Know more about ancient Egypt !

Know more about ancient Egypt !  Ancient Egypt had inspired the old and the modern world the emblem of the eagle which is always implanted in flags of countries and empires. Originally the falcon Horus was chosen by ancient Egypt as a unifying god and a shared one between north and south. In fact Horus was deified for its skill of hunt, speed , precision and strength. The symbol of Horus was introduced to both the Greek and the Roman empires and became locally depicted as an eagle which is due to being it more indigenous and common. Just after ancient Egypt the eagle became to represent Zeus and Jupiter as well as kingdoms . Information and Photo by Yasser kamel for Museumegypt.2006.    

Happy New Year

Museumegypt wishes all its followers , visitors and readers a Happy and Prosperous New Year.
Yasser Kamel
Senior Museumegypt tour guide and Publisher , Author of  Book " A Journey into The Sun"

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The Doni Tondo ,Sketched and copied by Yasser Kamel ,

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Know more about ancient Egypt!

Know more about ancient Egypt!

Within the New Kingdom period, about 1400 B.C, the funeral papyri “Book of the dead” became widely spread around the whole country and also it became affordable to others than royals. The popularity and the spread for that type of papyrus books had synchronized with a simplicity trend for the accompanying art of those papyri. The use of the classical drawings in book of the dead, in ancient Egypt, did require a highly skilled artist as well as much of time which had a negative effect on papyrus cost while the use of the simplified art on papyrus which requires less skilled artist and takes less time to finish was a help to allow major number of people to get it. The Egyptian artist used the stroke-order style or the simplified for the repeated and exact god’s figures which used to be made in classical style before. The two figures above show the simplified style for a man and woman and the possible strokes led to have them drawn. Written and painted by Yasser Kamel for Museumegypt.2006. All rights reserved.

Pre-historic Egypt, The Scorpion King. ”special articles” Part-2

The amazing pre-historic finds and fact never cease an opportunity to stun its lovers. Among the unique finds of pre-historic Abydos small fragments of an ivory mace cover that recorded the oldest known attempt of unification between South and North of Egypt. The earliest unification was established by a unique Egyptian king who was called the Scorpion king. The scorpion king unification had preceded king Narmer for almost a millennium .The estimated dating for the mace cover fragments determines the possibility to exceed 4000 B.C. The mace was the royal traditional weapon for pre-historic and archaic kings of Egypt. The mace was pointy always and usually poisonous, therefore, the cover was so required and many cases the cover can be incised with carvings that commemorate a special event such as victory. The one above represents Egypt status in post-war time, once the Scorpion King war on Lower-Egypt”Northern Egypt” succeeded. The cover contains three registers of carvings, the first one shows a row of hanged lapwing birds on poles that carry flags of the main districts of Egypt. The lapwing bird “Rekhit” is a representation for the locals or the commoners as it can be traced in later hieroglyphic vocabulary,     and it sounds like those who were depicted as hanged birds were in fact the ones did resist the war against the north. The second register sounds more cheerful and pleasant as the Scorpion king became ruling the north as well as his native land which was the south of Egypt or Upper Egypt. Obviously the Hieroglyphics was still to be developed as we only see few primitive signs such as the one for the Scorpion name,   on the other hand a beginning for a welfare in the north as king Scorpion is shown while holding a wooden plough, followed by his fan bearers and assisted by someone who could be his vizier as he represented while providing grains to allow farming. Also we should not miss seeing the Papyrus plants which was carved there to refer the north of Egypt,   . The third register is so related to second as it shows more of the Scorpion achievements, such for the canal and farming around .In fact the glorious unification of the Scorpion king did not last enough long which required king Narmer, about 3200 B.C to reunify Egypt .Once more the Pre-historic Egypt never seemed primitive in many aspects as those who had known farming, textile, cloths ,weapons and building canals should not included by such word.   

Information and Painting by Yasser Kamel for Museumegypt.2006.

Ancient Egypt, Martial Arts. E

F-1. A scene represents one of the throwing techniques, Nage-Waza 投げ技 in ancient Egypt.

There is a lot of evidence on the authenticity   of the martial art in ancient Egypt as it goes back to much earlier time than the Old-kingdom period.

The scene above comes from Beni Hassan tombs and represents a practice for one of the throwing techniques of martial arts. The throwing techniques or the Nage-Waza 投げ技 are almost practiced by all modern martial arts after ancient Egypt. The scene “F-1” shows two players while practicing a throwing technique , player. A is attacked by player. B as B seems to aim to punch A but A tilts with his body to the left side in order to miss the punch, meanwhile he steps backward with his right foot. The scene shows player A while grasping with right hand player B’s waist and with left hand B’s foot in order to throw him down.

F-2.   The presumed stances for A and B players before beginning the throwing.

The throwing technique which is described above depends much on the opponent  rushing body force and how to take advantage of it which we can boldly trace in modern martial arts such the Aikido” Information and Painting by Yasser Kamel for Museumegypt.2006. Aikido practitioner Copyright@museumegypt.

ホーラス神 は 一 番 古くりょうし

ホーラス神　の　すはい　は　先王国　時代　から　３５００　年　紀元前　です。　古代　イジポト　かみがみ　は　ホーラス神　は　かんぜん　な　りょうし　です。　　　ホーラス神　は　隼は　でした。隼神　に　古代　イジポト　人　は　しゅりょう　ならいました。かれ　は　　一　番　古くりょうし　ですから。

Ancient Egypt , Martial Arts. D

F-1. A martial art scene represents the throwing technique, tomb of Vizier Ptah-Hotep , Sakkara.

A unique scene” F-1 of Young Noblemen while practicing the throwing technique, it goes back to the fifth dynasty which is around 25.00 BC. The ancient Egyptians had known in their martial arts the throwing technique which is now to exist in modern styles of martial arts. For example the Egyptian throwing style can be traced in both of the Japanese martial arts and the Chinese which is recognized as  投げ技 ”The Nage Waza” or the throwing style.  

  

F-2.呼吸　投げ技 ”こきゅう　なげわざ”Kokyuo-Nage waza!

呼吸　投げ技 ”こきゅう　なげわざ”  Kokyuo-Nage waza! The Breathing-Throwing technique is a fascinating Aikido technique uses the breathing energy for causing a sudden unbalance for the opponent body then, throwing him down.

By Yasser Kamel” Aikido practitioner

“ for Museumegypt, All rights reserved. Copyright©Museumegypt.　

   　

Ancient Egypt, Martial Arts. C

The amazing knowledge of the human body’s anatomy in ancient Egypt, which is clearly observed in almost all the ancient carvings, had a great influence on developing the Martial arts. That special knowledge enabled them to discover the pressure points in the human body as well as the center point which controls the balance for the warrior’s body.

 

F-1. A scene from tomb of Amenmhat, one of Beni Hassan tombs which exceed 3000 years old.It represents 隅 落とし” すみ おとし “Sumi Otoshi” technique.

The scene above came from the group of the wrestling scenes of Beni Hassan and it matches the well known Aikido Martial art technique “ Sumi Otoshi” 隅 落とし” すみ おとし which means the corner drop as fighter A counterattacks fighter B by striking down his elbow and his forearm at once which must synchronize with fighter A foot work as fighter A must step with his right foot forward into the left side of fighter B aiming at breaking his balance and dropping him to his body’s corner.

 

 

F-2. The Aikido technique of Sumi Otoshi.

F-2 shows fighter A while performing the Sumi Otoshi technique on fighter B by using fighter B force of attack and shifting it in order unbalance him, meanwhile pushing his right arm downwards.

By Yasser Kamel” Aikido practitioner

“ for Museumegypt, All rights reserved. Copyrigt©Museumegypt.　

The Author and the writer of Museumegypt.Self-painted

Ancient Egypt. Martial Arts. B

The roots of martial arts extend to ancient Egypt ,long time  before to take its complete shape in China and the rest of Asia. Ancient Egypt,  always had a striking military forceand was the pioneer civilization  in inventing most of  weapons of the ancient world and in developing its fighting techniques. The ancient Egyptian invention for the training sword is a profound evidence on having an early martial art practice. Spotting such wooden training swords in the Egyptian museum may surprise many of us specially with the common believe that the use of such sword was always limited to China or Japan” .

F-1. King Tutankhamen wooden sword, 1400 B.C ,The Egyptian Museum. 

In fact taking a detailed look at battle scenes and the hieroglyphic carvings would help very much in tracing the starting of most of martial arts and for example in F-2  we can observe the ancient Egyptian way of holding and grasping a sword which does not differ from modern styles of sword fight as for kendo or  Aikido. As per F-4 which represents the modern style of sword fight, the right hand has to be the upper one while holding the sword and the other hand has to be the lower one which was  applied by the ancient Egyptian thousands of years before. 

F-2.   Carving of  hieroglyphic shows the way to hold a sword.

F-4. The modern style of holding swords in Kendo and Aikido.

 

F-2,3&4. Represent breaking the falling in Aikido ”Mae-Ukemi”

Another great example in history through the Hieroglyphic refers to the authenticity of martial art in ancient Egypt which is the hieroglyphic characters that represent the falling in fight. Aikido techniques for breaking falls by rolling the body see( F-2,3&4) or what is called the Mae-Ukemi techniques surprisingly were practiced by ancient Egyptians.( F-5) shows one of the carvings of an Egyptian Mae-Ukemi! The Mae-Ukemi starts by bending the body while standing, then stepping with the right foot forward then extending the right arm forward while bending the left arm inwards then falling on the ground while bending head  towards the left side .  

F-5.A carvings of an Egyptian Mae-Ukemi

 

By Yasser Kamel” Aikido practitioner

“ for Museumegypt, All rights reserved. Copyrigt©Museumegypt.　　 

My Pyramids Tour

大ピラミッド は 素晴らしい ですね。

大ピラミッド　は　素晴らしい　ですね。

クフ王　の　ピラミッド　は　ギイザ　に　一番　大きい　物　です。大ピラミッド　の　高さ　は　１３７メーテル　ですくて　、おもさ　は　せんまん　トノ　ですね。　クフ王　の　ピラミッド　も 　さんじゅうまん　いし　の  ブロック　が　あります。その　ピラミッド　は　今　から　　４５００　年　凡そ　です。

by Yasser kamel for Museumegypt.Copyright2006@museumegypt.All rights reserved.

Best wishes for Ramadan

 Photo by Yasser Kamel.

Egypt now is enjoying the holy and the spiritual month of Ramadan.

Special articles, The art of Mummification between science and superstition, part.4

Mummy of the pharaoh Ramses II was the first to be carried on a plane abroad. In the year 1977, mummy of the great pharaoh was allowed to leave Egypt on a plane to Paris with the permission of the smart Egyptian president Anwar El Sadat as it was reported to him that the mummy was about to suffer serious fungal problems. The mummy as soon as arrival in Paris was treated royally by the French government which dedicated its best medical teams to help Ramses II mummy to cure. Then, the mummy returned to Egypt nearly after a year with a full recovery. The French medical experts published several books that represent their researches on that unique mummy.
Preserving a mummy is a great challenge even with our so modern technology but making a perfect mummy is the toughest target to reach.
A perfect mummy needs to be prepared in almost a vacuum container or an air sealed laboratory which should have no more than 1% of oxygen and almost no moisture to exist. Thinking deeply of what ancient Egyptians should have done to stick to that formula, makes the mind boggle. We may confirm that using a stone case to keep the mummy safe from the reach of air makes a lot of sense as well as covering it with flowers and plants sounds to be a smart technique to vacuum the oxygen. It seems that leaving that much of flowers to surround the mummy inside the sarcophagus was not just a bless for the dead but it had to do with making plants and flowers to consume oxygen once the sarcophagus is sealed and once to become dim. In side the Mummy case and while the absence of light, the chlorophyll substance and the Photosynthesis which normally allow plants to produce oxygen in sunlight would not function. Flowers such as Mandrake "mandragora", Night shades berry species and red berry were usually left with the royal mummy. The species of flowers which usually found next to the mummy are by natures toxic and poisonous which may also protected the mummy from insects attack. The second method to get rid of the oxygen which may surround the mummy could be by the use of a flaming substance that can be inserted into the sarcophagus in order to burn the remaining oxygen. After all the serious efforts of cutting and digging out such a heavy sarcophagus which in average could weigh 40 tons aims at making no access to air and moisture.
By Yasser Kamel for Museumegypt, All rights reserved. Copyrigt©Museumegypt.

Hunt in ancient Egypt, Horus, the ultimate hunter.Part-2

The use of dogs in hunt was so ancient and the Egyptians were the first to breed specific kind of dogs for the hunting purpose. Then the Egyptian breeds of hunting dogs were introduced to Europe during the Greek dynasty. The Basenji dog which was the authentic barkless - hunting dog for the ancient Egyptians “The figure above”. Surprisingly was used in the red fox-hunt by the ancient Egyptian Nobles once the red fox was indigenous and before to become extinct. The amazing fact here is to realize that the ancient Egyptians started that sport before Europeans. The scene above is from tomb of Prince Nefer- Maat , son of king Sneferu , the unique scene goes back to the fourth dynasty which is about 2600 B.C. Also the grey hound and the saluki dog were used in hunting by nobles of ancient Egypt.

A hunting scene from Bani Hassan tombs,1400 B.C

By Yasser Kamel to Museumegypt, All rights reserved. Copyrigt©Museumegypt.　

Special articles, The art of Mummification between science and superstition, part.3

The great progress in the medical aspect by the ancient Egyptian doctors had its incredible effect on the Mummification art. Just by looking in the hieroglyphic pictograms we get astonished of seeing the wealth of surgical knowledge which allowed them to have precise pictograms that describe human and animal internal organs such as f-1 which represents the lungs and F-2 which represents the heart. Another tremendous progress achieved by the ancient Egyptians once they discovered and used the sterilization for the first time. The palm-alcohol which was extracted by the ancient Egyptians out the date-palm tree was the best choice as a disinfectant for treating the mummy skin , cavities and tissues . The palm-alcohol was used repeatedly in a heavy concentration form in order to sterilize the mummy internally. The embalmer second great wish was to preserve the human appearance for the mummy which includes the facial features and body exact look which may give a big hope for the mummy to be recognized by its spirit. The embalmer main challenge while accomplishing that target was being him forced to allow the use of oils and ointments in order to retrieve the missing elasticity which the Natron salt deprived the mummy from. Returning the corpse elasticity is not an option as the step to follow should be the stuffing and the filling process for the mummy due to the need to approach restoring the original body image for the dead. So the paradox was by getting the oils to reach the body which may cancel and turn the dehydration process to be in vain. But the magical solution which the embalmer discovered was just the re-use of alcohol or simply repeating the sterilization for the mummy. The use of palm-alcohol becomes so critical once the embalmer to start to remove remains of the Natron salt after to finish the dehydration of the mummy which may take weeks. In most of cases , in ancient Egypt the embalmer was more than keen and efficient to clean all remains of salts by the use of that alcohol except of rare cases as for the mummy of Queen Hentaway who was unfortunate of getting the ancient embalmer to fail to wash the salt from her body before using the different oils which resulted of getting both the salts and the oils to interact then produce a foam such a soap foam. Queen Hentaway mummy history refers to the unlucky efforts made by the embalmers to restore by re-washing the salt from her body even the unluckiness projected once the Egyptian museum mummy restorers tried to treat the swollen face of her mummy which is due to the foam accumulation below the mummy skin but their treatment did not last for long. The air after all is the toughest enemy for the embalmer as by getting the air to remain in the corpse or allowing it in, defiantly it can speed up the decomposing process for the mummy. So the embalmer never gave up resisting the air during the embalming as he started his treatment by removing the mummy lungs as an air cavity to represent then his best treatment was once he used the tar substance to case the whole mummy with. Most of mummies were cased with tar which functions to seal the mummy skin and to keep the mummy an air- proof . Also tar protects the mummy skeleton from calcification. By Yasser Kamel to Museumegypt, All rights reserved. Copyrigt©Museumegypt.　　

Know more about Egypt!

Painted by Yasser Kamel.

Know more about Egypt! Once more, the Basenji dog which was the authentic barkless-hunting dog for the ancient Egyptians. Surprisingly was used in the red fox-hunt by the ancient Egyptian Nobles once the red fox was indigenous and before to become extinct. The amazing fact here is to realize that the ancient Egyptians started that sport before Europeans. The scene above is from tomb of Prince Nefer-Maat , son of king Sneferu , the unique scene goes back to the fourth dynasty which is about 2600 B.C. Information and Art by Yasser Kamel for Museumegypt2006.All rights are reserved.

The Last Pharaoh

The Last Pharaoh and man of war and peace.Mohamed Anwar El Sadat. Painted by Yasser Kamel.

Ancient Egypt, Horus, the ultimate hunter.Part-1

Horus, the falcon was the most ancient god for Egypt as Horus cult goes back to much earlier time than the Egyptian pre-dynastic period. The ancient Egyptians were keen to choose the ultimate skilled hunting bird to patronize as the hunt was one main source for survival at that time. The admiration for Horus continued once Egyptians found another valuable virtue in the falcon which was the valor and the fearlessness and that once they observed it while hunting a prey could be four times bigger than itself. That virtue inspired the Egyptian warriors the skill and the courageousness in battles and motivated them to present their invocation to Horus for his protection.

F-1, The Egyptian falcon,painted by Yasser Kamel

The skill of hunt for the ancient Egyptians was a required feature for a patron god which the falcon enjoyed as well as many other gods did. Horus’s eternal enemy and rival Seth seemed according to the Egyptian myth to share Horus the skill of hunt. Osiris and Isis myth mentions how Seth while hunting in a night lit by the moon, managed to find Osiris dead body then worked on destroying it. But Horus surpassed his enemy and prevailed over his rivals then had the whole Egyptian lands under his domain.

F-2, Narmer Tablet, the Egyptian museum.

Ancient Egyptians recorded their unification history on Narmer tablet which was about 3200 B.C, where they described the victory of Narmer , the upper Egyptian king over lower Egypt kingdom with the support of Horus who had captured and hunted for Narmer 6000 captive in that war “F-3”.

F-3. Horus while grasping with his talons 6 papyri each represents one thousand captive.

By Yasser Kamel for Museumegypt,Copyright@museumegypt. All rights reserved.

Know more about Egypt!

Know more about Egypt ! Horus, the falcon was the most ancient god for Egypt as Horus cult goes back to much earlier time than the Egyptian pre-dynastic period. The ancient Egyptians were keen to choose the ultimate skilled hunting bird to patronize as the hunt was one main source for survival at that time. The admiration for Horus continued once Egyptians found another valuable virtue in the falcon which was the valor and the fearlessness and that once they observed it while hunting a prey could be four times bigger than itself. That virtue inspired the Egyptian warriors the skill and the courageousness in battles and made motivated them to present their invocation to Horus for his protection. Painting and information by Yasser kamel for Museumegypt.Copyright2006@museumegypt.All rights reserved.

Ancient Egypt crowns-1

F-1
Egypt Northern kingdom crown or Lower Egypt crown.F-1
It was used by kings of north Egypt before the unification with south of Egypt and usually is painted in red colour and sometimes to be made of gold. Also it bears the cobra-snake goddess of Lower Egypt.

F-2
Egypt Southern kingdom crown or Upper Egypt crown.F-2
It was used by kings of south Egypt before the unification with north of Egypt and usually is painted in white colour and sometimes to be made of silver. Also it bears vulture goddess of Upper Egypt.

F-3
The double crown which combines both local crowns, its first use goes back to king Menes about 3200 B.C, the unifier of Egypt which his vanquish to Lower Egypt was the main cause for Egypt unification to succeed .It bears both goddesses “ the snake and the Vulture”
Painted and written Information by By Yasser Kamel to Museumegypt, All rights reserved. Copyrigt©Museumegypt.　　

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Know more about Egypt!

Know more about Egypt! Mummy of the pharaoh Ramses II was the first to be carried on a plane abroad. In the year 1977, mummy of the great pharaoh was allowed to leave Egypt on a plane to Paris with the permission of the smart Egyptian president Anwar El Sadat as it was reported to him that the mummy was about to suffer serious fungal problems. The mummy as soon as arrival in Paris was treated royally by the French government which dedicated its best medical teams to help Ramses II mummy to cure. Then, the mummy returned to Egypt nearly after a year and it recovered. The French medical experts published several books that represent their researches on that unique mummy. Painted and written Information by By Yasser Kamel to Museumegypt, All rights reserved. Copyrigt©Museumegypt.