611 Macadamdrawings have been reproduced to a more manageablesmaller size, their sequence of numbering is retained andthe numbering extended with newly attested cones to 627,many not previously, or obscurely, published. When G.Daressy published his list in 1893 only about 299 coneswere drawn. This book goes far beyond Macadam with itsfour sections that comprise the story of the cones, thereproductions from Macadam, the new cones, and adetailed tabulation following the cone numbering andincluding full details regarding it, the owner, a tomb loca-tion and number (if known) and date. The really great valuein the book lies in the entries for each cone, old and new,where a full translation of the inscription is given, the lack

An unusual triangular-shaped cone with four impressions, two on eachside, for User, an ‘Offering-bearer of Amun’. Cone no. 51, complete

length 22cm. Tomb unknown. Courtesy of Dr. Bron Lipkin.

The cover of Dibley and Lipkin’s book. Of the seven cones on thecover, tombs are known for only three of them: top row, left, cone

476 of Horemheb, TT 78; middle, far right, cone 201 of Pehusukker,TT 88, and bottom row, left, cone 398 of Nebamun, TT 90.


AEConesa.qxd 24/07/2013 02:15


of which reduced much of the value ofMacadam’s lists. The two indexes (inEnglish, as against Macadam’s listing bytransliteration order) give names, titles,epithets and other formulas with theirtransliterations against them – the rightway round to make the book, and there-by the cones, more accessible. JulieMasquelier-Loorius has provided theseinvaluable cone translations.

Funerary cones have so much informa-tion to offer yet they have largely beenignored because of lack of interest

through difficulty of access. The simplestinformation given on a cone is the raisedrelief inscription of the owner’s name andtitles, but that is not the end of the story.The majority of the cones come from theWest Bank at Thebes (Luxor) and so, sinceit is known that their use was to be setabove the doorway of the tomb, the nextquestion is “Where was the tomb?”, andthat is where the pursuit starts. In manyinstances in the catalogue entries inDibley and Lipkin, under ‘Tomb Number’it reads: “Tomb unknown”. Porter andMoss (Theban Necropolis, Private Tombs,1999) listed 408 tombs plus 48 withoutofficial numbers – these latter are largelyonly known from references in earlier(mainly nineteenth century) literature,and are now lost. Hopefully, some ofthem may be rediscovered as theAntiquities Service clearance of the vil-lage of Qurna above the tombs continuesand they relocate the modern inhabitants(see Kees van der Spek, The ModernNeighbors of Tutankhamun. History, Lifeand Work in the Villages of the ThebanWest Bank [2011], reviewed inANCIENT EGYPT, vol. 12, April/May2012, pp. 48-9).

Simple mathematics show that given627 known cones, and 456 listed tombs,there are at least 171 tombs awaiting dis-covery on the West Bank at Thebes. Amajor example here is the tomb ofNebamun with its splendid wall paintingsnow in their own gallery in the BritishMuseum; its location is still presentlyunknown. Of the ten Nebamuns knownfrom funerary cones, three haveunknown tombs but none of their titlesequate with those of the BritishMuseum’s Nebamun who was ‘Scribeand Grain-Accountant in the Granary ofDivine [Offerings of Amun]’ – curiouslyquite a lowly position for one who hadsuch splendid paintings in his tomb. Itdoes seem strange that there are nocones known for him, but are they, onewonders, still in situ above the door ofhis, yet to be re-found, tomb?

Following up on names from the basicsimple inscriptions on some cones can bedifficult; some might be found in thedetailed listing of people with their titleor job by Herman Ranke in his magisteri-al Die ägyptischen Personennamen (2vols, 1935-52), but without such infor-mation on the cone it is difficult to asso-ciate them with a specific tomb (see topleft).

BELOW Cone of Merymose (no. 170, TT383), King’s Son [i.e. Viceroy] ofKush, and presumably a son of

Amenhotep III by one of his manyminor wives.

ABOVECone of Aakheperka (no. 103),

weapon-bearer of Aakheperkara(Thutmose I, 1524-1518 BC). His

name incorporates part of the king’sthrone name and has his cartouche.

The tomb is unknown.

38

AEConesa.qxd 24/07/2013 02:18

The cones that really produce anincredible amount of information arethose with longer inscriptions. In a num-ber of cases cones are not only producedin large quantities, as they needed to beif they were forming one or even tworows above a doorway, but a man mighthave a number made giving several varia-tions of his rank and titles and manyother details. For Sobekmose (TT 275), aquite lowly wab priest with a simple hor-izontal two-line cone (no. 501), there aresome 300 known examples. Amongst themost interesting, and one of the mostnumerous of the simply named cones, isthat of Merymose (TT 383, cone no. 170)(see opposite, bottom). His three verticallines cone reads: “Honoured by Osiris,King’s son of Kush, Merymose”. He isidentified in Porter and Moss as a son ofAmenhotep III, his title being one oftenborne by royal sons. The lid of his splen-didly carved black granite inner sarcopha-gus (see top right) was an early entry intothe collections of the British Museum(accession no. 1001, displayed in the cen-tre of the Egyptian Stone gallery), and healso had a similar carved outer coffin,fragments of which are also in the BritishMuseum. It is curious that, sinceMerymose was of high status and hadsuch a very large number of funerarycones, they are not more detailed.

One of the most prolific providers offunerary cones was Mentuemhat, FourthProphet of Amun. His tomb (TT 34) is notonly the largest in the Theban necropolis,it is the most prominent one, with its highupstanding mud brick walls near to theHeritage Centre at Deir el-Bahri; it is alsoamongst the latest historically to providefunerary cones. Mentuemhat held highoffice (despite the apparent lowliness ofhis priestly title) in the Twenty-sixthDynasty in the reigns of Taharqo (690-664) and Psamtek I (664-610). As Mayorof Thebes he was almost de facto ruler inthe most important area of Ancient Egyptat the time. His cones are known withfourteen variations of details bearing hisname. His many titles, other than ‘FourthProphet of Amun’, variously include‘Hereditary Prince’, ‘Scribe of the DivineTemple’, ‘Count’, ‘Chancellor’, and‘Count of the City’. The names of hisimmediate family that feature on hiscones include his mother, Asetemakhbit(cone 411) and his father Nesptah (486[see overleaf, top]); his son Nesuptah(485 [see overleaf, centre] by his wife

Nesykhonsu), and the names of his fourwives: Nesykhonsu (409, 419, and 485that names his son as Nesuptah),Astemakhbit (410), Wedjarenes (418,and 472 naming her son Pasherienmut),Shepenmut (420). A particularly fine cone(604) has two kneeling figures ofMentuemhat, one each side of two verti-cal panels of hieroglyphs below the sunbarque of Ra (see overleaf, bottom). Herehis title is ‘Overseer of the Southern City’,i.e. Thebes. Mentuemhat’s cones showthat he obviously was someone of incred-ibly high status.

Funerary cones are major sources ofinformation about the nobility and higherranks of officialdom at Thebes and are,hopefully, with the possible discovery oflong lost tombs, set to be a major addi-tion to our knowledge of New KingdomThebes.

Peter A. Clayton

Peter is a freelance lecturer andEgyptologist who has lectured onMediterranean cruises and in Egypt forover forty years. The author of over adozen books on the ancient world, hisbook Chronicle of the Pharaohs is avail-able in fifteen languages.

Further ReadingGary Dibley & Bron Lipkin, A

Compendium of Egyptian FuneraryCones 2009. vii + 302 pp, 23 colourpls, 1 map. (Paperback, £65).

All photos by the author unless otherwise indicated.

ABOVEThe granite inner sarcophagus ofMerymose, now in the BritishMuseum.

Photo: SG.


AEConesa.qxd 24/07/2013 02:19

TOP This cone, no. 486, is one of the

many 14-variant cones ofMentuemhat (TT. 34), and names

his dead father Nesptah, recordingthat he preceded him in the office

of ‘Count of the City’.

CENTRE Another of Mentuemhat’s variantcones (no. 485, TT 34) that here

records his eldest son Nesuptah byhis wife Nesykhonsu (deceased) and

his own elevated title of ‘Overseerof Upper Egypt’.

BOTTOM This cone of Mentuemhat (no. 604,TT 34) shows him worshipping the

sun barque of Ra, and is an exampleof the 33 pictorial cones known. 25 of the pictorial cones have no

known tomb.


AEConesa.qxd 24/07/2013 02:21


Aimed primarily at academics special-ising in this field, anyone interested inthe writings of the Ancient Egyptianswill discover something of interest inthis volume, a series of papers fromthe 2006 International Conferenceheld in Oxford to review the rapiddevelopment in the theoretical frame-work of interpretation of writtentexts.

The study of Ancient Egyptian liter-ature (including poetry, biography andtomb inscriptions) had until recentlyconcentrated to a large degree ondeciphering hieroglyphs and drawingout useful background about historicalreality; literary theory has beenapplied to a far lesser extent whencompared to other ancient languages,and can be problematic with Egyptiantexts due to the fragmentary nature ofmuch of the material.

The first three papers discuss theo-retical-based studies on Biblical,Classical and Mesopotamian literatureto give a broader overview of currentstudies in literature, before focusing onAncient Egyptian texts in ten paperscovering a range of studies, includinga comparison of mortuary and liter-ary laments (Roland Enmarch), thesocial context of texts and their “fic-tional historical identity” (FredrikHagen) and sensuous experience, per-formance and presence in ThirdIntermediate Period biographies(Elizabeth Frood).

One highlight is Verena Lepper’spaper on the analysis of genre usinglexicostatistical tools; while appearingto be very mathematical, her analysisof thirty different types of text fromdifferent periods (for length of text,richness of vocabulary and frequencyof word occurrence) allows differenttexts, even fragmentary, to be groupedinto particular genres such as religioustext, poetry or teachings, and heranalysis of the performances of sometexts (carried out on translations inher native German) demonstrate the‘entertainment factor’, highlightingthat recreating the performance – theact of reading out loud – plays a criti-cal role in the better understanding ofAncient Egyptian texts.

SG

The wealthy Apion family ofOxyrhynchus were one of the mostpowerful families in the later RomanEmpire, with Apion II attaining theEmpire’s highest honour, the ordinaryconsulship, in AD 539 at a very youngage (less than twenty, possibly onlyten!). The family’s wealth came fromtheir estate in Oxyrhynchus, which iswell documented in a series of papyriand in other foreign sources, and sooften used by scholars studying theeconomy and society of late antiqueEgypt.

In this work, Todd Hickey focuseson the estate’s wine production in hisinvestigation of ancient economic

practices, and overturns current theo-ries in this area that suggest noblefamilies such as the Flavii Apioneswere becoming more powerful at theexpense of the central state. Heargues that the size of the ‘greatestate’ used for previous research istoo large (confirming a previoushypothesis by Jean Gascou made in1985); he recalculates the areas of theestate that were used in wine produc-tion, the amount of labour requiredand makes use of the wine steward’sdetailed accounts to trace the move-ment of wine into and out of theestate. He concludes that the size ofthe estate is much smaller than hasbeen previously proposed and that thecontribution of wine production tothe economy of the estate would havebeen marginal (giving a marketablesurplus of about 25%); the mainincome was from rents from tenants,while the principal crop of the directlyworked land was fodder intended forinternal consumption and taxes.

The work is clearly aimed at aca-demics, with many chapter notes, cita-tions and in-depth appendices (includ-ing tables of the raw data used); ahead for maths and knowledge ofwritten Greek would also be useful.Although controversial, Hickey’s find-ings may now lead to a reassessmentof the economics of late antique peri-od in Egypt and the ByzantineEmpire.

SG

BBOOOOKK RREEVVIIEEWWSSAncient EEgyptianLiterature: TTheory aandPracticeedited by Rolan Enmarch &Verena M. Lepper.Oxford University Press, 2013.ISBN 978-0-19-726542-0Hardback, £70.

A NNew IInterpretation oofthe CCone oon tthe HHead iinNew KKingdom EEgyptianTomb SScenesBAR IInternational SSeries 22431by Joan Padgham.Archeopress, 2012.ISBN 978-1-4073-1030-5.Paperback, £31.

Wine, WWealth, aand ttheState iin LLate AAntiqueEgypt: TThe HHouse oofApion aat OOxyrhynchusby T.M.Hickey.The University of Michigan Press,2012.ISBN 978 - 0 - 472 - 11812 - 0Hardback, £59.50.

AEreviews79.qxd 23/07/2013 11:41


The dome-shaped cone seen on theheads of people depicted in tombscenes from the New Kingdomonwards is usually thought to eitherdepict a mass of solid perfumedesigned to melt over the head andbody, or to symbolize the wearing ofsuch unguent. In this latest BarInternational volume, Joan Padghamsets out to test this theory by recordingover a thousand scenes from 154 NewKingdom tombs and analysing the fre-quency of the cone’s appearance andthe types of scenes in which itappears, from the early EighteenthDynasty through to the end of theTwentieth Dynasty, focusing in partic-ular on three key ‘cone’ scenes: theopening of the mouth, the gold ofhonour and the banquet ceremonies.She presents a logical and scientificanalysis that is also enjoyable to read,and includes a review of the currentliterature, tables of data and an exten-sive bibliography to keep the seriousstudent happy. And her conclusion?The cone symbolises the ba of thetomb owner, summoned to receiveofferings, and developed in responseto the increasing importance attachedto the ba in the afterlife of the non-royal elite throughout the NewKingdom. A fascinating study. [Butsee the findings of Jolana Bos of theAmarna Project on p. 6 of this issue! –Ed.]

SG

Ninety years ago, the discovery ofTutankhamun lying in his near-intact

tomb in the Valley of the Kingschanged the face of Egyptology forev-er. The excavation attracted unprece-dented media attention which stimu-lated a world-wide interest in the lateEighteenth Dynasty royal family;interest which has been re-ignited atregular intervals by a series of world-wide tours featuring Tutankhamun’sgrave goods and, most recently, by ahighly-publicised in-depth study of theroyal mummies which included DNAanalysis. It seems highly likely thatmany readers of this review (plus thereviewer herself) were first introducedto Ancient Egypt by Tutankhamun asportrayed on television.

And here we have a paradox.Because we have become over-familiarwith Tutankhamun and his “wonder-ful things” to the extent that we nolonger see their potential, and becausethe mass media insists on providing uswith slick and easy answers to com-plex and in many cases unanswerablequestions, we assume that we know allthat there is to know about the kingand his family. When it comes topotentially baffling science we tend toaccept, unquestioningly, what we aretold by television, even though weknow that television programmes arecreated worlds where doubts anduncertainties can simply be ignored.Fortunately, science journalist JoMarchant is not prepared to acceptwhat she is told without examining theunderlying evidence. As she states: “itseems that Egyptology, as sold to thepublic, is sometimes not so far frombeing show business.”

The Shadow King was directly inspiredby the Discovery Channel broadcastKing Tut Unwrapped – declared by ZahiHawass to be “the last word” onTutankhamun – and by the intenseacademic debate which this pro-gramme stimulated, which went large-ly unreported. Marchant, with a Ph.D.in genetics, is well placed to strip thisstory back to its bare bones, and toguide us through a mass of scientificevidence. In so doing, she tells a fasci-nating story which, quite rightly, pres-ents us with facts and interpretationsrather than certainties.

Joyce TTyldesley

Joyce is the author of Tutankhamen’sCurse: The developing History of anEgyptian King, which is published in theUSA as Tutankhamen: the Search for anEgyptian King.

This fourth volume from the AsyutProject reports on the continued workof the joint Egyptian/German teamat Asyut, in Middle Egypt and is theresult of Jan Moje’s work in trackingdown and publishing the ushabti fig-ures found at the site during the earlytwentieth century excavations ofDavid George Hogarth, Ahmed BeyKamal and Ernesto Schiaparelli,much of which remains unpublished.All are catalogued here with photo-graphs and full descriptions includingprovenance, current location, and texttranslations, together with introducto-ry chapters on the early excavationwork and an analysis of materials,chronology, dating and iconography. Acomprehensive bibliography is includ-ed, with index covering names andtitles, museum inventory numbers andprovenances.

SG

The SShadow KKing: TTheBizarre AAfterlife oof KKingTut’s MMummyby Jo Marchant.Da Capo Press, 2013.ISBN 9-780306-821332Hardback £17.99/$26.99.

bbooookk rreevviieewwssThe AAsyut PProject 44: The UUshebtis FFrom EEarlyExcavations iin ttheNecropolis oof AAsyutby Jan Moje.Harrassowitz Verlag, 2013.ISBN 9-783447-069199Paperback, €29.80.

SSppeecciiaall OOffffeerr!!The TTomb oof MMaya aandMeryt VVol 11: EES EExcavation MMemoir 999bbyy GGeeooffffrreeyy TThhoorrnnddiikkeeMMaarrttiinn(reviewed in AE78) is available toAE readers at a special discountprice of £40 (normal price £80 or£68 to EES members). Just sendyour name and address, quoting‘AE Readers’ Offer’, with chequefor £40 + £6.50 UK p.&p. to:Book OrdersThe Egypt Exploration Society3 Doughty MewsLondon WC1N 2PG

For non-UK postage, please contact the EES.

AEreviews79.qxd 23/07/2013 11:44


This handy app for the iPad is anaccurately mapped three-dimensionalreconstruction of the Giza plateauthat allows you to immerse yourself inthe monuments without getting cov-ered in sand and sweat. The computermodels were built by Sandro Vanninibased on hundreds of his high-resolu-tion photographs.

A swipe of your finger will allowyou to fly through and around thepyramids and tombs, giving you agreat aerial view of the landscape (seebelow).

A quick tap zooms in on the sphinx,the small pyramid of Khentkawes orthe boat pits alongside the GreatPyramid or tap on one of the pyra-mids to enter and explore the shafts,chambers and galleries.

Enter and explore eight OldKingdom tombs including those ofQar, Idu, Tjetu and Meresankh (seebelow).

You have the option of a guidedtour – with audio commentary fromEgyptologist Bram Calcoen – or youcan wander around at your leisure, agreat way to get the feel of the tomblayout, moving about with a swipe ofthe finger. Tap on a relief to see it in

close up; some allow you to choosebetween the image as it appears nowand a restored version in colour ofhow it may have looked when firstpainted; others switch from the digitalrecreation to Sandro Vannini’s photo-graphs of the same view.

To find out more about the tombs,pyramids and reliefs, click on the smallplus signs for pop-up text captions (seebelow) or switch to the specially written

book by Zahi Hawass to read aboutthe Old Kingdom, the pyramidbuilders and the legacy of Giza.There are also forty objects includingthe Narmer palette, the statuette ofKhufu and the statue of the dwarfSeneb which you can spin around toview from every angle; a quick tapbrings up text explaining more abouteach object.

I have a couple of niggles: some ofthe objects chosen have nothing to dowith the Giza plateau (Tutankhamun’sdeath mask for example) and couldcause confusion, and it would be help-ful to include dates and the currentlocation of objects in the accompany-ing texts; the double statue and falsedoor in the west chamber of theTomb of Meresankh is missing andthere is disappointingly little to dowhen ‘visiting’ the Sphinx. Perhapsfuture updates could be released tocorrect these problems and add to thenumber of tombs and objects avail-able to explore; a version for androidtablets would be most welcome.

But this really is nit-picking; the appis beautifully presented, simple to useand is an excellent way to exploreGiza without actually being there!

This is a free app built by JaromirKrejci of the Czech Institute ofEgyptology at Charles University inPrague, based on excavation work car-ried out by the University at Abusir,and allows you to fly through a com-puter model reconstruction of thehypostyle hall of King Raneferef ofthe Fifth Dynasty.

You can explore the hall as it wouldhave looked when first built with high-ly coloured columns lit by flickeringoil lamps – (see above), moving aroundby swiping the screen, or watchingone of the two fly-through videos, thesecond showing the hall as it appearedfive hundred years after its construc-tion (see below). There is also a photo-

graphic slideshow (annotated inEnglish and Czech) with images ofthe excavated site (which includes anunfinished pyramid and the mortuarytemple of which the reconstructed hallis part), the reconstructed model, floorplans and statues of the king found onsite.

A misspelling in the full title of thisapp Acient Egypt Virtual 3D InteractiveArchaeology: The Raneferef ’s Hypostyle Halland some spelling oddities throughoutthe text are likely to have been causedby problems in translation, but thataside, it’s a fun, interactive explorationof an important Old Kingdom struc-ture.

If you’ve come across an interesting Egypt-related

app or interactive website, please let us know by

email or post!

Pyramids 33Dby Touch Press.App for iPad: £9.99.

AAppppss ffoorr EEggyyppttoollooggyy

TheRaneferef’sHypostyle HHallby Corinth.Free app forandroid, iPhoneand iPad.

Sarah GGriffiths ttries ooutthe llatest iin mmobileEgyptology aapplications

AEreviews79.qxd 23/07/2013 11:47


The DiscoveryThe story begins in 1840 when Anthony Charles Harris, aBritish merchant and commissariat official in Alexandria(also discoverer of the famous Harris papyri), notes the pres-ence of two statues east of the walled city; the discovery isreported three years later in what is probably the first ‘guidebook’ of Egypt: Modern Egypt and Thebes; including theinformation required for travellers in that county written byG. Wilkinson in 1843. Part of the description as given byWilkinson reads:

“About ¾ of a mile beyond the French lines, whichcover the ancient wall and the Canopic gate, are twogranite statues discovered by Mr. Harris, apparentlyone of the Ptolemies, or of a Roman emperor, and hisqueen, in the Egyptian style. One has the form ofOsiris, the other of Isis or of Athor (sic), with the hornsand globe, and a diadem of asps, on her head”.

Wilkinson ends its description with this information:

AA PPTTOOLLEEMMAAIICC BBUUSSTT IINN MMAARRIIEEMMOONNTT MMUUSSEEUUMM::TTHHEE DDEETTEECCTTIIVVEE SSTTOORRYY

Continuing AAEE’s series of articles about the work of Belgian Egyptologists,RRaayymmoonndd BBeettzz will be describing in a later edition the latest results of

archaeological research carried out at Smouha, Alexandria, by MMaarriiee-CCéécciilleeBBrruuwwiieerr of the Mariemont Museum, research carried out in cooperation with theEgyptian Ministry of State for Antiquities and the Centre d’Études Alexandrines.

He begins here by summarising the history behind the identification of a threemetre-high statue in the Museum that might represent Cleopatra VII.

ABOVE: A ‘Google Earth’ image showing the location of the Smouha excavation site in Alexandria, The Smouha distict is now almost completely built-up. Image: © Google Earth.

AEDetective.qxd 24/07/2013 03:15

“Other granite blocks, and theremains of columns at this spot,show it to have been the site ofsome consequence”.

We will see later the importance of thissentence at the start of the Smouha exca-vations.

Richard Lepsius, a couple of years later,when he disembarks in Alexandria,reports (on p.2 of his Denkmäler):

“In front of the Rosetta wall door,after half an hour walk, right of theroad to Rosetta and Abukir, approx-imately 100 feet left of the irrigationcanal of Ibrahim-Pacha, lie twocolossal statues in black granite, aRoman Emperor, as it seems, or avery late Ptolemaïc, and his spouse,both treated in a colossal way …”.

The most interesting point is thatLepsius gives in the supplementary vol-ume of plates (numbered 1a and b) twodrawings (by J.J. Frey) of the statues. Thesecond drawing is without any doubt, thethree metre-high bust which hangs nowon a concrete wall of the MariemontMuseum (see photo right).

So, the first question raised about thisstatue is answered: its origin. Now, whathappened to it between 1840 and 1912when it arrived in Belgium? Here also, thestory has some easily verified elementsand some more obscure ones. The firstelement is archived in the GriffithInstitute in Oxford, within the Wilkinsonarchives (Mss. XVII H. 39-41). It is a letterwritten in Cairo on October 1842 by J.Bonomi to G. Wilkinson, where one cansee some drawings of other parts of thestatues; he writes:

“My dear Sir Gardner, Mr. Harris, our mutual friend, men-tioned to me that you desired tohave the measure of the fragmentscomposing the statues (found [orbelonging to him]) situated in afield in a NEly direction about 20minutes (donkey pace) from theRosetta Gate, Alexandria. The stat-ues are made of black granite.”

Under this text, on the left-hand side ofthe letter, are five rough drawings repre-senting: the masculine head of thePtolemy, showing a row of locks roundthe margin of the cap; the hemhem


The female bust, three metres in height,discovered by Harris in Alexandria and

now displayed on the walls of theMariemont Museum in Belgium.

©Musée royal de Mariemont. Photo: M. Lechien.


crown, often found on late Ptolemaicstatues; the left part of the king’s chest, aportion of the lower body, covered by aloincloth, and part of the right leg; andfinally, the left leg (see above). On theright-hand half of the letter, Bonomidrew two pieces of the feminine part ofthe sculpture: the head and bust now inMariemont, and part of the back pilasterand a ?leg.

Enclosed with the letter are two finedrawings which confirm the Lepsius/Freyplates. The text on the back of Bonomi’smessage runs as follows:

“The most remarkable circumstanceconnected with these statues is thatthe head of the male statue has apicturesque series of locks round themargin of the cap, no beard,Egyptian or Greek, and no rightarm. There are no hieroglyphsunless indeed on these parts of thefragments hidden by the earthabout them which in the hasty visitwe paid could not be removed.”

Left for decades in the Alexandrianmarshes, and seen by some travellers, themale statue was removed and saved byan unknown benefactor, and arrivedfinally in the Graeco-Roman Museumbefore 1907, as is mentioned in a paperby B. van de Walle.

The Journey Made by the Female Part of the StatueFrom the beginning, it was clear that thetwo statues belonged to the same dyad:they are carved from the same type ofstone, are of the same historical period,and were found in the same location. Theearly travellers (see, for example, theWilkinson description) immediately

ABOVEDrawing of the rough sketchesappearing in Bonomi’s letter to

Gardner Wilkinson.Drawing: JPP.

BELOWA map of ancient Alexandria,

showing the location of theTemple of Ceres and

Proserpina.Map: Peter Robinson.



described them as Osiris and Isis.Mahmoud-Bey, in his Mémoire sur l’an-tique Alexandrie … published in 1872,speaks of a great temple, of which onecan still see different parts in the saltywaters of Lake Hadra. To be precise, hesays:

“This temple is situated at a location180 metres to the north-west of apoint on the road to Canopy, whichis 700 metres outside the Canopicgate [of Alexandria]. It has a widthof approximately four plethra* anda length of one stade in a directionwhich is parallel to the street direc-tion; one still sees today a numberof statue pedestals in their originallocations, capitals, parts of brokencolumns, all in red granite. But whatdraws the visitor’s attention are thetwo colossal statues of which one isCleopatra, broken in three parts, asis the other one that is thought tobe Antony”.

Of course, this site must have been usedas a quarry for a long time. The town wasexpanding at a great rate, and in the sec-ond half of the nineteenth century,stones would be invaluable for all typesof house construction.

Dr. Neroutsos-Bey, originally a medicaldoctor who soon became interested inEgyptology (see Further Reading 1), alsoreported the disappearance of both stat-ues, in an announcement made by him in1875 at the Institut Égyptien, (see FurtherReading 2 and 3):

“The last traces of the ruins of thetemple of Ceres and Proserpina inEleusis, called today Khâdra, withthe colossi of Antony and Cleopatraas Osiris and Isis, of which the debriswere lying on the ground, have dis-appeared”.

In fact, following a study made by himon the female statue (see Further Reading4), Baudouin van de Walle mentions thatboth statues might have been buried insand – which could explain their disap-pearance mentioned by Neroutsos-Bey –and their re-discovery in 1892-1893. This

time it was Daninos Pacha, the well-known archaeologist and antiquarian,who, while excavating near Alexandriamade them reappear from their burialplace. No report on the work done byDaninos Pacha, which could allow a fullassessment of this rediscovery, has yetbeen identified. However, in Revue d'É-gypte 1895, p. 797, there is a specificmention of this event:

“His Excellency Daninos Pacha hasjust discovered a statue in Khadra orEleusis [a suburb of Alexandria]: it isprecisely the one that decorates thetemple of Ceres and Proserpina [seethe map opposite, bottom] It is ofcolossal dimensions as indicated bythe legend, and has the attributes ofIsis.”

This discovery quickly reached G.Maspero, head of the Antiquities Service,because he made a report about this stat-ue in Paris (Académie des Inscriptions etBelles-Lettres) in 1897:

“The photography, of which I havethe honour to submit one copy tothe Academy, represents the head ofa Ptolemaic queen, represented asIsis; another fragment representstwo clasped hands, one of a man,another of a woman. It is all thatremains from the colossi discoveredby Mahmoud-Pacha-el-Falaki, inAlexandria, in the old suburb ofEleusis, and already described thirtyyears ago …”

N.B. the important mention of two hands(see below). He further notes:

“The pieces of the masculine colossusare today [in 1899] on the embank-ment of the railway …”.

The Murray Handbook – Egypt edited in1896 places this discovery in 1895, andmentions two heads (see FurtherReading 6) .

It is also known that Daninos Pacha didtransport the bust of Cleopatra to his villain Aboukir; a mention by E. Breccia in1907 testifies to this location (see FurtherReading 7).

However, in the same year, 1907, thefeminine bust and the masculine headare mentioned as still lying in a field at adistance of five hundred yards south of


*The plethron (pl. plethra) was a measure of length usedin antiquity, corresponding to one sixth of a stade (onestade or stadium was equivalent, in Egyptian times, toapprox. 157 metres and to 185 metres in Roman times);the plethron is thus approximately 30 metres. Hence,the temple dimensions were, more or less, 120 x 180 m.


the Sidi Gaber railway station, as noted inH.R. Hall’s guidebook published that year(see Further Reading 8). This informationmust be taken with a pinch of salt, asguidebooks very often copy their infor-mation from one year to another. Thisassertion is even more improbable, as theabove-mentioned book by Brecciaalready catalogues the masculine head,named as Antony, as being placedagainst a wall of the Graeco-RomanMuseum of Alexandria (see above)!

It was some time before the Cleopatrabust found a sponsor. Maspero tells usalso that a moulding of the bust was sentto the Louvre in Paris, but this failed toarouse any interest.

The Sale of the StatueIt was not until 1912 that Daninos Pachamet in Egypt a rich Belgian industrialbusinessman, Raoul Warocqué, who wastravelling for pleasure in this country,

where another well known Belgian busi-nessman, Edouard Empain, was veryactively developing the city of Heliopolis.Both had certainly contacts, but a thirdparty might have been the intermediate:Warocqué decided to buy the ‘Cleopatra’and the hands from Daninos.

The whole story of the acquisition ofthe Ptolemaic bust and of the two handsis well known through the researchesmade by, Mrs. Marie-Cécile Bruwier,Scientific Director of the MariemontMuseum (Belgium) where the statue andthe hands have been housed since 1912(see Further Reading 9).

Some letters were exchanged betweenDaninos Pacha and Warocqué that testifyto the whole process of carrying this five-ton statue and hands to Belgium. Let’shave the most picturesque part of thisstory develop in front of our eyes:

“The two fragments weighing 5000kg were carefully packed in the villaof Daninos in Abukir; after that,they were transported to the Abukirrailway station, on a ‘special cart’,and laid on a wagon bound forAlexandria. A crane was necessaryto convey the load onto the QueenElisabeth, which was unloaded inAntwerp and conveyed to Brusselswhere it arrived on May 6th, 1912.”

The proceeds of the sale amounted to£E760, paid to Daninos Pacha, corre-sponding to a sum of 19,837.30 (Belgian)francs (in 1912). The transportation toBrussels cost an additional 1,928.50francs. Curiously, it is still unknown todayhow the artifacts were transported toMorlanwelz (Mariemont), which is a smalltown situated 50 km south-west ofBrussels.

The statue was placed in the castlebelonging to Raoul Warocqué (which wastransformed into a museum shortly afterthe death of its owner in 1917) where itremained until 1960, when part of thebuilding was burnt down. A new modernmuseum, built from 1967 to 1971, thenhoused the statue, which, with the twohands, can still be seen there today.

The statue has been scrutinised andcompared to many other portraits ofPtolemaic queens, and today it is stillimpossible to attribute it definitively toCleopatra VII. Marie-Cécile Bruwier gives,in the above-mentioned text of theChronique d'Égypte (Further Reading 9),


ABOVEThe head of Antony now

displayed on the wall of theGraeco-Roman Museum in

Alexandia.Photo: ©Christine Osborne

Pictures,photographersdirect.com

:

BELOWThe clasped hands mentioned

by Maspero and now in theMariemont Museum.

©Musée royal de Mariemont. Photo: M. Lechien.


an analysis of the artistic characteristics of the statue andlists the possibilities: Cleopatra I, Cleopatra II, Cleopatra III... or Cleopatra VII. None of the first three queens can betotally excluded.

At the end of her paper, Mariemont's Director asks fol-lowing questions:

– Do the clasped hands really belong to the dyad, or dowe have a triad instead of a dyad?

– Where are the other parts of the dyad that were drawnby Bonomi in 1842? In another museum? Still under-ground?

– Why did Daninos Pacha transport only the female stat-ue and the hands to the garden of his villa, and not themasculine head?

– And, finally, couldn’t a better knowledge of the templeof Demeter and Persephone (using their Greek names) /Ceres and Proserpina (their Roman names), where thedifferent statue parts were found, shed some more lighton the identity of the king and queen that were repre-sented or adored in the Smouha temple?

These questions had already been posed by 1989. Asarcheology might help a great deal in solving these prob-lems, they became the starting point for the excavations ledby Marie-Cécile Bruwier fifteen years later in Alexandria,which she will describe to you in the next issue of AE.

Raymond Betz

Raymond, a Doctor of Science, lives in Belgium. He is headof the Groupe d’Études Égypte, a community of friendspassionately fond of Ancient Egypt. He is a Consultant

Editor for AE.

Further Reading1 Dr. Neroutsos-Bey is described by:

V. Chrysikopoulous “Hommages à Jean-ClaudeGoyon offerts pour son 70e anniversaire”, inBibliothèque d’Étude-143 (Le Caire, 2008), pp. 88-92.

2 Neroutsos-Bey “Notice sur les fouilles récentes faitesà Alexandrie pendant les hivers 1874-1875” inBulletin de l'Institut Égyptien, nr. XIII (1874-1875) p.168.

http://archive.org/stream/bulletindelinst00gygoog#page/n175/mode/2up

3 Neroutsos-Bey, L'ancienne Alexandrie, étudearchéologique et topographique, Paris, 1888, p. 2.

http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k58122542/f10.image 4 B. van de Walle “La ‘Cléopâtre’ de Mariemont”, CdE

47, pp. 19-32.5 G. Maspéro Bibliothèque Égyptologique, Vol. XXVIII,

Paris, 1912, pp. 417-418.6 Murray's Handbook, Egypt – 9th edition, London

1896, col. 203.7 E. Breccia, Guide de la ville et du Musée

d'Alexandrie, Alexandria, 1907, p. 143.8 H.R. Hall, Handbook for Egypt and the Sudan,

London, 1907, p. 24.9 M.-C. Bruwier, “Deux fragments d’une statue colos-

sale de reine ptolémaïque à Mariemont”, CdE Vol.LXIV – nr. 127-128, Brussels 1989, pp. 25-43.


ABOVE: Another view of the head of Antony now displayed onthe wall of the Graeco-Roman Museum in Alexandia.

Photo: R. Betz.



Egyptian mathematical texts provide a tantalisinginsight into the workings of the Egyptian state andthe problems that scribes needed to solve. They

reveal an organised society with a taxation and paymentsystem based on a mathematical system of ratios.Geometry was also an Egyptian invention, showing thatprecision was a concern in Ancient Egypt from the veryearliest times, and perhaps hint at the thoughts of thepyramid builders. For an Egyptologist, having an under-standing of the contents of this small number of texts isvital in gaining an appreciation for the work of the scribe.

Sources Unfortunately very few mathematical texts survive, asthey were written on papyrus. The texts that have beenfound are most likely the ancient equivalent of a schooltext book. They seem to be copies of earlier texts, copiedby a scribe so that he can learn how to solve problems.Many of the mathematical problems in these texts arepresented in a narrative format with a narrative descrip-tion of the method accompanied by the working outunderneath. Other straight arithmetical problems are

given in one line with the working shown underneath.The entire corpus of mathematical texts contains aboutone hundred and thirty separate mathematical problems.The papyri are the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus and theMoscow Mathematical Papyrus, which date from aroundthe Twelfth Dynasty.

Egyptian MMathematics iin HHistoryMost histories of mathematics start with the Greeks.Those that do discuss Egyptian mathematics tend to dis-miss them as purely practical in nature and not displayingthe abstract nature of the Greek texts. This divorcesmathematics from the culture that produced it, and whilemathematics itself may be abstract, its discovery andapplication are certainly not. Egyptian mathematics hasfeatures which are practical, but others which show theEgyptians’ of order and the workings of a state bureau-cracy.

The Greeks themselves were not shy at acknowledgingthe debt they felt they owed to the Egyptians. They cer-tainly thought their geometry (literally: measuring theEarth) was born in Egypt. Proclus wrote:

MATHS IN ANCIENT EGYPTEgypt played an important role in the early history of mathematics;

as EElliizzaabbeetthh HHiinndd explains, to understand its mathematics is to understand part of Ancient Egypt’s legacy.

ABOVE: Maths in action – measuring the crops in a field. A scene in the Tomb of Menna, TT69. Photo: RBP.

MathsHind.qxd 24/07/2013 04:25


“According to most accounts geometry was first discoveredamong the Egyptians, taking its origin from the measurement ofareas. For they found it necessary by reason of the rising of theNile, which wiped out everybody’s proper boundaries.”

Egyptian mathematical texts represent some of the ear-liest texts devoted to mathematical problems. To dismissthem as purely practical in nature and thus deny them aplace in the wider narrative of human achievement inmathematics is to ignore an important early stage. It alsobegs the question: are they indeed purely practical, or dothey contain abstractions? These are of course questionsthat need to be answered by people who can place themathematical texts in their general context, meaning thatthey should have an in-depth understanding of the com-plete body of Egyptian texts, history and architecture.

TThhrreeee MMaatthheemmaattiiccaall PPrroobblleemmssWhat can we say about the character of Egyptian math-ematics? Three mathematical problems are presentedhere with commentary; the translations are those of theauthor. They have been selected on the basis that theyreveal abstract characteristics in Egyptian mathematicsand represent a high point in Egyptian achievement.They are presented here to give a flavour of some of theimportant points when discussing Egyptian mathematics.

The Area of a CircleIn his article in AE76, Alan Reiblein has already shownthat the scribe of the Moscow Mathematical Papyrus (c.1850 BC) calculated the surface area of a hemisphere

using a value of 3.16049 for π. Problem 41 of the RhindMathematical Papyrus gives us further evidence that theAncient Egyptians could work out a value for π with a cal-culation to find the area of a circle by taking the eightninths of the diameter and squaring the result:

First the area of the circle is found, it is then multipliedby the height, 10, and then it is multiplied by 11/2 andthen by 1/20 to convert the volume from cubic cubits to kharand then hekat, two measures of grain. The three columnsat the end of the problem show how the scribe works out

51

ABOVE: Seated scribes; on the left, an Old Kingdom statue of an unknown scribe, now in the Louvre Museum and, on the right, a scribe recording the harvest in a scene from the Tomb of Menna. Mathematics was used by scribes to make important

calculations in all areas of life, in particular in assessing levels of tax to be paid. Photos: RBP.



the multiplications. Intermediate sumsare sometimes used, with tick marks onthe right hand side used to show whichsteps should be used in the final answer.

Modern mathematics shows that thearea A of a circle is calculated by:

A=πr2

Rearranging the Ancient Egyptianformula gives an inherent value for π of:

or approximately 3.1605. We know thatπ is an irrational number, that is, a num-ber that cannot be written as a fraction.Its decimal places go on forever, and asa decimal it is approximately equal to3.14159. The Egyptian value had towait until Archimedes to be improvedaround fourteen hundred years later.

Aha ProblemsAha problems are some of the mostinteresting mathematical problems asthey show that the Egyptians had a con-cept of the unknown quantity, whichthey called

and hence an important component ofabstract mathematics, similar to our use

of x in equations. While the problemsthat we have do not display the range oftechniques that later civilisations woulduse, they do show that Egyptian mathe-matics had an abstract quality. Theword used in the texts

is the word used for a heap. Is there anybetter visualisation of an unknownquantity?

An example of this type of problem,solved in a narrative fashion comes fromproblem 19 of the Moscow Mathemat-ical Papyrus. This problem has beenselected because of the method used,which closely resembles the way we aretaught at school. Other Egyptian prob-lems use a method known as falseassumption: I assume that the answer isone, I then work out how wrong theassumption is and adjust my assumptionaccordingly.

Put in modern notation the problemsolved and its solution looks like this:

RIGHTThe ‘counting cattle’ model

from the Twelfth Dynasty Tombof Meketra, now in the Egyptian

Museum, Cairo. Good mathematical skills were

needed for agricultural stock-taking.

Photo: RBP.

52



Geometrical ProgressionProblem number 79 of the RhindMathematical Papyrus reads:

The mathematics of this problem is tosum a geometric progression. A geomet-ric progression is a series of numberswhere the next in the series is reachedby multiplying the previous number inthe series by a fixed multiplier, known asthe common ratio.

For example 2, 10, 50, 250, 1250 is ageometrical progression with a startingnumber of 2 and a common ratio of 5.

In the Egyptian example, the startingnumber is 7 and the common ratio is 7(there appears to be an error in copyingthe 4th term, which reads 23011 butshould be 2401).

In the second half of the working inthe Rhind Mathematical Papyrus thissequence is written out. The first half ismore remarkable. In order to find thesum of the 5 terms of the progressionthe scribe works out 7 multiplied by 5,using the Egyptian method of multipli-cation; performing a repeated additionand then adding up the relevant results.To remind anyone whose school mathsmay be a bit rusty, to find the sum of ageometrical progression you use the for-mula:

where a is the first term, r is the com-mon ratio and n is the number of terms.

LEFTScribes busy at work under acanopy in a scene on the wallsof the mastaba tomb ofMereruka at Saqqara.Many mathematical problemswere presented in a narrativeformat and the calculationsinvolved produce results thatare quite accurate when compared with modern mathematical methods.

Photo: JPP.

53



If we put the numbers from the Egyptian problem intothis formula we get:

which is the method used in this problem. Unfortunatelywe have no other examples of geometrical progressionsfrom the extant texts, which leaves the question of howthe Egyptians reached this method unanswered.

ConclusionsThese problems illustrate quite well the problems of dis-cussing the character of Egyptian mathematics in twoimportant ways.

Firstly, that due to the friability of papyrus, modernreaders of Egyptian mathematical texts must piecetogether the whole picture from scant evidence that sur-vives through happenstance. This may lead to reading toomuch into the mathematical problems that they contain,but it should not be used as an excuse to read too little intothem. The modern reader is then left with a dilemma ofhow to build up a complete picture from this incompleteevidence. The answer to this dilemma must include anunderstanding of the culture that produced the texts, andnot dealing with them in isolation.

Secondly, it forces us to make value judgements onwhether Egyptian mathematics could be abstract or evenrecreational. The similarity of RMP 79 to that of “As Iwas going to St Ives ...” is uncanny. While saving valuablegrain stores from the ravages of mice must have been areal problem in Ancient Egypt, this problem takes thisreal life situation and turns it into a mathematical prob-lem. This use of real life situations in school maths will befamiliar to anyone who has calculated when two trainsleaving a station at a set time will cross each other.

Coming to a comprehensive understanding of whatpart mathematics had to play in Ancient Egypt is asimportant as understanding hymns, or reading the Tale ofSinuhe, yet Egyptologists are reluctant to deal with themathematical content. This must change if we are to res-cue Egyptian mathematics from relative obscurity andunderstand the part it had to play in the early history ofmathematics.

EElliizzaabbeetthh HHiinnddElizabeth Hind completed her Ph.D. in Egyptology and ScienceCommunication at the University of Liverpool. She now works asa freelance education advisor and writer teaching mathematiciansabout history, and historians about mathematics.

Further RReadingGillings, R. J. (1972), Mathematics In The Time of The Pharaohs,

MIT Press, Cambridge MA. Joseph, G. G. (2000) The Crest of the Peacock: Non-European

Roots of Mathematics; 2nd ed.; Penguin, Harmondsworth.Proclus, On Euclid, I ;tr. I. Thomas, (1939) Greek Mathematical

Works I, Heinemann, Portsmouth.Robins G. and Shute. (1987) The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus;

British Museum Publications; London.All the mathematical illustrations and translations from the

papyri in this article were provided by the author.

54

ABOVE: Khufu’s pyramid at Giza. The precision with which the Giza pyramids were aligned and constructed bears witness to theAncient Egyptians’ knowledge of geometry. Photo: JPP.



Many of the ‘facts’ which I learned when I firststarted reading about Ancient Egypt – and I’mnot going to tell you how long ago that was –

have long since been revised if not totally rejected as newarchaeological evidence has come to light. One theory,which was very popular and is still occasionally quoted inpopular publications aimed at younger readers, is the so-called ‘Heiress Principle’. This refers to the belief thatthe royal line of succession passed from mother todaughter and that a man could only become Pharaoh bymarrying the Royal Heiress, even if that meant marryinghis own sister. It is true that many, but by no means all,kings of Egypt took their sisters or half-sisters as wives.The Ptolemies in particular adopted this custom withenthusiasm, following what they considered to be thedivine precedent for brother/sister marriage set by Osirisand his sister-wife Isis. When Julius Caesar first set foot inEgypt it was to intervene in the civil war betweenCleopatra VII and her brother-husband Ptolemy XIII.

With the decipherment of the Egyptian language peo-ple were able to read tomb inscriptions and other docu-ments for the first time. These revealed that the kingsoften had children by many different wives, suggesting

that the Egyptian culture in general was polygamous,that is allowing one man to have several wives at thesame time. This custom is still common in some parts ofthe world and within certain religious groups, but to thepredominantly Christian scholars of the nineteenth cen-tury it was an uncomfortable fact. Worse still was theshocking discovery that many an Egyptian claimed to bemarried to ‘his beloved sister’. This idea was so alien anddistasteful that the Egyptians were branded as immoraland totally lacking in proper family values.

Over the years, as the texts were examined more close-ly, scholars began to recognise that, in fact, the Egyptianswere amongst the most moral and family-orientated peo-ple of ancient times. The misunderstanding arose fromthe limited Egyptian vocabulary for members of the fam-ily. As I mentioned in ‘Sons and Daughters’, (AE 34),there were only seven words in general use to describe allfamily relationships – father, mother, son, daughter,brother, sister and wife. An Egyptian would call hisgrandmother, ‘mother of my father’, his niece was‘daughter of my brother’, an aunt would be described as‘sister of my mother’ and so on. No distinction was madebetween blood relations and those acquired by marriage,

PPEERR MMEESSUUTT:: ffoorr yyoouunnggeerr rreeaaddeerrssBrothers aand SSisters

ABOVE: The beautifully decorated burial chamber of the Theban tomb (TT96) of Sennefer, a ‘Mayor of Thebes’ in the NewKingdom. The scenes on the columns show the deceased with the last of his three wives, Meryt. Photo: RBP.

AEpermesut79.qxd 24/07/2013 04:53


what we would call ‘in-laws’. All children of the same gen-eration would routinely be called ‘brothers and sisters’though we would call them ‘cousins’. When a tomb-owner mentioned his ‘fathers and mothers’ he was refer-ring to his ancestors going back several generations, per-haps as far as his great-great-grandparents.

Students of the Egyptian language soon came to realisehow risky it was to accept the literal translation of thesefamily ties or to base any interpretation of ancient behav-iour on modern Western customs and beliefs. In the earlyyears Egyptology was almost exclusively concerned withroyal monuments because the potentially spectacularfinds attracted funding from wealthy patrons like LordCarnarvon. As Egyptology became established as a scien-tific discipline, archaeologists began to show more interestin everyday life in ancient times, studying householdobjects alongside tomb goods, and domestic documentstogether with funerary texts. This gave a much better pic-ture of family life and customs among the ordinary peo-ple. It soon became clear that the typical Egyptian familyconsisted of a monogamous union of one man with onewoman and examples of husband and wife being relatedto each other were much rarer than was once believed.

One area of study which helped to make sense ofEgyptian family relationships was the translation of sto-ries and poetry, especially love poems. Translators realisedthat an ancient Egyptian boy would call his girlfriend ‘mysister’ and a girl would refer to her boyfriend as ‘my broth-

er’, showing that the words normally translated as ‘broth-er’ and ‘sister’ were also common terms of endearmentsimilar to ‘sweetheart’ or ‘darling’. It was in tomb inscrip-tions, where the word ‘wife’ was often replaced by ‘sister’,that the misunderstanding about brother/sister marriagehad arisen.

In the beautifully decorated tomb chamber of Sennefer,Mayor of Thebes, (TT96), you can see his wife, Meryt,who is named as ‘his beloved sister’ (see opposite, top right).In other, less well preserved, images Sennefer is shownwith two more wives, each called ‘his sister’, but he wasnot married to three women at the same time. Lifeexpectancy for women in ancient Egypt was shortened bythe dangers of childbirth and many died young.Sennefer’s first wife, Senay, is called ‘the great nurse whonurtured the divine person’. This indicates that she hadbeen a wet-nurse to the prince who was to become king,either Amenhotep II or Thutmose IV. It was common inancient times for a queen to hand over her children to bebreastfed by high-born ladies who had babies of theirown. Senay’s daughters, Mutnefert (whose nickname mayhave been Muttuy – see below) and Nefertari, were both called‘sisters of the Lord of the Two Lands’, a very significantuse of the word ‘sister’. In modern terms we woulddescribe them as the King’s foster-sisters.

The King would have been brought up to respect thewoman who fed him in his early years and to consider hertrue children, who had shared their mother’s milk with

ppeerr mmeessuutt

BELOW: Sennefer and his daughter Muttuy on the walls of the Antechamber to the Burial Chamber. Muttuy was probablySennefer’s daughter by his first wife, Senay. Photo: RBP.

AEpermesut79.qxd 24/07/2013 04:54


him, as his own sisters. When Senay’s daughter Nefertaridied she is said to have been buried ‘by royal favour’ sug-gesting that her foster-brother contributed to her funeral.When Senay herself died at a relatively young age,Sennefer remarried a woman called Senetnefert (see aboveleft) who was also a ‘royal nurse’ or foster mother to aprince, carrying on the close link between the royal houseand Sennefer’s family, but we do not know the name ofher baby, the other sister or brother of the King.Interestingly, Senetnefert’s name means ‘Good Sister’.

FFuurrtthheerr RReeaaddiinngg If you want to try and untangle some of the very compli-cated relationships within the Egyptian Royal Family thebest book to look at is The Complete Royal Families of AncientEgypt by Aidan Dodson and Dyan Hilton. The familytrees contained in this book are still full of question-marksand areas of doubt but they make fascinating reading.

HHiillaarryy WWiillssoonn

TOP LEFTSenetnefert, Sennefer’s second wife, depicted on the walls of

the Antechamber to the Burial Chamber.

ABOVEMeryt, Sennefer’s third wife, shown on the walls of the Burial

Chamber.

LEFTSennefer seated on a chair in the Ished tree, symbolising

eternal life. Meryt kneels beside his legs.

Photos:RBP.

ppeerr mmeessuutt

AEpermesut79.qxd 24/07/2013 04:57

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AEback issues 79.qxd 24/07/2013 05:03


Dear EEditor,Pharaoh NNapoleon?

Careful inspection of the decorative frame surrounding thefrontispiece of Description de l’Egypte reveals details that deserveattention (See Harer, W.B., The Making of Description de l’Egypte,AE77, p.18).

The head of the frontispiece (see above) displays a wingeddouble uraeus enclosing a sun-disc, in the centre of which isemblazoned a five-pointed star. The second register depicts anude Napoleon, in typical Alexander the Great pose, as hedefeats the Mameluke army at the Battle of the Pyramids.

At each lower corner of the fron-tispiece a cartouche, enclosing a five-pointed star and a bee, is displayed(left), supported by winged lion-headed deities each holding a was-sceptre topped with Maat’s featherof righteousness. Each deity wears astylised white crown of Upper Egyptwhile the cartouche is surmounted

by an atef ram’s horn crown.The five-pointed star forms part of Napoleon’s family crest

while the bee, long associated with the kings of France, wasadopted by Bonaparte as one of his symbols. Does enclosureof his symbols within a royal cartouche indicate Napoleon’sdesire to be recognised as king of Egypt? Did he envisagehimself trekking across the Western Desert, in the sandals ofAlexander the Great, to the oracle at Siwa there to be pro-claimed pharaoh?

J. EEdward HHutson,Edmonton, AAlberta, CCanada

Dear EEditor,I have always been fascinated by Ancient Egypt and am sureI lived a couple of lives then. It puzzles me that people keeptrying to figure out how they constructed pyramids wheneverything about their everyday lives was discussed on thewalls of temples and tombs and on papyrus. Since it was suchan important part of their lives, why would they discuss andwrite about everything except how they were constructed?

Pamela WWilder

Dear PPamela,In fact the information we have from inscriptions and papyriis very limited in its scope, so this omission is not surprising.The lack of information has given rise to endless speculation.

Ed.

Dear EEditor,Having read with great interest Egyptology and Photographyrecently [in AE78] I wondered if your readers would beinterested in seeing this early wooden camera (see above, top)which was still being used in Luxor in 1988. A tin lid wasremoved by hand from in front of the lens (above centre) to takea negative photograph and then a photograph of the negativewas taken (above left and right). Not the most flattering of pho-tographs, I hasten to add!

Anne MMidgley(All photos supplied by Anne)

DDEEAARR AA NCIENTNCIENT EE GYPTGYPT

Readers’ lletters

AEletters79.qxd 24/07/2013 05:24


Dear EEditorI was interested in your suggestion (AE78) that Hetepheres'pointed shoulders (see above left) in the tomb of Meresankh IIImight be the tops of a crook and a flail. I believe that they arepart of her dress for two reasons. First, Hetepheres’ handsappear to be flat across her chest rather than gripping anyhandles. Second, these pointed shoulders are seen in other

Fourth Dynasty tombs, for example G7140 where Khufukaf ’smother’s dress is similar over her left shoulder (see above right).On the other hand this particular fashion doesn’t seem verypractical, however much starch you use, which may explainwhy I haven’t seen any such dresses later than the FourthDynasty.

Geoffrey LLenox-SSmith

readers’ lletters

Readers’ CCompetition

If you recognise where the photo above was taken (by JPP) in Egypt, email or write to the Editor of AE before 17thSeptember 2013 (addresses on page 3) with your answer, giving your full name and address. One lucky reader will have hisor her name selected at random from all the correct answers and will win a book on Egypt. The location and the name of

the winner will be revealed in the October/November 2013 edition of AE.

June/July 22013 Competition WWinner

Congratulationsto the winner of the competition that

appeared in the last issue of themagazine (AE78):

Ken HHumphries oof BBar GGoed

The photo shows the unfinishedobelisk in its quarry at Aswan.

AEletters79.qxd 24/07/2013 05:25

Dear EEditor,Like most revisits to familiar places there is a tendency to goover the same ground over and over again. What I enjoydoing is to explore little out of the way places that you haven’tvisited before, especially if you are on your own now andagain.

In 2009 I took a look at the Northern Chapels of TuthmosisIII, which are situated on the north side immediately behindthe Sanctuary [in the Temple of Amun at Karnak]. It consistsof four doorways running from west to east. All chapels areroofless but the walls have some interesting depictions.

The first, westernmost, chapel (we’ll call it No1) has depic-tions of a ‘Temple Foundation’ ceremony, along with the con-secration of the temple with natron by the king. The carvingsare in a quite good condition with some colour remaining.

Chapel No 2 is of the king making offerings to Amen Raand Min, with a depiction of three large lettuces behind Min.Unfortunately some of the wall blocks are missing from there-on so they are headless. On the north wall of this chapel are(or were) probably the most interesting depictions of the Feastof the Erection of Min’s Mast, along with scenes of the Feastof the White Hippopotamus. Unfortunately the scenes are sodegraded it is now nigh impossible to make them out.

Chapel No 3 is uninscribed. Chapel No 4 has more headless figures as well as a won-

derful depiction of the net for the Bird Hunt. For some goodpictures of these chapels view The Temples of Karnak by R.A.Schwaller de Lubicz, an excellent book that inspired me tovisit them

I hope it will inspire you on your next visit to Karnak.

John RReeve

Dear EEditor,Dr. Tyldesley states in her article Seth: The Complex God[AE78] that the aardvark was unknown in Ancient Egypt.

(Wikipedia): “ ... in Pre-Dynastic and Early Dynastic timesthe Egyptian climate was much less arid than it is today. Largeregions of Egypt were covered in treed savannah.”

Aardvarks dwell in the savannah lands of Africa and arevulnerable to changes in their environment. As far as I know,no skeletal remains [of them] have been found, but possible

evidence does exist on an Old Kingdom quarry inscription inthe Wadi Abu-Maamel.

I enclose a photograph (taken by Suzanne Botjos – see belowleft) which shows an animal matching the description of thisrelatively unknown creature, which could have been an inhab-itant of very early Egypt.

Sylvia NNewman

Dear EEditor,I am reading the issue 78 (V.13 No.6) magazine, and I foundsomething in the article Seth: the Complex God.

The photo on page 34 is said “An unusual depiction of awinged Seth spearing the evil snake Apophis”, however, thefigure with red and white crown in the photo seems more like-ly to be Horus. Or this is why the depiction is unusual, anycomment?

Hazel CChaoDear HHazel,I agree that this depiction of Seth (see my photo above) on thewalls of the Temple of Hibis in the Kharga Oasis is far fromstandard, but I have it on good authority that the identifica-tion is correct. George Hart, in his A Dictionary of Egyptian Godsand Goddesses p.196, describes ‘Seth in the Solar Boat and inthe Underworld’: “Apophis the snake attempts to swallow thesun but Seth in the prow of the sun-boat fetters and spears thecoiled serpent”

Ed.


readers’ lletters

AEletters79.qxd 24/07/2013 05:29


OCTOBER 2013

15th Egypt Society of Bristol. Lee Young: Howard Carter – An alternativeview of the man through his art.

17th Three Counties AncientHistory Society.

Julia Hyland: This slap hurts – CosmeticToxicology in the Ancient Near East, Ancient Egyptand Bronze Age Greece.

24th Carlisle & DistrictEgyptology Society.

Claire Ollett: Wonderful Things.

26th Ancient Egypt & MiddleEast Society.

Two lectures by Alan Lloyd: EgyptianAttitudes to the Persian Occupation and Herodotus– an Ancient Greek in Ancient Egypt.

26th Friends of the PetrieMuseum.

CONFERENCE: In the Footsteps of Petrie.(See Major Events.)26th Sussex Egyptology Society –

Brighton Venue.Clive Barham Carter: A Thousand Miles upthe Nile with Amelia B. Edwards.

UUKK EEVVEENNTTSS DDIIAARRYY

AUGUST 2013

Below are listed lectures and events given by UK societies and groups, and a selection ofmajor overseas events. Although every effort is made to ensure that the details are correct

ANCIENT EGYPT cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of the information provided. Asevents may be subject to change or cancellation, or tickets may be required, please ensure

that you contact the appropriate body (as listed on our “Society Contacts” page) before attending.

Deadline for submission: all eventsentries should be received by 31st

August 2013 for inclusion in the nextissue. To add an event to the AE Events

Diary, please contact Victor Blunden, email: [email protected]

SEPTEMBER 2013

7th Staffordshire EgyptologySociety.

Beverley Rogers: Rev. William MacGregor –Egyptian Collector.

10th Society for the Study ofAncient Egypt –Nottingham Venue.

Steven Harvey: Excavation of the BurialComplex of King Ahmose I and Queen Tetisheriat Abydos.

10th Sussex Egyptology Society –Worthing Venue.

Victor Blunden: Tuthmosis III – Egypt’sWarrior Pharaoh.

12th Wirral Ancient EgyptSociety.

Dorothy Downes: How did the Pharaohschoose their Wives?

2nd THEBES.Sarah Griffiths: Mentuhotep II – Warrior

King.

4th Staffordshire EgyptologySociety.

Anna Garrett: Kendal Museum’s Egyptology

Collection.


Nicki-Anne Moody: Egypt in the Movies.

7th Thames Valley AncientEgypt Society.

AGM followed by John Taylor: Male And

Female in the Afterlife – The Gender of the

Deceased as Depicted on Anthropoid Coffins.

9th Manchester Ancient EgyptSociety.

Ryan Metcalfe: Experimental Mummification.

13th RAMASES.AGM Meeting.

14th Ancient Egypt & MiddleEast Society.

Two lectures by George Hart: Alexander the

Great and the Conquest of Egypt and The

Rediscovery of Ancient Egypt.

2nd Staffordshire EgyptologySociety.

Aidan Dodson: The Rise and Fall of Libyan

Egypt.

5th RAMASESSTUDY DAY. Alice Stevenson: Pre-dynastic

& Old Kingdom Egypt.

5th Thames Valley AncientEgypt Society.

Garry Shaw: The Daily Lives of the Pharaohs.

7th THEBES.

Campbell Price: New Light Under Old

Wrappings – CT Scanning the Manchester

Mummies.

12th Society for the Study ofAncient Egypt –Chesterfield Venue.

Anthony Leahy: Abydos and the Cult of

Osiris.

14th Manchester Ancient EgyptSociety.

Derek Welsby: Excavations at Gematon, a

Kushite City on the Nile.


Peter Robinson: The Landscape History of

Luxor (Waset, Thebes, Al-Uqsor).

26th October 2013

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

LONDON.

FRIENDS OF THE PETRIE

MUSEUM – CONFERENCE

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PETRIE

Speakers include: Tine Bagh, Paolo

del Vesco, Campbell Price, Alice

Stevenson and Stephen Quirke.

Contact Society for details.

12th July 2013 - 5th January 2014ALLARD PIERSON MUSEUM,AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND

ETERNAL EGYPT

www.allardpiersonmuseum.nl

14th Sutton Ancient EgyptSociety – London.

AGM, followed by Frances Welsh: EgyptianTreasures in the Louvre.

17th Bolton Archaeology &Egyptology Society.

Lecture TBA.

26th Carlisle & DistrictEgyptology Society.

Anna Garnett: John Garstang’s Excavations inEgypt.

28th Sussex Egyptology Society– Horsham Venue.

Aidan Dodson: An Egyptologist’s Year.

30th Northampton AncientEgyptian HistoricalSociety.

John J. Johnson: Into the West – The MortuaryArchaeology of Ancient Egypt.

EXHIBITION

MAJOR EVENT

AEendpages79 - Events.qxd 20/07/2013 18:28


Coming iin FFuture IIssues oof AANNCCIIEENNTT EEGGYYPPTT

TThhee RRooyyaall BBuurriiaallss ooff NNuubbiiaaNubia has more than twice as many pyramids as Egypt. BBeettttyy WWiinnkkeellmmaann investigates them and the Twenty-fifthDynasty rulers who chose to be buried‘back home’.

TThhee GGooddss aanndd GGooddddeesssseess ooff AAnncciieenntt EEggyyppttJJooyyccee TTyyllddeesslleeyy continues her series ofarticles on the most important figures inthe ancient pantheon.

KKhhuuffuu’’ss SSaarrccoopphhaagguussHow did the Ancient Egyptians carve thehuge sarcophagus that contained the OldKingdom pharaoh’s body? DDeennyyss SSttoocckkssexplains.

AAnncciieenntt AAlleexxaannddrriiaa MMaarriiee-CCéécciillee BBrruuwwiieerr continues our seriesof articles about the work of Belgian archaeologists in Egypt by describing herexcavations in Alexandria.

TThheerrmmaall EExxppaannssiioonn ooff PPyyrraammiiddssPPeetteerr JJaammeess explains his new theory toexplain the loss of casing stones onEgypt’s pyramids.

EEggyyppttoommaanniiaaAn amazing array of objects has beeninfluenced by Egyptian style and art. AAnnnneeMMiiddgglleeyy explores the appeal ofEgyptianising for ladies!

EEggyyppttiiaanniissiinngg LLiivveerrppoooollTThe influences of Ancient Egypt uponLiverpool’s architecture are widespread,says FFaayy SSaammuueellss.

SSaannddaallss iinn AAnncciieenntt EEggyyppttMMaaggddaa vvaann RRyynneevveelldd tells readers aboutthis typical item of footwear.

... aand mmany mmore, wwith oour rregular ffeatures, bbookreviews, Per MMesut for oour yyoung ((and nnot-sso-young) rreaders aand llists oof fforthcoming EEgyptologymeetings, eexhibitions aand eevents in tthe UUK.

ANCIENTANCIENTANCIENTANCIENT

EGYPTEGYPTEGYPTEGYPT

FOR SMARTPHONES AND TABLETSA digital subscription to the magazine is now available.

Search for us at: www.exacteditions.com

Alternatively you can order individual issues from our website:www.ancientegyptmagazine.com

NOW AVAILABLE ipad ad.ai 18/07/2012 13:36:10

AEendpages79 - Events.qxd 24/07/2013 05:33


NETFISHING

With the death of CLEOPATRA VII, in 30 BC, Egypt became the property of OCTAVIAN who was now the undoubtedruler of the whole Roman world; but his victory didn’t mark the final end of the Ptolemaic dynasty for there were still

Cleopatra’s children to consider.

Cleopatra’s son by JULIUS CAESAR, PTOLEMY XV Caesarion, had been put to death by Octavian, but this still lefther three remaining children by MARK ANTONY; the twins CLEOPATRA SELENE and ALEXANDER HELLIOS andthe younger child PTOLEMY PHILADELPHUS. All three may have been taken to Rome to take part in Octavian’s ‘triumph’,we certainly know that the twins were paraded and weighed down by such ‘heavy golden chains’ that they were hardly able to walk,a fact which produced an unexpected wave of sympathy for the children among the citizens of Rome. Cleopatra was herself rep-resented in the ‘triumph’ by a statue showing her with an asp on her arm, but nothing at all is mentioned about the younger childPtolemy Philadelphus. It’s possible he was weakened by the sea voyage to Rome and was unable to take part in the procession.Nothing further is heard of him and he is presumed to have died, in infancy, around 29 BC. Refer:

Ptolemy Philadelphus: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemy_Philadelphus_(son_of_Cleopatra)http://www.tyndalehouse.com/egypt/ptolemies/philadelphus_fr.htm

The twins fared far better, however, and, rather surprisingly were given into the care of OCTAVIA, the widow of Mark Antonyand sister of Octavian. She raised these ‘children of her husband’ as if they were her own, until Cleopatra Selene became ofage to be married. Refer:

Cleopatra Selene: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra_Selene_II http://www.historytoday.com/jane-draycott/cleopatras-daughter http://www.tyndalehouse.com/egypt/ptolemies/selene_ii_fr.htm

Alexander Hellios: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra_Selene_II http://www.historytoday.com/jane-draycott/cleopatras-daughter http://www.tyndalehouse.com/egypt/ptolemies/selene_ii_fr.htm

Although known about for many years, a statue in Cairo Museum of ‘the twins’ with the sun (Hellios) and moon (Selene) sym-bols above the children’s heads has now been formally identified as being that of the children of Cleopatra VII. Refer:

http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/cleopatras-twin-babies-120420.htm

In 20 BC Cleopatra Selene was married to King JUBA II OF MAURETANIA (a Roman province in N. Africa) and it isbelieved that her brother, Ptolemy Philadelphus, may have travelled with her to Mauretania, but again nothing further is heardabout him. She became Queen of Mauretania and, true to her Ptolemaic heritage, became a powerful influence on both her hus-band and the local region, even having coinage minted bearing her own image. Refer:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juba_II http://www.lunalucifera.com/Mauretania/http://www.stephaniedray.com/2011/02/25/juba-ii-and-cleopatra-selene-was-it-a-love-match/ http://www.geni.com/people/Cleopatra-Selene-II/6000000006861146375http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Mausoleum_of_Mauretania http://www.stephaniedray.com/tag/drusilla-of-mauretania/

Cleopatra Selene had a son, known as PTOLEMY OF MAURETANIA, who ruled as king after his father’s death until 40AD, when he made the mistake of attending an imperial banquet in a purple robe even more eye-catching than that of theEmperors (the purple dye being a product of Mauretania). It is not a good idea to outshine the Emperor – especially when theEmperor concerned is CALIGULA. Ptolemy was dead within days. Refer:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemy_of_Mauretaniahttp://www.stephaniedray.com/2011/05/31/how-historical-accuracy-goes-wild/ http://i-cias.com/e.o/ptolemy_mauretania.htm

Ptolemy of Mauretania had a daughter, called DRUSILLA OF MAURETANIA, who later married King SOHAEMUSOF EMESA (a part of modern day Syria) and by him she had a son, named GAIUS JULIUS ALEXIO, who ruled Emesa asKing ALEXIO II. He is the last known descendent of Cleopatra VII and the last member of the Ptolemaic line that we are ableto trace. Any children he may have had are unknown. Refer:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drusilla_of_Mauretania_(born_38) http://suite101.com/article/cleopatras-family-tree-a223420 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaius_Julius_Alexio

VViiccttoorr BBlluunnddeenn

AA NCIENTNCIENT EE GYPTGYPT explores the WORD WIDE WEBexplores the WORD WIDE WEBEEPPIILLOOGGUUEE –– TTHHEE DDEESSCCEENNDDAANNTTSS OOFF CCLLEEOOPPAATTRRAA

This month’s NETFISHING continues its look at the history of Egypt by seeing what the WorldWide Web has to say about the fate of the children of Cleopatra VII,

and their descendants in the Roman world.

AENetfishing79.qxd 24/07/2013 05:36


EEggyyppttoollooggyy SSoocciieettyy CCoonnttaacctt DDeettaaiillss

Societies WWithin the UUKAncient Egypt & Middle EastSocietyHORNCASTLE, LincolnshireSecretary: Mrs. Sue Kirk.Tel: 01754 [email protected]

The Ancient World SocietyBOSTON, LincolnshireSecretary: Sandy Davey.Tel: 01205 [email protected]

The ANKH (SOUTH-EAST KENTEgyptology Society)Secretary: Joan Kaye. Tel: 0122 [email protected]

Association for the Study ofTravel in Egypt & the Near EastLONDONTel: 0207 328 2735www.astene.org.uk

Bloomsbury Summer School,University College LONDON.Tel: 0207 679 [email protected]/bloomsbury

BOLTON Archaeology andEgyptology [email protected]/boltonarchaeologysociety/

The British Egyptian SocietyCROYDON, SurreySecretary: Noel Rands.Tel: 07876 [email protected]

CARLISLE & District EgyptologySocietySecretary: Janet [email protected]

The Egypt Exploration SocietyLONDONDirector: Dr. Chris Naunton.Tel: 0207 242 [email protected]

Egypt Society of BRISTOLChairman: Dr. Aidan Dodson.Tel: 0117 942 1957info@egyptsocietybristol.org.ukwww.egyptsocietybristol.org.uk

The Egyptian Society, TAUNTONSecretary: Sally Roberts.Tel: 01823 [email protected]

Egyptology ScotlandEDINBURGH, GLASGOW &ABERDEENClaire [email protected]

Egyptian Cultural BureauEmbassy of the Arab Republic ofEgypt, LONDONTel: 0207 491 [email protected]

Egyptology Northwww.Egyptology-North.co.uk

ESSEX Egyptology GroupContact: Janet Brewer01277 [email protected]

Friends of the Egypt Centre –SWANSEASecretary: Carolyn Graves-Brown.Tel: 01792 [email protected]/index.php/events/261-friends-lectures

Friends of the PETRIE MUSEUMThe Petrie Museum of EgyptianArchaeology, LONDONSecretary: Jan [email protected]/FriendsofPetrie/

HORUS Egyptology SocietyWIGAN, Lancashire.Secretary: Christine Fishwick. Tel: 01942 [email protected]

LEICESTERSHIRE Ancient EgyptSocietySecretary: Tony [email protected] www.egyptology-uk.com/LAES

The MANCHESTER AncientEgypt SocietySecretary: Sarah Griffiths. Tel : 0161 720 [email protected] www.maes.org.uk

North East Ancient Egypt SocietyDURHAMSecretary: Lyn [email protected]://sites.google.com/site/neaesoc/

NORTH EAST LINCOLNSHIREEgyptology AssociationChairman: Steve Johnson.

[email protected]

NORTH YORKSHIRE AncientEgypt GroupContact: Anne Murray.

Tel: 01423 885906

[email protected]

www.nyaegroup.org.uk

NORTHAMPTON AncientEgyptian Historical SocietySecretary: L.V. Amas.

Tel: 01604 761519

[email protected]

PLYMOUTH & DistrictEgyptology SocietySecretary: Jan Buckland

Tel: 01752 695195

[email protected]

POYNTON Egypt GroupPoynton, Cheshire

Secretary: Liz Sherman.

Tel: 01625 612641

[email protected]

www.poyntonegyptgroup.org.uk

RAMASES (NORTH KENTEgyptology Society)Secretary: Annette Jones.

Tel: 01795 663475

[email protected]

SELKET (SOUTH YORKSHIREEgyptology Society)c/o Adam Cadwell.

Tel: 01909 563629

[email protected]

Society for the Study of AncientEgyptCHESTERFIELD, NOTTINGHAM & DERBYSecretary: Keith Lucas.

Tel: 0114 2581856

[email protected]

www.ssae.org.uk

SOUTH ASASIF Conservation Trust

– UK

Chairman: John Billman.

01488 668340

[email protected]

Secretary: Patricia Mason.

01452 415693

[email protected]

http://southasasif.com/Trust.html

SOUTHAMPTON Ancient EgyptSocietySecretary: Heidi Craddock.Tel: 07973 203751info@southamptonancientegyptsociety.co.ukwww.southamptonancientegyptsociety.co.uk

STAFFORDSHIRE EgyptologySocietySecretary: Alison Coles. [email protected]

Sudan Archaeological ResearchSocietyChairman: Derek Welsby.c/o The British Museum, LONDONwww.sudarchrs.org.uk

Sussex Egyptology SocietyHORSHAM, BRIGHTON & WORTHINGMembership Secretary: Janice Flower.Tel: 01903 535608www.egyptology-uk.com

SUTTON Ancient Egypt SocietyGREATER LONDONSecretary: Ann Musgrove Tel: 0208 6435728 email: [email protected]

Thames Valley Ancient EgyptSocietyREADINGChairman: John Billman.Tel: 01488 [email protected]

THEBES (The BLACKBURN,Egyptology Society),Lancashire.Secretary: Michael Eastwood. Tel: 01706 [email protected]

The Three Counties AncientHistory SocietyWORCESTERSHIRE,HEREFORDSHIRE &GLOUCESTERSHIREContact: Roy Jenkins.Tel: 01905 425742www.3cahs.org.uk

Wessex Ancient Egypt SocietyBOURNEMOUTHChairman: Angela Dennett.Tel: 01202 [email protected]

WIRRAL Ancient Egypt SocietyMERSEYSIDEContact: Sue Mockeridge.Tel: 0151 644 [email protected] www.waes.org.uk

Contact names, telephone and email/website contacts for UK societies are listed here. To reduce the space used for overseas societies, only thewebsite or email contacts are normally shown. Full details, including postal addresses, can be found on the magazine’s web site

www.ancientegyptmagazine.com. If readers without email access require postal address details, please contact the magazine’s Publishers or the Editor (contact details on page 3). To register changes to this information, please contact Victor Blunden, email: [email protected]

BELGIUMAssociation Egyptologique Reine Elisabeth a.s.b.l./Egyptologisch GenootschapKoningin Elisabeth VZWBRUXELLES

www.aere-egke.be/aere.eng.htm

Egyptologica a.s.b.l. BRUXELLES

www.egyptologica.be

Egyptologica Vlaanderen VZWLEUVENwww.egyptologica-vlaanderen.be/home.htm

Kheper a.s.b.l.LOUVAIN-LA-NEUVEwww.kheper.be

Ptah-Hotep a.s.b.l. Association d’Égyptologie Belge WATERLOOwww.ptah-hotep.be

CANADAThe Society for the Study ofEgyptian Antiquities/Société pour l’Étude de l’Égypte Ancienne– Head Office, Toronto. www.thessea.org

– Montreal Chapter/Chapitre du Québec à Montréalhttp://sseamontrealvip.homestead.com

/anglais.htm

Overseas SSocieties AUSTRALIAAncient Egypt Society of WesternAustraliaPERTH

www.aeswa.org.au

Australian Centre for EgyptologyMACQUARIE UNIVERSITY

www.egyptology.mq.edu.au

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– Calgary Chapterwww3.telus.net/public/james135/CalgarySSEA.htm

– Vancouver Chapterwww.sseavancouver.wordpress.com

DENMARKThe Danish Egyptological SocietyCOPENHAGEN www.daes.dk

EGYPTLuxor Egyptology Societywww.luxoregyptology.org

Reviving the Egyptian Identity.CAIRO.www.egyptianism.org

FRANCEADEC. (Association Dauphinoised’Egyptologie CHAMPOLLION)MUSÉE DAUPHINOIShttp://www.champollion-adec.net/

AEREA. (Association pour l'Étudeet la Recherche sur l'ÉgypteAncienne)LE CHESNAYhttp://didier.laffaille.pagesperso-orange.fr/Aerea/Association.htm#Ancre4

Association d'ÉgyptologieIMHOTEPPORNIChttp://www.association-egyptologie-imhotep.eu/index.html

Association Égyptologique deGirondehttp;//www-aeg.u-bordeaux3.fr/

Association Égyptologique duGard NÎMEShttp://www.egyptonimes.fr/

Association MaâtNICEhttp://assocmaat.free.fr/index

Association ThotNANCY /METZhttp://www.thot-scribe.net/index.php

American Research Center inEgypt – Cairo [email protected]

The ARCE has “Chapters”throughout the USA:

Arizona (Tucson) Chapterhttp://web.arizona.edu/~egypt/field.htm

Georgia (Atlanta) [email protected]

Illinois (Chicago) Chapterwww.arcechicago.com

Massachusetts (Boston)[email protected]

New Mexico (Albuquerque)[email protected]

New York (New York City)Chapterwww.arceny.com

Northern California (Berkeley)Chapterhttp://home.comcast.net/~hebsed/

North Texas (Dallas) Chapterwww.arce-ntexas.org/

Northwest (Seattle,Washington) [email protected]

Orange County Chapter –Californiawww.ocpl.org/lectures/egypt.asp

Oregon (Portland) [email protected]

Pennsylvania (Philadelphia)[email protected]

Washington, DC Chapterwww.arcedc.org/

The Egyptian Study Society, Inc.DENVERwww.egyptstudy.org

ITALYAssociazione Per-Megiat [email protected] www.facebook.com/pages/Biblioteca-e-Archivi-di-Egittologia-Università-degli-Studi-di-Milano/[email protected]

MALTAThe Egyptological Society [email protected]

NORWAYThe Bergen Egypt ExplorationSocietyegyptexplorationbergen.com

REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICAThe Ancient Egyptian SocietyROOSEVELT [email protected]

The Ancient History Society ofPort Elizabeth (South Africa )PORT [email protected]

The Egyptian Society of SouthAfricaPLUMSTEAD,http://users.iafrica.com/g/gr/grenvill/

SWEDENThe Egyptological Society ofStockholm ENEBYBERGwww.efis.se

Swedish Egyptology Society, ISISHELSINGBORGwww.isishelsingborg.se

URUGUAYUruguayan Society of EgyptologyMONTEVIDEO.www.geocities.com/juanjosecastillos/

USAAmerican Research Center inEgypt – US OfficeSAN ANTONIO, Texashttp://www.arce.org

U.K. MMuseum CContact DDetailsAshmolean Museum, Oxford

Tel : 01865 278000

www.ashmol.ox.ac.uk

Birmingham Museum & Art

Gallery

Tel: 0121 303 2834

www.bmag.org.uk

Bolton Museum & Art Gallery

Tel: 01204 332211

www.boltonmuseums.org.uk

Bristol City Museum & Art

Gallery

Tel: 0117 922 3571

www.bristol-city.gov.uk/museums

The British MuseumTel: 020 7323 8000www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk

Durham University OrientalMuseumTel: 0191 334 5694www.dur.ac.uk/orientalmuseum

Herbert Art Gallery andMuseum, CoventryTel: 02476 832386www.theherbert.org

The Egypt Centre, SwanseaTel: 01792 295960www.swan.ac.uk

The Fitzwilliam Museum,CambridgeTel : 01223 332900www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk

New Walk Museum & ArtGallery, LeicesterTel: 0116 225 4900www.leicestermuseums.ac.uk

National Museum of ScotlandTel: 0300 123 6789www.nms.ac.uk/scotland

Victoria and Albert Museum,LondonTel: 020 7942 2000www.vam.ac.uk

West Park Museum, MacclesfieldTel: 01625 [email protected]

World Museum, LiverpoolTel : 0151 478 4393www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk

Association varoise d'ÉgyptologieKEMETMAASOLLIES-PONTwww.kemetmaa.fr

Cercle d’Égyptologie Victor LoretLYONhttp://assoc.univ-lyon2.fr/cercle-egyptologie

Centre languedocien d'Égyptolo-gie (Béziers)NARBONNEhttp://centrelanguedocienegyptolo-gie.blogspot.fr/

Centre Vauclusien d’EgyptologieAVIGNONwww.avignon.fr/fr/actu/detail.donut?id=4447

Les Amis de ChampollionTROYEShttp://lesamisdechampollion.fr/

Les Amis de l’Égypte AncienneSAINT ESTÈVEhttp://kemit.club.fr/index.htm

Les Amis de l'Égyptepharaonique (ADEA)SAINT CLEMENT DE RIUIEREhttp://adea.asso-web.com/28+con-tact.html

Les Amis de ThotAVIGNONhttp://www.lesamisdethot.net/

Les Rencontres Égyptologiquesde Strasbourghttp://redstbg.free.fr/

NÉFROU AssociationMontpelliéraine d'Égyptologie MONTPELLIER http://nefrou.free.fr/index.php?page=contact

PapyrusLILLEhttp://www.association-papyrus.com/

Provence EgyptologieMARSEILLEhttp://www.provenceegyptologie.org/

Société d’égyptologie de Pauhttp://egyptologie64.e-monsite.com/

The Great North Museum,NewcastleTel: 0191 222 6765

www.twmuseums.org.uk

The Manchester MuseumTel: 0161 275 2634

www.museum.man.ac.uk

The Petrie Museum of EgyptianArchaeology, LondonTel: 020 7679 2884

www.petrie.ucl.ac.uk

Museum of the School ofArchaeology, Classics andEgyptology, LiverpoolTel: 0151 794 2467

www.liv.ac.uk/sace

ANCIENT EGYPT is owned, and published bi-monthly, by Ancient Egypt Magazine Ltd. The contents of this magazine are protected by copyright and nothing may be reproduced without the permission of the Editor. The Publishers and Editor are not liable for statements made

and opinions expressed in this publication. Unless otherwise stated, all images are from the collection of the Editor (JPP) or the late Robert Partridge (RBP) and remain copyright. Any articles not specifically attributed are by the Editor (JPP).

For access to an electronic downloadable version of the magazine and for information on back-issues and subscriptions, visit our web site: www.ancientegyptmagazine.com. Email: [email protected].

AEendpages79 - Contacts.qxd 20/07/2013 19:01

VOYAGES JULES VERNE

A grand highlight of the week will be our visit to the Valley of the Kings where we have a permit for a private AWT opening of ‘The Lost Tomb’ KV 5 that Kent has been excavating over many years. Every season more rooms are found in this the largest tomb in the entire valley. Kent will of course give us all the very latest news on his work.

ancient world toursPO Box 12950, London W6 8GY UK. e-mail [email protected]

Price per person – £1,990 Single supplement – £127 Land only – £1,540 (If you arrange your own fl ight)

LUXOR EXPLORER WITH KENT WEEKS

DEPARTING 17th FEBRUARY 2014

Join us on this new Luxor based tour with world famous Egyptologist, Professor Kent Weeks.

We are based at the First-Class Old Winter Palace, Garden Pavilion Wing for one week. This tour takes in the glories of Luxor plus the added attraction of looking at work undertaken over the last few years on many of the regular sites.

NEW

FOR 2014

THE EXPERTS IN WORLD HERITAGE

TRAVEL

We have also obtained a special permit to view the recently cleaned and restored artisan’s tombs at Deir el Medina. The workers’ village is revealing more secrets about the daily life of the men who built the royal tombs.

We have time to look at the latest restoration and cleaning work at Karnak Temple, Luxor Temple, The Sphinx Avenue, the Mosque of Abu Haggag and much more. A short ride away from Luxor we take time to enjoy the lovely Temple of Montu at el Tod – often overlooked by travellers. We then continue to Mo’alla to learn about the life of the Governor Ankhtify. A week to catch up with the latest news and time to enjoy the many facilities on offer at this excellent hotel on the Corniche in the heart of the city.

CALL NOW TO BOOK: 0844 357 9494or go to: www.ancient.co.uk

AWT is an agent of Voyages Jules Verne. These Air Holiday packages are ATOL Protected by the Civil Aviation Authority. VJV’s ATOL No. 0132

ancient egypt magazine issue 79

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