downside: going to have to include a picture of the Giza pyramids in the slides for the lecture
upside: i get to give people a crash course in why perspective matters in two frames, because
it's mildly annoying when people compare emoji to hieroglyphs. like I get where the misconception comes from, but it's still a little bit frustrating to see
Ceiling and imagery of the Tomb of the Vineyards, burial of Sennefer, Mayor of the Southern City, Thebes, during the 18th dynasty of Egypt.
Photos taken by me, August 2023
It’s hard to tell which way is up and down when walking through the tunnel leading from the surface into the tomb. Before entering the main chamber there is a small antechamber whose ceiling is quite low, and then a shallow arch which leads to the main room depicted in the above photographs. Both chambers contain a good deal of paintings, however the main chamber holds the most numerous and well preserved paintings, of course. Besides the ceiling, everything is encased in glass.
ANCIENT EGYPT BY TRAIN (2023) — 1.01 Alexandria
Site Director Mahmoud Abd El Rahman explains the preservation of the mosaics in the Villa of the Birds, Kom El Deka, Alexandria.
The Ancient Egyptians believed the soul had three parts, the Ka, the Ba, and the Akh. The Ba was essentially a person’s double, a life force, and at death it was separated from the body.
I thought it would be cool if the Ba birds were dead members of the EN9 (Khenti's archeology agency) who work as messenger birds or eyes from the skies! 🐦
An Egyptian rock crystal of a chonky hinpopotamus amulet
(Middle Kingdom, ca. 2050-1650 BCE)
Amulets were worn by ancient Egyptians for their protective and regenative properties. Used in both in daily life and during funerary rites, amulets represented animals, deities, symbols or objects thought to possess the magical powers of warding off evil spirits.
As animals were popular representations, the hippopotamus was known for its apotropaic (e.g. ability to avert bad luck) qualities and was associated with rebirth.
The solar alignment every February 22 and October 22.
At dawn, sunlight penetrates from the entrance to the sanctum-sanctorum of the temple of Abu Simbel, in Aswan, Egypt, and illuminates the faces of the pharaoh (Ramesses II), the gods Ra, Amun and Ptah.