Limestone Dynasty 18, reign of Hatshepsut (ca. 1473-1458 B.C.) From Abydos, EEF Tomb D9 This door jamb stood on the right side of a door in the tomb of Sitepihu, Mayor and Overseer of Prophets in Thinis. Metropolitan Museum of Art NYC

 

Gold burial mask of Pharaoh Psusennes I.

 

Unique seated Anubis holding a mummy form with a Hapi Son of | Etsy .

God Bastet

 Cats were known in ancient Egypt as "Mau", and they held an important place in ancient Egyptian society. Based on recent DNA comparisons of the species, it is estimated that cats first domesticated about 10,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent. After thousands of years, the religion of the ancient Egyptian people became related to animals, among them cats.

Because of its insect control and its ability to kill snakes such as cobras, the domesticated cat has become a symbol of grace and poise. Then, with the passage of time, it became her deity, representing protection, fertility and motherhood.

As an important sacred animal in Egyptian society and religion, some cats received the same embalming after death as humans. In 1888, an Egyptian peasant discovered a large tomb containing about eighty thousand mummified cats, near the town of Bani Hassan, believed to have mummified after 1000 BC.

Its history

Mafdat was the first known goddess with a cat's head in ancient Egypt. During the reign of the First Egyptian Dynasty between 2920-2770 BC, it was considered a protector of the pharaoh's chambers against snakes, scorpions, and evils. She was also often depicted with the head of a tiger (Panthera Bardus). It was especially prominent during the reign of Pharaoh Dunn.

Bastet deities have been known since the reign of the Second Egyptian Dynasty from at least 2890 BC onwards. She was at that time pictured with the head of a lion (Panthera Liu). Seals and stone vessels bearing her name were found in the tombs of Pharaoh Khafre and Pharaoh Ni User Ra, indicating that it was considered a garrison since the mid-thirtieth century BC, during the rule of the fourth and fifth Egyptian dynasty. A mural in the land of the tomb of the Fifth Egyptian Dynasty at Saqqara shows a small cat with a collar, suggesting that tame African cats were kept in Pharaonic dwellings since the 26th century BC.

Amulets with cat heads came into fashion in the 21st century BC, during the reign of the eleventh Egyptian dynasty. A mural from this period is found in Paquette's Tomb III, which depicts a cat in a hunting scene facing a rat-like rodent.

In the funerary city of Umm al-Jaab, there is a tomb containing 17 skeletons of cats, dating back to the beginning of the twentieth century BC. Beside these skeletons are small utensils, which are believed to have contained milk for cats. Several frescoes on the graves in the Theban Funerary City show cats with domesticated scenes. These tombs belonged to nobles and high officials during the reign of the eighteenth Egyptian dynasty, and were built in the fifteenth and fourteenth centuries BC. The murals show a cat sitting under a chair in a canteen, eating meat and fish; In some others, they are accompanied by a goose or a monkey. Scenes of cats being hunted are also a recurring motif in the mural paintings of the Theban cemetery.

The first known indication of cat mummification was found in an elaborately carved limestone sarcophagus dating back to 1350 BC. It is assumed that this cat was the spoiled cat of Prince Thutmose.

The popularity of the gods Bastet and her temple in the city of Tell Basta increased in popularity since the reign of the Twenty-Second Egyptian Dynasty, in the mid-1950s of the 9th century BC. Currently, it only appears with the head of a kitten. Domestic cats (Felice cats) were increasingly worshipped and considered sacred. When she was dying, she was mummified, shrouded, and buried in cat cemeteries. The domesticated cats were considered a living embodiment of Bastet, who protected the house from the grain-eater, while the god Sekhmet, who had a lion's head, was worshipped as the pharaoh's protector. During the reign of Pharaoh Osorkon II in the 9th century BC, the Temple of Bastet was expanded with a ballroom. There are cat statues and small statues dating back to this period, in a variety of sizes and materials, including hollow-cast bronze, steel, alabaster and porcelain.

Egyptian civilization, Third Intermediate Period, Dynasty XXI. Painted limestone stele Stele of god Apis from Serapeum at Memphis. Detail with the deceased in adoration before the Apis bull.

 

Adoration of the gods. Mural paintings from the Tomb of Thutmose IV . New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, ca. 1401-1391 BC. Valley of the Kings, West Thebes.

The Obelisk of Thutmose I at Karnak.

 

Detail of statue of a young Ramesses II in the Egyptian Museum of Turin.

Stairway to Heaven.

The Step Pyramid in Saqqara, south of Giza, was Egypt’s first. Built for the 3rd Dynasty King Djoser around 2650 BC, the 204-foot structure was built of stone instead of traditional bricks.

Sphinx of Hatshepsut.

As a sphinx, Hatshepsut displays a lion’s mane and a pharaoh’s beard.

Hatshepsut ruled as a man, not as a woman, and for this reason her royal protocols and titles are always written without the feminine qualification, which is the “T” letter in the hieroglyphic. This is the case in the text inscribed on the base of this sphinx where it is written, “Beloved of the god Amun, endowed with life forever.”

In spite of her typical representation as a man, she is shown here with feminine facial features, especially in the full cheeks and lips. However, she has a long false beard like all male pharaohs. The name Hatshepsut is inscribed on the royal cartouche between the forelegs of the sphinx. The body is painted yellow except for the mane. The false beard and the ears are painted blue.

This sphinx of Queen Hatshepsut is somewhat different from the traditional Egyptian sphinx, which was a human head with a lion’s body. This sphinx has a human face, a lion’s head with mane and ears, and a lion’s body. It is made in the same style as the sphinxes of the Middle Kingdom found in Tanis, which have Asiatic features. This sphinx, however, has the beautiful features of Queen Hatshepsut.

New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, reign of Hatshepsut, ca. 1479-1458 BC. Limestone, from Deir el-Bahari, West Thebes. Now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

View of the Great Hypostyle Hall in the Precinct of Amun-Re, Karnak Temple Complex, Luxor.

 

Stele of Ptolemy V Painted limestone.

In the tomb of Tutankhamun.

 Carter found things that the human mind does not believe, as he found more than 5,300 artefacts in a number that is perhaps the largest ever in the company of a king to the other world, or in the most accurate sense of what has come to us among these wondrous things that have been found."

"King Tutankhamun's lighter is more than 3400 years old. It works by friction to generate heat that ignites with it a highly flammable substance placed in a number of holes."

                      Soon to the Grand Museum