Ancient Times

thatlittleegyptologist: Today’s Egypt post comes from Saqqara...

Sat, 19 May 2012 18:11:51 -0400

Random ear found on the floor

Today’s Egypt post comes from Saqqara and the surrounding tombs.

Saqqara was really early on in the 16 day trip we took (in fact I think it was the first day. Memories are hazy) We’d barely touched down in Cairo and were subsequently whisked off to our hotel from which we could see the Pyramids at Giza.

After an interesting night with interruptions from various car and taxi horns (admittedly we did spend time on the balcony watching the traffic jam as it was hilarious. Egyptian drivers are badasses) we took the coach to the Imhotep museum, which was blessedly airconditioned, and then onto the Old Kingdom tombs and the Pyramid of Teti. These were pretty cool and yes we did manage to get photos inside the Pyramid (for some reason we weren’t told we couldn’t and no one stopped us so we did) and then a talk by the bloke who was Hawass’ second in command (I can’t remember his name now) who then took us on a tour of the tombs.

From there we went across to Djoser’s pyramid complex in which were a lot of dogs. We’d been told by one of our lecturers throughout our undergrad (I was at the end of my 3rd year when I went on this trip which seems so long ago now) told us that the reason they always use the phrase “Anubis on his mound” and the corresponding hieroglyph is that you always find dogs at Saqqara sitting atop the monuments or tombs. He usually told a lot of odd stories which we ignored but to find out that this was true was pretty awesome.

We wandered about the Heb Sed court for a bit taking pictures of each other and jumping off rocks. I also found a random statue ear on the floor (see last picture) and quite a few other random fragments. It is true that you can dig anywhere in Egypt and uncover its history.

After that we visited Unas’ causeway. At this point, having only been in the country for 24 hours, the heat was beginning to take it’s toll so we went down to visit the Tomb of the Two Brothers. Universal consensus of people on the trip….not brothers. Definitely not.

Saqqara: I gave those ~~bitches~~ dogs monuments. ~~Bitches~~ Dogs love monuments.

thatlittleegyptologist: Since Beni Hassan was so popular...

Fri, 18 May 2012 21:04:09 -0400

Ay's tomb

thatlittleegyptologist:

Since Beni Hassan was so popular yesterday and I did mention Amarna and its masses of steps I thought I’d bring you pictures.

Amarna was pretty awesome despite the fact that when I visited I was a) ill, b) functioning on 2 hours sleep having had the alarm sound at 4am and c) we’d been on the coach for approximately 8 hours by the time we got there.

It was SO hot. And I’m not talking “oh its a hot country of course it’s going to be hot” heat I’m talking “afsgkilsdjfdfbvcx!!” type heat (possibly around 50c which wasn’t the hottest we had on the trip. According to Richard it was 57c when we were at Deir el Medina). Fortunately for us there was also strong gusts of wind which cooled us down and inevitably dried us off ~~yuck~~

The tombs were pretty awesome. Sadly not a lot left of Akhenaten’s (water damage) but the tunnels in there were immense! The North tombs (see above) were tricky to climb to, pretty awesome and resulted in a group of 18-23 year old women running for their lives when a poisonous snake came out of it’s burrow. Luckily the guard shot it. Not so lucky for the snake.

The best tomb there in my opinion is Ay’s. The columns in there were superb and we had free run of it (as we did most temples until we got to Edfu. Oh dear god Edfu. But that’s another story). By this point we were well on our guard for snakes so shrieks were heard every time someone thought there was rustling.

Overall opinion of Amarna: Pretty tombs…..mostly sand.

vacuidad: Bust of Nefertiti in the Neues Museum, Berlin,...

Sat, 12 May 2012 11:56:19 -0400

vacuidad:

Bust of Nefertiti in the Neues Museum, Berlin, Germany

“The bust of the lovely queen looks forlorn in her new jail, just as she looked lonely in the one she was imprisoned in while the New Museum was being restored.”

dwellerinthelibrary: P1070837 Philae Temple [b&c,clr] (by...

Sat, 12 May 2012 11:55:01 -0400

dwellerinthelibrary:

P1070837 Philae Temple [b&c,clr] (by LordLiverpool)

Check out the birds parading around the column!

Photo

Sat, 12 May 2012 11:54:39 -0400

aboutegypt: IMG_5391 (by tom_bennett)

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:43:25 -0400

aboutegypt:

IMG_5391 (by tom_bennett)

aboutegypt: 518_1145__MG_8279_web (by Bobonacus)

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:42:31 -0400

aboutegypt:

518_1145__MG_8279_web (by Bobonacus)

aboutegypt: Edfu Temple (by masong2011)

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:41:20 -0400

aboutegypt:

Edfu Temple (by masong2011)

aboutegypt: Best Posts of the Month

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:43:18 -0500

aboutegypt:

Best Posts of the Month

aboutegypt: Best Posts of the Month

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:41:11 -0500

aboutegypt:

Best Posts of the Month

The Creation of the Earth

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:43:09 -0500

At first, there was only Nun. Nun was the dark waters of chaos. One day, a hill rose up out of the waters. This hill was called Ben-Ben. On this hill stood Atum, the first god. Atum coughed and spat out Shu, the god of the air, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture. Shu and Tefnut had two children. First, there was Geb, the god of the earth. Then, there was Nut, the goddess of the sky. Shu lifted Nut up so that she became a canopy over Geb. Nut and Geb had four children named Osiris, Isis, Seth and Nephthys. Osiris was the king of the earth and Isis was the queen. Osiris was a good king, and he ruled over the earth for many years. However, everything was not well. Seth was jealous of Osiris because he wanted to be the ruler of the earth. He grew angrier and angrier until one day he killed Osiris. Osiris went down into the underworld and Seth remained on earth and became king. Osiris and Isis had one son called Horus. Horus battled against Seth and regained the throne.After that, Horus was the king of the earth and Osiris was the king of the underworld.

The End

Photo

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:11:00 -0500

Ra-Horakhty

Sekhmet

Seshat

Seth

Shu

Sobek

Tawaret

Tefnut

Thoth

Photo

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:07:00 -0500

Isis

Khepri

Khunum

Ma'at

Nephthis

Nun

Nut

Osiris

Ptah

Ra

Photo

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:57:00 -0500

Amun

Anubis

Aten

Atum

Bastet

Bes

Geb

Hapy

Hathor

Horus

Diadem. 200-100 B.C., Alexandria, Egypt. Made from gold this...

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:44:07 -0500

Diadem. 200-100 B.C., Alexandria, Egypt. Made from gold this diadem was likely worn by a noblewoman of the time.

Find more stunning historical jewellery

theancientworld: Gold Necklace with Medallion Depicting a...

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:30:37 -0500

theancientworld:

Gold Necklace with Medallion Depicting a Goddess, Egypt, Roman Period (30 BCE - 300 CE)

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Currently not on view

Source

aboutegypt: IMG_8408 (by Jo’-)

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:29:02 -0500

aboutegypt:

IMG_8408 (by Jo’-)

rudjedet: Medinet Habu, temple of Ramses III. Dynasty XX

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:28:26 -0500

rudjedet:

Medinet Habu, temple of Ramses III. Dynasty XX

Cobra Figures and the Step Pyramid Saqqara

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:14:09 -0500

Cobra Figures and the Step Pyramid Saqqara

"Knowledge is consciousness of reality. Reality is the sum of the laws that govern nature and of the..."

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:06:52 -0500

“Knowledge is consciousness of reality. Reality is the sum of the laws that govern nature and of the causes from which they flow. ________________From the Fourth Inner Temple. ________________”

- http://www.duboislc.org/html/Proverbs.html