| Henutmehyt [1] in hieroglyphs | |||||||||
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Henutmehyt | |||||||||
Priestess from the time of Ramesses II | |||||||||
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Henutmehyt was the name of a Theban priestess of ancient Egypt, who lived during the 19th Dynasty, around 1250 BC. The excessive use of gold, and the high quality and detail of her coffins indicates that Henutmehyt was a wealthy woman.
Henutmehyt was buried in a set of gilded coffins and a two-part gilded mummy-cover made of cedar of Lebanon and sycomore, which are now in the British Museum. [2] The outer coffin is only partly gilded (yellow paint has been applied to mimic gold on the lower part of the lid). On the front of the coffin, the Sky-Goddess Nut spread her wings. The four sons of Horus, Isis and Nephthys occupy the compartments in the lower part of the lid. Grains of wheat and barley have been found embedded in the resin on the underside of the coffin. The reddish color of the mummy-cover could be due to tarnishing. [3]
A wooden shabti box which was painted with a scene showing Henutmehyt adoring two of the canopic deities [2] and receiving food and wine from the goddess Nut. There were four shabti boxes in total, containing a total of 40 brightly coloured shabtis made of both wood and pottery. [4]
A funerary papyrus was included in her burial as well. The text is Spell 100 from the Book of the Dead (a spell about worthiness and permission to go aboard the bark of Ra) and is written rather unusually in red and white ink. The papyrus was placed over the outer wrappings of the mummy, as it should have been (spell 100 must be placed on the breast of the deceased without touching its flesh). These types of texts became more common after the New Kingdom. [4]
Magic bricks made of unbaked mud must have been placed in niches in the burial chamber. Henutmehyt's magic bricks were well preserved. They supported amuletic figures: a Djed pillar, the figure of Anubis, a wooden mummiform figure, and a reed. The bricks themselves were inscribed with magic spells. [4]
A wooden box, painted black and containing fowl wrapped in linen and meat possibly from a goat may also belong to the funerary equipment of Henutmehyt. The box contains enough food for a meal. [4]
Saqqara, also spelled Sakkara or Saccara in English, is an Egyptian village in the markaz (county) of Badrashin in the Giza Governorate, that contains ancient burial grounds of Egyptian royalty, serving as the necropolis for the ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis. Saqqara contains numerous pyramids, including the Pyramid of Djoser, sometimes referred to as the Step Tomb, and a number of mastaba tombs. Located some 30 km (19 mi) south of modern-day Cairo, Saqqara covers an area of around 7 by 1.5 km.
The Book of the Dead is an ancient Egyptian funerary text generally written on papyrus and used from the beginning of the New Kingdom to around 50 BC. The original Egyptian name for the text, transliterated r(ꜣ)w n(y)w prt m hrw(w), is translated as Book of Coming Forth by Day or Book of Emerging Forth into the Light. "Book" is the closest term to describe the loose collection of texts consisting of a number of magic spells intended to assist a dead person's journey through the Duat, or underworld, and into the afterlife and written by many priests over a period of about 1,000 years. Karl Richard Lepsius introduced for these texts the German name Todtenbuch, translated to English as Book of the Dead.
The tomb of Tutankhamun, also known by its tomb number, KV62, is the burial place of Tutankhamun, a pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt, in the Valley of the Kings. The tomb consists of four chambers and an entrance staircase and corridor. It is smaller and less extensively decorated than other Egyptian royal tombs of its time, and it probably originated as a tomb for a non-royal individual that was adapted for Tutankhamun's use after his premature death. Like other pharaohs, Tutankhamun was buried with a wide variety of funerary objects and personal possessions, such as coffins, furniture, clothing and jewelry, though in the unusually limited space these goods had to be densely packed. Robbers entered the tomb twice in the years immediately following the burial, but Tutankhamun's mummy and most of the burial goods remained intact. The tomb's low position, dug into the floor of the valley, allowed its entrance to be hidden by debris deposited by flooding and tomb construction. Thus, unlike other tombs in the valley, it was not stripped of its valuables during the Third Intermediate Period.
The ushabti was a funerary figurine used in ancient Egyptian funerary practices. The Egyptological term is derived from 𓅱𓈙𓃀𓏏𓏭𓀾 wšbtj, which replaced earlier 𓆷𓍯𓃀𓏏𓏭𓀾 šwbtj, perhaps the nisba of 𓈙𓍯𓃀𓆭 šwꜣb "Persea tree".
The ancient Egyptians had an elaborate set of funerary practices that they believed were necessary to ensure their immortality after death. These rituals included mummifying the body, casting magic spells, and burials with specific grave goods thought to be needed in the afterlife.
Tomb WV23, also known as KV23, is located in the Western Valley of the Kings near modern-day Luxor, and was the final resting place of Pharaoh Ay of the Eighteenth Dynasty. The tomb was discovered by Giovanni Battista Belzoni in the winter of 1816. Its structure is similar to that of the tomb of Akhenaten, with a straight descending corridor, leading to a "well chamber" that has no shaft. This leads to the burial chamber, which now contains the reconstructed sarcophagus, which had been smashed in antiquity. The tomb had also been anciently desecrated, with many instances of Ay's image or name erased from the wall paintings. Its decoration is similar in content and colour to that of Tutankhamun (KV62), with a few differences. On the eastern wall there is a depiction of a fishing and fowling scene, which is not shown elsewhere in other royal tombs, normally appearing in burials of nobility.
The four sons of Horus were a group of four deities in ancient Egyptian religion who were believed to protect deceased people in the afterlife. Beginning in the First Intermediate Period of Egyptian history, Imsety, Hapy, Duamutef, and Qebehsenuef were especially connected with the four canopic jars that housed the internal organs that were removed from the body of the deceased during the process of mummification. Most commonly, Imsety protected the liver, Hapy the lungs, Duamutef the stomach, and Qebehsenuef the intestines, but this pattern often varied. The canopic jars were given lids that represented the heads of the sons of Horus. Although they were originally portrayed as humans, in the latter part of the New Kingdom, they took on their most distinctive iconography, in which Imsety is portrayed as a human, Hapy as a baboon, Duamutef as a jackal, and Qebehsenuef as a falcon. The four sons were also linked with stars in the sky, with regions of Egypt, and with the cardinal directions.
Tomb KV46 in the Valley of the Kings is the tomb of the ancient Egyptian noble Yuya and his wife Thuya, the parents of Queen Tiye and Anen. It was discovered in February 1905 by Chief Inspector of Antiquities James E. Quibell, excavating under the sponsorship of American millionaire Theodore M. Davis. Despite robberies in antiquity, the undecorated tomb preserved a great deal of its original contents including chests, beds, chairs, a chariot, and numerous storage jars. Additionally, the riffled but undamaged mummies of Yuya and Thuya were found within their disturbed coffin sets. Prior to the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, this was considered to be one of the greatest discoveries in Egyptology.
Thuya was an Egyptian noblewoman and the mother of queen Tiye, and the wife of Yuya. She is the grandmother of Akhenaten, and great grandmother of Tutankhamun.
Tomb KV36, located in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, was used for the burial of the noble Maiherpri from the Eighteenth Dynasty.
This is a glossary of ancient Egypt artifacts.
Theban Tomb 1 is the burial place of the ancient Egyptian official Sennedjem and his family. It is located in Deir el-Medina, on the west bank of the Nile opposite Luxor.
The Tomb of Two Brothers is an ancient sepulchre in Deir Rifeh, Egypt. It contains the chamber tomb of the ancient Egyptian high status priests Nakht-Ankh and Khnum-Nakht, which dates from the 12th Dynasty.
Theban Tomb 8, abbreviated TT8, is the funerary chapel and tomb of the ancient Egyptian foreman Kha and his wife, Merit. They are known for their undisturbed tomb discovered in 1906 which is considered the best preserved non-royal burial in Egypt. Kha was an "overseer of works" at Deir el-Medina in the mid-Eighteenth Dynasty, where he was responsible for royal tombs constructed in the reigns of pharaohs Amenhotep II, Thutmose IV and Amenhotep III. Of unknown background, he rose to his position through skill and was ultimately rewarded for his work by at least one king. He and his wife Merit had three known children, one of whom also worked in the royal necropolis. Kha died in his 50s or 60s, while Merit died before him, seemingly unexpectedly, in her 30s.
Hornedjitef was an ancient Egyptian priest in the Temple of Amun at Karnak during the reign of Ptolemy III. He is known from his elaborate coffins, mummy mask and mummy, dating from the Early Ptolemaic Period and excavated from Asasif, Thebes, Egypt, which are all held in the British Museum. These related objects were chosen as the first of the hundred objects selected by British Museum Director Neil MacGregor in the 2010 BBC Radio 4 series A History of the World in 100 Objects.
The Department of Egyptian Antiquities of the Louvre is a department of the Louvre that is responsible for artifacts from the Nile civilizations which date from 4,000 BC to the 4th century. The collection, comprising over 50,000 pieces, is among the world's largest, overviews Egyptian life spanning Ancient Egypt, the Middle Kingdom, the New Kingdom, Coptic art, and the Roman, Ptolemaic, and Byzantine periods.
The Theban Tomb known as MMA 59 is located in Deir el-Bahari. It forms part of the Theban Necropolis, situated on the west bank of the Nile opposite Luxor. The tomb is the burial place of the Ancient Egyptian Henuttawy, who dates to the 21st Dynasty and was a Singer of Amun.
The Theban Tomb TT358 is located in Deir el-Bahari, part of the Theban Necropolis, on the west bank of the Nile, opposite to Luxor. The tomb belongs to the king's wife Ahmose-Meritamun, the sister and the wife of Pharaoh Amenhotep I. The tomb was later used for the additional burial of the King's daughter Nany, who was a daughter of Pharaoh Pinedjem I.
The Ramesseum magician's box is a container discovered in 1885–1886 in a tomb underneath the Ramesseum by Flinders Petrie and James Quibell, containing papyri and items related to magical practices.
The archaeology of Ancient Egypt is the study of the archaeology of Egypt, stretching from prehistory through three millennia of documented history. Egyptian archaeology is one of the branches of Egyptology.
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