Menhedj
This Month
Molly Limmer
“Where the Heck is It?” Puzzle
Cyberscribe
Schedule of Events
The Journal of the North Texas Chapter
of the American Research Center in Egypt
Volume Four Issue Number Six: August 2016
North Texas Chapter
of the American Research Center in Egypt
Located in Dallas, Texas
Officers and Directors
President/Director
Rick Moran
[email protected]
Vice President
Clair Ossian
[email protected]
Secretary/Director
Myra Whitlock
[email protected]
Treasurer/Director
Hiram Patterson
[email protected]
Director
In This Issue
Where the Heck Is This Place?
By Clair Ossian
President’s Message
Susan Patterson
[email protected]
Page 4
CyberScribe
By Clair Ossian
Page 5
Upcoming Events
Page 19
This Month
August 20
Judy Ford
[email protected]
Director
Page 3
Molly Limmer
“Going, going, gone. Bidding on Egyptian Art at
Auction and other tales from the market.”
Committee Chairs
We are looking for a new Crook & Flail chairperson.
Crook & Flail
Historian
Please contact Rick Moran if you are interested.
Norma Comer
[email protected]
Programs
Refreshments
Jennifer Danford
[email protected]
Web Master
Garett Jaeckel
[email protected]
Publicity
Copyright Notice
The contents of this publication are copyrighted by their
authors and the North Texas Chapter of the American
Research Center in Egypt, Inc. unless otherwise indicated.
All rights reserved. Content may not be reproduced,
downloaded, disseminated, published or transferred in any
form or by any means except with prior written permission of
NT-ARCE. Members of NT-ARCE may download pages or
content for their own use, consistent with the mission and
purpose of NT-ARCE.
Menhedj: The Journal of NT-ARCE, Inc. Copyright 2016
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Where The Heck is it? August 2016
Most people are not aware that Garland, Texas was once the cultural capital of this fair State.
Adorned with so many galleries and museums, the city frequently had serious traffic problems.
The CyberScribe loved to spend time in the Egyptian galleries of the Cultural History Museum,
and many times he was admonished for leaving nose prints on the glass cases.
If your memories are different,
1. Where do you think this photo was taken?
1. What do you know about the long scene on the back wall?
Bring your answers to the AUGUST meeting and if you have the right information, you might
win prizes!
Last Month’s Answer
Cornelius and Isabela von Wolfenstein, heirs to the world’s largest digital ‘Spork’ fortune,
traveled the world extensively. Cash rich, but a little dim mentally, they seldom precisely
remembered where they had been. This photo, for example caused endless bickering. They both
recalled that it had been in the Middle East, but where? Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Syria, Iran,
Turkey? Perhaps you can assist them?
1. Which of the above six ancient cultures was the correct choice? Iran
2. What ancient city do these structures grace?
Persopolis
3. What were the purpose of these odd arches and their cavetto cornices?
Palace of Darius I, The Tachara.
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Message from the President
As you know we have elections coming up in November, The election
process starts in August. The number of people working to run the chapter
business has declined dramtically. It is critical that we have new people
helping out.
The is a Board meeting scheduled on August 16 at 7:30pm at my home
in Carrollton. I encourage all members to attend. We need to find new
people to do the work or the chapter will fail. None of us want that. Please
come to the meeting if you can.
We are all in this together. Together we can make the chapter work.
By Dr. Clair Ossian
CyberScribe No. 228, August 2016
Children forced to work in dangerous conditions to
pillage historical sites have died. Antiquities
guards were gunned down within an ancient tomb
they were trying to protect. Mummies have been
left out in the sun to rot after their tombs were
robbed. And looting pits have pockmarked ancient
sites in such vast numbers that words cannot
adequately describe.
Before tearing into this month’s portions of Egyptian
news, the CyberScribe thought he’d make notice for
those of you who might be interested…this issue,
number 228…marks nineteen years of the
CyberScribe Columns! Not bad for a little piece we
thought might last a year, if we were lucky. Hurrah
for me, says the CyberScribe, he raises a glass of
tawny fluid to his lips. Shall we try for twenty
years? Sure. Why not?
“Blood & Gold: Children Dying As
Egypt's Treasures Are Looted” Wow! What
a headline! Filled with alarm, pathos, horror…and
rubbish! It is to journalism what the terrible line “It
was a dark and stormy night…” is to writers of
novels. Owen Jarus, contributor to the periodical
“Live Science” surely knows better. Not only that,
he salts the article with a terribly misleading
implication.
Before continuing, please understand that the
CyberScribe agrees completely that the theme and
import of the article are compelling and important.
Read on in this abbreviated version, and the
CyberScribe will point out what he feels is a nasty
trick played on Jarus’ readers.
‘Since the 2011 Egyptian revolution, political
instability, and a tourism decline have led to
widespread looting of archaeological sites — with
deadly consequences.
Two kids take a break at a heavily looted ancient
cemetery at Abusir el-Malek, located south of
Cairo.Credit: Photo courtesy of Egypt Heritage
Taskforce
‘A Live Science investigation found that not
only were these horrific events happening but
that an enormous amount of potentially looted
Egyptian artifacts had made their way into the
United States. These artifacts include a vast
number of gold coins.
‘Documents obtained from the US Census
Bureau by Live Science reveal that since 2011,
more than $143 million worth of artifacts have
been exported from Egypt to the United States.
The documents also show that the vast majority of
the artifacts were shipped to New York City,
where many auction houses, antiquities dealers,
and art galleries are based. However, detecting a
shipment of looted artifacts and proving that they
were looted is very difficult, researchers and
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government officials told Live Science.
‘The influx of Egyptian artifacts into the
United States shows no signs of abating. In the
first five months of 2016, about $26 million
worth of artifacts were exported from Egypt to
the United States, the Census Bureau
documents say.
‘Photos show children working at Abusir elMalek, a village south of Cairo that holds an
ancient cemetery with thousands of burials. In
the photos, the children can be seen carrying
artifacts and rummaging around in pits and
shafts. The photographs show how narrow and
deep the holes get, creating dangerous working
conditions that have led to the deaths of
children, researchers have found. The photos
show that the landscape the children work in is
scarred by these pits and is strewn with the
bones of ancient mummies.
‘In fact, more than 25 children, employed by
professional antiquities gangs, died last year in shafts in
Abusir el-Malek, Hanna told Live Science.
‘Little money from the sale of artifacts goes to the
children's families, Hanna said. Instead, most of it ends
up in the pockets of antiquities dealers and middlemen,
who smuggle it out of Egypt and into other countries,
such as the United States. "Many of them [the
middlemen] are part of the international mafia that
smuggles drugs and arms in the region," Hanna said.
‘Hanna said buyers of Egyptian antiquities should
know that "the object you buy does not only have a
child's blood on it but also [that] looting activities have
completely destroyed the site similarly to what ISIS
does to other archaeological sites in the region."
‘Children working in the shafts are not the only ones
being killed in the looting. Two guards were gunned
down by a group of robbers on Feb. 20, 2016, while
inside a 4,000-year-old tomb at the site of Dayr alBarsha, according to a team of archaeologists working
at the site. Both guards left behind families, including a
wife pregnant with twins.
‘"Over 20 bullet holes impacted in the relief decoration
on the walls of the exterior room and two large
blackened blood stains on the floor indicate the spots
[in the tomb] where Asrawy and Mustafa were
murdered," the archaeological team wrote in a
statement on the web page.
A close-up of a mummy's head at the Bahariya Oasis.
Credit: Photo courtesy of Egypt Heritage Taskforce
‘"Children have been used primarily to reach
small burial shafts and tunnels. Unfortunately,
many children have lost their lives in the
process," wrote Monica Hanna, an Egyptologist
working with Egypt's Heritage Task Force, in a
paper she published in the book "Countering
Illicit Traffic in Cultural Goods" (ICOM, 2015).
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The landscape at Abusir el-Malek, south of Cairo, is littered with
ancient human bones from looted burials. Credit: Photo courtesy of
Egypt Heritage Taskforce
‘"It is extremely difficult to prove that any single
artifact that arrives in the U.S. has been looted,"
said Erin Thompson, a professor of art crime at the
City University of New York. "Middlemen are
experts in making looted and smuggled antiquities
look like they are part of the legitimate market by
cleaning and restoring them and creating forged
paperwork that makes it seem like Egypt gave
permission for its export."
‘"Suddenly, an artifact that was ripped out of the
ground last month is indistinguishable from one
that's been in a private collection for decades, and
which is entirely legal to export and sell,"
Thompson added.
‘Furthermore, U.S. Customs doesn't check all
shipments; a spokesperson for U.S. Customs and
Border Protection told Live Science that the agency
conducts audits of antique shipments but declined
to say how often this is done. The spokesperson
also said that it is the responsibility of the person
importing the shipment to declare the shipment's
value. This means that the $143 million is simply
the value of the imported Egyptian artifacts being
declared by importers; the actual resale value could
be higher.’
The CyberScribe joins everyone in deploring the
trade in stolen antiquities, but he also deplores poor
journalism. Let’s go back and look at the picture on
the next page:
According to the text in the article, the photo is
documenting that “…the photos show that the
landscape the children work in is scarred by these
pits and is strewn with the bones of ancient
mummies…” The only problem with this
inflammatory statement and the photo that
accompanies it, is that the picture above shows a
strew of DOG bones, not human bones. Are there
places where human bones might be found like
this? Perhaps, but the way this article was written
is just plain poor journalism!
Let’s ignore the poor craftsmanship of the writer,
and leave disgusted with the facts of his theme. If
even one child died in the looting, it was far too
many!
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Let’s shift to something a great deal more cheerful, a
new exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art…
a look at the Ptolemaic and later Egypt! Marsha Hill,
a Curator in the Department of Egyptian Art,
produced a detailed description of the new displays
(http://tinyurl.com/z757nno) which the CyberScribe
presents here (in an abbreviated format). Read on:
Plaque, female face. Ptolemaic Period–Roman Period (100 B.C.–
100 A.D.). Glass; H. 3.1 x W. 2.6 cm (1 1/4 x 1 in.). The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Edward S.
Harkness Gift, 1926 (26.7.1203)
Head Attributed to Arsinoe II. Ptolemaic Period, the reign of Ptolemy
II and Arsinoe II (278–270 B.C.). Memphite Region, Abu Rawash,
IFAO excavations 1922–1923. Limestone (Indurated); H. 12 cm (4
3/4 in.); W. 9 cm (3 9/16 in.); D. 9 cm (3 9/16 in.). The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, 1938
(38.10)
‘The Ptolemaic Period began in 332 B.C. when
the Macedonian Greek Alexander the Great
conquered Egypt, which at that point was ruled
by the Achaemenid Persians. With the deaths of
Alexander and his immediate heirs, the rule of
Egypt passed to his general Ptolemy and
Ptolemy's descendants. The death of Cleopatra
VII and the Roman takeover in 30 B.C. marked
the end of the Ptolemaic Period.
‘The Ptolemies acted as Egyptian pharaohs,
attending to temple building and the traditional
Egyptian cults, including animal cults and
priesthoods. Age-old Egyptian temples continued
to form the centers of towns, and the view of the
grand temples and public practices connected to
them continued to dominate most lives. But the
Ptolemies were also very much Hellenistic kings
inhabiting the new, heavily Greek city of
Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast and
celebrating Hellenistic ruler cults alongside
divine ones in Egyptian temples. The two
different cultural styles interacted to relay values
that varied by region, circumstance, purpose, and
individual.
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‘In the new galleries, we wanted to display the
objects in a way that would convey the texture of the
period, so two vantage points anchor the display.
One focuses on temples, grand constructions that
stood physically at the centers of Egyptian towns.
The temples act as markers of the larger population,
who filled towns or toiled on the river and farms and
thus acquired little wealth and left little trace of
existence.
Left: Statue of a goddess, probably Nehemetaui or Nebethetepet.
Late Period–Ptolemaic Period, Dynasty 27–30 (550–300 B.C.).
Cupreous metal; H. 17.8 x W. 4.3 x D. 10 cm (7 x 1 11/16 x 3
15/16 in.); H. (with tang): 20 cm (7 7/8 in.). The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Edward S. Harkness Gift,
1926 (26.7.845). Right: Sacred animal mummy containing dog
bones. Late Period–Roman Period (ca. 400 B.C.–100 A.D.).
Western Desert; Kharga Oasis, el-Deir, Roman Cemetery. Dyed
and undyed linen, animal remains, mummification materials; H.
28 cm (11 in.); W. 6.5 cm (2 9/16 in.); D. 10 cm (3 15/16 in.).
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1913
(13.182.50)
‘Featured among the other temple accouterments
is a set of glass and bronze elements belonging to
a small ancient shrine, perhaps a processional
shrine. Cult equipment such as statues and shrines
were buried together in temple courts after long
use, and objects that had wood as a major
component, like small shrines, would decay into a
bewildering mass of small fragments.
A display in the galleries that features Osiris with faience
polychrome tiles from a chapel
‘The object display devoted to temples is dominated by a set of
faience polychrome tiles arranged as they originally would have
been around the doorway of a chapel: with a large Osiris statue
at the center and silver and gold vessels and jewelry offerings
beneath. Small statuary of gods from Thoth and the rarer
Nehemetaui to Isis and the child Horus are nearby, as are
elaborately wrapped animal mummies.
‘Conservator Ann Heywood carefully examined
the column drums in the set and was able to
determine that they had laid still on a rod in the
ground and could establish their stacking order,
which we replicate in the display. The bronze
fittings clearly had been caps on the ends of
wooden beams, traces of which remained in their
interiors. In examining them closely, Ann also
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found fiber pseudomorphs, or corrosion taking the
form of fibers that have decayed away, on
The fiber pseudomorphs Conservator Ann Heywood
found on the bronze fittings
according to politico-religious goals. And the
immensely important Ptolemaic queens, who
represented the dynasty's continuity of rightful
inheritance from Alexander, appear in statuary
and in portraits on fragments of the sky-blue
faience wine jugs that were connected to their
cults.
Period (380–30 B.C.). Glass, cupreous metal; various
measurements for group; H. (each drum) 4.1 cm (1 5/8 in.). The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1921
(21.2.2-related)
their exteriors in a crisscross pattern indicating rope
lashings. We know that bronze gods and temple
equipment may have been in use for hundreds of
years, so it is likely that these elements were
originally part of a shrine constructed of bronze and
wood, gilded and inlaid with glass figural elements,
that became loose at the joints over years of use and
had to be lashed tight again.
‘The second vantage point focuses on the art
produced for and representing individuals of the
period, from royalty to the official and priest
classes. Kings were depicted in Egyptian style,
Greek style, and mixed style,
Left: King's head with Egyptian headdress but Greek hair and
features. Ptolemaic Period (2nd century B.C. or early 1st century
B.C.). Gabbro; H. 6.6 cm (2 5/8 in.); W. 7 cm (2 3/4 in.); D. 5.3
cm (2 1/6 in.). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
Purchase, Gift of Henry Walters, by exchange, 2008 (2008.454).
Right: Head, Ptolemy III (?). Ptolemaic Period, reign of Ptolemy
III Euergetes I (246–222 B.C.). Faience; H. 4.4 cm (1 3/4 in.); W.
3 cm (1 3/16 in.); D. 2 cm (13/16 in.). The Metropolitan Museum
of Art, New York, Gift of Peter Sharrer, 1981 (1981.450)
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‘The Museum's wonderful collection of relief
plaques and busts are also highlighted. Their use
and users are unclear, but the objects themselves
appear to be intended to underscore the "pillars" of
Egyptian tradition, depicting deified forms of
kingship and select popular gods and seemingly
fetishizing temple elements and hieroglyphs.
Statuary and reliefs belong to functionaries from
Karnak Temple at Thebes and from Hermopolis,
two flourishing sites in Upper Egypt.
Left: Royal bust with atypical snake. Late Period–Ptolemaic
Period, Dynasty 30 (400–200 B.C.). Alabaster (gypsum); H.
12 cm (4 3/4 in.); W. 10 cm (3 15/16 in.); D. 4.3 cm (1 11/16
in.). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of
Mrs. William H. Moore, 1947 (47.13.2). Right: Model of a
temple door bolt with recumbent lion. Late Period–Ptolemaic
Period (400–30 B.C.). Limestone; L. 16.4 cm (6 7/16 in.); W.
5.3 cm (2 1/16 in.); H. 7 cm (2 3/4 in.). The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York, Bequest of W. Gedney Beatty,
1941 (41.160.103)
‘Many small artworks that range from
adornments for domestic interiors to funerary
accouterments are arranged together, revealing
the stylistic spectrum of the period. It is clear
that small arts and domestic items more
frequently exhibit Hellenistic styles than do
items intended for temple or funerary use, at
least outside Alexandria.
‘This section also houses finds from The Met's
excavations at Thebes in the 1910s in an area of
Ptolemaic brick-vaulted tombs—including a
huge, beautiful storage jar that stood in the little
courtyard of one of the tombs and probably held
grain for the deceased, and a bowl in which
conservators and scientists discovered remains
of the broth that once had filled it. Also found in
the area of tombs was a cache of hundreds of
coins in a jar, probably buried at a time of
uprisings against the Ptolemies in faraway
Alexandria but never retrieved.
Large storage jar with floral decoration. Ptolemaic Period (late
3rd–2nd century B.C.). Asasif, Birabi, grave 36, MMA
excavations, 1912–13. Pottery, paint; H. 62 cm (24 7/16 in.); Diam.
48 cm (18 7/8 in.). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
Rogers Fund and Edward S. Harkness Gift, 1913 (13.180.34a)
‘Refreshed displays and labeling of two important
sets of funerary provisions bring two ancient
Egyptians into focus. Curator Janice Kamrin
studied the papyri of a priest of Horus named
Imhotep, whose Book of the Dead extends over
more than 70 feet, and Curator Isabel Stünkel
focused on Nesmin, who was a priest for the god
Min in Akhmim and whose mummy has been
studied using computed tomography. The last case
at the south end of the gallery is a visible study
collection organized in broad categories, a tradition
in our department that allows us to place many
more objects on view. Though the labels are brief,
visitors can use the accession numbers provided to
search the online collection for more information.’
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Just for a bit, let’s jump way forward in time.
Waaaaaaaaay forward to the year 1798 when
Admiral Lord Nelson’s fleet clashed with the great
French fleet in Abukir Bay, off the coast of Egypt.
We should all know the general story. Nelson trashed
the French…destroyed nearly all of their fleet…by
cheating and not playing fair. He didn’t sail out in
front where the French ships could shoot at him, but
instead, sailed behind them in water too shallow for
the French fleet…and blasted them!
And it wasn’t all fun and games, of course…a bunch
of the British…and a great many of the French died.
The British took their dead ashore onto what became
known as ‘Nelson’s Island,” and buried them in the
dunes. Poor dead sailing men…or sort of. Some of
the dead British were women! How so? Well, the
article below tells why and how the British naval
vessels happened to have quite a few women
aboard…some legally and some…well…not so legal.
How in the world did all this come to pass? Well, the
article below (http://tinyurl.com/zer86oz) tells what
has been found as the old graves are being excavated
and studied.
‘“Most people think that Nelson's ships were all
male. They weren’t. They had women and children
onboard,” Dr. Nick Slope, who excavated the graves
and is also the vice-chairman of the Nelson Society,
told Haaretz.
Excavation of graves found on "Nelson's Island" in Egypt has
uncovered 40 bodies – not only of British Navy officers, soldiers
and sailors, but of women too, who sailed and fought with the
British navy during The Battle of the Nile against the French in
1798.
‘This episode was a naval battle, fought on the 1st
and 2nd of August, 1798, in Aboukir Bay, an
inlet of the Mediterranean off Egypt. The British
fleet, led by Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson,
crushed the French, led by Vice-Admiral
François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers. And that was
that. But casualties were suffered, and now some
of them have been found.
‘Aboukir Island is all of 350 meters long. Just 20
kilometers east of Alexandria, the island may be
tiny, but it boasts a rich history. The island itself
was a major commercial and religious center in
Pharaonic Egypt, being right on a primary
commercial route leading to the Nile River. Also,
Aboukir Bay (today) contains the submerged
remains of the ancient city of Canopus.
‘It was while excavating Hellenistic and Pharaonic
structures on Aboukir Island, a.k.a. Nelson's Island,
that the archaeologists stumbled upon relatively
modern burials. Some corpses were found with
musket balls, gun-flint, and military buttons. “It was
immediately clear that these bodies had something to
do with the Battle of the Nile,” Slope told Haaretz.
Vice Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson, by Lemuel Francis
AbbottWikimedia Commons
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‘In antiquity, Aboukir Island was considerably
larger, but erosion and heavy quarrying of
sandstone during earlier periods reduced its size.
In antiquity, the island's outcrop was probably
connected to the mainland, like the tip of a hook
stretching from the modern-day naval base of
Aboukir.
‘In 1801, the British launched a full-scale invasion
of the Egyptian mainland, aiming to drive out the
French. On March 8, an invasion force of 12,000
British reserve troops was ferried to the beaches of
Aboukir Bay.
‘Aboukir also housed a necropolis for the rich
during Pharaonic times, excavation has shown.
Egypt was taken over by Ptolemy, whose forces
occupied and fortified Aboukir Island.
‘Furious bombardments from both sides ensued,
erupting in in a havoc of screaming sailors,
gunpowder and flying wood splinters from the
stricken ships.
In the fog of war, a musket ball struck Nelson on
the forehead, tearing a flap of skin, which fell
over his one good eye, rendering him
temporarily blind. When the fog from the
cannons had dispersed, Nelson and his men
turned out to have destroyed most of the French
fleet. After the battle, the Island was renamed
“Nelson's Island”, a name modern Egypt has
kept.
Aboukir Bay in Egypt: Screenshot of a photo by
NASA.NASA World Wind (v1.4)
The Destruction of "L'Orient" at the Battle of the Nile, 1 August
1798, George Arnald (1763 – 1841)Royal Museums Greenwich
‘Most of the dead from the battles were buried at
sea. Those who survived until their wounds or
disease could kill them were buried on the island.
The Royal Navy recorded deaths in the ships'
logs. Quite often the expression “visited by God”
was used for the deceased, meaning they died
from disease or accident, not war injury. Some of
the dead were buried in wooden coffins. Others
were just wrapped in hammocks.
‘“In that period the soldiers use to have long hair
and they would tie it in a pony tail. But the French
use to have side bits of hair hanging down and
they would tie a musket ball in it to keep it
straight,” said Slope and added, “English soldiers
were normally not buried in uniform since
everything was recycled. So these must have been
French soldiers.”
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Excavating a burial of Nelson's soldiers on Aboukir
Island, also known as Nelson's Island, in the
Mediterranean off the Egyptian coast, near
Alexandria. The Nelsons Island Excavation
‘The woman’s coffin lid was marked with the letter
"G" made of metal. She could well have been a
warrior, judging by the memoirs of John Nicoles, a
sailor under Nelson during the Battle of the Nile. He
tells how several women served the guns during the
battle, passing gunpowder up from the magazine to
the gunners. A woman from Leth, Scotland was
injured during the battle and buried on the island.
‘“There is only one island in the bay, and guess on
what ship she served? HMS Goliath,” Dr. Slope
said, but noted that it is impossible to know which
of the female bodies found there was hers. But that
tell-tale G on the woman's coffin could stand for
"Goliath". Or Guards. The Navy's logbooks note a
Mrs. Lambe of the 3rd Guards regiment and Sarah
Weber of the Coldstream Guards.
‘It has long been believed that women were rarely,
if ever, allowed on board warships. Admiralty
regulations strictly forbade women to be taken to
sea so “that the ship may not be pestered with
them”. Whatever the rulebook said, it is clear from
the archeological and historical record that women
did travel with the Royal Navy. Usually, they were
the wives of the warrant officers who were allowed
to take their wives and children to sea.
Aboukir Island, a.k.a. Nelson's Island, view from
the south.
‘The presence of women onboard was largely
hidden in official records, as they were not paid or
fed by the British Navy, and therefore were not
entered into the ships' logbooks.
‘Also, as there were no passenger ships at the
time, the Royal Navy also routinely took civilians
aboard, some of whom were women. Other
sneaked onboard disguised as men.
‘All in all, for every 100 men, there were three
women on board ships at the time, which meant
that there were at least 360 women in the 18th
century Navy. These women played important
roles, including those of providing medical
treatment and handling ammunition.
‘Life on board Royal Navy ships in the 18th
century was no picnic. It has been painted in
miserable terms of sailors living on a floating
concentration camp, starved, coerced and subject
to brutal arbitrary and discipline by sadistic
captains. The 18th century writer Samuel Johnson
observed, “Being on a ship is being in jail."
‘However, in the 18th century, the Royal Navy
won all its great battles at sea. On the face of it, it
seems unlikely that sailors living under dire
straits, beaten and oppressed by bad officers,
could deliver the crushing victories achieved at
the Battle of the Nile and in 1805, at Trafalgar.’
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As a result of the world wide efforts to save the
antiquities and sites above the newly built
Aswan Dam, several of the smaller temples
were given to nations whose help had been
especially important. The US got the Temple
of Dender, which stands in the Metropolitan
Museum, and another, the temple of Debod
went to Madrid, Spain. The temple with it’s
two ancient gates have been placed in a
beautiful setting, but now we see that not all is
well there. The temples are showing that the
more harsh climate of Spain is damaging the
stonework.
UNESCO is the safekeeper of these
monuments, and they have demanded action to
protect them from vandals, weather, and
general degradation. The article below (The
Atlantic CityLab, http://tinyurl.com/glzuhfm)
tells why this action is needed, and what is
being done.
Juan Medina/Reuters Pictures
‘Coming across the Temple of Debod while
walking Madrid’s busy streets feels as
incongruous as discovering Old London Bridge
in the middle of the Arizona desert. A morethan-2,200-year-old Egyptian temple originally
constructed near Aswan, it was given to Spain
by Egypt as thanks for help preserving
monuments threatened by the Aswan Dam.
Since 1972, the temple has stood re-erected on
the edge of a Madrid park, beautiful, ethereal and
pleasantly discombobulating for passers-by.
‘But what’s been good for Madrileños has
arguably been terrible for the temple itself. It is
now beleaguered by pollution and vandalism and
needs intervention fast. The thousands of years of
storms, upheaval, and neglect the temple suffered
were nothing, it seems, compared to a few
decades hanging out in a western European park.
‘It is humans that pose the greatest threat to the
place. The Temple of Debod’s stones have been
ground down by visitors’ hands and feet. By
carving their names into it, hundreds of people
have left posterity a permanent memento of their
own boorish self-absorption. Meanwhile, the
pollution-derived acidity of Madrid’s air (possibly
made worse by the temple’s location next to a
busy road) is eroding the soft sandstone walls,
damaging its mural hieroglyphs. Cracks in these
walls have been patched for protection, but in a
way that looks a little roughshod and obvious. It’s
yet worse in the temple interior, whose oven-like
summer temperature makes it too hot to carry out
restoration work.
‘Faced with this decay, UNESCO is
understandably getting a little antsy. They want
the entire temple capped with a giant glass
bubble, to slow down further decay. Encasing the
temple in glass, they argue persuasively, could
help to control access to the site, permit the
filtering of air and allow temperature control. It
could arguably also do so without radically
altering the temple’s appearance, though as some
past examples show, protecting historical
constructions with a glass bubble can turn out to
be very intrusive indeed.
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‘The good news for UNESCO is that Madrid Mayor
Manuela Carmena has agreed their demand. The
Temple will be encased in glass, though not next
year, apparently, but instead in the “medium term.”
Meanwhile, the interiors will get some measure of
air conditioning and some clear plastic coverings to
protect the most directly exposed stones. Starting
November 1, there will also be guards at the temple
around the clock.
‘The Great Pyramid of Giza was built in honor of
the pharaoh Khufu (reign ca. 2551 B.C.-2528 B.C.)
and is the largest of the three pyramids constructed
on the Giza plateau in Egypt. Considered a "wonder
of the world" by ancient writers, the Great Pyramid
was 481 feet (146 meters) tall when it was first
constructed. Today it stands 455 feet (138 meters)
high.
‘The idea of leaving a structure like this so open and
accessible seems to hark back to a more naïve,
innocent era. It’s an era that nonetheless has to end
if the temple is to survive in decent condition.
‘Come back in a few years and the Temple, now
nestling beneath a giant cloche, will probably look
like an outsized snow globe, left pristine and
unshaken.’
Many of us will remember when Kathryn Bard
found those strange caves on the Red Sea. Others
have now worked that, finding more, even a harbor
and an anchor factory! When clearing one of the
caves, a mass of crushed papyrus was found
between two door stones. The papyrus has proven
to be a monumental discovery…the oldest papyrus
with written text, and the log book of one of the
supervisors on the construction teams building the
great pyramid of Khufu!
The papyrus is still being translated, in part, but
enough has emerged to tell a wonderful take. The
article below is but one of a dozen that have
appeared, but they all tell just a part of the story.
This one seems to do the best (Live Science, http://
tinyurl.com/h3lren2). There are new parts of the
story appearing every few days.
‘A logbook that contains records detailing the
construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza has been
put on public display at the Egyptian Museum in
Cairo.
Here, one of the papyri in the ancient logbook, which documented
the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza.Credit: Egyptian
Ministry of Antiquities
‘The logbook was written in hieroglyphic letters on
pieces of papyri. Its author was an inspector named
Merer, who was "in charge of a team of about 200
men," archaeologists Pierre Tallet and Gregory
Marouard wrote in an article published in 2014 in
the journal Near Eastern Archaeology. [In Photos:
Inside Egypt's Great Pyramids]
‘Tallet and Marouard are leaders of an
archaeological team from France and Egypt that
discovered the logbook at the Red Sea harbor of
Wadi al-Jarfin 2013. It dates back about 4,500
years, making it the oldest papyrus document ever
discovered in Egypt.
‘"Over a period of several months, [the logbook]
reports — in [the] form of a timetable with two
columns per day — many operations related to the
construction of the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza
and the work at the limestone quarries on the
opposite bank of the Nile," Tallet and Marouard
wrote.
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‘Merer recorded the logs in the 27th year of
Khufu's reign. His records say that the Great
Pyramid was near completion, with much of the
remaining work focusing on the construction of
the limestone casing that covered the outside of
the pyramid, Tallet and Marouard wrote.
‘The limestone used in this casing, according to
the logbook, was quarried at Tura near modernday Cairo and was brought to the pyramid site
by boat along the Nile River and a system of
canals. One boat trip between Tura and the
pyramid site took four days to complete, the
logbook notes.
‘The logbook also says that in Khufu's 27th
year, the construction of the Great Pyramid was
being overseen by the vizier Ankhaf (also
spelled Ankhhaf), the half- brother of Khufu.
(A vizier was a high official in ancient Egypt
who served the king.) The papyri also reveal
that one of the titles Ankhaf held was "chief for
all the works of the king," Tallet and Marouard
wrote in the journal article.
‘Though the logbook said Ankhaf was in
charge during the pharaoh's 27th year, many
scholars believe it's possible that another
person, possibly the vizier Hemiunu, was in
charge of pyramid building during the earlier
part of Khufu's reign.’
thing that has confounded experts is where a
covered passageway leading to the Great Pyramid
referenced by the Greek historian Herodotus could
possibly be. They need not wonder any longer, as a
guy found it under his house. The man was
illegally digging on his property in a village near
Giza when he came upon a tunnel made of large
stone pieces. Archaeologists soon arrived on the
scene and confirmed that he'd dug down to the
corridor that leads to the Pyramid of Khufu as it is
sometimes known.
‘The causeway currently lies about 30 feet under
the ground's surface. Prior to this, excavations and
searches performed over a number of decades had
only turned up fragments of the underpass. Not
only does the discovery confirm the passageway
referenced by Herodotus in the 5th century B.C.
exists, it suggests the location of the undiscovered
Valley Temple is at its terminus. Archaeologists
now believe that the adjoining structure is located
somewhere beneath the village Nazlet el-Samman.’
Here is the photo accompanying the report:
And as we get close to wrapping up this
month’s CyberScribe, we have yet one more
pyramid story. It seems that a resident of one of the
villages near the Great Pyramid was illegally
digging in his yard when he stumbled onto a
tunnel. Word got out and… Well, read for yourself
in this very brief note that appeared in ‘Epoch
Times’ (http://tinyurl.com/hf6w2y2):
‘The Pyramids of Giza are among the world's most
famous ancient buildings, but there are still many
mysteries surrounding them. Until recently, one
The report makes the claim that this is the
funerary causeway that leads from the Valley
Temple to the Pyramid of Khufu.
The
CyberScribe has a slight bit of dubiousness
when he looks at a REAL causeway, one built
for Unas. You can decide for yourself if you
believe that the ‘causeway’ above is likely to be
as reported.
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Funerary causeway of Unas
That’s probably enough for this month. See you
right here next time!
Remember, if you read it on the Internet…it has
to be true!
BY THE WAY, if you ever want to read more of
an article where it notes that the CyberScribe has
abbreviated it, send the CyberScribe a note and
he will try to send along the missing information.
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Upcoming Schedule
September 24, 2016 Dr, Kasia Szpakowsa (Swansea University)
“ Armed and Dangerous: An Iconography of Protective
Middle and New Kingdom Demons.”
October 21, 2016 Colleen Manassa Darnell
“Warping the Time-Space Continuum: An Exploration
of the Egyptian Netherworld Books.”
October 22, 2016 (F-Sa) - Fall Seminar: Colleen Manassa Darnell:
Part 1 : “Giraffes, Donkeys and Boats: the Origins of Religion
in the Predynastic Period.”
Part 2: “ From the Pyramid Texts to the Books of Breathing:
An Overview of Egyptian Religious Texts”
Part 3: “Alchemy and Hermeticism: An Egyptian Perspective
November 25, 2016 Dr. Donald Redford (Penn Sta
Topic: TBA
December 4, 2016
Joint AIA ARCE Members holiday Party at the Dowlings
Lectures from our friends at DFW AIA
Lectures are at 7:00
SMU Campus, Fondren Hall
(building 29 on the campus map)
Room 123
Evening lectures are free and open to the public.
Seminars require tickets.
For more information, visit
www.arce-ntexas.org
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