Showing posts with label Egypt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Egypt. Show all posts
Egyptian Jewellry
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| Property of Queen Ahhotep. Found at the tomb of Djer, the 3rd Dynasty pharaoh. |
One of the manifestations of such luxurious life is jewellry. Ever since the Egyptians settled along the nile valley (maybe earlier, but we have no evidence), they started paying special attention to jewellry specially, and later, precious stones generally.
The beginning of the Egyptian jewellry
When exactly the Egyptian jewellry was first created is totally beyond out knowledge, however the evidence shows that they started way back around the so-called Badarian era. They used leaves and branches of trees to form out different kinds of jewellry and outfits, probably a bit later started developing by using stones and
Medical Profession in Ancient Egypt
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| Painted wooden stele depicting the statue of the god Horus, to whom a sick man is bringing gifts, Third Intermediate Period. The Museum of Louvre N. 3657. Paris |
According to a Christian writer, Alexandrinus Clemens, living in Alexandria in about 200 AD, the priests of early-dynastic Egypt had written the sum total of their knowledge in 42 sacred books kept in the temples and carried in religious processions. Six of these books were concerned totally with medicine and dealt with anatomy, diseases in general, surgery, remedies, diseases of the eye and diseases of women. No example of these books survive nor of the anatomy books said to have been written by Athothis, second Pharaoh of the First Dynasty.
During the Old Kingdom the medical profession became highly organized, with doctors holding a variety of ranks and specialities. The ordinary doctor or Sinw was outranked by the imy-r sinw (overseer of doctors) the wr sinw (chief of doctors), and smsw sinw (eldest of doctors) and the shd sinw (inspector of doctors). Above all these practitioners was the overseer of doctors of Upper and Lower Egypt. There is evidence that a
The Geography of Ancient Egypt
Every civilisation reflects, to some degree, the influence of its environment. Egypt is a country where, perhaps more than most, the physical and natural features provide a dramatic and contrasting setting for human events. It would be difficult to reside in Egypt and remain unaffected by the natural forces and their cycles. In antiquity, as now, the two great life-giving forces were the Nile and the sun, and in their religious beliefs the Egyptians recognized the omnipotence of these, as well as the existence of the other natural elements which shaped their world.
In the words of a Classical writer, Egypt is the ‘gift of the Nile’. The existence of the fertile areas has always been due to the natural phenomenon of the regular inundation of the river, for Egypt’s scanty and irregular rainfall would never have supplied sufficient water to support crops and animals. The Nile, Africa’s longest river, rises far to the south of Egypt, in the region of the Great Lakes near the equator. Known as Bahr el-Jebel (Mountain Nile) in its upper course, after its junction with the Bahr el-Ghazel it becomes the White Nile. In the highlands of Ethiopia, another river, the Blue Nile, rises in Lake Tana, and the Blue and White Niles join at Khartoum. From Khartoum to Aswan the river is now interrupted by a series of six cataracts. These are not waterfalls, but appear as scattered groups of rocks across the river which obstruct the stream, and at the Fourth, Second and First cataracts, interfere with navigation. Egypt begins at the First Cataract, and comprises the area between this natural barrier and the Mediterranean, some 965 km to the north. It was in the region of the northernmost cataracts that the Egyptians, from early times, subdued the local population, to gain access to the hard stone and gold supplies of Nubia.
Within Egypt, the Nile follows a course which divides into two regions. The Nile Valley, a passage which the river has forced through the desert, runs from Aswan to just below modern Cairo, a distance of some 804 km. The scenery along this valley varies from steep rocky cliffs which rise up on either side of the river,
and then give way to the encroaching deserts, to flat, cultivated plains, with lush vegetation which, again, in the far distance, succumb to the desert. This cultivated area, wrung from the desert by the irrigation of the land with the Nile floods, varies in width; in parts, the Nile Valley is between twelve and six miles wide, but elsewhere, the cliffs hug the edges of the river and there is no cultivatable land. Nowhere in Egypt is the traveller more aware of the significance of the river’s life-force, for here there is virtually no rainfall. The sun is always present, and without the Nile, this region would be desert, like the surrounding area.
The ancient Egyptians recognised the geographical facts and divided their country into two regions. In earliest times, this was a political as well as a geographical reality, but even after the unification of the country, the concept of ‘Two Lands’ was still present. To them, the Nile Valley was ‘Upper Egypt’, whereas the northern area, the Delta, was ‘Lower Egypt’.
Today, the modern capital of Egypt, Cairo, stands at the apex of the Delta. In antiquity, the ancient capital of Memphis lay a few miles south, and from here there was a marked change in the Nile and its surrounding countryside. Here, the river fans out into a delta nearly one hundred miles long; through the two main branches at Rosetta in the west and Damietta in the east, it finally flows into the Mediterranean. The Delta forms a flat, low-lying plain, scored by the Nile’s main and lesser branches; at its widest, northern perimeter, it spreads out over some two hundred miles. However, despite the considerable area of watered land in this region, much of the Delta is marshy or water-logged and cannot be cultivated. Here in antiquity, the nobility and courtiers enjoyed favorite outdoor as times of fishing and fowling in the marshes. The climate in the north also differs from that of Upper Egypt, for the temperatures are more moderate and there is some rainfall.
The ‘Two Lands’ were therefore distinct regions, but were nevertheless interdependent, joined together by the unifying force of the Nile. However, their geographical features imposed different attitudes on their inhabitants. Lower Egypt, closest to the Mediterranean, looked towards the other countries to the north,
and was more readily receptive of influences from outside, becoming a centre for the cross-currents of the politics and culture of the ancient world. Upper Egypt, encapsulated by the deserts and bordered on the south by the land of Nubia, was more isolated from new ideas and influences. The contrast between the Two Lands can be seen not only in the geographical and environmental features, but in the distinctive art schools which emerged and even in the physique of the people. The northerners tended to be more stockily built, with lighter skins, while the southerners displayed something of the angularity evident in the southern school of art. However, these are broad generalisations, for Egypt remained a strongly unified country; at different periods, the capital moved from one region to another, and with it, the courtiers, officials, craftsmen, and workforce associated with the requirements of a great city; and the art followed the same broad traditional principles in both north and south, so that today only an experienced eye can detect differences in the ancient regional
art styles.
It was the Nile however which enabled the Egyptians to cultivate crops and to rear animals, and indeed to develop their remarkable civilization. Rain in Upper Egypt was the exception, and the infrequent, short and violent rain bursts could often bring damage; these were regarded as evil rather than beneficent events. In the
Delta also, only the northernmost area benefited from the wintry rains of the Mediterranean. It was the annual inundation of the Nile which brought life to the parched land.
This was the most important natural event of the year, and inevitably became the focus of religious attention. The annual rains in tropical Africa caused the waters of the Blue Nile to swell; in Egypt, this eventually had the effect of causing the river to flood its banks, and spread out over the fields, carrying with it the rich, black mud which was deposited on the land. It was this silt and the people’s management of the water which enabled the Egyptians to grow and cultivate crops. The rise of the river was first noticeable at Aswan in late June; by July, the muddy silt began to arrive. The swelling flood would cover the surrounding fields, and if it breached the dykes, would submerge the fields and villages to a depth of several feet. The flood finally reached the area near Cairo at the end of September, and the waters would then gradually recede, with the river contained within its banks by October and reaching its lowest level in the following April. Thus, the countryside presented great extremes—for part of the year, the villages and palm trees could be marooned like islands in the expanse of floodwater; by the end of the cycle, the earth would be parched and cracked, awaiting the new, life-giving waters of the next inundation.
However, the Nile’s gift was variable and although it rose unfailingly, the height of the inundation fluctuated. A Nile which was too high would flood the land and bring devastation and the ruination of the crops; towns, villages and houses could also be destroyed, with the consequent and considerable loss of life. On the other hand, a low Nile would bring famine. The erratic nature of the inundation was a constant threat to the safety and prosperity of the people, and although the Egyptians showed great awareness of their dependence on the inundation in their religious literature, they were also constantly concerned that the inundation should not be exceptional. Indeed, it is not surprising that moderation and balance were amongst their most highly valued concepts.
In addition to their religious observances, from earliest times, they took practical measures to control and regulate the Nile waters. Started in the predynastic period, their irrigation system evolved a pattern whereby the land was divided up into sections of varying sizes, each being enclosed by strong earth banks. These
banks were arranged on a chequerboard system, with long banks running parallel to the river, and another series running across them, from the river to the desert edge. At the inundation, the water was let into the banked sections through canals, and was held there while the silt settled. Once the river had fallen, the water was drained off, and the ploughing and sowing began. This system provided Egypt with rich agricultural land, and the need for such a system was also probably responsible for the early centralization and organisation of the country.
The interdependence of physically isolated village communities on the all-important joint project of constructing, extending and maintaining an irrigation system gave the people an awareness of the need to co-operate and an acceptance of a strong centralized state. Dykes and dams were built, canals were dug and the system was maintained with the active support of the first kings. Today, the advent of a successful harvest is no longer dependent on nature, and on the petitions addressed to the Nile god, Hapy, and to Osiris, the god of vegetation and rebirth. Modern technology has led to the building of dams at certain points on the river, enabling the volume of water to be held back and supplied for irrigation as required, through a series of canals.
The physical division of Egypt into northern and southern regions is not the only geographical distinction which the Egyptians recognised. It is still possible today to stand with one foot in the desert and one in the cultivation, along the clearly defined line of demarcation between these two areas. For the Egyptians, the cultivated area represented life, fertility and safety; here, with assiduous husbandry, they could grow ample crops, and establish their communities. The name they gave to their whole country was ‘Kemet’, which means the ‘Black Land’. This referred to the cultivation, fertilised for countless years by the black mud of the inundation. Beyond this strip, however, lay the desert, stretching away to the horizon under the glaring sun, a place of death and terror to the Egyptians. They gave this the name of ‘Deshret’, meaning ‘Red Land’, because of the color of the rocks and the sand. These two regions symbolized life and death, and probably influenced some of their most basic religious ideas.
The other most important natural life-force was of course the sun. The Egyptians acknowledged this as the creative force and sustainer of life, and worshiped it under several names as a god; however, Ra was the name by which the solar deity was continuously and most frequently known.
The two great life-forces of sun and Nile had much in common. Both expressed, in their natural cycles, patterns of life, death and rebirth. The sun rose every morning and set at night, to reappear unfailingly on the horizon; the Nile annually imparted its gift of water, so that the life, death and rebirth of the countryside was
vividly experienced. It has been suggested that this regular environmental pattern impressed itself so clearly on the Egyptian consciousness that they transferred the concept of life, death and rebirth, seen in natural cycles, to the human experience. From their earliest development, it seems that they believed in the continued existence of the individual—his rebirth—after death, and the concept of eternity remained a constant feature of their religious and funerary ideas. Although the supposed exact location of this continued existence varied in the different historical periods and according to the individual’s social status, (almost) all Egyptians believed in some kind of afterlife and, for those who could afford it, elaborate preparations of the tomb and associated funerary equipment were made, to facilitate the deceased’s journey into the next world. Both the gods associated with these life-forces— Ra, as the solar god, and Osiris, the god who symbolized vegetation and was king of the underworld by virtue of his own resurrection from the dead—promised regeneration and eternity to their followers.
It was possible for the often unique ideas which distinguished the Egyptian civilization to flourish over many centuries and to develop largely unaffected by outside influences, because of the geographical situation of the country. A glance at a map of Egypt will immediately reveal the importance of its natural barriers. In antiquity, these were of more significance than they are today, for they encapsulated Egypt and buffered it against all invaders, so that, unlike many other areas, in the earlier times at least, Egypt was not subjected to continuous waves of conquerors. To the north, there lies the Mediterranean and to the south, the African hinterland; on the east there is the eastern desert and the Red Sea, while to the west, with its seemingly endless desolate hills, the Libyan desert stretches out. Here, in an otherwise waterless expanse, there runs an irregular chain of oases, scattered roughly parallel to the river. The largest ‘oasis’ (although, strictly speaking, it is not a true oasis) is the Fayoum, a depression in the desert, into which runs a minor channel, some 321 km long, known as the ‘Bahr Yusef’ (Joseph’s river). This channel leaves the main stream of the Nile west of the river near the modern town of Assiut. It was here, in the Fayoum, that the community of Kahun lived some 4,000 years ago. But before returning to consider this area in more detail, it is necessary to examine the historical events which led the kings of the 12th Dynasty to select the Fayoum as their center.
Queen Hatshepsut
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Thutmose II married his half-sister, the King's Daughter, King's Sister and King's Great Wife Queen Hatshepsut who, having inherited the office of God's Wife of Amun from Meritamun, used this as her preferred title. Egypt's new queen started to build a suitable consort's tomb in the remote Wadi Sikkat Taka el-Zeida, on the Theban west bank. Here her quartzite sarcophagus was inscribed with a prayer to the mother goddess Nut:
By year 7 Queen Hatshepsut had been crowned king of Egypt, acquiring in the process a full king's titulary of five royal names - Horus, Powerful-of-Kasi Two Ladies, Flourishing-of-Years; Female Horus of Fine Gold, Divine-of-Diadems; King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Maatkare (Truth is the Soul of Re); Daughter of Ra, Khenmet-Amun Hatshepsut (the One who is joined with Amun, the Foremost of Women). Thutmose III was
Divine Birth of Queen Hatshepsut:
A single stela, raised at Armant, tells us that Queen Hatshepsut died on the tenth day of the sixth month of the 22nd year of her reign. Finally Thutmose was free to embark on what would be 33 years of highly successful solo rule. First, however, he had to bury his predecessor to consolidate his claim to the throne. Queen Hatshepsut's tomb was looted in antiquity, but included amongst the debris left by the robbers were two vases - family heirlooms? - made for Queen Ahmose-Nefertari. We have Queen Hatshepsut's sarcophagus and her matching canopic chest, and a few fragments of her furniture, but her body has vanished. All that remains is a box recovered from the Deir el-Bahari mummy cache, decorated with Queen Hatshepsut's cartouch and holding mummified tissue identified rather loosely as either a liver or a spleen. We do, however, have several nameless New Kingdom female mummies who might, or might not, be Queen Hatshepsut. Chief amongst these are the 'Elder Lady', a female mummy in her 40s recovered from a sealed side-chamber in the tomb of Amenhotep II (KV 35) and an obese female mummy with red-gold hair discovered in the tomb of the royal nurse Sitre (KV 60). Sitre is known to have been Queen Hatshepsut's wet-nurse, and a badly damaged limestone statue shows her sitting with the young Hatshepsut (a miniature adult rather than a child) on her lap.
Thutmose II married his half-sister, the King's Daughter, King's Sister and King's Great Wife Queen Hatshepsut who, having inherited the office of God's Wife of Amun from Meritamun, used this as her preferred title. Egypt's new queen started to build a suitable consort's tomb in the remote Wadi Sikkat Taka el-Zeida, on the Theban west bank. Here her quartzite sarcophagus was inscribed with a prayer to the mother goddess Nut:
The King's Daughter, God's Wife, King's Great Wife, Lady of the Two Lands, Queen Hatshepsut, says, 'O my mother Nut, stretch over me so that you may place me amongst the undying stars that are in you, and that I may not die.'
The Wadi Sikkat Taka el-Zeida tomb would be abandoned before the burial shaft could be completed.
Hatshepsut the Consort
Queen Hatshepsut bore her brother one daughter, Neferure, but no son. And so, when Thutmose II died unexpectedly after maybe 13 years on the throne, the crown passed to Thutmose III, a son born in the royal harem to the lady Isis. As the new king was still an infant, and as the new King's Mother was not considered sufficiently royal to act as regent, Queen Hatshepsut was called upon to rule on behalf of her stepson. Thutmose III, proud of his mother and perhaps eager to inflate his lineage, would later promote Isis posthumously to the roles of King's Great Wife and God's Wife. We may see Isis on a pillar in Thutmose's tomb (KV 34) where she stands behind her son in a boat. Here she wears a simple sheath dress and tripartite wig but no crown. In contrast, a statue of Isis recovered from Karnak shows her wearing a modius and double uraeus.
His son has risen in his place as King of the Two Lands. He [Thutmose III] ruled on the throne ofhe who had begotten him. His sister, the God's Wife Queen Hatshepsut, governed the land and the Two Lands were advised by her. Work was done for her and Egypt bowed its head.
For several years Queen Hatshepsut acted as a typical regent, allowing the young Thutmose to take precedence in all activities. But already there were signs that Queen Hatshepsut was not afraid to flout tradition. Her new title, Mistress of the Two Lands, was a clear reference to the king's time-hon-oured title Lord of the Two Lands. More unusually, she commissioned a pair of obelisks to stand in front of the gateway to the Karnak temple of Amun. Obelisks - tall, thin, tapering shafts of hard stone whose pyramid-shaped tops, coated with gold foil, sparkled in the strong Egyptian sunlight - were understood to represent the first rays of light that shone as the world was created. Very difficult to cut and transport, and so difficult to erect that modern scientists have not yet managed to replicate the procedure, they had thitherto been the very expensive gifts of kings to their gods. By the time her obelisks were cut, Queen Hatshepsut too had become a king, and her new titles were engraved with pride on her monuments.
Hatshepsut the King!
By year 7 Queen Hatshepsut had been crowned king of Egypt, acquiring in the process a full king's titulary of five royal names - Horus, Powerful-of-Kasi Two Ladies, Flourishing-of-Years; Female Horus of Fine Gold, Divine-of-Diadems; King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Maatkare (Truth is the Soul of Re); Daughter of Ra, Khenmet-Amun Hatshepsut (the One who is joined with Amun, the Foremost of Women). Thutmose III was
never forgotten. He was scrupulously acknowledged as a co-ruler and the now-joint regnal years continued to be counted from the date of his accession, but Queen Hatshepsut was undeniably the dominant king of Egypt. Only towards the end of Queen Hatshepsut's life would Thutmose acquire anything like equal status with his co-ruler.
We can chart Queen Hatshepsut's journey from conventional consort to king in a series of contrasting images. A stela now housed in Berlin Museum shows us the royal family shortly before Thutmose's death. The young king stands facing the sun god Re. Directly behind him stands his step-mother/mother-in-law Ahmose wearing the vulture headdress and uraeus topped with tall feathers. Queen Hatshepsut stands dutifully behind her mother, her plain sheath dress and simple platform crown emphasizing the fact that here she is very much the junior queen. The modius or plat-form crown, decorated with flower stalks, was worn by a variety of not particularly prominent New Kingdom royal women. Two years after the death of Thutmose II, images carved at the Semna Temple, Nubia, show an adult-looking Thutmose III, sole King of Upper and Lower Egypt and Lord of the Two Lands, receiving the white crown from the ancient Nubian god Dedwen. Finally Hatshepsufs Red Chapel at Karnak shows Queen Hatshepsut and Thutmose III standing together. The two kings are identical in appearance, both wearing the kilt and the blue crown, botb carrying a staff and an ankh, and both with breastless male bodies. Their cartouches confirm that it is Thutmose who stands behind Queen Hatshepsut in the more junior position.
Queen Hatshepsut offers us no explanation for her unprecedented assumption of power. It seems that there was no opposition to her elevation although, of course, it is very unlikely that any such opposition would have been recorded. We can only guess that it was precipitated by a political or theological crisis requiring a fully adult king. Carved into the walls of her religious monuments Queen Hatshepsut does, however, offer some justification. Queen Hatshepsut is entitled to claim the throne because she is not only the beloved daughter and intended heir of the revered Thutmose I (the less impressive Thutmose II being conveniently forgotten); she is also the daughter of the great god Amun. And he, via an oracle revealed to Queen Hatshepsut herself, has proclaimed his daughter King of Egypt.
Divine Birth of Queen Hatshepsut:
Queen Hatshepsut's semi-divine nature is emphasized on the walls of her mortuary temple, where a cartoon-like sequence of images and a brief accompanying text tell the story of her divine birth. Amon, we learn, has fallen in love with a beautiful queen of Egypt, and has determined to father her child. In one of the few scenes showing a queen communicating directly with a god, we can view Queen Ahmose sitting unchaperoned in her boudoir. Here she is visited by Amon who, for propriety's sake, has disguised himself as her husband. Amon tells Ahmose that she has been chosen to bear his daughter, the future king of Egypt. Then he passes her the ankh that symbolizes life, and his potent perfume fills the palace. Meanwhile, in heaven, the ram-headed creator god Khnum crafts both the baby and the baby's soul on his potter's wheel. Nine months later it is time for the birth. The pregnant Ahmose, her baby bump barely visible, is led to the birthing bower by Khnum and the frog-headed midwife Heket. Here, in a scene discreetly left to the imagination, Queen Hatshepsut is born.
Amon is overwhelmed with love for his new daughter. He takes her from Hathor the divine wet nurse, kisses her and speaks:
Come to me in peace, daughter of my loins, beloved Maatkare, thou art the king who takes possession of the diadem on the Throne of Horus of the Living, eternally.
The temple walls show Egypt's new, naked king with an unmistakably male body; her identical and equally naked soul, too, is obviously male. But the new king's names are female, and neither Ahmose nor Amon is in any doubt over the gender of their child. The presentation of Queen Hatshepsut as a male is purely a convention, her response to the artistic dilemma that, three centuries before, saw Sobeknefru don an unhappy mixture of men's and women's clothing. As a queen Hatshepsut had been happy to be portrayed as a conventional woman: slender, pale and passive. But as a king she needed to find an image that would reinforce her new position while distancing her from the consort's role. Towards the beginning of her reign she was depicted either as a conventional woman or as a woman wearing [male] king's clothing. Two seated limestone statues recovered from Deir el-Bahari show her dressed in this hybrid manner. Queen Hatshepsut wears the traditional headcloth and kilt. She has a rounded, feminine, unbearded face and a feminine body with breasts and an indented waist. Soon, however, she evolves into an entirely masculine king, with a man's body, male clothing, male ccessories and male ritual actions. It seems that it is the appearance of the king that matters rather than her actual gender; the masculine form of Queen Hatshepsut is happy to alternate between masculine and feminine forms of her titulary.
Princess Neferure, the Queen of Hatshepsut:
From the time of her coronation onwards, Queen Hatshepsut was careful to behave as an entirely conventional King of Egypt; in consequence, while her story tells us a great deal about the perceived role of the king, it tells us less about the role of the queen than we might have hoped. It does, however, confirm one very important detail: that the queen was an important element of the kingship. Like any other king, Queen Hatshepsut needed a queen to fulfil the feminine aspect of her monarchy, and for this she turned to her daughter Neferure. Most of Egypt's royal children remain hidden in their nurseries throughout their childhoods and, during her father's reign, Neferure had been no exception. But following her mother's coronation, Neferure started to play an unusually prominent role - the queen's role - in public life. Neferure used the titles Lady of Upper and Lower Egypt and Mistress of the Lands and she assumed the office of God's Wife of Amun, a role that Queen Hatshepsut had been forced to abandon as it was incompatible with her kingly status. Neferure, like all other God's Wives before her, adopted this as her preferred title. Scenes carved on the walls of the Red Chapel at Karnak show Neferure as a fully adult woman performing the appropriate rituals.
Neferure's education was clearly a matter of some importance. The young princess was taught first by the courtier Ahmose-Pennekhbet, next by Senenmut, Queen Hatshepsut's most influential advisor, and finally by the administrator Senimen. A series of hard stone statues - highly expensive, produced by the royal workshops - show Neferure and Senenmut together. Neferure has the shaven head and sidelock of youth worn by all Egyptian children. Senenmut, dressed in a heavy striated wig, assumes a typical woman's role by either holding the princess tight, or seating her on his knee and wrapping her body in his cloak. Neferure disappears
towards the end of her mother's reign; she appears on a stela at Serabit el-Khadim in Year II, but is unmentioned in Senenmut's tomb dated to Year 16. The obvious assumption is that she has died and been buried in her tomb which lay near that built for her mother in the remote Wadi Sikkat Taka el-Zeida.
Senenmut, Queen Hatshepsut's Advisor
The new king inherited her late brother's courtiers but gradually, as her reign developed, she started to pick new advisors, many of whom, like Senenmut, were men of relatively humble birth. As Queen Hatshepsut well realized, these self-made men had a vested interest in keeping her on the throne: if she fell, they fell with her. Senenmut, Steward of Amun and tutor to Princess Neferure, enjoyed a meteoric rise through the ranks, and this has sparked a great deal of speculation over the precise nature of his relationship with Queen Hatshepsut. They certainly never married - marriage was not an option for a female king, as it would lead to too great a conflict of roles - but could they have been lovers? A crude piece of graffiti scrawled in a Deir el-Bahari tomb, which apparently shows a man having 'doggy-style' intercourse with a woman wearing a royal headdress, cannot be accepted as conclusive proof of anything other than the fact that the ancient Egyptians enjoyed smutty gossip as much as any other people. The fact that Senenmut carved his image into Queen Hatshepsut's mortuary temple - an unprecedented and daring move for a non-royal- combines with the fact that his second tomb encroached upon the Deir el-Bahari precincts to offer a more convincing argument in favour of a close bond between the two. It is difficult to imagine that Senenmut could have ordered these infringements of protocol without Queen Hatshepsut's knowledge and tacit approval.
Queen Hatshepsut's Policy
The new king set out to maintain maat by launching an obvious assault on chaos. Foreigners were to be subdued, the monuments of the ancestors were to be restored, and the whole of Egypt was to be enhanced by a series of ambitious temple-building projects. The subduing of the foreigners was quickly achieved in a token series of military campaigns against the vassals to the south and east. The Deir el-Bahari temple again shows the Nubian god Dedwen, this time leading a series of captive Nubian towns leach depicted as a walled town or fortified cartouch bearing an obviously Nubian head) towards the victorious Queen Hatshepsut.
Next, Queen Hatshepsut turned her attention to trade. There were missions to the Lebanon for wood, increased exploi tation of the copper and turquoise mines in Sinai and, most important of all, during Year 9, a successful trading mission to Punt. The real but almost legendary land of Punt was a source of many exotic treasures: precious resins, curious wild animals, and the ever-desirable ebony, ivory and gold. It was, however, a long way from the safety of Thebes. The exact location of Punt is now lost, but flora and fauna included in the reliefs decorating Queen Hatshepsut's mortuary temple suggest that it was an east African trading centresituated somewhere along the Eritrean/Ethiopian coast. The journey to this distant Utopia involved a long, hot march across 100 miles (160 km) of desert, possibly carrying a dismantled boat, to the Red Sea port of Quseir. This was followed by a sea journey along the coast, an adventure that the Egyptians, always very happy on the calm waters of the Nile, dreaded.
Queen Hatshepsut's envoy Neshy set sail with a small but well-armed army, his precise route undisclosed. After some sharp bargaining with the chief of Punt - the temple walls show a handful of trinkets being exchanged for
a wonderful array of goods, but doubtless they exaggerate - he returned home in triumph. Queen Hatshepsut, watching as her ships disgorged their valuable cargos at Thebes, must have been overjoyed. The safe return of her troops proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that her reign was indeed blessed by her divine father. With great perspicacity she promptly donated the best of the goods to Amun, and ordered that the epic voyage be immortalized on the Deir el-Bahari temple walls.
Queen Hatshepsut's Projects Building
Back at home the building projects were proceeding well. It seems likely that Queen Hatshepsut instigated a temple-building project in all of Egypt's major cities, but most of these temples have been lost along with their cities, leaving the Theban monuments to stand as testimony to the prosperity of her reign. We know that there were building works in Nubia, and at Kom ambo, Hierakonpolis, Elkab, Armant and the island of Elephantine, which received two temples dedicated to local gods. In Middle Egypt, not far from Beni Hassan and the Hatnub quarries, Egypt's first two rock-cut temples were dedicated to the obscure lion-headed goddess Pakhet, 'She who Scratches', a local variant of the goddess Sekhmet, who was herself a variant of Hathor. On one of these temples, known today bits Greek name Speos Artemidos (Grotto of Artemis), Queen Hatshepsut carved a bold statement setting out her policy of rebuilding and restoration:
I have never slumbered as one forgetful, but have made strong what was decayed. I have raised up what was dismembered, even from the first time when the Asiatics were in Avaris of the North Land, with roving hordes in the midst of them overthrowing what had been made; they ruled without Ra.... I have banished the abominations of the gods, and the earth has removed their footprints.
In suggesting that she has personally expelled the Hyksos from Egypt, Queen Hatshepsut is being more than economical with the truth; such an outrageous lie can, however, be justified if we take the view, as Queen Hatshepsut
herself undoubtedly did, that each of Egypt's kings was a continuation of the kings who had gone before and so fully entitled to claim his deeds for his (or her) own, Her assertion that she is renewing and restoring damaged monuments does appear to be true within the modern meaning of the term, We know, for example, that she repaired the temple of Hathor at the town of Cusae, a town which, situated on the border between the Theban and Hyksos kingdoms, suffered badly during the wars that ended the 17th Dynasty, The Karnak temple benefited greatly from the new king's generosity, There was another pair of obelisks - this time entirely covered in gold foil - raised to commemorate Queen Hatshepsut's 15-year jubilee, a new bark shrine (the Red Chapel) where Amun's processional boat could rest, a new southern pylon (gateway), a new royal palace and a series of improvements to the processional routes which linked the various temples within the complex, But the most magnificent building she commissioned was a mortuary temple for herself, situated close by the Middle Kingdom tomb of Mentuhotep II in the Deir el-Bahari bay.
Deir el-Bahari, Queen Hatshepsut's Mortuary Temple.
Deir el-Bahari was a multi-functional temple with a series of shrines and chapels devoted to a variety of gods. The main sanctuary was dedicated to Queen Hatshepsut's divine father, Amun. But there was also a suite of chapels
devoted to the royal ancestors; this included a small mortuary or memorial chapel for her earthly father, Thutmose I, and a much larger mortuary chapel for Queen Hatshepsut herself. Here, in front of Queen Hatshepsut's cult statue, the priests could make the daily offerings of food, drink, music and incense that would allow the dead king's soul to live forever. An open-air court dedicated to the worship of the sun god Re-Herakhty balanced the dark and gloomy mortuary chapels, chapels that linked the dead with the cult of Osiris. One level down were the chapels dedicated to the god of embalming, Anubis, and to Hathor, who was not only the goddess of the Deir el-Bahari bay, but also 'Mistress of Punt'. Like many of Egypt's queens, Hatshepsut (now an ex-queen) felt a particular attraction to Hathor's predominantly female cult, and Hathor features prominently in her temple. She is present at Hatshepsut's birth and later, taking the form of a cow, suckles a newborn infant. If Amon can be considered the divine father of the king, it seems that Hathor is now his (or her) mother.
The mortuary temple was one half of Queen Hatshepsut's mortuary provision. Her tomb, the other half, was to be in the Valley of the Kings, the now traditional cemetery for Egypt's kings. The old consort's tomb in the Wadi Sikkat Taka el-Zeida was abandoned, but Queen Hatshepsut (perhaps concerned about her lack of time) did not try to build a replacement. Instead she started to enlarge the tomb (KV 20) which already held her father, until it became the longest and deepest tomb in the Valley. Eventually, or so she hoped, father and daughter would lie side-by-side forever in two matching yellow quartzite sarcophagi (Thutmose l's sarcophagus, a shade less magnificent than Queen Hatshepsut's own, was actually a second-hand sarcophagus originally prepared for his daughter). The two did indeed lie together for a time, but Thutmose III eventually had his grand-father reinterred in a nest of new coffins placed in a new sarcophagus in a brand new tomb (KV 38).
The End of the Era of Queen Hatshepsut
A single stela, raised at Armant, tells us that Queen Hatshepsut died on the tenth day of the sixth month of the 22nd year of her reign. Finally Thutmose was free to embark on what would be 33 years of highly successful solo rule. First, however, he had to bury his predecessor to consolidate his claim to the throne. Queen Hatshepsut's tomb was looted in antiquity, but included amongst the debris left by the robbers were two vases - family heirlooms? - made for Queen Ahmose-Nefertari. We have Queen Hatshepsut's sarcophagus and her matching canopic chest, and a few fragments of her furniture, but her body has vanished. All that remains is a box recovered from the Deir el-Bahari mummy cache, decorated with Queen Hatshepsut's cartouch and holding mummified tissue identified rather loosely as either a liver or a spleen. We do, however, have several nameless New Kingdom female mummies who might, or might not, be Queen Hatshepsut. Chief amongst these are the 'Elder Lady', a female mummy in her 40s recovered from a sealed side-chamber in the tomb of Amenhotep II (KV 35) and an obese female mummy with red-gold hair discovered in the tomb of the royal nurse Sitre (KV 60). Sitre is known to have been Queen Hatshepsut's wet-nurse, and a badly damaged limestone statue shows her sitting with the young Hatshepsut (a miniature adult rather than a child) on her lap.
Erasing Queen Hatshepsut
Towards the end of Thutmose's reign an attempt was made to delete Queen Hatshepsut from the historical record. This elimination was carried out in the most literal way possible. Her cartouches and images were chiselled off the stone walls -leaving very obvious Queen-Hatshepsut-shaped gaps in the artwork - and she was excluded from the official history that now ran without any form of co-regency from Thutmose II to Thutmose III. At the Deir el-Bahari temple Queen Hatshepsut's numerous statues were torn down and in many cases smashed or disfigured before being buried in a pit. Over the river at Karnak there was even an attempt to wall up her obelisks. While it is clear that much of this rewriting of history occurred during the later part of Thutmose's reign, it is not clear why it happened. For many years Egyptologists assumed that it was a damnatio memoriae, the deliberate erasure of a person's name, image and memory, which would cause them to die a second, terrible and permanent death in the afterlife. This appeared to make perfect sense. Thutmose must have been an unwilling co-regent for years. What could be more natural than a wish to destroy the memory of the woman who had so wronged him? But this assessment of the situation is probably too simplistic. It is always dangerous to attempt to psychoanalyse the long dead, but it seems highly unlikely that the determined and focused Thutmose - not only Egypt's most successful general, but an acclaimed athlete, author, historian, botanist and architect - would have brooded for two decades before attempting to revenge himself on his stepmother.
Furthermore the erasure was both sporadic and haphazard, with only the more visible and accessible images of Queen Hatshepsut being removed. Had it been complete - and, given the manpower available, there is no reason why it should not have been - we would not now have so many images of Queen Hatshepsut. It seems either that Thutmose must have died before his act of vengeance was finished, or that he had never intended a total obliteration of her memory at all. In fact, we have no evidence to support the assumption that Thutmose hated or resented Queen Hatshepsut during her lifetime. Had he done so he could surely, as head of the army (a position given to him by Queen Hatshepsut, who was clearly not worried about her co-regent's loyalty), have led a successful coup. It may well be that Thutmose, lacking any sinister motivation, was, towards the end of his life, simply engaged in 'tidying up' his personal history, restoring Queen Hatshepsut to her rightful place as a queen regent rather than a king. By eliminating the more obvious traces of his female co-regent, Thutmose could claim all the achievements of their joint reign for himself.
The erasure of Queen Hatshepsut's name, whatever the reason, allowed her to disappear from Egypt's archaeological and written record. Thus, when 19th-century Egyptologists started to interpret the texts on the Deir el-Bahari temple walls (walls illustrated with not one but two obviously male kings) their translations made no sense. Champollion, the French decoder of hieroglyphs, was not alone in feeling deeply confused by the obvious conflict between the words and the pictures:
If I felt somewhat surprised at seeing here, as elsewhere throughout the temple, the renowned Moeris [Thutmose III}, adorned with all the insignia of royalty, giving place to this Amenenthe (Hatshepsut}, for whose name we may search the royal lists in vain, still more astonished was I to find on reading the inscriptions that wherever they referred to this bearded king in the usual dress of the Pharaohs, nouns and verbs were in the feminine, as though a queen were in question. I found the same peculiarity everywhere..
By the late 19th century the truth had been revealed and, despite her masculine appearance, Queen Hatshepsut had been restored to her rightful place as a female king.
Check The Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut in details
Check The Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut in details
Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt List
List of Major Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt
Amun (alt. Amon)
'The Hidden One', a god of the Theban region who eventually became the principal divinity of the royal lines and the nearest approach to a national god of Egypt. The Temple of Amon in Thebes was one of the most powerful religious foundations, specially in the later periods, eventually threatening the royal power.
Andjeti
A god of the Delta with whom Osiris, who was first associated with the Delta twn of Busiris, was assimilated.
Anbur
A god identified as the creative power of the sun, later recognised as a god of war.
Anubis
A very ancient divinity, originating in Abydos, He is represented as a wolf or jackal; he was associated especially with mummification, the practice of which was the responsibility of his priests.
Apis
A manifestation of Ptah incarnate in a bull with particular markings and physical characteristics, Apis was known in the First Dynasty. His cult became widespread in the Late Period, when the chosen bull (and his mother) were given lives of great luxury in the temple at Memphis and, at death, sumptuous obsequies at Saqqara.
Ash
A god of deserts, of great antiquity, sometimes identified with Set, particularly in the south.
Aten
The personification of the sun's rays, proclaimed by Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) as the supreme god of Egypt. After the king's death Aten was overturned by the priests of Amon, a return to whose worship was demanded by them, signalled by such events as the renaming of King Tutankhaten, Akhenaten's eventual successor, as Tutankhamun.
Atum
'The Undifferentiated One', 'The All', the original creator of the cosmos who, after lying inert in the abyss, appeared on the primordial mound, 'The Divine Emerging Island', to initiate the process of creation. Finding himself alone he masturbated and from his sperm produced the first generation of gods.
Bes
A dwarf god, popular in later times, who was invoked for luck and who facilitated childhirth.
Buchis
A sacred bull, associated with Montu at his cult center at Armant (Hermonthis); the bull was an incarnation of Re and Osiris.
Bastet
A cat goddess, worshipped at Bubastis, a Delta town named in her honour.
Geb
The earth god and father, by the goddess Nut, of Osiris, Isis, Set and Nephthys. Initially he divided the sovereignty of Egypt between Set and his nephew Horus, gods of the south and north respectively, but eventually gave dominion over the whole land to Horus.
Hapy
The god of the Nile, portrayed with bisexual secondary haracteristics.
Hathor
An ancient cow goddess, associated with Isis, and in whose form queens were frequently depicted.
Heh, Hehet
Frog divinities, representing the element water who, with others of their kind, produce the egg which is placed on the 'Divine Emerging Island'. Heh was also the god of eternity, represented anthropomorphically.
Horakhty
A manifestation of Re as the dawn light appearing on the eastern horizon. In New Kingdom times the Great Sphinx at Giza was thought to be an image of the god Horus and was identified with Horakhty.
Horus
A very ancient sky divinity from the south, the son of Osiris and Isis according to a relatively late myth, who avenged his father's murder by Set, becoming King of Upper and Lower Egypt. All subsequent kings of Egypt were revered as incarnations of Horus. There were many local manifestations of Horus throughout Egypt.
Isis
Sister-wife of Osiris and mother of Horus. Queens were identified with Isis and, especially in the early dynasties, the succession to the throne often passed through the female line by marriage to the heiress. Isis was represented astronomically by the constellation Sirius (Egyptian Sopdet).
Khentiamentiu
An ancient god of the necropolis of Abydos, 'The Foremost of the Westerners' with whom Osiris was assimilated and whose form, swathed in mummy cloths, he adopted. Like Anubis, with whom Khentiamcntiu shares a number of attributes, he is also manifest as a dog or jackal.
Khepri (alt. Kheper)
The scarabeus beetle which was regarded as the manifestation of the sun god. Its practice of laying its eggs in a ball of dung came to symbolise regeneration, and the hieroglyph derived from it signified 'becoming'.
Khnum
The ram-headed god of Elephantine who was responsible for fashioning the Ka of the royal child at the moment of conception, on his potter's wheel.
Ma'at
Truth, divine order; the goddess in whose name the king was said to rule, and by whom he was bound to rule justly.
Mefnut
A lioness goddess.
Mertsager
A snake goddess, revered as the 'Lady of the Pek ' and associated with the pyramid-shaped mountain which rises over the Valley of the Kings at Thebes. Her name means 'She who Loves Silence'.
Meshkent
The goddess of childbirth.
Min
'Lord of Copros', often represented as thongh one-armed and usually ithyphallic.
Mnevis
A god who manifested his presence in a selected bull (see also Apis, Buchis).
Montu
A warrior-god of the Theban region, manifest both as a falcon and as a bull. Montu was particularly reverenced by the kings of the Eleventh Dynasty, eventually being replaced by the ram of Amon as the principal divinity of the Thebaid.
Mut
A lioness-headed goddess whose temple was located at Asher (Thebes). She was sometimes represented as vulture-headed.
Nefertum
Horus as a child, born in the lotus flower and associated with the sun god.
Neith
An ancient warrior-goddess, resident in Sais in northern Egypt. From very early times she was symbolised by a device of crossed arrows.
Nekhbet
The vulture goddess of Nekhen in Upper Egypt and patron goddess of the south, one of 'the Two Ladies', with Uadjet whose power protected the king. Some kings and a number of queens wore the double Uraeus of vulture and cobra.
Nephthys
One of the Heliopolitan Ogdoud, the company of eight primeval gods, the daughter of Geb and the consort of Set.
Nun
The personification of the primeval waters, the abyss, from which the earliest generations of gods were born. At night the sun journeyed to Nun on its voyage through the Underworld.
Nut
The sky goddess whose body symbolised the vault of the heavens. Every evening she swallowed the sun, Re, and every morning gave birth to him. She is trequently represented in the decoration of coffins.
Osiris
The ruler of the Underworld, identified with the king-in-death, who became Osiris. He was the father of Horus who avenged his murder by his brother Set. Osiris was regenerated that he might impregnate Isis; as a consequence he came to be worshipped as the god of rebirth and redemption. In time all the 'justified'
dead became Osiris.
Ptah
The immensely ancient artificer god, Lord of Memphis, where his principal temple was established and hence especially identified with the royal house. He is depicted in human form, though wrapped in mummy cloths. He could also manifest himself in animal form, for example as a bull like Apis, Buchis or Mnevis.
Ptah-Soker-Osiris
A manifestation of Ptah combined with Osiris, particularly important in the region of Saqqara. Later Ptah-Soker-Osir is became transformed into the Graeco Fgyptian god Serapis, one of the archetypes of the bearded, patriarchal sky god.
Re (alt. Ra)
The sun god, from time to time regarded as the king of the gods, with whom the king was united at death.
Sekhmet
A lioness goddess, the consort of Ptah, she roamed the desert outside Giza. Because of an injury done to the eye of Re, her father, she determined to destroy the race of men and was only prevented from doing so by the subterfuge of making her drunk, so that she became unconscious and was carried back to heaven.
Selket
A scorpion-goddess who protected the coffin of the king.
Seshat
An ancient goddess, charged with responsibility for preparing all the divine records, hence for writing, architecture, the measuring of land on which a temple was to be built and, with the king, for determining the temple's axis.
Set (alt. Seth)
Originally the high god of the south of Egypt, Set became a god of deserts, of the storm and chaos. Later, he was regarded as the murderer of his brother, Osiris, and the antagonist of Osiris' heir, Horus. Their conflict over the kingship of Egypt is one of the archetypal themes of Ancient Egypt.
Shesemuw
A god of wine and of the vintage, who also presided over the butchering of bulls.
Shu
The god of air and the sun; he was particularly associated with Heliopolis. He was said to be one of the first two divinities created by Atum.
Sobek
A crocodile-god, worshipped at Kom Ombo, who was especially popular in the Thirteenth Dynasty, when a number of the kings adopted Sobek's name as part of their titulary.
Soker
A god of the dead of Memphis; he was associated in late times with Osiris and Ptah to form the composite divinity Ptah-Soker-Osiris.
Taurt
A hippopotamus goddess, represented standing upright on her rear legs, who was particularly concerned with the supervision of pregnancy and childbirth.
Tefnut
A form of the lioness-goddess Sekhmet.
Thoth
The god of wisdom and the moon who was manifest both as an ibis and as a cynocephalus baboon. It was him who brought the arts of civilization to men.
'The Two Ladies'
The godesses Nekhbet and Uadjet.
Uadjet
The cobra-goddess of the north, the partner of Nekhbet who with her protected the king as part of his Uraeus diadem, sometimes forming with Nekhbet the double uraeus.
Wepwawet (alt. Upwaut)
A dog-god from Abydos, associated with graveyards. His name signifies 'Opener of the Ways' and it was believed that he conducted the dead to judgement.
Amun (alt. Amon)
'The Hidden One', a god of the Theban region who eventually became the principal divinity of the royal lines and the nearest approach to a national god of Egypt. The Temple of Amon in Thebes was one of the most powerful religious foundations, specially in the later periods, eventually threatening the royal power.
Andjeti
A god of the Delta with whom Osiris, who was first associated with the Delta twn of Busiris, was assimilated.
Anbur
A god identified as the creative power of the sun, later recognised as a god of war.
Anubis
A very ancient divinity, originating in Abydos, He is represented as a wolf or jackal; he was associated especially with mummification, the practice of which was the responsibility of his priests.
Apis
A manifestation of Ptah incarnate in a bull with particular markings and physical characteristics, Apis was known in the First Dynasty. His cult became widespread in the Late Period, when the chosen bull (and his mother) were given lives of great luxury in the temple at Memphis and, at death, sumptuous obsequies at Saqqara.
Ash
A god of deserts, of great antiquity, sometimes identified with Set, particularly in the south.
Aten
The personification of the sun's rays, proclaimed by Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) as the supreme god of Egypt. After the king's death Aten was overturned by the priests of Amon, a return to whose worship was demanded by them, signalled by such events as the renaming of King Tutankhaten, Akhenaten's eventual successor, as Tutankhamun.
Atum
'The Undifferentiated One', 'The All', the original creator of the cosmos who, after lying inert in the abyss, appeared on the primordial mound, 'The Divine Emerging Island', to initiate the process of creation. Finding himself alone he masturbated and from his sperm produced the first generation of gods.
Bes
A dwarf god, popular in later times, who was invoked for luck and who facilitated childhirth.
Buchis
A sacred bull, associated with Montu at his cult center at Armant (Hermonthis); the bull was an incarnation of Re and Osiris.
Bastet
A cat goddess, worshipped at Bubastis, a Delta town named in her honour.
Geb
The earth god and father, by the goddess Nut, of Osiris, Isis, Set and Nephthys. Initially he divided the sovereignty of Egypt between Set and his nephew Horus, gods of the south and north respectively, but eventually gave dominion over the whole land to Horus.
Hapy
The god of the Nile, portrayed with bisexual secondary haracteristics.
Hathor
An ancient cow goddess, associated with Isis, and in whose form queens were frequently depicted.
Heh, Hehet
Frog divinities, representing the element water who, with others of their kind, produce the egg which is placed on the 'Divine Emerging Island'. Heh was also the god of eternity, represented anthropomorphically.
Horakhty
A manifestation of Re as the dawn light appearing on the eastern horizon. In New Kingdom times the Great Sphinx at Giza was thought to be an image of the god Horus and was identified with Horakhty.
Horus
A very ancient sky divinity from the south, the son of Osiris and Isis according to a relatively late myth, who avenged his father's murder by Set, becoming King of Upper and Lower Egypt. All subsequent kings of Egypt were revered as incarnations of Horus. There were many local manifestations of Horus throughout Egypt.
Isis
Sister-wife of Osiris and mother of Horus. Queens were identified with Isis and, especially in the early dynasties, the succession to the throne often passed through the female line by marriage to the heiress. Isis was represented astronomically by the constellation Sirius (Egyptian Sopdet).
Khentiamentiu
An ancient god of the necropolis of Abydos, 'The Foremost of the Westerners' with whom Osiris was assimilated and whose form, swathed in mummy cloths, he adopted. Like Anubis, with whom Khentiamcntiu shares a number of attributes, he is also manifest as a dog or jackal.
Khepri (alt. Kheper)
The scarabeus beetle which was regarded as the manifestation of the sun god. Its practice of laying its eggs in a ball of dung came to symbolise regeneration, and the hieroglyph derived from it signified 'becoming'.
Khnum
The ram-headed god of Elephantine who was responsible for fashioning the Ka of the royal child at the moment of conception, on his potter's wheel.
Ma'at
Truth, divine order; the goddess in whose name the king was said to rule, and by whom he was bound to rule justly.
Mefnut
A lioness goddess.
Mertsager
A snake goddess, revered as the 'Lady of the Pek ' and associated with the pyramid-shaped mountain which rises over the Valley of the Kings at Thebes. Her name means 'She who Loves Silence'.
Meshkent
The goddess of childbirth.
Min
'Lord of Copros', often represented as thongh one-armed and usually ithyphallic.
Mnevis
A god who manifested his presence in a selected bull (see also Apis, Buchis).
Montu
A warrior-god of the Theban region, manifest both as a falcon and as a bull. Montu was particularly reverenced by the kings of the Eleventh Dynasty, eventually being replaced by the ram of Amon as the principal divinity of the Thebaid.
Mut
A lioness-headed goddess whose temple was located at Asher (Thebes). She was sometimes represented as vulture-headed.
Nefertum
Horus as a child, born in the lotus flower and associated with the sun god.
Neith
An ancient warrior-goddess, resident in Sais in northern Egypt. From very early times she was symbolised by a device of crossed arrows.
Nekhbet
The vulture goddess of Nekhen in Upper Egypt and patron goddess of the south, one of 'the Two Ladies', with Uadjet whose power protected the king. Some kings and a number of queens wore the double Uraeus of vulture and cobra.
Nephthys
One of the Heliopolitan Ogdoud, the company of eight primeval gods, the daughter of Geb and the consort of Set.
Nun
The personification of the primeval waters, the abyss, from which the earliest generations of gods were born. At night the sun journeyed to Nun on its voyage through the Underworld.
Nut
The sky goddess whose body symbolised the vault of the heavens. Every evening she swallowed the sun, Re, and every morning gave birth to him. She is trequently represented in the decoration of coffins.
Osiris
The ruler of the Underworld, identified with the king-in-death, who became Osiris. He was the father of Horus who avenged his murder by his brother Set. Osiris was regenerated that he might impregnate Isis; as a consequence he came to be worshipped as the god of rebirth and redemption. In time all the 'justified'
dead became Osiris.
Ptah
The immensely ancient artificer god, Lord of Memphis, where his principal temple was established and hence especially identified with the royal house. He is depicted in human form, though wrapped in mummy cloths. He could also manifest himself in animal form, for example as a bull like Apis, Buchis or Mnevis.
Ptah-Soker-Osiris
A manifestation of Ptah combined with Osiris, particularly important in the region of Saqqara. Later Ptah-Soker-Osir is became transformed into the Graeco Fgyptian god Serapis, one of the archetypes of the bearded, patriarchal sky god.
Re (alt. Ra)
The sun god, from time to time regarded as the king of the gods, with whom the king was united at death.
Sekhmet
A lioness goddess, the consort of Ptah, she roamed the desert outside Giza. Because of an injury done to the eye of Re, her father, she determined to destroy the race of men and was only prevented from doing so by the subterfuge of making her drunk, so that she became unconscious and was carried back to heaven.
Selket
A scorpion-goddess who protected the coffin of the king.
Seshat
An ancient goddess, charged with responsibility for preparing all the divine records, hence for writing, architecture, the measuring of land on which a temple was to be built and, with the king, for determining the temple's axis.
Set (alt. Seth)
Originally the high god of the south of Egypt, Set became a god of deserts, of the storm and chaos. Later, he was regarded as the murderer of his brother, Osiris, and the antagonist of Osiris' heir, Horus. Their conflict over the kingship of Egypt is one of the archetypal themes of Ancient Egypt.
Shesemuw
A god of wine and of the vintage, who also presided over the butchering of bulls.
Shu
The god of air and the sun; he was particularly associated with Heliopolis. He was said to be one of the first two divinities created by Atum.
Sobek
A crocodile-god, worshipped at Kom Ombo, who was especially popular in the Thirteenth Dynasty, when a number of the kings adopted Sobek's name as part of their titulary.
Soker
A god of the dead of Memphis; he was associated in late times with Osiris and Ptah to form the composite divinity Ptah-Soker-Osiris.
Taurt
A hippopotamus goddess, represented standing upright on her rear legs, who was particularly concerned with the supervision of pregnancy and childbirth.
Tefnut
A form of the lioness-goddess Sekhmet.
Thoth
The god of wisdom and the moon who was manifest both as an ibis and as a cynocephalus baboon. It was him who brought the arts of civilization to men.
'The Two Ladies'
The godesses Nekhbet and Uadjet.
Uadjet
The cobra-goddess of the north, the partner of Nekhbet who with her protected the king as part of his Uraeus diadem, sometimes forming with Nekhbet the double uraeus.
Wepwawet (alt. Upwaut)
A dog-god from Abydos, associated with graveyards. His name signifies 'Opener of the Ways' and it was believed that he conducted the dead to judgement.
Tomb of Sennefer Plan - Nobles Tombs - Luxor, Egypt- Part X
Tombs of the Nobles, Luxor, Egypt.
Sennofer or Sennefer, Tombs of the Nobles, Luxor, Egypt.
In this delightful tomb the boxed-in effect has been broken. The 'oriental tent' atmosphere of most tombs is missing because the entire ceiling has been painted with a creeping vine. Interesting use has been made of the rough surfaces of the rock to make the grapes and vine-tendrils more realistic, and the experiment has succeeded.
Sennofer or Sennefer, Tombs of the Nobles, Luxor, Egypt.In this delightful tomb the boxed-in effect has been broken. The 'oriental tent' atmosphere of most tombs is missing because the entire ceiling has been painted with a creeping vine. Interesting use has been made of the rough surfaces of the rock to make the grapes and vine-tendrils more realistic, and the experiment has succeeded.
Both the first small chamber and the main hall, which is supported by four pillars, have been decorated in this manner.
Sennofer (Sennefer) was the overseer of the gardens of Amon under Amenhotep II. His tomb,which was excavated only in the 20th century, was found to have mostly religious inscriptions but the 
condition of the frescoes is almost perfect and their freshness and
A steep flight of stairs takes us down to the first chamber, and the first representations we meet on the left-hand wall (a) show Sennefer being brought offerings from his daughter and ten priests. Circling the chamber clockwise we see on the two rear walls (b) and (c) drawings of the deceased with his wife worshiping Osiris who is represented above the doorway of the main chamber. On the right-hand wall (d) the deceased is seen entering and leaving his tomb while servants bring sacred offerings and his daughter stands behind him.
condition of the frescoes is almost perfect and their freshness and
Above the doorway of the main chamber lie two representations of Anubis. Touring the chamber clockwise we come first to a scene of the deceased and his wife emerging from the tomb (c), and further along seated on a bench. On the left-hand wall at (f) are servants bringing furniture to the tomb and setting up two obelisks before the shrine. At (g) are funerary ceremonies and the nobleman himself (to the left) looks on. On the rear wall (h) the deceased and his wife are at a table of offerings while priests offer sacrifices to the dead. Further to the right (i) are scenes of the voyage to Abydos, statues of the deceased and his wife in a shrine in a boat being towed by another boat. Thus the deceased nobleman satisfied himself of favor with Osiris by showing that he had the intention of performing the sacred pilgrimage.
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| One of the most beautiful representations is that of the deceased and his wife in an arbour (j) praying to Osiris and Anubis. At (k) a priest clad in a leopard skin purifies them with holy water and at (l) is the scene before a table of offerings where Sennefer puts a lotus blossom to his nostrils and his wife tenderly holds his leg. |
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| The pillars have representations of Sennefer and his wife. Perhaps the most attractive is to be found on the left-hand pillar at (m). |
Luxor, Egypt
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Showing posts with label Egypt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Egypt. Show all posts
Egyptian Jewellry
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| Property of Queen Ahhotep. Found at the tomb of Djer, the 3rd Dynasty pharaoh. |
One of the manifestations of such luxurious life is jewellry. Ever since the Egyptians settled along the nile valley (maybe earlier, but we have no evidence), they started paying special attention to jewellry specially, and later, precious stones generally.
The beginning of the Egyptian jewellry
When exactly the Egyptian jewellry was first created is totally beyond out knowledge, however the evidence shows that they started way back around the so-called Badarian era. They used leaves and branches of trees to form out different kinds of jewellry and outfits, probably a bit later started developing by using stones and
Medical Profession in Ancient Egypt
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| Painted wooden stele depicting the statue of the god Horus, to whom a sick man is bringing gifts, Third Intermediate Period. The Museum of Louvre N. 3657. Paris |
According to a Christian writer, Alexandrinus Clemens, living in Alexandria in about 200 AD, the priests of early-dynastic Egypt had written the sum total of their knowledge in 42 sacred books kept in the temples and carried in religious processions. Six of these books were concerned totally with medicine and dealt with anatomy, diseases in general, surgery, remedies, diseases of the eye and diseases of women. No example of these books survive nor of the anatomy books said to have been written by Athothis, second Pharaoh of the First Dynasty.
During the Old Kingdom the medical profession became highly organized, with doctors holding a variety of ranks and specialities. The ordinary doctor or Sinw was outranked by the imy-r sinw (overseer of doctors) the wr sinw (chief of doctors), and smsw sinw (eldest of doctors) and the shd sinw (inspector of doctors). Above all these practitioners was the overseer of doctors of Upper and Lower Egypt. There is evidence that a
The Geography of Ancient Egypt
Every civilisation reflects, to some degree, the influence of its environment. Egypt is a country where, perhaps more than most, the physical and natural features provide a dramatic and contrasting setting for human events. It would be difficult to reside in Egypt and remain unaffected by the natural forces and their cycles. In antiquity, as now, the two great life-giving forces were the Nile and the sun, and in their religious beliefs the Egyptians recognized the omnipotence of these, as well as the existence of the other natural elements which shaped their world.
In the words of a Classical writer, Egypt is the ‘gift of the Nile’. The existence of the fertile areas has always been due to the natural phenomenon of the regular inundation of the river, for Egypt’s scanty and irregular rainfall would never have supplied sufficient water to support crops and animals. The Nile, Africa’s longest river, rises far to the south of Egypt, in the region of the Great Lakes near the equator. Known as Bahr el-Jebel (Mountain Nile) in its upper course, after its junction with the Bahr el-Ghazel it becomes the White Nile. In the highlands of Ethiopia, another river, the Blue Nile, rises in Lake Tana, and the Blue and White Niles join at Khartoum. From Khartoum to Aswan the river is now interrupted by a series of six cataracts. These are not waterfalls, but appear as scattered groups of rocks across the river which obstruct the stream, and at the Fourth, Second and First cataracts, interfere with navigation. Egypt begins at the First Cataract, and comprises the area between this natural barrier and the Mediterranean, some 965 km to the north. It was in the region of the northernmost cataracts that the Egyptians, from early times, subdued the local population, to gain access to the hard stone and gold supplies of Nubia.
Within Egypt, the Nile follows a course which divides into two regions. The Nile Valley, a passage which the river has forced through the desert, runs from Aswan to just below modern Cairo, a distance of some 804 km. The scenery along this valley varies from steep rocky cliffs which rise up on either side of the river,
and then give way to the encroaching deserts, to flat, cultivated plains, with lush vegetation which, again, in the far distance, succumb to the desert. This cultivated area, wrung from the desert by the irrigation of the land with the Nile floods, varies in width; in parts, the Nile Valley is between twelve and six miles wide, but elsewhere, the cliffs hug the edges of the river and there is no cultivatable land. Nowhere in Egypt is the traveller more aware of the significance of the river’s life-force, for here there is virtually no rainfall. The sun is always present, and without the Nile, this region would be desert, like the surrounding area.
The ancient Egyptians recognised the geographical facts and divided their country into two regions. In earliest times, this was a political as well as a geographical reality, but even after the unification of the country, the concept of ‘Two Lands’ was still present. To them, the Nile Valley was ‘Upper Egypt’, whereas the northern area, the Delta, was ‘Lower Egypt’.
Today, the modern capital of Egypt, Cairo, stands at the apex of the Delta. In antiquity, the ancient capital of Memphis lay a few miles south, and from here there was a marked change in the Nile and its surrounding countryside. Here, the river fans out into a delta nearly one hundred miles long; through the two main branches at Rosetta in the west and Damietta in the east, it finally flows into the Mediterranean. The Delta forms a flat, low-lying plain, scored by the Nile’s main and lesser branches; at its widest, northern perimeter, it spreads out over some two hundred miles. However, despite the considerable area of watered land in this region, much of the Delta is marshy or water-logged and cannot be cultivated. Here in antiquity, the nobility and courtiers enjoyed favorite outdoor as times of fishing and fowling in the marshes. The climate in the north also differs from that of Upper Egypt, for the temperatures are more moderate and there is some rainfall.
The ‘Two Lands’ were therefore distinct regions, but were nevertheless interdependent, joined together by the unifying force of the Nile. However, their geographical features imposed different attitudes on their inhabitants. Lower Egypt, closest to the Mediterranean, looked towards the other countries to the north,
and was more readily receptive of influences from outside, becoming a centre for the cross-currents of the politics and culture of the ancient world. Upper Egypt, encapsulated by the deserts and bordered on the south by the land of Nubia, was more isolated from new ideas and influences. The contrast between the Two Lands can be seen not only in the geographical and environmental features, but in the distinctive art schools which emerged and even in the physique of the people. The northerners tended to be more stockily built, with lighter skins, while the southerners displayed something of the angularity evident in the southern school of art. However, these are broad generalisations, for Egypt remained a strongly unified country; at different periods, the capital moved from one region to another, and with it, the courtiers, officials, craftsmen, and workforce associated with the requirements of a great city; and the art followed the same broad traditional principles in both north and south, so that today only an experienced eye can detect differences in the ancient regional
art styles.
It was the Nile however which enabled the Egyptians to cultivate crops and to rear animals, and indeed to develop their remarkable civilization. Rain in Upper Egypt was the exception, and the infrequent, short and violent rain bursts could often bring damage; these were regarded as evil rather than beneficent events. In the
Delta also, only the northernmost area benefited from the wintry rains of the Mediterranean. It was the annual inundation of the Nile which brought life to the parched land.
This was the most important natural event of the year, and inevitably became the focus of religious attention. The annual rains in tropical Africa caused the waters of the Blue Nile to swell; in Egypt, this eventually had the effect of causing the river to flood its banks, and spread out over the fields, carrying with it the rich, black mud which was deposited on the land. It was this silt and the people’s management of the water which enabled the Egyptians to grow and cultivate crops. The rise of the river was first noticeable at Aswan in late June; by July, the muddy silt began to arrive. The swelling flood would cover the surrounding fields, and if it breached the dykes, would submerge the fields and villages to a depth of several feet. The flood finally reached the area near Cairo at the end of September, and the waters would then gradually recede, with the river contained within its banks by October and reaching its lowest level in the following April. Thus, the countryside presented great extremes—for part of the year, the villages and palm trees could be marooned like islands in the expanse of floodwater; by the end of the cycle, the earth would be parched and cracked, awaiting the new, life-giving waters of the next inundation.
However, the Nile’s gift was variable and although it rose unfailingly, the height of the inundation fluctuated. A Nile which was too high would flood the land and bring devastation and the ruination of the crops; towns, villages and houses could also be destroyed, with the consequent and considerable loss of life. On the other hand, a low Nile would bring famine. The erratic nature of the inundation was a constant threat to the safety and prosperity of the people, and although the Egyptians showed great awareness of their dependence on the inundation in their religious literature, they were also constantly concerned that the inundation should not be exceptional. Indeed, it is not surprising that moderation and balance were amongst their most highly valued concepts.
In addition to their religious observances, from earliest times, they took practical measures to control and regulate the Nile waters. Started in the predynastic period, their irrigation system evolved a pattern whereby the land was divided up into sections of varying sizes, each being enclosed by strong earth banks. These
banks were arranged on a chequerboard system, with long banks running parallel to the river, and another series running across them, from the river to the desert edge. At the inundation, the water was let into the banked sections through canals, and was held there while the silt settled. Once the river had fallen, the water was drained off, and the ploughing and sowing began. This system provided Egypt with rich agricultural land, and the need for such a system was also probably responsible for the early centralization and organisation of the country.
The interdependence of physically isolated village communities on the all-important joint project of constructing, extending and maintaining an irrigation system gave the people an awareness of the need to co-operate and an acceptance of a strong centralized state. Dykes and dams were built, canals were dug and the system was maintained with the active support of the first kings. Today, the advent of a successful harvest is no longer dependent on nature, and on the petitions addressed to the Nile god, Hapy, and to Osiris, the god of vegetation and rebirth. Modern technology has led to the building of dams at certain points on the river, enabling the volume of water to be held back and supplied for irrigation as required, through a series of canals.
The physical division of Egypt into northern and southern regions is not the only geographical distinction which the Egyptians recognised. It is still possible today to stand with one foot in the desert and one in the cultivation, along the clearly defined line of demarcation between these two areas. For the Egyptians, the cultivated area represented life, fertility and safety; here, with assiduous husbandry, they could grow ample crops, and establish their communities. The name they gave to their whole country was ‘Kemet’, which means the ‘Black Land’. This referred to the cultivation, fertilised for countless years by the black mud of the inundation. Beyond this strip, however, lay the desert, stretching away to the horizon under the glaring sun, a place of death and terror to the Egyptians. They gave this the name of ‘Deshret’, meaning ‘Red Land’, because of the color of the rocks and the sand. These two regions symbolized life and death, and probably influenced some of their most basic religious ideas.
The other most important natural life-force was of course the sun. The Egyptians acknowledged this as the creative force and sustainer of life, and worshiped it under several names as a god; however, Ra was the name by which the solar deity was continuously and most frequently known.
The two great life-forces of sun and Nile had much in common. Both expressed, in their natural cycles, patterns of life, death and rebirth. The sun rose every morning and set at night, to reappear unfailingly on the horizon; the Nile annually imparted its gift of water, so that the life, death and rebirth of the countryside was
vividly experienced. It has been suggested that this regular environmental pattern impressed itself so clearly on the Egyptian consciousness that they transferred the concept of life, death and rebirth, seen in natural cycles, to the human experience. From their earliest development, it seems that they believed in the continued existence of the individual—his rebirth—after death, and the concept of eternity remained a constant feature of their religious and funerary ideas. Although the supposed exact location of this continued existence varied in the different historical periods and according to the individual’s social status, (almost) all Egyptians believed in some kind of afterlife and, for those who could afford it, elaborate preparations of the tomb and associated funerary equipment were made, to facilitate the deceased’s journey into the next world. Both the gods associated with these life-forces— Ra, as the solar god, and Osiris, the god who symbolized vegetation and was king of the underworld by virtue of his own resurrection from the dead—promised regeneration and eternity to their followers.
It was possible for the often unique ideas which distinguished the Egyptian civilization to flourish over many centuries and to develop largely unaffected by outside influences, because of the geographical situation of the country. A glance at a map of Egypt will immediately reveal the importance of its natural barriers. In antiquity, these were of more significance than they are today, for they encapsulated Egypt and buffered it against all invaders, so that, unlike many other areas, in the earlier times at least, Egypt was not subjected to continuous waves of conquerors. To the north, there lies the Mediterranean and to the south, the African hinterland; on the east there is the eastern desert and the Red Sea, while to the west, with its seemingly endless desolate hills, the Libyan desert stretches out. Here, in an otherwise waterless expanse, there runs an irregular chain of oases, scattered roughly parallel to the river. The largest ‘oasis’ (although, strictly speaking, it is not a true oasis) is the Fayoum, a depression in the desert, into which runs a minor channel, some 321 km long, known as the ‘Bahr Yusef’ (Joseph’s river). This channel leaves the main stream of the Nile west of the river near the modern town of Assiut. It was here, in the Fayoum, that the community of Kahun lived some 4,000 years ago. But before returning to consider this area in more detail, it is necessary to examine the historical events which led the kings of the 12th Dynasty to select the Fayoum as their center.
Queen Hatshepsut
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Thutmose II married his half-sister, the King's Daughter, King's Sister and King's Great Wife Queen Hatshepsut who, having inherited the office of God's Wife of Amun from Meritamun, used this as her preferred title. Egypt's new queen started to build a suitable consort's tomb in the remote Wadi Sikkat Taka el-Zeida, on the Theban west bank. Here her quartzite sarcophagus was inscribed with a prayer to the mother goddess Nut:
By year 7 Queen Hatshepsut had been crowned king of Egypt, acquiring in the process a full king's titulary of five royal names - Horus, Powerful-of-Kasi Two Ladies, Flourishing-of-Years; Female Horus of Fine Gold, Divine-of-Diadems; King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Maatkare (Truth is the Soul of Re); Daughter of Ra, Khenmet-Amun Hatshepsut (the One who is joined with Amun, the Foremost of Women). Thutmose III was
Divine Birth of Queen Hatshepsut:
A single stela, raised at Armant, tells us that Queen Hatshepsut died on the tenth day of the sixth month of the 22nd year of her reign. Finally Thutmose was free to embark on what would be 33 years of highly successful solo rule. First, however, he had to bury his predecessor to consolidate his claim to the throne. Queen Hatshepsut's tomb was looted in antiquity, but included amongst the debris left by the robbers were two vases - family heirlooms? - made for Queen Ahmose-Nefertari. We have Queen Hatshepsut's sarcophagus and her matching canopic chest, and a few fragments of her furniture, but her body has vanished. All that remains is a box recovered from the Deir el-Bahari mummy cache, decorated with Queen Hatshepsut's cartouch and holding mummified tissue identified rather loosely as either a liver or a spleen. We do, however, have several nameless New Kingdom female mummies who might, or might not, be Queen Hatshepsut. Chief amongst these are the 'Elder Lady', a female mummy in her 40s recovered from a sealed side-chamber in the tomb of Amenhotep II (KV 35) and an obese female mummy with red-gold hair discovered in the tomb of the royal nurse Sitre (KV 60). Sitre is known to have been Queen Hatshepsut's wet-nurse, and a badly damaged limestone statue shows her sitting with the young Hatshepsut (a miniature adult rather than a child) on her lap.
Thutmose II married his half-sister, the King's Daughter, King's Sister and King's Great Wife Queen Hatshepsut who, having inherited the office of God's Wife of Amun from Meritamun, used this as her preferred title. Egypt's new queen started to build a suitable consort's tomb in the remote Wadi Sikkat Taka el-Zeida, on the Theban west bank. Here her quartzite sarcophagus was inscribed with a prayer to the mother goddess Nut:
The King's Daughter, God's Wife, King's Great Wife, Lady of the Two Lands, Queen Hatshepsut, says, 'O my mother Nut, stretch over me so that you may place me amongst the undying stars that are in you, and that I may not die.'
The Wadi Sikkat Taka el-Zeida tomb would be abandoned before the burial shaft could be completed.
Hatshepsut the Consort
Queen Hatshepsut bore her brother one daughter, Neferure, but no son. And so, when Thutmose II died unexpectedly after maybe 13 years on the throne, the crown passed to Thutmose III, a son born in the royal harem to the lady Isis. As the new king was still an infant, and as the new King's Mother was not considered sufficiently royal to act as regent, Queen Hatshepsut was called upon to rule on behalf of her stepson. Thutmose III, proud of his mother and perhaps eager to inflate his lineage, would later promote Isis posthumously to the roles of King's Great Wife and God's Wife. We may see Isis on a pillar in Thutmose's tomb (KV 34) where she stands behind her son in a boat. Here she wears a simple sheath dress and tripartite wig but no crown. In contrast, a statue of Isis recovered from Karnak shows her wearing a modius and double uraeus.
His son has risen in his place as King of the Two Lands. He [Thutmose III] ruled on the throne ofhe who had begotten him. His sister, the God's Wife Queen Hatshepsut, governed the land and the Two Lands were advised by her. Work was done for her and Egypt bowed its head.
For several years Queen Hatshepsut acted as a typical regent, allowing the young Thutmose to take precedence in all activities. But already there were signs that Queen Hatshepsut was not afraid to flout tradition. Her new title, Mistress of the Two Lands, was a clear reference to the king's time-hon-oured title Lord of the Two Lands. More unusually, she commissioned a pair of obelisks to stand in front of the gateway to the Karnak temple of Amun. Obelisks - tall, thin, tapering shafts of hard stone whose pyramid-shaped tops, coated with gold foil, sparkled in the strong Egyptian sunlight - were understood to represent the first rays of light that shone as the world was created. Very difficult to cut and transport, and so difficult to erect that modern scientists have not yet managed to replicate the procedure, they had thitherto been the very expensive gifts of kings to their gods. By the time her obelisks were cut, Queen Hatshepsut too had become a king, and her new titles were engraved with pride on her monuments.
Hatshepsut the King!
By year 7 Queen Hatshepsut had been crowned king of Egypt, acquiring in the process a full king's titulary of five royal names - Horus, Powerful-of-Kasi Two Ladies, Flourishing-of-Years; Female Horus of Fine Gold, Divine-of-Diadems; King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Maatkare (Truth is the Soul of Re); Daughter of Ra, Khenmet-Amun Hatshepsut (the One who is joined with Amun, the Foremost of Women). Thutmose III was
never forgotten. He was scrupulously acknowledged as a co-ruler and the now-joint regnal years continued to be counted from the date of his accession, but Queen Hatshepsut was undeniably the dominant king of Egypt. Only towards the end of Queen Hatshepsut's life would Thutmose acquire anything like equal status with his co-ruler.
We can chart Queen Hatshepsut's journey from conventional consort to king in a series of contrasting images. A stela now housed in Berlin Museum shows us the royal family shortly before Thutmose's death. The young king stands facing the sun god Re. Directly behind him stands his step-mother/mother-in-law Ahmose wearing the vulture headdress and uraeus topped with tall feathers. Queen Hatshepsut stands dutifully behind her mother, her plain sheath dress and simple platform crown emphasizing the fact that here she is very much the junior queen. The modius or plat-form crown, decorated with flower stalks, was worn by a variety of not particularly prominent New Kingdom royal women. Two years after the death of Thutmose II, images carved at the Semna Temple, Nubia, show an adult-looking Thutmose III, sole King of Upper and Lower Egypt and Lord of the Two Lands, receiving the white crown from the ancient Nubian god Dedwen. Finally Hatshepsufs Red Chapel at Karnak shows Queen Hatshepsut and Thutmose III standing together. The two kings are identical in appearance, both wearing the kilt and the blue crown, botb carrying a staff and an ankh, and both with breastless male bodies. Their cartouches confirm that it is Thutmose who stands behind Queen Hatshepsut in the more junior position.
Queen Hatshepsut offers us no explanation for her unprecedented assumption of power. It seems that there was no opposition to her elevation although, of course, it is very unlikely that any such opposition would have been recorded. We can only guess that it was precipitated by a political or theological crisis requiring a fully adult king. Carved into the walls of her religious monuments Queen Hatshepsut does, however, offer some justification. Queen Hatshepsut is entitled to claim the throne because she is not only the beloved daughter and intended heir of the revered Thutmose I (the less impressive Thutmose II being conveniently forgotten); she is also the daughter of the great god Amun. And he, via an oracle revealed to Queen Hatshepsut herself, has proclaimed his daughter King of Egypt.
Divine Birth of Queen Hatshepsut:
Queen Hatshepsut's semi-divine nature is emphasized on the walls of her mortuary temple, where a cartoon-like sequence of images and a brief accompanying text tell the story of her divine birth. Amon, we learn, has fallen in love with a beautiful queen of Egypt, and has determined to father her child. In one of the few scenes showing a queen communicating directly with a god, we can view Queen Ahmose sitting unchaperoned in her boudoir. Here she is visited by Amon who, for propriety's sake, has disguised himself as her husband. Amon tells Ahmose that she has been chosen to bear his daughter, the future king of Egypt. Then he passes her the ankh that symbolizes life, and his potent perfume fills the palace. Meanwhile, in heaven, the ram-headed creator god Khnum crafts both the baby and the baby's soul on his potter's wheel. Nine months later it is time for the birth. The pregnant Ahmose, her baby bump barely visible, is led to the birthing bower by Khnum and the frog-headed midwife Heket. Here, in a scene discreetly left to the imagination, Queen Hatshepsut is born.
Amon is overwhelmed with love for his new daughter. He takes her from Hathor the divine wet nurse, kisses her and speaks:
Come to me in peace, daughter of my loins, beloved Maatkare, thou art the king who takes possession of the diadem on the Throne of Horus of the Living, eternally.
The temple walls show Egypt's new, naked king with an unmistakably male body; her identical and equally naked soul, too, is obviously male. But the new king's names are female, and neither Ahmose nor Amon is in any doubt over the gender of their child. The presentation of Queen Hatshepsut as a male is purely a convention, her response to the artistic dilemma that, three centuries before, saw Sobeknefru don an unhappy mixture of men's and women's clothing. As a queen Hatshepsut had been happy to be portrayed as a conventional woman: slender, pale and passive. But as a king she needed to find an image that would reinforce her new position while distancing her from the consort's role. Towards the beginning of her reign she was depicted either as a conventional woman or as a woman wearing [male] king's clothing. Two seated limestone statues recovered from Deir el-Bahari show her dressed in this hybrid manner. Queen Hatshepsut wears the traditional headcloth and kilt. She has a rounded, feminine, unbearded face and a feminine body with breasts and an indented waist. Soon, however, she evolves into an entirely masculine king, with a man's body, male clothing, male ccessories and male ritual actions. It seems that it is the appearance of the king that matters rather than her actual gender; the masculine form of Queen Hatshepsut is happy to alternate between masculine and feminine forms of her titulary.
Princess Neferure, the Queen of Hatshepsut:
From the time of her coronation onwards, Queen Hatshepsut was careful to behave as an entirely conventional King of Egypt; in consequence, while her story tells us a great deal about the perceived role of the king, it tells us less about the role of the queen than we might have hoped. It does, however, confirm one very important detail: that the queen was an important element of the kingship. Like any other king, Queen Hatshepsut needed a queen to fulfil the feminine aspect of her monarchy, and for this she turned to her daughter Neferure. Most of Egypt's royal children remain hidden in their nurseries throughout their childhoods and, during her father's reign, Neferure had been no exception. But following her mother's coronation, Neferure started to play an unusually prominent role - the queen's role - in public life. Neferure used the titles Lady of Upper and Lower Egypt and Mistress of the Lands and she assumed the office of God's Wife of Amun, a role that Queen Hatshepsut had been forced to abandon as it was incompatible with her kingly status. Neferure, like all other God's Wives before her, adopted this as her preferred title. Scenes carved on the walls of the Red Chapel at Karnak show Neferure as a fully adult woman performing the appropriate rituals.
Neferure's education was clearly a matter of some importance. The young princess was taught first by the courtier Ahmose-Pennekhbet, next by Senenmut, Queen Hatshepsut's most influential advisor, and finally by the administrator Senimen. A series of hard stone statues - highly expensive, produced by the royal workshops - show Neferure and Senenmut together. Neferure has the shaven head and sidelock of youth worn by all Egyptian children. Senenmut, dressed in a heavy striated wig, assumes a typical woman's role by either holding the princess tight, or seating her on his knee and wrapping her body in his cloak. Neferure disappears
towards the end of her mother's reign; she appears on a stela at Serabit el-Khadim in Year II, but is unmentioned in Senenmut's tomb dated to Year 16. The obvious assumption is that she has died and been buried in her tomb which lay near that built for her mother in the remote Wadi Sikkat Taka el-Zeida.
Senenmut, Queen Hatshepsut's Advisor
The new king inherited her late brother's courtiers but gradually, as her reign developed, she started to pick new advisors, many of whom, like Senenmut, were men of relatively humble birth. As Queen Hatshepsut well realized, these self-made men had a vested interest in keeping her on the throne: if she fell, they fell with her. Senenmut, Steward of Amun and tutor to Princess Neferure, enjoyed a meteoric rise through the ranks, and this has sparked a great deal of speculation over the precise nature of his relationship with Queen Hatshepsut. They certainly never married - marriage was not an option for a female king, as it would lead to too great a conflict of roles - but could they have been lovers? A crude piece of graffiti scrawled in a Deir el-Bahari tomb, which apparently shows a man having 'doggy-style' intercourse with a woman wearing a royal headdress, cannot be accepted as conclusive proof of anything other than the fact that the ancient Egyptians enjoyed smutty gossip as much as any other people. The fact that Senenmut carved his image into Queen Hatshepsut's mortuary temple - an unprecedented and daring move for a non-royal- combines with the fact that his second tomb encroached upon the Deir el-Bahari precincts to offer a more convincing argument in favour of a close bond between the two. It is difficult to imagine that Senenmut could have ordered these infringements of protocol without Queen Hatshepsut's knowledge and tacit approval.
Queen Hatshepsut's Policy
The new king set out to maintain maat by launching an obvious assault on chaos. Foreigners were to be subdued, the monuments of the ancestors were to be restored, and the whole of Egypt was to be enhanced by a series of ambitious temple-building projects. The subduing of the foreigners was quickly achieved in a token series of military campaigns against the vassals to the south and east. The Deir el-Bahari temple again shows the Nubian god Dedwen, this time leading a series of captive Nubian towns leach depicted as a walled town or fortified cartouch bearing an obviously Nubian head) towards the victorious Queen Hatshepsut.
Next, Queen Hatshepsut turned her attention to trade. There were missions to the Lebanon for wood, increased exploi tation of the copper and turquoise mines in Sinai and, most important of all, during Year 9, a successful trading mission to Punt. The real but almost legendary land of Punt was a source of many exotic treasures: precious resins, curious wild animals, and the ever-desirable ebony, ivory and gold. It was, however, a long way from the safety of Thebes. The exact location of Punt is now lost, but flora and fauna included in the reliefs decorating Queen Hatshepsut's mortuary temple suggest that it was an east African trading centresituated somewhere along the Eritrean/Ethiopian coast. The journey to this distant Utopia involved a long, hot march across 100 miles (160 km) of desert, possibly carrying a dismantled boat, to the Red Sea port of Quseir. This was followed by a sea journey along the coast, an adventure that the Egyptians, always very happy on the calm waters of the Nile, dreaded.
Queen Hatshepsut's envoy Neshy set sail with a small but well-armed army, his precise route undisclosed. After some sharp bargaining with the chief of Punt - the temple walls show a handful of trinkets being exchanged for
a wonderful array of goods, but doubtless they exaggerate - he returned home in triumph. Queen Hatshepsut, watching as her ships disgorged their valuable cargos at Thebes, must have been overjoyed. The safe return of her troops proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that her reign was indeed blessed by her divine father. With great perspicacity she promptly donated the best of the goods to Amun, and ordered that the epic voyage be immortalized on the Deir el-Bahari temple walls.
Queen Hatshepsut's Projects Building
Back at home the building projects were proceeding well. It seems likely that Queen Hatshepsut instigated a temple-building project in all of Egypt's major cities, but most of these temples have been lost along with their cities, leaving the Theban monuments to stand as testimony to the prosperity of her reign. We know that there were building works in Nubia, and at Kom ambo, Hierakonpolis, Elkab, Armant and the island of Elephantine, which received two temples dedicated to local gods. In Middle Egypt, not far from Beni Hassan and the Hatnub quarries, Egypt's first two rock-cut temples were dedicated to the obscure lion-headed goddess Pakhet, 'She who Scratches', a local variant of the goddess Sekhmet, who was herself a variant of Hathor. On one of these temples, known today bits Greek name Speos Artemidos (Grotto of Artemis), Queen Hatshepsut carved a bold statement setting out her policy of rebuilding and restoration:
I have never slumbered as one forgetful, but have made strong what was decayed. I have raised up what was dismembered, even from the first time when the Asiatics were in Avaris of the North Land, with roving hordes in the midst of them overthrowing what had been made; they ruled without Ra.... I have banished the abominations of the gods, and the earth has removed their footprints.
In suggesting that she has personally expelled the Hyksos from Egypt, Queen Hatshepsut is being more than economical with the truth; such an outrageous lie can, however, be justified if we take the view, as Queen Hatshepsut
herself undoubtedly did, that each of Egypt's kings was a continuation of the kings who had gone before and so fully entitled to claim his deeds for his (or her) own, Her assertion that she is renewing and restoring damaged monuments does appear to be true within the modern meaning of the term, We know, for example, that she repaired the temple of Hathor at the town of Cusae, a town which, situated on the border between the Theban and Hyksos kingdoms, suffered badly during the wars that ended the 17th Dynasty, The Karnak temple benefited greatly from the new king's generosity, There was another pair of obelisks - this time entirely covered in gold foil - raised to commemorate Queen Hatshepsut's 15-year jubilee, a new bark shrine (the Red Chapel) where Amun's processional boat could rest, a new southern pylon (gateway), a new royal palace and a series of improvements to the processional routes which linked the various temples within the complex, But the most magnificent building she commissioned was a mortuary temple for herself, situated close by the Middle Kingdom tomb of Mentuhotep II in the Deir el-Bahari bay.
Deir el-Bahari, Queen Hatshepsut's Mortuary Temple.
Deir el-Bahari was a multi-functional temple with a series of shrines and chapels devoted to a variety of gods. The main sanctuary was dedicated to Queen Hatshepsut's divine father, Amun. But there was also a suite of chapels
devoted to the royal ancestors; this included a small mortuary or memorial chapel for her earthly father, Thutmose I, and a much larger mortuary chapel for Queen Hatshepsut herself. Here, in front of Queen Hatshepsut's cult statue, the priests could make the daily offerings of food, drink, music and incense that would allow the dead king's soul to live forever. An open-air court dedicated to the worship of the sun god Re-Herakhty balanced the dark and gloomy mortuary chapels, chapels that linked the dead with the cult of Osiris. One level down were the chapels dedicated to the god of embalming, Anubis, and to Hathor, who was not only the goddess of the Deir el-Bahari bay, but also 'Mistress of Punt'. Like many of Egypt's queens, Hatshepsut (now an ex-queen) felt a particular attraction to Hathor's predominantly female cult, and Hathor features prominently in her temple. She is present at Hatshepsut's birth and later, taking the form of a cow, suckles a newborn infant. If Amon can be considered the divine father of the king, it seems that Hathor is now his (or her) mother.
The mortuary temple was one half of Queen Hatshepsut's mortuary provision. Her tomb, the other half, was to be in the Valley of the Kings, the now traditional cemetery for Egypt's kings. The old consort's tomb in the Wadi Sikkat Taka el-Zeida was abandoned, but Queen Hatshepsut (perhaps concerned about her lack of time) did not try to build a replacement. Instead she started to enlarge the tomb (KV 20) which already held her father, until it became the longest and deepest tomb in the Valley. Eventually, or so she hoped, father and daughter would lie side-by-side forever in two matching yellow quartzite sarcophagi (Thutmose l's sarcophagus, a shade less magnificent than Queen Hatshepsut's own, was actually a second-hand sarcophagus originally prepared for his daughter). The two did indeed lie together for a time, but Thutmose III eventually had his grand-father reinterred in a nest of new coffins placed in a new sarcophagus in a brand new tomb (KV 38).
The End of the Era of Queen Hatshepsut
A single stela, raised at Armant, tells us that Queen Hatshepsut died on the tenth day of the sixth month of the 22nd year of her reign. Finally Thutmose was free to embark on what would be 33 years of highly successful solo rule. First, however, he had to bury his predecessor to consolidate his claim to the throne. Queen Hatshepsut's tomb was looted in antiquity, but included amongst the debris left by the robbers were two vases - family heirlooms? - made for Queen Ahmose-Nefertari. We have Queen Hatshepsut's sarcophagus and her matching canopic chest, and a few fragments of her furniture, but her body has vanished. All that remains is a box recovered from the Deir el-Bahari mummy cache, decorated with Queen Hatshepsut's cartouch and holding mummified tissue identified rather loosely as either a liver or a spleen. We do, however, have several nameless New Kingdom female mummies who might, or might not, be Queen Hatshepsut. Chief amongst these are the 'Elder Lady', a female mummy in her 40s recovered from a sealed side-chamber in the tomb of Amenhotep II (KV 35) and an obese female mummy with red-gold hair discovered in the tomb of the royal nurse Sitre (KV 60). Sitre is known to have been Queen Hatshepsut's wet-nurse, and a badly damaged limestone statue shows her sitting with the young Hatshepsut (a miniature adult rather than a child) on her lap.
Erasing Queen Hatshepsut
Towards the end of Thutmose's reign an attempt was made to delete Queen Hatshepsut from the historical record. This elimination was carried out in the most literal way possible. Her cartouches and images were chiselled off the stone walls -leaving very obvious Queen-Hatshepsut-shaped gaps in the artwork - and she was excluded from the official history that now ran without any form of co-regency from Thutmose II to Thutmose III. At the Deir el-Bahari temple Queen Hatshepsut's numerous statues were torn down and in many cases smashed or disfigured before being buried in a pit. Over the river at Karnak there was even an attempt to wall up her obelisks. While it is clear that much of this rewriting of history occurred during the later part of Thutmose's reign, it is not clear why it happened. For many years Egyptologists assumed that it was a damnatio memoriae, the deliberate erasure of a person's name, image and memory, which would cause them to die a second, terrible and permanent death in the afterlife. This appeared to make perfect sense. Thutmose must have been an unwilling co-regent for years. What could be more natural than a wish to destroy the memory of the woman who had so wronged him? But this assessment of the situation is probably too simplistic. It is always dangerous to attempt to psychoanalyse the long dead, but it seems highly unlikely that the determined and focused Thutmose - not only Egypt's most successful general, but an acclaimed athlete, author, historian, botanist and architect - would have brooded for two decades before attempting to revenge himself on his stepmother.
Furthermore the erasure was both sporadic and haphazard, with only the more visible and accessible images of Queen Hatshepsut being removed. Had it been complete - and, given the manpower available, there is no reason why it should not have been - we would not now have so many images of Queen Hatshepsut. It seems either that Thutmose must have died before his act of vengeance was finished, or that he had never intended a total obliteration of her memory at all. In fact, we have no evidence to support the assumption that Thutmose hated or resented Queen Hatshepsut during her lifetime. Had he done so he could surely, as head of the army (a position given to him by Queen Hatshepsut, who was clearly not worried about her co-regent's loyalty), have led a successful coup. It may well be that Thutmose, lacking any sinister motivation, was, towards the end of his life, simply engaged in 'tidying up' his personal history, restoring Queen Hatshepsut to her rightful place as a queen regent rather than a king. By eliminating the more obvious traces of his female co-regent, Thutmose could claim all the achievements of their joint reign for himself.
The erasure of Queen Hatshepsut's name, whatever the reason, allowed her to disappear from Egypt's archaeological and written record. Thus, when 19th-century Egyptologists started to interpret the texts on the Deir el-Bahari temple walls (walls illustrated with not one but two obviously male kings) their translations made no sense. Champollion, the French decoder of hieroglyphs, was not alone in feeling deeply confused by the obvious conflict between the words and the pictures:
If I felt somewhat surprised at seeing here, as elsewhere throughout the temple, the renowned Moeris [Thutmose III}, adorned with all the insignia of royalty, giving place to this Amenenthe (Hatshepsut}, for whose name we may search the royal lists in vain, still more astonished was I to find on reading the inscriptions that wherever they referred to this bearded king in the usual dress of the Pharaohs, nouns and verbs were in the feminine, as though a queen were in question. I found the same peculiarity everywhere..
By the late 19th century the truth had been revealed and, despite her masculine appearance, Queen Hatshepsut had been restored to her rightful place as a female king.
Check The Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut in details
Check The Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut in details
Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt List
List of Major Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt
Amun (alt. Amon)
'The Hidden One', a god of the Theban region who eventually became the principal divinity of the royal lines and the nearest approach to a national god of Egypt. The Temple of Amon in Thebes was one of the most powerful religious foundations, specially in the later periods, eventually threatening the royal power.
Andjeti
A god of the Delta with whom Osiris, who was first associated with the Delta twn of Busiris, was assimilated.
Anbur
A god identified as the creative power of the sun, later recognised as a god of war.
Anubis
A very ancient divinity, originating in Abydos, He is represented as a wolf or jackal; he was associated especially with mummification, the practice of which was the responsibility of his priests.
Apis
A manifestation of Ptah incarnate in a bull with particular markings and physical characteristics, Apis was known in the First Dynasty. His cult became widespread in the Late Period, when the chosen bull (and his mother) were given lives of great luxury in the temple at Memphis and, at death, sumptuous obsequies at Saqqara.
Ash
A god of deserts, of great antiquity, sometimes identified with Set, particularly in the south.
Aten
The personification of the sun's rays, proclaimed by Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) as the supreme god of Egypt. After the king's death Aten was overturned by the priests of Amon, a return to whose worship was demanded by them, signalled by such events as the renaming of King Tutankhaten, Akhenaten's eventual successor, as Tutankhamun.
Atum
'The Undifferentiated One', 'The All', the original creator of the cosmos who, after lying inert in the abyss, appeared on the primordial mound, 'The Divine Emerging Island', to initiate the process of creation. Finding himself alone he masturbated and from his sperm produced the first generation of gods.
Bes
A dwarf god, popular in later times, who was invoked for luck and who facilitated childhirth.
Buchis
A sacred bull, associated with Montu at his cult center at Armant (Hermonthis); the bull was an incarnation of Re and Osiris.
Bastet
A cat goddess, worshipped at Bubastis, a Delta town named in her honour.
Geb
The earth god and father, by the goddess Nut, of Osiris, Isis, Set and Nephthys. Initially he divided the sovereignty of Egypt between Set and his nephew Horus, gods of the south and north respectively, but eventually gave dominion over the whole land to Horus.
Hapy
The god of the Nile, portrayed with bisexual secondary haracteristics.
Hathor
An ancient cow goddess, associated with Isis, and in whose form queens were frequently depicted.
Heh, Hehet
Frog divinities, representing the element water who, with others of their kind, produce the egg which is placed on the 'Divine Emerging Island'. Heh was also the god of eternity, represented anthropomorphically.
Horakhty
A manifestation of Re as the dawn light appearing on the eastern horizon. In New Kingdom times the Great Sphinx at Giza was thought to be an image of the god Horus and was identified with Horakhty.
Horus
A very ancient sky divinity from the south, the son of Osiris and Isis according to a relatively late myth, who avenged his father's murder by Set, becoming King of Upper and Lower Egypt. All subsequent kings of Egypt were revered as incarnations of Horus. There were many local manifestations of Horus throughout Egypt.
Isis
Sister-wife of Osiris and mother of Horus. Queens were identified with Isis and, especially in the early dynasties, the succession to the throne often passed through the female line by marriage to the heiress. Isis was represented astronomically by the constellation Sirius (Egyptian Sopdet).
Khentiamentiu
An ancient god of the necropolis of Abydos, 'The Foremost of the Westerners' with whom Osiris was assimilated and whose form, swathed in mummy cloths, he adopted. Like Anubis, with whom Khentiamcntiu shares a number of attributes, he is also manifest as a dog or jackal.
Khepri (alt. Kheper)
The scarabeus beetle which was regarded as the manifestation of the sun god. Its practice of laying its eggs in a ball of dung came to symbolise regeneration, and the hieroglyph derived from it signified 'becoming'.
Khnum
The ram-headed god of Elephantine who was responsible for fashioning the Ka of the royal child at the moment of conception, on his potter's wheel.
Ma'at
Truth, divine order; the goddess in whose name the king was said to rule, and by whom he was bound to rule justly.
Mefnut
A lioness goddess.
Mertsager
A snake goddess, revered as the 'Lady of the Pek ' and associated with the pyramid-shaped mountain which rises over the Valley of the Kings at Thebes. Her name means 'She who Loves Silence'.
Meshkent
The goddess of childbirth.
Min
'Lord of Copros', often represented as thongh one-armed and usually ithyphallic.
Mnevis
A god who manifested his presence in a selected bull (see also Apis, Buchis).
Montu
A warrior-god of the Theban region, manifest both as a falcon and as a bull. Montu was particularly reverenced by the kings of the Eleventh Dynasty, eventually being replaced by the ram of Amon as the principal divinity of the Thebaid.
Mut
A lioness-headed goddess whose temple was located at Asher (Thebes). She was sometimes represented as vulture-headed.
Nefertum
Horus as a child, born in the lotus flower and associated with the sun god.
Neith
An ancient warrior-goddess, resident in Sais in northern Egypt. From very early times she was symbolised by a device of crossed arrows.
Nekhbet
The vulture goddess of Nekhen in Upper Egypt and patron goddess of the south, one of 'the Two Ladies', with Uadjet whose power protected the king. Some kings and a number of queens wore the double Uraeus of vulture and cobra.
Nephthys
One of the Heliopolitan Ogdoud, the company of eight primeval gods, the daughter of Geb and the consort of Set.
Nun
The personification of the primeval waters, the abyss, from which the earliest generations of gods were born. At night the sun journeyed to Nun on its voyage through the Underworld.
Nut
The sky goddess whose body symbolised the vault of the heavens. Every evening she swallowed the sun, Re, and every morning gave birth to him. She is trequently represented in the decoration of coffins.
Osiris
The ruler of the Underworld, identified with the king-in-death, who became Osiris. He was the father of Horus who avenged his murder by his brother Set. Osiris was regenerated that he might impregnate Isis; as a consequence he came to be worshipped as the god of rebirth and redemption. In time all the 'justified'
dead became Osiris.
Ptah
The immensely ancient artificer god, Lord of Memphis, where his principal temple was established and hence especially identified with the royal house. He is depicted in human form, though wrapped in mummy cloths. He could also manifest himself in animal form, for example as a bull like Apis, Buchis or Mnevis.
Ptah-Soker-Osiris
A manifestation of Ptah combined with Osiris, particularly important in the region of Saqqara. Later Ptah-Soker-Osir is became transformed into the Graeco Fgyptian god Serapis, one of the archetypes of the bearded, patriarchal sky god.
Re (alt. Ra)
The sun god, from time to time regarded as the king of the gods, with whom the king was united at death.
Sekhmet
A lioness goddess, the consort of Ptah, she roamed the desert outside Giza. Because of an injury done to the eye of Re, her father, she determined to destroy the race of men and was only prevented from doing so by the subterfuge of making her drunk, so that she became unconscious and was carried back to heaven.
Selket
A scorpion-goddess who protected the coffin of the king.
Seshat
An ancient goddess, charged with responsibility for preparing all the divine records, hence for writing, architecture, the measuring of land on which a temple was to be built and, with the king, for determining the temple's axis.
Set (alt. Seth)
Originally the high god of the south of Egypt, Set became a god of deserts, of the storm and chaos. Later, he was regarded as the murderer of his brother, Osiris, and the antagonist of Osiris' heir, Horus. Their conflict over the kingship of Egypt is one of the archetypal themes of Ancient Egypt.
Shesemuw
A god of wine and of the vintage, who also presided over the butchering of bulls.
Shu
The god of air and the sun; he was particularly associated with Heliopolis. He was said to be one of the first two divinities created by Atum.
Sobek
A crocodile-god, worshipped at Kom Ombo, who was especially popular in the Thirteenth Dynasty, when a number of the kings adopted Sobek's name as part of their titulary.
Soker
A god of the dead of Memphis; he was associated in late times with Osiris and Ptah to form the composite divinity Ptah-Soker-Osiris.
Taurt
A hippopotamus goddess, represented standing upright on her rear legs, who was particularly concerned with the supervision of pregnancy and childbirth.
Tefnut
A form of the lioness-goddess Sekhmet.
Thoth
The god of wisdom and the moon who was manifest both as an ibis and as a cynocephalus baboon. It was him who brought the arts of civilization to men.
'The Two Ladies'
The godesses Nekhbet and Uadjet.
Uadjet
The cobra-goddess of the north, the partner of Nekhbet who with her protected the king as part of his Uraeus diadem, sometimes forming with Nekhbet the double uraeus.
Wepwawet (alt. Upwaut)
A dog-god from Abydos, associated with graveyards. His name signifies 'Opener of the Ways' and it was believed that he conducted the dead to judgement.
Amun (alt. Amon)
'The Hidden One', a god of the Theban region who eventually became the principal divinity of the royal lines and the nearest approach to a national god of Egypt. The Temple of Amon in Thebes was one of the most powerful religious foundations, specially in the later periods, eventually threatening the royal power.
Andjeti
A god of the Delta with whom Osiris, who was first associated with the Delta twn of Busiris, was assimilated.
Anbur
A god identified as the creative power of the sun, later recognised as a god of war.
Anubis
A very ancient divinity, originating in Abydos, He is represented as a wolf or jackal; he was associated especially with mummification, the practice of which was the responsibility of his priests.
Apis
A manifestation of Ptah incarnate in a bull with particular markings and physical characteristics, Apis was known in the First Dynasty. His cult became widespread in the Late Period, when the chosen bull (and his mother) were given lives of great luxury in the temple at Memphis and, at death, sumptuous obsequies at Saqqara.
Ash
A god of deserts, of great antiquity, sometimes identified with Set, particularly in the south.
Aten
The personification of the sun's rays, proclaimed by Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) as the supreme god of Egypt. After the king's death Aten was overturned by the priests of Amon, a return to whose worship was demanded by them, signalled by such events as the renaming of King Tutankhaten, Akhenaten's eventual successor, as Tutankhamun.
Atum
'The Undifferentiated One', 'The All', the original creator of the cosmos who, after lying inert in the abyss, appeared on the primordial mound, 'The Divine Emerging Island', to initiate the process of creation. Finding himself alone he masturbated and from his sperm produced the first generation of gods.
Bes
A dwarf god, popular in later times, who was invoked for luck and who facilitated childhirth.
Buchis
A sacred bull, associated with Montu at his cult center at Armant (Hermonthis); the bull was an incarnation of Re and Osiris.
Bastet
A cat goddess, worshipped at Bubastis, a Delta town named in her honour.
Geb
The earth god and father, by the goddess Nut, of Osiris, Isis, Set and Nephthys. Initially he divided the sovereignty of Egypt between Set and his nephew Horus, gods of the south and north respectively, but eventually gave dominion over the whole land to Horus.
Hapy
The god of the Nile, portrayed with bisexual secondary haracteristics.
Hathor
An ancient cow goddess, associated with Isis, and in whose form queens were frequently depicted.
Heh, Hehet
Frog divinities, representing the element water who, with others of their kind, produce the egg which is placed on the 'Divine Emerging Island'. Heh was also the god of eternity, represented anthropomorphically.
Horakhty
A manifestation of Re as the dawn light appearing on the eastern horizon. In New Kingdom times the Great Sphinx at Giza was thought to be an image of the god Horus and was identified with Horakhty.
Horus
A very ancient sky divinity from the south, the son of Osiris and Isis according to a relatively late myth, who avenged his father's murder by Set, becoming King of Upper and Lower Egypt. All subsequent kings of Egypt were revered as incarnations of Horus. There were many local manifestations of Horus throughout Egypt.
Isis
Sister-wife of Osiris and mother of Horus. Queens were identified with Isis and, especially in the early dynasties, the succession to the throne often passed through the female line by marriage to the heiress. Isis was represented astronomically by the constellation Sirius (Egyptian Sopdet).
Khentiamentiu
An ancient god of the necropolis of Abydos, 'The Foremost of the Westerners' with whom Osiris was assimilated and whose form, swathed in mummy cloths, he adopted. Like Anubis, with whom Khentiamcntiu shares a number of attributes, he is also manifest as a dog or jackal.
Khepri (alt. Kheper)
The scarabeus beetle which was regarded as the manifestation of the sun god. Its practice of laying its eggs in a ball of dung came to symbolise regeneration, and the hieroglyph derived from it signified 'becoming'.
Khnum
The ram-headed god of Elephantine who was responsible for fashioning the Ka of the royal child at the moment of conception, on his potter's wheel.
Ma'at
Truth, divine order; the goddess in whose name the king was said to rule, and by whom he was bound to rule justly.
Mefnut
A lioness goddess.
Mertsager
A snake goddess, revered as the 'Lady of the Pek ' and associated with the pyramid-shaped mountain which rises over the Valley of the Kings at Thebes. Her name means 'She who Loves Silence'.
Meshkent
The goddess of childbirth.
Min
'Lord of Copros', often represented as thongh one-armed and usually ithyphallic.
Mnevis
A god who manifested his presence in a selected bull (see also Apis, Buchis).
Montu
A warrior-god of the Theban region, manifest both as a falcon and as a bull. Montu was particularly reverenced by the kings of the Eleventh Dynasty, eventually being replaced by the ram of Amon as the principal divinity of the Thebaid.
Mut
A lioness-headed goddess whose temple was located at Asher (Thebes). She was sometimes represented as vulture-headed.
Nefertum
Horus as a child, born in the lotus flower and associated with the sun god.
Neith
An ancient warrior-goddess, resident in Sais in northern Egypt. From very early times she was symbolised by a device of crossed arrows.
Nekhbet
The vulture goddess of Nekhen in Upper Egypt and patron goddess of the south, one of 'the Two Ladies', with Uadjet whose power protected the king. Some kings and a number of queens wore the double Uraeus of vulture and cobra.
Nephthys
One of the Heliopolitan Ogdoud, the company of eight primeval gods, the daughter of Geb and the consort of Set.
Nun
The personification of the primeval waters, the abyss, from which the earliest generations of gods were born. At night the sun journeyed to Nun on its voyage through the Underworld.
Nut
The sky goddess whose body symbolised the vault of the heavens. Every evening she swallowed the sun, Re, and every morning gave birth to him. She is trequently represented in the decoration of coffins.
Osiris
The ruler of the Underworld, identified with the king-in-death, who became Osiris. He was the father of Horus who avenged his murder by his brother Set. Osiris was regenerated that he might impregnate Isis; as a consequence he came to be worshipped as the god of rebirth and redemption. In time all the 'justified'
dead became Osiris.
Ptah
The immensely ancient artificer god, Lord of Memphis, where his principal temple was established and hence especially identified with the royal house. He is depicted in human form, though wrapped in mummy cloths. He could also manifest himself in animal form, for example as a bull like Apis, Buchis or Mnevis.
Ptah-Soker-Osiris
A manifestation of Ptah combined with Osiris, particularly important in the region of Saqqara. Later Ptah-Soker-Osir is became transformed into the Graeco Fgyptian god Serapis, one of the archetypes of the bearded, patriarchal sky god.
Re (alt. Ra)
The sun god, from time to time regarded as the king of the gods, with whom the king was united at death.
Sekhmet
A lioness goddess, the consort of Ptah, she roamed the desert outside Giza. Because of an injury done to the eye of Re, her father, she determined to destroy the race of men and was only prevented from doing so by the subterfuge of making her drunk, so that she became unconscious and was carried back to heaven.
Selket
A scorpion-goddess who protected the coffin of the king.
Seshat
An ancient goddess, charged with responsibility for preparing all the divine records, hence for writing, architecture, the measuring of land on which a temple was to be built and, with the king, for determining the temple's axis.
Set (alt. Seth)
Originally the high god of the south of Egypt, Set became a god of deserts, of the storm and chaos. Later, he was regarded as the murderer of his brother, Osiris, and the antagonist of Osiris' heir, Horus. Their conflict over the kingship of Egypt is one of the archetypal themes of Ancient Egypt.
Shesemuw
A god of wine and of the vintage, who also presided over the butchering of bulls.
Shu
The god of air and the sun; he was particularly associated with Heliopolis. He was said to be one of the first two divinities created by Atum.
Sobek
A crocodile-god, worshipped at Kom Ombo, who was especially popular in the Thirteenth Dynasty, when a number of the kings adopted Sobek's name as part of their titulary.
Soker
A god of the dead of Memphis; he was associated in late times with Osiris and Ptah to form the composite divinity Ptah-Soker-Osiris.
Taurt
A hippopotamus goddess, represented standing upright on her rear legs, who was particularly concerned with the supervision of pregnancy and childbirth.
Tefnut
A form of the lioness-goddess Sekhmet.
Thoth
The god of wisdom and the moon who was manifest both as an ibis and as a cynocephalus baboon. It was him who brought the arts of civilization to men.
'The Two Ladies'
The godesses Nekhbet and Uadjet.
Uadjet
The cobra-goddess of the north, the partner of Nekhbet who with her protected the king as part of his Uraeus diadem, sometimes forming with Nekhbet the double uraeus.
Wepwawet (alt. Upwaut)
A dog-god from Abydos, associated with graveyards. His name signifies 'Opener of the Ways' and it was believed that he conducted the dead to judgement.
Tomb of Sennefer Plan - Nobles Tombs - Luxor, Egypt- Part X
Tombs of the Nobles, Luxor, Egypt.
Sennofer or Sennefer, Tombs of the Nobles, Luxor, Egypt.
In this delightful tomb the boxed-in effect has been broken. The 'oriental tent' atmosphere of most tombs is missing because the entire ceiling has been painted with a creeping vine. Interesting use has been made of the rough surfaces of the rock to make the grapes and vine-tendrils more realistic, and the experiment has succeeded.
Sennofer or Sennefer, Tombs of the Nobles, Luxor, Egypt.In this delightful tomb the boxed-in effect has been broken. The 'oriental tent' atmosphere of most tombs is missing because the entire ceiling has been painted with a creeping vine. Interesting use has been made of the rough surfaces of the rock to make the grapes and vine-tendrils more realistic, and the experiment has succeeded.
Both the first small chamber and the main hall, which is supported by four pillars, have been decorated in this manner.
Sennofer (Sennefer) was the overseer of the gardens of Amon under Amenhotep II. His tomb,which was excavated only in the 20th century, was found to have mostly religious inscriptions but the condition of the frescoes is almost perfect and their freshness and
A steep flight of stairs takes us down to the first chamber, and the first representations we meet on the left-hand wall (a) show Sennefer being brought offerings from his daughter and ten priests. Circling the chamber clockwise we see on the two rear walls (b) and (c) drawings of the deceased with his wife worshiping Osiris who is represented above the doorway of the main chamber. On the right-hand wall (d) the deceased is seen entering and leaving his tomb while servants bring sacred offerings and his daughter stands behind him.
condition of the frescoes is almost perfect and their freshness and
Above the doorway of the main chamber lie two representations of Anubis. Touring the chamber clockwise we come first to a scene of the deceased and his wife emerging from the tomb (c), and further along seated on a bench. On the left-hand wall at (f) are servants bringing furniture to the tomb and setting up two obelisks before the shrine. At (g) are funerary ceremonies and the nobleman himself (to the left) looks on. On the rear wall (h) the deceased and his wife are at a table of offerings while priests offer sacrifices to the dead. Further to the right (i) are scenes of the voyage to Abydos, statues of the deceased and his wife in a shrine in a boat being towed by another boat. Thus the deceased nobleman satisfied himself of favor with Osiris by showing that he had the intention of performing the sacred pilgrimage.
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| One of the most beautiful representations is that of the deceased and his wife in an arbour (j) praying to Osiris and Anubis. At (k) a priest clad in a leopard skin purifies them with holy water and at (l) is the scene before a table of offerings where Sennefer puts a lotus blossom to his nostrils and his wife tenderly holds his leg. |
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| The pillars have representations of Sennefer and his wife. Perhaps the most attractive is to be found on the left-hand pillar at (m). |
Luxor, Egypt
Tags:
Amenhotep II,
amon,
ancient egypt,
Anubis,
Death,
Egypt,
luxor egypt,
Osiris,
religion,
Sennefer,
Tombs,
Tombs of the Nobles
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