All the Gold of Egypt

Just to show that no matter how much time you spend in Egypt, you will always see something new. These coins are from 2005. In all my travels, I’ve never come across a LE 1 coin before (top), with that distinctive style, featuring the  mask of Tutankhamun. I would remember if I had done so! I have seen the 50 Piastre coin, with a profile portrait of Cleopatra VII only once or twice.

In Egypt, you rarely come across coins. Notes run right down to 25 Piastre, which is usually the smallest amount a foreigner is going to handle, being the price for a bus ride in most towns until recently (on my last visit the fare had gone up in some areas). So, to see that the Egypt mint has taken the trouble of producing a LE 1 coin is quite a surprise, though a welcome one. Why they don’t produce more of both coins and withdraw the huge piles of dog eared 25-50 piastre, and LE 1 notes from circulation, and replace them all with these beautiful bits of metal is anyone’s guess.

Lovely work, on part of the coin designers.

It is a general belief that the Ancient Egyptians had no coins. Throughout the vast majority of Egyptian history that is absolutely right. Instead a system of weights of metal were used to determine values – the deben (Old Kingdom and Middle Kingdom), and the deben-qedet systems (New Kingdom and Late Period). However, from the 26th Dynasty onward, Egypt hired large numbers of Greek mercenaries. Initially these mercenaries were paid as the Egyptians had traditionally rewarded their soldiers, by giving them fields. The problems with this solution however, are quite clear. Eventually, this situation gave rise to something relatively few people are actually aware of… Pharaonic coins.

This is not Ptolemaic, whose coins are quite widely known, or from the Persian occupation periods when Persians satraps did produce their own coins. Below, however is an actual pharaonic coin, minted in the 30th Dynasty reign of Nectanebo II, and is now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

The hieroglyphs on the side shown above read nb nfr, “Good gold”, a reassurance, or perhaps a guarantee, that the gold is pure.  The coin itself is something of an interesting hybrid, with it’s inscription in hieroglyphs and then a decidedly Greek looking horse. Some other coins also existed that had demotic rather than hieroglyphic inscriptions, but all retain their quasi-greek flavour, since it is most likely they were introduced with the specific intent of paying hired Greek mercenaries. Few coins have been found, and they seem to have had little impact on the populace as a whole.

 

Sarcopgagus of Nectanebo II – Last Native Egyptian Pharaoh

This weeks video, examining the sarcophagus of Nectanebo II (Cat. No. EA10) in the Egyptian Sculpture Gallery at the British Museum. I have wanted to make a piece on the sarcophagus for this blog for a long time now, as I feel it’s historical importance is often overlooked, as marking the end of an era, and in some ways an entire culture. I’ve always found this piece to be profoundly moving.

To practicalities, I do apologise in advance for the rather poor delivery on this video, as I had about 10 minutes to mentally go through the presentation before plunging in.  C’est la vie!

Next week, the video shall not feature an object from the British Museum collection, but somewhere else, whose collection is completely and utterly new for me, having never visited the institution in question before in my life.  It’s a very exciting time for me!

 

Four Sphinx statues recovered in Luxor

From SIS – Link to original article

Culture Minister Farouk Hosni said 15/8/2008 that four statues for sphinx have been recovered in the ancient city of Luxor.

The four giant statues are made of the sand stones and were found in Luxor’s Eastern Bank.

Dr Zahi Hawwas, the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the statues were found without the upper parts.

“They were fixed upon sand-stone bases, which were brought from Aswan by the Pharaohs,” he added.

He said the bases are inscribed with the name of the founder of the 30th royal dynasty King Nekhipto.

Hawwas said he will allocate LE 100,000 to restore the discovered statues in cooperation with the Luxor’s Supreme Council chaired by Samir Farag.

The SCA is gradually clearing the entire length of the ceremonial avenue that ran between Luxor and Karnak temples, so this find isn’t surprising, as the entire length was lined with statuary. However it’s always heartening to see more late period sculpture gain attention, and that these ones will be restored.

Interestingly, a Middle East News article, carried by M&C, adds:

The team also excavated Ptolemic and Roman buildings along with a sandstone block that carries a cartouche (a royal title) of famed Queen Cleopatra, the last Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt.

Monsters & Critics

The SIS press release, however, doesn’t mention this.

 

Yet more discoveries in Saqqara

A little confusion here. According to a Yahoo News article there have been several significant discoveries in Saqqara of 19th Dynasty and Late Period coffins.

The Yahoo article goes on to mention that Ahmed Said, of Cairo University, reported that statues of the deceased were also found, suggesting some fairly substantial burials, though the State Information Service makes no mention of  the statues, though does report the discovery of “colored vessels for intestines” and a box. The SIS also mentions that the discoveries took place near Unas’ causeway.

Link to Yahoo article

Link to State Information Service article

 

Ancient Egyptian Lexicon Discovered in University Digitisation Project

Thanks to A K Eyma and Michael Tilgner for giving the EEF Email list a heads up on this:

At the University of Halle, a papyrus (from the Julius Kurth
Collection) has been discovered, which on one side has
a Book of the Dead text, and on the other side a lexicon.
This lexicon in three columns assigns precious metals, minerals,
trees and animals to certain godheads (e.g., gold and lapis lazuli
to Re, the cedar to Osiris, the ibis to Thoth, etc).

The main news article is in German, but from what I have been able to gather, the papyrus in question is around 2,300 years old, putting it at the end of the Late Period or beginnings of the Ptolemaic Period. Although we know of other lexicons compiled in Ancient Egypt, this is the oldest so far. The dictionary style list of associations between the gods, and things such as animals, woods and minerals bears no apparent relation to the “Book of the Dead” text on the other side. The associations given as examples are ones that were already known to us, so I assume that there is no new information concerning religious associations in the text, but it does push back the date at which this sort of listing of associations in a plain, simple, dictionary style form first appear on papyrus.

The text was discovered during the process of digitizing the papyrus collection of University Halle, and the digital database entry for the papyrus (P.Hal.Kurth Inv. 33) can be found here, with 72dpi images.

Link to article in Der Standard (German language)

 

Athens museum to show its priceless Egyptian collection

From the Daily News Egypt – Link to original article

By Nicholas Paphitis

First Published: May 14, 2008

ATHENS, Greece: A priceless ancient Egyptian collection opened to the public Wednesday, featuring a wooden body tag for a mummy, a stunning bronze statue of a princess, and a 3,000-year-old loaf of bread with a bite-sized chunk missing.

The National Archaeological Museum in Athens is putting more than 1,100 pieces from the collection on permanent exhibition, as more of its halls open to the public following years of renovation.

The previous Egyptian display, shelved six years ago, included just 350 artifacts.

Most of the current collection — which museum officials say is one of the best in the world — has never been shown to the public before due to lack of space.

A further 6,000 Egyptian artifacts remain in underground storage.

This should be fascinating, given that the display includes many Egyptian items that were discovered in Greece, having come there through trade. The relationship between the Minoans, Hyksos and early New Kingdom rulers has intrigued me for a few years now. Ahmose I (founder of the NK) is widely held to have built a palace in the re-conquered city of Hatwaret/Avaris that featured Minoan style decoration, a possibility that has long raised many questions in my mind.

The miniature was made in the red century BC in Alexandria, the Greek-Egyptian port city founded by Alexander of Macedon that grew into a major intellectual and administrative center.

This part of the article does irk me somewhat. It is now known that the city of Alexandria predates the conquest of Persian controlled Egypt by Alexander, and was founded in the Pharaonic period. Details are still very sketchy, but recent work shows the city existed at least as far back as 1000BCE, according to drill core samples. I don’t know why many publications still do not take note of the new findings.

 

In the reign of the Black Pharaohs

From Al Ahram Weekly  - Link to full article

Which country has the largest collection of pyramids? Think again, for it is not Egypt, but Sudan. Join Mohamed El-Hebeishy as he visits north Sudan in search of answers

Our great grandfathers called it Ta-Seti, Land of the Bow. They were referring to the area south of the First Cataract at Aswan, and the reason behind the name was the unparalleled skill its inhabitants demonstrated when using the bow as a method of arm. Those excellent bowmen were actually the Kushites.

At first, Egyptians, as back as the First Dynasty, would send expeditions to the area in pursuit of slaves as well as the exploration of new sites where copper and gold could be mined. Egyptian influence grew and by the Middle Kingdom, a series of strongholds and fortresses controlled the Nile at the Second Cataract. Their influence over the area grew further through the New Kingdom; Pharaoh Tuthmoses III marched as far south as the Fifth Cataract. But change is a question of time, and by the end of the New Kingdom, Kush began to rise.

 

Exhibition of the Pharaonic Renaissance (Late Period) in Slovenia

And, whilst we’re on the subject of exhibitions… I’m going to shamelessly promote one. And before you all decry me as a hypocrite whose Ka is bound for Ammit’s belly, I have a flimsy rationalisation ready for you.

The Faraonska Renesansa (Pharaonic Renaissance) exhibition at the Cankarjev Dom, Ljubljana, Slovenia is running from March 4th to July 20th and is unusual and that it has gathered exhibits relating specifically to the oft ignored Late Period, specifically to renaissance of the 25th and 26th Dynasties, the latter of which produced some of the finest and most distinguished sculpture.

Artefacts have been assembled from across Europe for the exhibition and the organisers hope it shall bring to the attention of the public the increasing amount of study of the Late Period.

Although not my primary area of interest, the Late Period, particularly the 26th Dynasty has always grabbed my attention and had a grip on my heart due to it’s concious “Archaic Revival” of Old and Middle Kingdom traditions, and the sheer beauty of some of it’s art. Sadly, due the fact that the main power base and focus of activity at this time was in the Delta region of Egypt rather than the valley, not a lot has survived the damp climate and population pressures.

This is however a very interesting period in Egyptian history, and up until now hasn’t been one presented to the public in the same way that the New Kingdom empire has. This period spanned almost two centuries of revival in Egyptian fortunes, and gifted some prominent rulers, including the five decade long unified rule of Psamtik I, whilst his daughter, Nitocris I, served as God’s Wife of Amun in Thebes (Waset) for seventy years.

The exhibition itself has around 140 exhibits in total, most of them directly relating to the Late Period, and is being academically rather than commercially marketed, which is heartening. As such, my hopes are quite high. I merely hope I have the opportunity to find out in person if these hopes can be justified, and that I will have a chance to visit in person.

I have decided to post information about it here, as although the exhibition is already under way, there is not a great deal of information on it that has been widely distributed online, and that awareness of it is quite low. It does appear to be a professional and well done exhibition that I feel may be of interest to readers of this blog, and I hope that it may be precisely the kind of exhibition that I wrote about previously. A well researched, professional exhibition of the very best of Pharaonic culture of this period. I hope… Let us see…

“The term “Pharaonic Renaissance” indicates a period spanning the beginning of the seventh to the middle of the sixth century B.C. (XXVth and XXVIth dynasty). In this period Egypt knew a moment of renewed splendour after the three centuries of political and economic crisis that followed the New Kingdom.

In the Pharaonic Renaissance, cultural manifestations are characterized by a conscious retrieval of the past. Archaic tendencies aimed at preserving the country’s cultural identity are recognizable in several other moments of Egyptian history. Only in the Pharaonic Renaissance, though, can one find a conscious re-modelling of older artistic expressions into new forms. This resulted in a renewed view of the main religious and social concepts, which undergo noticeable changes indeed during the Pharaonic Renaissance. This moment is vital to the history of Egypt also due to the arrival of the first Greek travellers. The latter, charmed by the Nilotic culture, exported it to their homeland and then to the entire Mediterranean basin. It can be hence said that contemporary European culture is eventually a direct result of the way of feeling and thinking elaborated between the seventh and sixth centuries B.C.

Studies on the Pharaonic Renaissance have grown over the last few years, and the exhibition in Ljubljana aims to reflect this. This is the first time the public is being offered an up-to-date analysis of this era through a highly valuable exhibition. Besides the era between the seventh and sixth centuries B.C., other classical periods of Egyptian history (Old, Middle and New Kingdom) are also documented, supplying a necessary introduction to the event. The exhibition is hence also the spark for a more generic reasoning about archaism and the sense of history in ancient Egypt. This is in turn another topic focusing the attention of contemporary Egyptological research.

140 exibits within the exhibition come from major European collections: the British Museum (London), Louvre (Paris), Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna), the Egyptian museums of Berlin, Munich and Florence, Civico Museo di Storia e Arte (Trieste), Archaeological Museum »A.Salinas«, Palermo, Museum of Fine Arts (Budapest) and Archaeological Museum (Zagreb). Some items belong to the private collection of the lost Giuseppe Sinopoli, who developed in his last years a real passion for classical, Egyptian and near-eastern antiquities.”

From the exhibition website

Tempted?

I’m afraid I do not have information on ticket prices. However, for information on the city of Ljudljana then the city’s official tourism website may be of assistance. EasyJet flies daily from Stanstead, whilst Adria Airways flies from Gatwick. Return fares start from around £125.