London Visits pre lockdown – the A-Z on Tutankhamun’s exhibition … part 9 …

 

The treats on show focused on the significance and meaning of the king’s burial items … a few here in the A-Z format …

 

Calcite vases on show in exhibition

A is for Antiquities … the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities has over recent decades let museums around the world exhibit specific treasures – and this one was to commemorate the centennial of Tutankhamun’s discovery … as well as the construction of his final resting place in 2022 in the brand new Grand Egyptian Museum, Giza within the Cairo metropolis.

 

A is for Ankh – symbol of life – is an ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol, used in writing and art.

 

A is for Akhenaten, Tutankhamun’s father … the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt: family tree here …

 

B is for Boomerang – some found in the tomb would work as returning boomerangs, others were decorative … Tutankhamun, as the teen child he was, loved playing with these …

 

Gilded Bow case

B is for Bows – beautiful gilded wooden compound working bows with glass, calcite inlays, horn and sinew … there were more than 30 of these, along with 47 older style bows and more than 400 arrows in the tomb …

 

C is for Lord Carnarvon (1866 – 1923) of Highclere Castle, who had married an illegitimate daughter of millionaire banker Alfred de Rothschild: his debts were paid off and there was a substantial settlement – he was an enthusiastic amateur Egyptologist and was able to finance many excavations …

 

Carnarvon, his daughter and Howard Carter at tomb

C is for Howard Carter for whom a dream came to pass … the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb and the restoration of his place in Egyptian history.

Howard Carter had originally come to Egypt in 1891 as an artist to copy and paint the colourful scenes in the Middle Kingdom tombs … at this time the “father of modern Egyptology” was Sir William Flinders Petrie – who, once that spark of interest in Egyptology had been lit, guided Carter’s future passion.

 

C is for Calcite … calcite alabaster was the kind primarily used in ancient Egypt …

 

D is for Dynasties – chronology of Ancient Egyptian History: pre-dynastic period ca 4400 – 3100 BC;

Tutankhamun’s dynastic period occurs in the New Kingdom of the 18^th, 19^th, and 20^th dynasties ca 1550 – 1070 BC.

 

E is for Eighteenth Dynasty founded by Ahmose 1 (ca 1549 – 1524 BC) – he came to the throne when he was ten, then reigned for over 25 years.

Ahmose’s Eighteenth Dynasty was one of the strongest to ever rule Egypt.  He reorganised the administration, reopened quarries, mines and trade routes, and began massive construction projects … determined that Egypt would never again fall prey to outsiders.

Egypt’s wealth was secured and added to until Tutankhamen inherited the kingdom where foreign rulers claimed that “gold was like dust” – Egypt was the most powerful and wealthiest empire of the ancient world, when the Egyptian civilisation was at its zenith.

 

Gold, Lapis, and Carnelian bead bracelet
with Amethyst scarab clasp

F is for Faience … widely used for small objects from beads to models found in tomb …  all necessary for the journey into the Afterlife. 

 

F is for Flinders Petrie – the father of modern Egyptology.   ‘A Digger’s Life’ … and the Petrie Museum –see my post Sept 2013.

 

G is for Gold … the illuminating, glinting gold espied by the flashlights - through that first ‘break’ into the tomb … these ranged in size from the enormous shrines of gilded wood that surrounded the sarcophagus, to tiny individual beads.

When Carter and Carnarvon entered the first room (Antechamber) they encountered this life-size figure of the king …

 

This life-size statue -
wooden guardian statue
of the Ka of the King
(found in the Antechamber)

H is for Herwer (Horus the Elder) ... a falcon headed deity found in a wooden box in the form of a shrine in the Treasury.

 

H is for Hieroglyphics - the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt.  A cartouche is an oval with a line at one end at right angles to the oval … indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. 

 

Calcite vase with hieroglyphics
and cartouches

I is for Ivory – ebony and ivory inlays are very Egyptian and used in many of the items found in the tomb, including child-sized furniture … an armchair, a lion-shaped ritual bed, boxes …

 

A child's armchair
found in tomb

J is for Jewellery … all forms of unimaginable items … amethyst, faience, glass, gold leaf, ebony, ivory, cedar, lapis lazuli, carnelian, turquoise, obsidian, green feldspar, electrum (gold and silver alloy – green gold), travertine, resin …

 

Pectoral, Chain, and 
Counterpoise with Lapis
Scarab flanked by Uraei

K is for King and KV – is the standard Egyptological designation of each tomb – KV62 - for the young pharaoh Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

 

L is for Tutankhamun Lying Peacefully undisturbed in his nest of coffins for over 3,000 years … the young golden pharaoh.

 

Howard Carter examining
Tutankhamun's innermost coffin -
it was solid gold, with his gilded
embalmed body within - 

L is for Lotus … the white lotus blossoms open at night, associating it with the moon and the sun.

Around the cups run the hieroglyphic signs proclaim a well wish for the king’s ka (his life force, which persisted after death).

 

Ay performing the Opening
of the Mouth Ceremony
for Tutankhamun

M is for the Opening of the Mouth Ceremony … an essential for the Mummy so it could breathe and speak in the afterlife … the Book of the Dead contains a spell for this process … more information can be found here

 

M is for Maat – the ancient Egyptian concepts of truth, balance, order, harmony, law, morality and justice.  Maat was the goddess who personified these concepts, and regulated the stars, seasons, and the actions of mortals and the deities who had brought order from chaos at the moment of creation.

 

N is for the River Nile – where cultures rose and flourished, until one king ruled the entire Nile valley from the first cataract at Aswan to the Mediterranean … the first pharaoh had emerged.

      

N is for the Netherworld … the Afterlife … the realm of the dead in ancient Egyptian mythology. 

 

Nefertiti

Nefertiti – ruled after her husband’s death before her step-son, Tutankhamun inherited on her death.

 

O is for Oils – perfumed oils essential for rituals were highly valued … as they were pressed from plants or steeped in liquids and fats for prolonged periods … the art of distillation was not known.

 

Tutankhamun's Perfume Oil
jar - symbolising the Unions
of Upper and Lower -
made of alabaster (calcite)

O is for Ostriches … hunted by Tutankhamun in his chariot; they were an important bird - for their feathers and eggs were prized as luxury items.  It was a royal sport that allowed the king to demonstrate his control over nature.  The Egyptian pharaohs were also known to hunt hippopotamus in the Nile.

Gilded Wooden "Ostrich Hunt" Fan

 

P is for Pharaoh – the common title now used for the monarchs of ancient Egypt from the First Dynasty (c 3150 BC) until the annexation of Egypt by the Roman Empire in 30 BCE.

 

P is for Pschent – the double crown worn by rulers in ancient Egypt – representing the pharaoh’s power over all of unified Egypt.

 

It combined the White
Hedjet Crown of Upper
Egypt and the Red
Deshret Crown
of Lower Egypt

Q is for Queen Ankhesenamun (ca 1348 – after 1322 BC), who was the daughter of Pharaoh Akhenaten and his Great Royal Wife Nefertiti, and who became the Great Royal Wife of her half-brother Tutankhamun.

 

R is for Rituals – through a series of rituals performed in the temple of Amun at Karnak, the young prince was transformed into the king of Egypt, the living Horus, representative of the gods on earth.

The forces behind the decisions regarding the young king were the adults in the royal court.

 

R is for Religious calendar … this kept the court on the move throughout the country … as well as royal duties, the young king and his wife would have had time to boat, play board games, drive chariots, hunt … he did not allow his deformed foot, nor his scoliosis, to interfere with his pleasures.

 

Miniature Board Games box

R is for the foremost Responsibility of an Egyptian king – that of maintaining ‘maat’ – see ‘M’ above.

 

S is for Spells to help with the transition on death through the underworld … Afterlife Texts as they are tended to be known … or Ancient Egyptian funerary texts …

 

T is for Tutankhamun’s Tomb and Treasures – it’s been fascinating to learn about the tomb, its rooms and treasures …

 

U is for Unbelievable exhibition exquisitely put together … displaying on the walls a fantastic show of art found in the tombs, projecting relevant notations for us …

  

V is for Valley of the Kings … where for nearly 500 years from the 16^th to 11^th century BC, rock –cut tombs were excavated for the pharaohs and powerful nobles of the New Kingdom (Eighteenth – Twentieth Dynasties of Ancient Egypt).  The valley contains at least 63 tombs …

 

W is for the “Wondrous Things”: that Carter and Carnarvon saw illuminated through the hole they had bored to see into the tomb.

 

Gilded Wooden and Ivory
Pen Case in the form of a
column inlaid with glass

W is for items related to Writing that were found in the tomb.  The gilded wooden and ivory pen case, inlaid with glass, would have stored reed pens. 

Being able to write, and read, ensured the deceased access to the magical tests required to travel safely in the netherworld.

 

X is for x facts: 5,366 objects excavated, recorded, conserved and transported.

These exquisite precious items, imported woods, linen, leather, petals, leaves, and ore … all crammed into the entrance passageway and the four chambers known as the Antechamber, Burial Chamber, Treasure, and Annex. 

 

Y is for years – five of them when Carter searched for the tomb, ‘unravelling’ the rubble over the site – every item found was photographed in situ and recorded; a further three years was spent similarly photographing, recording every item from each part of the tomb. 

 

Tutankhamun ready for hunting -
see boomerangs in background
(from LA exhibition 2019)

Y is for being so young – he needed the assistance of experienced courtiers, many of whom had served his father and even his grandfather – to rule for his short tenure.

He was buried with a solid gold coffin, face mask, thrones, archery bows, trumpets, a lotus chalice, two Imuit fetishes, gold toe stalls, furniture, food, wine, sandals, and fresh linen underwear ... and more ... 

 

Z is for Zahi Hawass – who is the world’s foremost Egyptologist.  He has been and continues to be instrumental in all things about Tutankhamun and his family … including this spectacular exhibition that I saw in early 2020:

The Golden Mask - did not travel
out of Egypt for this exhibition

Saatchi Gallery's exhibition site in London early 2020 - there are some beautiful photos here (unfortunately no longer available) ... worth having a look at - the 'Wooden Guardian statue of the KA of the King'; the Gilded Wooden "Ostrich Hunt" Fan; photos of the tomb as it appeared at various stages; treasures, and faience ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

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