The year 2022 marks the 200-year anniversary of the modern decipherment of hieroglyphs by Jean-François Champollion. While hieroglyphs are synonymous with ancient Egypt, they continued to be used throughout the centuries of Ptolemaic and Roman rule, although in increasingly restricted areas of use and with fewer and fewer people bearing the knowledge to produce them.Continue reading ““Carrying on the art”: Hieroglyph Carvers in Roman Egypt”
Tag Archives: Temples
Kittens for Bastet
Jennifer Cromwell and Luigi Prada On 20th April, either 202 or 178 BCE, an embalmer named Onnophris wrote to Machatas, an official (epistates) in the village of Tanis in the Fayum semi-oasis, concerning kittens he had donated to the cat-goddess Bastet (also known by her Greek name of Boubastis), or at least had intended toContinue reading “Kittens for Bastet”
Living (and Dying) in Interesting Times
Luigi Prada At the age of 21 years and 29 days, the sistrum-player Kheredankh died. A fragment of her funerary stela survives and is today housed in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology in London. Originally, this stela would have been a remarkable artefact of very fine craftsmanship, with a representation of the deceased inContinue reading “Living (and Dying) in Interesting Times”
Papyrus Stories 