Egypt, Gift of the NileArt, Architecture, and Artifacts from the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaelogy and AnthropologyOctober 15, 1998 through January 10, 1999Ancient Egyptian culture vanished 3,000 years ago but left behind a massive trail of art, architecture, and literature. Egypt, Gift of the Nile is an impressive array of objects drawn from thirty centuries of creativity. It is also a chance to meet ancient Egyptians whose work, thoughts, and desires have been researched during the last 100 years. Excavations continue to bring to light dust clouds of documentation containing vivid details of Egyptian life. Ancient authors composed hymns and hate mail, royal decrees and autobiographies. Such authentic texts guide researchers to encourage individuals to step out of those clouds. In Egypt, Gift of the Nile, you will meet twenty private individuals, nineteen rulers, and thirty-three different gods and goddesses. Just a few personalities, from the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties, are briefly profiled here. Waiting for attention in the galleries are many other individuals such as a gardener, a god of perfume, a cobra goddess, and a treasury inspector whose tomb chapel forms a centerpiece of the exhibition. |
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 Dynasty 18, reign of Hatshepsut (1479–1458 b.c.), sandstone, 32 x 23 in. University of Pennsylvania Museum. |
Sitephu, an Overseer of PriestsSitephu, an Overseer of Priests, is enveloped in a cloak that becomes a wall of text to praise him. Part of the inscription on his cloak reads: "One kindly of heart was he, of winning face." Sitephu supervised priests who maintained temples where images of the deities were kept. He ensured that daily rituals were properly enacted, with hymns recited and offerings placed on altars at the exact moment that the sun appeared on the horizon. |
 Dynasty 18–19 (1332–1279 b.c.), limestone, h. 18 in. University of Pennsylvania Museum. |
The Barber Meryma’atThe Barber Meryma’at was kept busy shaving priests’ entire bodies every third day at the temple to ensure their purity. He also shaved heads for coolness and cleanliness. He obviously did well in his profession, as his plump features attest. The shine of the white limestone is a reminder that scented oils were likely to have been rubbed into his skin. He wears a double wig and has pierced ears and a tattoo of the name of the god Amun on his chest. |
 Dynasty 18–19 (1332–1292 b.c.), graywacke, h. 17 in. University of Pennsylvania Museum. |
Amun, the Hidden OneAmun, the Hidden One, is proclaimed the ultimate creator of the world and the father of the gods in some Egyptian creation myths. One scribe wrote in his prayers that Amun was "King of eternity, lord of everlastingness." Here he is seen in a sensitive sculpture fashioned in the image of the pharaoh Tutankhamun. His arms tightly conform to his body, and his hands may have been altered to fit the image into a ceremonial boat used to carry the statue in religious processions. |
 Dynasty 18 (1332–1322 b.c.), bronze with traces of gold, h. 8 in. University of Pennsylvania Museum. |
Tutankhamun, the Boy KingTutankhamun, the Boy King, reaches forward, probably once offering jars of scented ointments to the gods. Since his tomb was discovered in Thebes in 1922, this boy who became a king at age nine and died at eighteen has become an icon of Egyptian history. He is best known for the contents of his tomb, not for his accomplishments. |
 Dynasty 18 (1479–1425 b.c.), red granite, h. 21 in. University of Pennsylvania Museum. |
Thutmose III, the "Napoleon of Egypt,"Thutmose III, the "Napoleon of Egypt," reigned for fifty-four years and conquered most of the Middle East and Nubia for Egypt. He preferred red granite for the many full-scale statues carved of himself, and from which this head is derived. His powerful presence emerged after a joint rule with his stepmother Hatshepsut, one of ancient Egypt’s few female pharaohs. |
 Dynasty 19 (1292–1190 b.c.), wood with paint, h. 9 in. University of Pennsylvania Museum. |
Lady MayaLady Maya was carved to serve as "Mistress of the House" for a woman in her next life. She carries a basket on her back, probably meant to hold seeds for planting the fields around her owner’s home. Serving as a stand-in for the dead, she has spells inscribed on her body that enable her to step into life when needed. |
Egypt, Gift of the Nile is a chance to meet men and women from a civilization
that continues to lure us into the clouds of antiquity. | |