ANCIENT _2* NCAT era Coy era sees Tne trr3 The Pomegranate <> Malaria ‘> The Jews of Alexandria“to enter the pyramid at Lahun FAIYUM 10 AMARNA We spend two nights at the lovely Helnan Auberge Hotel on the iis Naunton isan Egyptologit ond outhor of Searching forthe Lost shore on Lake Qarun with time to enter the newly opened pyramid Tombs of Egypt (Thames and Hudson 2018) and ‘Egyptologists” of Senusret Il at Lahun. A rae visit tothe town of Karanis and the ytbooks (2020). He has ppeoed in numerous lerian lawara pryrarnid before heading south to Minya. documentaries regularly lectures on a wide variety of subjects around. In Middle Egypt visits include the Fraser Tombs, Beni Hassan, the Und online, ndisa frequent visitor to Egypt. He is Director of Speos Artemidos, Meir, Tuna el Gebel, and Mallawi Museurn. We the Robert Anderson Trust. allow a full day in Amarna to view as much as possible at this fabulous ste, ncn the Royal Tor of Akhenaten. DEPARTING 23" OCTOBER 2022 Mit Bes In Cairo we plan a full Fer at Saggara with time to enter the Step Pyramid and the Southern Tomb, the Serapeurn and much ‘more. We spend a day exploring Old Cairo including Fustat, We also include visits to the Giza Plateau for the Great Pyramid and Sphinx and to Dahshur to enter the Red and Bent Pyramids. Standard Tour price: £3,845 Single supplement: £390 CALL NOWTO BOOK +44(0)333 335 9494 AEP Sle Supplement Gucraree: We an charge you what we are charges we donat'markWP! OR GQ TO. sus vane {ABTACONTENTS ANCIENT EGYPT www ancientegyptmagazine.com From the Editor Egitorial comment from Peter Phillips. July/August 2022 Vowume 22, No 6: Issue No, 132 ' Enwror: J. Peter Philios Egyptological News Ema extor@ancenteqyptnagaine com Summarised by Sarab Griffiths. Depury Eoitor: Sarah Griffiths The Tomb of Maiherpri S Coys Eons Byte Becrn ceeded TORACY | roca toe know about its owner, Stas Conraigurors: The Jews of Alexandria: Part 1 Peter Robinson, Hary Wilson The first of two articles by Michael Tunnicliffe exploring the lives and times of the Jewish, populations of Alexandria and elsewhere in Egypt during the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods. Pususheo By Ancient Egypt Magazine Ltd 223 Ayres Road, ld Trafford, Manchester, M16 ONL, UK Egypt in Warsaw Tel: 0161 872 3319 Wojciech Ejsmond selects highlights from the x Fax: 0161 872 4721 objects in the recently reopened Ancient Arts Email: info@® ancientegyptmagazine.com Gallery at the National Museum of Warsaw. cd ‘Aovennsewents: John Ireland: 0161 872 3319 The Pomegranate in Ancient Egypt Barbara Gai explores the medicinal and syznbolic significance ofthis tasty rit Sunscrions: Mike Hubbard: 0161 872 3319 Painted By: Precision Colour Printing Ltd, Haldane, Halesfeld 1, elford. Shropshire, TS7 4QQ. UK Highlights of Manchester Museum: 35, Campbell Price explains how the images on a relief block spell out the name of Hatshepsut. Desicn ano Sernn: Peartree Publishing and Design, 56 Albert Street, M11 3SU, UK Malaria in Ancient Egypt ‘The evidence forthe presence of this debilitating illness is examined by Ira Rampil TT Consuttanr: Andrew Shaw Teambosiiceiaipctiely pics il Fo ove J. Peter Philips~David Soner See ee ee a Main Image: a facsimile painting by Nina de Garis Davies of a scene in the Tomb of Rekhmia, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Per Mesut: for Younger Read Hilary Wilson describes the many uses for Mad, 7 ‘Trae DisTaBUTION THROUGH: Select Publisher Services, Maps of Egypt and Timeline 4 Back Issues 68 ?.0. Box 6337, Competition 47 Bournemouth, BHT SEH Book Reviews 59 ‘vents Pay 2 How to Subscribe 62 Egyptology Society Details 66 ISSN: 1470 9990 ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022 5Time-Line MAP of EGYPT ay g Periods i Kingdom Hen Right: detailed map of the Theban area Maps and Time-line by Peter Robinson: : ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022ABOVE: The unused gilded wood s I set Dylan Bickerstaffe’s article on Maiherpri for this issuc, I was ‘stopped in my tracks’ by one sen- tence in particular: Can you imagine the consternation of that “burial party’ when they discovered this rather embarrassing blunder? Did they tell Pharaoh (Thutmose III or Amenhotep II), I wonder? No one could be buried in the Valley of the Kings without royal permission so he must have been aware of the funeral. However, I find mistakes, like this rather endearing, as they display the human frailty of the ancient Egyptians and help us to form an ‘empathetic link with them over the millennia, ‘The link is particularly apposite, for it was not until the last edition, AE131, had been printed that we noticed a glaring mistake of our own. Due to a production error, fone page within the article by Lesley Jackson The Great Enclose: the Sky Goddess Nut had been replaced by an incor- rect version of a later page. This spoilt what was other wise an excellent article, so we have decided to re-print the complete corrected article in this issue, with our apologies to Lesley and our readers. Dylan does not give any cause for the death of Maiherpri, and his mummy does not show any obvious sign of fatal injuries. However, he died aged about 24, which is young, even by ancient Egyptian standards. He shares his carly demise with Tutankhamun who was about 19 at his death, In his article about malaria in the ancient society, Ira ABOVE: Rampil tells us that a very high percent- Lene age of the population probably suffered mummy 0 from a chronic form of the disease and woman. Nai that it may have been a contributory fac- ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022 coffin found in KV36, the Tomb of Maiherpri. Photo: Aidan Dodson tor in the death of the boy king, Perhaps Maiherpri was similarly afflicted, or died from one of the many other parasitic diseases that were widespread in the country. ‘The ancient ‘doctors’ had no effective cure for malaria or understanding of its cause ‘Modern research into ancient Egyptian medical papyri however, has shown that some of the treatments pre- scribed there did have beneficial properties. One of the natural remedies listed in the Ebers Medical Papyrus is pomegranate root for roundworm, as Barbara Gai men- tions in her article Even Maiherpri, who was probably a half-brother to a pharaoh, must have lived in a mansion or palace that was constructed of unfired mud brick. It was the universal building material, as Hilary Wilson points out in her Per ‘Mesut article. Stone was used only for temples that had to last for ‘millions of years’. In the hot, dry climate of Egypt, mud bricks were durable enough and had the advantage of being easily made from a material that was freely available everywhere in the Nile Valley. Although the relationship between the Jewish and Egyptian peoples has never been totally harmonious, in in the early years of Ptolemaic rule there was a thriving Jewish settlement in Alexandria. Michael ‘Tunniciffe recounts these carly years of Graeco-Roman occupation in the first of two articles in this issue. Trouble was brew- ing, however, as Michael will describe in his second article. Tn AE127, Wojciech Esmond told readers about his discovery of the world’s first example of a pregnant Egyptian mummy ~ found in the carton- nage of a Theban priest (ee le). Wojeiech returns to give us an overview of the museum in which the mummy is housed: the Ancient Art Gallery of the National Museum of Warsaw ~ another City to add to your list of “‘inust-see places’ Photo: Wojciech EsmondNEWS SAQQARA FINDS RIGHT ‘Some of the painted wooden ‘coffins found in the cache BELOW A display of some of the 150, bronze statues found there, BOTTOM LEFT ‘A pair of wooden statues showing Isis and Nephthys in mourning BOTTOM RIGHT ‘A bronze statuette of the goddess Bastet Saqqara Cache of Coffins and Bronzes ‘An Egyptian mission working in the sacred animal necropolis at Saqqara has discovered 250 intact painted wooden collins dating to the Late Period («500 BC) (see above), and a cache of 150 bronze statues of deities (ef) including Anubis, Osiris, Isis, Bastet (below) and Hathor. The team also discovered 7 ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022bronze vessels used in rituals for the goddess Isis, a headless bronze statue of Imhotep (architect of the Step Pyramid), a pair of coloured wooden figures showing Isis and Nephthys in positions of mourning (apposite, bottom gi), andl a papyrus scroll in good condi- tion that may contain chapters from the Book of the Dead. A New Kingdom burial was also uncovered which was found to contain a bronze mitror, jewellery and copper tools. Sohag ‘The Fgyptian mission excavating the site of Gabal cl-Haridi in Sohag (about 250 km north of Luxor) has discovered £85 tombs dating from the Old Kingdom, through to the Coptic Period, thirty of which contained ‘death certificates’. ‘These wooden labels (top right) were written in Hicratic and Demotic, and recorded the names of the deceased, together with their age, origins, status and the names of their parents. The team also discovered a mudbrick tower which was built in the reign of Ptolemy IIT and used as a border check- point and observation post for levying taxes and controlling traffic on the Nile (below ‘The finds were uncovered during the ongoing work on the remains of a Ptolemaic temple dedicated to Isis that was discovered in the early 2000s (right Khufu Blocks at Heliopolis dating to Stone blocks (se overleaf top le the reign of the Fourth D: SOHAG FINDS. ‘Tor RIGHT Wooden ‘death certificates.” ABOVE ‘A Prolemaic temple to Isis. err A checkpoint tower dating to Prolemy Il ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022 iKhufu have been uncovered by a German-Egyptian mis. sion excavating at the open-air muscum at Heliopolis, Large granite blocks were found in the ruins of the “Temple of the Sun near to the Senusret I obelisk. The blocks may have been part of a previously unknown building at the site, or were possibly moved from a build- ing near to the Great Pyramid at Giza and reused at Heliopolis during the Ramesside period. "The mission has also uncovered the foundations of the temple courtyard, and several sphinxes see this page), HELIOPOLIS FINDS (clockwise from top left) A granite block showing part of a cartouche of Khufu. ‘An altar base with Rameses 1! cartouches. ‘The head of a royal sphinx. A royal sphinx. ‘A Ramesses Il sphinx, ‘An Ahmose Il statue base. ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022es = news altars, fragments and stelac dating to the Middle Kingdom, New Kingdom and Late Period, showing a continuous royal presence in the area. ‘Other finds include a piece of granite dating to Pepy I (Old Kingdom) bearing an inscription to Horus, a quartz seulp- tor's model depicting Amenhotep Il as a sphinx, a statue base inscribed for Amasis (Ahmose II) (opposite eft, second fiom op) and the base of a colossal baboon statue in pink granite. The team. also uncovered layers of rubble and pot- tery dating to the Naqada IIT period, suggesting religious activity was carried out at the site as early as the Proto- Dynastic Period, Esna ‘The German-Egyptian archaeological mission at Esna Temple has revealed more stunning coloured reliefs hidden beneath layers of soot and bird faeces. The scenes include two rows of 22 brightly coloured depictions of the god- esses Nekhbet and Wadjet in the form of vultures with wings stretching out across the ceiling (above and centre right) ‘More than half of the ceilings and cight, of the eighteen columns have now been. leaned, conserved and documented with further cleaning and conservation, work ongoing. For more on the restoration of Esna, see the article by Christian Leitz ef al. in AEI25. ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022 SNA TEMPLE LEFT and BELOW Restored scenes on the temple ceiling showing Images of Nekhbet and Wadjet. BOTTOM RIGHT Restored painted wall Inscriptions.news ABOVE “The high rack face of the Valley of the Royal Cachette where the remains of the sphinx face was discovered RIGHT ‘A reconstruction of what the sphinx face may have looked like before it was deliberately destroyed A Luxor Sphinx? A Spanish-Egyptian team has announced their discovery of the face of a sphinx (see @ reconstruction above) twenty metres high in the rocks above the Valley of the Royal Cachette at Luxor (above, top). The sphinx was carved out of the rock face and most likely acted as a guardian of the royal mummies in the nearby Valley of the Kings. Its dating has not yet been con- firmed, and only trace evidence su~ vives of the face following deliberate erasure, possibly during the Christian or Islamic eras. Keeper of Secret Documents A Polish mission fiom the University of Warsaw has discovered a Sixth Dynasty. tomb at Saqgara belonging to an official called Mehijetju (opposite tp lyf) whose titles show he was ‘Keeper of the secret royal documents’, ‘inspector of the royal estate’ and a priest of the mortuary cult of King ‘Teti. ‘The tomb was uncovered during work {o excavate the dry moat surrounding the Djoser Step Pyramid, and required immediate conservation work to preserve the brittle rock walls of the facade opposite op right). The decora- tive programme was never finished, with ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022some scenes only sketched out in black ink (centre right). The team will ater explore the tomb’s interior in the hope of finding the original burial, Berenike Finds Another mission from the University of Warsaw has pub- lished the results of their latest excavation season (se right) at the Red Sea port of Berenike founded by Ptolemy IL Finds include a tomb (overleaf, 1) with coral walls and floors (overleaf, 2) housing intact communal burials with rich grave goods (overleaf, 3), including silver rings, ear rings, ivory bracelets and beads (overleg, 4), some of which were imported from southern Asia, The tomb also con- tained wine amphorac, ceramic water bottles, bowls and TOMB OF MEHTIEDU ‘TOP LEFT: Mehtjetju depicted on the entrance to his chapel. TOP RIGHT: Conservators from the Polish mission working on ‘the walls of the tomb, (CENTRE RIGHT: Drawings for an unfinished relief Photos: all © J, Dabrowski CAS! UW. BERENIKE BOTTOM RIGHT: Excavations at the newly-found tomb, Photo: © M. Gwiazda PCMA UW ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022news ERENIKE il The monumental tomb being excavated by a team from the University of Warsaw 2 Pieces of white coral used in the construction of the floor of she tomb. 3 [A deposit of ritual funerary ‘objects in the tomb. 4 ‘lass beads found in the tomb stil strung on thread, 5 A stone incense burner decorated with the head of alion Photos: all © M, Gwiazda CMA UW incense burners, including one made of stone decorated with a lion’s head (5). In Brief + Following two decades of restoration work at the Abu Mena archaeological site (south of Alexandria) (see opposite top Left and centre left, the Minister of ‘Tourism and Antiquities has requested the ancient Christian pilgrimage centre be removed from the List of World Heritage in Danger. + Egyptian palacontologists working in the Bahariya Oasis (Western Desert) have announced their discovery of a fos- silised vertebra bone belonging to a dinosaur similar to the Tyrannosaurus Rex, + In New Zealand, the world’s first recreated ancient Egyptian garden has just opened at Hamilton Gardens, based on a typical temple garden from the Middle Kingdom period (opposite bottom tf. SG 12 ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022Online courses in EGYPTOLOGY ae Ae Gas omen Cece earipaenen TOP LEFT and CENTRE LEFT ‘The restored Abu Mena religious complex, south of ‘Alexandria, BOTTOM LEFT The Egyptian garden at Hamilton Gardens, New Zealand. Photo: © Hamilton Gardens. Having trouble getting your copy of ANCIENT E.GYFy Magazine? Reserve your copy teday by filing in your details on this form and handing i fo your local newsagent. Please reservefdeliver a copy of the bimontnly issue of ANCIENT EGYPT magazine until further notice. Title MrMis/Msiother (please specify): First Name: Surname Address Post Code Daytime ‘Phone Number ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022 13Frallboogltto) Fam ABOVE uring his brief tenure as Director of the Egyptian |Antiquities Service (August 1897 - late 1899), Victor Loret spent most of his time conducting excavations, The highlight of this was undoubtedly his, work in the Valley of the Kings where, in a little over a year, he discovered six new tombs, including those of the Eighteenth Dynasty pharaohs — ‘Thutmose IIT (KV34); Amenhotep II (KV35, which included the second cache of royal mummies); and ‘Thutmose 1 (KV38) — thereby proving that the main valley was not just a cemetery of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasty ‘Ramesside’ pharaohs. ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022Excavations to the south of the tomb of Amenhotep I (KV35), and near the main axis of the Kings’ Valley (se right), led to the discovery of a small undeco- rated shaft tomb (KV36). On March 30" 1899, Loret was able to descend the vertical shaft, look into the single cham- aie her at the bottom, and so become the first to discover a substantially intact burial in the Valley of the Kings ~ that of Maiherpri, Virtually the whole of the floor area of the chamber was filled with artefacts — cleanly disturbed, but relatively intact Unfortunately, Loret (who was a very diligent excavator and record-keeper) was soon driven to resign from the Directorship and left for France to pur- sue a carcer in lecturing, leaving the tombs of both Maiherpri and ‘Thutmose I unpublished. Until recently, the location of objects within Maiherpri’s burial chamber could only be vaguely hazarded from brief con ments in the museum catalogue pre- pared by Georges Daressy, and from some general points written ‘for popular consumption’ (published in the journal Sphinx) by the German explorer and botanist Georg Schweinfiarth, who had visited the tomb during the clearance of objects. He mentioned that a lidless cof fin lay “inverted in the middle of the cham- Ber”, but sadly only gave the location of most items in relation to a large box sar- cophagus — the position of which was never stated! He said that a gaming board and related pieces were found “between the sarcophagus and the wall of the chamber”, with boxed provisions and gar- lands “in the northern corner behind”; and that thirteen large storage jars contain- ing refuse embalming materials were “on th wall opposite the sarcophagus”. Other clues were nothing more than fuel for —— To?: CENTRE: RIGHT: ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022 15OUTH KV36: THE TOMB OF MAIHERPRI ‘QUIVERS, EAST ‘THE EMBALMING CACHE - Two rows of five storage Jars ‘containing natron, linen ete. (OSIRIS BED Ieaning against the wall and resting om the outer tow of COFFIN LID (inverted) SARCOPHAGUS CANOPIC CHEST | 0.85m NORTH ABOVE: the imagination: “... strange wecapons and tworks of art have been brought to light in the burial chamber aeLow Photo: RBP ‘This was the position which confronted Egyptologists until 2004, when Patrizia Piacentini of the University of Milan discovered Loret’s notebooks in the Archives of the Institut de France — at the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles- Lettres, Paris. These sketches were pub- lished in La Valle Dei Re Riscoperta (2004) Among the discoveries were Loret’s annotated sketch-plans, carefully recording the location of items within Maiherpri’s tomb and occupying pages 13-30 of his Carnet (notebook) II. From these notes it is clear that he started by recording the layout of objects visible when the tomb was first entered on March 30° 1899, and then made addi- tional notes as items were cleared to reveal others concealed beneath and behind them. 46 ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022Loret’s initial rough sketch plan shows that the vertical tomb-shalt opened into the centre of the east wall of an approx- imately square chamber; with a fan of rubble extending from the doorway for over a metre in all directions (see opposite, top). Filling most of the space to the right was a large box sarcophagus (lop righi), painted black with gilded decora- tion, the head-end close to the far wall. In the corner before this stood a wooden, canopic chest (lop If), and nearby lay a papyrus roll and a number of fragments comprising Maiherpri’s Book of the Dead (ee page 14). Wooden boxes (‘coffinettes’) of mummified meat lay closer to the doorway: Directly ahead were the base and lid of an unfinished gilded anthro- poid coffin (abore and centre right), both inverted and laid with the head-end towards the far wall. Propped against the lefi-hand wall and resting on a dou- ble row of large storage jars was an ‘Osiris bed’, shaped in the profile of the mumtnified god and planted with barley to sprout after the burial (see opposite, bot~ tom lef). A quiver was propped against the coffin base, resting upon two alabaster vases lying nearer the door way. This and subsequent sketches were ‘TOP, LEFT and RIGHT: Maiherpri's black and gold sarcophagus (top right) and ‘canopic chest (top left) from KV36. ABOVE, LEFT and RIGHT: The base and lid of the gilded wooden coffin were {found upside-down in the looted tomb, outside the sarcophagus. BELOW: Maiherp: canopic jars (two stil retaining their linen wrappings) and embalming jars found in KV36. Photos: Aidan Dodson ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022 17T+? @ j ABOVE: Maiherpr's alabaster and clay vessels (not to scale), with one of the embalming cache jars (bottom right). Photo: from Daressy’s Museum Catalogue (1902) This and subsequent sketches were roughly drawn to show the broad relationship of one item to another, with- ‘out any great precision with regard to measurements. For instance, although on the sketch plan there appeared to be a broad space between the sarcophagus and the adja- cent walls, the items noted by Loret between the sarcoph- agus and the right-hand/noxth wall ~ including some rel- atively coarse cloth, a pair of pottery vases, a marquetry box with checker inlays ~ would not have taken up much room. In the open space between the headl-end of the sar~ cophagus and the far/west wall he wrote “rein” (nothing), ‘He made smaller sketches to show the detail of finds with- in a specific area, for instance small pottery items lying beyond the inverted coffin lid and base, and archery BELOW: A blue faience bow! with images of animals and plants; from the Tomb of Maiherpr. Photo: Alain Guilleux ‘ABOVE: Maiherpr's arrows and other tomb contents, Including a fragment of linen wrapping with Hatshepsut’s car- touche (centre right). Photo: from Daressy’s Museum Catalogue. ‘equipment in the near left-hand corner: a gilded leather arm-guard, a wrist-guard, and a number of arrows (ee abore) propped on a second quiver and leaning against the wall. Nearer the entrance was an attractive bow! in blue ‘porcelain’ with designs of fish, animals and plants both, inside and out (se lg) During their rummaging the ancient plunderers had scattered items, covered one with another, and also smashed a great deal. As he had done in the tombs of ‘Thutmose IT (KV34) and Amenhotep II (KV35), Loret diligently recorded the location and condition of cach piece. The north-eastern ‘Corner of the Canopics’, as Loret described it, received close attention, The outer lid ‘of the canopic box (see previous page) was propped against the north wall nearby. Within the box: “The canopic jars] were swaddled withthe face and inscription uncovered; and with linen fads between them and the wooden {box} als to prevent rubbing. The box is open and tco of the pads thrown on or beneath items 49 ~ 57”. Later, Loret also marked the position of the inner lid, leaning against the east wall. Items 49 - 57 were the pre- viously-mentioned boxes of mummified meat, which he now also carefully mapped. “The remaining area of the tomb chamber examined, was that along the south wall to the left of the upturned coffin lid, Alongside the wall, occupying approximately ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022ABOVE and RIGHT Photos: from Daressy's Museum Catalogue half the length, were two rows of five large storage jars — indicated in whole or part on five of Loret’s sketch plans. ‘These ten jars remained stoppered and sealed, having been left undis- turbed by the robbers who presum- ably appreciated that they simply contained the swabs and left-over mummnification materials comprising Maiherpri’s embalming cache. The Osiris bed, tossed against the wall, rested on the five outer jars. By April 1* 1899, it was possible to take measurements and draw up a plan and section of KV36, the accu- racy of which may be confirmed with reference to the results obtained by the Theban Mapping Project. ‘This would also appear to be the point at which Loret noted the dimensions of the large outer sarcophagus, and its distance from the near and right- hand side walls. The length of the sarcophagus and the distance from the east wall, 2-85 + 0°85 = 368m, deducted from the length of the chamber, 3:90, left just 0-20m (approximately 8 inches), and indi- cates why Loret wrote “rien” in the space at the far (west) end. This shows very clearly that the ten large jars shown occupying this area on the large fold-out plan in La Valle Dei Re Riscoperta must have been located elsewhere. Indeed, they are simply a duplication of the embalming cache ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022jaar errr ar Seg ner ean bier berate paiKiepc Ae tira Mi Tava, 1 Abs ken jn segs ios Ks. Bork, CEL Map Vonks Wale Wing arenas Biking’ is that of an especially favoured courtier. He might hhave acted as a personal bodyguard in battle, and his, name ~ Maiherpri, “The Lion of the Battlefield” — might be the reality behind Ramesses II’s depiction (as at Abt Simbel) of a lion accompanying his chariot. The quantity, of archery equipment in the tomb — including two quiv- cers, a large number of arrows, and two arm-guards — ‘would seem to allude to warfare, in which the Egyptians continuously emphasised the importance of archers. ‘However, the presence also of two dog collars ~ one nam- ing the dog, Tantanuet — might also suggest that ‘Maiherpri sometimes served as the king’s ‘master of the hunt’ In February 1902, a team working for Howard Carter, (on behalf of the American millionaire, Theodore Davis) discovered a yellow wooden box giving the name and titles of Maiherpri, buried in a hollow in the rock face above his tomb (KVV36). Within were two sheets of very. fine leather, carefully cut to form loincloths see above), The bbox might have been abandoned by robbers, who discov- ‘ered that the contents were not what they'd hoped for. One question remains: which king did Matherpri serve? ‘The pierced ears, the loincloths, and the title ‘fanbearer ‘on the king's right hand’ all become commonplace in the reigns of Amenhotep It and Thutmose IV; and the papyrus is comparable to that of Kha from the reign of Amenhotep IIT. The burial cannot predate the reign of, Hatshepsut whose prenomen (Maatkara) appears on one ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022 Photo: REP ABOVE: of Maiherpri’s linen wrappings. Clearly this linen could have been used after the death of the female king, but it is probably unlikely to have been considered acceptable following her persecution around the end of the reign of, ‘Thutmose III. In fact, all of the above-mentioned features, can be shown (o be consistent with a date in the reign of ‘Thutmose III (especially if Nubian contexts are included), and Maiherpri’s fimerary mask is of exactly the same style as that of Hatnofes, the mother of Hatshepsut’s minister, Senenmut. The tomb (KV36) is a hte farther from that of Thutmose III (KV34) than it is from that of Amenhotep II (KV35), though this latter is separated by a sharp ridge. In either case, the young ‘Lion’ was friend to ‘a.wamior pharaoh, Alll images provided by the author unless otherise atributed. Daressy, G, (1902) Catalogue général des antiquités egyplicnnes du Musée de Caire No. 24001-24990. Piacentini, P. and Orsenigo, C. (2004) La Valle Dei Re Riscoperta. I giornali di seave di Victor Lovet (1898-1899) ¢ alii inediti, Milan: Skira Reeves, C. N. (1990) Vailey of the Kings: The Decline of a Royal Necropolis. New York: Kegan Paul Reeves, N, (2000) Ancient Feypl: The Great Discoveries: A Year by-Year Chronicle. London: Thames & Hudson, Roehrig, C.H. (2005) The Tomb of Maiherperi in the Valley of the Kings, in Ed. Rochrig, C,H. Hatshepsut: From Quen to Pharaoh, New York: Yale University Press. 21THE JEWS OF ALEXANDRIA: Part 1 In the first of two articles on the lives and times of the Jewish population of Egypt's capital city during the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods, Michael Tunnicliffe looks at the early years following the founding of the city by Alexander the Great. ‘ABOVE: The excavated ruins of the settlement site on Elephantine Island. Photo: SG BELOW LEFT: A letter from the Elephantine papyri (writen in 407 BC) requesting the rebuilding of a Jewish Temple at Elephantine Photo: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons. there was a long association between the Jewish ‘community and Egypt. The most famous story is of Moses and the Exodus which is situated in the 22 second millennium BC, However, Jewish involvement with Egypt was ongoing as scen in both Egyptian and bib- lical sources. There were possibly Jews as well as Greeks in the Nubian campaign of Psamtek II in the 590’s and there is mention in Jeremiah 44 of groups of Jews living both in the Delta and further south in this period, From surviving Aramaic papyri (see If) we also know of a Jewish garrison and their families living at Elephantine (ve above) from before 525 until about 399 BC. Alexander The Great ‘The historian Josephus handed down legends about Alexander and’ the Jews. In his Antiquities Book 17 he claims that while besieging Tyre the king sent a message to the High Priest Jaddua to assist him, Jaddua remained, loyal to the Persians until God spoke to him in a dream telling him to open gates of Jerusalem to the new con- queror, Consequently the city was not destroyed as Gaza ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022and ‘Tyre had been. ‘The story is not mentioned in the classical sources and is historically suspect, and it is likely that Alexander (depicted in a mosaic abote) sent a proxy general to Jerusalem rather than come himself, In fact the legend may be modelled on Alexander's well known visit to Siwa Oasis (below) in the standard biographies. Legend states that Jewish boys born over the next year were all called Alexander. It certainly became a regular name among the Jewish royal families in the later cen- turies. ANCIENT E.GYPT July/August 2022 ABOVE Alexander the Great depicted in '8 mosaic now in Naples Museum, Photo: SG Ler The Temple of the Oracle in Siwa Oasis, which was visited by Alexander. Photo: JPPJews Under Ptolemy | ‘The Holy Land was part of the Ptolemaic Empire between 302 and 198 BC. Josephus says that 100,000 Jewish prisoners were deported by Ptolemy I in his wars and these included 30,000 troops who would be enrolled in the Ptolemaic army. (Ptolemy was depicted in statuary both in the Classical style as a Macedonian general and in the Egyptian ble asa pharaoh ~ see above and right.) Philo of Alexandaia, the Jewish philosopher, says that there were one million inhabitants in Alexandria by the first century AD. Both these figures are too high, but maybe up to one third of Alexandtia was Jewish — perhaps 180,000 out of a total of 500,000 ee the large jewish quarter in the plan opposite top) Can One Be Jewish And Greek? ‘The writer Theophilus, who was a pupil of Aristotle, called the Jews “a people of philosophers” and in the Hellenistic’ period interest in the Jewish monotheistic belief system was growing. Certainly some Jews in early Plolemaic Egypt seem to have been thriving. An Aramaic business papyrus from the end of the fourth century con- cerns the firm of Abibi and includes a mixture of Greek, Hebrew and Egyptian names. Now a Jewish man married to an Egyptian wife might give a Greek name to their son! Among signs of mixed marriages might be the case of Apollonius son of Jason (= Joshua) and it also indicates the rapid Hellenisation as Jews adopted Greck ways. This is Qt LEFT: A conventional Classical bust of Prolemy I Soter, probably bearing some resemblance to the actual man, Now in the Louvre Museum, Paris Photo: Marie-Lan Nguyen, Public Domain via Wikicommons BELOW: A conventional Egyptian statue of Prolemy as a pharaoh, wearing the Double Crown; Bibliotheca Alexandrina Photo: Aidan Dodson also evident in the surviving literature. Demetrios the Chronographer was the first Jewish historian to write in Greck. In his work The History of the Kings of Judea he is especially interested in numbers and calculations, and this was an attempt to create a synthesis of Greek and Hebrew learning, Dositheos the son of Drymylos is an example of assim- ilation. He was born around 270 BG and became a royal secretary under Ptolemy IIT between 240-224 BC. By 223 BC he had become a priest in the royal cult of Alexander and the Ptolemics. No Egyptian ever held this office, but it seems that a Hellenised Jew could. Not all of his co-reli- gionists approved of such a merging of cultures, Dositheos is mentioned at the start of the apocryphal work called 3 Maccabees. There he is described as “a Jew ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022who had renounced his ancestral faith”. He was seen as a renegade who had abandoned Judaistn for a foreign cult. In the narrative he is the courtier who warns Ptolemy IV of a plot against him immediately before the Battle of Raphia in 217 BC. The Septuagint Translation (LXX) Hecataeus of Abdera claimed that a priest called Hezekiah brought a ‘Hebrew Torah scroll to Egypt ~ presum- ably for use in the synagogue. But soon a need arose for a translation into Greck. The Jews of Alexandria dropped speaking Hebrew or Aramaic in favour of Greek in order to advance their posi- tion in society. So the story of how a translation was made of the Torah from Hebrew to Greek was told in the second century Lelie of Aristeas. In that docu ment the translation is a royal initiative, part of the desire of Ptolemy II to have a copy of every known text for the Library of Alexandria, More mundane- ly, recognition of the Jewish Divine Law was advantageous to the regime and hence the need to have a copy that could be understood. In the legend, Ptolemy II commissioned the Librarian of Alexandria to have a translation made, and to facilitate the project the Jerusalem High Priest sent seventy scholars to complete the task. Hence the work became known as the Septuagint (LXX), the work of the seventy scholars. ‘They were given a grand reception including a kosher meal and a question and answer session in which their wis- dom impressed the king. They were housed on Pharos Island and took 72 days to complete the work — which ini- tially would be only the five Books of ‘Moses. An annual festival was created to celebrate this event and was still ‘observed in the mid first century AD, In Ptolemaic Egypt there were sepa- rate legal systems and courts for Hellenes and native Egyptians, while Jews were subject to the ancestral laws ‘of Moses. So the Septuaginé might have been part of this system, helping to fill the gaps in the legal system for the Hellenised Jewish community. On the other hand, it may have been the result of the internal demand for a new ver- sion to be used by the now Greek-speak- ing community in the city. By the fourth century AD a Christian embellishment stated that the scholars, now numbering 72, were put into 36 paits and that cach pair translated the whole Torah. Their translations all miraculously agreed, which was taken as a sign that the work was divinely inspired. Later, when the IXX was used by Christians in their New Testament, the Jews eventually rejected it. The Rabbis regarded the day the LXY translation was made as being an unlucky one. So this was very diller- ent from the positive legend in the Letter of Aristeas, ANCIENT E.GYPT July/August 2022 ABOVE ‘A plan of Alexandria as it was ©. 30 BC, showing the position of the large Jewish quarter. Plan: After Otto Puchstein (©. 1890); Public Domain via ‘Wikicommons BELOW ‘A page (ending of 2 Thess. and beginning of Hebr.) from the Codex Vaticanus, a virtually complete copy of the ‘Septuagint. Vatican Library. Image: Public Domain Loess. 25ANCIENT E.GyrT July/Aug:Assimilation Aramaic and Hebrew names began to appear in Greek spelling, Even names derived from Greek myths were now adopted in Jewish families: from deities wwe get Herakleides or Demetrios; from heroes the name Jason was used as an alternative to Hebrew Joshua, Jewish sol- dicrs had grants of land in the Fayum, the Nile Valley and even Upper Egypt which gave them status, Jews therefore belonged to the community of the dom- inant Greek-speaking group, rather than the lower status native Egyptians. Three official Greek towns existed at Alexandria, Naukratis and Ptolemais where the citizens had higher status Asiatics or Semites could be given citi- zenship of these towns if they spoke Greek. So in the Ptolemaic Period, Jews in Alexandria could speak Greek and were integrated to a considerable extent, but they would still attend synagogue and observe Jewish law. They could advance sociaily and politically without necessarily compromising their religion. Jewish Hellenistic Literature ‘There were various attempts to update biblical stories at this time. Artapanus portrayed both Joseph and Moses as inventors of aspects of Egyptian civlisa- tion including developments in astrono- my and agriculture. Moses is even said to have been the one who taught zoola- try — the worship of animals! Mean- while, Ezekiel the Tragedian produced a dramatised version of the story of ‘Moses which may have been acted out on the stage. It is not clear whether works such as these were written for a Greck or a Jewish audience or were intended to disseminate knowledge about Jews to pagans. Synagogues Synagogue dedication inscriptions are known from the third century BC onwards. An example is a dedication in the Fayum from the time of Ptolemy IIT where the synagogue is placed under the patronage of the royal farnily. It reads as follows “On behalf of King Ptolemy and Queen Berenike the Jews of Krokodilopolis dedicate this house of prayer”. Tl was on the outskirts of the town and had a garden growing flowers and vegetables tended by an Egyptian. By far the largest synagogue, however, was the one in Alexandria, Anti Semitism Jews in Ptolemaic Egypt followed as full ‘a range of occupations as their fellow citizens. The situation was not like that of medieval Europe, where many avenues were closed ‘to Jews. Some began as soldiers and many continued that profession through the Ptolemaic Period. However, over time elements of pagan prejudice surfaced. Josephus cites the works of Manctho and Lysimachus and shows them to be scurrilous anti- Semitic diatribes. These writers give an alternative and hostile account of the Exodus from Egypt in which Moses leads out a group of renegades and lep- ers! This slur is also repudiated by Artapamus in his work On the Jews. He is the one who presents Abraham and Joseph as teaching astronomy and agri- culture respectively to Egyptians. Moses is made by him a great inventor who cxeated the nomes of Egypt under the various animal gods and he was por- trayed as the teacher of Orpheus. Hoary antiquity counted for a lot in the ancient world — novelty was not neces- sarily viewed favourably. By around 300 BC we can sce the beginnings of attacks oon Jews for their ‘atheism’ and unsocia- bility. Features such as Sabbath obser- ‘vance, circumcision and the kosher food laws were all scen as deviations from the rest of society. ‘The charge was that Jews wanted to be citizens and yet also to be different. 3 Maccabees This work was composed in the late Ptolemaic or early Roman Period and reflects that time, but it is set in the peri- od around 217 BC. Following Raphia, Ptolemy IV, having been saved by Dositheos, went to Jerusalem and want- ed to enter the Temple’s Holy of Holies. ‘The High Priest Simeon prayed to avert this sacrilege, the king collapsed and the Temple was not polluted (see opposite, op) Back in Egypt the king’s advisors encouraged him to pass anti-Jewish leg islation. ‘The Jews were to be branded with an ivy leaf, the sign of the king’s favourite god Dionysus. Men and ‘women were brought to the hippodrome where five hundred drunken elephants were to trample them to death, but two angels appeared and the clephants trampled the opponents instead (opposite bottom). Ptolerny blamed his advisors, was reconciled with the Jews and a pub- ANCIENT E.GYPT July/August 2022 ‘OPPOSITE PAGE Two Dutch engravings, dating from c. 1700, depicting events ‘ecorded In 3 Maccabees. Rijksmuseum. Public Domain Top Prolemy IV Philopator|s struck by paralysis after coming too close to the sanctuary of the Temple. 3 Maccabees 1-2. BOTTOM Prolemy IV Philopator tries to have the Jews killed by drunken clephants: the Jews pray and are saved by two angels 3 Maccabees 5 27RIGHT Tell el Yahoudiah at Leontopolis, site of a Jewish temple of which nothing ‘The statue in the foreground ‘comes from an earlier temple dedicated to Bastet. Photo: after William MacGregor 28 (1848-1937) lic holiday was proclaimed to commem- orate the events ~ this is reminiscent of the end of the biblical story of Esther. Ptolemy VI and the Leontopolis Temple Egyptian Jews were at the apogee under Ptolemy VI. Aristobulos, who was per haps ‘counsellor for Jewish affairs’, dedi- cated a work to the royal couple Ptolemy VI and Cleopatra Il. In the Holy Land itself, one particular family called the Oniads had been High Priests ever since just after time of Alexander. ‘Then, ayound 172 BG, Onias III was deposed and his son Onias IV fled to Egypt. This was at the time of the enforced Hellenisation programme in Jerusalem by the Selucids. A papyrus of 164 BC exists which mentions someone called Onias) and this is probably Onias IV. He responded to the pollution of the Jerusalem Temple by asking permission to build an alternative one in Egypt itself. He took over a ruined site dedicat- ed to Bastet and claimed that aiah 19:19 sanctioned it; the king and queen gave their consent. The site is at Leontopolis and later in Arabic it was known as Tel el Yehoudliah, the ‘Mound ‘of the Jews’ (see above). Petrie excavated there, but no remains of the Jewish tem ple itself were found. Josephus says that it was built like a tower, but shared the dimensions of the Jerusalem Temple and had a wall of baked bricks. It was granted land for revenues like Egyptian temples. The Rabbis knew of it and, rather surprisingly, did not condemn it — since it was set up by a legitimate priest. Gravestones found at the site all have Greek names, but are probably of Jewish origin, Conclusion ‘The history of the Jews in Ptolemaic Egypt can be discovered from both Egyptian sources (papyri) and surviving Jewish texts written primarily in Greek Teells the story of a community that sat between the Greek and native Egyptian populations. They had freedom of wor- ship and created their own synagogues and law courts, Individual Jewish fami- lies could prosper in business and poli- ties and intellectual waiting flourished. Yet there was also an undercurrent of latent anti-Semitism and the future of the separate Jewish community in a place like Alexandria could not be guar- anteed as the next period of Roman rule would demonstrate all too clearly Michael Tunnicliffe Michael studied Theology at Birmingham University and received an M.Lit. from the University of Cambridge. He is a freelance lecturer, mostly in the areas of ancient history and religion, He holds a Diploma in Judaism and Jewish Christian Relations from the University of Birmingham and the Certificate in Egyptology from the University of Manchester. Bibliography Modrzejewski, Joseph (1995) The Jews of Egypt T &T Clark Gruen, Erich (1998) Heritage and Hellenism —The Reinventon of Jewish Tradition University of California Press ‘Manning, J.G. (2012) The Last Pharaohs — Feypi under the Peolemies Princeton University Press ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022EGYPT IN WARSAW a a] Wojciech Ejsmond presents his personal highlights of Egyptian artefacts at the recently reopened Ancient Art Gallery at the National Museum of Warsaw. ‘ABOVE: The facade of the National Museum of War ty western-European collections of ancient carly nineteenth century thanks to acquisitions of vast accumulations made by people such as Henry Salt, Bernardino Drovetti, and Giovanni d’Athanasi. The his. tory of the collection in Warsaw, however, is very diffe ent. As Poland did not regain independence until 1918, the establishment of a national museum in Warsaw was considerably later than other such institutions (such as the British Museum in 1753 or the Louvre in 1793). The National Muscum dates to 1916, but its collection is far older, with many of the artefacts previously on display in its predecessor, the Museum of Fine Arts of the University of Warsaw. “The University of Warsaw was established in 1816 and, from the very beginning, various antiquities were being collected. Although the collection was modest, it stimulat- ed interest in ancient Egypt in Warsaw. The Museum of Fine Arts in Warsaw was established in 1862 as part of the University of Warsaw and encompassed many Egyptian artefacts, including five human mummies and numerous animal ones, as well as coffins, statuettes and amulets, After the establishment of the National Musewn in Warsaw the University of Warsaw loaned its collection, and later the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology donated numerous artefacts, mainly from Deir el-Medina and Meir. Objects excavated in Eda by a Polish-French, ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022 archaeological mission in the late 1930s also enriched the collection, After a hiatus during the Second World War, new objects arrived at the muscum through donations, deposits, and museum exchanges “The Warsaw collection thus contains a wide variety of objects, but sadly many of the inventories were lost or destroyed during periods of war and uprising, so research- ing the history of the collection is difficult. Ancient Egyptian mumuies and coffins are the oldest acquisitions that we can trace, and being the focus of attention, are easier to track thanks to mentions in newspapers and other sources. Smaller, less popular items such as figurines, and amulets were often unnoticed and their provenance is, difficult to establish. Coffins and Mummies ‘The first group of artefacts to arrive in Warsaw from Egypt, in late 1826 or early 1827, included a mummy in cartonnage and a coffin, and several other small objects, together with a Demotic papyrus and amulets, brought from Egypt by Jan Weéyk-Rudzki. Wezyk-Rudzki attempted to translate the hieroglyphic inscriptions on the coffin and cartonnage (sc overlea). Despite some mistakes, he correctly established that the person was a priest and scribe called Horus-Thoth (more accurately Hor- Djehuty), and he correctly deciphered names of the Four Sons of Horus. This isthe first known more-or-less accu- 29ABOVE The cartonnage of the Theban priest Hor-Djehuty: However, it ‘was found to contain a young pregnant woman, not the priest himsel. BELOW “The first room of the new Ancient Art Gallery, with 2 statue of Sekhmet, a Thutmose I sphinx, and the mummy of a sacred ram from Elephantine. 30 rate translation of a hieroglyphic inscription into Polish — a significant step for the history of Egyptology in Warsaw. However, recent radiological ‘examination of the mummy carried out by the Warsaw Mummy Project revealed the mummy inside the coffin to be a woman in her 20s who was canry- ing a foetus — the world’s first example of a pregnant Egyptian mummy (see AL127) Throughout the nineteenth centu the collection at the University of ‘Warsaw grew thanks to donations made by other travellers, including Count Aleksander Branicki, who probably con- ducted excavations at the Theban Necropolis in 1864. He later donated the coffins and mummies of Djed- Khonsu-iufsankh (opposite, lp right) from the Twenty-first/Twenty-second Dyn- asty and of Amenhotep (dating to the end of the Late Period or very early Ptolemaic Period), as well as some embalmed animals. Lottery Prize In most cases the exact find-spots of artefacts that entered the collection dur- ing this period are unknown. One exception is the coflin and box of shabtis belonging to Amum’s Singer Tai-akhut. This group came from the burial known as Bab cl-Gasus at Deir el-Bahri, con- taining Twenty-first and ‘Twenty-second Dynasty mummies of the Theban cler~ gy of Amun, Bab el-Gasus was discov- ered in 1891 and these artefacts ended. up at the University of Warsaw quite by accident. Finds from Bab el-Gasus were dis- tributed among European countries during a lottery for foreign diplomats in Cairo in 1892, The Russian ambassador won several sets of artefacts that were later distributed to a number of scientif ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022ic institutions within the Russian Empire, including the Imperial University in Warsaw Over the next decades, Egyptian artefacts were avail- able for students and researchers in the Kazimierz Palace, the main seat of the Imperial University in Warsaw. In 1915, during their retveat from the advancing Germans, the Russian army evacuated the university with its inven- tories and part of its collection to Rostov-on-Don. The university. was quickly re-established by the Poles and its collection loaned to the newly found- ed National Museum, Izi of Edfu Tn the 1930s, Kazimierz Michalowski (above) became Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Warsaw. Michalowski played a signifi- cant role in the development of Egyptology in Poland, becoming Deputy Director of the National ‘Museum in Warsaw in 1939 and open- ing the Gallery of Ancient Art ten years later, and in 1959 established the first Polish institution dedicated to excava- tions beyond Poland — known today as the Polish Gentre of Mediterranean Archacology, University of Warsaw. Kazimierz Michalowski established cooperation with the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology in Cairo, and as a result of the joint Franco-Polish excava- tions in Edlf, numerous artefacts from the site were sent to the National ‘Museum, including the false door and other architectural elements from the tomb of the nomarch Tzi (se right) Tzi ‘was governor of the town and province of Fafu during the reign of ‘Teti (Six Dynasty, ¢, 2345-2323 BC) and married the king’s daughter, Sesheshet Sathhathor. His son, Meryranefer Qar, was raised at Teti’s court, and succeeded, his father as governor of Edfa in the reign of Pepy I. Iai was probably the person responsible for the growing sig- nificance of the town and the increasing prosperity of its inhabitants. He incor- porated elements of existing mastabas into his own tomb, creating a complex complete with a courtyard and a corri- dor that led to a cult chapel, where he was later worshipped as a local deity. Devotional stelae in the corridor and courtyard of his tomb complex show that his maslaba became the centre of a cult devoted to him that survived for more than cight hundred years. Izi’s tomb seems to have been repaired and possibly renovated during the Seven- teenth Dynasty. ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022 ‘ABOVE LEFT Kazimierz Michalowski, who established the first Gallery of ‘Ancient Art and was the founder of what Is now today the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw. Photo: Harry Weinberg cc BY SA.3.0 PL via Wikicommons ABOVE RIGHT ‘The painted coffin of Djed- Khonsu'iufankh, dating to the Twenty-first to Twenty-second Dynasty BeLow ‘The false door from the Old kingdom mastaba tomb belonging to the provincial ‘governor of Edfu, zi, together with some of the artefacts from his tomb. Wie ae a of [[ABOVE: The second scene from the Book of the Dead of Lady Tahem-en-Mut depicting the Theban cliff with a sacred cow ‘emerging from it, carrying the sign for water in her horns; a barque carrying deities floats on the water, BELOW: A New Kingdom mummy mask with a peaceful face and an elaborate wig, This plece was originally part of the collection belonging to the aristocratic Czartoryski of Goluchow family, which aver the centuries built up one of the most important ‘art collections in Poland, Books of the Dead and Mummy Mask ‘The Eighteenth Dynasty papyri Book of the Dead of Bakai is unique because usually such scrolls were made for men. Bakai was a murse, most probably of a prince intended to be the next pharaoh. The museum holds a second Book of the Dead made for a woman, in this case the Songstress of Amun, Ta-hem-en-Mut, from the Twenty-first Dynasty, which was purchased in Egypt by the German collector Alexander von Minutoli in about 1823. Itis richly deco- rated with various deities that provide us with a glimpse of the afterlife beliefs in the theocratic state of the ‘Twenty-first Dynasty. The second scene on the papyrus (see above) depicts the Theban cliff from which several rep- resentations are emerging. A sacred cow is seen, carrying on her horns a blue rectangle symbolising water. The solar boat floats on the water, with two goddesses standing on its deck. Behind them, there is a fragment of a throne, above which the head of a ram represents the old sun that is shown surrounded by a snake, Mehen. According to the accompanying hieroglyphic inscription, this composite depiction symbolises Ra-Horahty-Atum at the crucial moment of sunset in our world and sunsise in the afterlife. Further images, featured on the remaining part of the papyrus, show Lady Ta-hem-en-Mut making offerings to various Netherworld deities. Since we are in the realm of the dead, one cannot miss the very fine mummy mask on display at the museum, ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022‘ABOVE: An unusual Graeco-Roman bronze deity statue representing Anubis with a jackal's head, the torso of a man, ‘and serpentine coils instead of legs dating to the second half of the Fighteenth Dynasty (opposite, bot lef). The mask came from the collection of the aristocratic Czartoryski of Gohichéw family, who over centuries built up one of the most important art collec tions in Poland. Their antiquities were incorporated into the collection of the National Museum after the Second, ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022 World War, Made of cartonnage, the mask features a peacefil-looking deceased wearing an elaborate wig. Unique Bronze Deity Among the images of Egyptian gods on display in the gallery is an inconspicuous bronze figurine (shown le) dat- ing to the firs or second century AD that was purchased, in 1953. It can be easily missed among numerous fig- urines, but is worth a moment of attention. It depicts a deity whose body consists of jackal’s head, the torso of a man, and serpentine coils instead of legs. Its a represen- tation of Anubis, but a unique one. The way in which the deity is shown here provides insight into the god’s nature in the multicultural society of Graeco-Roman Egypt During this period, traditional Egyptian cults encoun- tered the gods of the Hellenistic pantheon on a large scale, becoming part of an evolving religion that changed, for the needs of the Hellenised Egyptians and Egyptianised forcigners. The Warsaw figurine is an expression of a fusion of Egyptian and Graeco-Roman styles and beliefs, with a strong emphasis on ties with a native tradition, Originally the figurine had an Egyptian, aief crown; its canine head is typical of the Egyptian way of depicting Anubis and the shendt kilt is also typically Egyptian, However, the torso is relaxed, inspired by Hellenistic naturalistic depictions of youths, and the ser- pentine coils allude to the chthonic nature [inhabiting the Underworld] of the deity, probably inspired by Anatolian traditions. The Warsaw Collection Afier ten years of renovations, the Ancient Art Gallery reopened in 2021, allowing visitors to explore the ancient civilisations of Egypt, the Middle Kast, Greece and Rome. The highlights described here are just a fraction of the National Museum's 4700 Egyptian artefacts ranging from the Predynastic Period through to Roman times, and will hopefully entice you to come and explore the collec- tion for yourself! Wojciech Ejsmond Wojciech is co-director of the Warsaw Mummy Project, ‘and works as an archaeologist at the Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures of the Polish Academy of Sciences, He has also written about “natu- ral pyramids” in AF 120 and you can read more about his work on the “pregnant mummy” in AP-127 All images by the author unless otherwise attributed. Further Reading Ejsmond, W, and Ozarek-Szilke, M. (2022) “Prehistory of Egyptology in Warsaw. Collection of Egyptian ‘Mummies of the University of Warsaw. Kiudes et Travaue (forthcoming) Sulikowska-Belczowska, A. ed. (2020) My in oni. Sztuka starezyina w Muzeum Narodouym w Warszawie/We and Those Before Us. Ancient Art in the National Museum in Warsaze. Warsaw: The National Museum in Warsaw. 3dTHE POMEGRANATE IN ANCIENT EGYPT Barabara Gai explores the daily and symbolic importance of this enigmatic plant - a tasty fruit with medical properties, found in love poetry and on tomb walls. ‘What is that is only one on its outside land a thousand and one on its inside?” (a Turkish riddle) fhe pomegranate fruit was a divine gift in the imagery of antiquity and has a very old and strong symbolic meaning that has been preserved over the centuries: it represents prosperity, fertility and wealth (because of its many sweet and juicy seeds or aril) and life ‘energy (thanks to its red colour which is identi- fied with blood). ‘The fruit (opposite top right) comes from a_ multi- stemmed shrub found in dlusters or as a solitary plant, which is native to Persia andthe Himalayas. In temperate climates, the pome- granate is deciduous (losing its leaves during the winter period), while in tropical climates, it behaves as an evergreen plant and its growth is surprisingly profuse, even though it needs very little water: History and Etymology ‘There are only two species of pomegranate, namely the cultivated variety Punica granatum (opposite top let) and its precursor, the wild plant Punica protopunica. "The presence of both species are attested in the Levant from the fourth milleni- um BC. P protopunica, or the ‘Socotra pome- granate’ (native to the Socotra Island in the Indian Ocean) spread to Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Syria and the Levant, probably through the trade between the Sumero-Akkadian city-states and India. P? _granatum, the larger, more developed species, spread to the ‘Near East and the Fertile Crescent during the second half 34 ‘ABOVE: A painting of a scene in the Temple of Sety | at Abydos. showing the ramvheaded prow of a ship and food offerings, including a bowl of fruit with a large central pomegranates. Photo: Calverley & Broom (1935) The Temple of King Sethos at ‘Abydos, Vol ll, PI 1Now in the British Museum, Photo: RBP of the fourth and the first half of the third millenium BC. ‘The Phoenicians brought this plant to Rome for the first time, from where it spread across the Mediterranean coast area through the actions of the Romans, the Grecks, and later the Arabs. In the ancient Egyptian language the word for pomegranate (denoting both the fruit and the plant) was a neologism {newly coined word), a fact that might explain the different writings and spellings found for this word — for example dur ing the New Kingdom we can read: inehemmy, inchem, nehamaa, iunemaa and iune- eramaa, The name ‘pome- granate’ means ‘apple with seeds’ and comes from the ‘Latin words pomum (‘Sruit”) and grana- ‘um (‘seeds’, ‘full of seeds’) o: malum granatum, (apple with small seeds’). In the Semitic languages the word ‘pomegranate’ comes from a common Semitic root, rmn, hence the words muzinurumu in Sumerian, —inhmn in Aramaic, haraman in Coptic, rimmon in Hebrew and rumman in Arabic. Tn the ancient Near East there were sev- eral places where the pomegranate tree was cultivated as is reflected in their toponyms. An example is the modern Palestinian village of Rummanah, which is mentioned in the Bible (Zechariah 12:11) as Haddad Rimman (Haddad of / the pomegranate’), the site in the plain of Megiddo where the Egyptian king Nekau II (Twenty-Sixth Dynasty} defeated King Josiah in 609 BC. ‘The ancient Greck sources mention this fruit as ‘melon’, ‘apple’, or rhoa ~ ‘full of seeds’ ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022ty | TOP LEFT: The cultivated variety of pomegranate tree, Punica.granatum. Photo: Public domain, CC BY 3.0 via Wikicommons ‘TOP RIGHT and ABOVE RIGHT: The blood-red pomegranate frult with its myriad seeds (arils) was symbolic of wealth and fe energy. Photos: Wvar Leidus CC by 4.0 (top) and Arie Tennbaum, CC BY 2.5, both via Wikicommons ABOVE LEFT: A pendant in the shape of a pomegranate from the New Kingdom. Photo: Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMA) BELOW: A cosmetic spoon in the shape of a pomegranate, in the Brooklyn Museum. Many objects in tombs and in daily use were given the shape of this symbolic fruft. Photo: RBP ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022 35‘ABOVE: The beautiful garden of Nebamun with pomegranate and date palm trees sutrounding the pond. Photo: REP The Pomegranate in Ancient Egypt ‘The pomegranate is not native to Egypt. It is first attest- ed in the Middle Kingdom, during the Thirteenth Dynasty (c 1795-1650 BC) when the plant spread into, Egypt from the Levant, and may have been imported into the Delta by the Asiatic Hyksos kings based at Avaris, (Tell cl-Dab’a) during the Second Intermediate Period. ‘The plant is more prevalent in Egypt during the New Kingdom (¢. 1550-1069 BC) when it was imported in the aftermath of military campaigns in Western Asia and the Levant. The pomegranate plant is attested by archaeological and artistic evidence, appearing among the foodstufls on. fimeral offering tables and mentioned in love poems. Pomegranate plants were flourishing in the gardens (ee above) adorning and providing shade to the royal resi- dences, fimerary and cult temples and the villas of offi- cials and wealthy citizens. Several paintings show pomegranate trees growing in walled gardens that were in some instances terraced, decorated with papyrus, covered, by a pergola of vines and provided with artificial ponds fall of fish, Also, several gardens were filled with birds, animals and a great variety of fruit trees and lowers cho- 36 sen for their beauty and fragrance, such as the ‘Totus’ lily, roses and jasmine, as well as apples, grapes, olives, persea sycamore, dom-palm and imported figs. As the pomegranate retained its leaves and flowers all year round, it became a symbol of life, In the Turin Papyrus (Twentieth Dynasty) the pomegranate tree speaks about itself saying: “(Lam the most Beauifel tee} of the garden, because I last through every season. {...] Apart from me, they all perish, [he plants} of the garden To through twelve months {ecith my head of foliage), and I last: when a flower fais its successor is already on me. Gardens often become the landscape for love stories. In the Song of the Orchard (Grom the Turin Love Songs Papyrus — Twentieth Dynasty) the lady is identified with the pomegranate fruit. In a flower-filled garden, two lovers, meet in secret beside the pomegranate tree that, in an emotional soliloquy, says: ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022At the end the woman says: Ina love poem from Papyrus Harris 500 (P British Museum 10060) dating back to the Nineteenth-Iwentieth Dynasties, itis the man who speaks: ‘The pomegranate wine is perhaps to be identified with a drink that in ancient Egyptian was called shedeh, although some scholars believe that pomegranate was added to wine (fom grapes) as a flavouring and that the shedeh drink was actually made from red grapes. Ancient Egyptian medicine was based on natural remedies and the pomegranate fruit was among the numerous natural substances used to prepare drugs. Pomegranate rind was used in preparations against intestinal diseases, dysentery and stomach-ache, while its root was effective in killing roundworms in the digestive tract. Pomegranate juice was drunk as an astringent, and for reducing swelling in wounds. In the Ebers Medical Papyus (dated to the ninth year of the reign of Amenhotep I, Eighteenth Dynasty}, we read: ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022 AwOvE Photo: Norman de Garis Davies, Metropolitan Museum of Art Ma) BELOW LEFT Photo: MMA BELOW RIGHT. Photo: REP 37BELOW: Photos: MMA | And again: Pomegranates appear in many arcas of daily life in ancient Egypt. In addition to its medical properties, pomegranate rind was used for dyeing textiles and leather, and its flowers were crushed to make a red dye which was also obtained. by swiping the pecl. In some tombs, everyday objects with a pomegranate- shape have been found, including vases, amulets and jewellery pieces (see previous 38 ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022page), as well as stone and ivory mod- els of pomegranates. Pomegranate leaves and flowers were used, togeth- cer with a wide variety of other plants, for creating garlands, collars and many kinds of bouquets for religious and festive occasions and for floral decorations worn to banquets and burial ceremonies. Such floral. gar- lands and collars have been discov- ered adorning the bodies of the ‘TOP LEFT: A young woman carries a luster of pomegranates and grapes, finished off with lotus blooms, from the Tomb of Menna, Photo: Davies (1936) Ancient Paintings Vol 1 Plate Lil TOP RIGHT: A scene from the Tomb of ‘Nakht (1752) depicting an attendant with an offering table and a string of pomegranates, Photo: Facsimile by Francis Sydney Unwin, MMA, RIGHT: Baketaten holds a pomegranate ina sadly much degraded scene in the ‘Amarna Tomb of Huy. Photo: REP deceased in the royal and elite tombs from the New Kingdom and carly ‘Third Intermediate Period. Tomb Paintings Pomegranate fruits are depicted in tomb wall paintings and on offering tables, and appear among numerous food offerings to the deceased or to the gods. Dried pomegranates have also been found buried among the offerings in some _ tombs. Pomegranates are depicted arrayed with other fruits and vegetables in the ‘Tomb of Paheri (No.3) at clKab, which dates to the reign of Thutmose II, while in the Tomb of Sobekhotep (TT 63) at Quena, bearers are shown holding bunches of grapes and pomegranates tied with strings. Other tomb depictions can be found in 'TT69 (Tomb of Mennaj, where young women are shown carrying a rather sophisticated cluster of pomegranates and grapes finished off ‘with lotus-blooms at the bottom (see ef), and in the ‘Tomb of Nakht (1752) where an attendant bears an offering table with a string of pomegranates attached (see right). The Amarna Tomb of Huya (No. 1) includes an image of the Princess Baketaten (daughter of Akhenaten vee below) holding a pomegranate in her hand, which may be meant to be a symbol of nobility. All of these depictions reflect the importance of the pomegranate to the ancient ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022 Egyptians — a shady garden tree, a source of medicine, a food worthy of the afterlife and a symbol of everlast- ing life and prosperity. Barbara Gai Barbara is a graduating student from the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy at the University of Firenze (Florence, Italy), specialising in Egyptology. Her fields of interests include the ancient Egyptian language, Classical Arabic and Egyptian. Her translation of a book by italian Egyptologist Edda Brexciani from Italian into Arabic Is soon to be published, Further Reading ‘Mohammed Diab, A. (2018) Representation of pomegranate in Ancient Egypt. nlernational journal of Heritage, Tourism and Hospitality vol. 12, no. 1-2. M. Ezz el-Din, D, and Elkasrawy, S (2018) Pomegranates of Ancient Egypt: representations, uses and religious significance. Proceedings of he Fourth British Eeyptology Congress 7-9 Scplanber 2018. Both papers available at wwwacademia.edu 39Campbell Price explains how the painted images on a relief block in Manchester's collection spell out the name of ancient Egypt’s most famous female pharaoh. Photo: Manchester Museum/University of Manchester (OPPOSITE TOP RIGHT: Photo: Manchester Museum/University of Manchester ‘OPPOSITE, BOTTOM: Photo: JPP - ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022the prenomen, or throne name, of Hatshepsut (Maat-ka-ra’) ~ the name she adopted when she took on the role of king, Written in a somewhat enigmatic fashion, the serpent represents the goddess Maat, the ka- arms are the writing of ‘a’ as the spirit of sustenance, and the solar disk between the horns crowning the snake reads ‘Ra’. The Manchester block comes from the upper part of a scene ~ a frieze ~ that provided an uppermost, frame for the registers below it. Such friezes are known, chiefly from the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Babsi, but also the small Eighteenth Dynasty temple at Medinet Habu and at the great temple complex of Karnak. ‘The ultimate source of this piece is not entirely clear; Petrie’ workers found it at the Ramesseum but that was unlikely, to have been its original location. In some cases where these hieroglyphs have survived in situ, after the death of Hatshepsut the ka-arms have been, hacked away to magically ‘disable’ the image — although. the composition can still be ‘read’. ‘This design is very shortlived and seems to have been restricted to the reign of Hatshepsut, The person responsible for this ‘crypto- graphic’ design may be guessed, because he had statues showing him holding, presenting or protecting the same emblem in three dimensions: Senenmut, Hatshepsut’s chief courtier and ‘overseer of all royal (building) works’ On another of his statues, Senenmut actually claims to have conceived new images “that were not found in the writings of the ancestors” — which could be a reference to his involvement in the design of these signs. ‘The block's surface preserves much of its original colour because it was included as masonry fill within the later ‘mansion of millions of years’ of Ramesses II, better known as the Ramesseumm, not very long after its creation, Few such structures lasted anywhere lose to ‘millions’ of years. Ramesses II — or, rather, his agents — are well- known for reusing material from easlier temples rather than quarrying new stone. Hatshepsut's monuments were particularly prone to attack some time after her demise. In fact, we may even suggest the identity of the person, who ordered the reuse of this particular block. Another piece in Manchester Muscum, the magnificent stela of i T= brightly painted relief carving (opposite) carries Senior Scribe Ramose (above), belongs to a man who is known to have been an overseer of the treasury of the ‘house’ of Thutmose IV ~ the site inamediately adjacent to the Ramesseum (Below) — while also being ‘overseer of (building) works on the West of Thebes’ during the reign of Ramesses II. The Ramesseum made extensive reuse of blocks from Thutmose TV's temple, so. pethaps it was Ramose who ordered the work that included the trans- port of this block to Ramesses II's temple Campbell Price Dr. Price is Curator of Faypt and Sudan at Manchester Museum (te University of Manchester) and a regular ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022 41MALARIA IN ANCIENT EGYPT ABOVE: Anopheles mosquit Ira Rampil looks for evidence of this debilitating disease in ancient Egyptian populations. Photo: Jim Gathany, public domain via Centers for Disease Cantrol and Prevention (CDC) ‘alaria is a disease which has plagued humans Ute atesec eae Bete mot hae py and pest control existed, malaria was endem- ic throughout the world, but especially in tropical and sub-tropical areas with stagnant water. There is substan- tial archaeological and historical evidence that malaria was common in ancient Mediterrancan cultures. The Grecks and the Romans both wrote descriptions of the disease and they associated it with swampy or marshy areas, Our name for the disease comes from the Roman ‘concept that the bad air of swamp land (ma! aria) caused the disease. We now know that people are infected by mosquitos that carry the parasite (see above), and that infected people transmit the parasite back to uninfected, female mosquitos. Historically, the written record in Egypt is only suggestive, but modern archaeological ‘examnination of mummics tells us a convincing tale. Description of Malaria ‘The disease is caused by a one-celled parasite known as Plasmodium, which infects the liver and red blood cells (fight), causing them to burst and release new crops of parasites every two or three days (see opposite, tp right). The bursts are synchronised, occurring every 48-72 hours, causing the well-known undulating fevers, chills and headache, followed by sweating over the course of a 10- 12hour attack. During an attack, an adult would typically be quite debilitated ~ certainly not in shape to engage in 42 monumental construction, or even farming. However, the disease is chronic and not usually fatal in adults Chronic infection can lead to a degree of immunity with the symptoms fading; however, symptoms can rec, as can reinfection with a different strain of the parasite. Children under the age of five often succumb and consti tute roughly 70% of all malarial deaths at present. The disease has several strains; the one known as P falciparum is more virulent than the others, in part because it || Photo: NIAID, public domain, CC BY 2.0 BELOW: 7) ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022uniquely makes red cells sticky, and so can clot off small blood vessels in many organs including the spleen and brain, ‘The spleen swells and can rupture with massive internal bleeding, while clots in the brain can cause strokes, Malaria also causes anaemia because the para- site destroys red cells faster than they can be replaced by the bone marrow. P falciparum is the type usually found throughout Affica, Interestingly, the long association of malaria with humans has apparently led to an evolu- tionary advantage in endemic areas for the diseases sickle cell anemia and tha- lassemia, It seems that sickle-prone haemoglobin in the red cells is less tasty to the parasite, thus moderating the symptoms of malaria even as these genetic disorders lead to their own mor bidity and mortality. Ancient Literature ‘An ancient Chinese medical treatise, the Huangdi Neiing (tp lef), described the relapsing fevers and enlarged spleen of malaria. Some attribute this source to a semimythic emperor in 2700 BC, but it can be more reliably dated to about 270 BC. The Highteenth Dynasty Ebers Papyrus (bottom (efi), has a description of the Egyptian concept of anatomy (paragraph 855) and includes a variety of symptoms inchud- ing fever and weakness, insect bite, pos- sible enlargement of the spleen, nausea and lack of appetite. These could describe malaria, or possibly heart fail- wwe. The author of this papyrus described the signs and symptoms of a patient through the lens of the metu the- ory of disease, wherein illness was due to blockages of various humours, gases and liquids that travelled in tubes between the heart and the other organs. ‘This orientation makes it diffi- cult to. correlate between ancient descriptions and modern anatomy and pathology. The instructional text from the Middle Kingdom, the Satire of the Trades mentions mosquitos as pests: “The reedutter sails north to the marshes to take for himself arrows. When he has exceeded the power of his ‘arms in action, When the mosquitoes have slaughtered him ‘and the gnats have cut him dozen too, then he is braken in tw.” ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022 Tor LEFT A page from The Su Wen of the uanadi Nejing inner Classic of the Yellow Emperor, a'chinese medical treatise that Gescribes symptoms that are known to occur during an malaria attack, Photo: Library of Congress, public domain, Tor RIGHT Addiagram showing the life cycle of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum Parasites from an infected mosquito travel to the liver and then to the blood. The parasites enter red blood cells, and cause the cells to burst with new parasites, An uninfected mosquito draws Into itself a load of parasites, from an infected human starting the cycle again. Photo: Le Roche Lab, UC Riverside, public domain, ccey 3.0 Leer ‘A page from the Ebers Papyrus. Dating to the Eighteenth Dynasty. The medical text Includes a variety of symptoms, some of which could deserbe Photo: Wellcome Trust, public domain, CC BY 4.0 43Photo: Loufouma Mbouaka eral. CC BY 4.0, 44 wven though the Egyptians apparent- ly did not make the direct connection between mosquito bites and the disease ‘we now call malaria, they did make use of mosquito nets and smeared their bodies with castor oil (o reduce bites), as described by Herodotus c. 450 BC. Herodotus also relates stories from 2,200 years earlier, stating that the pyra- mid builders were given diets full of gar lic or onions, ostensibly to ward olf insect bites. It was the Greek physician Hippocrates who gave the first clear description of malaria, «. 400 BC in the Corpus Hippocraticum. NMalasia may have caused the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC. Glassic archaeology has had to rely on visual inspection of bones and mummi- fied soft tissue to guess at the diseases suffered by the ancient Egyptians Scientific research has been hindered by the fact that mummification was expes sive, and thus limited to the middle class and above, skewing what could be earned about the majority of the popu- lation, Nonetheless, malaria can leave its mark on ancient remains. In 1913, Sir Mare Raffex, an early paleopathologist, found enlarged spleens in two of sixteen Coptic remains of the fifth century AD from Antinodpolis, as well as in a Roman era body from the Fayum. As pointed out by Sir Marc, the presence of an enlarged spleen does not confirm a diagnosis, because other parasites could have been just as responsible; the snail parasite schistosomiasis, endemic in ancient Egypt, also leads to swollen spleens. Malaria indirectly causes several changes in bone which are readily apparent to the trained eye. As malaria causes anaemia by breaking down red. blood cells, the bone marrow goes into overdrive and in areas where the bone is thin, this marrow stimulation creates small but visible holes in the bone’s sur- face. An area in the skeleton which is particularly susceptible to this anaemia- induced porosity is the orbit of the eyes, where the phenomena is known as cribra ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022arbitalia {see opposite, tp); elsewhere it is known as porotic lyperostsis, Cribra are very frequent in ancient Egyptian skele- tal remains from all eras, It is important to recognise that orbra are a result of anaemia, which can occur from many different causes including, but not limit- ed to, malaria. Other possibilities include sickle cell disease, thalassemia, and pethaps iron deficiency, vitamin B12 deficiency, and other sorts of poor nutrition, intestinal worms, and general severe stress. Also worth noting is the fact that pathologic changes in bone like aribra do not happen overnight and may take weeks to months to form. A case of rapidly fatal malaria would leave no trace in a skeleton, Microscopic Evidence Just over a century ago, researchers began using microscopes to investigate malaria, including in mummies. Where soft tissue is present, there are two pos ble findings which are very specific to Plasmodium infection. ‘The first is, of course, finding the parasite itself which. is uncommon in mummies, and the sec- ond is spotting the residue ~ a pigment, created by the destruction of infected red blood cells. Both of these have been reported, backing up the generic bone evidence with more specific proof of malarial infection, Molecular Evidence All living things make proteins, and every species creates unique proteins Antibodies can be used to detect and fingerprint specific proteins. Ancient proteins do degrade over time, but under the right conditions of preserva- tion they can still be identified millennia later. Plasmodium parasites make several proteins not found in any other organ- ism. Simple malaria test kits based on antibody reactions are commercially available ~ similar to home pregnancy or COVID tests, In 1994, Miller and Tram et al, reported this type of test to detect malarial residues in mummies from Lower Egypt to Nubia and from the Predynastic Period onward. Al- Khafif (2018) examined remains from the Old Kingdom necropolis at Giza and found 56% tested positive for malaria. Interestingly, he found no dif- ference in infection rate between high or low status remains. Massa (2000) found positive antibody tests in 42% of 50 pre- dynastic remains from Gebelein. Because the positive test rates are so high, some researchers have suggested. that these antibody tests may have excessive false positive results in mum- ified tissue. More recently, techniques for suc- cessfully extracting ancient DNA from mummies have been developed. As with antibodies, DNA can be extremely specific to an organism, but there is an added advantage in that DNA tests are far more sensitive to tiny amounts of DNA, although they are more expen- sive and technically challenging to per- form. Even with those limitations, spe- cific malarial DNA has been recovered. from a number of mummies, proving malarial infection. Nerlich in 2008 found two mummies out of 91 whose bone DNA samples tested positive for P falciparum. In the Fayum area, Lalreraruata (2013), found the DNA of B Faleiparum in six of sixteen mutntnies dating back as far as the Third Intermediate Period. An interesting recent paper by Mbouaka (2021) com- pared criéra with current best practice detection by antibody testing and DNA. In ten remains with cribra from, Roman cra Sayala (Upper Egypt) (ee opposite), they found only four with per- fect concordance. One skeleton with cribra had a positive antibody reaction but no malarial DNA, while another had DNA evidence but no antibodies. ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022 ABOVE Human red blood cells infected with malaria, Paoto: Rick Fairhurst and Jordan Zuspann, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health; public ‘domain via Wikicommons 45Current Controversies Today, even in enclemic areas in the southern hemisphere, untreated malaria is a chronic debilitating disease which is not usually fatal in adults. A recent survey of the non- elite cemetery of South Amarna by Nicole Smith- Guzman (2015) found skeletal evidence (cribra, etc.) that could be evidence of malaria in roughly half of the buri- als. This prompted speculation by prominent Egyptologists that malaria was the major cause of death. at Amara. As noted above, there are many alternative reasons for cribra in a labourer population, and in adoles- cents and adults, malaria is not often fatal, The late Tony Waldrom, an authority on old bones, has also made the case that only certain specific forms of ribra are to be associated with anaemia, thus leading to the potential for significant overdiagnosis by non-specialist archaeologists Zahi Hawass and his team (2010) found two different subspecies of P Faleiparum by DNA testing in the body of Tutankhamun (ly) and speculated that it might have been fatal — perhaps so, if the malaria-induced anaemia made the boy-king more susceptible to the blood loss from his large ante-mortem femur fracture. ‘Ancient Egyptians had the deck stacked heavily against them because of the numerous parasitic diseases which were present in the Nile Valley — malaria being the most serious. These diseases were prevalent in all segments of | society throughout history. Despite that, Egyptian society exeated astounding smontmental architecture, with, on balance, a well-regulated economy, and a surphus-gencrat- ing agriculture. Aside from a small outbreak in Aswan in 2014, Egypt was finally pronounced free of locally trans- mitted malaria in 1998 Ira Rampil Ira Rampil isa retired Professor of Anaesthesiology with a specialty in neurological surgery. You can read his article on the how ancient Egyptian's viewed the brain in A120. He has also ‘developed a number of Egyptology-related apps, including ‘Hieroglyph Pro reviewed in E122 Selected References Rabino Massa E., «al, (2000) Malaria in ancient Egypt palcoimmunological investigations in predynastic murm- tified remains. Chungara 32: 7-9 Miller R.L., Ikram S, ef al. (1994) Diagnosis of Plasmodium falciparum infections in mummies using the rapid manual ParaSight-F test. In Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg; 88, pp. 31-2. Mbouaka, AL, ¢ ai. (2021) The elusive parasite: compar- ing macroscopic, immunological, and genomic approaches to identifying malaria in human skeletal remains from Sayala, Egypt (third to sixth centuries AD). In Archaeol Anthropol Sci. 2021; 13(7), p. 115. Nerlich, AG, et al. (2008) Plasmodium falciparum in ‘Ancient Egypt. In Emerg Infect Dis, Aug; 14(8), pp. 1317- 1319, LEFT Harry Burton's photograph of the mummy of Tutankhamun. DNA testing in 2010 revealed two different Subspecies of the malaria parasite P. falciparum. Photo: © Griffith Institute, University of Oxford +6 ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022“An indispensibe tool both for the amateur devotee of Egyptology and for the interested tourist” = Rosalind Janssen, ‘Don't miss his opportunity to buy from the author ihe Eitor of AT) ‘ne cf the few remaining copies of tvs dassic wore: the only Book in English on this topic. As well as covering al asects ofthe deve! Spment of the many diferent iypes of column Used in ancient Egypt lan architecture (id you know that you can date a monument by Colunns? the book abo takes te reader through the story of the Dharzonie awisation and vss almost all ef the monuments sti Standing in Egypt today. 368 pages, 633 D8 ilustratons. Special prices for waders of AI rdback: £18.00, nc UK PAP (cover price £23.80 + Pa) Paperback: £12.00, ine UK P&P (cover price £17.20 + P&P) for overseas orders, contact the Ancent Egypt Magazine Ls otfce {by mal, emai ar phone ~ ee belo) Tor pres including postage Ancent Eqyat Magazine td. has kindly offered to handle orders on behalf ofthe author Send a cheque forthe relevant amount payee to Ancient Egypt Magazine Ltd, to [editor Book offer, cf Ancient Egypt Magazine td 229 Ayres Road, Or Trafford, Manchester M6 ONL, UK. OR, to pay by redivdeit card, send your card details (name on car Card number expiry date, CRC no, Bsue number if relevar by post fo the above address, ot by ema to info@ancientegyptmagazine com ‘Don't forget fo tel us your name and adress and whether you wa ‘a hardback oF paperback copy OR, phone ater 10.30am UK tne): +44 161 872 3319 fax +44 161 872 4721 Readers’ Competition Congratulations to the winner of the photo competition that appeared in the last issue of the magazine (A131) Christine Dubery of Crewkerne who wins a copy of The First Pharaohs by Aidan Dodson The photo (below) is of St Michael's Coptic Cathedral in Aswan, Congratulations also to If you recognise where in Egypt the photo above was taken (by JPP), Anne Godfrey of Rotherham email or write to the Editor of A before 31"July 2022 (addresses on page 3) with your answer, who correctly identified Dr. Saleh Bey Hamdi as the person who, with giving your full name and address. Professor Douglas E. Deny, conducted k (One lucky reader will have his or her name selected at the autopsy on the body of random from all the correct answers and will win a copy | Tusankhamun, but was not credited on of Needles from the Nile: Obelisks and the Past as Property the report. Anne wins a copy of by Chris Elliott (reviewed on page 60). The name of the Tutankhamun, Excavating the Archive, xe winner will be revealed in the September/October 2022 edition of AT ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022 47THE GREAT ENCLOSER: THE SKY GODDESS NUT Lesley Jackson explores the attributes of the goddess of the sky and her relationships with the sun god and the deceased. ‘ABOVE: A scene from the Greenfield Papyrus (che Book of the Dead of Nesitanebisheru) in the British Museum, ‘which depicts the air god, Shu holding Nut above her brother, the earth god Geb. Photo: Public domain via Wikicommons sky or the Milky Way. She is usually depicted as a nude woman arching over the earth (See above), or as a standing or kneeling woman. tn the latter form her dress s often blue and decorated with stars. Sometimes she has a water pot or sky hieroglyph on or above her head to identify her. In ancient times, the Milky Way would have formed a dra- matic and distinctive arch over Egypt, and was seen as the outline of a woman. tt spits into two branches at the con- stellation of Cygnus, which form her legs. At the opposite end, near the constellation of Gemini, it thickens forming her head and arms. While the arch it forms could be viewed as covering the earth, this does not seem sufficient to give Nut one of her very common epithets: the “Great Encloser”. The concept of a sky goddess being associated with enclosed spaces seems rather contradictory. However, the Egyptians perceived the natural and supernatural world N Ut is a sky goddess, often associated with the night 48 in a different way; they could easily associate Nut with enclosure at all levels of existence, from the cosmic to the personal Creation Myths Before the beginning there was only the endless, boundless waters of the nun. It was a chaotic non-place of non-being, Which nevertheless teemed with potential. Various theolo- gies attempt to explain which deity created the universe out ‘of nothing and how they did it. Regardless of the compet- ing theories, everything in existence was viewed as a some- What fragile bubble floating in the hostile waters of the ‘nun, which forever threatened its existence. The goddess Nut enclosed this bubble forming the barrier between us and annihilation. The Heliopolitan theology holds the sun god Ra as the creator. He self-generated a son, Shu (the god of ait), and a daughter - Tefnut (@ solar eye goddess). Their children ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022were the earth god Geb and Nut. These two siblings fell in love and embraced each other so closely that there was no space between them, This led to a suspension of the unfolding of creation. Shu was ordered by Ra to separate them, He is often depicted standing above 2 prone Geb, lifting his daughter into the sky (See opposite). Shu’s action created a space between the pair, allowing the entry of air to breathe, and a place for the sun and subsequently all life to exist. All life is nurtured beneath Nut's protective embrace. The barrier which Nut forms is permeable, allow- ing the life-giving water to enter. The Egyptians believed that all water on earth originated in the nun. Unfortunately, for Ra this permeability also enabled the chaos of the nun to seep in, where it takes the form of his arch-enemy, the serpent of chaos, Apophis. Astronomical Ceilings Today we associate the sky, both diumal and nocturnal, with freedom and space. For the Egyptians the sky was a more solid construct forming a flat ceiling above the earth. This is reflected in the hieroglyph for sky, which is a plinth with two short supports. The supports symbolise the arms and legs of Nut as she arches over the earth, As the temple was a representation of creation, its celling formed the realm of Nut. Temple ceilings were decorated with repre- sentations of Nut and the stars and planets which sailed across her body. The best astronomical ceilings are found in, the Graeco-Roman Period temples (see above, left and right), but the practice appears to have started in the New Kingdom (see AE.105). The tomb was also considered a representation of creation, and its celing was decorated in, the same way, often showing stars, the decans (groups of stars used for timekeeping) and constellations, as well as, some of the funerary texts relating to Nut: the Book of the Night; the Book of the Day; and the Book of Nut. The sky hieroglyph, sometimes covered with stars, was engraved on the top ‘of doorframes and gateways (right) Any person passing through the portal, which in a temple ‘meant passing into a more sacred and sometimes danger- ‘ous space, was protected by the enclosing body of Nut as, they traversed the boundary. ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022 [ABOVE RIGHT: The sky goddess Nut swallowing Ra in a scene from the ceiling of Dendera’s Hypostyle Hall. ‘ABOVE LEFT: In another part of the celling we see Ra being reborn from Nut's womb, his rays shining on Hathar. Photos: Lesley Jackson BELOW: The sky hieroglyph on a door jamb giving protection to those passing through the doorway. Photo: Messuy, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikicommonsthe sarcophagus | king Merneptah, Phato: Lesley Jackson BELOW: A winged Nut protects the cof the Nut and Ra The daily birth of Ra is a common theme in Egyptian reli- gion, Nut, a5 mother of the sun, gives birth to him each morning and receives him back into her body at sunset, where he is regenerated in time for his next rebirth (as shown at Dendera ~ see previous page). This contradicts the Heliopolitan creation theory where Ra is the grandfather of Nut, not her son; but the Egyptians were happy to overlook for accept the many contradictions of their religion. Her night sky forms a cosmic womb for both stars and the deceased. In the Old Kingdom, at the spring equinox the setting sun appeared to enter the mouth of Nut. Nine months later, at the winter solstice, the sun would rise immediately after the rise of Cygnus, which gave the impression of the sun appearing between the thighs of Nut. In the New Kingdom, funeraty texts relating to Nut start to ‘appear in tombs. Unlike some of the other funerary texts, such as the Book of the Amduat (which describe the sun god's journey through the underworld), these books describe his noctumal and diurnal journeys along and inside the body of Nut. ANCIENT EGYPT July/August 2022