Nile Magazine - Issue 35 November 2023

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NILE
Discover Ancient Egypt Today
RAMSES
& TH E GO LD O F TH E PH ARAOHS
NILE
Sometimes, numbers don’t tell
the whole story. The facade of
what is popularly known as
the “Small Temple” at Abu
Simbel contains six colossal
Nefertari. The statues stand
picture of how massive that is.
slows tourism to a trickle,

specialists from the Ministry
of Antiquities descended on
Abu Simbel for conservation
work—part of a maintenance
3,000-year-old wonders
survive as far into the future.
of Abu Simbel captured the
waters of Lake Nasser, created

by the construction of the
temple was sliced into

thousands of blocks and
reassembled 180 metres up
the slope, well beyond the
Some of the Abu Simbel

sandstone was so crumbly
that the most precarious parts
had to be injected with
synthetic resin to prevent it
the saw. Today, similar resin is
Sydney, Australia, check out
PHOTO: EGYPTIAN MINISTRY OF TOURISM AND ANTIQUITIES
NILEMAGAZINE.COM.AU 1
NILE
NILE MAGAZINE
44 64
6 M UM M IES
Akhenaten’s rule saw Osiris, the
netherworld god of resurrection,
discarded in favour of the all- The starring attractions in the
Som e m um m y m asks, statues and encom passing Aten. However, Milwaukee Public Museum ’s
as Fabienne Haas Dant es writes, Egyptian collection are people: two
unm istakable spark of life—even for the reign of Akhenaten’s son,
when the rem ainder of the face Tutankham un, Osiris was back. on display in 1887. But who are
has disintegrated. Jerikay Gayle And now, King Tut regarded they? And is it right to display
explains why. him self as a living god. people’s rem ains as curiosities?
2 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
NILE
CO VER STO RY #35
November 2023
4
5
64
66
68
PHOTO: SANDRO VANNINI / LABORATORIOROSSO. © WORLD HERITAGE EXHIBITIONS
68 NILE
69
69 NILE
RAM SES
& THE GOLD
OF THE PHARAOHS
Get
delivered to your door
every two m onths and
Ram esses the Great’s ten-city save over 20%.
world tour has arrived in Sydney Every 6 t h magazine is
with record-breaking num bers of free!
adm irers turning out. Ram esses See page 69 for your
20
would be pleased. Explore our fabulous subscription
pick of the m ost fabulous trea-
sures in this incredible exhibition.
FROM THE EDITOR
T
he centrepiece of Egypt’s new
Grand Egyptian Museum
(GEM) will undoubtedly be
the Tutankhamun collection—more
than 5,000 artefacts from the king’s
tiny tomb, displayed together for the
very first time. This month, Egypt’s
Minister of Tourism and Antiqui-
ties, Ahmed Issa, announced that
the Tutankhamun galleries are now
“completely finished”.
The museum’s opening date has
been a moving target for years and is
now slated for May 2024. When the
GEM eventually does open, however,
a handful of masterpieces will be
missing. The blockbuster touring
exhibition Ramses & The Gold of the
Pharaohs is now showing in Sydney.
Check out the special feature on page
20 of this issue, number 35. As always,
I hope you enjoy your NILE time!
Jeff Burzacott
NILE
Cosy mystery, political intrigue and family drama
Rosetta in the reign of Akhenaten!
Alexandria
Tanis
Sais
Readers’ Favorite
Avaris
Bubastis
Barnes and Noble Reviews
Heliopolis
Giza Cairo
Abusir Memphis
Saqqara
Dahshur
Meidum
El Faiyum Hawara
Beni Hasan
Hermopolis
Amarna
Book Five of the Lord Hani Mysteries

Available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple & Kobo
Abydos Dendera nlholmes.com
Valley of the Kings

Thebes
Kharga Oasis Esna

Elkab
Hierakonpolis
Edfu Gebel
el-Silsila
Kom Ombo
Aswan
Abu Simbel
BECO ME AN ARCE FELLOW O R MEMBER TO DAY: arce.org

JACQUES DESCLOITRES, MODIS RAPID RESPONSE TEAM, NASA/GSFC
4 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
Year Dynasty In This Issue ...
210
Ptolemaic Ptolemaic Terracotta
332
2–30BC Warriors
Period
280
Colossus of
Rhodes
30
438
Late
Period
525–404 27 Parthenon
664
4–525 26
p.65
25
23 p. 38
3rd I.P. 945–715 22
1069
9–945 21 p. 35
1186–
–1069 20 p. 20 1184
Trojan
New 1295–
–1186 19 Horse
Kingdom
1550–
–1295 18 p. 47
17 p. 16
2nd I.P. 1650–
–1550 15 16 A*
1795–
–1650 13 14
Middle p. 11 1800
Code of
Kingdom Hammurabi
1985–
–1795 12
p. 42 2100
Ziggurat
2125–
–1985 11 of Ur
1st I.P. 9–10
7–8
2345–
–2181 6 p. 9
Old
Kingdom 2494–
–2345 5
p. 13 2500
Stonehenge
2613–
–2494 4
2686–
–2613 3 p. 10
Early 2890–
–2686 2
Dynastic
Period 3100–
–2890 1
(A* = Abydos Dynasty)
‘‘ B eauty is in
the E ye of
the B eholder
‘‘
“Seeing” as an Element of “Being”
in Ancient Egypt
“Take the two eyes of Horus,
The black and the white,
seize them for you, to be at your front,
(that) they brighten your face.”

(Pyramid Texts, Utterance 43. From the Pyramid of Unas.)
B.C. These
newly reanimated eyes, which could now
© JEFFREY ROSS BURZACOTT
JERIKAY GAYLE
6 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
-
hit, the viewer instantly saw.
T
he ancient Egyptians may have subscribed to a
theory of vision that differs from the one held in
our modern world—that of the radiating eye.
This theory was premised on the belief that the
eye produced a light ray that fixed on external objects which
could only then be perceived. The theory was put forth by
the ancient Greek scholar Empedocles, writing in the 5th
century b.c. on a papyrus scroll, perhaps later housed in
the great library at Alexandria. He credited Aphrodite,
goddess of love, with fashioning the eye from the four
foundational elements of fire, water, air and earth, and then
bestowing sight by lighting the fire in the eye:
“The epitome of tran-
quillity and harmony.”
These are the words of
pulled the famous bust of

Nefertiti from the rubble of
taken less than three weeks

after its discover y. The
doubt helped inspire the

-
tion, uses rock crystal for
the iris and pupil made of
© THE DEUTSCHE ORIENT-GESELLSCHAFT (GERMAN ORIENTAL SOCIETY)

beeswax dyed black. The
-
ch ar d t d escr i b ed h ow
he ordered an immediate
of the ears were found, but not

the eye inlay. Only much later did
-
tected in the eye socket, and. . . not in any
way recessed so as to accommodate an
inlay, it is certain that the left eye was never
accepted. Nefertiti’s bust likely served as a

model with which the master sculptor
In a lantern, the flame is shielded by a linen screen but DUELING VISIONS

the light still goes through the linen. So too, said Emped- This sight-beam concept of vision, called the extramission
ocles, the eye has a membrane which separates the fire and theory, retained some credence even up to the 17th century
water, and through which the firelight pours out. a.d. As described by Greek mathematician Euclid (ca. 300
About two hundred years later, following his decade- b.c.) and 1st-century scholar Ptolemy, fire was one of the
long study in Egypt at the feet of native priests, Plato ex- essential elements of the universe and was contained within
panded on Empedocles’ theory to explain why, despite our the eye. It flowed outward in rays called “luminous tendrils
fiery gaze, we were unable to see in the dark. He reasoned of elemental fire” which, when falling upon an object, would
that sight was only possible because of an interplay between illuminate that object and allow it to be seen. It is significant
the flames of Aphrodite and an external source such as that these greatest of the world’s thinkers were actually
lamps or the sun. Plato wrote that eyes emanated “a sub- citizens of Alexandria, exposed to a corpus of knowledge
stance akin to the light of everyday life”. By itself, this impacted by the Egyptian civilization that surrounded them.
“stream of vision” was inert, but the catalytic light of an Their musings on vision theory were most probably based
“external and kindred fire” transformed it. on beliefs influenced by that culture’s distant past.
Plato is also credited for the concept that each indi- Modern knowledge of the aspects of vision reveals that
vidual has a different perception of what is beautiful, as light enters the eye from outside, causing its interior struc-
popularised by the 19th-century saying, “Beauty is in tures to create retinal images composed of electrical signals
the eye of the beholder”. Given the prevailing belief that that are transmitted via the optical nerve to the brain where
vision occurred because of what the eyes projected rather images are created. This is called the intromission theory
than what they received, perhaps Plato’s idea was meant to of vision and, although it was first championed in the
be taken literally—that beauty was actually in the eye of western world by Johannes Kepler in 1603 at the dawn of
the beholder. the scientific revolution, it was subscribed to in preceding
8 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
COURTESY OF THE PENN MUSEUM, OBJECT NO. E17910
(ABOVE) A detail of the proper left eye of the wooden head

-
folded to form the eyelids.
centuries by the greatest minds of the Greek

world (Epicurus, Aristotle), the Roman world
(Galen, Lucretius), and the Arab world (Ibn
al-Haytham/Alhazen, Ibn-Sina/Avicenna).
Refined over the ensuing centuries, this under-
standing of optical perception is today univer-
sally accepted.
FEASTS FOR THE EYES

The Egyptians of dynastic times, perhaps believ-
ing that the fire in the eye was the prerequisite to
perceiving the world, assigned particular impor-
tance to the depiction of the eye in art. Since the
purpose of ancient Egyptian art was to serve a funer-
ary function and achieve eternal rebirth, the rendition
of the eyes was important to ensure that the deceased
could perpetually see to partake of the benefits bestowed
by cult performance.
Such realistic treatment can be readily observed in
statues, masks and anthropoid coffins, especially those
supplied with inlaid eyes to impart a lifelike essence. Because
they were made from expensive materials many eye inlays
were stolen over time, but those thefts now give us the op-
portunity to see how the spark of life seems to be extin-
guished when the eyes are removed (compare the two sides
features, this wooden head still retains a vitality thanks to
of Nefertiti’s face, opposite), but how it appears to remain
vitally intact with the eyes in place even when other features
have degraded (right). wooden statuettes nearly consumed by white ants.”
his wife Nofret were never meant to be
ian Museum. These are ka statues,

intended to spend eternity secluded
spirits of the deceased.

-
brick mastaba tombs near the
Mariette’s workers encountered

these painted limestone statues,
their subject’s features in a much more
are remarkable in their realism—par-

ticularly those hypnotic rock crystal
irises.
PHOTO: KENNETH GARRETT / ALAMY.COM
PROVIDING A PLACE FOR REUNION Egyptians’ penchant for including lifelike eyes in their
The ancient Egyptian view of life, death, and afterlife cen- statues and coffins. The deceased’s vital life force (ka),
tered on the concept that living humans were composed of its spirit double, can be thought of as the divine creative
five aspects, all of which were loosed from the body at the essence that twinned with the person throughout life. At
instant of death. The belief was that these temporarily death, the ka manifested as an ethereal spirit within the
unfettered elements must be provided with a locus in order tomb, but it could not exist independently of a physical
for them to regroup and present a complete pure being— form to anchor it so it was necessary that the mummy or
an akh—capable of living in the divine realm. This a created substitute such as a statue act as a home base.
necessary anchor was the mummy or statue inside the tomb. Within the tomb, the ka accessed the interface where cult
Preservation of the heart, (ib), was essential as it rituals were performed so it could receive offerings critical
would be weighed in judgement to determine its feather- for the continued existence of the person after death.
lightness and purity, and the name, (ren), was a
critical element because its owner would only exist in the THE KA IN THE OLD KINGDOM
next world as long as it was written or spoken in this one. A special form of statue was created to house this spirit
The individual’s ba represented their power of mobil- double, sometimes, but not always, marked with the
ity and could fly free of the grave to greet the sunrise, but hieroglyphic sign of arms upraised in adoration. The best-
must nightly re-attach itself to the tomb occupant. The known example is the superb wooden statue of the briefly-
deceased’s shadow, (shut), accompanied the ba and so reigning 13th Dynasty king Hor Awibre, found in a shaft
dwelt in the life-giving sunlight. tomb at Dahshur (opposite page). The eyes, modeled with
The fifth aspect was the one most closely tied to the rock crystal and quartz, are particularly striking.
10 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
© SANDRO VANNINI / LABORATORIOROSSO
METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART. ROGERS FUND, 1912. ACC. NO. 12.182.132
obsidian and translucent alabaster. They are tinted red at

the corners and set into ebony sockets.
rebirth of the sun at dawn, and therefore enjoy his own
the outside world.
The statue, found laying on its back within its accom- in the sand, the statue’s eyes (and generous proportions)
panying shrine, was originally covered with a fine layer of provided such a lifelike look that it uncannily resembled
painted plaster which sadly disintegrated to dust once it their own village chief (see opposite). They dubbed it Sheikh
was exposed to fresh air. The king is sculpted wearing a el-Beled—“Head of the Village”—after the local dignitary,
divine curved beard, identifying him with Osiris, the god and it is still commonly referred to by that name rather
of resurrection, destined to be reborn daily and enjoy an than that of the man for whom it was carved:
eternity of sustenance as delivered by his ka.
The Old Kingdom too provided many examples of ka
likenesses with arresting gazes. The statues of King Sne- “Chief lector priest, Ka-aper”
feru’s son Rahotep and his wife Nofret (p. 10), excavated
near the Meidum pyramid, had such realistic inlaid eyes SEEING IS RECEIVING
that (perhaps apocryphally) they were said to have aroused Old Kingdom ka sculptures were most often placed in small
panic among the Egyptian diggers when the statues’ gazes concealed chambers called serdabs located within the tomb.
fell upon them from the darkened recesses of the tomb. These cellars were always undecorated, contained nothing
Similarly, in 1860, when workmen digging in Saqqara other than the usually life-sized and fully frontal-facing ka
on behalf of French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette wiped statue, and were completely sealed except for two small slits
the dust of millennia from the face of a 5th Dynasty statue, or holes piercing the masonry just at eye level of the statue.
they cried out with immediate recognition. Sitting upright (Continued on page 14.)
12 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
B.C.
ka statue endowed with incredibly lifelike eyes. These caused
into the centre of the quartz is a recess that holds a cornea

—Italian
Egyptologist, Luigi Vassalli (translated), 1867. that forms the iris. The pupil is a circular hole drilled into the
The obvious purpose was for the ka residing within Known today in abbreviated form as the “Opening of the
the statue was to be able to “lay eyes” on the benefactions Mouth” ceremony, its actual title was the “Opening of
made daily to sustain the revivified person in the afterworld, the Mouth and Eyes” (see image caption, below).
and it is equally obvious that seeing the offerings was the This ritual implored the god Horus to reanimate the
critical requirement since there was provision solely for most essential abilities of receiving sustenance and light so
sight paths to the exclusion of ones for hearing, smelling, that the deceased might live for eternity. Specialised blades
or tasting. A consecration ritual, indispensable to revival were placed directly on the inlaid eyes to animate them
and survival in the afterworld, would have been performed with sight.
on a ka statue at the time of placement in its chamber.
A COURSE CORRECTION
TO COFFINS
When the splendor of the New
Kingdom finally pushed aside the
somewhat substandard works of the
preceding Second Intermediate Peri-
od—a time where Egypt was divided
into smaller, regional dynasties—
Egyptian art returned to its apogeic
heights. Inlaid eyes were in once again.
Known not only as one of the finest
examples of ancient Egyptian art but
also as a masterpiece on the world
stage, the gigantic cedarwood coffin
of 18th-Dynasty’s Queen Ahmose-
Meritamun (wife of King Amenhotep

I) was equipped with elaborately-
constructed eyes (see page 16). So too
was King Tutankhamun’s outermost
gilded coffin.
Highly decorated coffins such as
these had now replaced ka statues as
the foci for mortuary cults, and con-
sequently bore the iconographic re-
sponsibility to equip the dead for their
afterlife. Such anthropoid coffins were
the “chests of life” that functioned as
the vehicle for resurrection. As such,
they needed embellishment with real-
istically-rendered inlaid eyes to see
offerings from the living world that
would sustain them in the next world
as well as to be blessed again with sight
in the afterlife.
THE MARVEL OF THE

ka MANUFACTURING METHOD
adze to enable the animation of his eyes and mouth to A rather astounding fact is that the manufacturing sophis-
receive his ka tication of inlaid eyes was in evidence almost 5,000 years
ago and was consistent from the early Old Kingdom right
through to the Late Period—a timespan of more than 2,300
years. While their construction was rather straightforward,
“The lector priest, sem priest, their beauty lay in the astonishingly accurate anatomical
details employed.
To begin the inlay of an eye, a metallic sheet bent in the
opening your mouth [and] opening the eyes, manner of a clamshell was first inserted into an appro-
priately situated wedge-shaped hole. These sheets were
usually copper in early examples and bronze in later ones,
with the adze of Anubis, and they were soldered at the hinge points so as to make a
receptacle for the insetting of the material that
would be used to simulate the white of the eye. This could
be made of a range of materials, including carved and
for the Osiris, the wab-priest of Amun, Pairy.” polished ivory (typically hippo tusk rather than elephant),
14 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
Ka statues were created for use in the funerary cult and their alabaster eyeballs, and irises made of black paste.
intent was to make the deceased present after death in order So how do we know that this is indeed a ka statue? The
This ka
painted, Senbi’s sculpture was made of costly imported wood “Invocation offerings of bread and beer, cattle and fowl,
for the ka of the revered steward Senbi.”
PHOTO: CHRISTIAN ECKMANN / HENKEL
eyes. Such was the realistic nature of the mask that Howard
are fashioned from quartz and obsidian, and even include
crystalline limestone, quartz, alabaster, marble and A depression was carved or drilled in the middle front
occasionally bone or shell. The whites of the eyes were of the white material in order to receive the cornea, and
sometimes patterned to simulate such tiny details as the plaster or resin was used as an adhesive to attach it. The
conjunctive capillaries seen in human eyes. cornea itself was of an extremely hard transparent quartz
crystal that was rounded and highly
polished at the front but left matte-
rough at the back to assist with adhe-
sion.
The eye’s pupil was a tiny plug of
obsidian, basalt, or dark resin inserted
into a drilled circular recess. Some
examples have even been found with
a miniscule spangle of polished mate-
rial inserted behind the crystal to
impart a reality-bending twinkle to
the eye.
If an artificial eye was going to have
a coloured iris rather than presenting
as merely a flat black circle, the effect
was created by placing a disc of brown
resin behind the cornea to be seen
dimly through the matte surface at the
cornea’s back. Today, when the iris
appears brown as it probably was in-
tended to be, the cornea would have
been placed in position when the resin
disc was still in a viscous state so as to
achieve complete contact; if today the
iris appears grey or blue, it is probable
that the resin has, over time, lost ab-
solute contact with the cornea and an
air layer has intervened creating an
optical illusion of colour.
Queen Ahmose-Meritamun, sister-wife
chevron-shaped inlaid decoration of
thieves, we can be thankful that they

© AHMED SAMEH left her beautiful inlaid eyes in place.
16 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
CORNEA
(Clear lens)
PUPIL
IRIS
PHOTO: MATTILDA / ADOBE STOCK.COM
CARUNCLE
SCLERA
PARTS OF THE EYE
ANATOMICALLY CORRECT EYES

As impressive as the manufacturing method was, it is not
nearly the most intriguing aspect of the story that surrounds
these man-made eyes. The real mystery is how the ancients
had the anatomical knowledge to fashion eye parts that
accurately mimicked how human sight actually operated—
and that they went to such great lengths to endow their
funerary vessels with what they believed would allow the
departed to enjoy fully functional sight for eternity.
It is empirically evident from inspecting inlaid eye
artifacts that ancient artisans were indeed privy to the
correct anatomical structure of human eye parts, and that
they designed artificial eyes in accordance with accurate
optic design. Dr. Jay Enoch, dean emeritus at the School
of Optometry at University of California Berkeley, has status, Mereruka was buried in an elaborate tomb at
published and addressed Egyptological audiences on his
observations that ancient inlaid eyes were “so unique, so hand drills to drill out a stone bowl and vase.
well constructed and polished, and so complex” that the
sophistication indicated a very advanced understanding of
the anatomy of the eye at the time. Examination shows that surfaces, and the data render findings very close to real
these eyes are fashioned to a fine optical quality, with their human eyes. The small concave curve typically drilled in
fronts being convex and the rear of the lenses having concave the artificial eyes at the centre rear of the cornea lens matches
ground pupil surfaces in a flat iris plane. the pupil aperture of actual human eyes, and that drilled
The grinding and polishing of the lenses seems to have curve forms lenses with both positive and negative refrac-
been done in pairs, perhaps from the same larger crystal, tive power. Additionally, the rear of the cornea lens has two
so that they matched in appearance. The exactness of fit optical zones centered on each other, with one being flat
may indicate that the eyes were turned using lathe-like and the other curved. This was possibly done to mimic how
rotating drills, a process that would be consonant with living eyes attain functional vision at varying distances.
depictions of jewellery-making techniques shown in Mer-
eruka’s mastaba at Saqqara (opposite), and a bow drill PORTRAIT IMPORTS
could have been employed for slow speed drilling with an Time marched on in ancient Egypt. Just as ka statues with
abrasive slurry of water and emery desert sands. inlaid eyes ultimately were supplanted by anthropoid coffins
Modern equipment has been used to take optical and embellished with the same, so too eventually came a change
ophthalmic measurements of ancient artificial eyes, includ- in how mummies placed within the coffins were granted
ing comparisons of where pupils lie in relation to the front the gift of “sight”.
Egypt fell under Greek rule in the 4th century b.c. which THE “FOLLOWING EYE”
introduced to its art canon the use of perspective as well PHENOMENON
as new painting techniques such as encaustic, a method of When British author Amelia Edwards took her 1873–74
applying pigments mixed with hot liquid wax. By the 1st journey “a thousand miles up the Nile” and first saw the
century b.c. Rome had conquered Ptolemaic Egypt, statues of Rahotep and Nofret (page 10), she wrote:
and encaustic was the main technique used to create
portraits painted on thin wooden planks which were
attached as the “face” of mummies (see below).
Typically referred to today as Faiyum Portraits because
many were found there during excavations by Flinders
Petrie at Hawara, there are a little over a thousand known
from Roman-era Egypt which have been preserved in
museums worldwide.
Miss Edwards was mistaken. The

inlaid eyes of three-dimensional stat-
uary do not produce in the observer
the illusion of what we now call the
“Mona Lisa” tracking gaze effect. Many
of the two-dimensional Faiyum
mummy portraits, however, certainly
do. How to explain the difference?
As an observer moves around a
three-dimensional object, all visual
cues change along with the changed
points of view. If the eyes are being
looked at, the viewer will see less of
the coloured iris and more of the white
sclera as positioning moves sideways
and this gives the correct sense that
the image has form and occupies space.
A flat painting, to the contrary, can
never escape its two-dimensional re-
striction to achieve that. If the subject
of a painting has eyes fixed straight
ahead, such as the example on the left,
then the light, shadow and perspective
playing on them are also fixed and
unshifting even when a viewer changes
position. Those elements appear the
same irrespective of viewing angle. So
if a painted gaze is positioned to look
at the observer, the gaze will remain
fixed on the person even with changes
in viewing position.
If the eyes are positionally painted
looking even slightly away from the
viewer, though, that perspective will
not allow them to ever look at the ob-
server even if the person moves to the
point where the eyes have been posi-
tioned to look toward (see the Faiyum
panel on the opposite page).
POSITIVE FOR THE “FOLLOWING EYE” ILLUSION.
INTENTIONAL ILLUSION
The painters of the Faiyum mummy portraits overwhelm-
A.D . ingly chose to fix their subjects’ gazes staring directly ahead.
As that is the essential component necessary for creating
the perceptual effect of the tracking eye, it seems a virtual
certainty that they were aware of such an easily-observed
and eerily effective optical illusion and were employing it
the traditional mummy mask. intentionally.
18 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
NEGATIVE FOR THE
“FOLLOWING EYE” ILLUSION.
This woman will never look at
you, no matter where you stand.
portrait opposite, this woman

A.D .,
that these portraits have been
territory.
This portrait was discovered
Oasis and, like most similar

examples, has been separated
from the person who wore it in
woven into the mummy ban-
name or title, we can only take a
based on many of the same

factors that we consider today:
clothes, hair and jewellery. The
purplish colour of the cape
draped over her shoulders
this was an expensive colour for
band sewn onto her claret-
shiny metal on display; the
chain around her neck, from
pendant with ball-shaped

terminals.
into eternity. © THE TRUSTEES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. ACC. NO. EA74716
Mummy portraits were probably painted during the would have dovetailed well with the age-old Egyptian prac-
sitter’s life to be hung in the family home long before tice of imbuing a statue, coffin, mask or mummy with the
the need arose for funereal purposes, as suggested by ka-like ability to perceive and receive adoration and offer-
Flinders Petrie’s discovery of a fragmentary portrait in a ings, all in accordance with the theory of vision held at the
frame with a fitting for mounting to a wall. There are ac- time in ancient Egypt.
counts that the paintings were displayed prior to the pro-
cession that accompanied a corpse to the embalmer before
is an Am erican
the portrait was encased in mummy wrappings, and there
attorney who holds degrees in
is additional evidence as well that mummies with portrait history, literature, and law, and
boards attached were kept for a significant time above- recently earned an MA in
ground in relatives’ residences before final burial. Eyes Egyptology with distinction from
that were painted in a manner imparting the tracking illu- the University of Manchester. She
travels extensively—frequently to
sion ability would have given the mummies the opportu-
Egypt—and owns an internation-
nity to “see” any benefactions directed toward them during al photography business
these timespans. specialising in im ages of ancient
Such a conscious utilization of the following eye effect archaeological sites.
20 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
“Place your goodness before people,
then you are greeted by all.”

This text from the “Instructions of Amenemope”, now in the British Museum (Papyrus EA10474), was composed during
Egypt’s Ramesside Period. In modern parlance, it could be read as “Publish your good deeds throughout the world, so that
all may congratulate you.” It is advice that the great Ramesses II would have embraced wholeheartedly.
RAMSES
& T H E G O L D O F TH E PH A RAO H S
It says a lot about Egypt’s most celebrated pharaoh that the touring exhibition created to honour
him doesn’t need Ramesses’ regnal number, “II”. So great were his achievements and reputation
that nine more pharaohs took the name Ramesses, hoping to share that prestige. So when Ramses
and the Gold of the Pharaohs opened at the Australia Museum in Sydney, we knew exactly which
pharaoh was the star of the show.
This special NILE Magazine feature showcases some of the most beautiful pieces from the
exhibition, from Ramesses II’s own reign as well as rulers before and after who created treasures
that continue to glorify their names after thousands of years. The pharaohs would be pleased.
amesses II ascended to the throne in his early 20s and quickly 30 B.C. ROMAN ERA
set about ensuring that his name would resonate through
history. Ramesses built more temples and obelisks, and raised
more colossal statues to his glory than any other pharaoh 332 B.C. PTOLEMAIC PERIOD
in history. The king took eight wives (not counting concubines) and
sired a vast amount of children—at least 85 at last count. And
Ramesses II presided over an empire that stretched from present- 747 B.C. LATE PERIOD
day Iraq in the east, as far north as Turkey and southward into Psusennes I
the Sudan. It’s no wonder that historically, as well as in popular culture, 1069 B.C. 3RD INTERMEDIATE PERIOD
he is known as Ramesses the Great.
Ramesses II
(OPPOSITE)
1550 B.C. NEW KINGDOM
1650 B.C. 2ND INTERMEDIATE PERIOD
monuments, carved after more than half a century on the throne,
2055 B.C. MIDDLE KINGDOM

2181 B.C. 1ST INTERMEDIATE PERIOD
2686 B.C. OLD KINGDOM
PHOTO: SANDRO VANNINI / LABORATORIOROSSO. © WORLD HERITAGE EXHIBITIONS 3100 B.C. EARLY DYNASTIC
© YVAN LEBERT
pharaoh could easily be adapted for another. Sometimes
simple alteration to the names carved into the stone was

his features and hauled half of the statues to his new
Written without vowels and with no living speakers, figure of manliness. Consequently, as Joyce Tyldesley
Egyptian names can be spelt in a variety of ways. The name writes in Ramesses: Egypt’s Greatest Pharaoh, “death en-
Ramses can also be written as Rameses or Ramesses, and hanced rather than diminished the king’s reputation.” While
the latter version is the one generally used in NILE Maga- the spelling of his name has varied greatly, Ramesses II has
zine and so also in this article. never been forgotten.
Ramesses II has long been regarded as the archetypal Ramesses was named after his grandfather, a vizier
pharaoh: the mighty warrior, the great conqueror, the tire- under King Horemheb of Delta nobility and with an impres-
less builder, the astute diplomat and the charismatic sive military pedigree. (Continued on page 24.)
22 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
L’ABCdaire de Ram sès II
-
usually comes down to one word: usurpation.
surprised expression seem to lack the
The statue was discovered in
commissioned for an 18th-
striped nemes headdress that
dawn—a powerful symbol of

renewal and rebirth. Above the
headdress is a crown, now
almost fully destroyed.
His muscular body is dressed
in the shendyt
pleated and held at the waist by
falcon-headed pommel was

slipped inside.
his lower limbs. He was probably

depicted in the conventional
The small cylinder in each of

m ekes case contain-
cartouches are carved on the

end of each m ekes, just to
ensure that there is no question
the statue was moved to the
collection of the Sharm el-Sheikh

Museum which opened in 2020.
PHOTO: SANDRO VANNINI / LABORATORIOROSSO
© WORLD HERITAGE EXHIBITIONS
The
Mysteries of Abu Sim bel
(From page 22.) None of the last three 18th Dynasty Ramesses demonstrated his gratitude to the gods—and
kings—Tutankhamun, Ay and Horemheb—were able to magnified his own image—by embarking on a busy con-
pass the throne to surviving children, and Horemheb struction campaign throughout Egypt and Lower Nubia.
may well have chosen Ramesses I as his heir because of his He also quickly set about rebuilding his father’s summer
readymade dynasty: Ramesses already had a son (Seti I) palace close to his childhood home in Egypt’s Delta, as
and a grandson (the future Ramesses II) to succeed him. the heart of a new capital, Pi-Ramesses. There is a real
Around 1280 b.c., on the death of his father, Rames- sense of urgency to Ramesses’ flurry of activity. Perhaps
ses II became the third pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty. the short reign of his grandfather, Ramesses I (around a
His inauguration ushered in a new golden age of peace and year) may have taught the young Ramesses that he needed
prosperity, and, incredibly, the king would go on to to make his mark fast.
rule Egypt for the next 67 years. Visitors to the exhibition will see that if there is one
24 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
shown with black skin; a Syrian in the centre with a
pointed beard and short kilt; and a Libyan with facial hair
discovered in Memphis, reused in a construction by
prisoners emphasises his power and dominion over the

© YVAN LEBERT
thing the pharaohs wanted to bequeath to posterity, it was

their battlefield prowess. None more so than Ramesses II.
The king commissioned glorious accounts of his personal
valour on temple walls throughout his kingdom, celebrat-
“His majesty slew the entire revolt
ing particularly his famous “victory” over the Hittites at of the enemy from Khatti (the Hittites). . . .
Kadesh. The hieroglyphic text to the right is just one example
that trumpets the king’s single-handed role in trouncing
the enemy.
They fell before his horses,
THE BATTLE OF KADESH
During Egypt’s New Kingdom, the Syrian city of Kadesh
was regarded as the centre of world commerce. It con- his majesty was alone, none other with him.”
nected trade routes from Mesopotamia, the Hittite empire (From the “Bulletin” account of the Battle of Kadesh,
in modern-day Turkey, and Egypt, and there had been a on the First Pylon at Luxor Temple.)
(ABOVE) (OPPOSITE)
Above all, a pharaoh was required to be a devout Sydney is
and wears the nem es headdress decorated with a
the ten-city blockbuster tour, and it is expected that
mummy was found in a comparatively humble wooden
era priesthood.
PHOTOS: SANDRO VANNINI / LABORATORIOROSSO. © WORLD HERITAGE EXHIBITIONS
long-term struggle between the Egyptians and their rivals kingdom. No Egyptian would have dared challenge the
in the region, the Hittites, for control over this strategi- pharaoh’s version of events.
cally important centre. Sixteen years after the ill-fated Battle of Kadesh, and
In the fifth year of his reign, Ramesses, his archers threatened by the growing might of Assyria, a new Hittite
and charioteers advanced on Kadesh to decide once and king reached out to Ramesses II to jointly counter this new
for all who would be the dominant power in Syria. The threat from the east. Negotiations resulted in the world’s
Hittites were expecting him. They had placed spies who earliest surviving peace accord, agreeing to mutual aid and
convinced the Egyptians that their enemy had withdrawn. support when needed. This new brotherhood between
What followed was a surprise attack that ambushed the superpowers was sealed by the marriage of the Hittite
unprepared Egyptians. Far from demoralised, Ramesses king’s eldest daughter and the pharaoh.
claimed that he alone (with the grace of Amun) pushed
back an incredible 2,500 enemy chariots. In reality, it was RAMESSES II’S COFFIN
the timely arrival of reinforcements that saved his skin. The second half of Ramesses II’s long reign was one of
Despite the Hittites continuing to occupy Kadesh and celebration. Most pharaohs didn’t live to enjoy their 30-year
securing their hold on the region, Ramesses recognised sed jubilee—a rejuvenation of their god-given kingship—but
that a propaganda campaign could turn a military debacle upon reaching his, Ramesses was only halfway through his
into total victory and recorded the triumph throughout his remarkable reign. He had brought peace to the region
26 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
and his realm had flourished from tribute and trade. Ramesses
now spent time touring his kingdom and providing visual
reassurance that the king was present and in control.
His long reign also allowed Ramesses time to enjoy the
delights of the royal harem, and by the time of his death at
the ripe old age of 90 years, the king had produced a bounc-
ing crop of as many as 45 royal sons—and outlived many
of them. It was his 13th son, Merenptah, who would inherit
the throne.
Ramesses had indeed become the legendary figure he
no doubt set out to be, but this was not enough to pro-
tect Egypt. In time, his dynasty faced internal division as
two or more lines of his family battled for control of the
throne while new enemies threatened Egypt’s borders.
Less than 150 years after Ramesses died, the Egyptian
pharaoh’s god-given rule over the Two Lands crumbled,
with the glorious New Kingdom spluttering to an end.
Ramesses had built a sumptuous tomb (KV 7) in
the Valley of the Kings and fully expected to enjoy
eternity there. However, as the below graffito scribbled
on Ramesses’ coffin (right) reveals, his tomb would be
just the first of several resting places for the king’s mortal
remains:
“Year 16, fourth month of Peret (growing season),

day 17 (of King Siamun, 21st Dynasty).
The day of moving Ramesses II, the great god,
out of this tomb of Seti I. . . .
After, Mut, with authority over the great place, said,
‘That which was in good condition in my care,
there has been no great injury to it,
in the bringing out

from this tomb they were
to collect and take them to this
high place of Inhapi, which is a great place,
in which Amenhotep is at rest.’ ”
28 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
These rough notes scribbled upon the king’s coffin offer and their occupants had been ransacked, arrangements
a stark testimony to the vulnerability of the royal dead at would be made to “renew” them. This provided a convenient
Thebes. This text and other inscriptions on the coffin tell veneer of legitimacy to what was, in reality, a clever ruse
us that after his tomb was disturbed by thieves, Ramesses’ to relieve the royal dead of their precious bullion. The noble
body found refuge in the tomb of his father, Seti I. mummies would then be supplied with replacement coffins
Ramesses’ body remained in his father’s tomb for over that had been thoroughly stripped of their dazzling deco-
80 years before the 21st-Dynasty pharaoh Siamun tasked ration. As Joyce Tyldesley puts it, “tomb robbery was now
his Theban high priest, Pinedjem II, to organise the king’s a highly profitable, officially sanctioned recycling business.”
transportation to the nearby These “renewed” mummies
tomb of Queen Ahmose-Inhapi. were then cached for safety into
She was the wife of the 17th existing tombs and occasion-
Dynasty Theban King Tao II. “He (Ramesses) is braver than hundreds ally inspected and moved—
Already waiting for Ramesses of thousands combined.” some think for display.
was his 18th-Dynasty prede- Ramesses II had ruled over
(From the Poem of Pentaur describing the Battle of Kadesh,
cessor Amenhotep I who had west wall of the Cachette Courtyard, Karnak Temple.)
an empire that, at its height,
similarly been stashed there for stretched from present-day
safety. Finally, some 40 years Libya to Iraq in the east, as far
later, during the reign of Sheshonq II, the great Ramesses north as Turkey and southward into the Sudan. His heroic
II made his final journey into Pinedjem II’s family crypt military exploits and rampant monument-building would
(DB 320). He would remain there, along with 50 other ensure that Ramesses II’s reputation would resonate
New Kingdom royal family members, for the next 2,700 throughout history. What the king hadn’t anticipated,
years when, in 1871, the royal cache was discovered. however, was that the greatest threat he would ever face
For someone who fully expected to enjoy eternity would come after his death—and from his fellow Egyptians.
safely ensconced in his own tomb, under the watchful eye
of Valley of the Kings guards, this was an awful lot of AFTER RAMESSES II
travelling around. What was going on? At first, Egypt- The second part of the Sydney exhibition is devoted to
ologists believed that the DB 320 cache was created to the death of Ramesses II and his extraordinary legacy.
protect the royal burials after they had been discovered Having outlived the first 12 of his sons, Ramesses’ funerary
by thieves. However, things weren’t so clear-cut. rites were conducted by Merenptah, his 13th, who thus
It is ironic that the last king to be named Ramesses confirmed his place as heir to the throne.
would be the one to order the dismantling of the tomb of And so began a period of family strife, and it appears
his great namesake. Over a century after Ramesses II’s there was a power struggle between two lines of rulers, both
death, the 20th Dynasty’s Ramesses XI tasked his Theban descendants of Merenptah. Challenging the next legitimate
high priest, Herihor, with inspecting the royal tombs in heir, Seti II, was a rival king named Amenmesse who tem-
the Valley of the Kings. If it was discovered that tombs porarily ousted his half-brother before being defeated by
(OPPOSITE)
There are remains of covered and plastered-over dowel

- -
tion Harper’s New Monthly Magazine
and detached from the newly-added wooden uraeus.
was found:
Horemheb’s burial had been stripped just prior to
burials of the past were relieved of their riches by the
he was in his sixties when it came time to bury his father
-
portrays him with a youthful, well-built body.
Like his father, Merenptah showed no hesitation in
known of Merenptah. The colour is still fresh upon it,
yellow on the headdress, red on the lips, white and black
temple was built primarily from blocks quarried from the
colour has since been lost. an earthquake.

© YVAN LEBERT
30 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
with the same artisans worked on multiple royal tombs.
waist to free up his hands. The artist has been careful to
the rightful king. All mentions of Amenmesse were subse- of finding a new home—and they were prepared to take
quently hacked from his tomb in retribution. The dynasty it by force. Merenptah had recorded how he fought off
ended in the death of Seti II’s wife, Tausret, who assumed the Sea Peoples some 30 years earlier, and now they
the throne on the death of his heir, Siptah, and became the were back. The walls of Ramesses III’s memorial temple,
first female pharaoh since Hatshepsut some 250 years earlier. Medinet Habu, are alive with celebratory war reliefs depict-
A family feud, a churn of rulers and a female pharaoh— ing the battles. The Sea Peoples’ forces were so soundly
which in ancient Egypt was always seen as a desperate defeated on land and sea that they never recovered to pose
move—for the great Ramesses II, this is hardly the way he another threat to Egypt. In Ramesses III’s words:
would have hoped that his noble legacy played out.
The next pharaoh named Ramesses was unrelated. He
was the second pharaoh of a new dynasty, the 20th, but
true to his name, Ramesses III has been described as the “Those who reached my boundary, their seed is not.”
last of the great warrior kings of Egypt.
Ramesses III inherited an Egypt whose security was
being challenged by a mass migration of “Sea Peoples”. Their heart and their soul is finished forever and ever.”
This was an alliance of armed settlers from around the (Ramesses III, Second Pylon of Medinet Habu,
Mediterranean who banded together with the firm goal 20th Dynasty, ca. 1175 b.c.)
© YVAN LEBERT
his master would become. Sennedjem ensured, however,
Sennedjem’s burial chamber are reproduced in the
assist Sennedjem’s resurrection in the afterlife.
THE KINGS OF TANIS daughter of Ramesses XI helped legitimize his reign and
A significant part of the Ramesses exhibition is devoted to mark him as a true successor.
the treasures buried with the Tanite pharaohs of Egypt’s This shift in royal line was matched by the Nile’s waters;
21st and 22nd Dynasties. the branch of the Nile bordering Pi-Ramesses had silted
After the death of the 20th Dynasty’s Ramesses XI—the up, rendering its port useless. Nearly 150 years after
last pharaoh to honour Ramesses II’s great name—the royal Ramesses II’s death Smendes established nearby Tanis
court’s shift to the north was complete. It was his northern as the new pharaonic powerbase. Pi-Ramesses became a
governor, Smendes, who became the new pharaoh in Tanis handy quarry, and many of Ramesses’ monuments became
and founded a new dynasty: the 21st. His marriage to a construction material for Tanite tombs and temples.
32 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
Montet, who had
Temple of Mut at
Tanis in the Nile
had Montet
unearthed the
intact tomb of
asty pharaoh
an entire royal
burial complex.
succumbed to the
spirit would still enjoy the fullness of

eternity with the sun and the stars.
which translates as “the star that

appeared in Thebes, beloved of Amun”.
above the eastern horizon, just as the
each sunrise.

Royal authority in the 21st Dynasty was, however, steady supply of bullion and recycled burial goods that had
divided. While the northern kings ruled from the Delta, been plundered from the royal tombs in the Valley of the
the High Priests of Amun at Thebes formed their own Kings. The 21st Dynasty’s third pharaoh, Psusennes I,
hereditary dynasty and presided over much of Upper was buried under an enormous red granite sarcophagus
Egypt—even adopting pharaonic prerogatives such as lid belonging to Merenptah, who had used it for his re-
enclosing their name within a royal cartouche. birth some 170 years earlier. Not only did Psusennes avoid
While this situation is traditionally viewed as a north- having to commission his own lid, but he also associated
south power struggle, what many people don’t notice is himself forever with the illustrious family of Ramesses II.
that none of the cartouches of the Theban priest-kings Like Ramesses, Psusennes I was long-lived—possibly 80
were attacked after their reigns—something that we could years old when he died. His humble tomb was located within
have counted on if their rule was seen as illegitimate. the precinct of the great temple of Amun at Tanis and was
A series of intermarriages ensured an amicable family in no way comparable to those of their predecessors in the
connection between the two royal houses, and indeed, the Valley of the Kings. It was, however, packed with treasures—
Delta rulers relied on their southern counterparts for a and other pharaohs. (Continued on page 37.)
At the time of its discovery, the mummy of
honour”. Necklaces of this type

were awarded by the pharaoh to
of honour” as a mark of
divine favour.
The collar shown here
-
art, made up nearly
jewellery was discov-

ered. Attached to the
decorated fastener are
fourteen braided tassels,
each of which terminates
from which two smaller
The top of the clasp
beneath it, framed by friezes

of uraei, the birth and throne
So how was this necklace worn?
The Gold of the

Pharaohs
bouquet which blossomed behind the

34 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
the forehead is a beautifully crafted uraeus whose sinuous

Amenemopet was buried in a small chamber within the
The uraeus provides the only colour on a mask that is
characterised by its simplicity—even the stripes of the
nem es headdress are absent.
allow him to be closer to his father.
we know) the only non-royal person to have received such

an honour.
Also remarkable for a non-royal burial were silver and
then attached by means of solder.
court was enhanced by his additional priestly titles—the

inclusion of a non-royal within the pharaoh’s tomb would
-
bauendjed was not of royal blood, he would be (as far as
36 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
marshes and represent the marsh that appeared around
-
leaf, into which he chased an aquatic scene full of life and
paste, likely represents the mound of creation.
arrived too late, vainly holds out her hands without “Overseer of the priests of all the gods.”
her rival away with the other.
(From page 33.) When Psusennes I’s tomb was discov- Dynasty ruler Sheshonq II. A room next to Psusennes I’s
ered in 1939 by Pierre Montet, the Egyptologist quickly sarcophagus chamber also held the burial of his general
realised he had unearthed something much more—here Wendjebauendjed. While the authority of these pharaohs
was a royal burial complex that also yielded the bodies of was recognised throughout Egypt (including Thebes) their
Psusennes’ son and successor, Amenemopet, fellow 21st power was waning. Amenemopet’s mummy wore a gilt
Dynasty pharaohs Siamun and Psusennes II and the 22nd mask rather than one of solid gold. (Continued page 41.)
clues.
H
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O N
TO IO
:S B IT
AN HI
DR EX
O
VA AGE
N N IN RIT
I/ L D HE
AB O R O RL
ATO RIO RO SSO. © W
38 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
buried with two of only six known examples—all of
them from this dynasty.
“The Osiris king, Sheshonq Meryamun

(‘Beloved of Amun’).”
in their reborn and radiant state, Sheshonq’s rare, falcon-
Sokar, patron of the Memphite necropolis; and Osiris, the
cycle of life: creation, death, and resurrection.

S
PH
N
O
O TI
TO I BI
: SA XH
ND
GEE
RO A
VA RIT
NN D HE
IN I / O RL
LABO
RATO RIO RO SSO . © W
PH
O TO
: S
SA ON
ND
RO IB ITI
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EE
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BO RAT DH
O RIORO SSO. © WO RL
appear incredibly similar, but we know the name of the deity
district of Memphis)”.
“He will not fall to the power of the king,
or the heat (rage) of Bastet.”

(The Book of the Dead, Chapter 135.)
“His mother has nourished him, she of Bubastis

(cult centre of Bastet).”
(Pyramid Texts, Utterance 508.
From the Pyramid of King Pepi I, 6th Dynasty, ca. 2300 b.c.)
40 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
turquoise represented the blue
The lower part represents an open

ca.
B.C.
buried beneath a small pyramid on the northern side of
personal adornments were pieces with the name of the Sesostris III and the end of
the 12th dynasty
The pendant, with carnelian, turquoise and lapis lazuli “The royal necropolises of this period [the late Middle
inlay, is in the form of an oyster shell. The stones chosen
appearance of the orb as it rises above the eastern the royal family lived.”
(From page 37.) The 21st-Dynasty’s Psusennes I reigned These pieces come from Egypt’s 11th and 12th Dynasties,
nearly 300 years after Ramesses the Great, and visitors to some 500 years before Ramesses II’s reign. This was a golden
the exhibition will no doubt be delighted to see a selection age of Egyptian history whose language and art served as
of stunning artefacts from well before Ramesses II’s time as models for the next two millennia—and whose royal stat-
well (see above and the following page). uary were ready targets for usurpation by Ramesses.
and combines powerful symbols of fertility and
ankh , the word for “life”, since the
The handle, in the form of a papyrus column,
day of creation around a mound which rose

above the formless watery abyss.
The woman’s face with cow’s ears represents
beauty, sexuality, pleasure, intoxication, music

and dance.
life, women embodied the erotic attraction that

stirred the potential for the procreation of new
imparted beauty and desirability to its owner.
in her tomb beside the pyramid of her father,

42 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
© YVAN LEBERT
Ram ses & The Gold of the Pharaohs exhibition.
tomb has been open since antiquity much of the beauti- -
however, has shown that the decorative plan is essentially
RAMSES & THE GOLD OF THE PHARAOHS the might and magnificence of ancient Egypt, and the
Sydney is the fourth stop on the ten-city blockbuster tour, Ramses & The Gold of the Pharaohs exhibition unfolds across
featuring more than 180 spectacular artefacts, many of nine themed galleries that focus on different aspects of
which have never left Egypt before, let alone landed his life: warrior, husband, father and living god.
on Australian shores. The showstopper of the exhibition Describing the exhibition to The Weekend Australian
is undoubtedly the cedar coffin in which Ramesses II’s Magazine, former Egyptian minister of antiquities and
mummy was discovered in 1881. official curator of the exhibition, Zahi Hawass, explained
This leg of the touring exhibition marks only the third that “this is how ancient Egypt captured the hearts of people
time the coffin has left Egypt. The first occasion was a rescue everywhere. . . . It does it because this is history you can
mission for Ramesses’ body which was plagued with fungal touch—it lives and breathes through these artefacts.” It’s
infections. In September 1976, the king’s mummy, res- hard to argue with Hawass—although touching the artefacts
ting in his wooden coffin, arrived in Paris for treatment. is not encouraged.
Appropriately, Ramesses II was welcomed with honours
fitting for a visiting head of state. Egyptian law forbids
the transport of royal mummies abroad, which means the
coffin is as close as visitors outside of Egypt will ever come RAM SES
to Egypt’s great pharaoh. & The Gold of t he Pharaohs
Visitors to the exhibition can also upgrade their ticket
to include a multisensory VR experience, allowing them Showing until 19 May 2024
to step inside two of Ramesses II’s most inspiring structures Open every day (except Christm as Day), 10am –5pm
from his reign: the tomb of Ramesses’ first Great Royal
Wife, Queen Nefertari, and the temples of Abu Simbel.
The name of Ramesses the Great is synonymous with
The DEIFICATION Of
TUTANKHAMUN
KHONSU KHEPRI THOTH TUTANKHAM UN RE AM UN-RE IAH
FABIENNE HAAS DANTES

One spring, around 1320 B.C., the young ruler of Egypt, Tutankham un, was placed in
his sm all tom b in the Valley of the Kings at Thebes. He had com e to the throne as a
child after the collapse of the revolutionary regim e of his father, Akhenaten, and the
short-lived reign of Nefertiti. The swing back to orthodoxy was underway. Not only
did Tutankham un expect to join the traditional deities in death, but, just like his grand-
father, he sought to be worshipped in this life as a living god.
of the royal treasury into building campaigns up and down

the Nile, rather than bloody battlefield exploits, including
Luxor Temple’s Sun Court.
“Nebmaatre, chosen by Aten.” Each of these cartouches contain the king’s throne name,
Nebmaatre (“Possessor of the Maat of Re”), followed by a
solar-related epithet. With these statements, the king is
“Nebmaatre, the great Aten” proclaiming variously that the sun disk (Aten) is taking
divine actions for his direct benefit, or that Amenhotep
actually IS the god. It reveals a remarkable elevation in the
“Nebmaatre, beloved of Aten” career of the pharaoh: from a semi-divine intermediary
standing between the heavens and mankind, to a fully-
fledged deity in his own right.
The Egyptian pharaohs, in their glorious splendour, had
“Nebmaatre, the heir of Aten.” long identified themselves with the brilliance of the sun.
Over 400 years before Amenhotep III’s time, the Middle
Kingdom ruler, Amenemhet III, was described as...
“Nebmaatre, the dazzling Aten.”
(From the Sun Court of Amenhotep III in Luxor Temple.)
“He is Re, by whose rays one sees,

hese five royal cartouches appear in giant hieroglyphs
T on an architrave in the Sun Court of Luxor Temple,

commissioned by the immensely wealthy 18th
Dynasty pharaoh Amenhotep III.
After inheriting a stable kingdom resulting from mili-
tary victories going back to his great-grandfather’s
who illuminates him and the Two Lands more than
the Aten.”
(Stela of Sehetepibre, 12th Dynasty reign of Senwosret III and
Amenemhet III. Cairo CG 20538.)
(Thutmose III’s) time, as well as from his father’s (Thutmose Just as the sun burst forth each morning in an unending
IV’s) diplomatic alliances, Amenhotep funnelled the riches cycle, so too the king could be rejuvenated and join the sun
44 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
on his solar boat as it sailed across the sky. Amenhotep III
however, didn’t become just LIKE the sun. By adopting
the epithet “the dazzling Aten”, he proclaimed that he actu-
ally WAS the sun god.
Throughout his life, Amenhotep III revealed a marked
increase in royal interest in the solar cult. The creator god
Re, whose cult centre was at Heliopolis (now a suburb of
modern Cairo), was elevated to become the state deity
Amun-Re through a fusion with Amun, the patron god in
ancient Thebes.
The solar deity appeared in different forms: appearing
as Khepri at sunrise (the fiery birth of the newborn sun),
Re-Horakhty in the daytime sky, on whose boat the deceased
pharaoh travelled from east to west, and as Atum in the
evening sun form, ready to descend into the nocturnal
netherworld for rejuvenation with Osiris, the god of rebirth.
In addition, Aten became increasingly tangible as the god
of the celestial body, the sun. Numerous inscriptions from
the time of Amenhotep III mention Aten, including a
regiment of his army:
“Standard bearer of the regiment of

Nebmaatre the dazzling Aten, Kamose.”
(From a block statue of the standard bearer Kamose.
Reign of Amenhotep III. British Museum EA1210.)
At the heart of Amenhotep’s theology was an ideology

that emphasized solar deities such as Re and Atum (and
the gods associated with them) and their powers of creation
and rebirth. Within this pantheon of gods, Amenhotep III
was to be the central figure. Not only did the pharaoh deify
himself as a sun god, he also identified as a moon god,
named Nebmaatre, Lord of Nubia (see left and below).
©J
UL
IA
BU
D KA
PHOTO: IAN FLEMING / ALAMY.COM
of Soleb in modern Sudan was dedicated
Lord of Nubia:
wears a crown topped by a lunar disk and

crescent.
sculpture had been unearthed seven years earlier. cycle—and the role of the son of Amun.
This phenomenon continued when Amenhotep III’s centre was the home of the royal family and the focus of
grandson, Tutankhamun, later took on the role of the the King’s worship of the Aten.
moon god, and the statues of the gods also bear his facial Interestingly, in a nearby site called Hermopolis—a
features (see above). After Amenhotep III’s death, his son cult site of a lunar baboon god called Thoth—Amenhotep
Akhenaten continued to venerate his father as a god in both III had previously erected colossal statues of himself in the
his solar and lunar aspects. form of baboons, connecting him again to lunar cult. It’s
Few other pharaohs seem to have burned with the re- plausible that the site of Amarna was selected because of
ligious fire that drove Akhenaten. He promoted a for- its proximity to Hermopolis (modern el-Ashmunein),
merly minor player in the pantheon of gods, to be held creating a duality of sun and moon either side of the Nile.
above all others. The object of his devotion was Aten, the The designation for the king as the netjer nefer
power emanating from the sun disk. (“the good god”) first appeared in the Old Kingdom and
The king saw Aten as the sole giver of life, with Akhen- served to clearly declare kingship as a divine manifestation.
aten’s iconography stressing his own role as Atum’s first- Amenhotep III frequently used this title, which was reserved
born: Shu, god of air and light. This automatically made solely for the living pharaoh. The Old Kingdom, with its
the other gods obsolete. But for Akhenaten, it wasn’t enough pyramids and sun temples was the height of solar worship
that he simply renounced the traditional deities that had in ancient Egypt (aside from Akhenaten’s brief affair with
flourished over the previous 2,000 years, he had to rid Egypt Aten), and we can view Amenhotep III’s adoption solar
of their names and images—particularly the dominant state epithets as a deliberate reference and connection to the
god, Amun. The name of Amun, as well as his image, were solar theology of the Old Kingdom in order to renew and
hammered from tombs and temples up and down the Nile. consolidate the cult of the gods of the New Kingdom.
Then, in a final break from convention, Akhenaten aban- Although Amun-Re was declared the state god, many
doned Thebes and founded an entirely new city: Akhet- other divinities and their images also placed in direct rela-
aten (modern Amarna) in Middle Egypt. This dazzling new tion to the ruler, and across thousands of years, the faces
46 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
the same facial features in order to express the divinity of the pharaoh.
tectively on Tutankhamun. Later,
© JEFFREY ROSS BURZACOTT
of the statues of gods were patterned after that of the reign- This general correspondence of the facial features of
ing king (see above). With a few exceptions, this does not the statues of the king and those of the gods created under
illustrate the unrestricted deification of the king, but points him increased sharply during Amenhotep III’s kingship.
to the fusion of the pharaoh with the gods and the divin- Unfortunately, this circumstance meant that portraits of
ity of the king’s rule over the entire empire. Amenhotep III as Amun fell victim to Akhenaten’s agents
with the sidelock of youth, Tutankhamun assures his
and their chisels. Throughout his realm, and even beyond

the southern border into Nubia, the name and image of
Amun were attacked and erased. Even Amenhotep III’s
status as father of the pharaoh didn’t protect his name,
containing as it did the name of the cancelled god.
In the immediate post-Amarna period following
Akhenaten’s death, there was an immediate effort to
revive the elaborate Egyptian underworld which Akhen-
aten had abolished. The image to the right is a detail from
PHOTO: SMITH ARCHIVE / ALAMY.COM
a wooden travelling chest that was discovered in Tutankh-

amun’s tomb. Here we see the king offering to a statue of
Osiris, Lord of the underworld, who was now back from
his Amarna-imposed exile.
The creator god Amun was also reinstated under Tut-
ankhamun’s reign and suggests an effort to reintroduce the
Theban triad of Amun, Mut and Khonsu in Heliopolis, the
centre of sun worship in Egypt. It is reasonable to assume
that both Thebes and Heliopolis functioned side by side as
central cult centres. In the Theban triad, Amun (-Re) em-
bodied the solar element, while Khonsu, as the moon god, OSIRIS WAS BACK!
represented the nocturnal aspect of the sun’s course.
to Osiris, who had been abandoned for the previous two
Under Tutankhamun’s policy of restoration, a coexis-
tence of all gods was allowed again, just as it did during
48 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
After Tutankhamun took
caused to the partly

abandoned temple of
Akhenaten. This statue of

Amun with the facial
features of Tutankhamun
likely dates to this period.
into many pieces. Most of

the sculpture was recon-
the tip of the nose wasn’t

uncovered until 2003.
Tutankhamun was able to
his lifetime.
© MANNA NADER—KAIROINFO4U
the reign of his grandfather, Amenhotep III. The inscription

on the stela of Hor and Suty, for example, two overseers of
works from the reign of Amenhotep III, details how the “Beloved of Amun-Re, lord of the Thrones
men worshipped the creator god Re in its many forms, of the Two Lands, foremost of Karnak Temple;
including Amun and the god of the sun’s rebirth at dawn,
Horakhty:
Atum, lord of the Two Lands and Heliopolis;
“Praising Amun when he shines as Horakhty.”

(Stela of Hor and Suty, British Museum EA826.) Re-Horakhty;
Soon after ascending the throne, Tutankhamun erected

a stela at Karnak Temple that is today known as the Resto-
Ptah, south of his wall, lord of Ankh-Tawi
ration Stela. This was a royal decree that recorded how the
(a district of Memphis);
neglected temples of Egypt had fallen into ruin during
Akhenaten’s reign and how Tutankhamun had restored
them to their former glory. On it, the traditional gods
bestowed their blessings upon the king, highlighting the Thoth, lord of the sacred word.”
ancient centres of worship: Heliopolis, Memphis and Thebes: (Restoration Stela, Cairo JE 41504.)
Howard Carter encountered a considerable number of
gilded statues of gods and kings within Tutankhamun’s
tomb (see page 48). It is worth considering if the king
pushed a reintroduction of the worship of the classical
gods, while also functioning as a divine living image, just
as his father regarded himself at Amarna. After all, Tut-
ankhamun’s own name translates as “Living Image of Amun”.
We also observe that the royal statuettes from his tomb are
hardly different in form, material and iconography from
the figurines of the gods—and probably intentionally.
Through texts and images connecting the ruler with
the daily course of the sun, Tutankhamun was proclaimed
the son of Amun-Re. This parallel between him and Amen-
hotep III is clear, and we have several connections to his
grandfather. One of these is the inscriptions on the lion
statues of Soleb (British Museum, EA1, EA2). These twin
lions once decorated Amenhotep III’s temple at Soleb in
Lower Nubia (modern Sudan) and are inscribed with
hieroglyphic text that states how they were restored by
Tutankhamun. The text begins with Tutankhamun’s five
royal names, and it is worth noting that in ancient Egyptian,
“father” can also mean “grandfather”:
“Living Horus (name): victorious bull, image of (re-)birth,
The Two Ladies (name): perfect of laws,

IN THE ARM S OF THE GODDESS.
who has quietened down the Two Lands,
Golden Horus (name): elevated of appearances,

who has satisfied the gods,
each corner, her arms outstretched for the protection of
her husband.
© STAATLICHE MUSEEN ZU BERLIN—ÄGYPTISCHES MUSEUM UND
King of Upper and Lower Egypt, lord of the Two Lands, PAPYRUSSAMMLUNG, INV. NO. ÄM 14524. PHOTO: JÜRGEN LIEPE
lord of action, Nebkheperure,

Notice also the clear theme of renewal and restoration
of normality in the king’s titulary.
Son of Re, lord of appearances, Tutankhamun,
ruler of southern Heliopolis (Thebes), THE DIVINITY OF TUTANKHAMUN
During his lifetime, the pharaoh was considered related to
the gods and had a divine role to fulfil in this function. The
He who renewed the monument of his father, queen was also directly involved in this task, especially at
Amarna, where the divine triad consisted of the Aten,
Akhenaten and Nefertiti. Depictions of Nefertiti demon-
the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, lord of the Two Lands, strate her role as the divine feminine essence previously
Nebmaatre, image of Re, held by all the goddesses of the old pantheon.
son of Re, Amenhotep, ruler of Thebes.” Beyond the death of the pharaoh, Nefertiti retained this
position of sole goddess, seen, for example, in the figures
on Akhenaten’s sarcophagus (above). The queen protected
all four corners and thus embodied the four traditional
He made it as a monument for his father, Amun-Re,
goddesses, Isis, Nephthys, Neith and Selket, who were
Lord of the thrones of the Two Lands,
sculpted on the corners of kingly sarcophagi through to
the end of the dynasty.
This divine position of the queen can also be demon-
for Atum, lord of Heliopolis, (and for) Iah (moon god), strated in the four figures surrounding the golden canopic
shrine found in Tutankhamun’s tomb (opposite page).
These figures likely bear the facial features of Meritaten,
that he be given life, like Re, for ever and for eternity.” the eldest of Akhenaten and Nefertiti’s six daughters.
50 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
that covered the canopic chest
are, however, the attire of
been subsequently elevated to
of divine emblems to their

heads. The question is, who
was the queen?
Akhenaten’s philosophy saw
they formed a holy trinity with

the Aten, which made Nefertiti
canopic shrine of her mother,

which was later adapted for
© MANNA NADER—KAIROINFO4U
Meritaten was the symbolic Great Royal Wife of Akhen- Within the tomb, one key scene (next page) highlights
aten’s co-regent, Neferneferuaten (Nefertiti), for whom the Maia’s special position within the palace. Here, remarkably,
shrine was built. Maia sits on the royal throne with Tutankhamun sitting
The tomb of Maia in Saqqara offers a possible insight on her lap. On the left, six prominent men of the kingdom
into the theme of Tutankhamun’s divinity. Maia was the pay homage to the king, and also indirectly to Maia.
“wet nurse of the king” and served under the reigns of both This detail is exceptional—it has no parallel with any other
Akhenaten and Tutankhamun. The design of her final illustrations of royal wet nurses.
resting place is a valuable testimony to the importance and Maia’s tomb consists of three above-ground decorated
work of a high-ranking woman at the royal court during rooms and underground burial chambers. The first room
the Amarna and post-Amarna periods. By the time her of the cult chapel depicts the significant moments from
tomb came to be decorated, Osiris’ powers of resurrection Maia’s life, and we see the nurse with the little king on her
had been reasserted, as demonstrated by a text on one of lap. The second chamber in Maia’s tomb illustrates the
the stone pillars inside the tomb: funeral rites performed for the deceased. Maia’s mummy
is supported by Anubis with the Opening of the Mouth
ritual being performed before it (see page 53). There is no
doubt that Osiris and his traditional powers of regeneration
“Oh, praise for Wennefer (an epithet of Osiris) by the were back.
wet-nurse of the king, There are three special moments from both the life
of the wet nurse and the transfer of her mummy to the
afterlife present in Maia’s tomb: 1. Maia with the young
who suckles the divine flesh, Maia.” king on her lap, 2. Maia in front of the adult king, and 3.
© MIKE SHEPHERD IMAGES
the royal wet nurse Maia face-to-face with Tutankhamun.
52 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
the Opening of the Mouth and Eyes ritual.
Maia’s high position gave her the privilege of
coming into direct contact with the divinity of
the pharaoh and the scene on the opposite page
overlaps two stages of her life. Tutankhaten (his
Amarna name, honouring Aten) was not yet king
when Maia cared for him as a toddler. At the time
of Maia’s death, the now Tutankhamun was
pharaoh. Accordingly, the childlike Tutankhaten
is depicted on the lap of the nurse in his position
as (later) Tutankhamun in the corresponding
regalia. The divinity of the king is emphasised by
the ankh sign in his hand, considering that the
gesture of “giving life” is traditionally performed
only by the gods for the king. Here, therefore, the
king appears in divine function. This detail can
also be found on the north wall of the Burial
Chamber of his tomb, where the king is depicted
with the ankh sign in his hand, thus presenting
his divinity.
Since Maia was entrusted with the education
of little Tutankhaten during Akhenaten’s reign,
the picture bears the typical Amarna iconography,
with the figure of the Aten in his form as a sun
disk, the lower edge of which is decorated in
Amarna style with small ankh signs and uraei © JEFFREY ROSS BURZACOTT
(rearing royal cobras). Maia, in her role as the

The tomb of Maia at Saqqara displays a return to orthodoxy
king’s foster mother, is included in the post- -
Amarna divine triad: Osiris (the sun)-Isis (Maia)-
Horus (Tutankhamun).
A similar scene from the time of Tutankha-
mun also serves as a reference for the king’s role
as a divine child. It is a fragment of a limestone stelae (Cairo The breastfeeding of the childlike king by Isis accom-
JE 27076), on the lunette of which the youthful pharaoh is panied by the god Min could perhaps point to the origin
breast fed by Isis. The second group of figures in the right and thus the childhood of Tutankhaten in Akhmim (the
half of the scene shows the king being installed as ruler by cult centre of worship of Min), while the scene with Amun
Amun-Re, the Theban god par excellence, and his divine and Mut allude to the subsequent accession to the throne
consort Mut. in Thebes.
© MONET BURZACOTT
This limestone stela of
authority over his realm. therefore eternal life.
In addition to the parallel of the biographical scenery In this context, it should also be mentioned that in the
theme, another detail within the Maia relief is worth men- middle scene of the north wall of KV 62, Nut performs the
tioning. Young Tutankhaten sits on the nurse’s lap while nini gesture with her hands placed over the same symbol
she holds a papyrus umbel to his nose. Maia’s wig is also of the papyrus umbel (below). The flower forms an element
adorned with the same papyrus umbel. As a hieroglyph, on the king’s staff and is touched by the water running
the papyrus umbel means wadj: “to be green; be fresh; down from the goddess’ hand. In this sense, too, the papyrus
flourish”. The papyrus umbels are a symbol of raising a umbel represents flourishing and growing, and alludes to
healthy and strong child. This female fertility and motherhood, which in this case is at-
meaning symbolically points tributed to the king by Nut.
to Maia’s task of caring for
the young Tutankh-
aten and nourish-
ing him with the
essence of life, her
mother’s milk. A
similar picture
is provided by
the amulet below
(Cairo JE 61952)
from KV 62, where
the king is suckled
by the goddess Weret- ©
M
ON
hekau in the form of a ET
BU R
human-headed snake. ZACO TT
nini
DEITIES ASSOCIATED WITH

THE ROLE OF TUTANKHAMUN
The objects on Tutankhamun’s mummy not only address
the Osirianization of the deceased king, but also reveal
evidence of two deities who interact directly with the king:
the moon god and the sun god.
Amun is usually referred to as the physical and spiri-
tual father of the king, thus legitimising the king’s reign
through his direct divine descent. However, other deities
are also described as “father of the king”, such as Re, Khepri
and Atum-Re. Among the moon gods, Thoth appears as
the father of Amenhotep III in connection with an inscrip-
tion brought to light at Deir El Bersha in Middle Egypt:
King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Nebmaatre,

Son of Re, Amenhotep, ruler of Thebes, given life.
“He built his monument for his father Thoth,

lord of Hermopolis.”
54 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
The stele of
Amen-hotep-Huy
under Tutankhamun.
This stela makes it clear that after
interlude championed by his father had
however, the stela shows that Tutankh-
Amenhotep-Huy, similar to the divine
© INSTITUT FRANÇAIS D’ARCHÉOLOGIE ORIENTALE.

PHOTO: ALAIN LECLER AND IHAB MOHAMMAD IBRAHIM
This kind of divine father/pharaonic son relationship THE KING AS OSIRIS

dates back to the early Old Kingdom, and likely earlier. Inscribed on the golden panels of the innermost shrine
Egypt’s rulers came to be regarded as the earthly embodi- surrounding Tutankhamun’s sarcophagus are texts that not
ment of the celestial god Horus, with the king adopting a only position the king as the son of the creator god Geb,
“Horus name”. For the pharaoh, the image of the god acted but also describe the king’s transformation into a deity. The
as a royal emblem. Tutankhamun’s Horus Name, for close proximity of these texts to the king’s body alludes to
example, was “Horus: Victorious bull, their importance in elevating his soul to the divine realm.
image of (re-)births”. Thus, the king became the living
manifestation of Horus, son of Osiris. From the Old
Kingdom’s 4th Dynasty, the designation “son of Re” also “Words spoken by Geb, father of the gods:
appears before the pharaoh’s name.
In the New Kingdom, the divine father-earthly son
relationship—specifically between the king and Amun—
I have come, I protect my son,
takes on great importance. It legitimises and confirms the
Osiris King Tutankhamun, ruler of Thebes,
king as heir to the throne in the divine line of kinship. But
even as the son of any god, the king is in some way subject
to filial duties, such as offering sacrifices or maintaining
the dominion as an inheritance from the father. As a human when he comes forth by day,
being, the king has the task of acting in accordance with
the gods, and he can do this successfully because he is the
divine descendant and representative on earth. in all the forms he desires to appear in.”
The objects placed on Tutankhamun’s royal mummy
are limited to a few targeted deities: the sun god in his
forms (especially as Khepri) and the moon god or his
symbolic representation—the moon disk or left-facing
wedjat eye ).
In life, the king embodied a part of the Theban triad,
as Khonsu, the child of Amun and Mut. Within the Memphis
theology, he also represents divine offspring: Nefertem, the
child of Ptah and his consort Sekhmet. But posthumously,
it is primarily about the king becoming an Osiris. This
transformation of the dead was a central part of ancient
Egyptian understanding across all eras of their history.
The Egyptians believed that through the power of Osiris
they could be reborn daily and rise with the sun eternally
at daybreak. The sun also received this gift of resurrection
from Osiris when, in the middle of the netherworldly night,
the solar deity united with Osiris, and was recharged with
the energy to begin creation anew at dawn.
On the basis of the objects placed on Tutankhamun’s
mummy—not least of which being the king’s luminous,
golden mask—the embedding of Osiris in the course of the
sun continued in earnest under this king. Additionally,
objects are also carefully chosen to address the forms
that the king can take in order to enter the solar cycle as
a divine being. This fusion of the divine with the royal
realm illustrates the king becoming a form of the sun god,
and at the same time, his Osirianisation.
THE KING AS THE SUN GOD

The Aten theology continued to have an effect beyond the
Amarna period and its legacy is reflected in some of the
objects on the mummy of Tutankhamun. Beneath the golden
mask, for example, the head of Tutankhamun wore a
cloth cap that featured beaded uraei decorated with tiny
cartouches of thin gold containing the names of Aten.
1
2 44 3
(ABOVE) “Re-Horakhty “In his name:

who rejoices in Shu, which is
. EA
from a domestic shrine the Horizon” in the horizon”

NO
.
CC
.A
“slouched” on the royal

M
EU throne, presumably so that

© US
M
TH H the curve of his body could be
E TR ITIS
U STEES O F TH E BR
These Aten cartouches on Tutankhmun’s beadwork
extension of) the rays of the Aten.
, but without the usual sun disk.
from Tutankhamun’s predecessor, Smenkhkare—the

(OPPOSITE PAGE) name adopted by Nefertiti on her elevation to sole
Nefertiti choose a name that lacked any Aten

of Tutankhamun was initially made for Queen Nefertiti,
reference, but also appears to have dropped the
likely intended for her place by her husband’s side in the
royal palace at Amarna. The backrest particularly has seen
of the shift away from Aten as supreme deity.
-
ship passed to Tutankhamun.
As you can see on page 54, the north wall of Tutankh-
very similar to both the one shown above and that worn
amun’s Burial Chamber displays the king wearing a diadem,
identical with one found on the mummy of the king.
Such a diadem is also seen on the head of his earthly
father, Akhenaten (left and opposite), and was apparently
56 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
PHOTO: JOSE LUCAS / ALAMY.COM
The feathers were a later adaptation when Tutankhamun
a distinctive regalia of the Amarna king. This evidence

would indicate that the transition from the Amarna belief
back to the conventional worship of the gods under the “Words spoken by Thoth, vicar of Re, when he appears,
reign of Tutankhamun was not yet complete.
In addition, there are also indications that Tutankh-
amun appeared as a moon god as Re’s representative. In Re is unharmed when going to rest in the west.
the Book of the Heavenly Cow, this role is granted to the
divine scribe and moon god, Thoth (who now encom-
passes both heavens: night and day) when Re says to him: When united to his son, King Nebkheperure.
“You will be in my place, vicar,
And he has struck down Apep

then it will be said of you, Thoth is the vicar of Re.” on the difficult bank.
(The Book of the Heavenly Cow,
From the Tomb of Seti I, 19th Dynasty, ca. 1290 b.c.)
Grant that King Tutankhamun may live forever,
The Book of the Heavenly Cow first appears on the
outermost gilded shrine that surrounded Tutankhamun’s
sarcophagus. On these shrines we see the king simultan-
eously protecting and uniting with the sun god, as evidenced as the sacred barque of Re travels to rest in the horizon
by Thoth’s divine words. of the West. . .
On Tutankhamun’s innermost shrine, in addition to
accompanying the sun god on his journey through the
underworld, Tutankhamun helps Re defeat Apep, a giant The protection of Re is the protection of King
serpent deity who represented eternal chaos: Nebkheperure, may he live forever.”
58 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
Every night, the sun travelled through the dangerous Golden Scarab
underworld for a regenerative rendezvous with Osiris and The scarab shown below (Cairo JE 61974) was discovered
then onwards its rebirth at dawn. The greatest challenge it inside a gilded box in the Antechamber of Tutankhamun’s
faced was Apep, who intended to swallow the sun and end tomb. The golden scene on the underside depicts Tutankha-
the eternal cycle of creation. Standing aboard the solar mun flanked between the deities Re-Horakhty and Atum,
barque, the king was integrated into its crew of gods and and thereby joining their heavenly ranks. Re-Horakhty
joined the holy battle to destroy Apep, clear the sun’s noc- (“Horus of the Horizons”) represents the sun god in the
turnal path, and share in its glorious rebirth at dawn. In a daytime sky, and Atum as the evening, setting sun. Thus,
nutshell, the king was assigned a divine role. The following on this scarab, Tutankhamun becomes the third daytime
objects explain the circumstances of this assignment. form of Re: the young sun in the form of the scarab deity
Khepri, pushing the sun above the horizon, just as the beetle
Head on the lotus flower rolls its ball of dung.
This object depicts the king as a child of the sun, with the The name Khepri was derived from the verb kheper,
youthful head of Tutankhamun rising from a lotus flower. which means “to come into being”, “to change” or “to
To the Egyptians, the lotus (or blue water lily), symbolised become”, and so the scarab represented the ability of the
creation and rebirth, with one creation storytelling of a sun god—and thus the king—to bring about his own rebirth
lotus flower being the first living form to appear above the at dawn. The related word kheperu (“forms” or “manifesta-
primaeval waters of Nun. The petals opened to reveal the tions”) is the middle word element of Tutankhamun’s throne
young sun god, whose creative energies brought about the name, Neb-kheperu-Re (“Possessor of the forms
world. Here we see a fusion of the roles of sun god and of Re”), which positions the king as one of the sun god’s
king, with the desired impression that no distinction is forms, in this instance at the start of his daily celestial course.
made between god and king. The front of the object, the scarab itself, not only sym-
bolises the king’s wish “to come into being” each morning
at the start of the sun’s celestial course, but also this inter-
pretation of the king as Khepri himself.
© GRIFFITH INSTITUTE, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Inscription from the tomb of Huy

The Theban tomb of Amenhotep-Huy (TT 40) showcases
a proud moment where Huy, Tutankhamun’s Viceroy of
Nubia, presents to the king the chiefs of Syria who have
arrived to pay homage. As Huy approaches the throne (page
60), eyes lowered in reverence, he praises his king:
“You are Re, your image is his image,

placed inside Tutankhamun’s tomb to represent the
eternal life, reborn at every dawn as the sun.

© RAMÓN VERDAGUER—CHRISTIANE MAQUET (SOLOEGIPTO) you are heaven that is firm on its four supports.”
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
presided over Nubia under Tutankhamun. The above
This line equates the king with the sun god to express
that the king is divine and therefore acts according to the
exemplary Re. Since it was composed in a setting outside “He (the king) goes out with his troops
of the king’s tomb, its content should be placed in relation on either side of him,
to the living king. Thus, this passage provides proof that
the king adopts the role of the sun god not only in the
funerary realm, but also in his ruling function during his like the moon among the stars.”
lifetime. (Karnak Stela of Ahmose, [Cairo CG 34001, JE 38246],
18th Dynasty, ca. 1540 b.c.)
THE KING AS THE MOON GOD
Part of the role of the living, reigning king was to be re- This battlefield narrative involving the moon is given
garded as the representative of the gods; symbolically he even more weight as a new line of rulers established the
ruled as a deity on earth. Thus, expressing the close kinship 19th Dynasty. At Karnak Temple, a dramatic relief shows
between the king and the moon god was a device that could King Seti I heroically charging his war chariot at Shasu
be used by the pharaoh to legitimise his rule and his func- bedouin, firing volleys of arrows at the rebels who attempt
tion as keeper of maat (an Egyptian concept related to to flee from the withering assault. The accompanying text
universal control, balance and order). The king could appear connects the king with the sun and moon gods:
as Khonsu—the son within the Theban triad or be compared
to Thoth when it comes to wisdom and judgment. This
concept influenced the king’s ideology long before and well
beyond the time of Tutankhamun. “Good god, Re of Egypt,
King Ahmose, the founder of the dynasty into which
Tutankhamun was born—Egypt’s 18th—erected a limestone
stela at Karnak Temple to commemorate his conquests and and moon of all countries.”
merits. Within this text we see the moon regarded as the (From the north exterior wall of the Great Hypostyle Hall, Karnak
leader of the stars: Temple, 19th Dynasty, ca. 1295 b.c.)
60 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
M
CO
Y.
M
LA
/A
X
EU
LL
I
GU
IN
: ALA
PH OTO
The top section (above) of the pectoral shown
lunar disk and crescent above his
PHOTO: JOSE LUCAS / ALAMY.COM
Even the Egyptian queen could be linked with the moon. The term Kamutef “bull of his mother” is an epithet of
On the eastern side of Karnak Temple, colossal statues of Amun. For the Egyptians, the bull was a symbol of fertil-
Ramesses II flank the entrance to the 10th Pylon. Standing ity, and they believed that it was men who possessed the
diminutively by his side is his Great Royal Wife, Nefertari, powerful fertile energies that brought forth new life, while
women served as the “vessel” that nurtured the seed. “Bull
of his mother” suggests that as a creator god, Amun could
. . . like the companion of the moon.” bring forth his own being and needed no father. In the Faras
context, Tutankhamun’s role as a “protector of Kamutef ”
The Inscription on a Statue Group from Faras refers to the creative potential of Kamutef transferred
Although the king was mostly compared with the sun, from father to son. In this “kinship” the king adopts the
through text and imagery he could equally be connected properties of a kamutef, which in turn also describe the
to the sun and moon. Our first example was brought to essence of the moon. Thus, Kamutef is where the regener-
light in the early 20th century when an Oxford University ating and repetitive manifestations of both the sun god
expedition was excavating at Faras in Lower Nubia, the Amun-Re and the moon come together. Since the king can
location of a fortress town and temple that was active during also be called Kamutef, a direct unity is created here between
Tutankhamun’s reign. The team uncovered a badly damaged Amun-Re, the moon and the ruler.
sculpture of Tutankhamun flanked by Amun and probably Parallel examples, in which the pharaoh is compared
Mut (Khartoum Museum Cat. No. 3766). Although there with the moon, can also be found in kings before and after
are gaps in the text, the inscription on the statue group Tutankhamun, and the reliefs of Amenhotep III at Soleb
expresses Tutankhamun’s association with the lunar cycle: (page 45) can be seen as a precursor to the religious program
of his grandson’s reign. Under Tutankhamun, the evidence
accumulates for a deliberate expression of the king as a
“Son of Amun who created his beauties, moon god. The king’s identification with the moon god
becomes even clearer on the basis of the pectoral, above.
Set within a full moon/crescent moon combination, the
protector of Kamutef, king stands between Re-Horakhty and Thoth and is adorned
with the blue crown and crescent moon on his head.
...
Moon-crowned Cartouche
form. . . image of the gods, Tutankhamun’s tomb was packed with objects that ele-
vated the king as a moon god. The jewellery clasp on the
following page belonged to a missing pectoral, presum-
he is born entirely every month.” ably stolen by thieves, and is made of gold, silver, and
coloured glass. It was found by Howard Carter in the tomb’s we see the fusion of the royal name with the manifestations
Treasury room. The design features the king’s throne name of Thoth, identifying him as a lunar deity.
in a cartouche flanked by two uraei, or royal cobras, and
crowned with a lunar disk and crescent moon. It is the THE KING AS KHONSU
figurative expression of marking the ruler as a moon god. The father-son relationship with regard to the moon god
in the 18th dynasty can easily be explained by the fact that
the king, as the son of Amun, symbolically slips into the
role of Khonsu. As an underage son, he is dependent on
the support of his father, Amun, and in the role of the “royal
god Khonsu” he has the duty to pay homage to his father
in order to secure his protection and help. Indeed, one of
the most famous statues of the king portrays him in this
childlike iconography of the moon god (see page 46). It
should be noted that Khonsu occurs only outside the tomb
as this deity is important in the function and role
of the living king as part of the Theban triad.
THE ROLE OF THE KING

WITHIN THE THEBAN TRIAD
The sculpture shown opposite was discovered in what is
known as the “Karnak Cachette”: a collection of hundreds
of stone statues buried in a huge pit at Karnak, probably
during a “spring clean” of the crowded temple by priests
during the first century b.c. Now in Cairo’s Egyptian
PHOTO: THE GLOBAL EGYPTIAN MUSEUM Museum, the group depicts the Theban divine couple Amun
and Mut with the king seated in between, likely assuming
Ring with Thoth Motifs in a Double Cartouche the role of their son, Khonsu. Thus, it is shown that Amun
The ring depicted below, found wrapped in linen shawl acts as head of the universe and the king joins as his son.
inside a box in the tomb’s Antechamber, shows how Tut- This connection between the gods and the king is also
ankhamun is equated with the role of Thoth as a moon god. symbolically interpreted by the design of the headdress. If
It consists of two cartouches with a squatting baboon in you combine Mut’s crown of cow horns and sun disk with
the left cartouche, and ibis-headed Thoth in the right, each the feather crown of Amun, you get roughly the elaborate
wearing the lunar disk and crescent. hemhem crown often worn by Tutankhamun. Loaded with
solar symbolism, this crown expresses Tutankhamun’s
involvement in Amun-Re’s cosmic course. The task of the
son is to represent and support the father in this. In the
son, the father lives on.
THE KING AS KHEPRI

From the New Kingdom onwards, the scarab increasingly
appeared in the royal environment. The 18th Dynasty
pharaoh Thutmose III, for example, included an epithet
within his birth name:
“Son of Re, of his body, Thutmose,

perfect of manifestations, living forever.”
Both in this world and in the afterlife, Khepri plays an
© GRIFFITH INSTITUTE, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
important role in the identification of the king, and as a
Incised on the shoulders on one side of the ring are the regeneration motif and solar deity, he features heavily in
figures of two standing baboons with their arms raised in ancient Egypt’s funerary literature. In the Old Kingdom
adoration. On the opposite shoulders are a pair of wedjat Pyramid Texts the king is referred to as a divine child, which
eyes . In this ring’s design, the king is directly in- confirmed his installation as earthly ruler by the sun god.
volved in the course of the sun and moon as the ring forms
a cryptographic spelling of the king’s throne name, Neb-
Kheperu-Re. The word neb (“possessor”) has been
“Merenre is the son of Khepri.”
substituted by the festival sign heb , the lunar disk and
crescent replaces the solar disk Re, and Thoth being
represented in two manifestations—as a baboon and
anthropomorphic with an ibis head—refers to the name Merenre is born from the vulva.”
element kheperu (“manifestations”). In this small ring (From the Pyramid of King Merenre, 6th Dynasty, ca. 2280 b.c.)
62 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
amun’s unmistakable facial features. This sculpture,
Theban divine couple’s son.
It can be concluded that the pharaoh identifies—at least to the position of sole creator. Now, the splendour of the
symbolically—with Khepri. They are interchangeable. The king, in all his glory, was likened to the shining of the disk,
moon-crowned cartouche on the opposite page illustrates and the disk alone. Akhenaten then oversaw the destructive
this well. Flanked by solar uraei, the cartouche identifies exclusion of almost the entire pantheon of traditional gods.
the pharaoh as the sun. Further, the crescent moon symbol- Tutankhamun’s reign was a period of restoration by
izes the king as the moon god. Tutankhamun is thus de- embracing again the underwordly sphere that had been
scribed as the ruler of the cosmos, because he takes on the abandoned for the previous two decades. It is fitting then,
role of the sun as well as the moon god and thus symbol- that for a religion that placed at its centre the idea of un-
izes the entire cycle of day and night. ending cycles, Tutankhamun also returned to a position
Over 600 years before Tutankhamun was born, the that his grandfather, Amenhotep III, had promoted. Not
ancient Pyramid Texts describe the deceased king as a sun only did the pharaoh deify himself as a sun god, he also
god who shines like Re in the sky as his deputy: identified as a moon god. Within the pantheon of gods,
Tutankhamun was the central figure.
“Merenre is the deputy of Re,

studied
Egyptology and Classical Archaeology
at the University of Basel and obtained
Merenre shall not die.” her PhD at the University of Leipzig.
Her published dissertation deals with
(From the Saqqara pyramid of Merenre, 6th Dynasty, ca. 2280 b.c.)
the m um m y jewellery of Tutankha-
m un (
IN SUMMARY -
Throughout the country’s pharaonic history, Egypt’s pha-
). She is currently Liaison
raohs have described a close relationship with the sun god Librarian and Lecturer in Egyptology
Re. During the Amarna Period Akhenaten took this to at the University of Zurich and teaches
extremes when he promoted an aspect of the sun, the Aten, at the Volkshochscule Zurich.
LOOKING BACK
Vintage Images of Ancient Egypt
COURTESY OF THE PEGGY JOY EGYPTOLOGY LIBRARY
64 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
B.C.
B.C.
statue, rubbed it with oils and dressed it in fresh clothes.
his turn came.
priest of the Temple of Min.
them in less conspicuous areas where visitors are
enter the sacred temple sanctuaries and interact so
photo, these two silent inhabitants of Akhmim, unfath-

omably far from their homeland, kindled a curiosity
E X H I B I T I O N S & E V E N T S
GOLDEN M UM M IES EGYPTIAN M UM M IES TUTANKHAM UN

OF EGYPT
La Caixa Forum Valencia

Spain
Showing until 28 January 2024
,
M anchest er M useum
France
Showing until 14 April 2024 La Caixa Forum Zaragoza Showing until 23 February 2024
museum.manchester.ac.uk Spain expo-toutankhamon.com
By being covered in gold, the Egyptians 21 February – 9 June 2024
A travelling exhibition of 242 replicas
hoped to im itate the eternal radiance
Every m um m y has a story to tell. This from the workshops of the Egyptian
of the gods. This touring exhibition
British Museum touring exhibition Museum in Cairo. Includes a recon-
now returns hom e for the Manchester
presents insights into six m um m ies, struction of the three burial cham bers
Museum ’s reopening, and presents a
including a priest’s daughter, of Tutankham un’s tom b.
rich perspective on beliefs about the
a tem ple singer and a young child.
afterlife during an era when Egypt was
part of the Greek and Rom an worlds.
THE BELOVED OF ISIS:
FACE TO FACE:
HIEROGLYPHS:
Allard Pierson M useum

Torquay M useum Devon Am sterdam , The Netherlands Domus Aurea, Rom e
Showing until 18 February 2024 Showing until 25 February 2024 Showing until 14 January 2024
allardpierson.nl colosseo.it
Another British Museum touring This exhibition, held inside Nero’s
exhibition that charts the race to Egyptian m um m y portraits in the Dom us Aurea, explores the links
decipher hieroglyphs, from m edieval Netherlands. It introduces visitors not between Em peror Nero’s special
Arab travellers and Renaissance only to the people portrayed in the relationship with Egypt in the 1st
scholars to the French scholar portraits, but also to the artists who century A.D . It features m ore than 150
Jean-François Cham pollion. Uses created them but also to the collec- artefacts from the Sanno Egyptian
inscriptions on the very objects that tors, archaeologists and researchers Museum , Cam pania and Cairo’s
scholars studied. connected to each m ask. Egyptian Museum .
66 NILE # 3 5 | NOVEMBER 2 0 2 3
Inform ation correct at tim e of printing. Note that exhibition dates and details m ay change unexpectedly.
Always check with the m useum for their current status.
TUTANKHAM UN BEYOND KING TUT DISCOVERING

ANCIENT EGYPT
Baird Cent er, Milwaukee,

Wisconsin Nat ional M useum Aust ralia
Hanns-M art in-Schleyer-Halle, Canberra.
Stuttgart, Germany
15 Decem ber 2023 – 8 Sept 2024
8 Decem ber 2023 – 25 Feb 2024 NoCo Cent er, Jacksonville,
Florida
Showing until 7 January 2024 Features over 220 objects from the
An im m ersive m ultim edia exhibition
Dutch National Museum of Antiquities
using state-of-the-art digital projec-
(Rijksm useum van Oudheden). From
tions. Visitors explore recreated
Innovative video projections and early exploration to cutting-edge
tem ples and treasures of ancient
soundscapes transport visitors to m odern research, this exhibition
Egypt, enveloped in a 360-degree
experience Karnak Tem ple, the Great unveils the lifestyles of the ancient
visual spectacle.
Sphinx, and an Egyptian sunrise as it Egyptians, their religion and society.
ascends above the Pyram ids of Giza,
as well as enter Tutankham un’s tom b.
EGYPTOM ANIA RAM SES AND
THE GOLD OF
THE EGYPTIAN THE PHARAOHS
BOOK OF THE DEAD
The Get t y Villa , Malibu,

California
Showing until 29 January 2024 Aust ralian M useum, Sydney
Cleveland M useum of Art , 18 Novem ber 2023 – 19 May 2024
Ohio
This exhibition features the Getty’s australian.museum
Book of the Dead m anuscripts, which A blockbuster international travelling
have never before been on public exhibition from the Egyptian govern-
view. These writings were crucial to m ent. The exhibition focuses on
of Egyptom ania in fashion by helping the deceased achieve a Ram esses II, the Egyptian royal
juxtaposing contem porary fashion and blessed afterlife in union with the solar dynasties and their relationship with
jewellery from around the world with god Re and the netherworld god of
artworks from the CMA collection. resurrection, Osiris. feature from page 20 in this issue.
NILE
CO M I N G U P ISSUE No. 35
NOVEMBER 2023
NILE Magazine is published in print, web
and tablet/m obile editions.
CONTACT NILE
THE CROCODILE CAVERNS OF M AABDEH editor@nilem agazine.com .au
The caverns of Maabdeh, crowded with crocodile
m um m ies, were a popular attraction for 19th-century EDITOR
visitors. Jane M ulder leads us on a tour.
editor@nilem agazine.com .au
LANGUAGE SPECIALIST
hello@nilem agazine.com .au
ANCIENT EGYPT AND THE BIBLE

FRENCH TRANSLATIONS
Christian faiths? Brian Alm points out the sim ilarities
hello@nilem agazine.com .au
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TREES AND GARDENS
In Egypt’s hot clim ate, trees and gardens were not just
about shade and nourishm ent. Lesley Jackson explains
ADDRESS
their connection with love, fertility and the divine.
C/- Select Publisher Services
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M OLLY BROWN—UNSINKABLE ON THE NILE Suite 12B Davey House,

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Unsinkable Molly Brown” toured Egypt in 1912, and, as Cam bridgeshire PE19 7BA
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THE ART OF ANCIENT EGYPT WITH DR BILL MANLEY
Join best-selling author and Egyptologist Dr Bill Manley for a tour looking at some of Egypt’s best loved ancient monuments, some diversions ‘off the
beaten track’, and visits to fine museums. This is a unique opportunity to learn more about the ancient world with the author of ‘Egyptian Art.’
DEPARTING 19thSEPTEMBER 2024

This tour has a special permit for private entry to the beautiful
tomb of the ‘Sun King’ Amenhotep III
In Cairo we plan a day at Saqqara, a day at the Grand
Egyptian Museum and visits to the Giza Plateau and the
National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation.
In Luxor we study the wonderful art to be found in the Royal
Valleys, the Nobles’ tombs, and the artisans very own private
tombs. We include entry to KV17 the tomb of Seti I, and have
a special permit for private entry to WV22 the tomb of
Amenhotep III. Being an ‘Art Tour’, we had to include entry to
the fabulous tomb of Nefertari.
We enter the great temples of Karnak and Luxor. We include
an overnight visit to Abydos and the glorious Temples of Seti I
and Ramesses II, Shunet el Zebib and Kom el Sultan. On our
journey back to Luxor we visit the Temple of Hathor at
Dendera to view the stunning painted ceiling.
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NILEM AGAZINE.COM .AU | # 3 5 | NOVEM BER 2 0 2 3 £ 5 .

Nefertari. The statues stand

picture of how massive that is.

slows tourism to a trickle,

of Abu Simbel captured the

waters of Lake Nasser, created

temple was sliced into

Some of the Abu Simbel

the saw. Today, similar resin is

Sydney, Australia, check out

PHOTO: EGYPTIAN MINISTRY OF TOURISM AND ANTIQUITIES

FROM THE EDITOR

Book Five of the Lord Hani Mysteries

Valley of the Kings

Kharga Oasis Esna

BECO ME AN ARCE FELLOW O R MEMBER TO DAY: arce.org

“Take the two eyes of Horus,

The black and the white,

seize them for you, to be at your front,

(that) they brighten your face.”

newly reanimated eyes, which could now

© JEFFREY ROSS BURZACOTT

hit, the viewer instantly saw.

pulled the famous bust of

taken less than three weeks

doubt helped inspire the

the iris and pupil made of

© THE DEUTSCHE ORIENT-GESELLSCHAFT (GERMAN ORIENTAL SOCIETY)

of the ears were found, but not

accepted. Nefertiti’s bust likely served as a

In a lantern, the flame is shielded by a linen screen but DUELING VISIONS

(ABOVE) A detail of the proper left eye of the wooden head

folded to form the eyelids.

centuries by the greatest minds of the Greek

FEASTS FOR THE EYES

ian Museum. These are ka statues,

spirits of the deceased.

brick mastaba tombs near the

Mariette’s workers encountered

their subject’s features in a much more

are remarkable in their realism—par-

PHOTO: KENNETH GARRETT / ALAMY.COM

obsidian and translucent alabaster. They are tinted red at

the outside world.

ka statue endowed with incredibly lifelike eyes. These caused

into the centre of the quartz is a recess that holds a cornea

Meritamun (wife of King Amenhotep

THE MARVEL OF THE

for the ka of the revered steward Senbi.”

Queen Ahmose-Meritamun, sister-wife

chevron-shaped inlaid decoration of

thieves, we can be thankful that they

PARTS OF THE EYE

ANATOMICALLY CORRECT EYES

Miss Edwards was mistaken. The

portrait opposite, this woman

that these portraits have been

Oasis and, like most similar

woven into the mummy ban-

name or title, we can only take a

based on many of the same

this was an expensive colour for

band sewn onto her claret-

shiny metal on display; the