The Morgan Library Collection

     I recently had a chance to get to the Morgan Library in New York. The collection contains a number of great European paintings and a small amount of ancient Near Eastern Art. I got some photos and will do a few posts about the collection.

     First is a copper figure from a foundation deposit. It shows Ur-Nammu, the first King of the Third Dynasty of Ur, carrying a basket full of mud to be used in creating bricks used in building new temples or in restoring the temples he found in disrepair. The King is showing his humility before the gods by performing the lowly task of carrying mud for brick making.

     The inscription reads "Ur-Nammu, King or Ur, King of Sumer and Akkad, the one who built the temple of Enlil".

Nefertum

     Many of the Egyptian's gods are well known and often seen in tomb paintings, on papyri or on temple walls. Many more of the ancient gods were fairly to extremely obscure and were not often represented in art. Nefertum is one of the fairly obscure Egyptian gods.

     Nefertum is sometimes mentioned as a lily plant that arose out of "Nun" (the primeval ocean that covered the earth) at the creation of the world, and is often represented with a lily on his head (see figure 1). There is often a "menat" on either side of the lily (as the "menat" is a symbol of the important goddesses of Egypt). The "menats" (a plate with strands of beads attached so that it can be worn on the chest) likely denote his association with either Sekhmet or Bastet (who were considered to be his mother, with Ptah as his father). Commonly, this god is shown carrying a scimitar in his hand.

     This particular example is from the Late Period and is made of bronze and is currently on loan to the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

Tomb with Animal Mummies Found at Sakkara and Work in Merneptah's Tomb

     We have mentioned in the past that animals were often mummified and offered to particular deities. A tomb filled with animal mummies offered to Anubis has been found at Sakkarra, near Cairo. Additionally, the tomb that was excavated to hold the mummies has, embedded in its roof, a fossilized marine life form (I have no more specific details than that) that is estimated to be about 48 million years old.

     This tomb is near by several other catacombs devoted to various animal mummies including two tombs with ibis mummies (for Thoth, the god of writing and wisdom), hawks (Horus or Ra) and, of course, the famous Serapeum where the Apis bulls were buried. Also, there is a tomb nearby for the mummies of the mothers of the Apis bulls. All of these tombs are slightly north of Djoser's step pyramid complex.

     In a completely unrelated story, in the Valley of the Kings are trying to re-assemble and reconstruct the sarcophagus of the Nineteenth Dynasty Pharaoh Merneptah. Archaeologists believe that Merneptah was buried in four stone sarcophagi (this is very unusual) and that these huge sarcophagi were decorated with scenes from the "Book of Gates" and the "Amduat".

ARCE Lecture in NY

     On Thursday, June 25 the New York Chapter of the American Research Center in Egypt will have guest speaker Dr. Peter Feinman lecturing on "Cosmic Trauma: Assyria and Egypt's 9/11". The lecture is at 6:00 at:

ISAW
15 East 84th St.
NY., NY.

If you can make the lecture please do, it should be interesting. You do not need to be a member of ARCE to attend, but please go to www.Isaw.nyu.edu/rsvp to let them know you will be there.

Terrorist Bombing at Karnak (a Little More Information)

     The Wall Street Journal is reporting that five people were injured in the attempted terrorist attack at Karnak, although they did not say if that number included the terrorists who were injured. Egyptian police have apparently confirmed that one of the terrorists died when he detonated a suicide bomb.

     Once again I have to compliment the Egyptian Police for preventing this from being far worse than it was.

Attempted Terrorist Attack at Karnak Temple

     There has been an attempted terrorist attack at Karnak Temple, in southern Egypt. The police apparently realized quickly what was happening and were able to shoot and kill one terrorist and wound another. A third had an explosive device that detonated and killed him. There were minor injuries to the police and a couple of civilians. No tourists were injured.

     A big "thumbs up" to Egyptian security guards who handled this attack quickly and efficiently.

Horus, Son of Osiris

Figure 1 - Horus and Nectanebo II, Metropolitan Museum

     The god Horus was, to the ancient Egyptians, the shining example of what a good son should be. Conceived after his father's death (we will get to that in a moment!), he avenged his father's murder and took his place as the king of Egypt. Each Pharaoh in turn was thought to be the earthly form of Horus.

     Osiris was murdered by his evil brother Seth and his body was torn into many different pieces. The pieces were patiently re-assembled by Isis, the sister and wife of Osiris. She then copulated with her dead husband and conceived Horus.

Figure 2 - Horemheb and Horus, Kusthistorisches Museum, Vienna

     After Horus reached adulthood he waged a series of battles against Seth. These battles were detailed in the sometimes bawdy "Tale of the Contendings of Horus and Seth" (as told on Papyrus Chester Beatty I). Eventually Horus tricked Seth into a race in the river using boats made of stone. Seth's boat, predictably, sank. Horus however used a wooden boat painted to look like stone and won the race. At this point the gods chose Horus as the legitimate King of Egypt and successor to his father Osiris.

Figure 3 - Horus, 18th Dynasty, Munich

     Horus is very often portrayed in Egyptian art. He is frequently shown with the Pharaoh, sometimes standing above the king with the Pharaoh standing between the god's legs (figure 1, Dynasty 30, reign of Nectanebo II) and other times with the Pharaoh standing beside the him (figure 2).

Figure 4 - Mummified Raptor, Late Period / Ptolemaic

     Horus usually took the form of a hawk with the long lappets of a headdress hanging down over his shoulders (figures 2 and 3) and is frequently shown wearing the white and red crowns (the so-called "double" crown) in his role as the King of Egypt.

     The Egyptians also mummified animals, including raptors, which were then offered to the gods. Figure 4 is an example of this and is currently exhibited in the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences (on loan from the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University).