ANSE I ees Issue Number: 130 March/April 2022 www.ancientegyptmagazine.com The birth of Egyptology A 71470199505DEPARTING 26"SEPTEMBER 2022 ‘A one week tour based in Cairo and staying at our Giza hotel. Focussing on the development of Saqgara, this exciting new tour is accompanied throughout by popular Egyptologist and Engineering Geologist, Colin Reader. ae itp Ane neg! any erprecor de JULES VERNE CALL NOWTO BOOK +44(0)333 335 9494 or coro WWW.ancient.co.uk eT dy pk OL Pt Standard Tour price: £3,360 €BABTA > We have a special permit from the Ministry of Antiquities for an exploration of rarely visited South Saqqara including entry to the Cau (ea Sanaa the Second Dynasty tomb of -/ area ‘ f rf e 5 We plan four trips to North Saqgara including entry to the Step Pyramid and the newly opened Southern Tomb. We also have a special permit to enter the vast Second Dynasty tomb of Ninetjer There will be plenty of time for an in-depth look at the landscape and the various phases of development of the site. A chance to enter some of the mastabas that you have never had time for on post vst, including the subterranean galleries of the Serapeum. At South Saqqara we visit Mastabat Faroun and have a rare ‘chance to enter the Pyramid of Pep I. We then head to Abu Sir to view the pyramids of Sahure and Niuserre. Of course, being in Cairo we cannot leave out a vist to the Giza Plateau for the Great Pyramid, where Colin will explain his theories on the site, including the geological evidence leading to his dating ofthe great Sphinx and its enclosure.From the Editor Editorial comment from Peter Phillips. Egyptological News Summarised by Sarah Griffiths. A Decade of Excavation in Qubbet el-Hawa ‘Anew exhibition in the Nubia Museum, Aswan is described by Alejandro Jiménez-Serrano, Senenmut: Statues, Status and Scandal Campbell Price investigates one of his favourite ancient Egyptians, A Decade of Loving Kheny Maria Nilsson and John Ward continue their summarised account of ten years of suecessfil archaeology at Gebel el-Sibila Exodus: Storm Over The Sea Sean Rigby discusses the conflicting explanations for the Biblical story of the “Parting of the Red Sea’ Highlights of Manchester Museum: 33 Campbell Price describes a foundation deposit block bearing the name of Khaemwaset. Collecting in Their Own Image Bryony Renshaw considers the motivations of thoxe asembing Macclesiel’s collection 2022: A Year To Remember Carl Graves and Fatma Keshk continue their account of the birth of Egyptology. Per Mesut: for Younger Readers Hilary Wilson continues her answer tothe question “How long is a piece of string?” in ei E i ancient Egypt by looking at units of measurement. Maps of Egypt and Timeline 4 Events Diary 62 Book Reviews 56 " Competition 9 Egyptology Society Details 64 How to Subscribe 60 Readers’ Letters 66 ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022 CONTENTS ANCIENT EGYPT vawwvancientegyptmagazine.com March/April 2022 ‘Vote 22, No. 4: Issue No. 130 Eorror: J. Peter Philips Enaiteitor@ancertegyptmagazine.com Depury Eorror: Sarah Griffiths ‘Consuurant Eorrors: Professor Emerita Rosalie David, OBE, Dr. Raymond Betz Start Contmurors: Peter Robinson, Hilary Wilson Pususheo by: Ancient Egypt Magazine Utd 223 Ayres Road, Od Trafford, Manchester, M16 ONL, UK Tel: 0161 872 3319 Fax: 0161 872 4721 Email info@ ancientegyptmagazine.com ‘Apvermsemenrs: John Ireland: 0161 872 3319 ‘SuescReTions: Mike Hubbard: 0161 872 3319 PrinreD By: Precision Colour Printing Ltd, Haldane, Halesfeld 1, Telford. Shropshire, TS7 4QQ. UK DésiGn AND SETTING: Pearree Publishing and Design, 56 Albert Street, M11 3SU, UK, IT Consuranr: Andrew Shaw Front Cover Desicneo oy: J. Peter Phlips/David Soper Main Image: A Kneeling Statue of Senenmut The Staatlches Museum Acgyptischer Kunst, Munich Photo Rob Coles ‘TRADE DisTRIBUTION THROUGH: Select Publisher Services, PO. Box 6337, Bournemouth, BH1 SEH ISSN: 1470 9990Time-Line MAP of EGYPT Periods Right: detailed map of the Theban area Maps and Time-line by Peter Robinson * ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022‘ABOVE: Prince Khaemwaset, son of Ramesses Il, RIGHT: Senenmut with Neferura, daughter of Hatshepsut. oth statues are in the British Museum. Photos: REP jo regular readers of AF, the names of Jean- | Francois Champollion (1790-1832), Auguste ette (1821-1881) and Gaston Maspero (1846- 1916) will be familiar; they were pioneers of Egyptology, whose lifetime achievements are well documented respected. OF course, they are just three of very many prominent individuals who developed the discipline from the eighteenth century onwards. They had one thing in common — they were all Euro} of us have heard of Rifa’a Rafi el-Tahtawi (1801- ), Ali Mubarak (1823-1893) or Ahmed Kamal Pasha wves and Fatma Keshk point out ticle on the birth of Egyptology (pp. 46-50), th work of these Fayptian scholars was every bit as important as that of their European contemporaries. Itis because of Western prejudice and even racism that these Egyptian Egyptologists have been side-lined and largely forgotten, and we must hope that future publications will correct thi situation, One of the main drivers of early European interest in Egypt was the desire to find physical evidence for the events recounted in the Bible. Two articles in this issue deal with this topic from different standpoints. The story of the Parting of the Red Sea cluring the Exodus is examined. by Sean Rigby. If the events related in the Biblical account did actually occur, rather than being an elabora- ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022, From the Editor tion of earlier legends, the well-attested phenomenon of ‘wind setdown’ in an area of the Delta that could be described as a ‘Reed Sea’ seems to me the most feasible explanation. In her analysis of the reasons behind the choice of arte~ facts made by the founders of the Macclesfield collection, Bryony Renshaw also cites Biblical connections, some- times rather tenuous, as one of the motivating facto In this year of momentous anniversaries, two of our articles look back over the past decade. Alejandro 10 describes an exhibition in the Nubia ‘Muscum bringing to the public’s attention the results of Hawa by a multi difficult conditions (scorching temperatures, a flash flood and dangerous wildlife) under which they worked. In this edition we also have two articles by Campbell Price, The next in his regular series of articles about the highlights of the Manchester Museum. collection describes a foundation deposit block inscribed with the name and titles if Prince Khaemwaset (see def), a son of Ramesses II destined never to become Pharaoh. In the article featured on the cover of the magazine, Campbell also looks at the life and work of Senenmut (below). Despite his humble beginnings, he was a great selfpubli- cist and rose to become ‘overseer of all works’ for Hatshepsut. I think he would approve of his star billing in AL! JPP[ABOVE LEFT: Amen ABOVE RIGHT: A CT scan of Amenhotep I's lower back showing a beaded metallic belt and an amulet in the p's funerary mask with f ‘on the left hip. BELOW LEFT: A CT scan of Amenhotep’s face. BELOW RIGHT: A CT scan showing Amenhotop Scanning of Amenhotep | The fragile mummy of Amenhotep I, with its beautiful funerary mask and flower garlands (see above lei), is the only royal mummy that has not been unwrapped in mod- cern times, but has now been examined ‘digitally’ by an Egyptian team using non-invasive CT scanning The ull inside the funerary mask sults show the king was mummified with his brain intact and was first pharaoh to have crossed forearms (the “Osiris position’ to share similar facial fea- tures to his father Ahmose (whose mummy is housed in the Luxor Museum), with slightly protruding front teeth and minimal tooth wear (below left and right). The king He appea ANCIENT EGYPT March/AprABOVE and RIGHT: The headquarters building of the Middle Kingdom mining site discovered in South Sinal BOTTOM RIGHT: A large copper ingot found at the site. aared to be in good health with no indications of © or injury (all damage to the body was he team have estimated his age at death to be around 35 years and his height at 160cm (5 feet 5 ‘The king was one of th of royal mummies that were rewrapped and ‘Twenty-first Dynasty. The presence of thirty amulets and a belt of gold beads show the priests did not strip the bod- ies of ly thought (opposite top right), available here: Sinai Mining Headquarters Egyptian team working in the Wadi al-Nusb area at South Sinai has discovered the remains of the headquar- ters building for mining expeditions during the Middle was the for copper and turquoise extraction and processing with huge quantities copper slag found in the area. The square two-story building (above and right) covered ea of about 225 square metres. It was built of blocks indstone with a floor of stone slabs, and several rooms. each floor, including two halls, a bathroom and a Kitchen. “The building was in use during the Middle Kingdom, but_was abandoned during the Second Intermediate Period, with further use in the Roman era during which time various modifications were made to the structure and some of the rooms w smelting copper and pr four copper ingots (right), weighing arout ‘each, and stones used for processing turquoise ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022,news THIS PAGE CENTRE BELOW rior of the tom Photos: The Egyptian-Italian Mission at West Aswan (EIMAWA) OPPOSITE PAGE FINDS FROM THE ASWAN TOMB TOP LEFT. TOP RIGHT (CENTRE LEFT BOTTOM LEFT A funerary bowl decorat ith ceran MORTUARY TEMPLE OF "AMENHOTE? Il, KOM EL-HETTAN| BOTTOM RIGHT h ossal re found eco-Roman Tomb and Mummies An Egyptian-talian Mission working near the Aga Khan Mausoleum in West Aswan has discovered a Graeco-Roman tomb containing multiple burials believed to be several generations of three or more families (aboce). The tomb consists of stone steps flanked by blocks (lef) Yeading down to a hall and four rock-cut burial chambers. A large bro- ken offering table (opposite, op let) was discovered at the entrance. Although the tomb had been looted in antiquity, the team discovered at | twenty mummies. One intact male mummy was buried with elaborate pot- tery goods including a bow! strikingly decorated with ceramic slip (moulding opposite, bottom Ie). A copper necklace ANCIENT EGYPT March/Apeil 2022inscribed with the name ‘Nikostratos’ was found nearby and may have belonged to this man, Other rema covered in stone and clay sarcophagi (above) include those of elderly people showing signs of arthritis, and a number of children who may have died from infectious diseases. ‘The east wall of the structure was covered in inscribed. offering slabs, and surrounded by piles of animal bones (mostly sheep), pottery shards and offering plates, suggest~ ing the tomb was later used as a sacred enclosure for offer= ings to the god Khnum. New Discoveries at Kom el-Hettan ‘The German-Egyptian mission working at the mortua temple of Amenhotep III on the West Bank at Luxor has discovered the remains of a pair of colossal sphinxes (see below), which were half submerged in water behind the third pylon. The sphinxes, measuring about eight metres formed part of processional way for the Festival of ‘heb sed festivals. The huge blocks, ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022 9LEFT: Part of a statue of an official found at Kom el-Hettan, OPPOSITE TOP: The head of a Sekhmet statue found there. BELOW: Hathor columns at the site of Tel Athribis. together with further pieces of Sekhmet statues (opposite op), will be conserved and re-erected in their original location. A fragment of a small granodiorite statue of an official and his wife (If) has also been found, thought to date to the period when restoration work was carried out at the temple sometime after the Amarna Period. The team also uncovered the remains of walls and columns decorated with scenes of offerings to various gods and of the king’s heb sed. The discovery of more col- ‘umn bases and blocks show that the Hypostyle Hall was far larger than previously thought. Cache of Ostraca Found at Tel Athribis A German-Egyptian mission excavating the Graeco- Roman site of Tel Athribis (modern el-Sheikh Hamad) in Sohag (below) have uncovered a cache of 13,000 ostraca bearing texts written in demotic, hieratic, Coptic, Greek and Arabic. The sheer number of them suggests there may have been a scribal school on the site. ‘The texts are mostly financial transactions which shed light on the trade in goods such as wheat and bread. Bandaged Wound ‘The first example of a bandaged wound to be found on a mummy has been discovered by an Italian team while scanning the Roman mummy of a small girl found in the Fayum area. The wound beneath the gauze-like dressing shows signs it was infected when the gitl died. As wound uO ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022dressings would not normally survive the mummification process, the team believe the bandage was added after death, possibly to continue the healing process in the afterlife Pickled Foetus The Polish team who discovered the world’s first pregnant, mummy (see article in AF_127) has released further find- ings that show how the tiny foetus survived mummific: tion, The natron used to cover and dry out the deceased woman created an acidic environment inside her body which caused minerals inside the foetal bones to leach ‘out. The foetus began to dry out and mineralise — in effect itwas ‘pickled’ in the uterus, allowing the tissues to survive for thousands of years. SG ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022 Online courses in EGYPTOLOGY ssieoer pestseiae a eee ee eee & Distance Lea’ Courses The Civilization Ancient Egyptians Part 1 History Part 2 - Religious Beliefs and Funerary Part 3 Literature and Related Texts Part 4 Daily Life in Ancient Egypt ‘The aim of these courses is o open the door for people Anterested in this fascinating subject and provide solid foundation. Each part has been organized to.meet thé individual needs and pace of the student. actices Exercises in Egyptology (Intermediate Level) 20 Sessions CD only Study Tours ‘Specialized Study Tours fo many interesting and wunusual sites of Ancient Egypt For details contact Suzanne Lax-Bojtos BA MPhil PO Box 368 Edgware, Middx. HAS 9SF Tel: 07970478887 Email: suzanne_bojtos(@hotmai.com Website: hetp:/ /egypt.webplus.netA DECADE OF EXCAVATION IN QUBBET EL-HAWA Alejandro Jiménez-Serrano presents a new exhibition in the Nubia Muse veries made by the University of Jaén Aswa showcases the disc Fi n thai ABOVE: iris >) n the 25% of November 2021, after long delays Ons due to the Covid pandemic, we opened —F our new exhibition in the temporary exhi hall of the Nubia Museum in Aswan. The exhibition highlights the amazing archaeological discoveries made by the Qubbet el-Hawa Project since 2008 (see A116). Qubbet cl-Hawa is well known as the cemetery of the lite of Elephantine from the Sixth Dynasty to the end of the Twelfth Dynasty. Although it continued in use as necropolis during the New Kingdom and the Late Period, f tombs were constructed in the liest periods. The historic importance of Qubbet el-Hawa is basically due to the significant biographies written on several facades of tombs and funerary complexes. In fact, Qubbet el-Hawa is the necropolis where a visitor can find more biographies than in any other non-royal cemetery of Egypt. ‘The biographies were discovered between the 1880s and the mid-twentieth century during excavations unfor- tunately carried out without using proper archaeological m of methods. Therefore, one of the main goals of the University of Jaén project was to excavate the necropolis using modern methodology with the participation of an interdisciplinary team. We had not expected to discover intact chambers or tombs practically every season! Moreover, these discoveries were dated to different peri- ods (late Old Kingdom, First Intermediate Period, “Twelfth Dynasty and Late Period) and belonged to differ- cent social groups (local elite and lower social segments). In many cases, the burials and their funerary equipment were ina much decayed state due to action of xylophage insects (mainly termites) so the restorers of the Qubbet el-Hawa Project team were forced to make extraordinary efforts to save this material heritage not only in the field, but also in the SCA and Nubia Museum stores. Planning ‘The diversity of the funerary material, dating to so many different periods of ancient Egyptian history, we felt deserved to be shared with the general public ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022Furthermore, some of the pieces and the human remains were unique, so we were keen for people to be able to see them, rather than have them stored away. So when the SCA inspectorate of Aswan suggested we might prepare an exhibition in the Nubia Museum, we enthusiastically agreed. Shortly afier, Professor Juan Gomez (President of the University of Jaén) was able to organise a special university grant to undertake this initiative, and we then applied to the ibian Fund and the Ministry of Antiquities for the necessary permis- sions to prepare the exhibition. ‘The support of the late Director of the Nubia Museum, Dr. Hosny Abd el- Reem, was key to the success of our early preparations. ‘The exhibition was designed by the Spanish company Reina de Corazones from our guidelines, the main goals being to showcase the major discoveries in a diachronic scenario (differentiated by periods) and highlight the interdisei- plinary activity of the project. The idea was 10 give a modern vision of archae~ ology in Egypt which is far away from the romantic idea of Egyptology that many people still have. a de Corazones conceptualised this spirit in their design: thus, the bases of the glass display cases imitated the wooden boxes that archaeological missions use to stow their discoveries in the SCA stores (as seen opposite, top). “Thanks to the support of the Nubia ‘Museum staff, the installation of the dis- play cases and their contents, as well as the informative and illustrative panels, ‘was completed in just a month ~ a per- fect example of the collaboration between different. members of the Spanish Mission, the Nubia Museum specialists (curators, restorers and elec- tricians) and the management (with spe- cial thanks to the current director Mr. Ahmed Abdel Rakhman). Finally, on the 25" of November 2021, the exhibition was opened. by the President of the University of Jaén (Spain), Professor Juan Gomez, and the Director of the Nubia Muscum, Mr Ahmed Abdelrahman, together with the General Director of the SCA in Aswan and Nubia, Dr. Abdelmonen Said, attended by numerous members of the public. Our wonderful mission workers were special guests; we did not want to forget that all of this was only possible thanks to their careful and exhausting work, The Exhibition Visitors to the exhibition are first intro- duced to the importance of Qubbet el- Hawa through information panels and a short video of the excavation site which ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022 ‘ABOVE The Qubbet el-Hawa necropolis as seen from Aswan Photo: Patricia Mora BELOW Paintings and sketches of finds and relief fragments made by the team, on display in the new exhibition to reflect modern methods of archaeology.‘ABOVE : e highlights the interdisciplinary work of the University of Jaen mission and is narrated in English and Arabie by ‘some of our mission members. Some of the common tools used da ation are on display around the reception area. One case (shozon aboce) cor tains skulls from two major discoveries: a woman with the arliest known case of breast cancer (dated to the First Intermediate Period) and a man with the world’s first attested case of myeloma (blood cancer) who lived during the early Middle Kingdom) On display in the next area are a lange number of Olé Kingdom and First Intermediate Period pots (oppasit, top). mphasising to a non-expert visitor that most of the funerary material found in the ancient Egyptian cemeter- ies is pottery, rather than precious artifacts. However, there are of course many magnificent finds on display in BELOW: ABOVE Co the next areas of the exhibition. As part of the Middle Kingdom display, there are the beautiful cedar coffins belonging to the elite of Elephantine (aboce), and the car- tonnage that once covered the body of the ‘Twelfth Dynasty governor Hegaib III who died during the earliest years of the reign of Ame Ina small case next to this is an exceptional bronze dag- ger (below) with a handle decorated with silver, ebony(?) and ivory inlays. This dagger was found in the intact ial of the priest Khema, who belonged to the inner circle of the governors of Elephantine during the late Twelfth Dynasty. Also on display in this area are different artifacts commonly found in Twelfth Dynasty elite burials, includ- ing a stone stela, shabtis, jewellery and pottery, and. cos- metic goods such as an ebony box decorated with geo- metric motifs created using tiny fragments of cow bones. BELOW: inlaid hay 4 ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022In the follow: examine differ rials: i space, the visitor can New Kingdom mate- fragments of cartonnage; small painted masks made with mud a frag- ment of papyrus with a chapter of the Book of the Going Forth by Day; and wood en boxes with the protective funerary goddesses Isis and Nephthys. There are also diflerent types of pottery (local and imported) used as part of the funerary equipment or given to the deceased as offerings. Among them there are canopic jars, some bearing the name pots containing different spices ‘The last area is devoted to the intact Late Period burials (right), which were mainly composed of a set of sarcophagi containing anthropoid coffins. ‘These were accompanied by personal Prah- Sokar-Osiris statues. (shown centre right ‘and on p. 12) In the surrounding cases, visitors can see different amulets and an example of the faience nets used to cover the mummies of this period, as well as pottery used during the mummi- fication process. There is even a stela prepared ready to receive the offerings made to the d We hope many AF. readers will be able to visit our exhibition ~ itis a per- fect excuse to visit or come back to Egypt! However, we understand that not everybody be able to travel so we have produced a catalogue in English and Arabic, which shows all the artifact dis- played and offers more details about the pieces, many of which are still under study and not yet published. We hope the exhibition and the catalogue will give you a good introduction to the important First Cataract region and the litle pects of Qubbet el-Hawa and its heritage eased. www editorial. ujaen.es All photos © iversidad de Jaén Tor CENTRE and RIGHT: ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022, 15SENENMUT STATUES, STATUS AND SCANDAL on to his highlights of t! fone of the most well-attested and intriguing is a ‘man named Senenmut. For well over a century he has fascinated professional researchers and amateur enthu- siasts alike. Senenmut (whose name may mean ‘Mother's Brother’, or ‘Spouse of Mut’ ~ per- haps an elliptical refer- fence to the god Amun) is inextricably linked with the Eighteenth Dynasty female ruler Hatshepsut (c 1479-1458 BC). Indeed he seems to have played an important role in the political (and cer- tainly the monumental) presentation of her king- ship — although, as so often, much — must remain in the realm of conjecture, O: all the non-royal elite people from Pharaonic Eaypt, Rise to Power Senenmut rose to promi- nence from apparently humble beginnings. Several ancient Egyptian officials present a ‘rags to riches’ take on their promotion and advance- ment by the king in recognition of their skills and effectiveness. Yet What these same men often fail to mention is that they were already part of a small inner elite that surrounded the king, and often they \were born into very influential families. However, this does not seem to have been the case with Senenmut, whose father Ramose held only the modest honorary ttle of ‘dig- nitary’ (sab) and whose mother Hatnefer was a ‘lady of the house’ (nebet per. Perhaps an opportunity for advancement (or a result of it?) was Senenmut’s role as the tutor (written as a gram- matically masculine equivalent of a ‘wet nurse’) to , Campbell Price takes time urite ancient Egyptiai Hatshepsut's only known child, the princess Neferura Following in a tradition of royal tutors during the earlier Eighteenth Dynasty, this position was vaunted by holders of the office as it implied intimacy and trust within the royal family. Senenmut com- missioned at least ten statues showing him holding Neferura (ee left and opposite, bottom left) - the first examples of sculpture in the round. At the time, such means of self-presentation would have appeared highly unusual ~ perhaps even audacious - amidst most of the statuary set up in temples and elite tomb chapels. Even before Hatshep- sut assumed full king- ship, Senenmut was leading commissions on her behalf. A graffito from Sehel island in ‘Aswan records his role in extracting two granite obelisks for Amun’s tem= ple at Karnak in honour of Hatshepsut as Great Royal Wife, and it was perhaps in this way that he gained influence within the ‘estate’ of the great Theban god. Soon, Senenmut’s favoured title was ‘overseer of the estate (or steward) of Amun’, with variants mentioning granaries and cattle. Clearly, as a massive landholding institution, the temple of Amun at Karnak was very wealthy, and whoever took charge of its resources may have eclipsed even the High Priest in effective power. Senenmut was adept at collecting titles, and by the end of his life he had amassed a long string of them — appearing like a sort of pharaonic Eqyptian ‘Pooh-bah’ (the ‘Lord High Everything Else’ in Gilbert and Sullivan’s opera The Mikado). Photo: REP ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022TOP LEFT The gid TOP RIGH 171 ‘ABOVE CENTRE: staatlches Museun ANCILABOVE ‘Senenmut Qua tomb, 1771 which today isin a poor state of preservation, Photo: Edal Anton Lefteoy, CC BY ‘SA 3.0 va Wikicommons seLow ‘Senenmut was most likely buried in Tomb TT 353 in front of Hatshepsut temple; it was aut to locate the burial chamber immed ‘ely under the temple precinct. Photo: Campbell Price One early office Senenmut discharged was the important role of ‘overseer of all the king's works’. While this ttle cannot be equated with ‘architect’ in the modern sense, as it seems to have involved requi- sition of resources as well as planning, it was held by several officials concurrently working on different projects. This undoubtedly provided an opportunity for Senenmut to commission his own monu- ments. These included two Theban tombs, TT 71 (left) and TT 353 (below left), which may have functioned respec- tively as an accessible tomb chapel and secret burial place. TT 71 at Sheikh Abd el-Quima is very badly ruined today but it contained - somewhat unexpectedly - the smashed fragments of Senenmut's sarcophagus, evoking the oval shape of the royal cartouche that was 3 a mode for royalty of the time. In contrast, the decoration of TT 353 (which tunnels deep underground in order to locate the burial chamber directly under Hatshepsut's mor- tuary temple) was well preserved. This included elaborate texts from the Book of the Dead and an unusual depiction of star clocks on its ‘astronomical’ ceiling (opposite, top right). These are otherwise chiefly known from the lids of Middle Kingdom coffins - proof perhaps of Senenmut's claim to have been “ignorar of nothing since the beginning of time” Statues and Monuments Pethaps most significantly, Senenmut possessed an extraordinary number (and range) of statues ~ some 26 are known at present, and these cannot represent the full number produced. The official gives an account of the purpose of having so many, at different locations, in an appeal to Hatshepsut recorded on one sculpture: “Let there be commanded for your humble servant the making for me of many statues of every hard stone for the temple of Amun in Karnak and for every place in which the majesty of this god proceeds, as for every favoured one of antiquity”. Clearly, Senenmut wished to be con- nected to — and to be a member of ~ a group of exalted ancestors whose memo- ry was most likely transmitted through their standing monuments at exclusive spaces such as the great temple of Karnak. Access to the sacred precincts of the temple was restricted, and someone of Senenmut’s station was probably well aware of statuary placed there that was already of great antiquity. While he refer- enced the artistic past in his statues in a number of details, his sculpture also reflects major innovation. Surviving evi- dence does seem to suggest that Senenmut essentially ‘invented’ the “‘naophorous' statue-form: a kneeling fig- ure presenting either a naos-shrine of a god or the emblem of a deity. He even ANCIENT EGYPT March/Apeil 2022had himself shown holding a three- dimensional rebus ~ or enigmatic hiero- lyphic writing — of the prenomen of Hatshepsut (above), spelling out the name Maat (cobra) - ka (arms) - ra (sun disk). Senenmut may have also employed his unusually creative talents elsewhere; this same rebus is found in two-dimen- sions in several friezes on Hatshepsut’s monuments — perhaps implying that he had a hand in their design. It is certainly easy to imagine that Senenmut took inspiration from the neighbouring temple ‘of Mentuhotep Il in order to conceptu- alise Hatshepsuts famous Deir el-Bahri monument (see below right). A telling clue in this regard was the identification in Manchester Museum a few years ago of an indurated limestone statue of Senenmut, from Egypt Exploration Fund excavations at the Temple _ of Mentuhotep. This fragmentary seated statue probably originally | showed Senenmut with Neferura and was inscribed as having been “given as a favour of the God's Wife”, strongly implying that it was set up within the Eleventh Dynasty structure before Hatshepsut even began work on her own mortuary temple. The presence of carved depictions of a kneeling Senenmut in doorways within Hatshepsut’s temple are highly unusual because named non-royal people are AANA SIAN ASAIN eeueneae ZEMLAR SICKO at III: tI THE Reet SER REN ANESTICN AS rs me eee: 9, & Rt west ‘TOP LEFT: A kneeling “ebus' statue of Senenmut holding the thee hieroglyphs that spell out the throne name of Hatshepsut: Maatkara Photo: Brooklyn Museum, Public Domain via Creative Commons ABOVE: A drawing of SenenmutS astronomical cling from his tomb TT 353 excavated in front ofthe Temple of Hatshepsut Drawing: Charles K. Wikinson, Pubic Domain via Wikicommons BELOW: The Eleventh Dynasty temple of Mentuhotep ln background) is clearly the inspiration forthe design of Hatshepsut temple, Proto: RBP ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022, 19ABOVE: “wo shrouded statues of Hatshepsut 20 ‘at her Deir eb Bahri temple. Photo: REP usually never shown in temple wall deco- ration during the Eighteenth Dynasty. That these were sanctioned — rather than 2 subversive imposition, as early com- mentators believed — is indicated by the accompanying inscriptions of some recording them as “given by royal favour". AS with several of his statues, Senenmut seemed concerned to record - and to assert — royal permission for his ‘monumental presence. Senenmut and Hatshepsut Unusually, in all of his many monuments Senenmut never recorded a wife or chil dren - the expected nuclear family for an elite male official, but also a means of promoting regeneration and renown. In spaces where they would be expected he instead had himself depicted in the com- pany of his parents, Ramose and Hatnefer. This situation is not entirely unparalleled as the somewhat later ‘over- seer of works’ Amenhotep son of Hapu, who served under Amenhotep Ill similar- ly lacks mention of wife or children on his surviving monuments. Yet, given Senenmut’s exceptional position, all of this intriguing evidence has fuelled con- siderable speculation about his relation- ship with Hatshepsut, The infamous rough ink sketch on the wall of a grotto near Deir el-Bahri (pur- portedly showing Senenmut and Hatshepsut in a compromising position) has been interpreted as a form of Eighteenth Dynasty political commentary or satire; but this need not, nor is likely to, be the case. Arguably more interest- ing is the fact that their names appear together on a set of beads included in foundation deposits (opposite, centre left. Hatshepsut's image famously suffered ‘an extensive campaign of damnatio ‘memoriae ~ and while Senenmut'’s mon- uments did fall victim to some attacks (opposite, top), these were far less con- sistent than for his royal patron, so any arguments about a ‘fall from grace’, especially at the queen’s command, seem dificult to justify In his role as ‘overseer of works’, Senenmut was in a unique position to appreciate the effectiveness of a monu- ment, and he clearly wished to make his mark on the record. Was Senenmut Hatshepsut's lover? Neferura’s father? A precocious confirmed bachelor? We will never really know. But more than almost any other non-royal from ancient Egypt, this enigmatic official highlights our own need to imagine situations and impose them on the disparate and decontextu- alised evidence. Campbell Price Dr. Campbell Price is Curator of Egypt and Sudan at Manchester Museum and Chair of Trustees of the Egypt Exploration Society. Elite self-presenta- tion is one of his main research interests and he plans a biography concerning Senenmut and his afterlife (at some point) in the future. On page 38, he presents another highlight of the Manchester Museum collection: the foundation deposit block of Khaerwaset. ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022Photos: MMA, | yor CENTRE LEFT A Lert ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022A DECADE OF LOVING KHENY Maria Nilsson and John Ward continue their celebration of a decade of successful archaeology at Gebel el-Silsila, revealing insights into their life and work at this fascinating ancient quarry site. ‘ABOVE: A new day at Gebel el-Silsla / W Gebel el-Silsila Project was launched, begin- ning as a team of four, but rapidly expanding as experts from a range of different disciplines joined us to analyse and document the vast amount of ‘material discovered over the first seven seasons (see A129). But Kheny still had so many secrets to reveal! 2016 - Season 8 Work continued in the Temple of Sobek, surveying rock art etc., but the highlight of this season was the start of ‘our excavations in the New Kingdom necropolis (sce AE 115). Since the very beginning of the project, we have been aware of tombs located in the north, in the area immediately to the north of the famous Stela of Amenhotep IV (AE-116 — see opposite, botlom righ) and 22 stretching westwards to the Nile. ‘The tombs were described by a few previous visitors to the site, but no excavations or proper surveying had been conducted. The sandstone area in which these tombs are located is under an immediate (and unfortunately continuous) threat caused by the combination of agricultural salty minerals in the ground, which means the sandstone is likely to erode to soft, wet sand. The landscape has drastically changed over the ye we have removed up to 3 to 4 metres of debris in places. What was, when we arrived, a rocky undulating scarred landscape with no real discerning traits now bears all the characteristics of an ancient necropolis. There are cham- ber tombs complete with porteullis doorways and interior architecture, and most tombs are fronted by so-called temenoi ~ courtyards enclosed by walls (opposite, op). Our initial survey revealed 34 tombs. Since then, we have doc ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022‘umented more than twice the number of burials, but we still have to fight against the deteriorating combination of salt and water, and the quickly eroding sandstone. ‘Our work at Gebel el-Silsila had so far always related to the world of the living, and it has been an amazing experience to gradually come closer to the everyday life on site in ancient times. Working in the quarries and associated structures, ‘we gained knowledge of so much more than life at Silla because so many of the individuals we came across were part of expeditions, and several also have their names (and tombs) recorded elsewhere. However, excavating the necropolis meant that we would now have to change our approach, as dig- ging up skeletons brings an array of emotions and ethical perspectives to consider. Overall, the one feeling that ‘overwhelmed us was humility, as well as respect for these people. Diligent work on site is starting to reveal a much clear~ er picture of life as it really was in ancient Kheny. These men, women and children lived and died for a cause, obe~ dient to the last breath to their living god, the Pharaoh, We cannot begin to contemplate how they achieved the enormous tasks of extracting tons of stone and clearing vast amounts of debris while going about their daily lives — work that would be arduous even using modern day technology. Bach burial represents ancient Kheny and its devoted workers. From broken bones to complete disfigurement and crippling alignments, we have undertaken responsibility for these forgotten. souls who gave so much for Egypt. If it were not for them, we would not have the magnificent architectural landscape that forms the sacred landscape of Upper Egypt ee ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022 ABOVE ‘The counyard of $T30 in the New kingdom necropolis during excavation. To the left, note a complete skeleton which was discovered and worked on. BELOW ‘The stela of Amenhotep IV, carved before his transforma tion to Akhenaten. The New Kingdom necropolis lies to the north of this famous landmark, 2‘ABOVE LEFT: A skeleton (ST77) in situ in the New Kingdom necropolis with a fracture of the right humerus, ‘a testament to the arduous nature of the work carried out in the quarries. But signs of healing show the workers did hhave access to medical care ABOVE RIGHT: Maria excavating a child burial BELOW John and Maria being Interviewed on camera ~ fone of their many appearances ‘on television. 24 In Season 8 our team expanded yet again (opposite, top right) as we welcomed our dear Salima Ikram, Islamic and Coptic epigrapher Anna Lagaroon, dig- ital archaeologist Niklas Bjorn Hillberg, archacologists Julia Hillberg and ‘Tony Jibbefors, — Egyptologist’ Ahmed Faraman, and photographers Robert Mittelstedt and Anders Andersson. It was also the time when we welcomed our first National Gengraphic team, filming for the television series Egypt's Treasure Guardians, Production crews followed us around for two weeks documenting our work; amusingly, many of our amazing finds were made moments after the camera was shut down! Incredibly, this season we were also accompanied by a pack of wolves coming to drink from the Nile each night very close to our boat, much to the despair of our dog Carter! 2016-2017 - Seasons 9 and 10 For the remaining part of 2016, almost all our attention was focussed on exca~ vating the necropolis. We increased the number of documented burials to 69, which included six intact child burials (AE119 and see above). From the osteo- archaeological analysis, we learned that many of ancient Kheny’s inhabitants had suffered injuries and trauma consis- tent with high levels of manual labour, as seen in torn muscle attachments and fractured bones (see (op lef). However, many of the fractures had healed, sug” gesting the workers had access to med- ical treatment and were given time to recuperate. Despite the injuries, our first analysis indicated that the majority appeared fairly healthy and must have enjoyed a balanced diet as there were few nutrient deficiencies. To put an end to the historical misconception of quar- ry workers being slaves, we can confirm that we found no indications of physical markers suggesting violence to compel activity. It appeared that these individu- als were engaged in the work on site in some form — and that they were looked after. ‘The excavations of the Temple of Sobek continued, and revealed a ree- tangular architectural feature surround- ed by mud-brick. This structure would ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022 TOP: Abdel Moniem, General Director fof Aswan and Nubia (left) and the team of Season & (right) (CENTRE: The Season 10 team (left) and Hamadi (above). BELOW: Hamadi (lef), Ibrahim (centre) ‘and Degadum (right)later turn out to be the ‘Den’ or Pit’ of metres, but appears to go far deeper. We also cleaned the interior crypts of Shrine 25 and cut down grass and trees in front of Shrines 30-31 (/ well as the Nile stelae (AE. 121 ~ centre left) as part of our site management. We also had to carry out some re rial site south of Shatt el-Rigal after we were notified that tourists were picking up mummy parts. We began to document fragments from Stelac B-C, which belong to a series of monuments pro- duced at Silsila in honour of the deifi- cation of Amenhotep III and coincide with his second sed-festival (Botlom lef! and conducted 3D photogrammetry on a selection of monuments. Document- and analysis continued for the rock art, epigraphic and quarry marks and ceramic finds. ‘New members welcomed to the Silsila family this season included Egyptologist Nils Billing (below), archaeologist ‘Tricia Goletto, and students Jennifer Thum gyptology) and Rebecca Hodgin ioarchaeology). We were also visited by a TV crew filming for an episode of the American series Expedition Unko Our ‘visiting animals’ in spring were cobras, and in the autumn we were joined by two cats, that made them- selves at home on our boat (and later settled in at our home in Luxor) ‘ue ope TOP: The pit known as the ‘Den of Sobek ‘CENTRE: John cleaning the royal stairs that once led to the Nile stelae. ABOVE: Stelae 8-C dating to the reign of Amenhotep Ill Photo: Nils Billing RIGHT: Egyptologist Nils Billing who joined us in Season 9 ct ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022RIGHT: Working and filming in the ‘waterlogged Tomb’, joined by TV presenter Sir Tony Robinson (righ0) CENTRE: John and Ahmed lifting the sarcophagus of a baby out of the tomb. BELOW: John and Ahmed wrapping a pot. 2017-2018 - Seasons 11 and 12 Season 11 was the shortest season so far, with only a few weeks on site, accompa- nied by our newborn baby Jonathan. eason when we began our excavations of the sphinxes in a quarry that had been in use during Amenhotep Us F116). Season 12, on the contrary, was the longest season so far !) and our team now incor~ porated nearly sixty international mem- bers (ranging from specialists and advi- sors to students and volunteers) and a nt, strong local team of work- We continued our work in the necrop- ols, focussing on the waterlogged tomb 149 ight and below). This tomb and our escapades within its murky soup-like waters became famous when Sir Tony Robinson (top right) joined us while filming his documentary Tomb Hunting. This now flooded tomb was burial, with more than a hundred individuals interred within its first chamber, and there are still unexea- ANCIENT EGYPT March/April‘TOP LEFT: Our wonderful workers team. Left to right - Degadum, Ibrahim, Bedawi, Ali, Suker, Abu Hassan, Ibrahim, Hussein, Ashur and Hamad font ~ Maria with baby Jonathan, John and Ahmed. TOP RIGHT: A beautiful dragonfly clinging to the rock. CENTRE: Mealtime with Jonathan and Freja on board our boat. ABOVE: A large criosphinx discovered in the ‘Fallen Monuments Quarry’ RIGHT: Puppies living in one of the tombs. 28 vated secrets to be discovered in its sec- ond (and perhaps third!) chamber. We hope to return to this unique shaft tomb in 2022. Our excavations of the ‘Temple of Sobek this season focussed on the west- em sanctuary (Pit of Sobek) and the main temple. ‘The temple excavation revealed hundreds of sandstor tectural and hieroglyphic limestone ments. We continued the cleaning of monuments on the West Bank, and work 28 revealed parts of a mum- ified body; although badly damaged by looters. Further fragments from Stelae B-G on the East Bank were recovered revealing new, previously unpublished material. The animal of the season was the fire-breathing dragontly (top right) We also returned to the sphinxes and an area we know and love as the ‘Fallen Monuments’ quarry (AE116 — bottom left) Weis a gem hidden amongst the tow- ering spoil heaps of the New Kingdom, and this area became highlighted during our first season in National Geographic's Last Treasures of Egypt. This site repre- sents possibly one of the most arduous ations due to its rather isolated cation. The expanse of spoil and debris is never-ending, as is their depth. ‘The New Kingdom level is buried under some 2-3 metres of Roman activity, but what wonderful discoveries have come to light in this area! It is here we discov- ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022ered the two large criosphinxes (appusite, bottom lef) and the ‘baby sphinx’ (an apprentice’s practice piece) that lay beneath the belly of its mother. We have recovered hundreds of fragments from Naos E-F which are integral t0 our reconstruction of the monument (AE116). We have also found dozens of fragments from its crowning falcon stat- ue and flanking obelisks. 2019 - Season 13 ‘This year, in addition to the continua- tion of previous tasks, we excavated the East Bank gallery quarry (Amenhotep ILIV, AE116 ~ see below) and conter poraneous harbour and ‘harbour café (AE118), and on the West Bank, sur- related to Tutankhamun: the workers’ village (AE.I18 ~ see abo), quarries and a small temple, destroyed in the early 1980's (when the valley was quarried with dynamite) and said to belong to Horemheb. The encamp- ments of the village show a clear com- munity bond, with the practice of ani- ‘mal husbandry, a level of hierarchy and ‘multiple occupations. Important finds in this area include several examples of Amarna ceramic ware (op le), famous for its beautiful blue shades with yellow, black and red details, often with lily patterns. Ever since our early epi- graphic surveys in 2012, we knew of the existence of a workers’ village, and soon noted its connection with an adjacent quay and heavily-used transportation road (referred to by us as the “Middle Kingdom Road’, see AF_114). The road itself is approximately ten metres i width, cleared of rubble and paved sandstone. It runs past the workers’ vil- lage, including the outer auxiliary struc- tures, past a fortification posi up on the western mou nects with the quay to the east and stretches all the way to the southern- most part of the West Bank. We also began exploring a small wadi associated with the road and quay, located below the workers’ village, where the destroyed temple is thought to have stood. We had previously found pictorial osiraca_and falatat blocks there, so returned for a more thorough survey, hoping to find further clues about this temple that had never received scientific documentation, ‘This resulted in the finding of several ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022, ‘An Amarna-style pot. Tutankhamun’s Village. Photo: Tricia Coletto Cieaning the Q14 Gallery of, W, Photo: Robert MittelstaedtTHIS PAGE ‘ABOVE Drying mattresses and bed-clothes on deck after the storm of Season! 3, BELOW A Season 14 visitor ~ ’ beautiful fox. ‘OPPOSITE PAGE TOP LEFT An extraordinary discovery from Season 15 ~ a man with so many fractures he must have endured a life of considerable pain, TOP RIGHT {A scorpion, one of the more dangerous creatures to join sorToM ‘A normal day at Gebel el-Silsila more sand will fly hopefully ‘over the next ten years! 30 Amarna ware fragments belonging to lange storage jars, a faience ring, frag- ments from the temple, etc. Due to its closeness to the quarries and workers village, dated to. the reign of ‘Tutankhamun, combined with several {alaiat blocks that formed the structure of the temple, we theorise that this tem- ple, similar to the speos, did not belong to ‘Horemheb initially. This season we were visited by Zahi Hawass as we recorded another TV documentary. Together, we participated in a diving expedition to search for architectural elements that had sunk during loading, Our friendly egret Caminos returned to our balcony, and helped out with the laundry! But the team also experienced the worst ever rain and sandstorm to hit the site. ‘The storm snapped our boat’s mooring ropes and threw us first out into the Nile, then back up on the bank, and we lost our gangplank making it impossible to abandon ship. With no plastic mat to protect the roof of the boat, the entir upper deck was flooded, and the water cascaded down the stairs and through the floor, flooding every room to the point of devastation, We lost much of ‘our digital equipment, such as printers, and a large part of our onsite library. However, by the next day, the site was cleaner than ever! 2021 - Seasons 14 and 15 Season 14 took place in June, working in 50 degree heat. Afier eighteen months of Covid-related travel restrictions, it was a delight to return to site, but how very strange and confusing not to be able to embrace each one of our local and international team members. Covid precautions forced us to make severe adjustments to our work, and even more so to our way of socialising and sharing lunch with one another. Nevertheless, Madam Sibila looked after us all, and the Temple of Sobek delivered new exciting finds to push us forward in our understanding of the site. In addition to the incredible heat (requiring repeated dips in the Nile to cool off throughout the day), this season brought us cobras, crayfish and nasty brown recluse spiders cone of which sneaked into John’s boot and bit him, leaving scars that are stil visible today. Another fantastic visitor was a gorgeous fox (below lf that came down to the Nile next to us each afier- Season 15, our most recent season, allowed more of our core members to return to site, fully vaccinated and ready to fight the blazing heat. Work concen- trated on the temple and necropolis, and on preparing a pathway and boundaries for tourists for the future ‘opening of the East Bank. John and the men became engineers, spending each Saturday laying the foundations for the pathway, removing intrusive vegetation and using sifted sand in sacks to prepare a wall. Meanwhile, Maria and the team worked in the magazine and study room, sorting bones and pottery and photographing finds. ‘The team uncovered some beautifial and detailed finds from the temple, including the stunning face of a pharaoh (typical of the Eighteenth Dynasty), the snout of Sobek ~ part of the main cult statue ~ and a large intact block with the body of a pharaoh (likely ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022to be Amenhotep III). We were also finally able to deter- mine the absolute south-eastern terminus of the temple itself In the necropolis, the men moved mountains as they always do, while the combination of heat and hard labour almost drove some of our international members to despair. The most extraordinary discovery was a burial (S177) on the southern outskirts of the necropolis that contained a man in his 40-50’s (see above). His remains tes- tified to a horrible life, with multiple fractures to his body ~ in fact more fractured bones than healthy ones. Nevertheless, this man had received medical care from a young age, and almost all injuries were healed or healing when he died. He would have been in constant pain, not able to straighten his back. He had multiple fractures to his right arm and scapula. One break just above the wrist had never healed properly, but created a pseudo joint. The left shoulder had dislocated and never set back in place, leaving the scapula deformed. With such injuries, he must have welcomed death once it came, Excavating this skeleton was a truly an emotional journey, but at the moment when we had finished and laid him out on a table, we felt liberated and incredibly fulfilled to allow him to straighten up once again. ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022 ‘The animals of this season were no doubt scorpions (above) — the largest death-stalker scorpions we had ever seen on site — and they were everywhere! Our poor Egyptology student Sebastian almost daily found himself fighting with scorpions in ‘his’ tomb. Looking Forward So, what can be said about the future? Well, as we have always maintained, we will continue our quest to reveal the secrets of Gebel €lSilsila as long as we have the health, funds, and political stability to do so, We are grate~ ful for each season and for the successes that only an amazing team working together can bring ‘Thank you Madam Sibsila for ten fantastic and exciting years, to ten more! Maria Nilsson and John Ward Maria and John began their se the Gebel el-Silsila Project in ting discoveries with wish the team every succ forward to celebrating the about the work of hree hand All photos by the authors unless otherwise indicated 31EXODUS: STORM OVER THE SEA Sean Rigby analyses the tumultuous debate over the truth behind the Biblical story of the ‘Parting of the Red Sea’. ABOVE: Crossing the Red Se the Parting of the Red Sea is one of the most well- | known Bible stories. The episode features spectac~ ularly in films such as Cecil B. DeMille’s epic The Ten Commandments. However, the likely truth behind the story is vehemently debated. This debate ranges widely, encompassing many other controversies, including the impacts of the Thera eruption, and the reliability of ear bon-14 dating. The story is referred to in several books of the Bible, including Numbers, Exodus, Isaiah (27, 40-55) and the Psalms (77, 92, 106 and 114. ‘The itinerary in Nionbers 33 states that the Israelites set off from the city of Pi-Ramesses, generally believed to be the archaeological site located near modern Qantir (see ‘map opposite, top right). The Israelites proceeded by way of places such as Sukkoth, until Moses instructed them: 32 Image: Sweet Publishing /FreeBibleimages.org CC BY-SA 3.0 p near Pi Hahiroth, between New International Version (NIV) Exodus 14:2 The actual locations of these places, named in Exodus 14:2, are not known, The Israelites are pursued. by Pharaoh, and are apparently trapped against the sea until (NIV Exodus 14:21-22) ANCIENT EGYPT March/Apeil 2022The Eeyptian army then pursued the as the sea returned (Exodus 14:23-28). In Exodus 15, the escape from the Egyptians is celebrated in a poem known as The Song of the Sea, where, in verses 4 and 22, the body of is explicitly named as Yam Sip in the original Hebrew. ‘The early Greek translation of the Old ‘Testament Hebrew red this as Eruthré Thalass meaning ‘Red Sea’. The Latin Vga, and many subsequent English transla- tions followed this precedent. The tradi- tional ation is thus that the Israel pursued by the Pharaoh Ramesses II from his capital to the shores of the Red Sea at the Gulf of Suez. The association of what is in actur ality an unnamed biblical ‘Pharaoh’ with Ramesses IL is usually made because of the city as the Israelites’ departure point, if they were enslaved to build ments, then it must surely have been for the most famous monument-building Pharaoh of all time? However, more recently, the scholarly ‘consensus has been that Tam Sip should be rendered as ‘Reed Sea’, since the Hebrew word sip means some sort of water plant, thereby suggestive of a location in the Nile Delta. This reloca- tion of the event to the Delta region has led to the suggestion of several new the ries for the events that inspired the story, based upon natural environmental phenomena. Wind Stress One such phenomenon described ‘wind setdown’ as a drop in water level caused by wind stress acting on the surface of a body of water for an extended duration. As the wind blows, water recedes from the upwind shore and exposes terrain that was formerly water. This potential explanation for the Parting of the Red Sea was inspired by the report made in January or February 1882 by the British Major General Alexander B, Tulloch, who described pening on Lake Manzala: ‘a wind setdown event hap- ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022 big. RedSea ABOVE LEFT : Ramesses I's colossal face at Luxor Temple. The Biblical story of Exodus is often associated with this king, although the Bible only gives the name “Pharaoh Photo: REP ‘ABOVE of a recorded wind setdown fvent, and places on the possible Israelite route out of Eaypt. Map: Peter Robinson BELOW The feet of a colossal statue 0 Ramesses Il at Qantir, one of he few remains of his once ‘Feat city Pi-Ramesses Photo: iri-en-achtl; Public Domain via Wikicommons a>ABOVE ‘An example of a tidal bore travelling up the Petitcadiac River, Moncton, Canada A similar event may have ‘occurred during the time of the Exodus, caused by wind setdown Photo: Larry from Charlottetown CC BY 2.0 via Wikicommons BELOW “The modern caldera of Thera, formed after the eruption of the voleano that may have caused a tsunami around the time that the Hyksos were expelled from Egypt. Photo: Sean Rigby at Menzaleh, w ut I fou Lak rh is situated om the west Canal, had totally d of the high wind on the ‘appeared, th sha ‘away beyond the horizon From this, Drews and his team recon- structed the ancient topography of a region of the eastern Nile Delta where the Pelusiac branch flowed into a coastal lagoon, the ‘Lake of Tanis’, during the New Kingdom, around 1250 BC. They then ran a computer simulation of the effects of a 28 m/s easterly wind blow- ing over the lake. They found that the wind setdown effect created a land- bridge by exposing mudflats from the m of Kadua, south-west of Pelusium, across the lagoon to Sethrum, that lasted about four hours. The return wave then would have flowed from south to north in a surge similar to a tidal bore (a tidal wave that travels up river ~ see above). The eyewitness report and simulation results seem very similar to the Exodus story: Tsunami ‘The retreat, or drawback, of the sea from the shore associated with the approach of the long trough of a tsuna- mi has also been suggested as the inspi ration for the Parting story. As the tsuna- mi approached the shore ~ perhaps one of the barrier islands in the lagoons of the Nile Delta ~ it would have built a wall of water. This is because, out in deep water, the tsunami wave would have been both fast-moving and of long length; however, as it approached shal- lower water near shore, the leading edge of the wave would have slowed down. Meanwhile, the trailing edge behind would have continued to come in fast so the water would have piled up into a high wall, which eventually would have reached shore with devastating effect. In this case, the supposed likely cause of the tsunami is the massive volcanic eruption of ‘Thera (modern Santorini see below lef}, that occurred around the same time as the expulsion of the Asiatic Hyksos from Egypt, about 1525 BC. This latter event might also provide the inspiration for the folk legend of the exodus of the Israelites, while the ashfall from the eruption may have inspired the Plague of Darkness story (Exodus 10:21) Further, the ‘Ahmose ‘Tempest Stele’, probably dating to the king’s first regnal year (¢. 1550 BC), describes the pharaoh restoring buildings damaged by great storms and flooding that may have been the result of the Thera eruption. The storms might also have hit Hyksos ship- ping and thus contributed to their downfall, However, the timing of the ‘Thera eruption is heavily contested, with the carbon-14 dating evidence on which it largely rests vigorously debated, although the Aegean Prehistorian Maleolm H. Wiener has argued that this evidence is not inconsistent with a date contemporary with the Ahmose Stela. Myth? ‘The Parting story, however, may just be a literary invention based upon the wide spread, ancient legend referred to as the Near-Eastern Combat Myt; this tells of a titanic battle between a good god of storms and an evil god of the sea, with the latter ofien in the form of a dragon. "The Combat Myth is believed to describe the personification of a natural, violent storm moving in over the sea toward the coast. There are four main extant ver~ ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022( | YZ Assyrian Empire (671 BC) YD Babylonian Empire (612-538 BC) 2 chief god bird-like figure Anau, and the latter's defeat by the god Ninurta (right). The Babylor E describes the victory of the chief god ‘Marduk over the dragon Tiamat (below right). ‘The story as the city of Babylon portant location, which sugg 's from a period when d. The Assyrian ver- Babylon flourish ‘ABOVE: A map of the ancient Near East with Santorini (Thera) to the left. The Combat Myth appeared in several versions ‘across the different empires. ‘Map: Peter Robinson CENTRE RIGHT: A drawing of a relief from the Temple of Ninurta at Nimrud (Assyria) depicting the monster Anzu being defeated by the god Ninurta. The story, part of the Combat Myth, appears in the mythologies of several Near Eastern empires, Drawing: L. Gruner, Monuments of Nineveh, Second Series 1853 Plate V; Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons RIGHT: An Assyrian cylinder seal depicting ‘the god Marduk defeating the dragon Tiamat Photo: Ben Pirard, CC BY-SA 3.0 via ‘wikicommons ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022, 35sion is broadly considered to be secondary to the Babylonian version since it simply replaces Marduk with Assur, and swaps Babylonian city names for Assyrian ‘ones. The myth of the storm god Baal and sea-god Yamm. has been found on Canaanite cuneiform tablets from ancient Ugarit (modern Ras es-Samra) dating from the mid-fourteenth-century BC (right). The story starts with Yamm sending a pair of messengers to the assembly of the gods, headed by El Yamm demanded that Baal (above) be handed aver to him as a captive, and, thence, Yamm’s overlordship be acknowledged. The council of 36 LEFT: The storm god Baal gripping a thunderbolt. Louvre Museum. The Baal Cycle is one of two ancient myths with ‘similarities to the Biblical Exodus Photo: Jastrow, Public Domain via Wikicommons BELOW: Fragments of the Baal Cycle written in ancient cuneiform, discovered at Ugarit (modern Ras es-Samra). Photo: Louvre Museum, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikicommons gods was intimidated by Yamm, and, despite_protests from Baal, El said Baal could be the slave of Yamm. However, after a break in the text, the crafisman of the gods Kotar predicts Baal will defeat his captor. Kotar makes two magical clubs for Baal, with which he defeats Yam. After the defeat of Yamm, a temple-palace is built for Baal by Kotar. Elsewhere in the Ugarit texts there is, reference to a battle of Baal, and his consort Anat, with the dragon Lotan, the Biblical Leviathan (see opposite), also identified elsewhere as Yamm. The dragons Lotan and Rahab are also seen as followers of Yamm, “There is evidence for the direct dependence of Exodus on both the EE and the Baal Gyele. The Song in Exodus 15 preserves the pattern of episodes from the Combat Myth including: (1) the battle with the Sea and victory of the Divine Warrior; (2) the building of a sanctuary on the ‘mountain won in battle (Exodus 15:17): and (3) the accla- mation of eternal kingship of the victor (Exodus 15:18). Remarkable similarities exist between the wording in Exodus 15, and both the Ugaritic texts, and the BE: For ‘example, the Ugaritic text (K'TU: 1.2, IV, 81) says: ‘Now Jou will smite your enenp, O Baal, now you will smite our enemy, now you must cut off your adversary”, while Exodus 15:6 says: “Your right hand, O Yahaveh, is raised in might, your right hand 0 Yah, ill site the enemy”. ‘Yahweh has many of the characteristics of a storm god, including residing on cloud-covered mountain tops. However, the key innovation of the Israelite tradition is, the placing of the Combat Myth [with the sea(-monster)] ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022idea into a human chronolog framework, such that the battle occurs at a defined historical moment and the actions of the deity directly influence humans. Cross. proposed that the ‘carlier’ conquest of Israel, achieved by the defeat of the Egyptians, was constructed as an his- torical precedent for the ‘new? con- quest of Israel required after the Babylonian exile, The return of the exiled Judaeans through the desert from Babylon to Jerusalem thus con- stituted a ‘new exodus’, which was the actual inspiration for the ‘old ex dus’ story, from the ‘old enemy Egypt. It is suggested that, while in cxile in Babylon, the Jewish elite had seen there the value of the Babylonian foundation myths. for achieving social cohesion, leading them to create the Exodus story to aid re-unification of the Israelite people after the Exile. Role of Egypt One might wonder why Egypt was cast as the ‘old enemy’, The dragon servant of Yamm, Rahab, has been explicitly identified with’ Egypt in Isaiah 30:7, which says ‘as for Egypt, it helps in vain and aacant, therefore I name her Rahab, the destroyed one ‘The killing of Rahab is associated with the drying of the sea in Isaiah 51:9-10. Rahab is characterised as fone of the defeated enemies of Yahweh. There is also a tradition of calling the pharaoh of Egypt a drag- on in a range of other Old Testament texts, including Ezekie 5 and 32:2-6. There thus seems to be a gen- ral association of the Egyptians with the defeated sea-dragon. The inci- dence of this idea explicitly within parts of Isaiah suggests a general prevalence of the association at the time, which could have been taken up in the Exodus story. Egypt is por- trayed in these texts as a useless, and often perfidious, ally, as it had been repeatably in the defeats by the Assyrians and Babylonians. ‘The pharaoh Necho (Nekau) I had defeated King Josiah at Megiddo on his way to his own defeat by the Babylonians at the Battle of Carchemish, It is, thus, perhaps not se voice of is sunderstwrd the Berallice aera ets cl ade will SS srraings oa. 7 "ex yong 30 ype ayes PIO 7 owas Payee ‘ABOVE: William Blake's illustration for the Book of Job, depicting Behemoth, who dominates the land, and Leviathan, a sea monster destroyed by Yahweh. The Baal ‘Cycle recounts a similar tale where the dragon Lotan is defeated by Baal. Image: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons surprising that Egypt was chosen as the villain in the ‘old” Exodus story. Sean P. Rigby Sean Rigby is Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Nottingham, UK, where his research interests include ancient glass manufac- ture. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of London and also holds an MA in Ancient History from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD). His interests also include ancient mythology. ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022, Further Reading Ballantine, D.S. (2015) The Conflict Myth and the Biblical Tradition. Oxford: Oxford University Press Gross, FM. (1973) Ganaanile Myth and Hebrew Epic: Essays in the History of the Religion of Israel. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Drews, C. and Han, W. (2010) Dynamics of Wind Setdown at Suez. and the Eastern Nile Delta. PLoS ONE, Vol. 5, No.8, 12481 (open access) Levy, TE. et al. (2015) Lsrael’s Exodus in Transdisciplinary Penpectce: Text, Archaeology, Culture and Geoscience. Cham: Springer. 37Highlights of the Manchester Museum 33: A Foundation Deposit Block of Khaemwaset Campbell Price describes an inscribed block in Manchester's collection that names one of Ramesses II’s sons. ABOVE {A foundation deposit block, from the Temple of Ptah at Memphis, bearing the ‘eartouches of Ramesses Il. On he sides of the block are the title and name of Khaemwaset. Photo: Manchester Museum /Campbell Price 7Z ‘ot all royal princes went on to become Pharaoh, and of them perhaps the most famous is the fourth son of Ramesses II (¢. 1279-1213 BC), Khaemwaset Ptah at Memphis during the New Kingdom with senior royal sons, if not necessarily a ‘crown prince’ — Khaemwaset was responsible for undertaking building work on behalf Of his father. He is also well-known for a role associated As High Priest of having left his mark during the course of what he describes as ‘restoration’ work ‘on royal monuments in the Memphite necropolis. This may also have been a decorous way of referring to repurpos- ing stone from older structure for use in the vast Ramesside building pro ne (for a gran Khaemwaset may well have recycled, see AE98, October/November 2016). ‘This small block (I4em in length) is one of a series found by workers for Flinders Petrie near the so-called ‘West Hall’ of the temple of Ptah at Memphis, Manchester acc. no. 4749). By includ- ing his own name along with a royal cartouche on the same object, Khaemwaset firmly associates himself with his father. The prince also appears in an unobtrusive position on_many other monuments of his father, includ ing chapels dedicated to the sacred Apis bulls at the Serapeum and in colossal statuary (see opposite, ef). Clearly su policy of self-commemoration effective Khaemwaset_v remembered well into the Ptolemaic Period, when he was the subject of sto- ries preserved in demotic script and fea- tures in temple reliefs at Saqqara from the same period Groups of objects known to archaeol- ogists as ‘foundation deposits’ were a collection of ritual items ~ such as model tools and vessels along with name stones such as this effectiveness of the structure in whose foundations they were interred. An unintended consequence is that these often inscribed objects are very informa- tive for archaeologists, often showing who was responsible for initiating — if not completing The hieroglyphic text on this alabaster block gives the names of King Ramesses TI: ‘Lord of the Two Lands Usermaatra Setepenra, Lord of Appearances, Ramessu Meryamun, given life, like Ra’, On the sides are the titles and name of the ‘Sem (the common de the High Priest of Ptah), King’s Son, Khaemwaset, justified.” gram fe colun because which ensured the eternal construction work. ANCIENT EGYPT March/Apeil 2022Other faience plaques — perhaps better described as 1 blocks’— give the names of Ramesses I above the al’) hieroglyph. This is a clue that the construc- tion work to which they are related was likely associated with Ramesses IT's (many) /eb sed or ‘jubilee’ festivals, Khaemwaset is known from a series of inscriptions throughout Egypt to have played an i role in everal jubilees of his father from Ramesses TPs Year 30 onwards. Perhaps these inscribed foundation RIGHT AA statue of Khaemwaset now in the British Museum. Photo: JPP. BELOW A shallowly carved relief of a standing figure of Khaemwaset; beside the legs of a statue of his father at Abydos. The more ‘deeply carved hieroglyphs beside the figure name him as “Setem Khaemwaset’, another version of his name. Photo: Campbell Price blocks record the prince’s involvemen € the Ptah temple complex at Memphis in celebration of the king’s long reign. ‘An appropriate object for 2022, the Platinum Jubilee year of Queen Elizabeth II) Campbell Price Campbell is Curator of Egypt and Sudan at Manchester, Museum (the University of Manchester) and a regular contributor to AT magazine.COLLECTI nsh the p ABOVE: Marianne Brocklehurst and Mary 8 FA fescums are often seen as displaying an objective \ /] view of the past, with visitors perceiving the AV Leshibitions of ancient Egyptian material asa true reflection of life in ancient Egypt. However, in reali ty, all kinds of biases are at play, such as the better pre: vation of tombs compared to settlements, the decisions of archaeologists on where to dig and what to keep, and the often Westernised viewpoint of curators in_ presenting these artefacts to the public. Local museums with smaller collections also have an additional level of bias, as fre- quently they were amassed by one or two individuals whose personal beliefs, interests and personalities shaped their collecting. This exactly describes the background of the ancient Egyptian collection at Macclesfield, which owes its exis- tence entirely to two Victorian women named Marianne Brocklehurst (opposite, bottom right) and Mary Booth (shown in a skeich on page 30). Through their personal travels to Egypt, as well as their fundraising efforts in support of “organisations such as the Egypt Exploration Society (then e motivations beh Macclesfield the Egypt Exploration Fund) and the Egyptian Research Account, they amassed the collection now on display in Macclesfield’s Silk Muscum. While Brocklehurst and Booth are not the most well known nineteenth century Egyptological figures, they are occasionally mentioned in overviews of Victorian Egyptology. When they are considered, the breadth of the discussion is usually restricted to their explicitly ancient Egyptrelated activities ~ in particular their first of five trips to Egypt when they travelled down the Nile in con- voy with Amelia Edwards and Lucy Renshaw. However, Brocklehurst and Booth, like anyone else, were complex and vibrant people with lives outside of their interest in ancient Egypt. At first glance these other facets to their personalities may be deemed irrelevant and justifiably overlooked by modern Egyptologists; but a closer exami- nation of the collection at Macclesfield reveals that, con- sciously or subconsciously, these other interests may have been just as significant in the formation of their ancient Egyptian collection as their interest in ancient Egypt itself, ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022Lert: BELOW LEFT: BELOW RIGHT: A pain’ 4 Photo: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons The Live en When first walking through the ancient Egyptian exhibi- tion in the Silk Museum, it seems like any other local museum’s collection of ancient Egyptian material However, it soon becomes clear that there is a particular- ly feminine slant to the collection. The central object is the cartonnage mummy case of a woman or girl Shebmut (li), which was collected on Brocklehurst Booth’s first trip to Egypt in 1873-4. Scattered throug! ut the surrounding display cases are more objects cor nected {0 named women, such as the female pharaohs, Hatshepsut and Taustet, scarabs and shabtis inscribed with the names of other royal women and a stela fe ing many Ramesside women, There is also a focus on goddesses, with bronzes, statuettes, stone reliefs and amulets of female deities, such as Isis (above lef) and Sckhmet, almost everywhere you look. Even objects that would not have appeared gendered to the ancient Egyptians but seemed typically female to the Victorians such as jewellery, cosme and kobl pots Ay represented in the collection. While this may seem like a coincidence, the collection was assembled by two women who appear to have paid particular attention to the lives of ancient and modern 7 ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022, 41ABOVE The Macclesfield Silk Museum. hhome to the Egyptology collection assembled by ‘Marianne Brocklehurst and Mary Booth. Photo: Geni, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikicommons BELOW Marianne Brocklehurst's ilustrated diary of her 1873-74 trip to Egypt shows that her party hunted animals while in Egypt, even though at home they were vocal anti Vivisectionists women they encountered on their trav- els, In the diary that Brocklehurst kept of their first trip to Egypt (se below), she recorded her reactions to depictions of ancient women on the monuments they visited, For example, when visiting the Tomb of Ti at Saqgara, she observed that the wife and children of the tomb owner were depicted on a much smaller scale than the male tomb owner. She remarked that the tomb owner “is offen repeated of a considerable size which showed his. general superirity Occasionally a very diminutive wife and children are thrown in who did not appear This is particularly interesting wher considering the era in” which Brocklehurst and Booth lived. Up until the Married Women’s Property Act 1882, married women were not even seen as separate legal entities from their hus- bands and had no right to own proper ty (although the Married Women’s Property Act 1870 at least allowed them. to keep their own earnings). At the time Brocklehurst and Booth set out on their first trip to Egypt in 1873, married women in England still had fewer legal rights than their ancient Egyptian counterparts. It is therefore unsurprising that Brocklehurst and Booth were equally fascinated by the lives and social position of the modern women they met on their travels. The diary is full of descriptions and illustra- tions (drawn by both women) of all of the modern Egyptian and Nubian women they met, recording their appearance, clothing, jewellery, hair- styles and how they were treated. Being women, Brocklehurst and Booth also had the opportunity to interact direct- ly with modern Egyptian women, which would not have been possible for male travellers. The diary recounts instances where Brocklchurst’s nephew and their groom were sent out of the room when they went to meet the wives of members of the crew of their {0 count for much”, dahabiva. 42 fed bate aol, ober Terns ab hal A te fd be AH Piss ln figs Mle ile te th fy | Sint en te te pt ne bl Pin fon, meine Me 50k Rap athe Dall mg mI prong HR pha Dano de tnd OY 1 al Pep Me lg fobs ob nnd bathe tego Re be rips fs i td la Pek a Me pom RE a pase ded nits nan le men he tans beak? He Puna pas 00 ot muito Rapa haem tie Doky Webern btsaan 2 ee uD BEE y ls Me ta fhe ve nse fo fat 28d lps p= Mins palrwns thane remstihe. querer Sy taal ene" Auber Bo Aycan Bohn ns 0fBl aa? ih, Meg iy, en inn Seth gh SR Bipbe WI.GI hie appar MM bol fil 1 Whe Lb hei sf (Seilicsne heh hd hs nd, Pte 1 Bim UAL hic il frm mm Hb ts Mah lang nl elisha fp frend Sy Lis toms nfo sprain cA cl Pkaps Sr cis ek i peo © Me Dekins GM 14 fo fin > Plea, basbhoessl | Pg bee Behnede | pret i jaan” ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022The Bible While Brocklehurst and Booth’s interest in the lives of women is evident through the quantity of specific objects related to women that they collected, other influences are more subtle yet pervasive. One influence that only becomes apparent on further inspection of the collection is that of the Bible ‘There are certain objects that were evidently collected due to a believed connection to Biblical history. One such example is a mud brick that belonged to Mary Booth. While it does bear a very faint stamp impression of Rameses IPs cartouche, this simply looks like a roughly formed block of mud and often sparks questions from museum visitors as to what it is and why anyone would choose to collect such a thing. ‘The answer lies in the museum records, as it is purported to have come from Pithom, a city that the Bible claims the Israelites were forced by the pharaoh to build. However, the greatest impact of the Bible on Brocklehurst and Booth’s collection is on the way that they viewed the objects that they selected, as seen from. the labels they wrote for their artefacts. For example, on display alongside a Ramesside stela (right) is an annotated and translated illustration of it, drawn by Brocklehurst. “This states that ‘Rameses Iwas The Pharaoh iho oppressed the Isactites and whose daughter found Moses in th bulrushes” imilarly, a label for a scarab ring bearing the name and likeness of Rameses II (noco in the museum archives and pie tured below right) identifies him as the pharaoh who oppressed the Inraclites As well as her artefacts, Brocklehurst evidently viewed the sites she visited in Egypt through the prism of the Bible and was clearly up to date with current ideas in Biblical archaeology. In her diary she wrote “the idea that one of the subjects was that of Joseph presenting ‘his brethren to Pharaoh has had to be given up as the tomb is proved to be that of some governor who lived several centuries irevious to Joseph’ Likewise, alter visiting the Ramesseum she recounted and quoted from Murray's guidebook that the sculptures were strong corrobative proof of the correctness of the evidence of the Bible of the forcign wars and conquests of Egypt This focus on the Bible is unsurprising as, more gener- ally one of the driving forces behind the nineteenth cei tury interest in ancient Egypt was a desire to prove its veracity. Brocklehurst and Booth, who were both active members of their local church in Wincle (Cheshire), were also involved in societies that actively connected Christian belief with archaeology. Brocklehurst was a member of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, while Booth estab- lished the Macclesfield Branch of the Egypt Exploration TOP: A framed sketch by Marianne Brocklehurst of a Ramesside stela in her collection with an English translation Of the inscription in place of the hieroglyphs and historical ates tying it to Biblical history RIGHT: A scarab ring (1657.1977) bearing the likeness and ‘cartouche of Rameses Il. An original label for this object identifies Rameses Il as “the pharaoh who oppressed the israeltes”. ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022 Fund, an organisation which selected the locations of their early excavations with a view to finding the route of the Exodus and other Biblical sites. With these back- grounds, it seems natural that their entire perception of ancient Egypt, and consequently also their collection, would have been coloured through the lens of the factual accuracy of the Bible. Animals Since many ancient Eg gods had animal forms, any ancient Egyptian collection is bound to include many ani- co)clated objects. However, in addition to the expected amulets of such gods, Brocklehurst and Booth also col- lected other objects relating to animals, including stone reliefs depicting birds, a bronze figure of a cat and a wooden figure of an ibis (probably representing Bastet and Thoth respectively), faience figurines of animal gods, and even a small faience dog. Most notably, however, Brocklehurst and Booth collected mummified animals. While travellers to Egypt did buy these votive offerings, they were not considered to be particularly valuable in the nineteeth century, as is demonstrated by the infamous shipment of cat mummies wh used as fertiliser in Liverpool small size of the collection in Macclesfield, it is surprising that it contains a mummified cat, hawk, ibis and croco- dlile, These are all very obviously dead animals with no added decoration or elaborate casing to make them unusually attractive to a collector. This and their low value make it difficult to understand why Brocklehurst and Booth would choose to add them to their collection unless they had a particular interest in animal mummies for their own sake. A possible explanation for this is the fact that both Brocklehurst and Booth were animal lovers. At their home in Wincle, Brocklchurst bred dogs, while Booth continued her family tradition, breeding short-horn cat- tle. They were also very vocal anti-vivisectionists, found- ing the Macclesfield branch of the Victoria Street Society for the Protection of Animals from Vivisection in. 1887 “This was a local branch of the Victoria Street Society which was established by their friend and fellow Egypt Exploration Fund subscriber, Frances Power Cobbe, in opposition to animal testing, ‘This interest in animals is also demonstrated in the diary of Brocklehurst and Booth’s first trip, where thi recorded their encounters with animals. These included paintings and descriptions of riding camels, seeing white hawks and searching for crocodiles, as well as portraits and a tribute to their pet chameleon. However, most mei tions of wildlife in the diary actually revolve around their ABOVE: A mummified hawk (1.861.197), collected by Marianne Brocklehurst, RIGHT: A seal in the form of a frog (174.1977). | attempts to shoot various birds and animals which, from an outside perspective, seem at odds with their other actions, Conclusion It is impossible to know for certain what motivated Brocklehurst and Booth to select the items that they col- lected. They may have intentionally set out to create a col- lection that reflected their beliefs but it is equally possible that this was a more subconscious bias. Nevertheless, the themes of women, the Bible and animals do appear to run through the collection. Consequently, learning more about these collectors lives outside of Egyptology gives us the opportunity to view their collection through their own eyes, thereby simultancously enriching our understanding of both collection and collector Bryony Renshaw Bryony Renshaw is the Collections Officer at Macclesfield Museums. Beginning as a volunteer while undertaking an Archaeology BA and Egyptology MA, she has spent the past seven years researching Macclesfield’s ancient Egyptian collection. All images ©Cheshire East Council and care of The Silk Heritage Trust unless otherwise attributed. Further Reading Brocklehurst, M. (2004), Miss Brocklehurst on the Nile: Diary of a Victorian Traveller in Egypt. Stockport: Millrace. ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022Alan B. Lloyd assesses the evidence for Cleopatra VII's ancestry. Julian Heath continues his exploration of Prehistoric Egypt by looking at the remains of Neolithic cattle farmers in the Eastern and Western Deserts. Geoffrey Lenox Smith reports on the newly-opened National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation (NMEC) in Cairo. The long association between the Jewish community and Egypt is explored by Michael Tunnicliffe Lesley Jackson explores aspects of the Goddess Nut. Ira Rampril explores the presence of malaria in ancient Egypt. “What is it that is only one on its out- side and a thousand and one on its inside?" Barbara Gai Mokhtar reveals that the answer to this riddle is an important symbolic fruit. with from Egypt, (for our young and not-so-young read- ers), , and lists of forth- coming and ATU Ae ace Uo DCE A digital subscription to the magazine is now available, Got an iPad h the App App Store Android UE sc magazine with the 'Exactly Android ap Available from G cy You can also get each issue of the magazine individualy va our website at: www.ancientegyptmagazine.com ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022 45f er logy. Photo: C. Graves. a ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022THE BIRTH OF EGYPTOLOGY (AND ITS POLITICAL BAGGAGE) - Part Two by Carl Graves and Fatma Keshk Politicians and Eoyptologists - An Uncomfortable Alliance Other than the relative ease wi in Egypt, it may be considered that polities played little role in the early development of British archacology in Egypt. It is only when attention is turned to the characters leading such organisations that the full spectrum of the colonial apparatus can be appreci- ated. Between 1882 and 1922, the Egypt Exploration Fund/Soci Ied not by Egyptologists (there were just not that many available at the time!) but by individuals working ictorian high society. Names include members of the clergy, indus- trialist, artists, colonial administrators, politicians, and the landed gentry Notable figures in these early years of British Egyptology include Evelyn Baring (Lord Cromer, 1841-1917) who. held the posts of Vice-President and then President of the EEF at the same time as he was Consul General of Egypt. His administration in Egypt is widely acknowledged to have stalled economic and social development in Egypt for Egyptians in order to drive economic return for Britain. One of Barings biggest fans, and his successor in Egypt, Lord George Lloyd (1879-1941) was also honoured as a President of the EEE. The very ‘man that prompted Egypt’s independ- ence, Edmund Allenby (1861-1936) held the same prestigious position at FF around the same time that he tionary Force against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. Though these men did not hold operational roles in the EEF, their names alone elevated the organisation and the process of archacology in Egypt to an arm of the imperial apparatus — arguably, a con- duit for soft diplomacy. Thats not to say that there was a lack of profession al and skilled archacology ~only that it should context. The Birth of Egyptian Egyptology In 1923, Ahmed Kamal proposed that Egyptians be ANCIENT EGYPT h which Bi Egyptology was able to work within a French-run system ot be considered without its broader political trained to understand, work in, and ultimately adm the archaeology of their own land. The Director-General sh of t Je ‘ABOVE: Rifa'a Rafi el-Tahtawi BELOW: Ali Mubarak Images: Public domain via Wiki Commons contribution as a Mu: tanslator was influence France. His publications paved the w: Service of Antiquities caustically remarked that with the exception of Ahmed Bey himself, few Egyptians had shown any interest in antiquity. Ahmed Kamal responded: “th, M. Lacau, in the sixty-fi French have directed the Ser opportunities have you given us? J. Wilson, 1964. Readers could be excused for getting this far and wondering what the Egyptian contribution to Egyptology was at this time and how this imperial apparatus (British and French) impact- ed their efforts. The above interchange, happening a year afier Britain's decla- ration of Egyptian independence, goes some way to explain the system of con- trol in place which hindered national efforts to engage meaningfully with the ancient past ayptian Egyptology ~ as opposed wo yptology ~ has its roots in the writings of Medieval Arabic writers and philosophers. Prior to 1882, there is a wealth of Arabic liter ature on the monuments and history of Egypt (see O. El Daly Kgypiolngy: ‘The Missing Millennium: Ancient Faypt in Medieval Arabic Writings, 2005), but efforts to work within the new Service des Antiquités proved much more challenging and individuals such as Ahmed Kamal Pasha (1851-1923) worked tirelessly to promote Egyptian efforts. Kamal, in particular, led Egyptian Egyptology and picked up the work of others such as Rifa’a Rafi el-Tahtawi (1801-1873 — see aboce lef) and Ali Mubarak (1823-1893 — see ‘ef Rif'a Rafi cl-Tahtawi, or Sheikh Rifa’a, was born in the village of Tahta in the Sohag Governorate and first fol- lowed a religious education before becoming a graduate of the prestigious Al Azhar University as a student of the renowned scholar Hassan El Auar (1776-1835). E-Tahtawi’s professional sheikh, intellect, teacher and by his five years of study in for understanding , what between Islamic and Arabic cultures on the one side and March/April 2022 Western cultures on the other, 47ABOVE: i (inset) Photos: C. Graves. “8 ANCIENT EGYPT March/Apeil 2022EL-Tahtawi’s encounters with Jean-Francois Champollion (1790- 1832) and Edmé Francois Jomard (geographer and founder of the 4 Description de UEgypte, 1777-1862) influenced his growing interest in ancient Egyptian culture and lan- guage. This training led to his founding of the first language school in Egypt in 1835 where ancient Egypt featured on the syl- Tabus. That same year, Mohamed ‘Ali Pasha charged him with assem- Dling the first national antiquities collection effectively an Egyptian-founded antiquities serv- ‘e and museum. ‘This orgai ion would subsequently be re- founded by Mariette in 1863 and later scholars would come to large- ly forget this earlier initiative ‘Ali Mubarak remains one of the most prominent intel- lects of nineteenth century Egypt. He is most famous for his role in educational reform during his post as Minister of Education, though he also published a comprehensive inventory of Egyptian cities and villages with their associ- ated monuments in multiple volumes called al-Khitat al- ‘Taefigiyya al-Fadida, Mubarak had a particular interest in the architecture and engineering of the Pyramids of Giza and in the sixteenth volume of the Mita, his chapter on ancient Memphis included speculation on the identities of the pyramid builders and their construction methods. Another section, “on the statue between the two big pyr- amid” gives further details on the Great Sphinx of Giza, Mubarak’s research was largely driven by the work of Medieval Arabic scholars such as: Al-Biruni (c. 973-1050), Abdel Latif Al-Baghdladi (1162-1231), ArMaqrizi (1364- 1442), and AbSuyaty (144 However, Mubarak also drew inspiration from the developing Western Egyptological scholarship such as Nathaniel Davison (c 1736-1809), Giovanni Battista Belzoni, Jean- Champollion, Silvestre de Sacy (1758-1838), Gaviglia (1770-1845), Jean-Antoine Letronne _(1787- 1848), Howard Vyse (1784-1853), Edme Frangois Jomard, Auguste Mariette, Karl Richard Lepsuis (1810-1884), and Charles Piazzi Smyth (1819-1900). The intellectual achievements of both el-Tahtawi and Mubarak in regard to ancient Egypt are in need of further research and recognition, but their efforts inspired the next generation of Egyptian Egyptologists. Notably, Ahmed Kamal Pasha almost single-handedly maintained Egyptian Egyptology over the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Kamal (see opposite) was the graduate of the first system- atic school of Egyptology in Egypt, directed by Heinrich Brugsch (1827-1894) and facilitated by the newly founded, French-run Service des Antiquités. He started his career as a teacher of German language and in 1872 worked as a translator at the governmental Diwan founded by Ali Mubarak. In 1881, he was promoted to a post as transla- tor at the Boulaq Museum. A guidebook for the newly ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022 ‘ABOVE: Sir Gaston Camille Charles Maspero (1846-1916). Photo: Public Domain, via Wiki Commons. opened Museum of Egyptiat Antiquities (se page 46) was written by Maspero in 1903 and translated by Kamal into Arabic. It was reprinted four times before 1915 as Egyptian audiences were steadil welcomed into the new Museum Isma’ilia Square (now Tahri Square). Kamal was also responsi ble for the translation of a guid book for the Graeco-Roman Museum of Alexandria ~ a largely Italian-dominated enterprise at this, time. ‘Kamal was supported by Gaston Maspero (see aboce), who advanced Kamal’s career while working at the Service des Anti appointing him a Cui Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in 1891, He was particularly influ- ential during the discovery of the royal cachette discov- ered at Deir el-Bahri in 1881. Together with the German ‘gyptologist and Muscum curator Emile Brugsch (1842- 1930), they deduced the origin of antiquities being sold illicily on the markets by the family of Abdel Rassoul. Kamal’s greatest scholarly works were destined not to be published in his lifetime. His 23 volumes of research comparing ancient Egyptian language with the Arabic of modern Egypt are enough to compete with the familiar Worterbuch der dgyptischen. Sprache. "Today, Kamal’s work remains one of the most comprehensive works on the sub- Jject ever created. Kamal may best be remembered for his efforts to secure a fature for Egyptian Egyptology in promoting the need to train the next generation. In 1882, he became Director and teacher at a newly established school for Egyptology at the Boulaq Museum. Unfortunately, Kamal’s greatest success, the establishment of a new school for Egyptian Egyptologists of which he would be Director, was announced on the same day he died in 1923, Despite acknowledging that he is the first Egyptian Egyptologist, the career of Ahmed Kamal Pasha has received little commemoration afier his death. Perhaps 2023 is an opportunity to rectify this embarrassing over- sight? On the Eve of independence: Egyptology in 1922 (On 28" February 1922, Allenby’s declaration of Egyptian independence was announced. In reality, however, Britain continued to play a direct role in the independent Kingdom of Egypt, not least with the appointment of its first monarch, Fuad T (1868-1935). Independence had come at the great effort of the Wafl Party under the leader, Saad Zaghloul Pasha (1859-1927) who subse quently held the position of Prime Minister in 1924, before resigning owing to British pressure following the assassination of Lee Stack (1868-1924) Governor- General of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, On his death, 49‘ABOVE: The mausoleum of Saad Zaghloul Pasha (1859-1927) in downtown Cairo. Photo: C. Graves Zaghloul was laid to rest in a magnificent mausoleum built in an ancient Egyptian style with Arabic calligraphy engraved on the facade, uniting modern Egypt with its it past (above). It is perhaps unsurprising that the ancient Egyptian style would be chosen just five years of the tomb of Tutankhamun pro- that is a story for a future issue. By 1922, British archacology in Egypt was firmly estab- lished. The EEF had secured permission to excavate and bute select artefacts to their supporters around the world. This permission came more from the French-dominated Antiquities Service than the Egyptian Government and so political changes had litle immediate effect on fieldwork. The colonial administrators involved in the EEF were undoubtedly helpful in the smooth oper- ation of British archaeology at the time and were occa~ sionally asked to support efforts. Egyptian Egyptology on the other hand had been held back. Lack of support and educational advancement had prevented Egyptians from showing interest in their own heritage and had curtailed their efforts to establish a national institution for it Pioneers, like Ahmed Kamal Pasha would not live to see their efforts recognised or rewarded on the global stage of Egyptology. By the time of Egyptian independence in 1922, there were far more trained British archaeologists and Eayptologists than there were Egyptian. But was all of this about to change? It would take another thirty years before the Antiquit even longer to sce Egyptian Egyptology take that stage. Much of the privilege of these early years of Egyptology continues to impact the opportunities available to Egyptian archaeologists. Today, there are more Egyptian Egyptologists than ever before and institutions that may previously have been an obstacle to their progress are actively supporting and promoting them. ‘This great enrichment of Egyptian heritage brings benefits to all of us interested in Egypt’s unique history and a broadening of our understanding of heritage and its practitioners ‘means that there isa bright fature ahead of us! In the next article, we will consider the deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphs and the role that the Rosetta Stone plays in our understanding of Egypt's history Carl Graves and Fatma Keshk Dr. Carl Graves is Director of the Egypt Exploration Society. He gained his Ph.D. from the University of Birmingham in 2017 on the subject of cultural landscapes in Middle Egypt. Dr. Fatma Keshk is the lan Mathieson Fellow of the Egypt Exploration Society and currently administers their Heritage at Risk Grant programme in Egypt. Through The Place and the People, the initiative she founded in 2019, Fatma works as a her- itage expert and storyteller specialising in community ‘outreach and education, Further Reading Bierbrier, M. L. 2019 Who Was Who in Egyptology (5th edi- tion), London, El Daly, O. 2005 Egyptology: The Missing Millennium: Ancient Exypl in Mediccal Arabic Writings. London. Reid, D. 2002 Whose Pharaohs? Archaeology, museums, and Exyptian national identity fiom Napoleon to World War 1. Berkeley, Riggs, C. 2014 Uncerapping Ancient Egypt, London, ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022PER MESUT: for younger readers LAY ‘ABOVE: The White Chapel of Senusret |, reconstructed in the Open Air Museum at Karnak. ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022, 51Per Mesut Me the last Per Mesut described the units of measure~ I ‘ment used in ancient Egypt for the yearly survey of fields, ‘The basic unit, the cubit, was also used in recording the height of the annual inundation. Each year, by the modern calendar, the waters of the ss the effects of the Spring rains in Ethiopia were felt in Egypt. The success of the harvest depended on how much land received the double gift of water and minerab-ich silt which the flood deposited on the fields. This annual refreshment of the soil was essen- ial to Egypt's fertility and economic wealth. But too much could be almost as bad as too little and farmers needed to be able to plan for all possibilities. Records of how high and how quickly the waters had risen in previ- ‘ous years were useful in predicting the agricultural future, Although there must have been measuring. poi known as ‘nilometers’, along the length of the river, fe examples have been identified and most of those date from the later periods of Egyptian history (sce aboce Uf) We know from monumental inscriptions that official records of the Nile’s height were kept from early ‘The Palermo Stone (so named because the largest frag- ment of this Fifth Dynasty stela is in the Palermo Muscum on the island of Sicily) is a year-by of events in the reigns of kings of the Old Kingdom, Each year is represented by a box, like a cell in a spread- sheet, with a separate box at the bottom for recording a measurement in cubits, spans, palms and digits, which represents the highest point of the inundation recorded in each year (aboce righ). While we cannot be sure where these measurements were made, itis likely to have been in the vicinity of the capital, Memphis. ‘On the White Chapel of Senusret I, at Karnak (preious ‘poge), & similar grid of information appears in a “gazetcer’, a list of the provinces or nomes of Egypt, including the heights of the Nile in different places (see ‘second census 1 palm’ 3 cubits, 6 palms, 2 fingers LEFT: The entrance to the nilometer on Elephantine Island, ‘Aswan, The level reached by the Nile flood would be marked, ‘on the wall ofa staircase leading up from this entrance. Photo: RBP ABOVE: A drawing of the hieroglyphs on the upper part of a fragment of the Palermo Stone in the Petrie Museum, UCL. ‘Numbers in the lower boxes represent the height of the ‘inundation in cubits, palms and digit. Drawing: JPP opposite). ‘hese vary from 21 cubits 3% palms, at Elephantine, to 6 cubits, 3 palms, 3 digits, at Diospolis in the Delta (modern Tell el-Belamun), suggesting that the measurements were made in one particular year in 42 df= ferent locations, one in each nome. Below each nome standard and the names of the local gods and the princi- pal cities, are boxes giving numerical information which includes the size of each province, defined as the north- to-south length of its river frontage, measured by ‘the cord’, which suggests the unit used was the Kiet. For a country dependent on river transport, the most sensible way of measuring distances between places was in terms of iter, ‘river-units’. One iteru seems to have rep- resented a journey of one hour in a boat being towed up- river, estimated as 20,000 cubits, or approximately 10°5 kilometres. The equivalent ‘land-unit’, based on a one- hour march overland, was the atu, equivalent to 15,000 cubits, From the inscriptions stating the distances between key cities, itis possible to work out how b believed their country to be. From Elephantine to the Mediterranean Sea coast was 106 iteru, a measurement which compares well with the distance between the mod- ern cities of Aswan and Alexandria [which is approxi- mately 1084 km by road — 106 itera is 106x10:5=1113 km] This measurement was taken as standard and was repea ed on ritual stone cubit rods of New Kingdom date, even though the actual values of the iferu and atur seem to have changed over time and varied from place to place depending on bends in the river and the lie of the land, as well as the rather vague Egyptian notion of an hour By the Late Period, the unit of river or land distance was known as a sckoenus, from the Greck word for ‘rush ope’, a description of the measuring cord (f. 54, top lef. ‘This gives us another answer to the question in the title, though a 20,000-cubit-long rope twisted from rushes or, more probably, papyrus stems, would have been incredi- ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022per mesut bly heavy and impractical as a measure- ment tool. Herodotus recorded that the ngth of the Egyptian Mediterran-ean coast was 60 schon, or about 630 kin, a distance which was probably estimated by timing a ship's journey along the coast between visible landmarks. Since the ancient Egyptians were not great sailors, itis probable that these distances at sea were calculated by foreign seafar- ers like the Greeks, who took into account tides and currents that were unfamiliar to the Nile’s riverboat crews. In the Ptolemaic Temple of Edfu, the total area of agricultural land in Egypt, from Elephantine to the Delta marshes, is calculated as 27 million seat, or aroura, based roughly on a rectangle measuring 106 by 14 iteru, This emphasises how the cultivable regions were largely confined to anarrow band bordering the banks of the Nile. ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022 “THE WHITE CHAPEL ‘GAZETTEER ABOVE LEFT. provinces (nomes) of Upper Egypt. The text lists the nomes from near Memphis in the North, to Elephantine in the South’ and the "measurement by the cord along the river" ABOVE RIGHT ‘The gazetteer entry for the Crocodile nome (the area around Dendera). The local deities are named as Hathor and Sobek. The length of the nome is given as 5004 unit, err ‘Three Upper Egyptian nomes from the White Chapel. Left to right: The Cobra nome (jebu/Antaeopolis); The nome of Min (the area around Akhmim); The Great Land (Thinis ~ the area around Abydos),per Mesut Le ‘ABOVE: A short section of rush rope, knotted at both ends. Bolton Museum. BELOW: An explanation of the ancient Egyptian unit of measurement called the remen. Land measurement was also important when laying out the foundations of buildings or towns. Akhenaten announced his intentions regarding the building of Akhetaten, the new capital city created for his god, on a series of boundary stelae carved into the cliffs surround- ot ing his chosen site on both sides of the Nile (see opposite) He stated that the distance between the northernmost and southernmost stelae on the eastern side of the river, and between the equivalent stelae about 20 km away on the western cliffs, was, to the nearest cubit, “6 atur 1 khet Ye remen 4 cubits”, a little more than 13 kilometres. The city itself occupied only a small part of this, the majority of the area defined being arable land exploited to supply the new capital. You will notice that the Amarna measurements men= tion the remen or ‘side’, which was half the length of the diagonal of a unit square. In this case, being listed before the cubit, the remen was probably a fraction of the het, but, in general, it was based on a square with a side of one cubit. This served a very useful purpose when scaling areas up or down (se the box below). All that was required was another measuring cord knotted at remen intervals, ike having tape measures marked in imperial and metric units. By replacing linear measurements in cubits by the same numbers of remen, the area enclosed is halved. Similarly, when cubits are exchanged for double-remen, the area is doubled, and all this could be done with a piece of string! Hilary Wilson All photos by the author, except where otherwise attributed. Scaling Up and Down A square of side 1 cubit has an area of 1 cu?, made up of 4 triangles, each of area 0:25 cu?. The diagonal of the square is called a double-remen, a length of /2 cu Half the diagonal is a remen, a length of (22 cu: Substituting remen units for side lengths given in cubits is a simple way of doubling or halving areas. A square of side 1 double-remen has an area of 2 cu, (8 triangles), which is twice the area of the orig- inal square. A square of side 1 remen has an area of 0°5 cu, (2 tri- angles), which is half the area of the original square. ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022es per mesut =X Location & number of Boundary Stela ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022 ‘ABOVE ‘A map showing the location of the boundary stelae erected by Akhenaten at Amarna and the area designated for the new ‘capital Map: Peter Robinson FAR LEFT ‘Amarna Stela ‘S’, which was inscribed with the measure- ments of the site of ‘Akhenaten’s new city. Sadly, the stela was badly damaged in 2004 when treasure hunters Used explosives to find the secret chamber they believed was behind it. OF course, they found nothing. Lert ‘Amarna Stela ‘A’, the northernmost on the west side of the Nile, Images: €. Prisse d’avennes, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons 35BOOK REVIEWS Dealing with the Dead in Ancient Egypt: The Funerary Business of Petebaste by Koenraad Donker van Heel. ‘AUC Press, 2021 ISBN 978-1-617-97996-5 Hardback, £29:95. Following on from his previous vol- ‘umes, which each focus on the busi- ness activities of a particular individ ual or family (such as Mrs. Newnakhe & Fanily — reviewed in AF 103), ‘Koenraad Donker van Heel now turns his attention to Petebaste the choachyte (water pourer'), a mortuary priest who lived in Thebes during the ‘Twenty-fifth Dynasty. Responsible for ‘making libations for souls of his deceased clients, Petebaste also carried out a range of mortuary tasks includ- ing providing a tomb, managing funerary arrangements, preparing the body of the deceased, and taking care of all the necessary paperwork. And it this paperwork that is the focus of Koenraad Donker van Heels latest volume: a fascinating interrogation of ‘a complete archive of eight papyti texts held in the Louvre, allowing us a glimpse of the practical day-to-day aspects of mortuary priests and f ary practices in ancient Egypt. ‘The eight texts are legal documents recording the various transactions Deaween Petebaste and one particular family of clients, and cover the sale or lease of slaves, inheritance, payments for funerary services and loans. Written in ‘abnormal hieratic’ ~ a highly cursive business script in use in the South at a time when demotic was developing in the North — they are notoriously difficult to read, but fasci- nating insights can be gleaned by looking at the tiniest details, and the 56 author is happy to give himself the luxury of speculation with many inter- esting digressions. For example, the chapter dealing with the first text ~ recording a trans- action where a slave from Gaza is given to Petebaste ~ discusses whether or not the slave was sold to Petebaste or was on loan, to be returned to his owner afier the embalming, But the discussion then ranges further afield: comparisons are made between abnormal hieratic and demotie legal documents in terms of how they were structured and witnessed; the social status of witnesses are elucidated from the texts; the involvement of the Divine Oracle is discussed, which leads to the events surrounding the ‘Saite Oracle Papyrus’, the marriage of Mayor Montemhat to the Kushite princess Wedjarenes, and how her shabti ended up in a Bournemouth garden, “Throughout this interrogation of the texts, snippets of the life and work of Petebastet are slowly revealed. For instance we are told the singers he employed to perform the final rituals for the deceased would have been “the kind of singers you find in bars, not someone working for the divine ado- ratrice”, while a discussion of why he acquired a quarter of the house wan- ders into an exploration of ancient Egyptian building regulations and ‘examples of NIMBY (‘Not In My Back Yard’), showing that even in ancient Egypt, neighbours “could sud- denly decide to put up a garden wall that would block out your sun”. Written for a wide general audience, Koenraad Donker van Heel hopes th book will also be of interest to special- ists and act as a companion to the simultaneous publication of his more academic text on the same subje. The Archive of the Theban Choachyte Péebaste Son of Peeamunip (Brill, 2021). SG The Rise And Development Of The Solar Cult And Architecture In Ancient Egypt cated by Massimiliano Nuzzolo & Jaromir Krejéi Harrassowitz Verlag, 2021 ISBN 978-3-447-11677-0 Hardback, €68. Over the years, my interest and research into the Sphinx has led me to ask questions about the origins of the solar cult in ancient Egypt. When I learned of the publication of this book, naturally I was intrigued and keen to add it to my library. The cleven papers in this volume are taken from a series of three workshops that were held between December 2017 and June 2019, and present some of the latest findings from fieldwork in Egypt, together with the most recent thinking on Egypr’s ancient solar cult and its origins. As you would perhaps expect, the volume highlights the latest findings from sites that feature prominently in our understanding of religion in Egypt. So, we are treated! to sum= aries of the latest fieldwork at Heliopolis, Elephantine, Dabshur and Abusir, with the authors’ interpreta- tions of what these excavations have revealed. There are also papers that focus on key sources of textual evi- dence such as the pyramid texts, together with an intriguing teaser into ‘on-going research into the Palermo Stone and the other Royal Annals fragments. Remarkably, one paper compares Hatshepsut’s Punt reliefs ‘with relief from the reign of Sahura, providing a revelation for me at least, that Punt hada significance for Egypt ‘which long predated the New Kingdom. ‘A number of papers address subjects that at first appear to have little con- nection with the solar cult, such as the role of beer in temple activities, the strategies behind royal succession and the role played by Apis. The rightful inclusion of these papers however, illustrates that the solar cult was part of a rich and diverse ancient theology: ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022book reviews For me, a sign of a good read is that it provides lots of references to other papers and publications that T can then use in my on-going research. But this volume has done far more than simply provide new research material. ‘One unexpected aspect that came across in almost all the papers was how little hard evidence we have from the Early Dynastic Period and Old Kingdom in Egypt. I am not sure if it was an intended theme of the ot ‘workshops, but the one simple fact that comes across strongly is the extent to which research into Egypt’s carliest periods requires scholars to draw inference from evidence ‘obtained for later times. Although this requires us to proceed extremely care- fully i raises the prospect that the answers we seek when pursuing a par- ticular avenue of research, might be found in the most unlikely of places. If you have an interest in the devel- opment of religion in ancient Egypt or in the origins of the pharaonic state in general, I really do feel the book deserves your attention. My only regret? That I wasn't at the work- shops! Colin Reader Religious Practice and Cultural Construction of Animal Worship in Egypt from the Early Dynastic to the New Kingdom: Ritual Forms, Material Display, Historical Development by Angelo Colonna. Archaeopress, 2021 ISBN 978-1-789698-21-3 Paperback, £35; e-book £16. Animal ‘worship’ in Egypt is chiefly associated with the Late and Gracco- Roman Periods of Egyptian history, and is often viewed as an eccent of later Pharaonic religious be Here the author presents a fascinating and extensive body of evidence for the role of animals in Egyptian religion up to and including the New Kingdom, Much of the dismissive attitude towards ‘animal worship’ is seen through the lens of Classical authors and Biblical sources that viewed the Egyptians ~ though otherwise venera- ble ~ as strange and unpleasant in their idolatrous attitude to animals. Further, ‘animal worship’ is also used to characterise some evidence from the Predynastic and Barly Dynastic Periods, making the perceived practice ‘an outlier to ‘proper’ pharaonic ati- tudes. This perspective is, of course, Starting with the Predynastic Period through to the Ramesside Period, the first part of the book examines evi- dence for the role of animals in pre- served objects, texts and monuments Particularly interesting is discussion of the role of royal princes in establish- ing bull cults, and the origin of struc~ tures like the Serapeum, This is a real- ly excellent reassessment of well- known material, and introduces much that may be unfamiliar to the reader. This reviewer isin total agreement with the author in his assertion that what we are measuring is more often than not display (regulated by rules of decorum), not reality. This is an important point for anyon Egyptian ‘art’ and ima snapshot of what ‘actually went on Religious iconography is much more complex. econd part of the book pretation of what has drawing on various theo- approaches. The major punch- line is that far from certain animals being intrinsically sacred (as external commentators believed), animals could be sacralised depending on con- text (ritual playing an important part), ‘whether in the installation of an Apis bull or the dedication or burial of tens of thousands of mummified ibis birds There is much that is fairly densely argued here, and French and German sources are quoted in their original languages without translation (the author's native Italian is, however, ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022 translated into English); the book is a complex read, fairly image-light and in need! of a final English proofread but — honestly ~ is one of the most important and compelling books about Egyptian religious practice and expression that this reviewer has ever read. For anyone seriously interested in how Egyptian religion actually ‘operated, this volume repays concen- trated study Campbell Price King Seneb-Kay’s Tomb and the Necropolis of a Lost Dynasty at Abydos by Josef Wegner and Kevin Cahail. Penn Museum Press, 2021 ISBN 978-1-949057-09-6 Hardback, £96. The Second Intermediate Period is tone of the most obscure sections of Egyptian history, but the discoveries outlined in this volume bring a huge leap forward in our understanding of this ofien neglected era. ‘The hastily constructed tomb of Seneb-Kay (CS9) was discovered in 2014 by the University of part of a group of eight similar tombs at South Abydos. These date to a time of contemporaneous rule by the i iftcenth (Hyksos) and (Theban) Dy represent the burials of a separate group: the ‘lost’ Abydos dynasty Seneb-Kay’s tomb is the first known tomb since the Predynastic tomb akonpolis to include painted scenes in its burial chamber, but is also testament to the “severe political dis- cord” that characterised this period ( 1650-1600 BC). The burial chamber a7book reviews ‘was constructed from the blocks of a chapel belonging to a powerful ‘Thirteenth Dynasty family who su fered a vicious act of damnatio memorae and items of burial equipment had ed from Thirteenth, and royal tombs. Kay's largely intact skeleton is the carliest substantially surviving skeleton of an ancient Egyptian king to be found so far. Analysis shows the king died at around 35-15 years of age, and spent most of his life practis- ing martial activities and riding on horseback. His body was covered in a large number of traumatic bone-pene- trating wounds, suggesting death in battle: ambushed while on horseback by a number of assailants, brought to the ground and then ceremoniously Killed by a victorious enemy in typical smiting tradition, Wegner and Cahail present a highly readable account of the work of the Penn Museum team, beginning with the excavation and architecture of the tomb and the osteobiography of Seneb-Kay’s skeleton, followed by chapters on the conservation and restoration of the tomb, the analysis of the reused materials (bringing to life the history of the Thirteenth Dynasty family of Dedttu), and the excavation and analysis of the other contempo- rary tombs, all beautifully illustrated with colour photographs and line drawings. The authors then attempt to reconstruct the events surrounding the death of Seneb-Kay and the emer gence of the Seventeenth Dynasty at ‘Thebes, with a number of plausible ideas that include a Hyksos invasion of | Upper Egypt, Nubian incursions from the south, and territorial conflicts between the competing Upper powers of the Thinite- Abydos Dynasty and the Theban itil reading sug ith of Seneb-Kay sig nalled the collapse of his ‘Thinite ki dom, there is also evidence to support the idea that the Thinite kings expanded southwards. Alternatively there may have been a consolidation of kingdoms through inter-marriage of the elite, Either way, the “Head of the South” was eventually reunited, allowing the Seventeenth Dynasty (ending with Ahmose) to defeat the Hyksos and reunify Egypt and inaugu- rating the golden age of the New Kingdom. SG 58 His Good Name: Essays on Identity and Self- Presentation in Ancient Egypt in Honor of Ronald J. Leprohon edited by Christina Geisen, Jean Li et al. Lockwood, 2021 ISBN: 978-1-948488-37-2 Hardback, £95. This volume is the latest in a huge glut of celebratory volumes for 1 ing Egyptologists ~ the members of what one might call the ‘Boomer Generation’. Inevitably, these books often end up being rather a miscellany and it requires some creative editorial vision to make them appear coherent or intentional. The present collection achieves this better than most, Because of the honoree’s well-estab- lished interest in the royal titulary in particular, and in aspects of elite self presentation more broadly it is poss ble to gather studies that genuinely hold together. No one ever picked up a Festschrift for light bedtime reading ~ except, pethaps, the honoree ~ and. these books are not targeted at the general market. That said, even for the interested amateur, there is much. of value here and it was a real pleas- ure to read each contribution. ‘The book is broken down into fairly arbitrary sections ~ Afterlife, Gender, Literature and Text, Material Culture, the Natural World, and the Royal ‘Name ~ yet these headings belie a broader thematic interest in aspects of selftpresentation, which is caught by the volume’s title. There are reflec- tions here on well-known material such as the Ramesseum Tomb Group in Manchester Museum (Geisen), the Brooklyn ‘cryptographic’ statue of the official Senenmut (Bleiberg), and a fas- prese tation’, Offen underestimated (but hard work to produce) is an extensive index, which makes the volume’s con- tent accessible to use in terms of spe- ciffe subjects, for even the casual read- Campbell Price Having trouble getting your copy of Ancrst Ecvrt Magazine? Reserve yout copy today by filing n your det on this form and handing it to your I newsagent. Pease reservedelve a copy of the bimonthly sue of ANCIENT E.GYFT ‘magazine until further notice Title MrrsiMsother (please specify: First Name ‘surname Address Daytime ‘Phone Number ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022“An indispensibe tool both for the amateur devotee of Egyptology and for the interested tourist” Rosalind Janssen The Columns of Egypt ee Don't més this opportunity to buy fom the author ithe Editor of AI) ‘one ofthe few remarung cone ofthis classe work: the only book in Englsn on th top. As wel as covering al aspects ofthe devel ‘opment of the many different types of columa used in ancient Egyot lan architecture (8d you know that you can date a monument By ‘olurns?} the book as takes the reader through the history of the Bharaonieciisation and wsts almost all ofthe monuments sti Standing in Eaypt today. 368 pages, 633 DAW llustrations Special pies for readers of A Hardback: £18.00, ind UK PAP (cover price £23.80 + PBF) Paperback: £12.00, nc Uk PAP (cover price £17.80 + PAP) For overseas orders, contact the Ancient Egypt Magazine Lid office (by mal, eal or phone ~ see below) for prces including postage. “Ancient Egypt Magazine Ltd. has kindly offered to handle orders on behalf ofthe author Send a cheque for the relevant amount payable to Ancient Egypt Magazine lid 0 {citox Book Offer, clo Ancient Egypt Magazine Lid, "229 Ayes Road, Old Trafford, Manchester M6 ONL, UX. ‘OR, to pay by creivsebit ccd, send your card deta (name on card, ‘card number expry date, CRC no. esue number Hf relevant by post to the above address, or by emad to: 5 info@ancentegyptmagazine com Dont forget to tl us your name and adress and wr ‘2 hardback or paperback copy VSCOM DITIETEII OF phone alter 10200m UK tne) 4s 151 872 3319 Tax +44 161 872 4721, January/February 2022 ‘Competition Winner There was no winner! ~ it seems that none of our readers recognised the temple in the photo and we received no entries at all by the deadline of 17° February 2022 Only once before, several years ago, did the competition stump all our readers, but there is a precedent. ‘As happened then, we are running the same competition again, but giving you a big clue. | know that | was not the only person who visited this site in the Western Desert, If you recognise where in Egypt the photo above was taken (by JPP), email or write to the Editor of AE. before 31*March 2022 (addresses on page 3) with your answer, giving your full name and address. (One lucky reader will have his or her name selected at random from all the correct answers and will win a copy of The Treasures of Tutankhamun by Garry Shaw (to be reviewed now in the May/June 2022 edition of AI). ANCIENT EGYPT March/April 2022 when | did, so someone out there ‘must know its name and in which Oasis it lies. The copy of The Treasures of Tutankhamun by Garry Shaw is stil there waiting to be won, so go on have a guess at least! Ed. The name of the winner will also be revealed in the May/June 2022 edition of ATSUBSCRIBE BY SUBSCRIBING to Ancient Egypt magazine, not only is it cheaper, but you can ensure that you always receive your copy before the newsagents. Just complete the form below to subscribe or for back issue(s). ‘TO ORDER A GIFT SUBSCRIPTION, simply complete your details and the gift recipient's details on the form at the bottom of this page and return It to our usual address. The gift subscribee will receive thelr Issues Of the magazine and you will have an extra issue added to your subscription. If you order a two year sub- Scription we will add two extra Issues to your own subscription. You can also do this online through the ‘magazine website: www.anclentegyptmagazine.com ‘TO DOWNLOAD A POF COPY OF ANY ISSUE for a fee of £3:25 per issue, just follow the instructions on the rebate. SUBSCRIPT|ONS UK EUROPE REST OF THE WORLD £28 for 6 issues (1 year) £36 for 6 issues (1 year) £47 for 6 issues (1 year) £52 for 12 issues (2 years) £67 for 12 issues (2 years) _ £90 for 12 issues (2 years) To order an ON-LINE SUBSCRIPTION to the magazine, contact our agent at www.exacteditions.com For an annual fee of £14-95, you can view the current and all previous issues of the magazine since December 2005. BACK [SSUES Order a COMPLETE SET of the first 100 back issues (including postage/shipping) for: | UK - £200 See the magazine website for overseas prices To order INDIVIDUAL BACK ISSUES, please write the Volume number (eg Vol 5 No 2) and/or the issue numbers below. | FAME mee) ye £7.00 per copy (Europe), £8.00 per copy (Rest of the World) BINDERS IK: __ BINDERS @ £12.50 EACH; EU and Rest of the World: __ BINDERS @ £15 EACH Pay by Standing Order and save £2 a year YOUR DETAILS ‘STANDING ORDER INSTRUCTION Starting Issue (SUBS ONLY) Ifyou wish to pay for your subscription by Name Standing Order return this form to us, Address: NOT your bank. We will then complete the ess: form and forward it to your bank, = Post/Zip code: Country _- Daytime Tel. no: NEW STANDING ORDER MANDATE: Email: (UK ONLY) GIFT DETAILS Sort Code of your bank: .. Rerel Name, address & post code Address: Post/Zip code’ MESSAGI Your account number: BENEFICIARY DETAILS HSEC, 577 Wilbraham Rd, Mer, M21 9AH lenclose a cheque made payable to ANCIENT EGYPT MAGAZINE LTO Sortcode. 40-31-17 Ace no. 61472623 Lam paying by credit/debit card: (Visa/MasterCard/Switch/Maestro) cc, Name: ANCIENT EGYPT MAGAZINE LTD Card No. _. Date of First Payment: NOW - Amount: £23 Expiry Date _ CRC no. ISSUE NO ‘Amount of subsequent payments: £23 Total Amount: Date of Subsequent Payments (year from now) \1am paying my subscription by Standing Order and have filled peas" UY can paynvonts unl Turther notice ‘out the form (right). PLEASE RETURN TO: Signature: _ - Ancient Egypt Magazine, 1 Newton Street, Manchester M1_1HW UK. Tel: +44 161 872 3319 - Fax: +44 161 872 4721 Date: www.ancientegyptmagazine.com REF NO. (office use only)ya gee A HOLIDAYS IN EGYPT TRAVELLING THROUGH EGYPTIAN HISTORY FROM Crag oy eA Dr eeu Rea nek eerie aed Luxor temple. Karnak temple, Colossi of Memnon. Walaa ee okt Meme fete Ss Sd aan a=cl a PNP eres ea ean eae ued Reg cRN sure neers cies St a eae een Sa Ra eee ssc) Only 5% booking deposit orev Se te Ck peeeesa ce ese eRe SoMa oT elects Seca aoa DISCOUNT Ceara) rol tern ce ro} mi a jeserved by Travel Tailors Group 2020 © Wee Cae ST]UK EVENTS DIARY aS ***COVID RESTRICTIONS*** hile several societies are now holding venue lectures, Covid-19 continues to affect events planned across the UK. Pease check in advance with the society Incase of last minute ‘anges. Some socletles have put lectures on hold for the time being Full contact details can ’e found on pages 64 and 63, Exhibitions may also be affected ~ please check with museum websites before booking WN Gia Wty AEMES Ancient Egypt & Middle East Society Dylan BickerstatTes Might ofr yet be found bein te cll of Ttanktamun's Tomb? VENUE. 12th 12th Egyptian Society Taunton Jolie Marshall: The Blain of Funrary ‘Monuments during the Old Kingdom. 12th RAMASES North Kent Claire Gilmour: A Brief Histor of Satish Egyplolegy. VENUE, 13th ‘The Kemet Club Bristol (Chris Naunton: The Royal Cache Pat 1 Mth Manchester Ancient Egypt Society Roland Enmarch: Expats and vassal princes some corous international mesenger VENUE, \Gth Friends of the Egypt Centre ~ Swansea (Gemma Renshaw: Recording and clleting ntiuts with Robert Hay 1824-1834. 18h Friends of the Petrie Museum, Robert Moskot: Nat jest Egypt ot just Pave ~ Sudanese Archaolgy inthe Calton. 19h Bloomsbury Summer School Bill Manley: ist of Miomgyphs Dayschool 19h Egyptology Scotland Aidan Dodson: Prion, Pils and Zombies of Anciaat Feyptian History 19h Southampton Ancient Egypt Society Nicky Nielsen: Excavating the Giyof the Snake Goddess ~Flndrs Peat Tell Nabas, 62 20th The Kemet Club Bristol (Chris Naunton: The Repel Cache Pot 2 2kh Carlisle and District Egyptology Society (Chris Naunton: Haye Site Parks 24th Horus Egyptology Society Hazel McGuinness: Omm Seti 26th Manchester Ancient Egypt Society Rosalie David, Roger Forshaw etal: The Deir eMetina Community ~ Now Exideee fom Haman Remains. Study Day. 26th Sussex Egyptology Society Dilan Bickerstafle: The Tomb of MMhenaton and the Golden Ring of Nett. HORSHAM. VENUE 26th ‘Thames Valley Ancient Egypt Society Mohamed Ismail Khaled: Naw dives in ‘he Pyramid Complex of Soha APRIL 2022 2nd Egyptology Scotland Kim Ryholt: The Iams Ge 2nd Plymouth and District Egyptology Society Lee Young: The Life And Times Of Emile Prise d'doemes, VENUE. Sid Essex Egyptology Gros Sara Ahmed Abdelaziz Mostafa: Vs of Innocence Fey (Gt Pot Burials in Prdyastic Desline for submission: all events ‘entries should be received by 31st March 2022 for inclusion in the next issue. To ‘add an event tothe AT Events Diary, lease contact the Editor, emall editor@anclentegyptmagazine.com 5th Egypt Society of Bristol Dawn McCormack: Lecture TBC. ih Egyptian Society Taunton aia Galli: Ling in Laan, A Busing Middle Kingdom Ton. llth Manchester Ancient Egypt Society Myriam Seco Alvarer: Rent Disresat ‘the Thuonse HY Tonpleof Million of Year 15th Friends of the Egypt Centre - Swansea Peter James: A Stich In Tine, 16th Southampton Ancient Egypt Society Mark Walker: 4 Real Egyptian Temple? ~The wn at Png. 22nd Friends of the Petrie Museum Alice Wiliams: Lecture TBC. 25rd "The Society for the Study of Ancient Egypt, Main Lucia Gabln: Party and One inom Ancet Eytan Houschold 26 Carlisle and District Egyptology Society CCanpbel Price: The Glin of Gold ~ Ritual and Transformation in Ancient Eaypt 30h Sussex Egyptology Society olin Reader: Tiaothanser~ The Extraterestal Connection, BRIGHTON VENUE. ANCIENT EGYPT March/Apeil 2022