Three Ptolemaic tombs uncovered in Egypt's Minya, contents suggest a 'large cemetery'

Three new discoveries in El-Kamin El-Sahrawi point to a large cemetery spanning the 27th Dynasty and the Graeco-Roman era

By Nevine El-Aref , Tuesday 15 Aug 2017

Three rock-hewn tombs from the Ptolemaic era have been discovered during excavation work in the El-Kamin El-Sahrawi area of Minya governorate, the Ministry of Antiquities announced on Tuesday.

The discovery was made by an Egyptian archaeological mission from the Ministry of Antiquities working in the lesser-known area to the south-east of the town of Samalout.

The tombs contain a number of sarcophagi of different shapes and sizes, as well as a collection of clay fragments, according to ministry officials.

Ayman Ashmawy, head of the ministry's Ancient Egyptian Sector, said that studies carried out on the clay fragments suggest the tombs are from the 27th Dynasty and the Graeco-Roman era.

"This fact suggests that the area was a large cemetery over a long period of time," said Ashmawy.

Ashmawy describes the discovery as "very important" because it reveals more secrets from the El-Kamil El-Sahrawi archaeological site.

During previous excavation work, the mission uncovered about 20 tombs built in the catacomb architectural style, which was widespread during the 27th Dynasty and the Graeco-Roman era.

Museum Pieces - Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figure

Image © National Museums Scotland

Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figure

Museum reference
A.1911.259

Description
Figure of Ptah-Sokar-Osiris in wood coated with gesso and painted, on base with lotus flower and with crosspiece supporting two Uraeus topped standards: Ancient Egyptian, possibly from El Bersha, Ptolemaic Period, c. 332-30 BC

Production information
Unknown
ANCIENT EGYPT

Date
Ptolemaic Period

Materials
Wood

Collection place
El-Bersheh, ANCIENT EGYPT

Museum Pieces - Sunk Relief Representation of Ptolemy II

Sunk Relief Representation of Ptolemy II

Although the Ptolemaic Period ushered in a long period of foreign rule, the Macedonian kings of that dynasty did not interfere with the Egyptian artistic traditions of the preceding three milennia. Ptolemy II Philadelphos, like his father Ptolemy I Soter, the founder of the dynasty, continued the practice of building and decorating temples in traditional Egyptian fashion.

While this is not to say that the Macedonian rulers did not have Greek artists portray them according to Greek artistic conventions, here the Greek ruler is shown in a purely Egyptian guise, wearing the traditional nemes-headdress of the pharaoh. The style of the relief, including the deeply cut navel, the horizontal treatment of the torso muscles, the "golf ball" chin, and the upturned smile, is common in representations from Dynasties XXIX and XXX (circa 399–342 B.C.) and was readily adopted by the Ptolemies into their iconographic program. Visible behind the king is the figure of a goddess in another scene.

Medium: Granite

Place Made: Behbeit el Higra, Egypt

Dates: 285 or 282-246 B.C.E.

Period: Ptolemaic Period

Dimensions: 27 3/16 x 23 5/8 x 2 3/8 in. (69 x 60 x 6 cm) (show scale)

Accession Number: 72.127

Credit Line: Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

Rights Statement: Creative Commons-BY

Museum Pieces - Canopic Chest of Hornedjitef

Canopic Chest Of Hornedjitef

Rijksmuseum van Oudheden Leiden

In the 30th Dynasty (380-343 BC), the four packages with embalmed entrails were no longer interred in vases or between the mummy's legs, but placed in a small wooden chest in the form of a shrine or naos. These chapel-shaped canopic chests are also found in the subsequent age of the Ptolemies. The chest consists of a square base plate on which stand four painted side panels, which incline inward slightly and are bounded by a characteristic hollow cornice. A wooden figure of a falcon mummy has been attached to the lid, representing Sokar, the god of the dead. The owner of this chest was Hornedjitef, a priest of Amon. His grave lay along the road leading to Queen Hatshepsut's temple of the dead, in Deir el-Bahari. Other burial gifts belonging to this person are now in the British Museum.

Date created:
250 BC - 200 BC

Measurements:
58 x 28 x 28 cm

Objectnr:
AH 215

Source: https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/asset-viewer/canopic-chest-of-hornedjitef/GQEyRicBwCqseQ?projectId=art-project

Rosetta stone-style stele unearthed in the Mediterranean coast

By Rany Mostafa

CAIRO: A 2,200 year-old “an upright stone slab bearing a commemorative inscription” was unearthed at the Mediterranean coast, Antiquities Minister Mamdouh el-Damaty announced Thursday.

The stele, which was discovered at Taposiris Magna archaeological site on Lake Mariout, southwest of the Mediterranean city of Alexandria,  “dates to the reign of Ptolemy V Epiphanes (204B.C-180B.C) of the Ptolemaic Dynasty (332 B.C.-30 B.C) that has ruled Egypt after the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C.” said Damaty in a statement on the ministry’s Facebook page.

The stele, measuring 1.05 X 0.65X0.18 meters, was discovered by an archaeology mission of the Catholic University of Santo Domingo in collaboration with Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), he added.

“It consists of two registers carved in two different scripts; the upper one features over 20 lines of hieroglyphic inscriptions bearing the cartouches [oval shapes bearing royal names only] of King Ptolemy V Epiphanes, his sister Princess Cleopatra I, his mother Queen Arsinoe III and his father King Ptolemy IV Philopator,” said Damaty adding that archaeologists are currently working on transliterating the text.

The bottom register features a 5-line demotic script that seems to be a translation of the hieroglyphic inscriptions, said Damaty.

Demotic language was used by ordinary people while hieroglyphic was used by royals, high officials, priests and the elite of the ancient Egyptian society.

The famous Rosetta stone, currently displayed in the British Museum in London, dates back to the reign of the same Greek king but was carved in hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek scripts, according to Damaty.

Chief of the Dominican Egyptian archaeology mission, Dr. Kathleen Martinez said that the mission, has been working at Taposiris Magna for six years, has made a lot of significant discoveries related to the history of Alexandria. “Some of the major discoveries are tombs of Nobles, a number of statues of goddess Isis in addition to many bronze coins belonging to Queen Cleopatra VII, the famous Cleopatra of Anthony,” said Martinez.

Source: http://www.thecairopost.com/news/137176/inside_egypt/rosetta-stone-style-stele-unearthed-in-the-mediterranean-coast

When the Greeks Ruled Egypt

By James Romm

The Ptolemies who ruled Egypt for nearly three centuries, from about 320 to 31 BCE, had a difficult dual part to play: that of Hellenistic monarchs, in the mold of Alexander the Great, and, simultaneously, Egyptian pharaohs. The founding father of their line, Ptolemy I Soter (“Savior”), a Macedonian general in Alexander’s army of conquest, secured rule over Egypt amid the confusion following his king’s death, crowned himself monarch in 306 BCE. But he bequeathed to his heirs—the fourteen other Ptolemies who would succeed him, not to mention several Cleopatras—a difficult demographic and geopolitical position. The Ptolemies’ palace complex, staffed by a European elite, stood in Alexandria, one of the world’s original Green Zones, a Greek-style city founded on a strongly fortified isthmus facing the Mediterranean. To the south, nearly cut off by the vast marshes of Lake Mareotis, lived most of their Egyptian subjects. Some scholars have reckoned the country’s ratio of Egyptians to Greco-Macedonians at ten to one.

The strategies by which the Ptolemies maintained power in this complex environment are vividly illustrated in “When the Greeks Ruled Egypt: From Alexander the Great to Cleopatra,” an exhibition at NYU’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World through January 4. To wield sovereignty over both populations required ingenuity, adaptability, and, in the Ptolemies’ case, a willingness to adopt the customs of their Egyptian subjects. Their great hero and model, Alexander, had set the template for religious tolerance and cultural fusion, winning hearts and minds in 332 BCE with his participation in the cult of the Apis—an Egyptian deity, incarnated in a living bull, that had been mocked by other foreigners. The Ptolemies followed his lead, taking part in age-old pharaonic traditions even while preserving their European heritage. To suit their Egyptian subjects, they had their portrait busts carved out of native black basalt, adorned by the pharaonic nemes headddress and uraeus or rearing cobra circlet; to the Hellenes in Alexandria, they displayed their images in stark white marble, with curling locks bound only by the thin diadem that, ever since Alexander first wore it, signified enlightened Greek monarchy.

Museum Pieces - Relief of Ptolemy II with Ptah and Sekhmet

Photocredit: Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam

Relief of Ptolemy II with Ptah and Sekhmet

Present location: ALLARD PIERSON MUSEUM [06/002] AMSTERDAM
Inventorynr: APM 8795
Dating: PTOLEMY II PHILADELPHUS
Archaeological Site: UNKNOWN
Category: RELIEF
Material: LIMESTONE
Height: 44 cm
Width: 65 cm


Panel A shows Ptolemy II Philadelphus standing before Ptah, adoring him and presenting with his right hand a statuette of Ma'at to the god. The king wears the nemes-head dress with uraeus and the ceremonial beard. He is adorned with the wesekh-collar, bracelets and armlets. His clothing is a short, smooth kilt with a belt. Panel B shows the god Ptah standing in a shrine, wearing his usual tight-fitting garment and skull cap. He too wears the ceremonial beard and a collier with a counterpoise on his back. With both hands he holds a staff, of which the top is formed by the hieroglyphs meaning "prosperity", "life" and "durability". The goddess Sekhmet, on panel C, wears a long dress with shoulder bands, a long wig, a collier, two armlets and two bracelets. On her head is the sun disk with a uraeus. In her left hand she holds a staff which ends in a papyrus flower, in her right hand an ankh-sign. The three figures are finely carved, in contrast to the hieroglyphic inscriptions.

Translation
(1) Offering Ma'at (truth) to his father, that he may give life.

(2) [Horus] of Edfu, the great god, lord of the sky.

(3) Userkare-[meramen] ("Mighty is the soul of Re, beloved of Amun"),
(4) [Ptolem]y, may he live eternally.
(5) May all protection, life and prosperity be behind him like Re.

(6) Ptah, lord of Ma'at, king of the Two Lands,
(7) fair of face, who is upon the great throne,
(8) the [great] god, who is in Dendera.

(9) I give you an eternity as king of the Two Lands.

(10) [Sekhmet, ...] of the Two Lands, mistress of all foreign lands,
(11) [..., the great], beloved of Ptah, mistress of the sky.

(12) I give you all joy like Re.

Bibliography
W.A. van Leer, MVEOL, 3, 1936, 12-13/pl. III (nr. 7-8)
B. Porter, R.L.B. Moss, Topographical bibliography, VI, 1939, 110
W.M. van Haarlem (ed.), CAA Allard Pierson Museum Amsterdam, Fasc. 1, 1986, 51-53
R.A. Lunsingh Scheurleer, W.M. van Haarlem, Gids voor de afdeling Egypte, Allard Pierson Museum Amsterdam, 1986, 28, 30/fig. 11 (nr. 9)
W.M. van Haarlem, De Egyptische staatsgodsdienst, MVAPM 44 (september 1988), 8-16: 12, 14/fig. 29
R.A. Lunsingh Scheurleer, Egypte, geschenk van de Nijl, 1992, 104, 103/fig. 70

Sources:
http://dpc.uba.uva.nl
http://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/detail.aspx?id=12565

Multiculturalism: Nothing New

‘When the Greeks Ruled Egypt’ Highlights the Diversity of Cultures in Ptolemaic Egypt

By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
OCTOBER 6, 2014

For the three centuries from Alexander the Great to Cleopatra, Greeks ruled Egypt not so much as foreign conquerors but as the next dynasty in the long line of pharaohs. It was not out of character for Alexander himself to assume the power and status of a pharaoh, not to mention the promised fringe benefit of a grand afterlife and kinship to the Egyptian gods.

Though these classical Greeks knew a thing or two about grandeur, they were bedazzled by the pyramids at Giza, temples up the Nile, and varied cultures speaking different languages and living side by side. Instead of imposing Greek culture, the new rulers oversaw an early and generally successful experiment in multiculturalism. Their new city Alexandria grew to be the cosmopolitan center of a hybrid culture.

The Greek strategy may have been common for ancient empires, scholars say, but not so in the age of nation-states, and especially not in today’s Middle East.

The Greek royal family in Egypt, the Ptolemies, embraced many local customs, among them marriages of brother and sister to keep political power in the family. In their reinterpretation of Egyptian divinities, they emphasized their link to the Egyptian triad of the gods Osiris, Isis and Horus. Osiris and Isis were brother and sister, and Horus their offspring. To Greeks, who frowned on incestuous unions, the Ptolemaic message was when in Egypt, do as the Egyptians do.

Their overriding policy was not to demand assimilation but to accept many ways of life. No official language was imposed for all purposes. Government affairs were often conducted in Greek, but also in Demotic, the local everyday language derived from the more formal hieroglyphs. Jewish and other immigrants often spoke and wrote Aramaic.

Myths of Cleopatra

A French exhibition is revisiting the story of the ancient Egyptian queen Cleopatra, writes David Tresilian in Paris

Visitors to the French capital this summer have the opportunity to revisit what is known about the ancient Egyptian queen Cleopatra courtesy of an exhibition, The Myth of Cleopatra, at the Pinacothèque de Paris in the place de la Madeleine.

Bringing together material evidence from mostly European collections, the exhibition also examines Cleopatra’s afterlife in painting, literature and film. While no new discoveries are on offer, one leaves the show feeling reinvigorated and with interest in the ancient Egyptian queen renewed.

It can never be known what truly lies behind the stories of Cleopatra that have come down from antiquity, but the ancient writers are at one in suggesting that had it not been for Cleopatra’s influence over the Roman generals Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, the most powerful men in the world at the time, Egypt would have lost its independence far earlier than it did. As it was, the country was only annexed by Octavius Caesar after Cleopatra’s military defeat and suicide in 30 BCE.

Whatever else she was, these writers suggest, Cleopatra was supremely clever and a consummate politician. Though the seventeenth-century French writer Blaise Pascal later famously suggested that “had Cleopatra’s nose been shorter, the face of the world would have changed,” it seems that Cleopatra’s fascination lay less in her physical beauty and more in her quickness, intelligence and cultivation.

Ptolemy in Beni Sweif

The recently discovered temple of Ptolemy II in Beni Sweif is set to rewrite the ancient history of the area, writes Nevine El-Aref

Late last week, Egyptian excavators working at the Gabal Al-Nour archaeological site in Beni Sweif stumbled upon what is believed to be the first ever temple to be found dating from the reign of the Pharaoh Ptolemy II (282-246 BC).

The temple is a two-storey building made of sandstone 25 metres in height and 16.5 metres wide. The excavators have unearthed the temple’s first floor and part of the ground floor, the rest being still buried in sand.

Mansour Breik, head of the Central Administration of Middle Egypt Antiquities, told Al-Ahram Weekly that only two metres of the temple had been unearthed but that it was in a very good state of preservation. The temple’s ground floor consisted of several rooms that had not yet been excavated, he said.

The eastern wall of the temple had been revealed, showing it to be decorated with engravings featuring Ptolemy II wearing a white crown and presenting offerings to the goddess Isis who was worshipped in the temple with the Nile god Hapy.

A collection of sandstone blocks engraved with Ptolemy II’s cartouche has also been found, along with clay pots and a large limestone head of a cobra. Breik said that he expected the excavations would soon lead to the western wall of the temple, which may be engraved with the provinces of Lower and Upper Egypt.

“It is a very important discovery that could rewrite the ancient history of Beni Sweif and that of Ptolemy II’s reign. We know little about this although he ruled Egypt for 32 years,” Breik told the Weekly.

He said that the newly discovered temple was the first ever monument from the reign of Ptolemy II to be found in Beni Sweif. The 20 architectural monuments from his reign that have been found are spread across different provinces, such as Fayoum, Dendara and Kom Ombo, but never Beni Sweif. Most of these monuments consist of rooms and a portico but never a complete temple.

Cleopatra: Facts & Biography

By Owen Jarus, Live Science Contributor   |   March 13, 2014

Cleopatra VII, often simply called “Cleopatra,” was the last of a series of rulers called the Ptolemies who ruled Egypt for nearly 300 years. She was also the last true pharaoh of Egypt. Cleopatra ruled an empire that included Egypt, Cyprus, part of modern-day Libya and other territories in the Middle East.

Modern-day depictions of her tend to depict a woman of great physical beauty and seductive skills — indeed, her romantic involvements with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony have been immortalized in art, music and literature for centuries. However, a number of ancient records, as well as recent historical research, tell a different story. Rather than some sort of sex kitten, they tell of an intelligent, multilingual, female ruler who affirmed her right to rule Egypt and other territories.

Her “own beauty, as they say, was not, in and of itself, completely incomparable, nor was it the sort that would astound those who saw her; but interaction with her was captivating, and her appearance, along with her persuasiveness in discussion and her character that accompanied every interchange, was stimulating,” wrote Plutarch, a philosopher who lived A.D. 46-120 (Translation by Prudence Jones).

“Cleopatra was no mere sexual predator, and certainly no plaything of Caesar,” writes Erich Gruen, a professor emeritus of history at University of California Berkeley, in an article in the book “Cleopatra: A Sphinx Revisited” (University of California Press, 2011).

“She was queen of Egypt, Cyrene and Cyprus, heir to the long and proud dynasty of the Ptolemies … a passionate but also very astute woman who had maneuvered Rome – and would maneuver Rome again – into advancing the interests of the Ptolematic legacy.”

Berenice II and the Golden Age of Ptolemaic Egypt - A Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2014.03.12

Dee L. Clayman, Berenice II and the Golden Age of Ptolemaic Egypt. Women in antiquity.   Oxford; New York:  Oxford University Press, 2014.  Pp. xii, 270.  ISBN 9780195370898

Reviewed by Elizabeth D. Carney, Clemson University

During the peak of Alexandrian literary culture, Ptolemaic poets and intellectuals celebrated the life and virtues of Berenice II, daughter of Magas, king of Cyrene and wife of the third Ptolemy, Euergetes. Nonetheless, dynastic violence, not the glamour and renown generated by supportive poets, characterized the beginning and end of her life. Magas had arranged for her to marry the future Ptolemy III, but after Magas’ death, Berenice’s mother instead compelled her to marry Demetrius the Fair. Young Berenice killed the bridegroom her mother had chosen (she supposedly had found him in bed with her mother) and then took herself off to Alexandria to marry her father’s preferred groom, by now Ptolemy III. Berenice had six children by Ptolemy III, but soon after her husband’s death, Berenice’s son Ptolemy IV arranged his mother’s murder.

Dee Clayman has created the first lengthy study of Berenice’s career and place in literature. Clayman’s background and scholarship has been, primarily, in Hellenistic poetry so, not surprisingly, this study’s strength lies in analysis of the many texts that mention or allude to Berenice, though Clayman also deals with Berenice’s actions and policies, to the degree that the poor and largely absent narrative sources permit.

The introduction provides a brief sketch of Berenice’s life, her role in contemporary poetry (particularly Callimachus’ “Lock of Berenice”), overviews of relevant historical and literary sources, a discussion of Ptolemaic image-making (Clayman does not want to characterize it as “propaganda”), the methodology of her approach, and a note on conventions about dating, spelling, and naming employed in her monograph.

Andrew Monson, Agriculture and Taxation in Early Ptolemaic Egypt - A Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2014.03.08

Andrew Monson, Agriculture and Taxation in Early Ptolemaic Egypt: Demotic Land Surveys and Accounts (P. Agri). Papyrologische Texte und Abhandlungen, 46.   Bonn:  Dr. Rudolf Habelt Verlag, 2012.  Pp. xii, 176; 30 plates.  ISBN 9783774938076.

Reviewed by Sally L.D. Katary, Thorneloe College, Laurentian University

In 2012, Andrew Monson published a seminal study, From the Ptolemies to the Romans: Political and Economic Change in Egypt (Cambridge), that examines and assesses the changes in many aspects of land tenure and taxation based upon the evidence of Greek and Demotic papyri from Egypt. He supplemented that survey with the book under review, where he transcribes and translates twelve Demotic agricultural texts of the early Ptolemaic Period, including most prominently, P. Cair. II 31073(a) and (b), with accompanying detailed commentary, and compares the texts to related Demotic texts. These twelve texts provide evidence of the fundamental changes that took place in the early part of the transition from the pharaonic agricultural economy of the Late Period to the institutions of the Graeco-Roman economy which, while often rooted in the pharaonic epoch, were transformed and supplemented by some radical innovations and initiatives that were intrinsic to the Hellenization of Egypt, the transition of power this entailed, and the peculiar topography of the Nile Delta. Monson scrupulously analyzes details of these texts in the hope of reducing the many gaps that remain in our understanding of early Ptolemaic agriculture and taxation. While occasionally referring to texts from the Roman period in Egypt, Monson does not address or assess the transformation of either land tenure or taxation under Roman rule.

Elizabeth Donnelly Carney, Arsinoë of Egypt and Macedon: A Royal Life - A Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2013.09.54

Elizabeth Donnelly Carney, Arsinoë of Egypt and Macedon: A Royal Life. Women in antiquity.   Oxford; New York:  Oxford University Press, 2013.  Pp. xvii, 215.  ISBN 9780195365511.

Reviewed by Jens Bartels, Universität Zürich

Writing a biography is a difficult task, all the more when the object of study is a person of antiquity. Evidence is usually scarce, fragmentary and distorted. Thus, reconstructing an ancient life from birth to death, even tracing the protagonist’s character or at least his / her motives, seems quite impossible. More often than not, the situation is additionally exacerbated by the lack of an ancient biography or the absence of a dense historiographical tradition. As this is exactly the case with Arsinoë II, one wonders, how one could try and write a biography about her. The (very aesthetic) design of the cover of the book by Olivia Russin could be a hint at the difficulties: the upper half shows a wonderful early Hellenistic bronze head of a woman. It may depict Arsinoë II, but also Arsinoë I or any other Hellenistic queen of that time, or simply a goddess.1 In order to be able to relate the life of Arsinoë II one has to squeeze every bit of evidence to the last drop and is still far from any continuous narration on her life let alone any hints on her motivation or her character. Of course, Elizabeth Carney is well aware of these problems. In the appendix (137-145) she thus presents a concise and critical survey of the relevant sources and the related scholarly discussion, showing the rather desperate situation. In her own words (10): “Looking at Arsinoë’s life is a bit like trying to meet someone at a big party, but somehow always missing them though, perhaps, getting a whiff of their perfume and hearing a lot of stories about them. In a sense, Arsinoë is always in the other room.”

Philippa Lang, Medicine and Society in Ptolemaic Egypt. Studies in Ancient Medicine - A Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2013.09.48

Philippa Lang, Medicine and Society in Ptolemaic Egypt. Studies in Ancient Medicine, 41.   Leiden; Boston: Brill, Pp. xii, 318.  ISBN 9789004218581.  $151.00.

Reviewed by Michaela Senkova, University of Leicester

Medicine and Society in Ptolemaic Egypt is the latest title published by Brill in their ‘Studies in Ancient Medicine’ series.1 It presents a rich overview of the forms of healing employed across all strata of society in Ptolemaic Egypt, from ‘temple medicine’ to scientific approaches to medical issues. The term ‘society’, however, means here primarily the Egyptians and the Greeks, whose testimony to healing practices and theory presented in literary, archaeological, papyrological and epigraphic evidence represents the core source material for the book. Medical traditions and theoretical approaches of social minorities like the Jewish communities, for instance, do not find their way into the text for ‘simplicity’s sake’ (xi). Consequently, much of the volume is concerned with the contrast between ethnic and cultural approaches to medicine among the native Egyptians and the Greek settlers, and the evaluation of arguments for and against the possible influences these two medical cultures may have had upon each other. Lang covers a broad canvas in this compact study, recognizing a number of socio-cultural factors as medically relevant (namely agriculture, botany, demography, linguistics and religious practice) in order to explore how inhabitants of Ptolemaic Egypt might have experienced and dealt with disease.

Museum Pieces - Papyrus from the office of Cleopatra VII

Document from the office of Cleopatra VII

Papyrus / documentary (document)

Cleopatra VII Philopator (Queen) 

More: 23 Feb. 33 BC

Egypt (country) 

excavation site: Abusir el-Meleq

Papyrus

Objektmaß: 24.2 x 21 x 0.02 inches 

Frame: 28 x 24 x 0.4 cm

Ident.Nr. 25239 P

Collection:  Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection | Papyri

© Photo:  Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Prussian Cultural Heritage

Photographer / in:  Sandra rump

More about the papyrus:

Andrew Monson, From the Ptolemies to the Romans: Political and Economic Change in Egypt - A Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2013.06.03

Andrew Monson, From the Ptolemies to the Romans: Political and Economic Change in Egypt.   Cambridge; New York:  Cambridge University Press, 2012.  Pp. xvii, 343.  ISBN 9781107014411.

Reviewed by Peter Nadig, Friedrich-Meinecke-Institut, Freie Universität Berlin

It is now widely understood that the establishment of Egypt as a Roman province radically changed many aspects of its land tenure and taxation. Monson’s thought-provoking contribution – in four parts with two chapters each – is the first structured assessment of this transition of power. It includes an examination of key issues like ecology, land tenure and ownership, taxation, administration and politics. In dealing with these matters Monson draws information from Greek and Demotic papyri and considers theoretical perspectives as well as models from social sciences. 1

Part I offers an introduction to the political economy of Egypt and its transfer to Roman rule. A major focus is on property rights and privatization, with critical assessment of sources (few if any papyri in the Nile Delta and most parts of the Nile valley as well as practically none from Alexandria) and relevant scholarship on population and property issues in Egypt. The next chapter is on geography and population. Egypt’s demography is particularly tricky since safe estimates cannot be established continuously for the whole country. Several land surveys allow some estimates for some towns and communities at certain times, but there is no sure way to give exact figures. Because of this Monson turns to recent scholarly publications of ancient land surveys and modern censuses of Egypt, as well surveys and theoretical models from outside Egypt during other periods. One focus is on the question of population density, which has always varied in Egypt depending on the region. Census figures from 1895-1910 confirm a stable estimate for a low density in most areas of the Nile delta and the Fayyum and a high density in the Nile valley; a similar contrast may have existed in ancient times. Yet judging from the ancient sources on Roman Egypt its population seems to have been lower by at least 30% (68). Monson takes a thorough look at many other data available from censuses and surveys from the 19th century as far as back as the Napoleonic expedition. He also deals with the question on how far environmental or climatic change may have affected the demography. 

Library's papyrus leads to an ancient detective story

By Gwen Glazer

In 1889, Andrew Dickson White’s extensive travels found him in Cairo, where he purchased an 8-foot-long papyrus scroll found in an ancient tomb. A museum conservator told White it was Spell 125 from the “Book of the Dead,” a traditional Egyptian funeral text.

White shipped it to Ithaca and, trusting his account, no one translated the scroll after it arrived in the library’s archives – until now, when a collections assistant in the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections (RMC) examined it carefully.

A segment of the papyrus on display

Photocredit: Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections

Fredrika Loew ’12, a Near Eastern studies and archaeology major who knows hieroglyphics and began as a student assistant in RMC, consulted with her colleagues and found something odd about the text.

“It’s written in hieratic, the hieroglyphic equivalent for papyrus, and it’s clear from the drawing that it has something to do with death and burials,” Loew said. “But when I looked at it carefully, the words didn't seem familiar.”

Loew's was right: The scroll turned out to be a unique funerary text. It quotes parts of the “Book of the Dead,” but, as far as scholars know, it is an original text from the Ptolemaic period and dates to around 330-320 B.C.

With Thomas Christiansen, a hieratic scholar in Denmark, Loew is working to understand the text. She, Christiansen and Caitlin Barrett, assistant professor of classics, are also co-authoring a book about the papyrus.

The papyrus belonged to a Ptolemaic priest named Usir-Wer, and it describes what will happen to his body and soul (or “ba”) after death. Part of it reads:

“They will take your ba to the sky and they will take your corpse to the Duat. They will place the cloth of the southern and northern house on your mummy like the follower of Sokar, whom you made into one of the vigilant ones who are watching over the lord, the great god. ... Your ba will appear in a chamber of white gold. Royal linen will descend on your mummy bandages.”

Loew created an RMC exhibition around the papyrus – and several other Egypt-related artifacts from the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art and the library, including its anthropology collections – that will be open until June 15 in the Kroch Library rotunda. The display includes mummified birds, an amulet, a kohl jar and an 1824 book deciphering hieratic and hieroglyphics from the Rosetta Stone. Also on display are White's photographs from his travels in Egypt, including the excavation of the Sphinx.

The exhibition is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Source: http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2013/05/librarys-papyrus-leads-ancient-detective-story

Museum Pieces - The Goddess Isis

© R.M.N./Les frères Chuzeville

The goddess Isis Ptolemaic Period, 332-30 BC Painted and coated wood H. 60.50 cm; W. 12.30 cm; D. 31.50 cm Liuke his sister Nephthys, she wears the hieroglyph for her name on her head. The statue was dedicated by a certain Irethorru.

Department of Egyptian Antiquities N 4130

Photocredit: Louvre Museum

Source: http://cartelen.louvre.fr/cartelen/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=19156&langue=en

Qasr Al Agouz temple in Luxor to open next week

The Ptolemaic temple of Qasr Al Agouz on Luxor’s west bank is to open next week

by Nevine El-Aref Nevine El-Aref from Luxor, Thursday 6 Dec 2012

On Luxor’s west bank, in front of Habu Temple stands the small Ptolemaic chapel temple of Qasr Al Agouz -- now awaiting visitors. After seven years of being off Luxor’s tourist map for restoration, Qasr Al Agouz Temple is to be officially inaugurated next week.

Although it encapsulates a very important period in Egyptian history, the temple is virtually unknown to visitors.

It dates back to the reign of King Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II and is composed of three oblong rooms, including an offering room and a sanctuary. The temple is dedicated to the god Ibis-Thoth who is represented with a human body and the head of an ibis. It is sometimes depicted wearing the lunar disc with the two phases of a full moon and crescent, sometimes also with a crown.

Two deified mortals of the Late Period showing Imhotep's role as healer and holy Amenhotep-son-of-Hapu are also represented on the walls.  The Ptolemaic dynastic cult is well represented, including the ancestors of Ptolemy (with no mention of the first Ptolemy son of Lagus, who was a commoner) and their queens. Scenes depicting Thoth with other gods and goddesses are also shown.

“Although the temple is architecturally almost intact, its decorations have suffered a high rate of humidity and erosion,” Mohamed Beabesh, inspector chief of antiquities of Luxor’s west bank, told Ahram Online. He explained that scenes of Qasr Al Agouz are painted, not carved, which is very rare in Ptolemaic monuments and reflects the incompleteness of the building, as evidenced by the lack of decoration on the external walls which are not decorated.

The temple was subjected to an epigraphic survey by Dominique Mallet in 1909 from the French archaeological institute (IFAO). The Marc Bloch Institute of Egyptology of the University of Strasburg, solicited by the Supreme Council of the Antiques of Egypt, in collaboration with the IFAO, have carried out comprehensive restoration work since 2002.

The temple and its paintings were subjected to studies and research and in 2005 concrete restoration started.

Beabesh said that cracks spread over the walls have been repaired, the paintings consolidated, the floor covered with bubbles to absorb subterranean water and a new lighting system installed in order to make the temple accessible at night.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/40/59958/Heritage/Ancient-Egypt/Qasr-Al-Agouz-temple-in-Luxor-to-open-next-week.aspx