I was looking forward to this trip to Oxford to see the Ashmolean Museum’s Egyptian collection which was organised by our fav blogger Noel Rands. With the weather clearing and great western railway train almost running on time we made our journey to the historic city of Oxford.
Noel Rands is the secretary to the British Egyptian Society and together with it’s esteemed members we arrived to visit this amazing museum with the actual curator to the Egyptian gallery present specially to show us around, how much better could it get!
As we entered the Ashmolean museum there was much eagerness and excitement on every face to see the Egyptian collection of objects from excavations. Founded in 1683 the Ashmolean is the University of Oxford’s museum of art and archaeology. The admission to the museum is free and it is open every day, for details visit – Ashmolean.org
The ancient Egypt and Sudan collection holds around 50,000 objects gained from these brilliant excavations from predynastic to dynastic and until the influence of Roman occupation, all displayed in a chronological order at the museum.
This amazing collection represents periods of occupation in the Nile Valley from prehistory
to the 7th century AD. Although only 4% of the materials are on display as the museum follows a periodic rotation or exchange of displays keeping the visits interesting to visitors.
There is special access to students and scholars of archaeology.
As our curator began taking us around the main gallery hall explaining, it was amazing to see this beautiful collection that transported me back a few millennia…I could not help connecting the scenes to ancient biblical times of Joseph migrating and settling in Egypt????????
In this blog I have covered some highlights from certain parts of the tour in order to keep the material shorter hopefully for an easy read.
Stepping into the gallery we seen a considerably large collection of items from the “City of the Falcon” Heirakonpolis- this town was venerated as the home of the falcon God Horus and was one of the largest predynastic towns excavated in Egypt, there are a myriad of iconic displays to be seen in this section.
Among the ritual and ceremonial objects one absorbing object I stood gazing at is the “Two Dog” ceremonial double sided palette : palettes were popular in the pre dynastic periods with animals, birds, flora and mythological beings including scenes of hunting. This ‘Two Dog’ cosmetic palette shows 2 hunting dogs carved on either side of the palette although just the one surviving head remains and a hunting spread of animals carved on the main body of the palette…
Our next item for viewing was carefully selected by our curator, the intriguing statue of King Khasekhem – one of the first kings of Egypt. this statue is in limestone with the last king of the 2nd dynasty seated on his throne in a traditional pose. King Khasekhem is seen wrapped in a ceremonial cloak, striking in a high conical headdress, his name inscribed in front of his feet with the Falcon God Horus. The base plinth depicts his victory over northern rebels, thus revealing authority and power over the land…
Below- This is how the ancient Egyptians wrote their numbers: this is a count of the number of enemies killed by the armies of King Khasekhem
amounting to 47, 209. The image of the triumphant king annihilating his rebels who were the inhabitants of the Nile remained key to the Egyptian royal iconography for over 3000 years.
Another fascinating object was the mace-head portraying the Scorpion King. My mind at once went to the Scorpion king Hollywood movie… it is here that they drew more inspiration from, however, far from history.
This large mace-head shows the King Scorpion wearing his crown, kilt and a ceremonial bull’s tail. He is shown inaugurating an irrigational canal over his land, a very important role of a ruler in that era. The king is attended by fan-bearers and before him bends a man with a basket and another carrying a broom, both awaiting to collect the soil dug by the king’s hoe…around late predynastic-early dynastic 3100-3000 BC.
Animals in early Egyptian art- animals were popular subjects in Egyptian art especially baboons, monkeys, hippos, snakes, falcons, and even fish. Early Egyptian art was inspired mainly by the fauna found in the fertile Nile valley
Furthermore pet animals were considered gifts from the gods, helpful companions through lifetime and a source of companionship in the journey after life for the deceased. And hence pet animals after death became grave goods.
The excavations revealed many animal forms depicted on various items such as clay utensils and objects, miniature models and statues, palettes, stone and wall paintings.
Ivory objects for grooming, flint knives and copper tools were also found from the Heirakonpolis excavations. Many decorative items, ceremonial and ritual objects together with figurines of children, families, wars figures all carefully excavated, a very complementary collection!
Walking towards the panel of ‘The invention of writing’, I read aloud ????… The world’s earliest known writing systems developed in Egypt and Mesopotamia (ancient Iraq) around 3300 BC. The excavations of the tombs at Abydos found inscriptions with groups of signs representing various personal, geographical and numerical details. After the invention of hieroglyphic script it took many centuries into the evolving of continuous texts. Later down centuries hieratic script writing with ink and reed pen on papyrus evolved. The papyrus document of adoption (artistically written-refer photo below) dating to the reign of King Ramesses XI explains the details of adoption in the New Kingdom of Egypt.
Our next section in the gallery- Dynastic Egypt and Sudan. Many objects from the collection are found from excavations of burial sites and they tell a story of the glory of that dynasty and it’s people, their way of life and their preparation for the afterlife, their culture, cuisine, beliefs and so on…
The large plaque below of priest and his wife depicting the food etc to be taken for afterlife is one of the first objects to come to Europe.
As the curator led us onwards to explain I was amazed to see the Shrine of King Taharqa- at the centre of the gallery in sandstone standing majestically, this Kushite monument with reliefs would have been painted grandly with bright colours during it’s heyday.
Built in honour of the God Amun this huge shrine was dismantled and brought to Oxford at the Ashmolean, then rebuilt on a foundation 2 metres deep to hold it’s enormous weight.
The hieroglyphic inscription proclaims King Taharqa to be the son of the God Amun…the east wall of the shrine shows the King offering “white loaf to his father” Amun-Re accompanied by the gods of Thebes
Below- the king wears a tall plumed headdress and carries a crook and flail, 2 symbols of kingship on the side wall of the shrine.
We continued listening on to the marvellous narration provided by our guide and curator, all very interesting and engaging- the west wall of the shrine shows King Taharqa and the gods of Gematen. The king is seen offering a loaf, a necklace, a pectoral and a figure of Ma’at (symbol of cosmic order)to the ram-headed god Amun-Re. Behind the throne stand the goddesses Anukis Nethy, Satis and Anukis Ba.
The Hieroglyphic inscription on a side narrates the story of how the young Prince when passing by the temple of Tutankhamen seen its bad state so, he rebuild it grandly with his own mark. On the other side of the shrine in a niche holding King Taharqa’s statue.
Granite Gneiss Ram of Amun- close to the Shrine of Taharqa on display is a figure of the Ram of Amun, and King Taharqa’s statue stands between the ram’s folded legs as a symbolic sign of protection for the king.
From Temple T at Kawa- 25th dynasty around 680 BC
The age of the Pyramids 4th dynasty around 2570 BC- the massive building of pyramids and tombs hit their peak and many army officials of high rank were buried closer to their king around pyramids in order to defend their king in the afterlife. As a result there were very many tombs and furthermore no space found to store all the items for the afterlife. So stone Stelae with inscribed offering formulae became extremely popular as it meant the goods would be magically provided in the afterlife instead of the physical storing of goods within tombs.
The Egyptian funerary collection: ancient Egyptians believed in afterlife and hence they were passionate about preparatory tasks for the final voyage of their life after death. They went to great lengths in preserving mummys and storing elaborate provisions, treasures essentials, food, tools, grooming sets, clothing and ritual objects all to be included with their burials.
Meresamun (refer photo below) was an elite musician priestess, her job was to sing and make music for the god Amun. Music held a vital role in religious lives and priestesses would sing to placate the gods and, accompanying the high priest three times a day to sing. Meresamun came from a wealthy family as the elaborate and vibrant coffin suggests, it shows a vulture headdress commonly worn by priestesses and women of high rank in that day. Below the collar you can see the four sons of Horus who are protectors of organs that are removed during mummification process. A colourful falcon is painted in the centre of the coffin representing the god Re who symbolises eternal rebirth.
Over centuries many funerary preparations remained consistent especially the tasks undertaken for the afterlife journey which might serve and guide their owner from death to afterlife. The tombs were ‘ houses for eternity’ and there was a tomb chapel to provide a connection between the living and the dead. It was also necessary that the final voyage to Abydos was incorporated within the funerary ritual – to visit the sacred area belonging to the god Osiris, the ruler of the underworld. Yet where this might have not been possible in many cases physically, they used boat models which were included in burials to symbolically recreate this final journey. Ancient Egyptians took great care to ensure a smooth transition to eternal life, while there were many different types of afterlife for the common man including the one lived in the tomb as a ‘soul (Ka)’, another lived in the ‘Field of Reeds’, the kingdom of Osiris.
The process of mummification as described- in order to mummify the body (and preserve it well) the internal organs were removed and placed in Canopic jars sealed. The lids of the jars represented the four sons of Horus who each protected a different organ. The human- headed ‘Imsety’ protected the liver; baboon-headed ‘Hapy’, the lungs; jackal-headed ‘Duamutef’, the stomach; and falcon-headed ‘Qebeksenuef’ the intestines. The heart was mummified and placed back in the body, while the brain was considered unimportant (or maybe not storable ?)and discarded.
During the process of mummification Amulets were placed over the body and within the wrapped linen of the mummy. The amulets were used to confer protection and hence represented funerary deities or the part of the body they were designed to protect.
Above an illustration of a funerary prep scene set under a canopy-with two coffins and mourners following, the wine jars and the male servants involved in domestic duties suggest preparations for an elaborate funerary feast ritual.
Tombs were decorated with scenes from daily life with inscriptions or texts extolling the good deeds and virtues of the deceased within…
The ancient Egyptians believed that a deceased person’s name must be well preserved in order for them to survive for eternity, and they had a formula for this- reciting the offering formula for a named individual was thought to provide for their soul ‘Ka’ in the afterlife. Inscribing the deceased’s names in bold and painting their portraits over the covered mummy were among the many funerary rituals observed.
The funeral and burial of Djeddjehutyiuefankh- the great Priest of Montu Lord of Thebes from around the 25th dynasty.
From the excavations of the temple Deir-El-Bahri Western Thebes: 770-712 BC. Djed-djehuty-iuef-ankh (means- ‘The god Thoth says “May he live”) and for the sake of easy reference the curator used Great Djed…
Great Djed’s nest of three coffins is one of the best laid and preserved mummies especially in the family of priest’s mummies found upon excavation.
Hailing from a family of priests Great Djed served the warlike god Montu.
The nest of coffins gave the mummy layers of good protection and the vibrant colours are still seen vividly intact after many centuries.
As described – the outermost rectangular coffin has a vaulted lid, symbolic of the sky. Painted wooden sculptures of falcons representing the sky god Horus sit on the posts of the outer coffin. Two mummiform falcons symbols of the funerary god Sokar are placed in the centre of the outer and inner lids. A painted statuette of a jackal representing the god ‘Wepwawet’, who guarded the dead and led them to afterlife sits at the front of the outer coffin lid. Inside the rectangular coffin are two anthropoid (mummy-shaped) coffins, each with a human head wearing a striped wig, a beaded collar and a beard. The innermost coffin holds Great Djed’s mummy, which is covered with a mesh of coloured faïence beads.
‘Servants for Eternity’- Shabtis were mummiform figurines designed to assist the deceased in their afterlife with manual work. They came about during the middle kingdoms of Egypt and were buried with the dead, most of them inscribed with a spell. It was believed that the incantation of this spell would bring the Shabtis to life in order to help their master. Over the centuries some burials incorporated 365 Shabtis, one for every day to help their master.
The spell reads- ‘ “Here I am” you shall say when you are called at any time to serve, to cultivate the fields, to irrigate the channels, to transport by boat the sand of the east to the west and vice-versa. “Here I am” you shall say’
There were copies of colourful paintings set throughout the gallery and over description layouts too, they are the work of the artist Nina de Garis Davies who with her husband Norman de Garis Davies an Egyptologist recorded Theban tombs from 1907 until the outbreak of the Second World War. Nina Davies’s copies of wall paintings found in the tombs were extremely reliable reproductions of the colour and details as found on the original source.
Gradually we came to the last gallery “Remembering the dead”- This gallery displays limestone memorials and mummies from Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt, these are shown alongside of marble memorials from the Mediterranean regions around a similar time.
Wealthy people of Egypt followed elaborate preparations for afterlife and their mummies were wrapped in linen imitating the net of Osiris, the king of the underworld. Some privileged Egyptians who were subjects of Rome had painted panels or shrouds over coffins and some even had their idyllic portraits painted over the covered top of their mummy coffins where the face would have been..
Our tour was almost coming to an end with a final gaze over very popular figures in history.
Statue of King Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti-
Wealthy homes in the city of Akhenaten had garden shrines containing statues or stelae depicting the royal family who were worshipped as mediators between their subjects and the sun-god Aten. King Akhenaten who revolutionised Egyptian cult of worship by proclaiming that the sun god Aten was the single monotheistic religion. These painted sandstone statues were supposed to be holding offering tables, now with their missing upper busts. The androgynous characteristics depicted in the statue of Akhenaten might have been so to assimilate the king with the Aten who embodied both male and female creative powers. The Queen Nefertiti is shown wearing a semi transparent dress with a part of red and blue bead’s collar surviving.
There are many more captivating exhibits that will hold your attention for long in this gallery too! And to think that we only finished one civilisation while the Greek, Roman, Asian and others all remained to be explored…
As we ended this tour it shed light into the era of the predynastic to the dynastic Egypt, a visual treat of an amazing collection, the engaging historical layouts to support facts, and a brilliant curator to narrate.
And so…my fascination towards this wonderful ancient civilisation grows!
My sincere thanks to Noel Rands for organising such a wonderful trip to the Oxford Ashmolean, a truly enriching experience to remember!
Thank you ????
Jeannette D’Souza – 26/9/2022
© Jeannette D’Souza 2022
