Iteti Ankhires Iteti Ankhires Dating from the Old Kingdom and found within his Saqqara Mastaba, this seated Ka statue of Iteti Ankhires is inscribed with the title of, “The Great One of the Tens of Upper Egypt”. A ka statue is a type of ancient Egyptian statue intended to provide a resting place for the...
Nude figure of the Seal Bearer Tjetji Tjetji is shown in the classic pose of a standing official, with his left leg advanced, a long staff in his left hand, and a sekhem scepter (now lost) held horizontally in his right hand. The arms of this statue were made separately and pegged to the body,...
The Great Pyramids at Giza, Egypt (photo: KennyOMG, CC BY-SA 4.0) One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World The last remaining of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, the great pyramids of Giza, are perhaps the most famous and discussed structures in history. These massive monuments were unsurpassed in height for thousands of...
The Rosetta Stone The Rosetta Stone, 196 B.C.E., Ptolemaic Period, 112.3 x 75.7 x 28.4 cm, Egypt (British Museum, London) (photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). The Rosetta Stone was discovered in Egypt, at Fort St Julien in el-Rashid, known as Rosetta. The key to translating hieroglyphics The Rosetta Stone is one of the most important...
Egyptian hieroglyphs Egyptian hieroglyphs were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with more than 100 distinct characters. Cursive hieroglyphs were used for religious literature on papyrus and wood. The later hieratic and demotic Egyptian scripts were derived from hieroglyphic writing, as was the Proto-Sinaitic script that later evolved into the Phoenician alphabet. Through the Phoenician alphabet’s major child systems (the Greek and Aramaic scripts), the Egyptian hieroglyphic script...
The civilization of ancient Egypt was indebted to the Nile River and its dependable seasonal flooding. The river’s predictability and fertile soil allowed the Egyptians to build an empire on the basis of great agricultural wealth. Egyptians are credited as being one of the first groups of people to practice agriculture on a large scale. This was possible because of...
The Hanging Church is one of the oldest churches in Egypt and the history of a church on this site dates to the 2nd century AD. It is called the Hanging Church because it was built on the southern of Babylon Fortress, the Roman fortress in Coptic Cairo (Old Cairo). Logs of palm trees and...
Coptic Cairo: A Detailed Local’s Guide Cairo might be known as the city of a thousand minarets, but old mosques and Pyramids aren’t all that Cairo has to offer when it comes to history. Coptic Cairo, also known as mogama’ el adyan (Interfaith Complex), is an area unlike any other in Egypt. It’s part of...
Raramu and Ankhet This double statuette (57.2 × 36.2 cm) depicts the married couple Raramu and Ankhet, and it was found within Raramu’s tomb (G 2099). Raramu was an elite in Ancient Egyptian society within the Old Kingdom period, and he held many titles. Some of those titles showcase his royal ties, such as, “Priest...