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Created 12 Nov 2018

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221 Articles

Maya and Thutmosis inscriptions in the tomb of Thutmosis IV (KV 43)

Maya and Thutmosis inscriptions in the tomb of Thutmosis IV (KV 43)

In the tomb of Thutmosis IV in the Valley of the Kings, on the wall of the antechamber, there are two inscriptions in elegant hieratic script that recall the restoration of the tomb, probably damaged by thieves or iconoclasts of the Amarna period. It is worth remembering that it was Horemheb, the first ruler, to restore the monuments damaged during the heresy of Akhenaten. Indeed, the restoration of this tomb was carried out during the reign of Horemheb. Below, I provide both texts with the transcription in hieroglyphs (from left to right for easier reading), transliteration, and translation. Transcription into hieroglyphic characters Tra...

North and South in ancient Egypt: an unsolved case

North and South in ancient Egypt: an unsolved case

The English word "bee" designates a particular species of insect belonging to the hymenoptera family with the scientific name "apis mellifera," more commonly known as a bee (derived from Old English "beo," which comes from Old High German "bini, bia," related to Old Norse "by," Welsh "bydaf," Lithuanian "bitis"). The original root that gave rise to the various aforementioned terminologies is entirely uncertain (see Webster's Dictionary III ed. Chicago Ill. 1986 Vol. I). The insect in question in ancient Egyptian (Middle Kingdom) is translated as "bỉt" (see Faulkner: Middle Egyptian Dict., Oxford 1999), where the hieroglyph X1 presumab...

The Rhind Papyrus

A portion of the Rhind Papyrus

The Rhind Papyrus represents one of the most important testimonies for understanding the origins of mathematics in Ancient Egypt. The Rhind Papyrus (or Ahmes Papyrus) was found among the ruins of the Ramesseum in Luxor and is now housed in the British Museum in London. It is about 30 cm wide and approximately 5.46 m long. The Rhind Papyrus, written in hieratic script by the scribe Ahmes, dates back to the 33 rd year of the reign of Apophis, around 1650 BC, and is based on a copy dating from the XII Dynasty under the reign of Amenemhat III, around 1800 BC. The papyrus contains 87 mathematical problems, each of which begins with the first w...

The relief chambers in the Great Pyramid

In the Pyramid of Cheops at Giza, there is a structure that overhangs the King's Chamber and is referred to as the "relief chambers". I would like to demonstrate how, in my opinion, this designation is entirely inaccurate.

Image depicting the relief chambers inside the Great Pyramid

Starting from the top, there is first a truss formed by large stones arranged obliquely, and beneath this, four series of large horizontal slabs, interspersed with empty spaces, the last of which forms the ceiling of the King's Chamber. These spaces are purportedly the so-called "relief chambers". The laws of static physics are not a matter of opinion, and they tell us that in the presence of a truss, the force exerted by the overlying weight is distributed almost entirely along the vertical elements supporting it, and to a lesser extent outward where it continues to degrade when it encounters other vertical elements. The weight of th...

Giovanni Battista Belzoni

Egypt two hundred years ago was very different from today, but just as then, it is difficult to resist the magnetic charm that draws those who observe the perfect shape of the pyramids of Giza.

Giovanni Battista Belzoni

A local saying goes, "Man fears time, time fears the pyramids." At that time, only the head of the Sphinx emerged; in the last two centuries, it has been cleared of sand three times, and a few years ago, it underwent significant restoration. Around mid-September, following the melting of snow on the mountains where the Blue Nile originates, the annual flood (first season of the year) occurred, lasting four months; the river waters reached near the pyramids. Following the construction of the Aswan Dam (completed in 1968), the enormous artificial reservoir submerged archaeological sites and historical places, and the flooding of the Nile, a...

The dating of the Stele of Gebel Barkal

The Gebel Barkal stele

The Stele of Gebel Barkal , also known as the Stele of Napata (an ancient city of Kush near the Fourth Cataract, in today's Sudan), was commissioned and erected by Thutmose III (circa 1479-1425 BC) during his 47 th year of reign to attest to the acts of courage and the value of the sovereign. It does not present events in chronological order. Information on the direct interventions of Thutmose III in Nubia is very scarce, but it is believed that the sovereign, who devoted much attention to the political and religious efforts to spread Egyptian civilization in that region, did not lead or send many military expeditions to the territory...

Hieroglyphs: the writing of the records

A distinctive feature of hieroglyphs is their absolute graphic diversity compared to all other ancient writings.

Hieroglyphs: the writing of the records

Anyone, by comparing a hieroglyphic text with other examples of ancient writings, whether they function as phonograms or ideograms, can see that the former graphically represent the world around us in its many aspects (animals, plants, people, etc.) with images of absolute clarity and precision; the latter express signs that are incomprehensible in their entirety or almost entirely. This, it is appropriate to reiterate, also applies to those writings represented by pictograms functioning as ideograms (1) . These, in fact, are expressed with images that are generally extremely crude, with approximate graphic strokes and therefore often dif...

Discovered egyptian tomb with scenes of daily life

An Old Kingdom mastaba tomb adorned with painted decorations was recently uncovered during excavations.

Painting showing ancient egyptians daily life found inside the mastaba.

A German-Egyptian archaeological expedition discovered during excavations in the city of Dahshur a mastaba decorated with paintings. The mastaba – a type of ancient Egyptian tomb with a rectangular base – was built during the Old Kingdom period and dates back to 2300 BC. It was built to bury Seneb-Nebef , the man who held administrative posts in the palace, and his wife Idut , who was a priestess of the goddess Hathor. Dahshur, one of the largest funerary complexes, is located in Giza and includes the Red Pyramid and the Curved Pyramid , both attributed to the pharaoh Seneferu, who reigned in the mid-3 rd century BC. “The mastaba is part ...

Tutankhamun's burned mummy: could it be spontaneous combustion?

Scholars have long studied one of history's most famous figures, Pharaoh Tutankhamun, whose life ended suddenly under mysterious circumstances in 1323 BC, when the Pharaoh was about 20 years old. The apparent burning of the pharaoh's mummy at the moment of its discovery deepens the mystery. Science tries to provide some plausible explanations.

The mummy of Tutankhamun

The aura of mystery surrounding Tutankhamun's death has been felt ever since archaeologists Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter discovered the pharaoh's tomb in 1922, in Cairo. A mystery that has lasted for thousands of years and that 21 st century forensic science tried to unravel. Based on the study of the mummified body, researchers have concluded that Tutankhamun was not poisoned, did not die from malaria, or from necrosis due to a fracture in his femur. He wasn't even hit by a sledgehammer on the base of the skull, as was initially thought. Instead today scholars, based on the fractures observed on the body, believe that anc...

Pyramid of Menkaure: The smallest of the Giza Pyramids

It is significantly smaller than the other two sister pyramids on the Giza Plateau, up to a tenth the size of the Pyramid of Cheops. Yet, the dwarf pyramid raises questions equal to those of the other two pyramids.

Pyramid of Menkaure

In documentaries and reportages it is often overlooked, perhaps due to its smaller size. Its official name is " Pyramid of Menkaure " or " Pyramid of Mykerinos ", from the Greek Mykerinos, the form in which the name appears in the works of the Greek historian Herodotus. It is the third pyramid of the Giza complex and is at least as intriguing as its better-known giant sisters. The total height of the Menkaure Pyramid is 65.5 metres, the sides of the square base measure 103.4 meters and the total volume is equal to 250 thousand m 3 , or a tenth of that of Cheops, and presenting the curious peculiarity of blocks much larger than that of Kha...

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