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.　　

Egyptonews

Egyptonews

July, 2011-Luxor city, Egypt.
The discovery of the enclosure wall of ptah temple as well as the gate of the pharaoh Shbaka in the Karnak by the French excavations was a great surprise. It was believed that Ptah temple was built in the Ptolemaic dynasty which is now proven to be wrong as many stone pieces with the pharaoh Thutmoses III were discovery inside temple of Ptah by the French team which refers to the temple to be much older. The discovery was announced by the Egyptian supreme council of Antiquities.” El Masery El Youm Newspaper.

Special articles, The art of Mummification between science and superstition, part.2

F-1, The Canopic jars of king Tutankhamen.

The evisceration which is the removal of the viscera became widely spread since the old kingdom period, where they started to store four specific organs into the Canopic jars”f-1”. The four chosen organs for evisceration were always, the stomach, the intestines, the liver and the lungs and it was practiced since the old kingdom. The removal of those organs, indicate the early knowledge about the fungal-bacterial damage which occurs in the early post-mortem phase for the corpse. The ancient Egyptian embalmer should have known about the disadvantage of keeping the viscera attached to the mummy so the removal for the stomach and the intestines can prevent the deterioration which is normally caused by the bacteria and the gases, the removal of the lungs can prevent keeping the oxygen in the corpse which never allow the fungi and the bacteria to breed and certainly the liver had to be removed as it naturally functions to strain poisons and germs and may store it. The Canopic jars lids generally take the shapes of the four sons of Horus who were believed to be the patrons of the mummy organs. Imset who has a human shape is thought to protect the liver, Hapi, who has a baboon shape, is thought to protect the lungs, Duamutef who takes the shape of a jackal is counted to protect the stomach and Qebehsnuf, who is given the falcon shape is believed to protect the intestines. The Egyptian Museum has the oldest viscera remains which belong to Queen Hetepheres, which is about 2500 B.C. the Queen was the mother of King Cheops and wife of king Snefru.

F-2,The four sons of Horus who were believed to be the patrons of the mummy organs. Imset ,Hapi , Duamutef and Qebehsnuf.

We may know the reason beyond the removal of the four visceral organs but we do not have yet a scientific reason to explain the reason behind the removal of the brain! The brain was removed in more than %80 percent of Egyptian mummies in a very specific way which is based on drilling the skull from the top and also penetrating the nostrils to evacuate the air. The Egyptian museum has more than a set of surgical instruments which some of it were used by the embalmers. The most famous instrument among is the hook which was used for emptying the skull from the brain. In fact, the brain never been the last organ to remove as every other organ had to be removed except of the heart and kidneys.

F-3, The surgical set of Komombo temple.


The surgical set of Komombo temple”F-3” has instruments such as hooks, needles and saws which are required for running the mummification process.

F-4, model shows the spots in the head where the surgery occurs.

Model”F-4” shows the spots in the head where the surgery occurs. Number -1 is the opening in the top of the skull which is followed by number-2 which is a drill in the nostrils. Both of 1&2 aim at removing the brain. Number-3 is the eyes removal. Model F-5 explains where the surgical incisions should be made by the embalmer. Three spot on F-5 occupy the left side of the torso , the upper one is incision of the thoracic cavity which helps to extract the lungs, the medium incision in the abdominal cavity helps in the entrails and the stomach removal, then the lower one which is done in the pelvic cavity helps much in removing the rest of organs with the minimal damage.

F-5, shows the usual spots where the embalmer makes his surgical cuts.

Osiris, F-6, according to the Egyptian mythology was the ruler of the north of Egypt in the very early start of Egyptian history. Osiris was a descendant of gods as well as his brother Seth who ruled the south of Egypt, then after Osiris regicide by Seth his body was mummified and he became the god of the underworld.

F-6. Osiris the god of death and the first mummy.

Then God Osiris managed to exceed in power most of his rivals and had the Imnty domain under his control. The rise of Osiris as the lord of the underworld or the west had synchronized with the flourishing of the mummification as seemed to become the most social as well as popular god for commoners. Osiris managed to offer equality of treatment and justice between the very poor and very rich even he became a phase that every deceased had to turn to and according to book of the dead everyone after death should become Osiris or take the form of Osiris. By Yasser Kamel for Museumegypt,Copyright@museumegypt. All rights reserved.

Museumegypt is Five years old.

Museumegypt is Five years old.
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Yasser kamel