Cheers Lov!
2 Likes
More Hieros!
If ever you wanted proof that the Egyptians were aliens look no further! No more can we say that the fourth Indiana Jones was not historical!
(It's a bearded man apparently...)
I did kind of fall in love with this piece, the picture does it no justice. It was so detailed and so beautifully carved!
My friend and I were undecided on who should write up the Stelae (Which is below!) and who should write this one up because both were so fascinating! To solve it, we used flipped a coin; he got this and I got the stelae! I'll put some more images and discussion about this one though because it's so interesting!
The cup is from the reign of Pepi II - his name is written in the cartouche which I promise I'll get a better image of! In the picture above, you might be able to notice a small black/blue speck. This is the remnants of the paint that was used in the carvings! Since the cup is alabaster, it is translucent, so light can shine through it. In bright light, this would have made the hieroglyphics seem to glow blue!
The two cups below are also from the reign of Pepi II! One of the questions my friend will be exploring is how and why the cup above is so different to the ones below!
The God Osiris!
I thought this was Isis but as my friend rightly pointed out to me, Isis didn't wear the bull-horned headdress; this is Hathor!
Spoiler: AssortedShow
If ever you wanted proof that the Egyptians were aliens look no further! No more can we say that the fourth Indiana Jones was not historical!
(It's a bearded man apparently...)
I did kind of fall in love with this piece, the picture does it no justice. It was so detailed and so beautifully carved!
Spoiler: Once again, one of my warnings apply to this spoiler, PG13+Show
Remember our good old Canopic Jars I showed you all earlier? No? Well here's a refresher!
When the body was mummified, various organs were taken out and put into these jars, each head symbolising a certain organ:
Qebehsenuef - the Falcon Head - Intestines
Hapi - the Baboon Head - Lungs
Duamutef - the Jackal Head - Stomach
Imsety - the Human Head - Liver
I'm not going to tell you about how they extracted the brain here only that the managed to do so without cutting the head open...you can Google the rest...
How to Mummy
Here is what the inside of a Canopic jar looks like...this was Duamutef - the stomach
There wasn't much to see there, I wasn't allowed to use flash, but I can tell you what it smelt like...BBQ sauce...
Which is apparently what Egyptian tombs smell like too; something to keep in mind when you rewatch The Mummy!
The black stuff at the top is bitumin, which would have further sealed the organ from the air, therefore preserving it. It looks like some of it has run onto the side, so perhaps the jar was knocked over at some point and left like that?
Spoiler: Canopic JarsShow
Qebehsenuef - the Falcon Head - Intestines
Hapi - the Baboon Head - Lungs
Duamutef - the Jackal Head - Stomach
Imsety - the Human Head - Liver
I'm not going to tell you about how they extracted the brain here only that the managed to do so without cutting the head open...you can Google the rest...
How to Mummy
Here is what the inside of a Canopic jar looks like...this was Duamutef - the stomach
Spoiler: WARNING!Show
There wasn't much to see there, I wasn't allowed to use flash, but I can tell you what it smelt like...BBQ sauce...
Which is apparently what Egyptian tombs smell like too; something to keep in mind when you rewatch The Mummy!
The black stuff at the top is bitumin, which would have further sealed the organ from the air, therefore preserving it. It looks like some of it has run onto the side, so perhaps the jar was knocked over at some point and left like that?
Spoiler: A cup? A thermos?Show
My friend and I were undecided on who should write up the Stelae (Which is below!) and who should write this one up because both were so fascinating! To solve it, we used flipped a coin; he got this and I got the stelae! I'll put some more images and discussion about this one though because it's so interesting!
The cup is from the reign of Pepi II - his name is written in the cartouche which I promise I'll get a better image of! In the picture above, you might be able to notice a small black/blue speck. This is the remnants of the paint that was used in the carvings! Since the cup is alabaster, it is translucent, so light can shine through it. In bright light, this would have made the hieroglyphics seem to glow blue!
The two cups below are also from the reign of Pepi II! One of the questions my friend will be exploring is how and why the cup above is so different to the ones below!
Spoiler: A StatueShow
The God Osiris!
I thought this was Isis but as my friend rightly pointed out to me, Isis didn't wear the bull-horned headdress; this is Hathor!
Spoiler: The Stelae I will be researchingShow
So this is the object I picked to research and so I'll let you know any more cool information about this as I do it!
This is the original photograph.
This is the image when we shone a light at a different angle; the hieroglyphics are a lot clearer and easier to pick out here. I'll try and get some better images and I will be using techniques like RTI to pick out the image clearer. If I can, I'll upload the RTI file which you can then download and, using some free internet software, should be able to play around with the lighting youself! If I can't upload the file, but you're still interested, I can easily send you the file in another way, just let me know!
This is the original photograph.
This is the image when we shone a light at a different angle; the hieroglyphics are a lot clearer and easier to pick out here. I'll try and get some better images and I will be using techniques like RTI to pick out the image clearer. If I can, I'll upload the RTI file which you can then download and, using some free internet software, should be able to play around with the lighting youself! If I can't upload the file, but you're still interested, I can easily send you the file in another way, just let me know!
3 Likes
Starting to decipher the stelae! Using a software called JSesh, I have begun to type up the hieroglyphics to make it easier to read!
Begining to translate it, it roughly says:
A funerary offering from the King and Osiris, Lord of Djedu and the great Abydos(?)
Like I said it's a very rough translation and I'm not too sure if it's accurate, but it's getting there!
Just to break it down for you, the first four symbols, from the reed to the Delta is the Funerary offering.
The next two; the steps, the eye and the mouth is the name of Osiris.
The two pillars, the quail and the stop sign/hot cross bun, is the name for Djedu
The flag and the pointy thing translates to great, I think.
The bottom line translates to Abydos but I'm not too sure which letters do
EDIT: That took me 3 hours to do and I've just finished the first line and the beginning of the second...
EDIT 2: Okay, a more accurate translation (thanks to Ann for brainstorming the translation with me!)
(A funerary offering - this is not explicitly stated, it just means this) A gift the King gives to Osiris, Lord of Djedu and the great God of Abydos...(then begins listing what is offered)
Spoiler: JSesh Work in Progress!Show
Begining to translate it, it roughly says:
A funerary offering from the King and Osiris, Lord of Djedu and the great Abydos(?)
Like I said it's a very rough translation and I'm not too sure if it's accurate, but it's getting there!
Just to break it down for you, the first four symbols, from the reed to the Delta is the Funerary offering.
The next two; the steps, the eye and the mouth is the name of Osiris.
The two pillars, the quail and the stop sign/hot cross bun, is the name for Djedu
The flag and the pointy thing translates to great, I think.
The bottom line translates to Abydos but I'm not too sure which letters do
EDIT: That took me 3 hours to do and I've just finished the first line and the beginning of the second...
EDIT 2: Okay, a more accurate translation (thanks to Ann for brainstorming the translation with me!)
(A funerary offering - this is not explicitly stated, it just means this) A gift the King gives to Osiris, Lord of Djedu and the great God of Abydos...(then begins listing what is offered)
1 Like
Ancient Egyptian reads left to right?
2 Likes
Hehe, Ancient Egyptian reads weirdly;
"As a note, you read hieroglyphics from top to bottom if they are written vertically, and if they are horizontal, you read towards the direction of the way any person or animal is facing (for example if this was a snake ___o, you would read the text from right to left, but if the snake was facing like this o___, you'd read it from left to right! These can change mid text so it's important to always be on the lookout!)"
So in the image, you can see everything is facing towards the left so you would read it from the left to the right!
EDIT: To make it even more confusing, in the original image of stelae the hieroglyphics are actually reversed - facing the other way (I couldn't find out how to get the software to reverse my images >_>)
"As a note, you read hieroglyphics from top to bottom if they are written vertically, and if they are horizontal, you read towards the direction of the way any person or animal is facing (for example if this was a snake ___o, you would read the text from right to left, but if the snake was facing like this o___, you'd read it from left to right! These can change mid text so it's important to always be on the lookout!)"
So in the image, you can see everything is facing towards the left so you would read it from the left to the right!
EDIT: To make it even more confusing, in the original image of stelae the hieroglyphics are actually reversed - facing the other way (I couldn't find out how to get the software to reverse my images >_>)
2 Likes
You beat me to it! Took me over an hour to get what I did, but I haven't posted it as I wanted to try the rest of the stele first, which is a little easier to see. But since you posted your version, I thought I'd give what I had as well!
I'm only halfway through my introductory Egyptian class so take my translation with a grain of salt! It does seem to match yours for the most part though! The only difference is that I saw the pr as coming with a simple line instead of another sign so I interpreted it as a house/temple/palace, but that's probably image quality throwing me off!
I can identify the hieroglyphs for Abydos in the cleared up version now, 3bḏw. It's missing the ḏ (the foot symbol) but this is pretty common as Egyptians leave things out all the time. I still see the cf though and I'm pretty sure Abydos is not usually spelled with those, though f could be a suffix pronoun meaning "his." The closest word I can find to cf pr is cf3y meaning encampment, which makes absolutely no sense here. I still suspect it says something like "Temple of Abydos" but that's only a guess for now! Once you translate the next line that has way too many ts, it might make more sense as you'll have context to figure out the meaning.
Spoiler: My attempts at translation:Show
The very first bit was easy: ḥtp di nsw Wsir which just says "An offering from the king and Osiris." The nb (the bowl symbol) symbol follows Wsir, so my guess is that it's an adjective. nb usually means "everything, lord" or when followed by a t, "lady." Since "everything" makes no sense there I think it's part of Osiris' title, "Lord of..." The sign after that I cannot find in my dictionary, and I think it's the w bird that follows but I can't say for sure. Regardless I've got no idea about the last two signs, so the second half remains a mystery to me.
The first bit of the second line is pretty faded. I can make out a cf followed by a pr with a line, which means it's not making the "pr" sound but a literal house of some sort. Depending on what the rest of the word is, it could be "house" "palace" or "temple," but given the use of King and Osiris earlier, I'm pretty sure it's going to be temple, or maybe palace. The part after that is hard to see again, and then I can make out 2 ts, a nb and 2 more ts. I have no clue why there are so many ts. This bit is followed by a heart sign and an ankh and another of the flipped L shape I don't recognize. Heart is usually used for nfr or other versions of the word meaning "good, beautiful;" it could be a really abbreviated form of that, or it could be a determinative for something I haven't figured out. The section ends with a pretty visible im meaning "there," which probably refers back to the temple/palace mentioned earlier.
The first bit of the second line is pretty faded. I can make out a cf followed by a pr with a line, which means it's not making the "pr" sound but a literal house of some sort. Depending on what the rest of the word is, it could be "house" "palace" or "temple," but given the use of King and Osiris earlier, I'm pretty sure it's going to be temple, or maybe palace. The part after that is hard to see again, and then I can make out 2 ts, a nb and 2 more ts. I have no clue why there are so many ts. This bit is followed by a heart sign and an ankh and another of the flipped L shape I don't recognize. Heart is usually used for nfr or other versions of the word meaning "good, beautiful;" it could be a really abbreviated form of that, or it could be a determinative for something I haven't figured out. The section ends with a pretty visible im meaning "there," which probably refers back to the temple/palace mentioned earlier.
I'm only halfway through my introductory Egyptian class so take my translation with a grain of salt! It does seem to match yours for the most part though! The only difference is that I saw the pr as coming with a simple line instead of another sign so I interpreted it as a house/temple/palace, but that's probably image quality throwing me off!
I can identify the hieroglyphs for Abydos in the cleared up version now, 3bḏw. It's missing the ḏ (the foot symbol) but this is pretty common as Egyptians leave things out all the time. I still see the cf though and I'm pretty sure Abydos is not usually spelled with those, though f could be a suffix pronoun meaning "his." The closest word I can find to cf pr is cf3y meaning encampment, which makes absolutely no sense here. I still suspect it says something like "Temple of Abydos" but that's only a guess for now! Once you translate the next line that has way too many ts, it might make more sense as you'll have context to figure out the meaning.
4 Likes
Nice one Ann, that is amazing! I'll try and speed through the rest of the stelae and chart the hieroglyphics so at least it's easier to make out (trust me it is so difficult to see some of them, even with a magnifying glass!) Then what I can do is also show you the codes that I've used so then we can transliterate it!
I think the rest of the second line is telling what's being offered so I think you are right when you guess the temple of Abydos because that would make sense!
I think the rest of the second line is telling what's being offered so I think you are right when you guess the temple of Abydos because that would make sense!
1 Like
Link to the Durham Museum collection record of the artefact.
Tell me if the link doesn't work, I'll post an image of it up instead!
Tell me if the link doesn't work, I'll post an image of it up instead!
2 Likes
It works for me!
1 Like
I just get a white page.
I just get a white page.
1 Like
*keeps clicking Kudos button*
2 Likes
Been really working hard to finally inscribe all of the stelae and I am pleased to say I have finally done it all - okay there is a few words on the fourth line near the person's head that I can't for the life of me work out what they are, but other than that it's all done! Oh and also the ones in red, I'm not too sure on what they were so I'll need to come back to that - but other than those, it's done, I promise!
Now, as for the translation...Ann and I have really been deciphering the text and we have the first two lines fully and accurately (as far as we know) translated. I'm going to attach two pictures below, one that is the first work in progress I posted earlier, and one is just the first two lines again; you'll notice there are some changes in hieroglyphs between the two; as we were translating and reexamining the original piece, we found that the symbols were subtly different and these small changes actually make more sense to give the entire picture of the stelae:
So the translation of the first two lines is:
"A gift the King gives to Osiris, Lord of Djedu and the great God of Abydos, so that he may give a voice offering of bread, beer, oxen, fowl, alabaster and cloth; everything good and pure on which a God lives."
Then my rough translation of the first half of the third line is:
"For the Ka (spirit) of the revered honoured person, his name: Seneb..."
So what we have here is Seneb asking the King to give a gift to Osiris on his behalf, because the Pharaoh is seen as the conduit between the living realm and the Gods, the Pharaoh being a God himself.
Spoiler: Here it is:Show
Now, as for the translation...Ann and I have really been deciphering the text and we have the first two lines fully and accurately (as far as we know) translated. I'm going to attach two pictures below, one that is the first work in progress I posted earlier, and one is just the first two lines again; you'll notice there are some changes in hieroglyphs between the two; as we were translating and reexamining the original piece, we found that the symbols were subtly different and these small changes actually make more sense to give the entire picture of the stelae:
Spoiler: First TryShow
Spoiler: SecondShow
So the translation of the first two lines is:
"A gift the King gives to Osiris, Lord of Djedu and the great God of Abydos, so that he may give a voice offering of bread, beer, oxen, fowl, alabaster and cloth; everything good and pure on which a God lives."
Then my rough translation of the first half of the third line is:
"For the Ka (spirit) of the revered honoured person, his name: Seneb..."
So what we have here is Seneb asking the King to give a gift to Osiris on his behalf, because the Pharaoh is seen as the conduit between the living realm and the Gods, the Pharaoh being a God himself.
1 Like
Saw this, had to share...
Spoiler: These are the Voyages of the USS ExcavationShow
Trowel Class Starship
9 Likes
Not Archaeology but I was given this as a present and had to share :
4 Likes
Its a good book. You should try the peach cobbler recipe.
4 Likes
I went to a museum, did archaeology stuff (read, critiqued the museum to death; don't ever go to a museum with me, I'll ruin it for you). Took some photos for you all though!
Spoiler: Animals (and dinosaurs)Show
Spoiler: Greek StuffShow
(funny story about the above picture, whenever you walked past the display, the entire contents of the diplay shook. That's some poor curating there >_>)
Spoiler: Roman StuffShow
(Altars to Neptune)
(Scale model of Hadrian's Wall)
(Child's lead coffin)
Spoiler: Egyptian (mummies within PG13+)Show
(Alas, not the real Rosetta Stone. That's at the British Museum in London)
Mummies
4 Likes
I've been talking about this one a lot recently and I've finally completed the essay! Have a look and see what you think. I'm thinking of delving into this topic further later on in the year, and with a broader archaeological spectrum. Let me know if the link is buggered!
Total shoutouts to Ann and Minabi for their help!
Spoiler: How to people engage with the Roman Past? A look into video games and internet memes.Show
Total shoutouts to Ann and Minabi for their help!
4 Likes
Not really archaeology linked to me, but... I get asked this question a lot: "what happens to the bodies after we dig them up?"
This World War One dig unearthed 100 German soldiers from the trench that they excavated. In October, they will be reburied at the German Cemetery at Langemark.
https://www.facebook.com/257489461406414/posts/528443154311042/
This World War One dig unearthed 100 German soldiers from the trench that they excavated. In October, they will be reburied at the German Cemetery at Langemark.
https://www.facebook.com/257489461406414/posts/528443154311042/
4 Likes