Month: September 2022

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Egyptian Artifacts

Doorjamb from a Temple of Rameses II

This large piece at the MET is referred to as a โ€œDoorjamb from a Temple of Rameses II.โ€ Basically, that means these blocks came from a gateway at a temple that was built in honor of one of Rameses IIโ€™sย ๐“‡ณ๐“„Š๐“ง๐“‡ณ๐“‰๐“ˆ–ย royal jubilees.ย 

The offering scene that is on the doorjamb is Rameses II ๐“‡ณ๐“„Š๐“ง๐“‡ณ๐“‰๐“ˆ– making an offering to the god ๐“Šน Ptah-Tatanen ๐“Šช๐“๐“Ž›๐“ฏ, who was the patron god ๐“Šน of the jubilee. Ptah-Tatanen ๐“Šช๐“๐“Ž›๐“ฏ is a combination of the deities ๐“Šน๐“Šน๐“Šน Ptah ๐“Šช๐“๐“Ž›๐“ฑ (the creator god ๐“Šน) and Tatanen ๐“ฏ, a lesser known deity who was the personification of the primordial mound that rose during the Egyptian creation myth. Tatanen ๐“ฏ is often compared to Geb ๐“…ญ๐“ƒ€๐“€ญ (the god ๐“Šน of the Earth ๐“‡พ๐“‡พ), however Tatanen ๐“ฏ is often associated with things that come from the interior of the Earth ๐“‡พ๐“‡พ such as minerals, rocks ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“‚‹๐“ˆ™๐“ฆ, and plants ๐“†พ๐“†ฐ๐“†ฐ๐“†ฐ! 

So Geb ๐“…ญ๐“ƒ€๐“€ญ is the Earthโ€™s ๐“‡พ๐“‡พ surface (The Upper Earth), while Tatanen ๐“ฏ is the Earthโ€™s ๐“‡พ๐“‡พ interior (The Lower Earth)! As a geologist, I love how the ancient Egyptians ๐“†Ž๐“๐“€€๐“๐“ช were able to make this distinction between the spheres of the Earth ๐“‡พ๐“‡พ in their mythology! They also recognized the atmosphere (another sphere of the Earth ๐“‡พ๐“‡พ) as the god ๐“Šน Shu ๐“†„๐“…ฑ๐“€ญ! Itโ€™s all so impressive to me! 

Ptah-Tatanen ๐“Šช๐“๐“Ž›๐“ฏ in hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช is broken down like this: 

๐“Šช๐“๐“Ž› – Ptah (spelled out with phonogram symbols)

๐“ฏ – Tatanen (the determinative/ideogram)

Ptahโ€™s ๐“Šช๐“๐“Ž›๐“ฑ determinative was basically replaced with the determinative for Tatanen ๐“ฏ to make the godโ€™s ๐“Šน name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ–! 

Can you spot Ptah-Tatanen ๐“Šช๐“๐“Ž›๐“ฏ in the inscription on the doorjamb???

(Also Rameses IIIโ€™s ๐“‡ณ๐“„Š๐“ง๐“ˆ˜๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ– cartouches appear on this too on the bottom of the doorjamb – he clearly usurped this piece for his own use and didnโ€™t change all of the cartouches!)

Categories
Egyptian Artifacts Reading Hieroglyphs

Mislabeled Canopic Jars

These canopic jars are very famous pieces from the British Museum! Any time you read a book on mummification or Egyptian funerary practices, these canopic jars will make an appearance! The first book on Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š– my Nonno ever gave me was Carol Andrewsโ€™ book on the mummies at the British Museum, and of course these canopic jars were in the book! It was so exciting to see them in person! However, these are โ€œdummyโ€ canopic jars; they arenโ€™t even totally hollow inside so they definitely werenโ€™t used during the mummification process. 

But thatโ€™s not what is the most interesting here; whatโ€™s most interesting is in the hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช! Each canopic jar has a lid that represents one of the Four Sons of Horus. Each one has the task of protecting a specific organย ๐“‡‹๐“‚ง๐“‚‹๐“„นย of the deceased!ย 

From the left: 

-Qebehsenuef ๐“๐“Œข๐“Œข๐“Œข๐“†‘๐“€ญ (falcon head) held the intestines ๐“ˆ–๐“Šช๐“…ฎ๐“„ฟ๐“ฒ๐“ผ

-Imseti ๐“‡‹๐“…“๐“Šƒ๐“ฟ๐“€ญ (human head) held the liver ๐“…“๐“Šƒ๐“๐“„น๐“ธ๐“ธ๐“ธ

-Hapi ๐“Ž›๐“‘๐“Šช๐“‡Œ๐“€ญ (baboon head) held the lungs ๐“Šƒ๐“Œด๐“„ฅ๐“…ฑ๐“„บ

-Duamutef ๐“‡ผ๐“…๐“๐“†‘๐“€ญ (jackal head) held the stomach ๐“‚‹๐“„ฃ๐“ป

Now, if you take a closer look at the inscriptions ๐“Ÿ๐“›๐“ฅ on the jars – Qebehsenuef ๐“๐“Œข๐“Œข๐“Œข๐“†‘๐“€ญ is labeled with Duamutefโ€™s ๐“‡ผ๐“…๐“๐“†‘๐“€ญ name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ– and vice versa! 

Iโ€™m not sure if it is an ancient mistake or a mistake by the museum! Iโ€™m always so amused when I come across stuff like this!

The inscription above the names is a common one that we have gone over before:

๐“†“๐“Œƒ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ– – Words Spoken By

๐“น๐“Šจ๐“Šน – Osiris (the symbol for โ€œgod ๐“Šนโ€ is used as the determinative here instead of the usual โ€œ๐“€ญโ€ – I love seeing variation)!!