May 17, 2013 • 118 notes • ancientpeoples

ancientpeoples:

The Workman’s path between Deir el Medina and the Valley of the Kings

New Kingdom

Due to the fact that Deir el Medina was a relatively secluded community (members of said community had to apply for permission to see family and friends outside of the village area) and the secretive nature of their work in the Valley of the Kings, the workmen required a path to the valley that would lead them there without the knowledge of other people living in the vicinity of the nearby Mortuary temples. 

To do this a road between the village of Deir el Medina and the Valley of the Kings was created so that the workmen could continue their work in secret. Along this road are huts in which the workmen would rest if the didn’t make it back to the village by nightfall. 

This walk, for modern adventurers, is best done in the early morning to avoid the heat of the day and this is very likely the same time the workmen would have taken this route as their work day began with the sunrise. The workmen would have taken this route 8 days out of 10 as the Ancient Egyptian week was 10 days long, rather than our modern 7 day week. 

Photos belong to admin

(via rudjedet)

April 28, 2013 • 14 notes • dwellerinthelibrary
dwellerinthelibrary: 2010_1106_125142AA EGYPTIAN MUSEUM TURIN by Hans Ollermann on Flickr. The solar barque being pulled across the sands of the underworld. Meanwhile some falcon-headed gods are catching baddies in a net and there are cobras all over everything (no change there then).

dwellerinthelibrary:

2010_1106_125142AA EGYPTIAN MUSEUM TURIN by Hans Ollermann on Flickr.

The solar barque being pulled across the sands of the underworld. Meanwhile some falcon-headed gods are catching baddies in a net and there are cobras all over everything (no change there then).

April 27, 2013 • 57 notes • archaeologicalnews

Archaeological News: Great Perth mummy swindle

archaeologicalnews:

image

For more than 50 years a tiny Egyptian mummy, no bigger than a hand, has sat in storage in the WA Museum — an ancient tightly wrapped mystery whose contents would remain sealed for ever by the mottled brown linen wound around it.

But thanks to modern technology some of the secrets of Perth’s…

April 21, 2013 • 17 notes • demonthings.com
dwellerinthelibrary: (via If you hit yourself in the head with an axe, you’re bound to get a splitting headache!)

dwellerinthelibrary:

(via If you hit yourself in the head with an axe, you’re bound to get a splitting headache!)

April 21, 2013 • 99 notes • centuriespast
obsidianwitch: centuriespast: Mummiform Figure of Osiris The inscription identifies this figure as Osiris. He wears the crown of ostrich feathers, a sun-disk, and the ram’s horns that identify him as a king. Yet he is also in the form of a mummy with the curled beard worn by the dead. The figure stands on a hollow base. Originally, a papyrus with a spell written on it was stored in the base. When this figure and papyrus were placed in the tomb, the deceased enjoyed the protection of Osiris and of the spell. Medium: Wood, painted Place Made: Egypt Dates: 664-332 B.C.E. Period: Late Period (probably) Brooklyn Museum Well hello Ptah-Sokar-Wesir…whatchya doin?

obsidianwitch:

centuriespast:

Mummiform Figure of Osiris

The inscription identifies this figure as Osiris. He wears the crown of ostrich feathers, a sun-disk, and the ram’s horns that identify him as a king. Yet he is also in the form of a mummy with the curled beard worn by the dead. 

The figure stands on a hollow base. Originally, a papyrus with a spell written on it was stored in the base. When this figure and papyrus were placed in the tomb, the deceased enjoyed the protection of Osiris and of the spell.

  • Medium: Wood, painted
  • Place Made: Egypt
  • Dates: 664-332 B.C.E.
  • Period: Late Period (probably)
  • Brooklyn Museum

Well hello Ptah-Sokar-Wesir…whatchya doin?

April 9, 2013 • 12 notes • digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de
dwellerinthelibrary: From the tomb of Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum at Beni Hasan. “Whether this cat, balancing among papyrus plants, is preparing to assist Chnemhetep, or is hunting on her own, who can say?” - Christabel Aberconway, A Dictionary of Cat Lovers

dwellerinthelibrary:

From the tomb of Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum at Beni Hasan.

“Whether this cat, balancing among papyrus plants, is preparing to assist Chnemhetep, or is hunting on her own, who can say?” - Christabel Aberconway, A Dictionary of Cat Lovers

April 3, 2013 • 5 notes • sadighgalleryegypt.com
sadighgallery: Ancient Egyptian, carved light green glazed limestone miniature version of an actual coffin with four legs. Removable top lid with a vertical line of hieroglyphs. Inside the coffin, a removable mummy form statue, also with a vertical line of hieroglyphs. 18th Dynasty. 1570-1342 BC (Coffin: 6 1/2” x 2” X 3 1/2”. Mummy form statue: 5 ½” x 1 1/2”). 

sadighgallery:

Ancient Egyptian, carved light green glazed limestone miniature version of an actual coffin with four legs. Removable top lid with a vertical line of hieroglyphs. Inside the coffin, a removable mummy form statue, also with a vertical line of hieroglyphs. 18th Dynasty. 1570-1342 BC (Coffin: 6 1/2” x 2” X 3 1/2”. Mummy form statue: 5 ½” x 1 1/2”). 

March 31, 2013 • 233 notes • ancientpeoples
ancientpeoples: Bronze figure of a seated cat From Saqqara, EgyptLate Period, after 600 BC The domesticated cat is probably associated more with ancient Egypt than any other culture in the world. This cat is a particularly fine example of the many statues of cats from ancient Egypt. It has gold rings, a silvered collar round its neck and a silver protective wedjat eye amulet. The cat is mostly identified with the goddess Bastet, whose cult centre was at Bubastis in the Nile Delta. Bubastis became particularly important when its rulers became the kings of Egypt, forming the Twenty-second Dynasty, sometimes known as the ‘Libyan Dynasty’. The rise of the importance of Bastet and the cat can probably be dated to this period. As with other creatures sacred to particular deities, it became very popular in the Late Period (661-332 BC) to bury mummies of cats in special cemeteries as a sign of devotion to the goddess. A number of cat cemeteries are known from Egypt. See, for example, a cat mummy dating to the first century AD from Abydos. This sculpture is now known as the Gayer-Anderson cat, after its donor to The British Museum. (Source: The British Museum)

ancientpeoples:

Bronze figure of a seated cat

From Saqqara, Egypt
Late Period, after 600 BC

The domesticated cat is probably associated more with ancient Egypt than any other culture in the world. This cat is a particularly fine example of the many statues of cats from ancient Egypt. It has gold rings, a silvered collar round its neck and a silver protective wedjat eye amulet.

The cat is mostly identified with the goddess Bastet, whose cult centre was at Bubastis in the Nile Delta. Bubastis became particularly important when its rulers became the kings of Egypt, forming the Twenty-second Dynasty, sometimes known as the ‘Libyan Dynasty’. The rise of the importance of Bastet and the cat can probably be dated to this period.

As with other creatures sacred to particular deities, it became very popular in the Late Period (661-332 BC) to bury mummies of cats in special cemeteries as a sign of devotion to the goddess. A number of cat cemeteries are known from Egypt. See, for example, a cat mummy dating to the first century AD from Abydos.

This sculpture is now known as the Gayer-Anderson cat, after its donor to The British Museum.

(Source: The British Museum)

(via thehereticpharaoh)

March 28, 2013 • 13 notes • sadighgalleryegypt.com
sadighgallery: Ancient Egyptian, carved black limestone laying mother cat nursing her three kittens. Dirt patina. Ptolemaic. 305-30 BC. (4 ¾” x 2 ¾” x 2 ½”)

sadighgallery:

Ancient Egyptian, carved black limestone laying mother cat nursing her three kittens. Dirt patina. Ptolemaic. 305-30 BC. (4 ¾” x 2 ¾” x 2 ½”)

March 26, 2013 • 55 notes • thehereticpharaoh

thehereticpharaoh:

“Representations of Hatchepsut, who ruled as a pharaoh together with her nephew and stepson Thutmose III, have been extensively mutilated and her cartouches often erased. In some instances her name and titles have been replaced by those of Thutmose III, and in others they remain blank. These ersaures appear to be part of a concerted effort on the part of Thutmoses III to rewrite the historical record, and he seems to have been largely successful, as the name of his co-ruler Hatchepsut is noticeably absent in surviving king lists. Images of Hatchepsut were also deliberately mutilated, as attested by the great number of damaged sphinxes bearing her likeness discovered buried together at the site of her mortuary temple.” - Eric R. Varner, Mutilation and Transformation: Damnatio Memoriae and Roman Imperial Portraiture.