Wednesday, December 29, 2010
The Temple of Soknopaios
The article concerns finds in the courtyard of a temple founded by Ptolemy II, Philadephus in about 250 bc. The finds include a series of around 150 pot shards many inscribed with names of the preists of the temple around the time of the Roman period.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
The Suicide of Cleopatre
Here we have "The Suicide of Cleopatre" by Albrecht Durer recently recovered by Italian police in the home of a Roman designer and art collector. The painting was stolen from a collection in May of 1972 and recovered along with fifteen other stolen works.
Friday, Dec. 17, 2010. AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Ten Events Concerning Egyptology
2. South of the workers cemetery at Giza a new tomb was found which may be the discovery of a new necropolis of the royal court.
3. An international convention was held with more than a dozen countries in attendance in an effort to discuss ways of repatriating cultural property in foreign collections though the countries in possession of many of the most important of these objects did not attend.
4. Then must come the issue of the value of repatriating objects to historically vulnerable countries like Egypt or Greece and whether in the long run such objects could be better cared for by their current international institutions than by those countries who's culture they represent.
5. Luxor is all abuzz over the ongoing unprofessional digging up of the avenue of rams to help create an outdoor museum/theme park.
6. After decades of an unspoken scandal the Metropolitan Museum of Art is set to return 19 different objects that have come to that institution through Howard Carter and believed to have come from king Tutankhamun's tomb.
7. A painting by Vincent Van Gogh know as "Poppy flowers" was easily stolen from the Mahmoud Khalil museum in Cairo. The museums alarms and cameras were not working.
8. The year also solved the mystery of whether a pharaoh of Egypt had been buried at Vergina in northern Greece?
9. We find at Mit Rahina a temple to the god Ptah built by Ramesses the great (1279-1212bce)and now littered with garbage and sewage.
10. Certainly 2010 dispelled a centuries old curiosity with the final exploration of the tunnel in the tomb of the Pharaoh Seti I (KV17)in the valley of kings by Dr. Zahi Hawass and alas some funerary trinkets were found but the long suspected burial chamber was not there.
Chasing Mummies: Review
When first I watched the new TV soap opera known as "Chasing Mummies" or as I like to call it Chasing the mummy, I had a friend over for dinner who asked if we could watch something less irritating, I agreed but sadly because I was writing this article I caught the repeat episode the following day.
In the great pyramid one sees Dr. Zahi Hawass taking his young fellowship students through to the farthest reaches of the pyramid a journey of many hours at points the fine doctor can be heard yelling and verbally deriding his young students. When illness strikes one of the film crew Dr. Hawass can be heard screaming like a madman in the background.
Who knows why a man who claims such success to his beloved science would want to come across with such anger harsh words and threats especially to his young students even if they do give the wrong answer or accidentally violate a pyramid or two. At Alexandria however the anger expressed by Dr Hawass on the dropping of a pylon being raised from the sea floor was well deserved.
At the shore the finally raised pylon is met by the embarrassment of Egypt's Ministry of culture, it's minister Farouk Hosni who thankfully took some time out from book burning to be seen but not enough to upstage Dr. Hawass' show.
The series is tragically ongoing and if you like to be irritated or get off on watching people being told to shut up by some ill mannered bully than this may be your cup of tea. For me however I found it so far most boring, insulting and a lesson in how to turn off young future Egyptologists.
In the latter episodes thankfully Dr. Hawass is not seen telling people to shut up nor is he displayed as an angry man but instead is humanized and in the controversial cave/tomb beneath the Giza plateau the doctor is even seen as playful while making his point as to where it leads. Later on in the falcon galleries snakes including a cobra liven up the experience.
The archaeological fellows were not served in their education of archaeology by being a part of this show, there being a lot of talk about whether a space was safe or not? Naturally making new discoveries almost never comes with the reassurance of safety and immature and overly stressed fellows left the program.
Dr. Hawass is seen unconvincingly touting his vision for the avenue of rams and here attempts to show that the site is yielding archaeological value, or at least for the time period the doctor is looking for. In the tomb of Seti I we are shown the doctor at the end of that tombs tunnel, a very interesting place to be with Dr. Hawass' hopes that he will find the secret burial chamber of that king at the end. Not to be!
Certainly it is the last show in this series that was the most interesting with the tour of the tomb in the area of the tombs of the nobles named after Dr. Hawass, Z-1. In the newly discovered tomb the viewer is present as the tomb yields a number of coffin-less mummies dated to dynasties eighteen and twenty six.
Though for some reason I could not help but to remember the missing tombs in that area excavated by Alexander Rhind in the mid nineteenth century and wonder if Z-1 was actually one of them.
Without a doubt the highlight of the series was the tour of this tomb and in the end Dr. Hawass came off as a passionate man who was capable of expressing his passion though one gets the feeling that true peace and happiness only comes to the doctor when he is in someone else's grave.
In the great pyramid one sees Dr. Zahi Hawass taking his young fellowship students through to the farthest reaches of the pyramid a journey of many hours at points the fine doctor can be heard yelling and verbally deriding his young students. When illness strikes one of the film crew Dr. Hawass can be heard screaming like a madman in the background.
Who knows why a man who claims such success to his beloved science would want to come across with such anger harsh words and threats especially to his young students even if they do give the wrong answer or accidentally violate a pyramid or two. At Alexandria however the anger expressed by Dr Hawass on the dropping of a pylon being raised from the sea floor was well deserved.
At the shore the finally raised pylon is met by the embarrassment of Egypt's Ministry of culture, it's minister Farouk Hosni who thankfully took some time out from book burning to be seen but not enough to upstage Dr. Hawass' show.
The series is tragically ongoing and if you like to be irritated or get off on watching people being told to shut up by some ill mannered bully than this may be your cup of tea. For me however I found it so far most boring, insulting and a lesson in how to turn off young future Egyptologists.
In the latter episodes thankfully Dr. Hawass is not seen telling people to shut up nor is he displayed as an angry man but instead is humanized and in the controversial cave/tomb beneath the Giza plateau the doctor is even seen as playful while making his point as to where it leads. Later on in the falcon galleries snakes including a cobra liven up the experience.
The archaeological fellows were not served in their education of archaeology by being a part of this show, there being a lot of talk about whether a space was safe or not? Naturally making new discoveries almost never comes with the reassurance of safety and immature and overly stressed fellows left the program.
Dr. Hawass is seen unconvincingly touting his vision for the avenue of rams and here attempts to show that the site is yielding archaeological value, or at least for the time period the doctor is looking for. In the tomb of Seti I we are shown the doctor at the end of that tombs tunnel, a very interesting place to be with Dr. Hawass' hopes that he will find the secret burial chamber of that king at the end. Not to be!
Certainly it is the last show in this series that was the most interesting with the tour of the tomb in the area of the tombs of the nobles named after Dr. Hawass, Z-1. In the newly discovered tomb the viewer is present as the tomb yields a number of coffin-less mummies dated to dynasties eighteen and twenty six.
Though for some reason I could not help but to remember the missing tombs in that area excavated by Alexander Rhind in the mid nineteenth century and wonder if Z-1 was actually one of them.
Without a doubt the highlight of the series was the tour of this tomb and in the end Dr. Hawass came off as a passionate man who was capable of expressing his passion though one gets the feeling that true peace and happiness only comes to the doctor when he is in someone else's grave.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Coptic Art Revisited
This article is on a display of Coptic art at the Mamluk era palace Al-Amir Taz. The exhibition of 205 works of Coptic art is to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Coptic museum founded in 1910. The article contains 15 pictures of the recently renovated museum and the exhibition.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Oriental Institutes Tell Edfu Excavations
The arrival of my E-Tablet this month from the Oriental institute I find there are pictures of excavations currently going on at Tell Edfu. The excavation is on an old kingdom site including a cult pyramid of the third dynasty.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Queen Arsinoe's Wild Crown
Photo Credit: Maria Nilsson
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Arsinoe II King of Lower Egypt
There is a new study of Ptolemaic queen Arsinoe II the daughter of the founder of Egypt.s Ptolemaic dynasty Ptolemy Soter and sister wife of king Ptolemy II. The author of the study Maria Nilson of Gothenburg University have found that the special crown worn in representations of Arsinoe may well represent Arsinoe as a king of lower Egypt.
Queen Arsinoe II was deified in her lifetime and for 200 years throughout the dynasty by the kings and queens that followed. Among Arsinoe's many accomplishment is her participation in the Olympic games in which she won three events in horse harnessing.
Queen Arsinoe II was deified in her lifetime and for 200 years throughout the dynasty by the kings and queens that followed. Among Arsinoe's many accomplishment is her participation in the Olympic games in which she won three events in horse harnessing.
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