Travel: Day 48 Egyptian Museum

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Day 48 Egyptian Museum

Album : Middle East : Egypt : Day 48 Egyptian Museum (88 items)

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1) Egyptian Museum

18/11/2001 9:45:32 AM

I wasn't very interested in the Egyptian museum at the time I was in Egypt. I knew next to nothing about ancient Egyptian history. Now, after taking a course in Egyptian history, I knew a little bit more than nothing. Thus I will relabled some of my photos.

2) Pharaoh

18/11/2001 9:46:14 AM

It's hard to say which Pharaoh this is. They all looked the same to me. That is because the Egyptian art is immortal -- in other words: conservative. From the old kingdom to the new kingdom, the art style were almost idential. No wonder Egyptians didn't have any word for art.

Everything in the Egypt reamin the same for a long time. You dump a corpse in the desert, a hundred years later, you can still tell the face of the corpse. No wonder ancient Egyptians consider imoortallity such a big deal. They werelike the Chinese in the way that they hated changes. They prefered isolation.

Egypt was bounded by the deserts on the west and the east. The south (beyond Aswan) was bounded by some large boulders. The north was bounded by the sea which the Egyptians never liked. For they were river sailors and not very good at crossing the sea.

3) Inside The Museum

16/11/2001 10:01:32 AM

4) Zeus With Horns

18/11/2001 9:46:52 AM

This is probably from the Ptolemy age (Ptolemy was one of Alexander the Great's general who inherited Egypt)

5) The Narmer Palette Front

18/11/2001 9:47:32 AM

This palette is about 64 cm in height. It's probably a ceremonial palette. Not something a woman use for her makeup.

The palette was found in Hierakonpolis, somewhere in southern Egypt.

Namer was the first known Pharoah of Egypt. He united Upper and Lower Egypt. (the upper Egypt was in the south and the Lower Egypt was in the north, the upper and lower refered to the upper and lower Nile, not the north and south of modern maps).

Hathor (cow head god) is on
the top.
The Pharaoh follows the sandal boy,
and some flag holders.
The headless bodies were the
enemies.
The felines with elongated
neck meant something I forgot.

6) The Narmer Palette Back

18/11/2001 9:48:16 AM

Namer held a mace to smash the head of his enemy.
Note to self: never piss of a Pharaoh.

Horus (the falcon) is
protecting him. His sandal boy is
standing behind him.

7) Near Life Size Limestone Statue Of A Seated Pharaoh

18/11/2001 9:48:54 AM

Zoser (Djoser), the third dynasty
pharoah whose architect Imhotep
designed the first pyramid,
the step Pyramid
of Sqqara.

Near Life Size Limestone Statue Of A Seated Pharaoh

8) A Naked Man With Two Non Naked Men

18/11/2001 9:49:40 AM

9) Statue Of Khafre

18/11/2001 9:51:22 AM

Builder of the second pyramid
at Giza. he sits on a lion throne
with the wings of the falcon god Horus
wrapped around his head.

10) Wooden Statue Of Ka Aper

18/11/2001 9:52:02 AM

Carved out of a single piece of sycamore (except for the arms)
he's amazingly lifelike, especially the eyes.

11) Chief Dwarf Seneb

18/11/2001 9:53:30 AM

Seneb is sitting cross-legged in an
effort to disguise his short legs.
The happy couples and the two kids
had been used for family planning
campaign.

12) Meidum Geese

16/11/2001 10:40:36 AM

These are near the oasis of Al-fayoum. 2600bc and
the pigents were still vivid.

13) Statue From The Queens Pyramid

18/11/2001 9:54:02 AM

statue in the queens tomb

14) Lion With Elephant Ear

18/11/2001 9:54:06 AM

15) Arms Like Horns

18/11/2001 9:55:12 AM

16) Block Statue Of The Pharaoh

18/11/2001 9:52:42 AM

They had been around for 4000 years
and the paints still look new,
but a few flashes from ignorant
tourists will probably fix that.

17) Ms Hep The Queen

18/11/2001 9:55:20 AM

18) The Queen As The Pharaoh

18/11/2001 9:55:24 AM

19) The Cow Hathor

18/11/2001 9:55:28 AM

20) Mentuhotep Ii

18/11/2001 9:55:34 AM

Mentuhotep, means "The God Montu is Content".

21) Death Mask Of Tut

18/11/2001 9:55:44 AM

22) Heavy Death Mask Of King Tutankhamun

18/11/2001 9:55:50 AM

Tutankhamun was the son of Akhenaten.

Akhenaten was the famous Heretic Pharaoh who tried to force the Egyptians to monotheistically worship the Aten. It was the first recorded attempt to monotheism in the world.

It was a big deal in Egypt. Egyptian religion had never been changed since the time of Namer and now Akhenaten wanted to turn it upside down. Certinaly it upset the preiests who were incredibly rich. And it upset the Army because Akhenaten was kind of a Pacifist. And he also moved the capital to Amarna.

As you can see, Akhenaten wasn't very liked by the Egyptians in power, especially the priests and the army. He was probably surrounded by enemies.

When King Tut was eight, his farther died. He was just a boy. In order to keep the throne, he married his half-sister Ankhesenamun. (In Egyptian culture, only the man who married the pure blood daughter of the Egyptian royal could become the Pharaoh.)

So here you go, a boy of eight years old married to a girl of thirteen years old who was also his half sister. The two kids must be very scared (since their father was not very liked by the priests and the generals).

They moved the capital back the Thebes. King Tut, by his own will or perhaps the will instilled by his guardians, tried to move back to the old Egyptian way.

At the age of 18th (or 17th), he died. Some said he died in an accident. Some said he was murdered by Ay, the chief priest. I think murdered by Priest Ay is a more senstational story.

Priest Ay became the next Pharaoh. He and his successor erased King Tut from all official records. He also married Ankhesenamun (in order to rule Egypt, you ought to marry the pure blood daughter of a Pharaoh). So now we have a 70 years old marrying a 23 years old. Ankhesenamun wasn't very happy about the marriage. Before the wedding, she wrote a letter to the Hittie King (the Hittie was Egypt's enemy), asking him to send a prince to marry her. The prince was assassined at the border. Eventaully she married the dirty old man and disappeared completely from the historical record.

King Tut was a relatively minor king. He was so famous nowadays only because his tomb was discovered in the modern age (around 1920's)