Demotic Dictionary unveils culture of ancient Egypt

Four-decade project deepens knowledge of ancient life and links to modern languages

By William Harms

Janet Johnson’s interest in Egypt has been a lifelong fascination.

“My father was interested in ancient Egypt, so I just read all the books he brought home from the library,” says Johnson, the Morton D. Hull Distinguished Service Professor at the Oriental Institute. 

She says as a seventh-grader, after reading a history textbook written by Oriental Institute founder James Henry Breasted, “I already knew I wanted to be an Egyptologist. I was lucky enough to have a guidance counselor in high school who had spent a summer in Chicago and knew of the O.I. and the program, and he suggested it would be a good place for me—and he was right,” she said.

The Oriental Institute was where Johnson as a graduate student first studied Demotic, a language used widely in Egypt from about 500 B.C. to about 500 A.D. In addition to unraveling the puzzle of a language no longer spoken, she became interested in documents that dealt with women and illuminated an area of study that had not received much attention.

“I realized how hugely rich was the volume of material written in the language,” says Johnson, AB’67, PhD’72. “You had legal documents, contracts, religious documents, scientific material, and stories and other kinds of literature.”

More discoveries at Djehuty's tomb in Luxor

A wooden 17th Dynasty sarcophagus of a child and collection of 18th Dynasty Ushabti figurines of a priest found inside Djehuty's tomb in Luxor's west bank

by Nevine El-Aref , Wednesday 30 Jan 2013

Although the Egyptian sarcophagus does not have any engravings, decoration, or mummy inside, early studies carried out in situ by Jose Galàn, head of the archaeological mission, revealed that it belongs to a yet unidentified child who died during the 17th Dynasty.

A collection of wooden pots and pans was also unearthed beside the sarcophagus in the Draa Abul Naga area in Luxor's west bank, along with a collection of Ushabti figurines (statuettes) carved in wood and wrapped in linen .

Mansour Boreik, supervisor of Luxor antiquities, told Ahram Online that the Ushabti figurines depict the similar facial features of the well-known priest Ahmosa saya Ir, who played a major role in the royal palace during the 18th Dynasty.

Galàn described Djehuty as an important official who lived in the reign of Hatshepsut, but died in the reign of Thutmosis III, because the names of both Pharaohs are written on the tomb wall. However, the name of Hatshepsut is slightly scratched.

Egyptian Mummy's Elaborate Hairstyle Revealed in 3D

by Owen Jarus


Nearly 2,000 years ago, at a time when Egypt was under the control of the Roman Empire, a young woman with an elaborate hairstyle was laid to rest only yards away from a king's pyramid, researchers report.

She was 5 feet 2 inches in height, around age 20 when she died, and was buried in a decorated coffin whose face is gilded with gold. A nearby pyramid, at a site called Hawara, was built about 2 millennia before her lifetime. The location of her burial is known from archival notes.  

High-resolution CT scans reveal that, before she was buried, her hair was dressed in an elaborate hairstyle. "The mummy's hair is readily appreciable, with longer strands at the middle of the scalp drawn back into twists or plaits that were then wound into a tutulus, or chignon at the vertex (crown) of the head," writes a research team in a paper published recently in the journal RSNA RadioGraphics. They note that it was a popular hairstyle at the time, which may have been inspired by a Roman empress, Faustina I, who lived in the second century. 

Credit: Courtesy Victoria Lywood

Museum Pieces - Painted wooden figure of Osiris

From the tomb of Anhai, Akhmin, Egypt

Late New Kingdom, around 1090 BC

Standing on a plinth in which was hidden Anhai's Book of the Dead

From the Nineteenth Dynasty (about 1295-1186 BC), figures of Osiris were included in the tombs of the wealthy. The body or the plinth was often hollow, and contained the tomb owner's Book of the Dead, the series of spells which were an essential guide to reaching the Afterlife safely. When the Book of the Dead was first produced, it was placed in the coffin with the mummy of the deceased. It was later concealed within a figure of Osiris, whose protection was thereby ensured.

This statue belonging to Anhai shows Osiris in his usual mummified state, wearing the characteristic atef crown, rather like the royal white crown, but with an ostrich feather on either side. He holds the crook and flail of kingship, identifying him as ruler of the dead. Instead of being shown swathed in white bandages, his upper body is covered with a brightly patterned fabric.

C.A.R. Andrews, Egyptian mummies (London, The British Museum Press, 1984)

Museum and Photocredit: The British Museum

Source: http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/aes/p/painted_wooden_figure_of_osi-1.aspx

Laurent Bricault, Richard Veymiers: Bibliotheca Isiaca II - A Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2013.01.45

Laurent Bricault, Richard Veymiers (ed.), Bibliotheca Isiaca II.   Bordeaux:  Éditions Ausonius, 2011.  Pp. 486.  ISBN 9782356130532.  €30.00.

Reviewed by Gil H. Renberg, Universität zu Köln


Continuing the valuable new series that began in 2008 with Laurent Bricault as sole editor,1 the second Bibliotheca Isiaca volume prepared by Bricault and Richard Veymiers makes numerous and varied contributions to the study of Egyptian religion in Greco-Roman Egypt and throughout the Greek East and Latin West. The series title does not indicate the true range of these volumes, which are devoted not only to the worship of Isis, but also other gods whose cults originated in Egypt and were often associated with her: primarily Osiris, Sarapis, and Harpokrates, but also Anubis, Apis, Bes, Nephthys and some more rarely attested ones, including even Antinous. The pattern established by the two volumes is for roughly half to be devoted to new studies that draw heavily from material culture and the remainder to new installments of two ongoing epigraphical and bibliographical projects.2 Since the new studies, which have been marked by a high level of quality, could easily find other publication venues, it is the ongoing projects that make the existence of Bibliotheca Isiaca particularly valuable.
The first of these projects is Bricault’s effort to keep up-to-date his essential and exemplary corpus of all Greek and Latin inscriptions pertaining to Isis and Sarapis and their associates that were found outside of Egypt, the Recueil des inscriptions concernant les cultes isiaques (abbrev.: RICIS).3 In both volumes of Bibliotheca Isiaca Bricault has provided an extensive supplement that updates entries for inscriptions in the original work and adds new texts published since its appearance.4 As epigraphical sources are essential to the study of Egyptian religion beyond Egypt, the importance of RICIS, which replaced a less ambitious catalog that was nearly four decades old,5 cannot be understated, and the fact that it is being regularly updated is therefore especially welcome.

Dynasties Of Egypt Part IV: New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period

The New Kingdom, sometimes referred to as the Egyptian Empire, is the period in ancient Egyptian history between the 16th century BC and the 11th century BC, covering the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of Egypt. 

The New Kingdom (1570–1070 BC) followed the Second Intermediate Period and was succeeded by the Third Intermediate Period. It was Egypt’s most prosperous time and marked the zenith of its power.

Possibly as a result of the foreign rule of the Hyksos during the Second Intermediate Period, the New Kingdom saw Egypt attempt to create a buffer between the Levant and Egypt, and attained its greatest territorial extent. It expanded far south into Nubia and held wide territories in the Near East. Egyptian armies fought Hittite armies for control of modern-day Syria.

The Eighteenth Dynasty contained some of Egypt's most famous pharaohs including Ahmose I, Hatshepsut, Thutmose III, Amunhotep III, Akhenaten and Tutankhamun.

The founder of the Eighteenth Dynasty, Ahmose I (reign 1550-1525 BC) had a turbulent childhood. At the age of seven, his father Seqenenre Tao II was killed, probably while putting down members of the Asiatic tribe known as Hyskos, who were rebelling against the Thebean Royal House in Lower Egypt. At the age of ten, he saw his brother Kamose die of unknown causes after reigning for only three years. 

Vatican mummy health check: It's never too late for an endoscopy

Written by Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY - Experts have just concluded a two-year study on the seven adult mummies in the Vatican Museums' collections.

The mummies underwent a full battery of X-rays, CT scans, endoscopic explorations, histological exams and a whole spectrum of genetic testing, leading one researcher to joke: "These mummies have gotten more medical attention now than when they were alive."

In fact, scientists can now make the kind of diagnoses ancient Egyptian doctors were probably unable to divine.

The scientific advancements in genetics, imaging technology and nano research also have brought new and unexpected discoveries with minimally and non-invasive techniques -- a far cry from the "unwrapping" autopsies of the 19th century.

For one thing, the mummy Ny-Maat-Re, "who we always referred to as 'she,' is in fact actually a man," said Alessia Amenta, Egyptologist and curator of the Vatican Museums' Department for the Antiquities of Egypt and the Near East.

The hieroglyphics on the mummy's three-dimensional painted coverings made of plaster and linen bandages -- called cartonnage -- had identified it as "the daughter of Sema-Tawi." But 3-D CT scan results from early January showed the never-unwrapped mummy is clearly male, Amenta said.