Monday: December 20, 2010
Where did December go? Today was the final full day of the Egypt Mini Term. It has been a long and exciting day, let alone trip. We visited the Egyptian Museum, which was a fitting way to end the sightseeing on this miniterm. It was the perfect way to end the trip because we got to see lots of artifacts found at temples and tombs. We also visited the Khan el Khalili Bazaar towards the end of the day.
The Egyptian Museum, located in downtown Cairo, is a large museum containing ~120,000 artifacts with many more in the building’s basement storage area. Because there are more artifacts than available space, Egypt is building a new museum in Giza that will be 100 times the size of the current building and will be done in 2012. They are already in the process of moving artifacts to the new site so that they will be ready to open when the time comes. If you spent 3 minutes observing each item in the museum, you would need 6 months to see everything. There were so many people entering the building as our group entered and we were given radios so Zach, our tour guide, could talk to us without having to scream over other groups. Unfortunately, however, we couldn’t take photos in the museum.
The first item we saw when we entered the museum was an artist’s paint pallet. At ~5,000 years old, the stone pallet is the oldest artifact in the building. The two-sided stone has designs carved into it including a design that shows the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt. It also shows the pulling of the hair of the king of northern Egypt, who is an enemy. There are people depicted on the stone with no heads with indicates who the enemy is. Since it is a paint pallet, there is a circular area for paint to be mixed. This artifact was discovered at Abydos, which we visited.
The next item was a replica of the Rosetta Stone which was discovered in Egypt. The original is currently located in the British Museum (who has denied lending it to Egypt for the opening of the new Egyptian Museum in ~2 years). It was translated in 1830, allowing people to understand what hieroglyphics mean.
We then saw the statue of King Djoser, the first life-size statue found in Egypt. It was also the first statue with a mustache and headdress. It was from 2700 BC, making it 4700 years old. He is represented as a dead man and you can tell from the dress that the person has no life in them. The statue is made of limestone and was found in the Step Pyramid area.
Next we saw various limestone statues of servant figures from ~2500 BC. Notice how I said “servants” and not “slaves”? Egyptians who served the king without compensation believed that they would serve the king in the 2nd life. Because the life after death was more important than the 1st life, people were willing to serve so that they would have a good afterlife. The figures showed individuals making flour, cleaning birds, making a jar, and making beer and wine.
The next artifact was a basalt statue of pharaoh Menkaure, goddess Hathor (right) and a goddess. This was found outside of Menkaure’s pyramid (which I saw and entered within the first 3 days). Menkaure was a pharaoh during the fourth century and built the smallest of the three pyramids in Giza.
In the museum we also learned that statues of pharaohs and kings were made in case mummies were lost or stolen by tomb robbers. In some cases, these statues are the only records civilization has about certain people. We also learned that some lower-class citizens made stone heads for themselves and hid them with mummies so that they could move on with the mummies in the 2nd life.
We then walked into another room in the museum where we saw a coffin/ sarcophagus made from alabaster stone that was ~4,650 years old. It was the only one of its kind found and it was not for a mummy—instead it was found with jars for organs in it. While its use and age is known, it is amazing that archeologists don’t know to whom this artifact belongs to.
We also saw the Statue of the Scribe, which was of a man writing down information. The man is in a sitting position, concentrating/listening to someone. Scribes, during ancient times, were in a high position in society because not many had the chance to be educated enough to read and write. This 3,200-year-old limestone statue was impressive because of its detail, remaining colors, and eyes made of crystal. He was once wearing a necklace, a sign of nobility, but it was stolen at some point.
The next statue was of King Chephren who built the second pyramid. He was worshipped as a god, however, he was seen as a weak god so another god was added to the statue. Can’t see it in this picture? Believe me. There is a falcon (god of Horus, if I remember) behind the statue’s head and can only be seen from the back. In the same room we saw the statue of Sheikh el-Balad, meaning in Arabic “headman of the village.” This is a wooden statue of Priest Ka-aper from the 5th dynasty. Since the wood is from a sycamore tree, this man must have been important because the wood was imported into Egypt since there are few trees in the country.
Afterwards, we went into the room devoted to Queen Hetepheres, a queen during the Old Kingdom. In this room, we saw her bed/headrest, which was made of wood covered in 24k gold. There was silver jewelry as well. Silver was more rare/precious during ancient times than gold and was probably imported from the area now known as Iran. The room also contained a statue of Hetepheres’ son, Khufu. This ivory statue, at a height of 7.5 cm, was the smallest statue found. It was found in Abydos City even though Khufu built the Great Pyramid. This statue, which contains hieroglyphics, is the only statue we have found of this Pharaoh. Additionally, we saw Hetepheres’ organs inside an alabaster box (this is before the time when organs were placed in jars during mummification).
We then saw a magnificent painted limestone statues of Rahotep and his wife Nofret. Rahotep was the high priest of Heliopolis during the Old Kingdom. It is interesting to notice that Rahotep has a mustache and while Nofret is wearing a headdress, you can see her original hair color underneath, which was the fashion at the time. The eyes of the statues are made of crystals.
At this point of the tour, we left the Old Kingdom area of the Museum and entered the Middle Kingdom area. We first learned about Mentuhotep II, a pharaoh during the 11th dynasty and the first pharaoh of the age of the Middle Kingdom. He unified Upper and Lower Egypt for the second time and founded the second capital of Egypt. We saw a sandstone statue with the crown of Lower Egypt and since Egypt was unified, archeologists are still looking for 2 more statues containing the crown of Upper Egypt and containing both crowns.
We then saw some of the 2000 sphinxes that have been found in Egypt. These sphinxes belonged to Amenhotep III (I think, my notes are hard to read) and were 100% lion except their heads. These sphinxes also have the name of Ramses II, who ruled later in history. He stole the sphinxes by adding his name to punish non-Egyptian rulers. By adding his name, he would be confusing the gods who wouldn’t know who to let enter the 2nd life. Ramses was killing the other King’s spirit by changing the names on monuments.
The next statue was out of the ordinary for ancient times and was very interesting. It was a statue of King Tutmoses III, who ruled Egypt for 54 years and created the largest Egyptian empire up to that point. This statue was different because it depicted a royal person on his knees offering a sacrifice. He was offering a sacrifice because he didn’t believe he was a god as previous kings thought.
Did you think that Benz in Germany made the first car? Maybe not. Sure the Egyptians had animal driven, 2-wheeled chariots, but archeologists found a 3,200 year-old toy car, with 4-wheels, that was probably driven by animals.
We then went upstairs and visited the monuments of the most famous Egyptian king, King Tutankhamen. These monuments were discovered by Howard Carter at the Valley of the Kings (who has a controversial history according to Egyptians) in 1922. During his time, King Tut was not seen as important since he really didn’t do much of significance since he died young at ~19 years old, however, he became famous when his tomb was found almost perfectly intact, something never seen before. There were ~3,000 artifacts found in his tomb, many taken by Howard Carter and returned to Egypt by his family. We first saw multiple gold-plated boxes that were originally placed within each other to protect King Tut’s Mummy. We then went into the main exhibit room of King Tut where we saw pieces of gold foil that were on the chest of the mummy, 15 gold rings found on the mummy, bracelets with the eye of Horus, 2 daggers found above the mummy’s abdomen, 5 gold sheets of vultures, 4 mini anthropoid coffins, and the most famous artifact, Tut’s Mask. Without it’s historical value, the 11kg gold mask is worth $2.5 billion. We also saw his 2nd and 3rd coffins (the other one is on the road) and gold military chariots (which were never used for war—since he never went to war).
Afterwards, we saw the oldest birth control in human history (made of linen). There were also linen underwear and gloves found. We saw Tut’s small bed (supported by lion figures), a mattress made of papyrus and covered with gold, a travel bed with hinges for storage that is ~3,340 years old, and an umbrella.
We then went into the Manuscript and writing samples room where we saw a 2,000-year-old political cartoon depicting animals in a “Cat and Mouse/Tom and Jerry” scene. The moral of the cartoon was that people should be careful of the people surrounding and helping them are because they may not be honest and are waiting for the right moment to pounce and attack.
After seeing most of the main part of the Museum, a bunch of us decided to pay extra money to enter the Royal Mummies exhibit. With our student cards, it cost us 60 pounds (~10 dollars) to see a bunch of actual mummies. It was worth every dollar and how could I go all the way to Egypt and not see the mummies! Once again, pictures were not allowed. I’m just going to list the mummies I saw below:
After seeing the mummies at the end of our free time in the museum, I bought some stamps at the post office and returned to our group. We traveled through downtown Cairo (there was a lot of traffic—but it was quiet for a Monday) and visited the Khan el Khalili Bazaar, Cairo’s premier bazzar. We had a buffet lunch near the market and then went directly to the market. There were lots of chockee places and jewelry stores. The people weren’t as aggressive as the vendors in Luxor, which was nice. I got some more souvenirs (haggled for the final time in Egypt) and walked around with a bunch of people. We then returned to our hotel in Giza. We then had ~45 minutes to change for our going away party at a nearby restaurant. The party was a nice ending to our trip and we had a buffet meal and cake. We met the people behind the scenes at the tour company who made our trip possible. We also thanked our tour guide Zach profusely—everybody really loved him. Afterwards, we got back on the bus and went back to the hotel to pack for our 11.5-hour trip back to New York.
The end of the trip is here—come back tomorrow for final reflections! Enjoy!
The Egyptian Museum, located in downtown Cairo, is a large museum containing ~120,000 artifacts with many more in the building’s basement storage area. Because there are more artifacts than available space, Egypt is building a new museum in Giza that will be 100 times the size of the current building and will be done in 2012. They are already in the process of moving artifacts to the new site so that they will be ready to open when the time comes. If you spent 3 minutes observing each item in the museum, you would need 6 months to see everything. There were so many people entering the building as our group entered and we were given radios so Zach, our tour guide, could talk to us without having to scream over other groups. Unfortunately, however, we couldn’t take photos in the museum.
The first item we saw when we entered the museum was an artist’s paint pallet. At ~5,000 years old, the stone pallet is the oldest artifact in the building. The two-sided stone has designs carved into it including a design that shows the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt. It also shows the pulling of the hair of the king of northern Egypt, who is an enemy. There are people depicted on the stone with no heads with indicates who the enemy is. Since it is a paint pallet, there is a circular area for paint to be mixed. This artifact was discovered at Abydos, which we visited.
The next item was a replica of the Rosetta Stone which was discovered in Egypt. The original is currently located in the British Museum (who has denied lending it to Egypt for the opening of the new Egyptian Museum in ~2 years). It was translated in 1830, allowing people to understand what hieroglyphics mean.
We then saw the statue of King Djoser, the first life-size statue found in Egypt. It was also the first statue with a mustache and headdress. It was from 2700 BC, making it 4700 years old. He is represented as a dead man and you can tell from the dress that the person has no life in them. The statue is made of limestone and was found in the Step Pyramid area.
Next we saw various limestone statues of servant figures from ~2500 BC. Notice how I said “servants” and not “slaves”? Egyptians who served the king without compensation believed that they would serve the king in the 2nd life. Because the life after death was more important than the 1st life, people were willing to serve so that they would have a good afterlife. The figures showed individuals making flour, cleaning birds, making a jar, and making beer and wine.
 |
| Menkaure/Hathor (wikipedia) |
In the museum we also learned that statues of pharaohs and kings were made in case mummies were lost or stolen by tomb robbers. In some cases, these statues are the only records civilization has about certain people. We also learned that some lower-class citizens made stone heads for themselves and hid them with mummies so that they could move on with the mummies in the 2nd life.
We then walked into another room in the museum where we saw a coffin/ sarcophagus made from alabaster stone that was ~4,650 years old. It was the only one of its kind found and it was not for a mummy—instead it was found with jars for organs in it. While its use and age is known, it is amazing that archeologists don’t know to whom this artifact belongs to.
 |
| Scribe (bluffton.edu) |
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| King Chephren |
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| Wooden Statue (wikipedia) |
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| Queen Hetepheres (wikipedia) |
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| Rahotep/Nofret (Wikipedia) |
At this point of the tour, we left the Old Kingdom area of the Museum and entered the Middle Kingdom area. We first learned about Mentuhotep II, a pharaoh during the 11th dynasty and the first pharaoh of the age of the Middle Kingdom. He unified Upper and Lower Egypt for the second time and founded the second capital of Egypt. We saw a sandstone statue with the crown of Lower Egypt and since Egypt was unified, archeologists are still looking for 2 more statues containing the crown of Upper Egypt and containing both crowns.
We then saw some of the 2000 sphinxes that have been found in Egypt. These sphinxes belonged to Amenhotep III (I think, my notes are hard to read) and were 100% lion except their heads. These sphinxes also have the name of Ramses II, who ruled later in history. He stole the sphinxes by adding his name to punish non-Egyptian rulers. By adding his name, he would be confusing the gods who wouldn’t know who to let enter the 2nd life. Ramses was killing the other King’s spirit by changing the names on monuments.
 |
| Tutmoses III (wikipedia) |
Did you think that Benz in Germany made the first car? Maybe not. Sure the Egyptians had animal driven, 2-wheeled chariots, but archeologists found a 3,200 year-old toy car, with 4-wheels, that was probably driven by animals.
We then went upstairs and visited the monuments of the most famous Egyptian king, King Tutankhamen. These monuments were discovered by Howard Carter at the Valley of the Kings (who has a controversial history according to Egyptians) in 1922. During his time, King Tut was not seen as important since he really didn’t do much of significance since he died young at ~19 years old, however, he became famous when his tomb was found almost perfectly intact, something never seen before. There were ~3,000 artifacts found in his tomb, many taken by Howard Carter and returned to Egypt by his family. We first saw multiple gold-plated boxes that were originally placed within each other to protect King Tut’s Mummy. We then went into the main exhibit room of King Tut where we saw pieces of gold foil that were on the chest of the mummy, 15 gold rings found on the mummy, bracelets with the eye of Horus, 2 daggers found above the mummy’s abdomen, 5 gold sheets of vultures, 4 mini anthropoid coffins, and the most famous artifact, Tut’s Mask. Without it’s historical value, the 11kg gold mask is worth $2.5 billion. We also saw his 2nd and 3rd coffins (the other one is on the road) and gold military chariots (which were never used for war—since he never went to war).
 |
| King Tut (wikipedia) |
Afterwards, we saw the oldest birth control in human history (made of linen). There were also linen underwear and gloves found. We saw Tut’s small bed (supported by lion figures), a mattress made of papyrus and covered with gold, a travel bed with hinges for storage that is ~3,340 years old, and an umbrella.
We then went into the Manuscript and writing samples room where we saw a 2,000-year-old political cartoon depicting animals in a “Cat and Mouse/Tom and Jerry” scene. The moral of the cartoon was that people should be careful of the people surrounding and helping them are because they may not be honest and are waiting for the right moment to pounce and attack.
After seeing most of the main part of the Museum, a bunch of us decided to pay extra money to enter the Royal Mummies exhibit. With our student cards, it cost us 60 pounds (~10 dollars) to see a bunch of actual mummies. It was worth every dollar and how could I go all the way to Egypt and not see the mummies! Once again, pictures were not allowed. I’m just going to list the mummies I saw below:
- King Seqenenre Taa II—died at ~40 years old—17th Dynasty
- Queen Ahmose-Meritamun
- King Amenhotep I
- King Tutmoses I (they aren’t 100% sure because his arms aren’t crossed over his chest, which is a sign of royalty)
- King Tutmoses II—died at ~30 years old—pharaoh for 14 years
- Queen Hatshepsut (I saw her temple earlier in the trip—had botanical garden)—died between 45/60 years old.
- King Tutmoses III—1.7 m tall—ruled for 55 years—died in 60s
- King Ramses II (saw him everywhere)—ruled for 67 years, still had yellow hair present (yellowed during mummification)—had severe arthritis and dental problems
- King Seti—Son and Successor of Ramses I—pharaoh for 13 years—died at 40 years old
- King Tutmoses IV—died at 30 years old, fingernails were well-kept
- King Amentotep II—died @ 45 years old—tallest New Kingdom pharaoh @ 1.83 m tall—was a warrior/sportsman
- King Merenpten—15th son of Ramses II—died @ 60 years old—had dental problems
- Skeleton of King Atuhenaton (Valley of the Kings)
- Queen Tiye—found in tomb of Amenhotep II at the Valley of the Kings
- King Akhenaten’s Wife/Mother of King Tut
- Queen Nesikhorus
- Queen Muatkare with pet baboon—archeologists originally thought the baboon was a child but x-rays showed a baboon.
- Prince Djedptahiufanks—royal son/priest of god Amun—died young
- King Ramses III—successfully repelled invasion of Egypt—died in 60s—may have been poisoned
- King Ramses IV—king for 6 years—died at 50
- King Ramses V—ruled for less than 5 years—died in early 30s—had smallpox and enlarged scrotum (could have meant he had a hernia)
- King Ramses IX—ruled for 19 years
- Queen Isetankheb—had dental decay
- Queen Nojunt
- Queen Herehaus
After seeing the mummies at the end of our free time in the museum, I bought some stamps at the post office and returned to our group. We traveled through downtown Cairo (there was a lot of traffic—but it was quiet for a Monday) and visited the Khan el Khalili Bazaar, Cairo’s premier bazzar. We had a buffet lunch near the market and then went directly to the market. There were lots of chockee places and jewelry stores. The people weren’t as aggressive as the vendors in Luxor, which was nice. I got some more souvenirs (haggled for the final time in Egypt) and walked around with a bunch of people. We then returned to our hotel in Giza. We then had ~45 minutes to change for our going away party at a nearby restaurant. The party was a nice ending to our trip and we had a buffet meal and cake. We met the people behind the scenes at the tour company who made our trip possible. We also thanked our tour guide Zach profusely—everybody really loved him. Afterwards, we got back on the bus and went back to the hotel to pack for our 11.5-hour trip back to New York.
The end of the trip is here—come back tomorrow for final reflections! Enjoy!
