Volume 9 No. 1 Summer 1998

THE OSTRACO]Y

EGYPTIANSTUDYSOCIETY

PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEEGraeme Davis Judy GreenfieldTyson Thome Frank Pettee

lvlary Pratchett

ESS STAFF LIAISONDr. Robe.t Pickering

THE OSIRACO/V is published four times per year by members of theEgyptian Study Society. The ESS, a support group of the DENVERMUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, is a non-profit organizationwhose purpose is to study ancient Egypt. Articles are contributed bymembers and scholars on a voluntary basis. Member parljcipation isencouraged. Nothing may be reprinted in whole or part without writtenpermlssron.

01998 Egyptian Study Society

Publicaqon of the Ostracon is suppofted by a grant fromTHE PETTY FOUNDATION

O DMNH | 9s9

IN THIS ISSUE

Page

2 Snakes and Snake Sticks in Ancient Egyptby Bill Cherf

7 Royal Mummies: Before and Afterby Marianne Luban

13 Lecture Repofts

16 House of Scrolls: Book Reviews

-$nakes and

-$nake 1$ticks

in ;Aneient Eggptby Dr. Bill Cherf

About the AuthorDr. Bill Chei has a BA from lndiana University and MA and PhDfrom Loyola University of Chicago in Ancient History. He hastaught at regional branches of the University of Minnesota andMichigan. During 1986-1987, he was an Alexander von Humboldtresearch fellow at the Kommission fur Alte Geschicte undEpigraphik in Munich. His publications range from ancient Egypt toLate Roman frontier history. Presently he is a computer consultantlor Whittrnan-Haft.

lntroductionTopics that appear in this publication typically deal with the mar-velous, the exceptional, and rarely the mundane. This note, how-ever, shares some musings on a mundane subject: snakes andsnake sticks. ln order to appreciate their impact upon ancientEgyptian civil ization, the following wil l be discussed: the snakesindigenous to the Nile Valley, the Egyptian solution for lhem, whalrole snakes played in the Egyptian afterl ife, and the signiflcance ofthe snake sticks found in the tomb of Kina Tutankhamen.

Snakes of the Nile ValleyThe flourishing ancient Nile Valley ecology was one of seeminglyinfinite floral and faunal diversity and the ancient Egyptjan lan-guage reflects this, especaally regarding birds. Yet that sametongue differentiated no less than thirty djfferent types of snakeswhose habitats encompassed every ecological niche of the NileValley. Snakes were present in bushes and trees, in caves andholes, along river banks, in the river itself, in the irrigation canals,the cultivated flelds of temples, and privaie gardens. Snakes werepresenl throughout lhe surrounding desert margins. In addition,they burrowed into all types of soil - even the soft mud brick ofdomestic architeciure. This last situation lead to magical spells for"freeing a hoLjse from the poison of any snake, rnale or female."

lmagjne that you are a common Egyptian farmer. ln the pre-dawnlight you toddle ofJ along a dusty path to a typical day's work in theflelds. You are bare toot, naked from the waisl up, wearing a l ightkilt, perhaps a sweat band, and some sort of head covering fromthe day's high sun. You are carrying a water container, a short agr!cultural hoeing tool or sickle, and maybe a mid-morning snack.During your day's weeding, repair ofthe irrigation channels, or har-vesting in the hip-deep wheat, you work the day long bent overwith your head close to the ground. What sorts of snakes mightyou encounter l i terally eye-to-eye? Or, mofe to the point, whichones don'f you wanl to run into?

CobrasTwenty-two species of cobra are native to the Nile Valley and thir-teen are poisonous - three are downright deadly. Perhaps the mostrevered of this family was the hooded cobta (Naja hale). Thissnake gave rise to the royal uraeus - an enraged hooded cobra,that appears on every Egyptian crown as the totem symbol ofLower Egypt. These snakes, usually a uniform golden brown incolor with a black collar and head, can reach eight feet long with acentral gidh of six inches. The snake's well-knov,/n hood is formedby the swinging out of long, movable, anterior ribs that stretch the

2

loose skin of the neck. A shy but frequenl visitor of cultivated lieldsand gardens, one memorable specimen 'protected' for years theOriental Institute's vegetable garden in Luxor As is well known, thehooded cobra is the snake ot choice of Norlh African snake charm-ers, because the snake's strike as relatavely slow and avoidable.Also, this shy snake can be made relatively docile through over-feeding and repealed milking of its venom sacks. Cobra venom isa nearly painless, neurotoxin that attacks the nervous system andbrain. When the muscles of the diaphragm cease to function, thevictim suffocates and dies. All members of the cobra family aretermed proteroglyphs, meaning that their venom-delivering fanqsare fixed and non-movable. When cobras strike, they bile andchew from side to side in order to envenom their victims.

Another cobra of note, this one native to the Nile Valley's desertmargins, is the hoodless or spitting cob.a (Naja nigicol/s). Unlikeits hooded cousin, lhis snake is sandy-colored and grows to alength of ten feet with a central girth of eight inches. Venom eject-ed from this snakes' specially evolved fangs can blind prey withina t\r,/o to three meter radius. A very aggressive snake, the spittingcobra was especially feared by the ancient Egyptians, and as weshall see below, this fear was memorialized in the mythology of thesun god Re's encounter with the snake demon Apophis.VipersTwo members of the viper family are native to the Nile V'alley. Thesand viper (Cerasles v,'pera) is common to the desert margins andmay be the dreaded "mottled-snake" (s_b.0 so often mentioned inEgyptian magical texts. But its the horned viper (Cerastes comu-tus) that is perhaps the best known. A sandy yellow snake withbrown spots and two distinctive protruberences above its eyes, thehorned viper, while relatively small at lhfee feet long, is easy toaccidentally step on. lts bite l ike its desert cousin is drop-deaddeadly. The horned viper's image is a familiar one, for it was cho-sen by the Fgyptians to be lhe glyph for the consonant'F'. By theby, vipervenom is hematoxic and consequently is a tissue destroy-ing agent, in essence disintegrating your body's cells on contact.Once bitten. viper venom produces an excruciating burning painand inflammation in the area or l imb affected. As it passes throughthe blood stream, the venom's toxin eventually affects the cardiactissue producing fatal arrhythmia. All members of the viper lamilyare called solenoglyphs, meaning thal they have nrovable frontfangs that fold back into the mouth unti lthey are needed. Movablefangs make vipers extremely dangerous, because they can opentheir mouths almost to a full 180 deqrees, extend their fangs, andliterally stab their victim with them.

As to which snake Queen Cleopatra Vll chose to commit suicidewith in 31 8.C., she chose the hooded cobra. Why? First, it was thesacred snake of Lower Egypt. Second, the hooded cobra byHellenistic l imes was considered the magical familiar of the sungod, whose bite conferred not only immortality, but also divinity. Inessence, Cleopatra chose a royal road to death and the companyof gods. And third, her choice of the hooded cobra was dictated byexpediency: the snake was a highly poisonous, relatively painiess,neurotoxic vector.

The Egyptian SolutionThe long-lived Egypiian civilization was an agrarian one. The myr-iad complexes of temples, palaces, granaries, and administrativebuildings could hardly be called 'cities' in the modern sense.Farmeds fields were every},here and they were the home of sev-eral grain-eating fauna: insects, birds, and above all rodents,which are a favorite food of snakes, whether poisonous or nol. Buthow would a farmer know when he venlured hip-deep into histields? How would he protect himsell? He needed a practical tool.

Above all, the ancient Egyptians were a practical people. Wheniaced with the challenge of how to easily and swiftly dispatch adangerous snake a tool was devised that was as ingenious as itwas simple: a five lo six foot wooden stick with a forked end. Thesnake stick was born and it is known in the literature by severalnames: cbw.t- (var. cbb.t ), ci33.t-, wdy-, mcnh.t- (var. mnh.t-),mhhw-, ms.t-, mdw- (varmd ) , smc-, shm-, sgmh-, dmy-stavesand mtc-lance).

The snake stick worked as follows. The theory was first to pin adangerous snake to the ground, while holding the stick in your lefrhand. Then, with your free right hand, you would dispatch thesnake with a club, hatchet, or large machete-like, three-foot-longknife lhat the Egyptians were especially fond of. Simply said. Butin actualfaci, snake hunting was a practiced skjll, an art-form, thatrequired experience, quickness, and excellent right and left handdexterity. Otherwise, you could find yourself quickly out of a job.lmagine again for a moment: stab and pin the snake down with theleft, bend down and quickly chop or hack with the right. That wasthe technique.

Fig0ft l. The prl-t oftb. EF?tianrorked cbr.t-iklr: .d Sh.l! 8.Prcry

junctiotri C. Pmngr. Seb r:5

Figurr ?. Vri.iid of th. fork d ind{. stick (!tre. C. Jlq ie ., L6 FrL,a d'Obj.cts

d6 Secophotq du ]torcn frryt, 166). sdle l:s

Occasionally, however, one does read in the ancient sourcesabout crushing a snake's head with the sole of a foot. This writersuspects that such a play wilh a writhing, ten-foot, spitting cobrawould be rather dicey. Clearly using the sole of one's foot suggestsarrogant showmanship, if not outright stupidity.

The earliesl evidence for such forked snake sticks date from thePredynastic Period, or about 3000 8.C., and they persist in thearchaeological record until the end of the New Kingdom some twothousand years later. As you might expect, over the course ofsome 2000 years of use, the basic design of lhe wooden snakestick as illustrated in Figure 1 evolved in three areas: the shaft - let,ter A, the prong junction - letter B, and lhe fork itself - letter C. Thisevolution would revolve around two simple goals: reliability, andthen later, destructive power.

Typical reliability issues ot the wooden snake stick were stresscracks or fractures that would caused splintering along its shaft (A)and prong junction (B). We know this because of ancient repairsthat were made to Middle Kingdom examples which are on displayat the Metropolitan Museum in New York. One design response,as illustrated in Figure 2, was first to choose a narrower fork thatwould inhibit splitt ing along the prong junction as in Example B.Another strategy is illustrated in Example C, where a leather orcord binding was added to slrengthen the shaft and prongjunction.In example D, the fork ltself was strengthened by warping itthrough either soaking, heat, or pressure into a U-shape. And final-ly in example E, metal bands were added to the shafr pummel,prong junction, and fork tips in an efiort to prevent both spliltingand wear

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Snakes and the Egyptian AfterlifeSnakes have long played a significant role in the religious psycheof the ancienl Egyptian. There were good snakes, such as Neb-heb-kau. One presented one's soul to him for judgement. But bythe Eighleenth Dynasty and thereafrer, snake demons play asteadily increasing role in the Book of the Dead, the Book ofGates, and other late Egyptian, funerary texts. Chief among themis the demon-snake Apophis, who challenged daily the sun god'sprogress through the underworld. Thls malignant serpent demon isno less than a forty-cubif long, tire spitting cobra, armored withscales offlint. Apophis is described as: "spitting fiery venom" at thesun god on his passing. As you might have already surmised,Apophis is no less than lhe mythological, supernatural manifesta-tion of the dreaded spitting cobra. Another example is the numer-ous depictions of snakes both good and evil, this t ime depicted inthe hieratic texts on the walls of ihe burial chamber of Thutmose lllin the Valley ofthe Kings. Here, in this slide, good black snakes areshown cavorting, center. Here, in this example, good snakes areshown slithering, right ofthe doorway. Allthose snakes consideredharmful are depicted with long, machete-like knives, sticking oui oftheir bodies, as they are to the right of the doorway. And let us notforget the many papyrus editions of the Book of the Dead, where-in snake demons of the underworld are depicted having theirheads severed by the knife-welding, tabby cat-goddess i{afdet,herself an ally of Re. And so given such serpentine dangers in theunderworld, the ancient Egyptians developed elaborate, magicallyempowered, snake-sticks that were then buried wilh thedeceased, placed strategically within lheir coffr'ns on the left side,and thus within easy reach.

llsure l. Iorked snAle ili.k*ith

But what about improving the statrs destructive power? SeeFigufe 3, where crossbars were attached to the fork's prongs, tobefter oinch or even dislocate a snake's vertebra. lf a snake couldbe so iniured, then the tricky coordination of the left hand stab andpin motion with ihe right hand chop and hack could be eliminaled.

As with all things useful, the Egyptian snake stick subsequentlyunderwent a development during the lgth and 20th Dynasties asseen in Figure 4; from a simple wooden implemenl to a compositetool of wood and metal, and finally to a one-piece bronzet iork thatwas attached to the end of a wooden shaft much like a spearhead.

In example A, pointed prong tips were added to prevent wear. Inexample C, a thin bronze sheathing was beaten around and thentacked on to the wooden shaft. But it is example B, where trueprog.ess was made, for the crossbar l inking the fork's two metall icprongs possessed a sharpened, chisell ike edge. The snake stickhad fnally become a weapon - l i terally a snake guil lotine.

As best as can ascertained, the tlnal development of the Egyptiansnake stick as a practical, uti l i tarian tool ended with the develop-ment of a cast, one-piece, bronze fork that was then attached to asimple wooden shaft. Once cast in bronze, prong wear and split-t ing became a thing of the past. In addition, these castings providethe developmental design l ink of the Egyptian snake stick into atruly magical weapon of the underworld - a device of considerablemagical power. In fact, they, along wilh their associated magicalinscriptjons, became the ancient Egyptians' primary defenseagainst the many snake demons of the underworld. To the ancientEgyptian, this process js a logical one, for it was reckoned that thejourney to the afterl ife must be as infested with poisonous snakesas any day among the l iving. This pervasive fear of snakes - orophidiophobia, so clearly apparent in the ancient Egyptians'dailyl ife, then, logically, came to permeate his religious beliefs.

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fignF {. Bmn,e filtings ofrhe comp$ileforked

rn.ke rtick (!fter \Y.lll. F. Pelne,Tantu, Prn IL

N.b6h.h (Am) snd Def.nneh). S.alr l:5

Such a powerfully magical anti-snake device was the forkedbronze butt. Technologically, it is a bronze casting attached to awooden shaft. Ceremonially, it is an elaborate magical device thatprotected its owner by seeking out and destroying the snakedemons of the underworld. Such magical devices possessedmuch sympathetic, magical symbolism. For example, in someexamDles the crossbar is made up of three elements - two hori-zontal bars decorated with snake skin scaling and between themthe squiggle of a writhing, headless snake. In others the fork cast-ing conservatively preserves lashing or binding at the prong junc-

tion as a guarantee of magical reliabil i ty. In other such castings thehead and horns of the protective goddess Hathor appear. Onanolher, the image of the proteclive sprite Bes - a favorite of par-

ents to protect their young children from the bites of snakes. Underno circumstances could such bronze forked castings be under-stood as meaningless ornamental spear decorations as SirFlinders Petrie and Trude Dothan thought they were.

The Snake Sticks of the Tomb of Tutankhamen

Among the dead boy-king's grave goods on open display in theCairo Museum are many fine wooden staves thal have been anter-preted by Howard Carler as a royal staff collection. I suspect how-ever lhal the collection represents much more: memories, tro-phies, diplomatic gifts to be sure, but pra.trcaland magicallools aswell for t lve snake sticks were found in his tomb. lt is crucial to notethat they were found in two locations: in the king's Antechamberand within the First Golden Shrine of the burial chamber itseif.Noteworthy also is that the snake sticks found within the FirstGclden Shrine were recovered in situ, in other words where theywefe originaliy placed, whereas those found within theAntechamber may have been disturbed by a premodern break-ininlo the tomb.

lmagine the clutter of the Antechamber as Howard Carter original-ly had found it. And as with all of the other lunerary paraphemaliafound within Tutankhamen's Antechamber (bread, I inens, toi-letries, weaponry, chariots, etc.), ihe presence of lwo snake sticksand a short forked baton imply their practical use during his l i fe-time. Carter's own fleld notes record that twc snake-sticks werefound "agalnsl [the] wa to lthel left rJf [the Antechambefs]entrance: behind chai"t \ lheels 133. 134 & 136. Stacked care'lessly together. AiE1. .)('.;tiar!? Ore ofthese snake sticks evencarried the following i i:ed i sc|iption in blue paint (Figure 5):"King of Upper and Lo.ver Egypt, Kheper-neb-Ra, granted life."There can be no question, therefore, as io who used and ownedthis snake stick. lt was Tutankhamen himself.

Ali the Antechambeds snake sticks exhibit the telltale signs of useand have structural fatigue cracks, splits, and wear. In one exam-ple, there is clear evidence of splitt ing at the prong junction thatcould have only occurred if this so-called 'walking-stick' had beenused with its forked elrd pressured against the ground.

The location of the short forked baton is not clear and does notappear anywhere in Carteis field notes. lts length, at a rnere 1.1meters, is shorl for a walking stick, but as a snake baton - muchlike those used by professional snake-handlers, its presencestrongly suggesls that its royal owner had acquired a skill at han-dling snakes at a very close range.

Wthin the First Golden Shrine, itself only the outer-most of foursuch shrines that protected the rose granite sarcophagus of lheyoung king, were found behind the left-hand door of the shrine twospecially prepared snake sticks were placed bundled and stackedagainst the inner, left-hand panel.

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Carter's fleld notes record their in s/ii location as; "between [the]outemost ancl second shines: standing on [the] left (south) sideof [the] doors...tied together with /nen st pls/." These sticks weresturdily hafted, coated with plaster gesso, and entjrely gilt in goldfoil. Their prong tips are freshly blunt-cut, show litt le or no wear,and their varied prong tip lengths indicate their functional special-izations in either soft or stony soil conditions. These snake sticks,unlike their cousins in the Antechamber, clearly have never seenuse. Instead, they were purposely preserved in plaster gesso andgold foil in a conscious effort to prevent wood roi, desiccation, andinsect infestation. Once so prepared, they were then placed withinthe king's burial chamber ready for use in the afterlife. These twogolden snake sticks within the Fi! 'si Golden Shrine had a specificmagical purpose: to ward off the snake demons of the underworld.But y,/hy were they found bound, stacked, and purposefully placedin the shrine's southeastern corner? Because on the shrine's inte-rior left panel, where the golden snake sticks were stacked, wasinscribed a powedul anti-snake spell from the Book of the DivineCow. The spell is quite explicit. The god Thoth, speaking forTutankhamen, says to the eadh god Geb the following:

Take heed of your serpents which are in you. Behold, theyfear me in my form, but you know thei utility. Go then to theplace in which the Father of the Abyss is and tell hin heshould keep guard over the serpents in the eafth and in thewater. Write it down as well, and take yourself to every spotwhere the serpents are, and say:

Beware lest you spoil anything!

Traditional Egyptian magical practice dictated that magical inscrip-tions should be inscribed on or near the objects that they weremeant to empowet Proximity, in other words, was the critical fac-tor. This important symbiotic relationship between magical text andits empowered weaponry is worth noting. for the above anti-snakespell, the only one of its kind in the entire funerary deposit, wasassocialed with these two golden snake sticks.

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Some conclusionsFour observations can be made regarding the impact of snakesand snake sticks on ancient Egypt.

First, given the ecological conditions of the Nile Valley, its ancientinhabitants responded lo those challenges in practical and creative\.r,/ays - only one of which was the invention and gradual techno-logical improvement of the wooden snake stick into its compositewood/metallic variety, and Unally, a one-piece, cast bronze fork.once established as a practical anti-snake tool, the ceremonialforked bronze castings, as identif ied by Trude Dothan, wereemployed as magical antisnake devices used to protect their own-ers in the underworld.

Second, the next l ime that you happen across an Egyptian tombwall scene of an individual with a staff standing knee-deep in afield of grain, while others are harvesting, think twice about themisleading caption that usually reads: "Overseer during harvest."lMore l ikely is the fact that the individual with the staff is a snakelookout or the local snake exterminalor.

Third, in regards to the staff collection of the young Tutankhamen,it seems lo represent far more than just an amateurish colleclionof walking sticks as Howard Carter had originally supposed.lnstead, on the basis of their location within the burial, lhe formeruse and clearly inlended future function of the king's snake stickscan be precisely outlined. In life, Tutankhamen used, and wasfound enough of, three forked implements to have them placed inhis Antechamber along with his other mementoes of life, whichoffer at the very least a glimpse oi the ecological hazards of every-day Egyptian l ife. But in death, the young king was armed with twostout snake sticks that were carefully prepared for eternity, andplaced within the First Golden Shrine in close proximity to a pow-erful anti-snake text. As in life, so also in death, the king wasexpected to use these implements.

Fourth and finally, on lhe basis of the archaeological and epi-graphical evidence, it is highly l ikely that Tutankhamen was a prac-ticed snake handler. lt may very well be that skil l in snake handlingwas a cultivated and necessary pharaonic attribute for cullic rea-sons, if not a preparation for personal death. After all, the deadking had to defend himself from snake demons in the underworldin order to Dreserve the balance of the Universe, and to defeat thedark powers of the snake demon Apophis and his familiarsAlthough snake-handling throughout the Middle East is a com-monplace, physical and epigraphic evidence tor such a practice byan Egyptian pharaoh has, unti l now, been a neglected topic.

BibliographyW J. Cherf, "The Function of the Egyptian Forked Staff and theBronze Forked Butt: A Proposal," Zeitschift f0r die AgyptischeSprache 1 09 ('1 982);86-97;

W- J. Cherf, "Some Forked Staves in the TutcankhamunCollection." Zeitschrift fiir die Agyptische Sprache 115 (2)(1988):107-1'tO:

T. Dothan, "Forked Bronze Butts from Palestine and Egypt," /sraelExploration Joum al 26 ( 1 976):20-3,.',

A. Hassan Stcicke und Stabe im pharaonischen Agypfen (Munich1976\:

A. Piankoff. ed.. N. Rambova The Shines of Tut-AnkEAmon(Princeton 1955).

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About the AuthorMananne Luban is a life-long student of ancient Egypt who spe-cializes in the royal mummies of the New Kiltgdool and in Egyptianlanguage. She is a/so a writer living in Minnesota, whose shotl fic'tion colleuion, "The Samaritan Trcasure' is described in "500

Great Books By Wamen" (Viking/Penguin), and the moderator olan lnlemet discusslon list called "Scnbelisl', devoted to ancientEgyptian topics.

ln their book, An X-Ray Atlas of the Royal Mummies, Edward F.Wente and James E. Harris presented a number of hypothesesand viewpojnts on the royal mummies of Egypt based upon radio-iogical evidence and computer imaging, taking into considerationcranio-facial morphology and dentit ion. They dealt with familygenealogies, age at death and physical problems, presenting theirflndings in a remarkably organized and comprehensible fashion.Wthout a doubt the work of Wente and Harris is the most scientif-ic AUblication to date addressing the probJems that are recognizedin the ldentif ication of rhe mummies. These diff iculties are summa-rized In an article by Edward Wente, 'U/ho Was Who Among theRoyal Mummies", which appeared in The Oiental lnstitute Newsand Noles. No. 144, Winter 1995, and is available on lhe Internet.

l,Iv own work with the royal mummies ol the 18th and 19thDvnasties cannol be considered a scientif ic endeavor. I base myconclusions on the evidence of my own eyes (and the perceptionsof certain artists of ancient Egypt). I did "computer imaging", butmy brain was the comouter. Wente and Harris were concernedwith how things looked behind the royal faces. I was concernedwilh the faces themselves as preserved by the art of mummifica-tion as practiced by the sncient embalmers. Yet, ult imately, myobsen,ations differed l i i i l lrtm Wente, Ha,-ris, and lhe others whoconlributed to their boof Sometimes things can be revealed to uswithout the ard of technology, if we just look hard enough.

I believe it is quite safe to say that nothing in Egyptology fascinatesus more than ihe remains of the pharaohs and their ladies. They,l ike the mummies of Egyptian commoners, are the land of Kemet'snoblest and most poignant legacy to us. To allthe many questionswe have regarding ancient Egypt, these mummies once knew theanswers, but now lhey are forever silent.

Sti l l , many things about the mummies speak eloquently about whattypes of people they were, what they may have died of and howold they were at dealh. Nevertheless, the royal mummies certain-ly have presented more puzzles than provided answers. Some ofthe mysteries connected with them may possibly be cleared up bydoing DNA testing on the royal remains. Apparently samples havebeen taken for such an analysis, but the results or f indings haveyet to be disclosed.

I have been enamored of the idea of ancient Egypt most of my lifeand, when mummies ceased to be objects of hcrror for me, theybecame part of my fascination as well. I have been on a flrst-name-basis with lhe royal mummies for quite some time but,recently, my interest in them has taken a new form.

It all started when I came across a large photo of the mummy ofthe "Elder Lady," found in Amenhotep the Second's tomb, in a

magazine ad. I was struck once again by the delicacy of her bonestructure, the aristocratic beauty defying death itself. On a whim Ilook a piece of fairly transparenl paper and traced the profl le of themummy with the aim of trying some regression. I am a wrrter notan artist, and have rarely drawn anything, but the result of my fooling around with the pencil surprised me lt looked somehow rrghtand even vibrant! | began to develop a method by which to doother pharaonic portraits. I freely admit that my arNvork is nothjngspectacular. lt is very different from the lovely i itt le paintings of thekings and queens of Egypt by thal f lne artist, Vvlnifred Brunton,which were done over fifty years ago. Unlike Brunton, I have madeonly a perfunctory attempt to render clothing, jewelry, and head-dresses. I was concerned with the l iving faces of the pharaohs.Vvhen I drew a crown or a head-cloth, it was a rudimentary onewithout embell ishment. After allwe know what those looked like. Ihad a lot of diff iculty with the uraeus, the cobra, and was temptedto show it l ike the ancients did, out of perspeclivel

It is no exaggeration to say that, for about a year, I l ived andbreathed mummies, studied statues, paintings and reliefs - allwitha view to conjuring up, if only in my mind, the l iving faces ofAmenhotep, Thutmose, and Ramses. Sometimes my conclusionsagreed with Vvinifred Brunlon, more often they did not. Brunton'sEgyptian porlraits are beautiful and colorful but, with a few excep-tions, they seem to me to express a certain denial that thepharaohs and queens might have appeared any different from theaverage Briton. So?nehow, the ultra-exotic Tutankhamun is seenby Brunton as a rosy-cheeked English choirboy.

I wanted to stick to drawing only the personages of whom we havethe mummified remains and well-preserved remains at that. but, inthe end, I had to draw a couple of famous queens by the populardemand of my Egytophile friends. Truly, I wanted to use my imag-ination as l itt le as oossible. but found that even with the best-look-ing examples of mummiflcation, there is always something gonesadly out of whack. Knowing family traits is helpful in dealing withthese inevitable distortions and most helpful are the ancient artisls,some of whom did a wonderful job in conveying the individualcharacteristics of their subjects within the stylistic l imitalions.

It must be stressed, from the outsel, that the current identitilica-tions of the royal mummies found in lhe Deir el Bahari cache andKV35, the lomb of Amenhotep l l, are based upon dockets writtenby the priests of the 21st Dynasly on their re-wrapped remains orre-furbished coffins. Many of these coffins belonged to other indi-viduals and bear the names of their original owners. lt is my opin-ion, however, based partly upon my work, that the priests of thenecropolis, the Valley of the Kings, used extreme caution in theirdocketing and were, for the most part, correct.

VVhy do some of us study these long-dead Egyptians so closelyand yearn to know as much as possible about them, going so faras to try to make them look sli l l alive in artistic renderings? Evenin the horror f i lms, the mummies always get up, often committingmayhem, sometimes searching for lost loves. lt is as if these peo-ple came from such a magical, glittering, mysterious place that wecan't bear for them lo be well and truly dead.

This is the "Elder Lady" from KV35. I faithfully traced the lady'sbasic profile from hairline to throat from an enlarged photo of lheface of the mummy, but restored the tilt of lhe nose to what it musthave been before the pressure of the bandages flattened it some-what (nol much in this instance). I have closed the mouth, given ita slight smile. Also, I gave the poor lady a lovely eye, which thereis no reason to doubt she possessed in l ife, and some eyebrowsand Iashes lo match her abundant dark hair. I sensed this emaci-ated and desiccated corpse had once been a fair woman, but nowI believe the "Elder Lady," known to be royal fronr the position ofher anns, must have been one of the most beautiful queens ofEqypt ever I envision her as looking somewhat l ike Vivien Leighas she appeared in Caesar and Cleopatra. In fact, in this tl lm Leighwears a replica of one of Queen Tiye's circlet crowns, therebyunwittingly becoming a reasonable facsimile, not ot Cleooatra, butof Queen Tiye, herselt. Following my reconstruclion of the face ofthe "Elder Lady", I now recognize her in several of the namelessimages from Amarna and the reign of Tulankhamun. Theseimages eilher represent the "Elder Lady" or other females wholooked very much like her. Nowadays, the petite-featured "ElderLady" is pronounced to be Queen Tiye, wife of Amenhotep l l l andmother to Akhenaten, because a lock of hair in a l itt le case bear-ing Tiye's name that was djscovered in Tutankhamun's tombmatches the hair of the "Elder Lady." This was rather a shock to allof us who had always associated Queen Tiye with that stern littlewooden head attrjbuted to her where she looks like everyone'sidea of the motherin-law from hell. While compelling evidence, thehair is inconclusive proof because it cannot be stated with 100%certainty that it is really Queen Tiye's hair in that case, even thoughit clearly bears the name and titles of this lady. Yet it is difticult toimagine this box, which slates in writ ing that Tiye was alreadydeceased, could have been fashioned for any other purpose thanto hold the twist of hair. Guarding the shrine of King Tut were agroup of achingly lovely golden goddesses, their faces all mod-elled on a cast of features such as are seen on the "Elder Lady."Archaeologists have long wanted to believe that the svelte god-desses grouped around the shrine of King Tut were meant to looklike Ankhesenamun, Tutankhamun's l itt le queen. Perhaps the hair

belongs to the widow, herself. I could confuse future generationsin my own family by simply placing a lock of my mother's hair in abox with my name on it, or vice versa, and Ankhesenamun, possi-bly using a piece of her grandmothe/s funerary equipment, neverexpected lhe memenlo would ever be gazed upon again.

Yet the "EIder Lady" does resemble many portraits of Queen Tiyebecause the latler is almost always shown as a l itt le woman with alurned-up nose and a resolute chin l ike those of the mummy fromKV35. Some Egyptologists used to lean toward Hatshepsut as the"Elder Lady's" true identity. Hatshepsut, you see, was very ofienportrayed as a l itt le man with a turned-up nose and a resolule chin- only hers had a false beard attached to it l The "Elder Lady" cer-tainly resembles neither parents ffuya and Thuya) nor what weknow ofthe faces of the progeny ofTiye. lf the "Elder Lady" resem-bles anyone it is the young prince, aged between eleven and lhir-teen, found lying beside her in KV35. I can't understand whynobody has commented on it, i t seems so obvious to me that thismusl be her son. One thing we do know for certain about the "ElderLady" is that she wasn't very old when she died, at lhat, as herwavy long hair is without gray.

I have worked from the skulls of two individuals thought to beSmenkhare and Amenholep l l l and found lhat, while "Smenkhare"has the typical flat-bridged nose and massive bite (indicating largelips to close over it) of all of the male heirs of Amenhotep l l l , theskull of one who is probably Amenhotep, himself, is of a much dif-ferent sort, closely resembling his forebears, Amenhotep ll andThulmose lV In fact, the mummy may not be that of Amenhotep atal l l

Smenkhare and Tutankhamun, surely brothers, have heads thatconform to an odd but nearly identical shape. Perhaps the youngergeneration of this family had lheir l i tt le noggins bound in childhoodto create this cephalic condition. lt makes them look rather l ikeextraterrestrials, especially in the cases of two pre-teen princess-es, depicted nude and seated on cushions, their elongated skullsand fingers causing them to look like characters in a science-tic-tion movie.

The tomb of Queen Tiye yielded some perplexing works of art (bulnot her mummy), including a finely-wrought coffln vrith the goidenface adzed off. The coffln, thought to be originally intended for theburial of a woman, proved to contain the remains of a man, the onetentatively identif ied as Smenkhare. Also, in this tomb were fourcanopic jars, their l ids being a remarkable bust of ambiguous sex,formerly considered a portrait ofthe same shadowy young man buinow thought to be that of Kiya, a consort of Akhenaten. Yet thesesculptures certainly correspond to the so-called skull ofSmenkhare, who succeeded (or was co-regnant with) Akhenatenfor a time but died suddenly and was followed by Tutankhamun.Kiya was possibly the mother of Smenkhare and Tutankhamun, asNefertiti bore only female children.

Judging from his portraits the true appearance of Amenhotep lll isdifficull to pin down. In many, perhaps the majority, of his imagesthe king has what I will call, in default of a better descriptive word,a "Nubian" look. Also, when shown looking l ike this, his featuresare always very youthfulappearing. On the other hand, once inawhile, Amenhotep is portrayed as someone very different - anaged, corpulent monarch with a Levantine face. Examples of thisalternative "look" of Amenhotep can be seen, for instance, on astele where a slumping, world weary king sits beside Queen Tiye,a carnelian inset of a bracelet, and possibly on a small, goldenstaluette from the tomb of Tutankhamun that is thought to be ofAmenholep lll. The snub nose of the "youthful" Amenhotep sud-denly becomes the longish, curved feature that the Egyptians likedto draw on their Asiatic prisoners, for example.

Something obviously is at odds here and it is not Amenhotep l l ldoing a Lon Chaney - like metamorphosis from time to time.Actually, the phenomenon begins in the reign of his sire, ThutmoselV . For some reason, perhaps political, some artists of the 18thDynasty took it upon lhemselves or were instructed to make thepharaohs appear more "southern" with less of the "foreign" (i.e.Asiatic) look so prevalent in the Delta or Lower Egypt where lheHyksos had ruled for so many years. Not to put too fine a point onit, to make them come across as more ethnically Egyptian thanperhaps they actually were. My reconstruction of the face ofAmenhotep l l l also very much resembles the features of anotherpharaoh, Thutmose l, as seen in a wall-painting where it is obviousthe artist was attempting portraiture of this king and his consort,Queen Ahmes. However, my reconstruction definitely does notlook l ike the mummy called Thutmose L Since this mummy hasbeen supposed loo young at death to actually be Thutmose l,there exists the possibil i ty that this king has been misidentil ied, in

uniit e tt at of his son, Amenhotep l l l , lhe face of Thutmose lV isvery wellpreserved and one is able now to see almost exactly howhe looked in l ife. Afier I had done my drawing of him, lfound con-firmation of its accuracy in a picture of an ostracon in the LuxorMuseum where the pharaoh is shown in a wig and diadem muchlike that found on the head of Tutankhamun's mummy. How difier-ent. however. Thutmose lV looks on the walls of his tomb with hislarge l ips, snub nose and chubby cheeks - all lhe opposite of whatthe king's actual features are.

The same thing happens in the tomb of Amenhoiep l l l . l t evenseems to be the same artist at work. This curious phenomenoncomes to a halt with the reign of Akhenalen and the "realistic"school of art that flouished at that lime.

Amenhotep lll

But there are limits even to realism. The master goldsmith whomade the tunerary mask seems to have made a few changes thatdifferfrom what one can gatherfrom the face ofthe king's mummy.He possibly made the nose smaller and more up-turned and verylikely enlarged lhe l ips to cover the king's immense incisors. Apharaoh, after all, cannot be shown with buck leeth. I did not havethe heart to do this mysell The nose, now very much compressed,looks as if i t was nol all that small in l i fe. Nevertheless, I take myreconstruction of the face of Tutankhamun, in part, from the gold-smith, as his art is too marvelous, his eye loo keen, for me to deignto contradict him too much. I believe that, even if he made a fewminor adjustments to the young king's looks, we can trust thisancient craftsman to capture the real essence of Tutankhamun.Tutankhamun may have been only a minor ruler, but his chiefgold-smith was a l\4ichelangelo. This man preserved what time, nature,and modern man have stolen from his master

ldrew Tutankhamun wearing a hat that is seen on what may be adresse/s dummy found in his tomb. lt is a simplif ied version of thered crown (deshret) of Lower Egypt and perhaps the forerunner ofthe much later oriental tarboosh, the red hat with the tassel.\/Vhether Tut ever actually wore this headgear is problematic.Another head covering belonging to the young pharaoh that Iadmire was found on his mummy, a once-splendid skullcap, withils terrific bead-work cobras, covering lhe shaved head.

The young pharaoh's remains have sufiered quite badly since hewas {irst unwrapped, as shown by early photographs comparedwith later ones - not that the body was ever in great condition. lt isshocking to contemplaie the neglect that has lefr him with crum-bling ears (partly destroyed by the removal of a golden temple-band) and fallen-in eye sockets. Aside from a compressed nose,his face looked fairly good at his first exposure to the modern age,but it is rapidly disintegrating and his mummy is entirely disarticu-lated. But the greatest indignity is the loss of his penis, stolen bysome impious character and probably resting in a private collectionof oddilies todav.

' I f

Tutankhamun

Tuthmose lll

In his great old volume, Royal Mummies, Grafton Elliot Smith,recall ing a fine statue of Amenhotep's sire, Thutmose ll l , walh itsoutsize, majestic nose, coulcjn't reconcile it with the smallish, deli-cate nose of Amenhotep l l and, concluding it must have shrunkterrif ically, drew a diagram showing it as having been much largeroriginally. However, when Smith examined Amenhotep's son,Thutmose lV and saw this mummy's similarly beautiful nose, herealized he had made an error and said so in the book. Curiously,the diagram was not withdrawn be'fore Royal Mummies wenl lopress. Sti l l , lhis book (when we can gel hold of it) gives us the bestand clearest look at the faces of the pharaohs possible todayunless we can gc to Cairo to see them firsl-hand. A down-sizedversion of the same photographs can be seen in RobertPartridge's Faces of Pharaohs, which is, of course, easily pur-chased today - unlike the rare Royal Mummies.

Dr. Smith also had to admit that the nose of Thutmose ll l , the greatwarrior pharaoh, had been exaggerated by his famous statue aswelf . Smith wrote: "...fhe badly damaged nose was nanow, high-bndged and prominent but not larye." Certainly, this pharaoh'snose is the most jutting of all those to be seen on lhe mummies ofEgypt's kings, but it is not quite the stupendous organ of the stat-ue in size or shape. lt must be stated that, while most of thepharaonic noses are aquil ine and curved, they are really not toolarge compared to the rest of the tace and therefore do not detractin any way from the individual's appearance. lt is my personalbeliefthat these noses had the oDposite effect and were their chiefasset as regards aristocratic handsomeness. However, it remainstrue that a sort of "plastic surgery" was very ofren performed onthese noble noses by the sculptors - if not actually on the l ivingpharaohs - and we seldom get to see their actual profl les. That iswhy the statue of Thutmose ll l mentioned is so unusual. lt isalmost Amarnesque in its exaggerated realism.

I can just imagine the amazement of Thutmose ll l that anyonewould want to write about his most outstanding feature. He was farfrom a foppish character and probably didn't take much stock in

10

looks. Action was the only thing thjs king was interesled in, onesenses. Whether or not he was aclually handsome, it is impossi-ble to say now. Thutmose had a large, flat head but that was eas-ily taken care of by the very attractive royal head-gear in the vari-ous forms. He had good lips, nice teeth (with the usual overbitecommon to all Egyptian royalty unti l the 1gth Dynasty) and a sofll i tt le dimpled chin. \r 'y'hile his mummy's nose is all smashed no\,Y, itis not too hard to figure out its former shape, easier actually thanit was to reconstruct some of the Ramessid noses.

Slyled the Napoleon of Egypt for his military exploits as well as hisshort stature. it should be clantied that Thutmose ll l measuresshort only because his feet are missing. fhey were no dotjbthacked off in order to steal his golden sandals and toe stalls moreeasily. In fact, Thutmose's l imbs were all chopped off by robbers tofacil i tale the theft of his jewelry. He was reassembled by the piouspriests with wooden splints and whatnot - everything but chewinggum. Yet the feet are long gone. Robert Partridge, in his remark-able book, Faces of Pharaohs, says it is now thought that the lv-ing Thutmose was actually about 1.71 melres - around six feet.Wth his driven (and also vindictive in the case of his aunt,Hatshepsut) personality and intimidating stature, I think it is safe toassume that no one dared steal so much as a grape out of thepharaoh's bowl while he l ived, but now there is nothing left of whatmusl have been a particularly sumptuous burial given the enor-mous power of Thutmose ll l .

However, a trio of Thutmose's Asiatic wives managed to hold on toa little golden hoard of their lovely head-dresses and personalitems unti l 1916 when their tomb was discovered. lt is rather ashame these foreign girls, possibly homesick and unwill ing con-sorts, can never know how much they came out ahead of theirautocratic master.

Until the discovery of King Tut's tomb, Amenhotep l l had the dis-tinction of being ihe only pharaoh found lying in his own originaltomb, although his grave goods had long since been plundered. Atsome point, probably during the 21st Dynasly, Amenhotep's tombwas resealed, but not before he was given some company - fifteenother individuals including his own grandson, Amenhotep l l l , someRamessid pharaohs who had also lost the wondrous articlesinterred with them, and also various anonymous persons of bothsexes, some of whom might have been relations of Amenhotep l l.

This king, although resembling his son, Thulmose lV, in manyresDects. has a much more forceiul countenance. Indeed, thisgentleman was no one to trif le with, as we shall see presently.Even though the facial features of his mummy are badly distorted,one is sti l l aware that this, too. was a handsome man and tall intothe bargain. At over six feet, Amenhotep l l was surely one of thetallest pharaohs of Egypt, although not quite as big as Ramses ll,whose body measures L733 metres.

Amenhotep ll had curly brown hair, graying a little at the temples.He was already balding at the crown of his head. Experls feel hedied between the ages of 45 and fifry, but he may well have beenolder. The skin of the mummy is covered with small nodules thatare probably the manifestation of the illness that killed the king.Doubtless some disease, which even the strongest could not bat-tle, struck down Amenhotep Il, yet, when alive, the man had beenjust as merciless to his enemies. We know from a stele or two leftby the king lhat he had captured seven foreign princes and didthem all to death in a grisly fashion. One of these was taken soulhto Nubia and hung from the walls of a fort "in order to cause to beseen the might of His Majesty for ever and ever." I have tried todraw the king as he might have appeared to those seven menbefore their execution.

Amenhotep was a physical person who excelled at sports. He had

boasted that no one but him could pull his bow. This great bow wasfound with him when his tomb was discovered by Victor Loret in1898 and was foolishly left in the sarcophagus, only to be stolenby the descendants of the ancient tomb-robbers who had taken therest of Amenhotep's funerary objects and personal treasufes.

Thutmose lV is a pharaoh who looks positively gentle. He is verywell-preserved facially, even his l ips have kept their shape, whichis a rare thing, indeed, with mummies. Talk about reflr]ed featureslThutmose lV has a better bone structure than Kalharine flepburn,and while aiive, was possibly prettier. Right novr', at least, hisnrummy gives the impression of an effeminate young man whodied arounC or before the age of thidy (although some say morelike fifty). lt could be that, when fleshed-out, Thutmose lV seemeda litt le more vir, le.

The mediocre paintings in his iomb present him as a chubby-cheeked boy-king, rather l ike Tutankhamun, which he was not.Thutmose was already slightly bald at the time of his death and,even as a mummy, he is the essence of afistocracy, something iheartist of the tomb evidently couldn't see. After I had drawn him, Isaw a photo of an ostracon portrait of this pharaoh in the Luxorl\ruseum which, thankfully, looks exactly l ike my portrait of the king.

The rabbis used to sa.v that the prjnces of Judah were comelybecause they had beautiful mothers. By this same logic, whyshouldn't the kings of Egypt. who surely had access to the finestconsorts, havs propagated themselves in a chain of striking spec-imens, which they certainly seem to be.

While surely the son of Amenhotep l l, i t is doubtful that ThutmoselV ascended the throne of Egypt in his rightful tuin. A stele erect-ed by Thutmcse between the paws of the Great Sphinx hints, indi-rectly, that there may have been a problem. The stele says that thisThutmose went hunting, got t ired and sought some shadebeneath the looming sphinx. Asleep there, he dreamt the sphinxforetold that, were Thutmose to clear away the desert sands thathad half-burieC this monument, he would become Neb Tawi, theLord of lhe -Two Lands, the ruler of Egypt.

Stele or no sleie, lhLrtmose (pronounced Tehutimes) lVs calm fea-tures stroDgly prociarm that he is certainly an offspring of the pre-vious pharaoh, Amenhotep Il, i f possibly not the eldesl or l irst inline of succession. Therefore, it ! ' , 'ould be diff lcult to accept thatThutmose lvs own sor Anrenhotep l l l , possessing such genes,could ever have had the coarse, heavy mien so many of his stat-ues display.

I keep reading that Thutmose was supposed to have suffered fromsome "wasting" disease that made him look emaciated, but io mehe seems no more or less scrawny than any olher mummy.

There's something I have noticed and wonder aboul: A gorgeousgolden mask was found on the mummified body of KingPsusennes I at Tanis. I have the oddest suspicion he "appropriat-ed" it from an earlier era when making those masks was a high art,a l ime when portraiture strove to be accurate instead of idealized.In fact, I think the Tanis kings took quite a number of things fromthe Valley when they were "restoring" the tombs of the Thebankings and rescuing their remains. ls it possible the original ownerof the mask had been Thutmose lV? lt bears his features exactly.Psusennes' sarcophagus had been used 170 years earlier for theburial of Merenptah and his black granite coffin had belonged lo a1glh Dynasty noble. Inside was another anthropoid cofi in of solidsilver, its face a copy of the golden mask. The mask in question isthe finesl ever uncovered after that of Tutankhamun. To be fair toKing Psusennes, however, I must say that I have read nothing thatwould support my hunch, nor do I know of any inscriptions on themask or silver coffin, original or altered. I have searched, withoutsuccess, for Pierre Montet's published account of these items. Yet,

Tuthmose lV

another clue to the mask and cofflns being from an earlier t ime islhe golden funerary mask of Psusennes's successor,Amenemope. lt is of such an inferior artistry that it is not possiblelo believe it would have been deemed acceptable had there sti l lbeen a school of goldsmiths capable of turning out works l ike themask and coffins of the previous rulet

It is written that, when Thutmose lV travelled on the Nile, the redand green sails of the royal craft bil lowing, the populace turned outto get a glimpse of his beauty. Perhaps his clothes were decorafed with fine, colored embroidery, rare examples of which werefound in his tomb. Ohutmose, himself, was discovered in the tombof his father, Amenhotep l l, where he had been placed for safe-keeping.) We know, surely, that gold blazed from his every l imb,but was perhaps outshone by somelhing very evident about thisking: He had a kil ler smile. Splendid teeth, perfect, gently-curvedfeatures, and an air of peaceful repose make Thutmose lvs royalmummy one ofthe few whose good looks could not be vanquishedby death and time.

Seti l 's portraits all look l ike him, the artists not having forgotten thebump on the bridge of the regal nose of this splendid man. Seti 'stomb (again sans mummy) is quite a dazzling display of colors andimages, more l ike a carnival than a final resting place. TheEgyptian zodiac is painted on the ceil ing with such tongue-in-cheek whimsy that we get the picture in more ways than one: KingSeti I was probably the sort of fellow a painter could take a few lib-erties with and maybe one could even tell him a joke or two whenhe dropped by to inspect the tomb's progress.

The persons who carved the reliefs of Seti I on his temple walls(surely lhe hardest job in all of Egyptian artistry) could scarcelyknow that they were recording a standard of masculine beauty thatwas to last unti l the present day At the beginning of the '19thDynasty, Egypt was hardly an isolated society. People visited thisfabled land even then, most particularly the envoys of othernations, who must have spread the word that the visage of Egypt'sking was not the least oi the wonders to be encountered there. Apharaoh as far removed from Seti I as Ramses lX (about 200

't1

Set /

years) is shown on the v,/alls of Karnak as having Seti 's same fi lm-star profi le, and he is not the only one. Whether this late Ramessidactually resembled Seti or wished to emulate his efflgies is diff icultto say unless v,/e can get a look al his mummy.

By Ptolemaic times, Egypt was already a tourist attraction as it isnow and many travelers, especially Greeks, had the chance toadmire Seti at Abydos and Karnak, although no one was lo seethis king in the flesh again unti l 1886 when Niaspero unwrappedhim. Seti 's mummy was discovered, by happy chance, in the DeirEl Bahari Cache in 1881 , stacked like so much firewood along withthe other great rulers of the 18th and 1gth Dynasties. They hadaeen placed in this secluded spoi for safekeeping a couple of gen-eratrons down the l ine by the priests of the necropolis, the Valleyof the Kings, when their individual tombs were disturbed by rob-bers. Some think the priests were ordered to do this by laterpharaohs who wanted the gold of their predecessors to replenishtheir treasuries.

However it occurred, lhe vast hoard of glittering obiects that weresurely buried with a mighty sovereign l ike Seti I is all now absolute-iy vanished. Even his sarcophagus lies in London in the Sir JohnSoanes House Museum, far from home. But the "look" perpeluat-ed by those who carved out Seti 's images holds sway in our veryera. lt was an ideal ihat made RudolDh Valentino and JohnBarrymore matinee rdols - thin, narfow nose, slightly aquil ine, ju!

ting chin, sensual mouth with l ips noi too full, however, and large,compellrng eyes regardless of color. lt is amazing how mostHollywood leading men of all decades were some variation on thistype - except down{o-earth-looking actors l ike Dustin Hoffman(who is a Thutmosid if ever there was one). Even the kings andprinces in the Grimm's Fairy Tales I read as a child were, to a man,

1)

a cross between Seti I and his heir, Ramses ll, another strikingmare.

It all began with a soldier named Ramessu who succeeded hiscomrade-in-arms, King Horemheb. We don't have very many por-traits of Ramses I and his mummy is missing,* but it is quite clearthat this pharaoh conlributed a nasal shape to Egyptian monarchythat did not die out for generations to come. His grandson,Ramses ll, sported this very same nose and his is perhaps theonly Ramessid mummy on which we are able to see the family pro-boscis in a decenl condition.

Seti I, who was in between these two hawk-nosed genllemen, hada prominent nose, too, but it was smaller and different due to thefact that Seti resembled his mother, Sitre. Vvhenever Seti l- ' isdepicted as worshipping various goddesses, lhey bear the face ofthe king's mother, who is the image of him.

Dorothy Eady, an eccentric but extremely knowledgeableEgyptophile, l ived for many years at Abydos in order lo be near thespirit of the love of her l i fe, our perennially handsome friend, Seti.Born and raised in England, this lady always claimed Egypt washer true home. She had been there in another l i fe, she was sure.

Dorothy (or Omm Sety, as she was called by everyone) told manypeople that the pharaoh visited her often, looking about frfty andperfectly f it, which is how she had left him in a previous incarna-tion. Omm Sety was certainly a well-known character and one ofthe attractions at Abydcs in her own right. lt was she who made theobservalions sbout King Seti and his molher. The story of DorothyEady's l i fe, including her conversations with lhe deceased, makefascinating reading in Jonathan Cott's The Search For Omm Sety.

Seti, at least when first unv,/rapped, had such a remarkably-pre-served face that he seemed only to be asleep. That is why I drewhim in this attitude. Photographs taken of him and his son, Ramsesthe Great, by a Signor Beato of Luxor make these mummies seemlike men who had expired only hours before. I think of Seti as thepharaoh who was so handsome that his beauty refused lo die withhim N4aspero, who unwrapped the mummy, commented: "/t v/as amasteniece of the aft of the embalmer, and the expression of theface was that of one who had only a few hours previously breathedhis last. Dealh had slightly drawn the nostils and cantracted thelips, the pressure of the bandages had flattened the nose a little,and the skin was datkened by the pitch: but a calm and gentlesmile sti played over the mouth, and the half-opened eyelidsallawed a glifipse to be seen from under thetr lashes of an apparently moist and glistening line, the rellection from lhe white porce-lain eyes let in to the orbit at the time of buial.'

As I have mentioned, Seti has an aquil ine, very sharp nose withpractically no $,/ings to the nostri ls (quite l ike the wing-less "ElderLady"), which is rather the key to his beauty and, I suspect, themark of blue-bloodedness at that t ime. The Egyplians called thiselevated status sheps, which lthink is a perfectly droll word and Iwouldn't be surprised if this wasn't their slangy term for a noble-appearing or dishy guy as well.

Not conient to steal merely the pharaonic grave goods, the thieveshad ventured into the Valley of the Kings looked for jewels beneaththe bandages and even under the rib-cages, which is why so manyroval mummies have gaping holes in their chests. The heartscarab, a valuable item, was looted in this fashion. That remindsme: The wealth of King Seti I hasn't entirely disappeared. Whenhis body was x-rayed in the 1970s, it became clear that both rob-bers and archaeologists had missed one amulet hidden in hiswrappings - the sacred eye of Horus. That's it - one l itt le goldeneye, the last talisman remaining to someone who had once beenone of the world's richest men, if not the richest of all.

to be continued...

r ...

LECTTIRE REPORT,SYUYA AND TUYAPresenled by David PepperESS Meeting, February 17th 1998

The flrst intact "royal" tomb ever found was in 1905 - that of KingTut's grandparents, Yuya and Tuya. Several hundred objects fromthis tomb can be seen today at the Egyptian Antiquities i/1useumin Cairo: jewelry chariois, furniture, sarcophagi, nesting coflins,mummies and more.

The tomb was robbed three times: first shortly after the burial, andtwice more when KV3 and KV4 were excavated. The debris fromthese excavations was dumped onto the opening of the tomb ofYuya and Tuya unknowingly.

Yuya's outer funerary sledge was covered with black pitch deco-rated with gold bands. Inside were three nested coftins: the outercoffin was coated with gold, the maddle was silver-coated with goldbands, and the inner coffin was covered wilh gold leat and deco-rated with gems and colored glass.

Yuya's canopic jars were in a square sledge covered with black

pitch. Castor oil was found in one jar, natron in another, and a thirdcontained an unknown dark red substance.

Tuya's sledge was similar to Yuya's. Inside were two nestedcoffins. The outer coffin was completely covered with gold, whilethe inner coffin was covered with gold and lined with silver.

The treasures found included two four-legged copper stands, alarge calcite jar, three chairs - a child's ibex chair, a middle-sizedchair and a large chair 30" high, gilded with beads in front. Alsofound were three beds, 13 wooden boxes, 14 ushabti t igures, alarge chest full of wigs for both Yuya and Tuya, foud calcite jars,papryus, and 24 small containers of food - one even contained awrapped duck. The chariol in the tomb was the tlrst ancienl chari-ot ever found, and had leather tires.

Both mummies were found in their coffins. Yuya died tirst at 58years of age; Tuya was 15 when they were married. Mummifledcats and dogs were also found in lhe tomb, which has no wallpaintings and no evidence of f lood damage. lt is a small tomb, 20-25ft long and about '15ft wide.

Repoft by Bette Lou Lesan Cookson.

A DIG IN THE KINGS' VALLEYPresented by Dick HarwoodESS lvleeting, March 17, 1998

1998 marks our Chairman's lhird season as a fleld photographerwith the University of Arizona Egyptian Expedition. An update onthis season's work wil l appear in the next issue of The Ostracon,but at the time ofthis lecture, the 1998 season lay in the future.

The lecture began with a quick update on the excavations al KV10,the tomb of Amenmesse, which has passed from the University ofArizona to the Unjversjty of N,lemphis, Tennessee, before proceed-ing to the Universoty ot Arjzona's current undertaking, the MotifAlignment Project or MAP Over the next several years, amongother things, the proje^t to record all of the unpublished wallscenes in the Valley's gtrr and 20th Dynasty Rameside tombs,belore they are lost forever through various hazards, including theattrit ion associaled with tourist traffic.

The alignment of the scenes on the tomb walls is symbolic andcomplex. For example, above the entrance to KV 8, the Tomb ofMerenptah, is a motif showing the three manifestations of Re: themorning scarab form and the evening form as a man wilh a ram'shead, both enclosed within the third form - the sun disk itself. Thismotif is f lanked by lhe lsis on the left and Nephthys on the right.lsis is usually associated with the "South" (Upper Egypt), andNephthys is usually associated with the "North" (or Lower Egypt).So looking West into the tomb, it is ceriainly proper that lsis wouldbe on the left (South) side of the scene and Nephthys on the right(North) side.

The tombs don't follow any set compass alignment, but not onlyare the paintings and reliefs inside the tombs symbolic; lhe tombsthemselves are laid out symbolically, with the entrances symboli-cally to the East - the land of sun and life - and the burial cham-bers symbolically to the West, the land of darkness and death. Asa result, lsis is always on the left side of this scene, and Nephthyson the right - regardless of the physical alignment of the tomb.Also, the sun disk above each tomb entrance is always paintedyellow, representing morning, or daylight, or the land of lhe l iving -

bul as soon as you step inside the tomb, going symbolically West,the sun disk changes to red, representing night or the land of theoeao.

The Expedition team consists of seven people: Dr. RichardWlkinson, the team leader from the University of Arizona; iwo oth-ers from the University ofArizona - one a computer expert and onea graphics expert; two Egyptologists - and epigrapher and aniconographer - from the University of Toronto; a practicing attorneyfrom Phoenix (who's also a past Trustee of ARCE, and acts as anassistant io the expedition); and Dick, the expedition's photogra-pher. They were accompanied by an Egyptian Inspector, requiredby law to be present at all times in case something of importanceis found.

Colored slides are ihe primary means oi recording the scenes onthe walls. These slides are then digit ized onto CD-RONI disks; onthe computer, they can be zoomed in on to show fairly minutedetails of the scenes. The Egyptologists write accompanying textthat goes onto the CD-ROM disks, translating and interpreting lhehieroglyphic writ ings and the scenes, and comparing them withsimilar scenes in the other Rameside tombs. The ourDose of thisis to be able to study the tombs in much greater detail than is pos-sible on-site, and also to preserve the scenes for future genera-tions of archaeologists to study and re-interpret, long after thescenes themselves have disappeared from the walls.

All this fascinating information was liberally sprinkled with anec-dotes and insights into expedition life, ranging from the hotel'samenities to the summer climale, climate to the necessity for fittingthe expedition's work around the needs ol the Valley's tourists -including the challenge of splicing the expedition's l ights into anexisting system wilhout turning the current off and plunging other(potentially tourist-inhabited) tombs into temporary darkness! Asneak peek at KVs was a welcome side-excursion, as was aseries of slides of KV17, the tomb of Seti I, which has been closedto the public for many years because of structural instability.

Repod by Graeme Davis

'12

INTRIGUE IN THE COURT, PART I'Presented by Bill PettyESS Meeting, May 1gth 1998

As the house lights dimmed we were once again caught up in themagic of a Bill Petty production, beginning with a short review ofPart l. Our memories were refreshed on the co-regency ofHatshepsut with the young Tuthmosis l l l , her t it le as Queen andGreat King's Vvife of Tuthmosis ll, and her death - which was pos-sibly hastened by Tuthmosis lll. Wth these events, we werebrought through the reigns of Amenhotep l l, Tuthmosis lV andAmenhotep lll into a new era with Akhenaien and Nefertiti. Wewere caught up in Bil l 's "whodunnit" style of presentation, and thestage was set for Part fl of the drama: Tut, Tut, Ankhesenamun.

Everyone was drawn to lhe young queen's dilemma: how to keepher wealth and stature, when no-one around could stack up to herlost love, Tutankhamun? She began looking around outside Egyptfor a new husband with rank and status eoual to her own - but alas,due to the old laws, daughters of Egypt did nol marry foreigners.With some persuasion by the court, she settled down with theagjng - but Egyptian - commander Ay. VVhich takes us right into themiddle of the New Kingdon, and lhe glorious age of Egyptian con-quest and military rulers l ike Horebheb, Ramses l, Seti I, Ramsesll - but flrst a message from our speaker.

I must admit that I never took a real good and honest look at agreat monument before: a true look at legend versus fact. Bill'sinterfacing of fact and myth about Abu Simbel was very enlighten-ing. A mjracle of ancient engineering, or something that just hap-pened? Like many other great structures, it was built just right.Now, back to our program.

Vvith the death of Ramses ll (who left a grcatlooking mummy) andthe rule of Merenptah, we move on lo the sons of Ramses lll andthe Harem Conspiracy. One of the big events of Ramses lll's reign,this trial was presided over by 14 ofticials, with 29 chief conspira-tors and a cast of characlers out of a Sherlock Holmes story

The Harem Conspiracy was a devious plol lo murder the king,planned by one of his minor queens, named l]y, who hoped toleave her son Pentwere ruling Egypt. She had to recruit a few oth-ers for her plan: six more wives,lwo scribes, all the harem inspec-tors, a few standard bearers ofthe army, a captain ofarchers - andlet's not forget the butlers. She was a busy lady, plotting with themajority of those officials who were personally close to the king,and co-ordinating a revolt outside the palace to coincide with theintended coup. Wth over 40 people implicated, the trial was divid-ed into groups. Ramses passed judgement until he became agreai god (that is, died), and then appointed officials took over. Thecommission could call for evidence when necessary, deliver andcarry out a verdict and proceed with the death penalty.

As the house lights came up again, we found ourselves al theclose of the 20lh Dynasty and the decline of the New Kingdom,when priests al Thebes ruled along with kings, and Pharaonicpower sputtered, then faded into the west wilh the setting sun.

Bill, I hope the screenplay for Part lll has and started production,so we can all escape inlo an action-packed thriller next yearlntrigue in the Coutt, Parl ll gets this reviewer - one ofthe season's top presentations.

Repoft by Alice Gemmel.

PHARAONIC PHASHIONSPresented by Evan Mitchell and companyESS Meeting, June 16th, 1998

Evan Mitchell began his presentation, Pharaonic Phashions, wilha dizzying review of 1,000 years of European fashion, demon-strating lhe incredible changes in clothing through the ages.Anrient Egyptian fashion, in contrast, remained relativelyunchanged - a by-product of the conservalism of the culture andthe ancient Egyptian tendency to revere lhe past. No matter howmany variations on the theme of ancient Egyptian clothing exist,it 's not hard to identify a particular fashion as "Egyptian."

Academic interest in ancient Egyptian clolhing is a recent phe-nomenon. But the question, "what did they actually wear?" is diff i-cult lo answer. Only a small number of garments has survived,probably "less than three garage sales'worth." This was probablydue to lomb robbery, as fine fabric and clothing were valuable.Also, clolhing was probably recycled until it was unrecognizable,from riches to rags. Funerary clothing, of which a few examplessurvive, were meant as grave goods and are not indicative ofwhatpeople actually wore. Many of our ideas about what the ancientEgyptians wore is deduced from scenes in tomb paintings, but youcan't always believe whal you see in these paintings. Afrer all,these deDictions were idealizations and "wish-lists" for thedeceased. We know that the fashions in lomb paintings don't nec-essarily reflect reality, for example, they never show people inwarm clothing (we know it gets cold in Egypt), nor are side seamsshown. (Afrer all, these people are in Paradise where cold andseams are irrelevant.) And we know that those ankle-length sheathdresses worn by lsis and company would be about as comfortableto wear as sausage casings.

It is possible to conjure up some idea of what those ancienls wore

and Evan, with lhe help of several ESS members, showed us whatsome may have looked like. The ESS audience was lreated to awonderful fashion show of these various styles, from headdressesand kilts to cocoon-like wrap-around dresses, on the improvisedRicketson catwalk.

Garments in ancient Egypt were made primarily from linen. Bothmen and women wore l inen loincloths, but only men wore them onthe outside. Men dressed in kilts of various lengths, somelimeswith shoulder straps. Tunics were also worn, over the kilt or vice-versa. Men's clothing rarely covered the body above the waist,though in later times the bag tunic appeared which covered lheentire body, not unlike a gallabia. Some paintings depict menwearing decorative aprons, including the enigmatic pyramidal one.Did the stiffened apron symbolize the pyramidal shape of the ben-ben or serve as a portable writing desk? Other mysteries ofEgyptian clothing persisl: headcloths are depicted in arl, but havenever been found. Women wore wrap-around dresses with shawlsand sashes. In addition to several styles of wrap-around dresses,women also clothed themselves in straight (sheath or tubular)dresses that reached the ankle. Some went topless.

Royalty and laborer wore lhe same basic lunic or dress style, butthe privileged classes improved on their garments with llne fabricsand ornaments. A garment made from fine diaphanous linen, wornwilh jewelry of gold and precious stones, would have been a defi-nite show-stopper!

No matter whal material or construclion, what style or pattern,there is something undefinably, unmistakably "Egyptian" about theclothing we were shown. As Evan concluded, ancient Egyptiandress styles are "all different, but look the same."

Repoft by Judy Greenfield

EGYPTIAN MATHEMATICS:A SEARCH FOR EARLY MATHEMATICIANSPresented by Jim LowdermilkESS Meeting, July 21st 1998

Mathematics is a term said to be coined by Pythagoras himselfaround 500 B.C.E.. lt means, "that which is learned". My lecture,titled: "Egyptian Mathematics:A Search for Early Mathematicians",given to lhe Egyplian Study Society on July 21, 1998, investigat-ed when certain mathematical concepts were learned.

The Rhind Papyrus and lhe Moscow Papyrus are the only twoexamples of hieroglyphic mathematical writ ings that survive todayThey tell us that lhe Egyptians used unit fractions, fractions withnumerator of one, to perform their division. They used a methodknown as error reckoning lo compute their math. They wouldselecl an answer lhat was close, run the answer through theircomputations, find out how far ofi they were, and add-in a newfraction that would bring them closer to the correct answer

In the Rhind Papyrus the tgyptrans used 3.16 lo approximate Piin the calculation of the volume of a cylindrical granary. Many peo-ple suggest that this was the best approximation to Pi theEgyptians had, but I think it is possible the Egyptians overestimat-ed Pi to increase the amount of tax calculated on grains.

Many people have also suggested many outlandish conclusionsregarding the dimensions of the Great Pyramid. They claam thedimensions incorporate the exact length of the solar year, the cir-cumference of the earth, the distance to the sun, and the period ofprecession. lt is very easy to fudge these calculations using badmathematical techniques since the exterior of the Great Pyramidis rnissing and we do not know lhe exact dimensions of the pyra-mrd.

What we can measure very exactly is lhe angle of the faces of theEgyptian pyramids. Also, in the Rhind Papyrus the author uses theequivalent of what we call the slope in algebra or the tangent intrigonometry, rise over run, to calcJlate lhe angles of pyramids.The measured angles in many pyramids correspond nearly exact-ly to simple rise sver run expressions. For example, the RedPyramid has slope = 2A121, the Nleydum Pyramid has slope =

14/11. andat least f ive I ic ' pyram,Cs have slope = 4/3.The slapeof the GreatPyramid is . i(-:, ihat its hrps havea slopeof 9/10(arc-lan(g.sq!'t(2) / 10) = 51 ' 50' 39"). The slopes of the Great Pyramidand the [,4eydum Pyramid incorporate very good approximationsfor Pi into their pyramids.

A pyramid is a very mathematical entity. Calendais also exhibitvery mathematical situations. lt is said that ihe Egyptians based allthree of their calendars on the Sothic rising. The Sothic risingoccurs 365 days apart most years with another day added nearly

every fourth year, what we call leap year. However, every 39 yearsone has to wait only three years lo add the extra day. Unit fractionsare the perfect means to investigate this phenomenon and if theEgyptians noticed this occurrence, it is possible they devised unatfractions for exactly that purpose. Unit fractions give the length ofthe Sothic year to be 365 + 1/4 + 1/(a39) days, accurate to onesecond.

Previous calculations of the Canicular or Sothic cycle, the lengthof time between Sothic risings occurring on New Year's Day of thewandering Egyptian civil calendar, did not take into account the"39 yeai' cycle. The correct calculation gives a canicular cycle of'1424 yearc [= 365.2564 | (365.2564 - 365)]. The Sothic risingappeared on lhe Egyptian new year in '140 A.D.. Counting backSothic cycles gives 1284 B.C.,2709 8.C., and 4'134 B.C. as pos-sible starting dates for the Egyptian civil calendar. The calendarwas already in use in '1284 B.C. and 2709 8.c., leaving 4134 B.c.as the best candidate.

Assuming that the Egyptians were able to measure the exactlength of the year from the Sothic rising, they would have checkedtheir data against other stars as well. The Decan lists and theRamisside star clocks provide very adequate means to do this.

The Egyptians may have also tried to check this data against thesun and its shadows. The megaliths recently excavated at Nabtaare apt devices to acknowledge when certain shadows lineup.These shadows line up 365 days apart with a 4 year leap cycle.However, this Cycle does not break every 39 years as it does forthe stars. Applying unit fractions to this situation gives an approx-imation of the length of the year as 365 + 114 - 1l(4'32).

The t\,yo approximations to the length of the year differ consider-ably, but both are correct. One is reckoned from the stars and theother is reckoned from lhe sun. lf both are correci then that impliesthat the sun and the stars move differently through the sky. This isan effect of what we call precession and it is observable by coflecting data on the stars and the sun over many years.

Therefore, it is possible for the Egyptians to have calculated theperiod of precession, the length of t ime it takes for the sun and thestars to l ineup again or 25,791 years. The lack of mathematicaltexi surviving today could suggest that lhe Egyptians were notinterested in mathernatics, or it could suggest lhat their mathe-matics was so sacred every lext was closely accounted for andonly two fell out of the hands of the priests. The Egyptians obviousaptitude for mathematics suggests the Iatter.

Note: ln the course of writing this summary, I noticed an enor inmy calculations of the Sothic cycle. The value cited duing the lec-ture was incoftect and has been conected in this summaN.

Repoft by Jim Lowde!milk

T.G.H. JAMES LECTUREAstute readers will have noticed that this issue contains no repofton the lecture given to the ESS on Apil 30th by Dr. T.G.H. James.We hope to include it in th next issue. lf you attended the lectureand would be prepared to contibute a bief repod, please contactany member of the pubhcations commiftee.

Volunteers Wanted!we need people to help with this section of the Ostracon. The pub-lications committee would love io hear from anyone who isinteftested in writing bnefr"eporfs on ESS lectures and other activ-ities. You don't have to commit yourself to covering every singlelecture - once or lwice a year would be tine. lfyou are interested,please contact any member of the publications commiftee.

House ofScrolls

Book Reviews

Rarnses Volume 1: The Son of Lightby Christian JaqWarner Books. New York. 1997

This novel is a recent amport from France, where it is said tohave had phenomenal sales. But it is not really a novel. lt is pre-senled as a novel, but it 's really a screenplay for a motaon pic-ture. At least. that is how it appears to me. A screen play for anaction picture, with lavish sets and litt le l ime for thinking.

Christian Jaq is author of more than fifty books and a radio pro-ducer, with a doctorate in Egyptian studies from the Sorbonne.This book is the first of f lve volumes about Ramses, begun onlytwo years ago. Five books in two years may explain some ofthe nature of the book.

More than that, the book is not particularly impressive. Thechapters are very short, and each one is divided into severalscenes. Assassin falls off cl iff in the deserl. The thirsty trekacross the desert. Attacked by a cobra, in the desert. Knilelight, in the desert. Passionate lovemaking in a hut, in thedesert. There is plenty of action and dialogue, bul l i tt le descrip-tion of place or mood, l i t l le character development, and mostlyonly cartoon-like personalit ies. There is a faithful dog and a petl ion. There is a scheming, greedy, overweight older brother. Butwe learn almost nothing about what the key tigures look l ike.

Ramses is - predictably - a paragon of all manly virtues. Hecharms wild beasts by staring at them. He surpasses masonsat stone\,vork, f ishermen at f ishing, and sailors at sail ing. He isloved by the most beautiful and passionate playgirl of Memphis,but also attracts the solitary and introspective musician whoyearns for the female priesthood. He speaks fluenl Greek. Hisinnocence. luck and heroic oualit ies thwart the evil schemes ofthose against him. A combination of Superman, the Phantom,and Davy Crocket.

I can't resist mentioning one scene near lhe end: Ramses' mar-riage. lt was a small, private affair in the country, for only a fewfriends - including Moses, Homer, and Helen of Troy. No kid-ding. The only things Jaq has left out are shooting the rapids,black magic in a temple at night, and being sealed in a tombwith rescuers brought by the dog. Well, there are four books togo, and Ramses isn't even king yet. The scope for blood, thun-der and passion is only beginning.

The absolutely astonishing thing about this book is that it hassold over one mill ion copies in France. "l thoughl the Frenchwere sophisticated" was Dr. Don Hughes'reactionl

Review by Stuaft Wier

The DMNH LibraryEven lhough it traces its existence to the beginning of theDenver lrruseum of Natural History itself in '1900, the museumlibrary loesn't seem to be as well known.

ln earlier years, each department of the museum supplied itsown needs, ordering all materials necessary for its work. Thelibrary was cared for by museum staff members, and eventual-ly acquired its f lrst professional l ibrarian in 1975.

Museum members have borrowing privileges. The library con-tains over 2,400 items, with an emphasis on anthropology,archaeology, astronomy, geoiogy, museum studies, paleontol-ogy and zoology. lt takes part in inter-l ibrary loans, and makesuse of lhe Carl system, ACLIN, and commercial database pro-ducers to obtain material. lts collections are classified using theLibrary of Congress system. Questions can be answered bytelephone, mai l , or by just walk ing in ' Kathy Gul ly, the l ibrar ian,always provides help and Information.

ESS members wil l f lnd over 285 books and audio tapes on justabout any aspect of Egypt, from mummies and pyramids to tex-ti les and weed flora. lt offers a diverse collection of authors,including lG.H. James, Emily Teeter, John Romer, JamesHenry Breasted and Howard Carter. There are also ARCEJournals, several volumes of the Epigraphic Survey from theUniversity of Chicago Oriental Institute, and a number of chil-dren's books. Audio tapes of almost all of ihe ESS lectures andsymposia are available as well, so if you missed a lecture - orjust want to hear it again - this is the place to go.

Located behind the purple doors on the third floor, northwest,the l ibrary is open l\4onday-Friday from 10:00 am to 4:30 pm,and on Saturday from .1:00 pm to 4:30 pm.

Delores Eckrich, former Keeper of the Scralls

The Electric Papyrus will return in the nextrssue.

areSee Frank Pettee or ca 777-5494

16Denver Nluseum of Natural History, 2001 Colorado Blvd., Denver, CO 80205