Egyptian Museum Collections in Cairo (the fourth and the last part)

Reviewed by: Wafaa El-houseiny

Translated by: Nayira Salah Eddin

Egyptian Museum Collections in Cairo ( the fourth and the last part)

Celebrations Chair

It is a wooden chair decorated with very expensive precious stones, and some other parts are inlaid with ivory and ebony.

On the top of the chair, we can see the solar disk and underneath it two cartridges inscribed with the name “ Neso Betty”. This name belongs to the lord of god Ra’s forms, and it’s the coronation name of King Tut. There are also two freezes of Cobra to the right and the left of the solar disk.

In the second part, we can see the god Nekhbet with extended wings marked between her claws and a feather. Two of the king’s cartridges also surround her and she bears his name. In the second part, we can see the god Nekhbet with extended wings marked between her claws and a feather. Two of the king’s cartridges also surround her and she bears his name.

This chair was carved during the early years of the king’s reign. The back of the chair was decorated with three ivory columns and four ebonies, and these seven columns were inscribed with the names of the king’s titles.

 Ostrich Feathers Fan

There are two types of fans known in ancient Egypt: The first one is the special fan and the second one is the long feather fan.

For the long feather fan, it is made of gilded wood and ostrich feathers. This feather was used in the courts, royal processions, and religious ceremonies, it was also used to provide the king with a cool breeze, and Kings always carried it themselves.

Seven or eight fans were found in Tutankhamun’s cemetery. Both long feathered fans and special fans were found in the burial room, in a small white-painted box, made of ostrich feathers and rows of brown feathers.

They have chosen the ostrich feather specifically because they have found that the hair on the left side of the feather equals the hair on the right side. That’s why it was considered a sign of truth and equivalence, and it became a title for the goddess Maat, the god of truth and justice. Regarding the handle, it was made of ivory, and it was decorated with papyrus at its end, and with the Lotus flower on its top. There were also circular forms containing two cartridges for the king above the flower.

The Four Big Compartments

These shrines were placed in the burial room, and when they dismantled the biggest outdoor compartment, the second compartment appeared, then the third one till they reached the deepest compartment. This way of installing the compartments was similar to the Chinese boxes or the Russian dolls.

In addition, inside most of the in-compartments, a quartz coffin with a granite cover was found. On the corner of this coffin, the Four Guardian gods, Isis, Naftis, Sarket, and Neath were carved with prominent inscriptions.

The role of these shrines was to replace the long passages usually found in the cemeteries of the eighteenth dynasty on the walls where the inscriptions and scenes were carved, as Tut’s cemetery which was too small to contain all the required inscriptions to guarantee the safety of the king or the deceased person in the underworld.

The Coffins

The coffin is always defined as a box in which the body is buried. However, to distinguish it from a coffin, it can also be defined as the closest container to the mummified body.

A Coffin containing three human coffins.

When the burial room of the king was opened, the four compartments shrank in size, as they were found installed inside each other. In the interior compartment, a coffin was found. When it was opened, three human coffins were discovered. The king’s mummy was placed in the deepest one of them while it was wrapped in linen and wearing a mask.

Coffins were developed over time. In the beginning, boxes were short in order to fit into the crowded burials. When the mummification process took place, the body was placed in the box, which extended over time until it became a full coffin. So, coffins developed according to the development of body preservation.

Human coffins appeared initially during the twelfth dynasty of the Middle state as the idea of the mask had developed. When the mask took the shape of the head, the mask appeared to extend to the front part of the body, then a shell from the back was added, and it became a shape for the human coffin.

The shields

Eight shields were found during the cleansing of the grave. This happened despite the fact that King Tut had never led any military campaigns. As a result, these shields are more likely to be celebrative ones, which means that they were made but never used. Four of these shields were ordinary but the rest of them were decorated.

These shields are made of solid building materials or wood and then covered with animal skin. There is also a gold part in between the shields with the names of Upper and Lower Egypt, the living image of the god Ra, and the titles and the names of the King.

Anubis

Who is Anubis?

Anubis was the ancient Egyptian god of the mummification process and the dead people’s guide in the afterlife. He was also responsible for presenting the deceased to the Court of Magistrates in order to weigh the heart.

Anubis was pictured as a black dog or hybrid between a dog and a jackal, with pointed ears or as a macho man with a jackal’s head

The ancient Egyptians used to see a jackal in their graves, and they thought he would devour their bodies. As a result, they worshipped him for fear of him.

Where and when did Anubis appear?

Anubis appeared several times in the dead’s book scenes. The more important thing is the scene of the last trial as he led the dead to Osiris Hall and was with Osiris watching the ritual of weighing the dead’s heart.

He was also seen standing beside the funeral bed… placing one hand on the mummy and the other hand marked with Ankh. Later, you can see the priests who were performing the open-mouth rituals were wearing the mask of the god Anubis.

Anubis Statue Description

_This statue was found inside the closet room opposite the burial room as if he was guarding it.

_ It represents Anubis in the form of a black Jackal resting on a box. This box is being held on a sled.

_The statue is made of wood but both the ears and the collar are gilded.

_Eyes are also made of gold with Calcite stone.

_ Anubis rests on a box or shrine made of gilded wood, this box has contained some of the clothes worn in festivals.

Ushabti

These statues’ function was to serve the deceased. They first appeared in the middle state, where one or two of them were placed in the grave in order to perform different missions on behalf of the deceased. They were in the form of mummies and made of different materials, like; stone, bronze, wood, clay, wax, or blue or green faience.

Some of them also held the name and the title of the deceased. During the modern state, the number of Ushabti increased in the grave till it reached around 365 statues, which means one for every day in the year, each one of them serving for a day.

Adding 36 observers, they reached 400 statues. Each observer was responsible for observing ten of them. They were imaged while wearing living people's clothes in order to be distinguished from the working ushabti.

Chariots

Chariots were introduced to Egypt by Heksus in the sixteenth century BC. Chariots were throughout the New Empire. They were closely associated with the king, who appeared dominant on the battlefield while launching the arc.

The first chariots: were made of curved wood partially filled with all the wood panels. The frame was reinforced in front with an additional overhead rail. The body is decorated with an opened work with a celestial symbol which represents a sign of unification of the two grounds. In addition, two prisoners people were surrounding it, and some of these prisoners were pictured with their hands tied behind their backs.

The outer and inner sides of the body, are made of wood embellished with layers of multicolored glass and semi-precious stones.

Djedhor

The magical or enchanted statue Djedhor is a black basalt statue of a priest who was called Djedhor. It is considered one of the most famous pieces of art in the Egyptian museum where it gained its fame from rumors raised about it as an enchanted statue.

It Is a single-piece statue dating back to about 323_ 317 BC, and it is located in the Egyptian Museum on the second floor. This statue displays the artistic elements of Horus’ magical panels. It was used for magical and therapeutic purposes, especially for scorpions and snakes’ stings and the reptiles’ poison. All these symbols that have appeared are intended to address the other world or the underworld, as they believed that this world contains all the secrets of the universe, both the good and the evil.

The statue Is fully covered with magical symbols, and the most significant ones are snakes and scorpions.

This statue has a strong presence, and an energy that can never be neglected, nor can we ignore that quiet smile on the face of Djedhor. It is a smile full of peace and tranquility, and these are the positive vibes conveyed strongly by the statue to the patient in order to help him recover.

First Pregnancy Test in Ancient Egypt

The ancient Egyptians were the first to test the pregnancy, using the birth chair as it appears in the photo, with two bowels, the first containing wheat and the other containing barley. Then they add the urine of the pregnant lady. If the wheat grows first, then it is a girl, and if the barley grows first, then it is a boy. In addition, if both wheat and barley grow, then they are twins. However, if neither of them grows, then it is a false pregnancy

By this, I have finished writing a series of articles on the most important artifacts in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, on the first and the second floors of it.

Sources

Egyptian museum

Egymonuments.gov.com

The Golden tour guide book from 316 to 321, and from 324 to 334, and 338, 339,342.