Now you may have heard of the famed ancient Egyptian architect Imhotep or if you are a fan of a certain set of films including 1932's The Mummy and an early 2000s film franchise. But away from the Hollywood versions Imhotep was the Vizier and Overseer of Works of King Djoser and is credited as… Continue reading Imhotep Vizier of Works
Pottery, Souls, Floods and the creation of the world all connect the subject of my blog this week, the ram-headed God Khnum ‘Potter of Mankind’ and ‘Lord of the Cataract’. Figure 1: Temple relief fragment of the god Khnum EA635 https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA635 Appearance Figure 2: 'Amun' Ram- headed sphinxes at Luxor Temple - Authors Own Photo… Continue reading Khnum – Potter of Mankind
This week here in the UK we are celebrating the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II and so it has got me thinking about what a jubilee celebration for a pharaoh would look like. Luckily there is such a celebration recorded from ancient Egypt the Heb-Sed festival or more simply the Sed festival. Figure 1:… Continue reading The HEB -SED Festival – A royal Jubilee
As promised in my last post I will kick off the second month of 2022 by taking a look at the taking ancient Egyptian calendar. Now had I been a little less busy at work I would have chosen this as my first topic back in the new year but sometimes it is a bit… Continue reading What day is it? The Calendar in Ancient Egpyt
It is now October which means that mummy costumes, pumpkins and the rustling of corn mazes might be out to calling you? Last October I explored curses. So, I thought I would combine two autumnal themes into this week’s blog and a look at corn mummies and Osiris beds. It might not sound like these… Continue reading Corn Mummies
It is still warm for being September where I am. So, as people fill pub gardens, they are more than likely drinking a beer and that is what this week blog is all about the drink of choice for the ancient Egyptians, beer. Beer or Henket was the most common alcoholic beverage and formed an… Continue reading Beer in Ancient Egypt
Inspired by last week’s object that I added to my cabinet of curiosities on Instagram I thought I would explore the Kites of Nephthys and the role that these women played in the funeral processions of both gods and mortals. In order to figure out where these individual roles come from, we have to take… Continue reading The Kites of Nephthys
Figure 1: A map of the processional ways in the New Kingdom. Kemp, B., 1991. Ancient Egypt Anatomy of A Civilisation. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, p.266. After taking a break for the holidays. I am now back with the second half of my two-part blog focussing on festivals in Ancient Egypt. In the first part… Continue reading Festivals in Ancient Egypt – The Beautiful Festival of the Valley
As our thoughts turn to winter festivities it has got me thinking about festivals in ancient Egyptian. The ancient Egyptians had a number of festivals across the year and in general centred around the ritual procession of a deity’s statue from one temple to another. These festivals performed both an opportunity for commoners to come… Continue reading Festivals in Ancient Egypt – The Opet Festival
The Curious Egyptologist 