maximios

1 comment From the Hotel Mena House it takes an hour on horseback for the round-trip excursion to Sahara City. “Sahara” means “desert,” and as the name implies, the city lies right in the middle of the desert.’ The city itself is really just a collection of tents which are nightclubs. The nightclubs operate throughout […]

No comments Mortuary Literature In most of the royal tombs from the entrance doorway to the burial chamber, the walls from floor to ceiling were covered with sacred texts and representations from the mortuary literature known as the Book of the Dead. This had been accumulated over thousands of years and included hymns, prayers and […]

No comments The Temple of Kalabsha, 1848 Harriet Martineau Temple of Kalabsha I was glad to go over it, and admire its magnificence, and the elegance of many parts; and be amazed at its vastness: but it is too modem to interest us much here. It was founded and carried on, (not quite to completion) […]

No comments Cairo Egypt was the first state to establish a system of administration and a capital with the administrative and religious centres. Cairo During the late Predynastic Period, Confederations started to emerge with political heads or kings and a capital. In Lower or Northern Egypt, the capital was Buto in the heart of the […]

No comments Nubia took advantage of the weakened capital to gain independence. Palestine and Syria were lost. The throne was then usurped by Libyan monarchs who ruled for nearly two hundred years. They were in turn ousted by the Kushites. The growing Assyrian empire advanced on Egypt, plundering the capital and overthrowing the Kushite rulers. […]

No comments Before we turn to the Pyramid Age itself, however, an account must be given of the preceding centuries which set the stage for the magnificent achievements of the Old Kingdom. When at the beginning of the Third Dynasty the first pyramid was built for King Zoser, the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, pharaohs had […]

No comments The royal family Despite the length of Ramesses‘ reign (31 years and 41 days according to the Great Harris Papyrus), little is known about the ladies of the court and the royal children. Ramesses‘ chief queen seems to have been named Isis, but for some curious reason the cartouches in the Medinet Habu […]

No comments Ramses I Menpehtyre Dynasty 19 1293-1291 BC Ramses I Pharaoh Biography 1293-1291 BC The 19th Dynasty, despite its later luminaries, began on a fairly low note. Ramses I, from whom the main part of the period takes its name, ‘Ramesside‘, came to be pharaoh almost by default. He was previously the vizier, close […]

No comments Tomb of Inherkhau This tomb belongs to the artistic supervisor of the necropolis in the 20th Dynasty. Its decoration, not surprisingly, is extremely good, especially in the innermost chamber where the deceased is depicted with a group of his grandchildren receiving a statuette of Osiris and a box containing a shawabti figure. He […]

No comments Antique Makers, 1855 William C. Prime Egyptian Antique Makers I left the Phantom and walked around the village [Luxor], my footsteps dogged by twenty donkey-boys, and as many donkeys, each of the former hoping that I would grow tired and patronize one of them. At every corner and turn a Coptic scoundrel would […]

No comments Senenmut the Royal Steward Despite his humble origins, Senenmut rose through the ranks of the court to become Queen Hatshepsut’s closest advisor, and tutor to her daughter Neferure. Senenmut and the princess Neferu-Ra It was rumoured that he owed his privileged position to intimate relations with the queen. Whatever the truth of the […]

No comments Theban Decline During the reigns of Ramses IV-XI, the country fell more and more under the control of the priests of Amon-Ra. As their power grew, they demanded blind conformity to a system that gave them control and their temples wealth. The demand for gold and workers to mine it, the need for […]

No comments Sometimes it was frustrating for foreign newsmen, and a number of them made a break to the more liberal climate of Beirut. But journalists engaged on their mini-exodus would only receive a smile from the officials at the Ministry of Information, who would nod and say, “You will return to the Nile.” Or […]

1 comment The Blinding of Truth Maat’s abstract nature did not lead easily to detailed stories in which she had, as did other gods, a role suggestive of human behavior. Her philosophical bearing had to be loftier than the common behavior of most gods. As a result she is often mentioned in myths, but she […]