Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Interior of the Sarcophagus of Nectanebo II

 This is the left side interior looking towards the foot of the sarcophagus of Nectanebo II which was later drilled to be a ritual bath at the Attarin Mosque in Alexandria. The sarcophagus came to the British Museum as a gift of King George III who attained it from the Napoleon expedition through the treaty of Alexandria.

Photo: Many thanks to Michael Harding
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4 comments:

Andie said...

Hi Tim and Michael. I was photographing this coffin last week in the BM for a presentation about the Eastern Desert. It is made from a fascinating green breccia, the colours of which showed up very well in the morning light. If you're interested the accompanying British Museum label, this is what it says: "Green breccia sarcophagus of Nectanebo II. Thirtieth Dynasty, about 345BC. From Alexandria. This sarchophagus was never used by Nectanebo, last native ruler of Egypt. He fled to Nubia following the Persian invasion in 343BC. It was later used as a ritual bath in the mosque in the former church of St Athanasius. It is inscribed with extracts from the Book of the Imiduat. Gift of George III, 1802, EA 10."

June 1, 2011 at 1:48 AM
Timothy Reid said...

Thanks Andie for the info.

June 1, 2011 at 10:58 AM
Stuart Tyler said...

Hi Tim,

I recently contacted the BM for a list of items which were gifted to the BM following a treaty of Alexandria.

Just in case anyone is interested (and not to take anything away from the original post), my response was as follows:

EA 10, sarcophagus of Nectanebo II
EA 23, sarcophagus of Hapmen
EA 86, sarcophagus of Henta
EA 9, colossal fist from Memphis
EA 37, 57, 68, statues of Sekhmet
EA 81, statue of Roy
GRA 1802.7-10.1 and 2, two marble statues in Classical style
EA 24, Rosetta Stone
EA 88, statue of Sekhmet
Two fragments of Sekhmet statues, it is not possible to identify these with particular examples in our large collection of Sekhmet statues
EA 137, scribal statue
EA 66, sarcophagus of Pairkap (fragment)
EA 523 and 524, obelisks of Nectanebo II
EA 14, head of a ram statue.


For further information on the acquisition, see M. Bierbrier, 'The acquisition by the British Museum of antiquities discovered during the French invasion of Egypt', in Davies, W.V. (ed), Studies in Egyptian Antiquities. A Tribute to T.G.H. James (British Museum Occasional Paper 123), 29-36.

Detaikls of each object, and many photographs, can be seen on our online database (use the EA numbers to search): http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database.aspx

Best wishes,

Dr. Neal Spencer
Assistant Keeper (Curator)
Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan
The British Museum

Regards,
Stuart

June 1, 2011 at 1:52 PM
Timothy Reid said...

Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge with myself and my readers. It is a list of very beautiful objects, I do love that fist and this sarcophagus.

Thanks again Stuart

Cheers

June 1, 2011 at 4:16 PM

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