How the Battle of Actium Changed

Poor Antony and Cleopatre really pissed Octavian and in 31bc Octavian showed who's boss.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/general/1310842/how_the_battle_of_actium_changed_the_world/index.html

Overlapping Kings of Amarna

I noticed recently that when I aligned the third Amenhotep's year reign of 25 with his successor and namesakes year 1 that a number of curious dates begin to suggest that much of the fourth Amenhotep's reign may actually have run parallel to his father.

It is for me to believe that the head of mummy #61074 in the Cairo museum is actually that of the third Amenhotep than he probably was suffering from his teeth by his reign year 25 and with the early and probably recent death of Crown prince Thutmosis the king took on his younger son Amenhotep and made him his co-regent.

Plague may have been raging in Egypt at this time and in year 27 the third Amenhotep buried a number of members of his family a plague sending the two kings to different desert palaces.

By year 30 of the third Amenhotep's reign the elder king deifies himself while at the same time his son is changing his name to Akenaten.

The suggestion that Amenhotep was the Aten is valid with his son at Amarna, Akenaten being the soul communicator to the god for his people.

The Kings year 37 Sed festival may have found the king in grave health unable to attend his own festival worse yet the king may have fallen ill when the guests were already on their way.

A change of venue may account for the unusual 12th year Sed festival of Akenaten, the idea that Amenhotep's yr. 37 Sed festival and Akenaten's yr. 12 Sed festivals are one and the same event.

Amenhotep III dying in his sons regnal year 13 with Akenaten dying a mere 4 years after his father.

With such possibilities it is no wonder the frustrations of chronology but mid 14th century is probably still good.

City of the Dead

Interesting short video on Egypt's City of the dead. A cemetery dating back to the 14th century.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/03/080328-cemetery-video-ap.html

Dendare Temple

Egypt is restoring its monuments in a program to update Upper Egypt to accomadate the hoards of tourists who are flooding the Temples and tombs.

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/890/eg2.htm

Psychotic King

Anyone who thinks that life was good in Akenaten's capitol is dreaming. If you were anyone other than the royal family and their courtiers life was hard and more than likely you would have been a tool to be worked to death.

So when I say you were a member of Akenaten's clique and that life was good this was probably only if you did not fall out of favor of the psychotic Pharaoh

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080328/sc_nm/egypt_archaeology_study_dc_1;_ylt=AqyqI91zdff8TNHB9aP6R.9FeQoB

Building Pyramids

How and why the pyramids were built is the subject of another artricle.

http://www.physorg.com/news125853330.html

Reopening Dendera

The beautiful little temple to the Goddess Hathor has been cleaned and restored.

http://guardians.net/hawass/news/Temple_of_Dendara.htm

Its a Donkey's Life

Another article on those donkey's buried at Abydos, Egypt. The domestication of animals as I have pointed out before was most likely a mutual arrangement in many cases.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/science/25donkw.html?em&ex=1206676800&en=94cc68c7ff9af7ab&ei=5087%0A

The Kings Wife Tiye

A colossal statue of Amenhotep III wife Tiye has been found in the ruins of the King's mortuary temple.

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7010414916

The Big Bad Church

Interesting article on the discovery of a cave used and decorated by Christians in the fourth century.

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/889/he3.htm

Amenhotep III

I do not like generally putting articles from the Egypt state information service as they tend to be half literate paragraphs without pictures. I thought the headline in this case humorous.

http://www.sis.gov.eg/En/EgyptOnline/Culture/000001/0203000000000000000964.htm

Al Muzawaka Necropolis

The Al Muzawaka necropolis is once again open to tourists though out of the necropolis's 300 Roman period tombs only two are painted and the necropolis is likely to interest few.

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/889/he1.htm

The Long Arm of the Dictator

Egyptian officials find the photographs which are accompanying a show of loaned Egyptian antiquities to a gallery in Switzerland as offencive. The Egyptian officials want the photo's removed or the objects sent back to Egypt.

I would pack up the antiquities and send them back and let the show go on with just the photo's and freedom of speech.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080319/wl_mideast_afp/egyptswitzerlandarcheologyart_080319183618;_ylt=ArioNq06e.rneempP8_YDA1FeQoB

Son of the Great

I thought the show was very interesting though admittedly 90% might just as well be 10% as the mummies obvious high status did not necessarily mean it was the son of Ramses II.

I thought the overbite was taken a little to much as evidence for the mummies "Royal status". It appears that everyone with an overbite was royal in the new kingdom.

I thought Joanne Fletcher was a wig specialist not a mummy expert and to my knowledge Egypt's Dr. Zahi Hawass will not let her work in Egypt again after her last mummy identification.

Lets hope things don't have to come to that.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/15/wmummy115.xml

Taxation in Ancient Egypt

Essential to Egyptology this story which includes a very good explanation of the Palmero stone and other sources.

http://egyptguide.netfirms.com/life/taxation.html

Domesticating Who?

How far back man began to domesticate animals remains still to be solved. I would be inclined to think that such domestication probably began long before we know.

Where ever man or Neanderthal lived they left scraps from their meals that would have attracted mice and other animals. The work of a cat on these small vermin would have been noticed by the humanoid, not to mention the advantage the cat would have hanging around the humanoid.

Mutual Domestication I suppose!

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080311/jsp/nation/story_9004763.jsp

Looting Mummies

Four Pharaonic era mummies have recently been seized by Egyptian police along with a coffin and statuettes from an illegal digging.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iiaeI6f2SlyAUPRg-da9o2mnpAJw

Bone Detectives

Finds at Tell el Hibeh cemetery.

http://www.physorg.com/news123867023.html

The Island of Philae

A short on the history of the former island and the temples new home with nice picture.

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/887/tr401.htm

Unknown Man "E"

This is the mummy I hear called Pentaware but better known as "Unknown man E". Many of the last one hundred and twenty five years most famous Egyptologist's have believed that this could be the body of this twentieth dynasty Prince who was found guilty in a conspiracy to kill his father the last great Pharaoh of the New kingdom Rameses III.

Whatever happened to Rameses history is not entirely clear however ancient papyrus' tell us that the plot was discovered and those found guilty would have faced a death by impalement with exceptions of the most senior conspirators who like the Prince were allowed to commit suicide.

A thirty one hundred year old court document says that the Prince was allowed to commit suicide and no further harm came to him. I would like to point out in the case of "Unknown man E" that having a ritually unclean sheepskin laid on top and buried in a coffin without a name or the needed spells for his well being in the afterlife represents further harm.

In reality we will probably never know who he is unless of course "Unknown man E" turns out to be Senenmut which because both Senenmut's mother Hatnofer and his father Ramose' mummies have been found may make DNA matching possible. The science of DNA may identify him among the occupants of the royal mummies cache where the box of internal organs and a tooth of Senenmut's King Hatshepsut was found in tomb DB320.

As time erodes the inscription so erodes the memory of but a few notables and his could end up being some other just as colourful character from the New Kingdom who's identity is now lost to history. Each Kings court would have how many courtiers ?

Over the 500 years of the New Kingdom I would expect dozens of courtiers to have left their courts in disgrace including perhaps Akhenaten, Smenkara, Bey, High Priest Amenhotep and possibly Senenmut.

Just to mention some of the most important.

Boltons Royal Mummy

A thorough examination of Bolton's Egyptian mummy has revealed that it is probably a prince of Ramsses II dynasty.

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/search/display.var.2086238.0.mummys_the_word_for_museum_staff.php

A Burned Cemetery

Recently three false offering doors were found in the cemetery of Ehnaysa El Medina from the nearby city came the rulers of Egypt's ninth and tenth dynasties.

The cemetery was burned at some point in history, the cemetery appears to have been deliberately burned.

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/886/eg10.htm

Other than Pyramids

Nice set of interesting pictures with explanation

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/08/middle_east_egypt0s_hidden_treasures/html/1.stm