The Egyptian Museum, Cairo
When the pyramid times bluntly ended with the 6th Dynasty the country went into chaos and lots of small kingdoms.
The new unification came first after 130 years (around year 2050 BC) and then from the ruler of ancient Waset (Luxor). The country was once again one nation and the 11th Dynasty ruled the country from Waset.
During the 11th and 12th Dynasty the country remained united for nearly 300 year and this is the period today known as the Middle Kingdom.
In the 11th Dynasty Pharaoh Mentohotep builds a temple under a cliff on the west bank of Waset, the same place the famous terrace temple of Hatshepsut is built some hundred years later. The statue above is Mentohotep, and was found among the remains of his temple in Waset.
In todays Lisht, close to Hwt-Ka-Ptah (Memphis near Cairo), 12 statues was found of Pharao Sensuret. The capital had been moved from Waset to Hwt-ka-Ptah when the 12th Dynasty was established.
Sensuret had one of the few pyramids that were built after the Old Kingdom ended. Apart from that, in legendary Yuno or Heliopolis where the sungod was born, the only remaining obelisk is the obelisk of Sensuret I.
All 12 statues of Sensuret are today exhibited in the Egyptian Museum, here by 3 of him.
In this statue of two Niles we clearly see African element, just look at the rings around the necks. Plants and fish are described in front of each person. Found at Tanis in the Nile delta.
Since the sculpture above and to the head of Hatshepsut below, Egypt has been occupied by Hyksos coming from east. It should go more than 200 years before the two brothers Amose and Khamose from Waset managed to kick out Hyksos in year 1567 BC. Khamose was killed in a battle just before this and Amose founded the 18th Dynasty with Waset again as Egypt's capital. The glorious New Kingdom has started.
The father of Hatshepsut is ThothMoses I, and his grandfather is above mentioned Amose. ThothMoses I establish Egypt's imperium and is the first pharaoh buried in what later is to become known as the Valley of the Kings.
Pharaoh MaatKaRe Hatshepsut is still ruling with a smile, but have a second look as its said she got the forerunner to Mona Lisa's mysterious smile...
Hatshepsut was not the only female pharaoh in Egypt, but she is today the most known together with Cleopatra VII.
Here is a statue of MaatKaRe Hatshepsut bringing offering to her father the sungod Amun. Many will let you know that since she wears the false beard she tried to behave as a man to be a pharaoh. What then about British male judges with long white wigs, do they try to become women? Fact is rather that she as all female and male pharaohs wore the ceremonial outfit of a pharaoh.
One truly beautiful statue is found showing her as a true woman; unfortunately this is in the Metropolitan Museum and not here in her homeland.
A statue easily forgotten among so many alternatives is the granite statue of Senemut and NeferuRe. Senemut was the vizier, architect - and some believe lover of MaatKaRe Hatshepsut. Here he is showed protecting MaatKaRa's daughter NeferuRe.
Much indicates that MaatKaRe planned for NeferuRe to take over the throne after her, but NeferuRe dies unfortunately in a young age.
This is one of the many lion sphinxes with face of Hatshepsut which guarded the road up to her terrace temple in Deir El Bahari in Luxor. All found were more or less broken, but this one is now put together so it can guard the Egyptian Museum.
The image section we have chosen here show very well the aesthetics in the lion form, just look at how the lion tale are rounded around her back foot.
ThothMoses III, son of MaatKaRe Hatshepsut's half-brother ThothMoses II.
Many say that he hated Hatshepsut as she kept him away from the throne many years and tried to destroy the memory of her after her death. This is by far not a cemented fact, indications show sometimes the opposite. If so it was rather a strong section among the Amun priests who tried to remove her name and history all over.
This statue shows ThothMoses as a boy as he wears the hair lock children wore before they came to puberty. Look at the face, there is no wonder the art during the times of Hatshepsut and ThothMoses III got the name "classical period" in ancient Egyptian art.
The Old Kingdom
Once upon a time - some 5000 years ago - Pharaoh Menes united Egypt and became the first ruler of Upper and Lower Egypt. His family established the first dynasty in Egypt and this and the following dynasty lasted together for about four hundred years. Today these two dynasties are called the Early Dynastic period.
In the 3rd Dynasty we meet a Pharaoh named Zoser and it is his architect Imhotep who is the person behind the construction and building of the first pyramid in Egypt.
From this first pyramid and until the end of the 6th dynasty, more and more pyramids are being built with the pyramid of Kufu (4th Dynasty) as the largest and most known. This period is named the Old Kingdom, or the Pyramid Period of Egypt.
The last stone on the top of a pyramid was a mini-pyramid in granite, often covered with gold or electrum (an alloy of gold and silver). In the museum you will find several pyramideons in the first large hall straight ahead when entering the museum.
For location, all major pyramids was built around the ancient capital Hwt-ka-Ptah (Memphis) just south of todays Cairo. You can find a bit more about this and two Old Kingdom tombs in the "Pyramid areas of Cairo".
Turning left when entering the museum leads you into a corridor where more than 4000 year old statues and treasures from the pyramid period are found.
Some ask us where the sons of daughters of these great pyramids builders are. Then we have to remind that up to the revolution in 1952 Egypt had been ruled by other nations for a period of more than 2000 years. Just wait until these children whom today sit by the feet of their great forefathers grow up (-:
Hundred years ago a European art historian stood in front of a statue of Pharaoh Zoser in this museum. Looking Zoser in the eyes he said "Excuse me your Majesty, but Stone Age is something rather boring".
Other say the art is "stiff", "constructed" and so forth.
With all that in mind, take a close look at the face of this more than 4000 old statue. Boring, stiff, constructed? Guess he don't understand such sayings any more than we do.
Ancient Egyptian art is full of expressions, and most who take their time at this unique museum will come out feeling they have met persons who lived here by the Nile banks several thousand years ago. Some visitors have actually suggested to rename the museum to "The Egyptian Time machine"!
Here is a statue of a woman from the Old Kingdom making bread. As there were no slaves building the pyramids, bread was part of their payment. In fact it's recorded several strikes where the workers demand more bread, onions and beer for their work...
Just some few years ago the workers village by the pyramids was found. Remains here proves once and for all that the pyramids was not built by slaves but by professional workers and an added workforce from farmers and alike who could not work their land during the seasonal flooding of the Nile.
Fragment of a relief from Old Kingdom showing part of a man and under a dog hunting three foxes. Note how the dog bites the tail of the last fox.
What is special with this relief is that its not carved and painted as we are used to from Ancient Egyptian relief's, but the forms are carved out in the stone and filled with different coloured "stuffing's".
Two painted limestone statues showing Nofret and her husband Rahotep who was High Priest during the 3rd Dynasty. Note his moustache, as this was not usual in Ancient Egypt.
As the size often showed importance, children were often showed far smaller and often only knee height of their parents. Here wife and husband are showed with the exact same height, showing the importance of women in pharaonic times.
During Pharaoh Khafre the second largest pyramid of the Giza complex was built. Originally 145 meters (475ft) high and still today some of the limestone chasing is left near the top. In the valley temple 23 diorite statues of Khafre was found, all broken apart from this one today in the Egyptian Museum.
Here we see the face of Khafre and behind him a falcon folding its wings on each side of his head. The falcon is the god Horus, son of Osiris and Isis.
After Osiris was killed by his brother Seth and became ruler in Am Duat (the kingdom of the dead), Horus became the new ruler of mankind. In difference to previous gods and goddesses Horus did not rule directly, but incarnated in a human being and ruled through this human who then became a half-god or a Per-o (pharaoh).
From the statue we can clearly see Horus whispering state secrets to Pharaoh Khafre.
The new unification came first after 130 years (around year 2050 BC) and then from the ruler of ancient Waset (Luxor). The country was once again one nation and the 11th Dynasty ruled the country from Waset.
During the 11th and 12th Dynasty the country remained united for nearly 300 year and this is the period today known as the Middle Kingdom.
In the 11th Dynasty Pharaoh Mentohotep builds a temple under a cliff on the west bank of Waset, the same place the famous terrace temple of Hatshepsut is built some hundred years later. The statue above is Mentohotep, and was found among the remains of his temple in Waset.
In todays Lisht, close to Hwt-Ka-Ptah (Memphis near Cairo), 12 statues was found of Pharao Sensuret. The capital had been moved from Waset to Hwt-ka-Ptah when the 12th Dynasty was established.
Sensuret had one of the few pyramids that were built after the Old Kingdom ended. Apart from that, in legendary Yuno or Heliopolis where the sungod was born, the only remaining obelisk is the obelisk of Sensuret I.
All 12 statues of Sensuret are today exhibited in the Egyptian Museum, here by 3 of him.
In this statue of two Niles we clearly see African element, just look at the rings around the necks. Plants and fish are described in front of each person. Found at Tanis in the Nile delta.
Since the sculpture above and to the head of Hatshepsut below, Egypt has been occupied by Hyksos coming from east. It should go more than 200 years before the two brothers Amose and Khamose from Waset managed to kick out Hyksos in year 1567 BC. Khamose was killed in a battle just before this and Amose founded the 18th Dynasty with Waset again as Egypt's capital. The glorious New Kingdom has started.
The father of Hatshepsut is ThothMoses I, and his grandfather is above mentioned Amose. ThothMoses I establish Egypt's imperium and is the first pharaoh buried in what later is to become known as the Valley of the Kings.
Pharaoh MaatKaRe Hatshepsut is still ruling with a smile, but have a second look as its said she got the forerunner to Mona Lisa's mysterious smile...
Hatshepsut was not the only female pharaoh in Egypt, but she is today the most known together with Cleopatra VII.
Here is a statue of MaatKaRe Hatshepsut bringing offering to her father the sungod Amun. Many will let you know that since she wears the false beard she tried to behave as a man to be a pharaoh. What then about British male judges with long white wigs, do they try to become women? Fact is rather that she as all female and male pharaohs wore the ceremonial outfit of a pharaoh.
One truly beautiful statue is found showing her as a true woman; unfortunately this is in the Metropolitan Museum and not here in her homeland.
A statue easily forgotten among so many alternatives is the granite statue of Senemut and NeferuRe. Senemut was the vizier, architect - and some believe lover of MaatKaRe Hatshepsut. Here he is showed protecting MaatKaRa's daughter NeferuRe.
Much indicates that MaatKaRe planned for NeferuRe to take over the throne after her, but NeferuRe dies unfortunately in a young age.
This is one of the many lion sphinxes with face of Hatshepsut which guarded the road up to her terrace temple in Deir El Bahari in Luxor. All found were more or less broken, but this one is now put together so it can guard the Egyptian Museum.
The image section we have chosen here show very well the aesthetics in the lion form, just look at how the lion tale are rounded around her back foot.
ThothMoses III, son of MaatKaRe Hatshepsut's half-brother ThothMoses II.
Many say that he hated Hatshepsut as she kept him away from the throne many years and tried to destroy the memory of her after her death. This is by far not a cemented fact, indications show sometimes the opposite. If so it was rather a strong section among the Amun priests who tried to remove her name and history all over.
This statue shows ThothMoses as a boy as he wears the hair lock children wore before they came to puberty. Look at the face, there is no wonder the art during the times of Hatshepsut and ThothMoses III got the name "classical period" in ancient Egyptian art.
The Old Kingdom
Once upon a time - some 5000 years ago - Pharaoh Menes united Egypt and became the first ruler of Upper and Lower Egypt. His family established the first dynasty in Egypt and this and the following dynasty lasted together for about four hundred years. Today these two dynasties are called the Early Dynastic period.
In the 3rd Dynasty we meet a Pharaoh named Zoser and it is his architect Imhotep who is the person behind the construction and building of the first pyramid in Egypt.
From this first pyramid and until the end of the 6th dynasty, more and more pyramids are being built with the pyramid of Kufu (4th Dynasty) as the largest and most known. This period is named the Old Kingdom, or the Pyramid Period of Egypt.
The last stone on the top of a pyramid was a mini-pyramid in granite, often covered with gold or electrum (an alloy of gold and silver). In the museum you will find several pyramideons in the first large hall straight ahead when entering the museum.
For location, all major pyramids was built around the ancient capital Hwt-ka-Ptah (Memphis) just south of todays Cairo. You can find a bit more about this and two Old Kingdom tombs in the "Pyramid areas of Cairo".
Turning left when entering the museum leads you into a corridor where more than 4000 year old statues and treasures from the pyramid period are found.
Some ask us where the sons of daughters of these great pyramids builders are. Then we have to remind that up to the revolution in 1952 Egypt had been ruled by other nations for a period of more than 2000 years. Just wait until these children whom today sit by the feet of their great forefathers grow up (-:
Hundred years ago a European art historian stood in front of a statue of Pharaoh Zoser in this museum. Looking Zoser in the eyes he said "Excuse me your Majesty, but Stone Age is something rather boring".
Other say the art is "stiff", "constructed" and so forth.
With all that in mind, take a close look at the face of this more than 4000 old statue. Boring, stiff, constructed? Guess he don't understand such sayings any more than we do.
Ancient Egyptian art is full of expressions, and most who take their time at this unique museum will come out feeling they have met persons who lived here by the Nile banks several thousand years ago. Some visitors have actually suggested to rename the museum to "The Egyptian Time machine"!
Here is a statue of a woman from the Old Kingdom making bread. As there were no slaves building the pyramids, bread was part of their payment. In fact it's recorded several strikes where the workers demand more bread, onions and beer for their work...
Just some few years ago the workers village by the pyramids was found. Remains here proves once and for all that the pyramids was not built by slaves but by professional workers and an added workforce from farmers and alike who could not work their land during the seasonal flooding of the Nile.
Fragment of a relief from Old Kingdom showing part of a man and under a dog hunting three foxes. Note how the dog bites the tail of the last fox.
What is special with this relief is that its not carved and painted as we are used to from Ancient Egyptian relief's, but the forms are carved out in the stone and filled with different coloured "stuffing's".
Two painted limestone statues showing Nofret and her husband Rahotep who was High Priest during the 3rd Dynasty. Note his moustache, as this was not usual in Ancient Egypt.
As the size often showed importance, children were often showed far smaller and often only knee height of their parents. Here wife and husband are showed with the exact same height, showing the importance of women in pharaonic times.
During Pharaoh Khafre the second largest pyramid of the Giza complex was built. Originally 145 meters (475ft) high and still today some of the limestone chasing is left near the top. In the valley temple 23 diorite statues of Khafre was found, all broken apart from this one today in the Egyptian Museum.
Here we see the face of Khafre and behind him a falcon folding its wings on each side of his head. The falcon is the god Horus, son of Osiris and Isis.
After Osiris was killed by his brother Seth and became ruler in Am Duat (the kingdom of the dead), Horus became the new ruler of mankind. In difference to previous gods and goddesses Horus did not rule directly, but incarnated in a human being and ruled through this human who then became a half-god or a Per-o (pharaoh).
From the statue we can clearly see Horus whispering state secrets to Pharaoh Khafre.
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