Two Upcoming Gallery Talks at the Met

For those of you who will be in New York in May, there will be two gallery talks in the Metropolitan Museum's Egyptian Gallery.

On May 13, at 10:00 a.m., there will be a talk entitled:
Medicine at the Metropolitan Museum—Ancient Egypt

On May 16th, at 7:00 p.m., there will be another gallery talk, this one entitled:
Continuity and Change in Ancient Egyptian Art

Click on either of the two links above for more information. I am going to try and attend the May 16th gallery talk.

Scepticism Surrounds "Cleopatra's Tomb"

Dr. Zahi Hawass, head of the Egyptian Antiquities Department, has announced that he feels the finding of the tomb of Cleopatra and Mark Antony is near. Some Egyptologists are suggesting that some people should temper their enthusiasm a bit. Personally, I will be tempering my enthusiasm. It would be a fascinating discovery, but we shall see.......

Here is a link to the story.

Egyptians Searching for Clepatra's Tomb

Archaeologists will begin looking next week for the tomb of Cleopatra and Mark Antony in three locations they have singled out as possible sites of the couple's tomb. Objects from Cleopatra's reign have been found in the area. Also, a mask, which MIGHT have belonged to Mark Antony, has also been found in the area.

Here is a link to the story.

Egypt's Seventeenth Dynasty (Again)

In 1987 I submitted a paper in which I created what I believe to be an accurate sequence for the Kings of the Seventeenth Dynasty. I presented this material (with some updates) in posts I made to this blog between January 31, 2009 and February 18, 2009.

One of my conclusions is that Sekkemre Shedtowy Sobekemsaf was the predecessor of two Kings named Intef. While surfing the web recently, I found a post in Wikipedia which quotes Kim Ryholt (in the book "The Political Situation In Egypt in the Second Intermediate Period") as claiming that a door jamb had been found in 1993 in which Sobekemsaf was listed as the father of two Kings named Intef. This would seem to confirm this part of my conclusions in sequencing the Dynasty Seventeen Pharaohs.

However, this post claims that Nebkheperre Intef is one of the two Intefs that Sobekemsaf fathered. This makes no sense to me however. Nebkheperre should be a predecessor of Sobekemsaf's (see my post on this topic). The two Intefs that I believe Sobekemsaf fathered are Sekhemre Wepmaat Intef and Sekhemre Herhermaaat Intef. It should be noted that the inscription quoted in the Wikipedia entry reads "Antef begotten of Sobekem....". This inscrption does NOT specifically state that Nebkheperre is the "Antef" in question.

As soon as I obtain Dr. Ryholt's book I will post again on this topic.

Kushite Invasion of Egypt in Dynasty 17

As I mentioned in the previous post, I have some more to add to one of the articles mentioned there, specifically the story of the discovery of a text at el-Kab detailing a Kushite invasion of Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period.


Here are some more internet references to this story:

1) A story that mostly repeats the London Times article.
2) A Reference in Wikepedia that quotes from some scholarly articles on this topic.
3) A story in Egypt's daily newspaper (Al-Ahram).


Somehow I was not aware of this discovery, even though it was made six years ago. I will have still more to say about this discovery in a later post.

Ancient Egypt in the London Times

I have found a number of articles on ancient Egypt in the London Times. Some of these stories go back a bit in time, but I thought all of you might be interested in them.

1) New Egyptian Gallery in the British Museum.
2) Britan's Love Affair with Ancient Egypt.
3) Tutankamen's Latest Visit to Britan.
4) Death and the Afterlife.
5) Kush Invades Egypt in the Seventeenth Dynasty.
6) Using New Technology to Examine an Ancient Mummy.
7) A Recent Forged Statue of an Amarna Princess.
8) Egypt's "Other" Pyramids.
9) Hatshepsut's Mummy Identified.
10) Another Story About Hatshepsut's Mummy.

The fifth article above is the most interesting from a historical point of view and I will have a bit more to say about it in an upcoming post.

Nefertiti Bust is Two Faced?

No big deal on ths story, but the famous bust of Nefertiti in Berlin has been CT scanned and apparently there is a slightly different face carved in the stone under the stucco. Possibly someone ordered a change in the statues after the face was carved in stone. The alterations were done via the stucco covering and paint.

Here is a link to the story.