Isis in the Shadows of Vesuvio: Ancient Egyptian Influence at Pompeii

This blog post has been written by Syd Howells, the Volunteer Manager at the Egypt Centre. Syd visited Pompeii in April 2023 and reports here on some of the Egyptological highlights at the site.

A visit to Pompeii makes clear the influence other civilisations had upon the city and its people. As an example, there is evidence of Hellenistic architecture and decoration, including the Alexander mosaic depicting Alexander the Great, which was originally discovered at the House of the Faun, as well as the worship of Greek gods such as Apollo and Dionysus. In 30 BC, Egypt was brought into the Roman Empire and as would be expected began to be frequently featured in Roman art, with Pompeii being no exception. Perhaps the most obvious connection to ancient Egypt within the city is the Temple of Isis (fig. 1).

Fig. 1: Temple of Isis

Originally constructed during the late second century BC, the temple was destroyed during the earthquake of AD 62. It was later rebuilt and following the volcanic eruption of AD 79 was relatively well preserved underground. It was rediscovered in 1764. The composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as a young man visited in June 1770, a brief time after Pompeii had begun to be uncovered. It is believed his visit to the city, and in particular, the Temple of Isis, had an influence upon his later work, the Magic Flute, an opera set in ancient Egypt and infused with Freemasonry. It seems entirely likely the young Mozart would have gained inspiration from his visit to the Temple, particularly as it was one of the first complete buildings uncovered from the debris. Its excavation and its exotic nature, in perhaps the same way as the opening up of Egypt, inspired the imagination of others. For example, in 1818 the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley also visited and mentioned the temple in glowing terms.

Why was there a Temple of Isis at Pompeii? The Romans were enamoured with some ancient Egyptian deities, in particular Isis and Bes. It is not surprising that conquerors adopt aspects of those they rule. Initially viewed with suspicion by the likes of Augustus, eventually, the cult of Isis was to rival the homegrown gods of Rome. Introduced into Pompeii during the second century BC, this initiate cult based upon the myth of Isis resurrecting her husband Osiris, following his death at the hands of Seth, was very much an affirming and reassuring entity to those who wished to continue to exist after death. Besides her role in resurrection and the belief of a life beyond death, Isis was also considered to be a patron of sailors and a goddess related to safety; aspects particularly useful to a port city such as Pompeii.

All of the reliefs and artefacts from the Temple of Isis can now be found at the Naples National Archaeological Museum/Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli (MANN). An essential place to visit if you are in the area, it also contains an exceptional Egyptological collection created from formerly private collections including that of the Borgia family.

Fig. 2: Sistra from the site

The Temple of Isis had two main parts. The sistra above (fig. 2) were discovered at the Ekklesiasterion (ritual area). The faience statue (fig. 3) was found within the Sacrarium (the shrine).

Fig. 3: Faience figure from the shrine

 

This relief of a priest (or priestess, according to the museum label) wearing an Anubis mask (fig. 4) also originated at the Temple of Isis in Pompeii. It is an interesting connection to our collection at the Egypt Centre as at present we have a cartonnage (a mixture of bandages and plaster then decorated) mask of Anubis on display in our House of Death gallery in our mummification case (fig. 5). It is on loan from Harrogate Museums and is thought to be the only known surviving example of a cartonnage Anubis mask.

Fig. 4: Priest(ess) dressed as Anubis

Fig. 5: Anubis mask (HARGM10686)

 

It was not just the appropriation of the odd Egyptian god that appeared in Pompeii. Domestic decoration is a key element of this cultural synergy. There are examples of gardens being modelled upon branches of the Nile, shrines to Egyptian gods in houses, etc. Many of these surviving relics can now be seen at the Naples Archaeological Museum. At the House of the Faun, a table stand in the form of a sphinx was discovered. The House of Julia Felix meanwhile is believed, within its garden water features, to have featured a branch of the Nile Delta.

Nilotic scenes were particularly popular, for example, the previously mentioned House of the Faun contained an exceptional mosaic of the Nile featuring exotic Egyptian creatures such as a hippo, crocodile, snake, waterfowl, and ibises (fig. 6).

Fig. 6: Nilotic scene

The Casa dell’Efebo (the House of the Ephebus) is another example that features images of the Nile, for example, this painted fresco of fish (fig. 7).

Fig. 7: Fresco of fish

While these Nilotic images were often of flora and fauna to be found on the Nile, other examples were diverse. For example, the House of Menander featured an image of pygmies boating on the Nile.

The Casa del Frutteto (the House of the Orchard) features several Egyptian-influenced frescos such as this image of the Apis Bull (fig. 8).

Fig. 8: The Apis Bull

As can be seen, ancient Egyptian themes and motifs can be found throughout Pompeii (at least those parts that have been excavated). Professional and proportional excavation continues throughout the site. What unknown treasures may we one day see?

Fig. 9: Figure of Bes

Bibliography

Beard, Mary 2010. Pompeii: the life of a Roman town. London: Profile Books.

Berry, Joanne 2013. The complete Pompeii. London: Thames & Hudson.

Butterworth, Alex & Ray Laurence 2006. Pompeii: The Living City. New York: St. Martin's Press.

Ellis, Simon P. 1992. Graeco-Roman Egypt. Buckinghamshire: Shire.

Sadie, Stanley 2006. Mozart: the early years 1756–1781. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Witt, R. E. 1997. Isis in the ancient world. Baltimore; London: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Wilkinson, Richard H. 2003. The complete gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson.

Sudan in Swansea

In just under two weeks (Saturday 25 May), the Sudan Archaeological Research Society’s annual colloquium will take place at Swansea University. The W.Y. Adams Colloquium: Sudan Past & Present will see colleagues from across the globe present on topics such as giraffe hairs and beer filters to Byzantium in Nubia. For the first time, the event will take place both in-person and online (via Zoom), thus allowing a wider audience to participate. Tickets for the event are now available via the Society’s Eventbrite page:

In-person or online.

 

Programme:

9.30-10.00: Introductions

10.00-10.25: Sudan in Swansea, Ken Griffin & Christian Knoblauch (Swansea University)

10.25-10.50: God, King, and Church; the driving powers behind Nubian society, Karel Innemée (University of Warsaw)

10.50-11.15: Dirt and deep histories of South Sudan, Nicki Kindersley (University of Cardiff)

11.15-11.30: Coffee break and handling session.

11.30-11.55: Survey of the Meroitic site of el-Hassa: Understanding the links of the Amun temple of Amanakhareqerama with the settlement, Marie Millet and Tomasz Herbich (Musée du Louvre; Polish Academy of Sciences)

11.55-12.20: A window into the Nubian diet: food crops and agricultural production at Old Dongola (14^th–17th centuries AD), Mohammed Nasreldein Babiker (University of Tübingen)

12.20-12.45: Digitisation of Paul Wilson and Natalie Tobert’s photographic collections from Darfur (1979–1985) at the British Museum, Zoe Cormack (the British Museum)

12.45-1.45: Lunch (participants to make their own arrangements) and handling session.

1.45- 2.10: Conflict or Climate? The decisive factor for change in Sudan’s history, Zainab Osman Madjub Jafar, Michael Mallinson & Helen Mallinson (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Mallinson Architects)

2.10-2.35: Life and death at the town of Kawa: Osteological analysis of the Kushite cemetery assemblage, Anna Davies-Barrett & Rebecca Whiting (University of Leicester; the British Museum)

2.35-3.00: Giraffe Hairs and Beer Filters. Investigating a unique craft of the Kerma period, Theophile Burnat, Elsa Yvanez & Matthieu Honegger (Université de Neuchâtel; University of Copenhagen; Université de Neuchâtel)

3.00-3.25: Chains of supply and local practices in the colony: kohl and gold in New Kingdom colonial Nubia, Rennan Lemos and Caterina Zaggia (University of Cambridge)

3.25-4.00: Coffee break and handling session

4.00-5.00. Keynote Lecture. Footsteps of Byzantium in Nubia. One more attempt. Dobrochna Zielińska (University of Warsaw)

5.00: Drinks reception (at the Egypt Centre)

EC2: Offering table from tomb 307 at Meroe

Dr. Christian Knoblauch and I will also be presenting on the Nubian collection in the Egypt Centre. This includes objects from the sites of Meroe and Sanam, which were excavated by John Garstang and Francis Llewellyn Griffith. Those who are joining us in-person will also have an opportunity to handle items from the collection, including pottery, archer’s rings, tiles, and offering tables. Ahead of the colloquium, I have been creating 3D models of these objects with our Artec scanner. This will allow those who are not able to attend in-person to interact with the collection in fun ways. A selection of some of the objects can be found in the links below.

Archer’s thumb ring (W933)

Architectural fragment (EC1295)

Meroitic bow (W742)

Offering table (EC2)

Pottery tile inlay (EC403)

Other objects are available on our Sketchfab page.

 

We look forward to welcoming all those who are joining us!

Decoding the Divine: Egyptian Temple Decoration

Following on from the two successful courses Causing Their Names to Live, the next Egypt Centre course will be starting in just a few weeks. This course is called Decoding the Divine: Egyptian Temple Decoration.

Egyptian temples stand as testaments to a civilisation obsessed with the divine. Far from mere structures, their walls served as canvases, intricately decorated with hieroglyphs, reliefs, and paintings. This short course delves into the fascinating world of Egyptian temple decoration, equipping you with the skills to decode their symbolic language.

We will embark on a journey through the “grammar of the temples”, exploring the recurring themes, motifs, and compositional techniques employed by the ancient Egyptians. You will learn to identify the deities depicted, decipher the meanings behind ritual scenes, and understand the significance of plant and animal symbolism.

The course will delve into the concept of the “zoned temple”, where different areas were designated for specific purposes. We will explore the symbolism of the imposing pylons, the sacred hypostyle halls, and the inner sanctuaries, each adorned with decorations tailored to their function.

By analysing these elements, you will gain insights into Egyptian mythology, pharaonic ideology, and the daily rituals performed within the temple walls. This course is designed for anyone with an interest in ancient Egypt, unlocking the stories etched in stone and painted on the walls of these magnificent structures.

Take, for example, the image shown above, which appears twelve times on the intercolumner screenwalls at Dendera. This cryptographic scene may look like just a decorated frieze to the untrained eye, but a close examination of each of the elements reveals that it has a specific meaning. It can be read as “the domain endures, containing the mistress of Dendera, like the sky will endure containing Re, all the rekhyt-people making for her praise”. This is just one of many scenes that will be analysed during this course.

In order to be as accessible as possible, this course will be run twice a week: Sunday evenings 6–8pm (UK time); Wednesday mornings 10am–12noon (UK time). Additionally, one of the sessions will be recorded and made available for a limited time to registered participants.

 

Week 1 (Sunday 26 and Wednesday 29 May)

Week 2 (Sunday 02 and Wednesday 05 June)

Week 3 (Sunday 09 and Wednesday 12 June)

Week 4 (Sunday 16 and Wednesday 19 June)

Week 5 (Sunday 23 and Wednesday 26 June)

 

Tickets for the course are now available via our Eventbrite page: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/decoding-the-divine-egyptian-temple-decoration-tickets-886722479807?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

Fees for this course go directly to supporting the redevelopment of Egypt Centre: Museum of Egyptian Antiquities (Swansea University). If you would like to support the Egypt Centre with a donation, you can do so here: https://www.egypt.swan.ac.uk/donate-to-the-egypt-centre/

Senenmut's Astronomical Ceiling

Pippa Dell retired from a long academic career in Psychology and now pursues her interests in Egyptology, art, and gardening. She recently went to Egypt with the Kemet Klub on their Sacred Landscapes tour and had the privilege of visiting Senenmut’s tomb (TT353), including its wonderful astronomical ceiling!

Like many others, I was first introduced to the wonders of ancient Egypt as a child when I went to the Tutankhamun and His Time exhibition in Paris in 1967. This started a long-term interest in Egyptology, which has been honed over the years with trips to Egypt and attending a range of excellent courses. Ken Griffin’s recent Egypt Centre series Causing Their Names to Live, which focused on some of the individuals who make up the history of Egypt, is a case in point.

One of the individuals Ken introduced was Senenmut, son of Ramose and Hatneferet. Senenmut (fig. 1) described himself as Treasurer and Overseer of the House of Amun (ceiling, TT 353) and Hereditary Prince, Count, Administrator of the Great Ones of Upper and Lower Egypt, Overseer of Places of Refreshment, and Spokesman who speaks when other mouths are silent (false door, TT 353). He was also the Steward of the God’s Wife, and Steward (Tutor) of the King’s Daughter (Neferure). As a non-royal, he is known for an extraordinary number of statues (at least 25), many with Neferure. He is probably best known for being the architect of Hatshepsut’s Memorial Temple complex at Deir el-Bahari, and for supervising the erection of twin obelisks at Karnak. He disappears from the historical records in the later years of Hatshepsut’s reign and seems to suffer a Damnatio Memoriae after death. Unusually, for a private individual, he also built himself at least two tombs in the Theban necropolis (TT 71 and TT 353).

Fig. 1: Senenmut (copyright Dr Ahmed Abdul Ella)

TT71 is to be found on the northeast brow of the Sheikh Abd el-Qurna cliffs that overlook Hatshepsut’s temple complex. It is laid out as a typical tomb chapel of the time; a transverse hall with columns, an inner chamber, and decoration that is similar in content to contemporary private tombs (funerary procession, pilgrimage to Abydos, agricultural, and workshop activities). Innovations include rock cut stelae and the design of the ceilings (Dorman, 1988; 1991). The tomb appears not to have been used.

 

At the base of the cliffs is a quarry. Carved into its floor Herbert Winlock found the entrance to Senenmut’s second tomb (TT 353) in January 1927. This is a subterranean rock cut tomb, with a ground plan of three chambers laid out sequentially, accessed via three descending passageways. The first passageway, with a vaulted ceiling 2m high descends some 61.2m at a 25-degree angle to the first of the three chambers (Chamber A). A daunting climb, as I found out recently on a Kemet Klub tour of Sacred Landscapes (fig. 2). Towards the end of the staircase is a rare drawing of Senenmut (fig. 1).

Fig. 2: The person pictured is about half way down the stairs!

 

The reason people visit this tomb is because of the decoration of Chamber A and its wonderful astronomical ceiling. The chamber itself is small (3.6m x 3m), with dressed and plastered walls. The main focus of the walls is a false door on the West side opposite the entrance to the tomb. The walls contain what Assmann (1982) has identified as a new corpus of funerary liturgies, reminiscent of both Pyramid and Coffin Texts, and some of the earliest known examples of Book of the Dead spells. These were chosen to provide Senenmut with the topography of the netherworld and knowledge of how to move freely through it. 

The ceiling, recorded by Charles Wilkinson (Wilkinson and Hill, 1983) and published by Neugebauer and Parker (1960–69), is the earliest astronomical ceiling known (fig. 3), the next being that of Seti 1 (KV 17).

Fig. 3: Overview of ceiling (Wikipedia)

The ceiling is divided into two panels of astronomical representations by several transverse bands of text, containing Senenmut’s name (fig. 4) and Hatshepsut’s titulary. Each panel is surrounded by rows of stars.

Fig. 4: Senenmut’s name in transverse band

 

The southern panel (top panel in the ceiling overview [fig. 5]) contains a list of named decans (stars), whose arrangement is related to the star clocks of the Coffin Texts of the Middle Kingdom. These are clearly laid out on the right-hand side. They are interspersed with star cluster constellations (for example the ship and sheep). Left of these are the planets, from right to left Isis, Jupiter, and Saturn, and in the last columns Mercury and Venus.

Fig. 5: Part of the upper panel

 

The northern panel (bottom in the ceiling overview [fig. 6]) contains the 12 lunar months (Dorman, 1991) of the year, schematised as 12 circles each divided into 24 sectors (hours of the day?). The top four (of eight) on the right-hand side are the months of Akhet (Inundation) and the lower four, Shemu (Harvest). The four on the left-hand side are Peret (Emergence). Each month has associated feast days, and are accompanied along the bottom by various deities, including the four sons of Horus.

Fig. 6: Part of the lower panel

For me, the most interesting part of the northern panel is the middle section with three constellations depicted, the so-called “Northern Constellations”. Meshketyu (fig. 7), a bull-covered oval body; Anu, a falcon-headed standing figure piercing the oval bull with a spear; and Sekenet (Serket) the goddess behind the bull. What is happening here? And what is the figure below doing? The standing hippo, grasping a crocodile, with a second one on her back is named as Iset-Djamet-Heb-Pet (Isis-Djamet, Festival of the Sky [fig. 8]). How is she involved with the Northern Constellations? Are these images part of a theology that Senenmut was developing to explain the cosmos? And why was the oval bull being pierced?

Fig. 7: Spearing Meshketyu

 

Fig. 8: Iset-Djamet-Heb-Pet

Finally, and intriguingly, Dorman notes that “there is no evidence of a burial in Tomb 353, nor was there any article from Senenmut's burial equipment”. So, either all the funerary equipment was destroyed, or more tantalisingly, was never there in the first place. I fondly imagine Senenmut having an afterlife as an effective spirit interred peacefully elsewhere. But in the meantime, may we “cause his name to live” and make a voice offering for his ka (fig. 9).

Fig. 9: Offerings for Senenmut

References:

Assmann, J. (1982) Funerary Liturgies in the coffin texts, Third International Congress of Egyptology, Toronto, September 1982

Dorman, P.F. (1988) The monuments of Senenmut: Problems in historical methodology. New York: Kegan Paul International Ltd.

Dorman, P.F. (1991) The tombs of Senenmut: The Architecture and decoration of Tombs 71 and 353. Metropolitan Museum of Art Egyptian Expedition 34. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Neugebauer, O. and Parker, R. (1960–69) Egyptian astrological texts. Brown Egyptological Studies 3, 5, & 6. London: Lund Humphries.

Wilkinson, C. and Hill, M (1983) Egyptian wall paintings: the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection of facsimiles. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Mysterious Life and Death of Antinous

The blog post for this week is written by Linda Kimmel, from Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the United States. When she retired from full-time work as a data research manager in late 2020, she began studying about the ancient world, and serving as a docent at the University of Michigan’s Kelsey Museum of Archaeology. Linda had never heard of the Egypt Centre before the pandemic but has taken every course offered since she first noticed a tweet about the museum in the fall of 2020 and has been taking online courses there ever since. Linda is looking forward to another trip to Egypt this fall.

In the fourth session of the latest Egypt Centre class (Causing Their Names to Live Part II: The Lives of the Ancient Egyptians), we covered notable Egyptians from the Old Kingdom through the Roman Period. When our instructor, Ken Griffin, told us he would cover Antinous in the class, I knew that was who I wanted to write about. In addition to studying a lot about ancient Egypt, I have also taken numerous courses on ancient Rome and am particularly interested in the intersection of the two. In an odd coincidence, in a Roman art history course I am currently taking, we touched on art during Hadrian’s reign this week, and discussed several images of Antinous (fig. 1).

Fig. 1: Statue of Antinous (Vatican Museums)

Antinous is one of the more well-known individuals we have covered in the class. However, the ancient record lacks details about his life. It is known he was born in the city of Claudiopolis in the Roman province of Bithynia c. 111 CE (fig. 2). In 123 CE the Roman Emperor Hadrian was traveling through Bithynia, and was introduced to Antinous. The boy joined the royal entourage, perhaps with the intent of becoming an imperial page boy (Matyszak and Berry 2023). During their time together, Antinous became a favorite of the Emperor, and Hadrian may have provided him with a formal education. At some point, Antinous became Hadrian’s lover and accompanied the Emperor on his many travels.

Fig. 2: Map highlighting Bithynia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bithynia#/media/File:Roman_Empire_-_Bythinia_et_Pontus_(125_AD).svg)

While traveling with Hadrian in Egypt in 130 CE, Antinous died before his twentieth birthday under mysterious circumstances. We know he drowned in the Nile, but was it an accident, a suicide, or murder, either by Hadrian or someone close to Hadrian? Or was it perhaps a human sacrifice offered to the Nile? All that is known is that Hadrian was reported to be bereft after his death. So why should people interested in ancient Egypt care about Antinous? After all, he was born and lived most of his life outside Egypt. It is because of the ways in which Antinous was memorialized by Hadrian.

After his death, Hadrian had Antinous deified. While numerous Roman Emperors were deified (Julius Caesar, Augustus, Vespasian, to name just a few), it was highly unusual for a commoner to be deified in Rome (The Fitzwilliam Museum). The cult of Antinous spread throughout the Mediterranean until it was eventually abolished as Christianity became dominant in the fourth century CE.

Fig. 3: Statue of Antinous (Vatican Museums)

Vout (2005) suggests that more statues were created of Antinous than any other figure from ancient Rome, with the possible exceptions of Augustus and Hadrian. Some of the statues have been found with Antinous in deified form such as this full-figure statue, containing both Egyptian and Roman features (fig. 3). In this format, Antinous is typically shown wearing the nemes headcloth, which is normally associated with pharaohs (fig. 4). Ken noted that Antinous was frequently associated with Osiris, taking the form of Osiris-Antinous.

Fig. 4: Statue of Antinous in Munich (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Standing-striding_egyptianized_figure_of_Antinoo_-_%C3%84gyptisches_Museum_-_Munich_-_Germany_2017_%282%29.jpg)

 

But Antinous was also portrayed in classical Greek style, as a Greek or Roman god, including Apollo, Mercury (or the Greek god Hermes), and Dionysus, as in this bust in the Fitzwilliam Museum (fig. 5). In addition to all of the statues, Vout (2005) reports that coins were minted in honor of Antinous in over thirty cities of the Roman provinces.

Fig. 5: Bust of Antinous as Dionysus (Fitzwilliam Museum)

In an even more lavish display than all of the images of Antinous, Hadrian founded an Egyptian city, Antinoopolis, in memory of Antinous. Antinoopolis is located in Middle Egypt, close to Amarna and Beni Hasan. It is said the location is close to where Antinous died, although the exact site of his death is unknown. Ken noted that with the exception of an existing temple to Ramesses II, everything else was essentially leveled to create a new city. Texts report that close to a million people lived in the city at one time. Bagnall and Rathbone (2004) note that Antinoopolis was built with Greek architecture and special Greek privileges, with its population coming from other Greek cities throughout Egypt. Ryan (2016) calls Antinoopolis a Greek city within Egypt, and notes that at its centre, the city was dominated by a temple to Osiris-Antinous.

Fig. 6: Pincian Obelisk (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hadrianic_Obelisco_del_Pincio,_Rome,_Italy.jpg)

The inscription on the Pincian Obelisk created in memory of Antinous provides more details about Antinoopolis (fig. 6):

A city is named after him; to it belongs a population of Greeks and sons of Horus and children of Seth, resident in the cities of Egypt; they have come from their cities, and valuable lands have been given to them, to enrich their lives greatly. There is a temple there of this god – his name is Osiris Antinous, justified” – built from fair white stone. Sphinxes stand on its perimeter, and statues numerous columns like those once made by the ancients, and also like those made by the Greeks. All the gods and all the goddesses give him there the breath of life, and he breathes in of it, having rediscovered his youth.

 

The Pincian obelisk also contained an image of the deified Antinous receiving gifts from the god Thoth, another strong link to Egypt for this Bithynian youth (fig. 7).

Fig. 7: Antinous before Thoth (https://i0.wp.com/followinghadrian.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/obelisk91.jpg?ssl=1)

In addition to the mysteries surrounding his death, the burial site of Antinous also remains a mystery. Some say that he was mummified, but where he was buried is uncertain. Perhaps his tomb is at the site of Antinoopolis. Then again, it may have been at one of Hadrian’s villas.

While he was not Egyptian, the numerous images and texts about Antinous that were spread throughout the Mediterranean, have definitely caused his name to live and be remembered. Perhaps, with continuing excavations at Antinoopolis, even more will be discovered about Antinous. I know I will be keeping a watch out for new information.

 

Bibliography

Bagnall, Roger S. and Dominic W. Rathbone (Eds.) 2004. Egypt: From Alexander to the Copts. London: The British Museum Press.

Matyszak, Philip and Joanne Berry 2023. A History of Ancient Rome in 100 Lives. London: Thames & Hudson, Ltd.

Ryan, Garrett 2016. Placing Power: Greek Cities and Roman Governors in Western Asia Minor, 69-235 CE. Dissertation, University of Michigan (Greek and Roman History).

The Fitzwilliam Museum. Bust of Antinous as Dionysos, https://fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/explore-our-collection/highlights/GR1001937 [accessed 04/10/24].

Vout, Caroline. 2005. Antinous, Archaeology and History. The Journal of Roman Studies 95, 80-96. 

More Causing Their Names to Live

For the past five weeks, participants on the recent Egypt Centre short course have been delving into the lives of some of the personalities of ancient Egypt. The Causing Their Names to Live course looked at well-known figures such as Amenhotep son of Hapu, Imhotep, Paneb, and Naunakhte. We also examined some lesser-known individuals, such as the Edfu priest Pasherienimhotep, who is known from a stela in the Egypt Centre collection (fig. 1), a female Vizier called Nebet, and the Divine Adoratrice Qedmerut. In total, about sixty individuals were covered, but there were many others that we never had the chance to look at.

Fig. 1: Stela of Pasherienimhotep (W1041)

The course received a lot of positive feedback, with one participant writing that it was “great to hear about a range of fascinating people, brings them to life. LPH [‘live, prosperity, and health’]”. I have, therefore, decided to run a follow-up course that will look at further personalities from ancient Egypt. This will include men such as Senenmut, who served as the Steward of the King’s Daughter Neferure; Antinous, the lover of the Roman Emperor Hadrian, who was deified following his untimely death; and Hemionu, the architect of the Great Pyramid at Giza. Women including Hetepheres, the mother of Khufu, whose mysterious tomb was discovered in 1925; Amenirdis, the God’s Wife of Amun; and Mutnodjemet, the possible sister of Nefertiti, will also be featured. We will also look at Seniseneb, the mother of Thutmose I who is depicted in the wonderful watercolour by Howard Carter, which recently arrived at the Egypt Centre on loan from the Egypt Exploration Society (fig. 2). By discussing these individuals, we will be fulfilling the wishes of the ancient Egyptians by causing their names to live!

Fig. 2: Howard Carter watercolour (EES.ART.224)

In order to be as accessible as possible, this course will be run twice a week: Sunday evenings 6–8pm (UK time); Wednesday mornings 10am–12noon (UK time). Additionally, one of the sessions will be recorded and made available for a limited time to registered participants.

 

Week 1 (Sunday 17 and Wednesday 20 March)

Week 2 (Sunday 24 March and Wednesday 27 March)

Week 3 (Sunday 31 March and Wednesday 03 April)

Week 4 (Sunday 07 and Wednesday 10 April)

Week 5 (Sunday 14 and Wednesday 17 April)

 

Tickets for the course are now available via the following link. Fees for this course go directly to supporting the Egypt Centre, for which we are extremely grateful!

 

Note, while this is follow-up to the previous course of the same name, attendance on the first part is not necessary to participate in the second.

Speaking Beyond the Destruction of Their Names

The blog post for this week has been written by Carlein Boers, a political scientist and ancient history enthusiast from the Netherlands. After watching numerous reruns of the animated classic ‘Asterix and Cleopatra’ from the age of five, she developed a lifelong interest in the Amarna Period and the fall of the Roman Republic. In the Netherlands, she has taken courses with Egyptologist Huub Pragt and the ‘Huis van Horus’ Association. She first participated in online courses by the Egypt Centre during the 2021 (second or third) COVID lockdown. Carlein has written blogs for the Egypt Centre in the past, focusing on A Look at the Political Legacy of Amarna.

The ancient Egyptians gave great importance to not only preserving the bodies of the deceased, but also to speaking the names of the ones who passed away. They believed that each morning the Ka-soul of the deceased would find its way back to the body; if the body would be disturbed and/or did not recognise their name, the soul would wander the earth aimlessly to haunt the living ‘till eternity. At least, this is what horror movies tell us.

The practice of Damnatio memoriae

During the course Causing Their Names to Live, Dr. Griffin introduced us to fifty individuals whose names and biographies survived to the present day. Rather, it was the mentioning of Damnatio memoriae during the first part of the course that caught my attention. The phrase Damnatio memoriae originates from modern Latin and translates as “condemnation of memory”; in short it is the complete eradication of any written or depiction of a person with the aim of removing them from history until perpetuity (fig. 1). In a society where speaking one’s name or honouring an effigy is essential to the individual’s wellbeing in the afterlife, it must have been the most severe punishment imaginable. The practice of damnatio memoriae can be found in several societies from Agamemnon wanting to destroy any evidence of Priam’s Troy, King Henry VIII replacing any trace of Anne Boleyn by covering it with Jane Seymour’s initials, and most recently Vladimir Putin’s notorious refusal to utter the name of his strongest opposition (the now departed) Alexei Navalny.

Fig. 1: Erased figure of Hatshepsut at Karnak

The ancient Egyptians had a long tradition of damnatio memoriae, which resulted in destroying graves, mummies, statues, depictions, and erasing names from within cartouches in order to simply not mention someone’s existence ever again. The most prominent example that comes to my mind to prove this practice is the Abydos King List (fig. 2), or rather: what is missing on the King List. The list names 76 pharaohs in chronological order and can be found on the temple of Seti I (c. 1300 BC) in Abydos. And here comes the fun part; take an educated guess at whose names are missing from the list, but when you ask a stranger on the street to name an Egyptian pharaoh, they’ll probably name one of these rulers. I’ll give you a minute…

Fig. 2: Abydos King List

Calling into evidence, case no. 1: the case of the famous female pharaoh

The Abydos King List is missing the name of the female pharaoh Hatshepsut (c. 1479–1458 BC), who initially reigned in her stepson Thutmose III’s name only to emerge as an independent ruler. She sought to solidify her succession through her daughter and with the help of a presumed shady advisor/lover Senenmut. Despite being a woman, Hatshepsut donned herself with the traditional king regalia such as the headdress with an uraeus snake and false beard. She even went as far as to marry her daughter, Neferure, as the ceremonial God’s Wife of Amun (fig. 3). Modern feminist love to use her example to show that anything a man can do a woman can do just as well.

Fig. 3: Relief of Neferure (Egypt Centre W1376)

In all fairness, Hatshepsut did accomplish some remarkable things besides managing to stay in power for over twenty years: she pioneered land and trade routes to the Land of Punt (today’s Somalia and Eritrea) and Byblos (Lebanon). She commissioned several great building projects throughout Upper and Lower Egypt, the most famous being her mortuary temple in Deir el-Bahari. For reasons we might never fully know, her stepson Thutmose III went above and beyond to erase her name and depictions after her death (fig. 4). Talk about really not liking the person whose job you took over! By erasing her history, we can only speculate what kind of ruler she really was and what prompted her damnatio memoriae. People today might suggest it is because she was a strong and successful woman overshadowing the old male elite at court. Yet, they failed in their attempt to have her forgotten; Hatshepsut’s name is remembered and spoken today.

Fig. 4: Block with the erased cartouches of Hatshepsut on the left

Calling into evidence, case no. 2: the Amarna pharaohs

At the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty, we have another number of names missing from the Abydos King List: Akhenaten, Smenkhkare (possibly Nefertiti), Tutankhamun, and Aye. Long did Egyptologists doubt the existence of these pharaohs as the names were not to be found either on the king lists nor in the famous temple complex of Karnak/Thebes, or in the Valley of the Kings. From what Egyptologists can reconstruct about the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty, it was Horemheb who was responsible for making the names of his predecessors disappear. Again, without knowing exactly what happened in Egypt during the Amarna reign that made people hate Akhenaten and his immediate family. Just as quickly as their royal city of Amarna emerged as a new power centre, although it disappeared in the desert sands after which seemed to be an overnight destruction. The names of Akhenaten and Nefertiti were hacked out of their cartouches (fig. 5) while his mother’s name (Tiye) remained revered. This indicates to me that the hatred against Akhenaten was truly focussed on him and his immediate descendants.

Fig. 5: Defased images of Akhenaten and Nefertiti

 

We might never have known about the Amarna royals if some traces of their existence hadn’t survived, such as the Amarna talatat blocks. Talatat (limestone) blocks that had been used in Amarna were repurposed to fill the inner Second Pylon at Karnak. The decorated talatat blocks remained untouched by time until their discovery in the twentieth century when they emerged to tell us their story and provide a face for long forgotten kings and queens. From the sands of Amarna appeared beautiful art, such as the bust of Nefertiti in sculptor Thutmose’s workshop (fig. 6). To this day, millions of tourists flock to Berlin’s Neues Museum to gaze on Nefertiti’s face. The search for her tomb still causes controversy as became apparent when a couple of years ago Nicholas Reeves presented his theory on where she might be found.

Fig. 6: Plaster cast of Nefertiti's bust (Egypt Centre 1991)

Howard Carter’s discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun marked the beginning of an Egypt-craze all over the Western world and mass tourism to Egypt’s ancient sites. Horemheb’s attempt to erase Tutankhamun’s name from prosperity might have contributed to his tomb’s location being forgotten and thus hidden from tomb robbers. When Carter opened the tomb, he found a nearly undisturbed grave filled with golden “wonderous things”. Today, Tutankhamun’s image is commercialized as immortalised in Steve Martin’s SNL sketch (https://youtu.be/FYbavuReVF4?si=HOPqyQMLgsnbEvaw). Mention ancient Egypt and most people will have his golden death mask come to mind (fig. 7).

Fig. 7: Golden mask of Tutankhamun

Though Horemheb and the Thebes elite attempted to have the names erased from history, the names of Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and Tutankhamun are still spoken today.

 

Calling into evidence, case no.3: Queen Cleopatra

Cleopatra VII Philopator was ancient Egypt’s last reigning pharaoh; her death brought an end to an independent Egyptian kingdom that would henceforth be a province in the Roman empire. Cleopatra was last in the line of the Ptolemaic dynasty that claimed ancestry to both the ancient Egyptian pharaohs as well as Alexander the Great (fig. 8). Sources speak of her intelligence, knowledge of literature, languages and mathematics, wit, scheming, and beauty. Asterix and Obelix speak of her nose. The story of Cleopatra and Roman consul and general Marc Antony was immortalised by subsequently Cicero, Plutarch, Shakespeare, and to the moment when Elizabeth Taylor met Richard Burton’s Marc Antony on the film set of the 1960s classic Cleopatra.

Fig. 8: Cleopatra and Caesarion at Dendera

It is now believed that Cleopatra did not die of suicide using a serpent’s venomous bite, but rather was secretly executed by Emperor Augustus. After her death it wasn’t enough to erase her name from temple sites, Augustus made sure her memory was trashed. Cue to stories of Cleopatra seducing Rome’s great but helpless generals and using her charms and poison to rule the eastern part of the Roman Empire. She was portrayed as a scheming harlot with an unsatisfiable hunger for power, yet showed cowardice when she sailed away from the battle scene of Actium before the fight was over. Even her death was used to vilify her; it was said that she had abandoned her people by choosing suicide over remaining on Egypt’s throne as a Roman protectorate.

 

Today, Cleopatra catches our imagination in fiction and as a feminist icon. Her life and legacy still stir controversy as recent as a 2023 Netflix documentary series. All of this despite Rome’s attempt to slander her memory. Speaking beyond her (still to be discovered) tomb, Cleopatra’s name is still spoken today.

 

In conclusion: what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!

It is mesmerising to me that the names of Egyptian monarchs who had their names eradicated by their successors are known in the twenty-first century. We don’t know much about either their character nor their style of ruling their kingdom; maybe they were horrible human beings and deserved their punishment of damnatio memoriae. Yet, somehow theirs are the names that survived into our times, which are often spoken today. Their names and images have been iconised and commercialised. We in the twenty-first century allowed their names to speak beyond their graves and thus, inherently, securing the survival of their Ka-soul.

 

Bibliography

Cooney, Kara 2014. The woman who would be king. New York: Crown.

Cooney, Kara 2020. When women ruled the world. Six queens of Egypt. Washington, DC: National Geographic.

Goldsworthy, Adrian 2010. Antony and Cleopatra. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

Hawass, Zahi (ed.) 2018. Tutankhamun: treasures of the golden pharaoh. The centennial celebration. New York: Melcher Media.

Reeves, Nicholas 2022. The complete Tutankhamun, revised and expanded ed. London: Thames & Hudson.

Reeves, Nicholas 2001. Akhenaten: Egypt’s false prophet. London: Thames & Hudson.

Schiff, Stacy 2010. Cleopatra: a life. New York: Little, Brown and Co.

The Rest is History Podcast by Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook (they have an excellent mini-series on both Cleopatra and Tutankhamun)