The newsletter of The Southampton HOTEP Issue 59: May-June 2021 Ancient Egypt Society Review of May meeting Other well-known objects found at the temple site were the large and small May’s lecture was given by Liam copper statues form the sixth dynasty. The McNamara on ‘Exploring the Dynastic larger one is inscribed for Pepi I but the Town and Temple at Hierakonpolis.’ smaller, which was found inside the torso of Liam is the Lisa and Bernard Selz Curator for the larger, is not. It has generally been Ancient Egypt and Sudan at the Ashmolean thought to be the son of Pepi I, Merenre. Museum and Director of the Griffith Institute However, Liam said that the pair is now at the University of Oxford. He is also the thought to be related to the Pepi I’s Heb Assistant Director of the Ashmolean’s Sed, with the smaller one representing the Expedition to Hierakonpolis and Elkab, and reborn king. his experience with this expedition was the focus of his talk. Liam began by showing a map of the site which is to the north of Edfu and on the west bank of the Nile. The ancient Egyptian name for the site was Nekhen and on the opposite bank is Elkab. The first major excavations on the town site were undertaken by Frederick Green and James Quibell, between 1897-9. It was during this excavation that the Main Deposit was discovered. This assemblage of ritual and votive objects, which included the Narmer palette, was referred to by Green as ‘Holy Rubbish’. A large, stepped revetment was uncovered on the temple site little of which survives today, and it is unclear what it represented. Liam proposed in a 2008 paper The large and small copper statues that it may have been a platform on which found in the temple at Hierakonpolis. the king appeared. Like the image on the From Hierakonpolis II JE Quibell and Narmer Mace Head (above) which was one FW Green 1902. of the objects found in main deposit. 1 Perhaps the most striking object is the head of the Horus of Nekhen made of gold, which may be to date the only cult image of a god found in Egypt. Plan of the temple area at Hierakonpolis The revetment is the yellow oval at the centre of the temple. Image from Digital Egypt for Universities UCL with the name of Pepi. For the time being the stone slab, which weighs some 4.5 tons, has been reburied until a more satisfactory long-term solution can be found. It has not simply been covered up like before but has been wrapped in cloth and packed with sand to protected it. Liam is hoping to be able to return to the site later in the year and resume the team’s work there. Horus of Nekhen (Golden Hawk on Glenn Worthington the temple plan) Internet photo Liam and his team have been re-evaluating April Quiz Answers the temple site to discover how it developed over time. They have identified the remains Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes… of a pylon dating to the joint reign of Head: Akhenaten – colossal statue head Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, and the from one of the Aten temples at Karnak. question they want to answer is, was this a replacement for an earlier temple dating to Shoulders: Taharqa – statue found in the Middle Kingdom? Southampton, now in the Ashmolean In the seasons before work was Museum, Oxford. halted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the team had rediscovered a stela of Pepi that had Knees: Amenhotep III – one of the been left by the original excavators because Colossi of Memnon at the king’s Mortuary it was too heavy to remove. When the stela Temple, Kom el-Hetan. was uncovered, it was found to be suffering from an encrustation of salt because the Toes: Ramesses II – seated statue from water table at the site is not far below the the first court of Luxor Temple. surface and the salinity of the groundwater Eyes, Ears, Mouth, Nose: Hatshepsut – has been drastically increased by local irrigation projects. one of the Osiride statues on the upper Once cleaned up, the stela turned terrace at the Deir el-Bahri Temple. out to be a door jamb and clearly inscribed 2 Announcing our July Event Part 1: Saturday 24 July 1: WHEN LADIES ROYAL LADIES of the NEW KINGDOM WERE LORDS: Queens of Liberation and A Study Day in Two Parts Foundation. Great Queens were at the with Dylan Bickerstaffe forefront as the Theban Dynasty fought to throw Sat 24 July and Sat 21 August 2021 off the shackles of Hyksos Each Zoom session opens 12:30 London oppression and the ever- time (GMT+1). Participants will be admitted present threat of Nubian from the waiting room from 12:45 for a start invasion to establish the at 13:00. Each afternoon will be divided glorious New Kingdom between three talks with breaks and should era. finish by 18:00 Queen Ahmose-Nefertari, Berlin The fees for these two sessions are: 2: WHEN QUEENS WERE KINGS: For one date: Hatshepsut – A Reign of Innovation. Member £ 8; Overseas Member £ 10; Virtually everything Non-Member £ 12 about Hatshepsut – the queen who declared For both dates: herself king – is unique, Member £ 15; Overseas Member £16; not least he r Non-Member £20 relationship with the god, Amun. Attention Separate registrations will be tends to focus on the required for each session. damage inflicted on her monuments some while Registration links will be made available after her death, but from 26 June 2021 Hatshepsut, Leiden she was not above rewriting history to Registration will reserve a place but suit herself either. In fact, many of the the joining link will only be sent once innovations introduced during Hatshepsut’s payment is confirmed. reign were continued by her successors. For enquiries or payment information 3: VERY GREAT ROYAL LADIES please contact the Secretary: Towards the end of the brilliant [email protected] 18th Dynasty, first Queen Tiye and then Queen Nefertiti were Payments may be made by Bank transfer depicted on the same scale as (details on the website) or by Paypal to: their husbands – often in wholly [email protected] unprecedented scenes of intimacy. Evidence seems to An outline programme for the two show that Nefertiti rose still further, to become King sessions is given here. Neferneferuaten. What happened Detailed timings will be given when to the burials of Queen Tiye and registration is opened on 26 June. Nefertiti? What do we know of the Other Queens – Kiya, Meritaten, Ankhesenamun? Queen Tiye, Berlin 3 Part 2: Saturday 21 August 6: THE LAST QUEENS OF THE KINGDOM The little-known last ruler of the 19th 4: FOR WHOM THE SUN DOTH SHINE Dynasty was a woman: King Twosret. When – Nefertari Beloved of Mut the New Kingdom collapsed at the end of Nefertari, the Great Royal the 20th Dynasty, Thebes was again a Wife of King Ramesses II has separate state ruled by a line of High Priests left us a fabulous rock-cut and God's Wives. Once temple, and the most again much rested in the beautiful of tombs. She hands of powerful ladies. appears in countless statues and reliefs. However, she lived only to about the half- way point in his reign, so why did the mighty Ramesses honour her so greatly? And God’s Wife of Amun, why do we never see the Shepenwepet, Medinet Habu other Great Royal Wife, Isetnofret? Queen Nefertari, Luxor 5: THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN HAREM – Future Plans Drudgery or Debauchery? and Home to Conspiracy… As we still have no indication of when we Information recovered from the site at may be able to return to the Oasis Academy, Gurob has produced a view of harem life Lordshill, and no idea of what restrictions that more closely resembles an industrial might be placed on our meetings when we workhouse than a pleasure palace. We have do, we have had to plan for another Zoom been told to cast aside our visions of nubile programme for the 2021-22 season. We lovelies, belly-dancing in scented rooms – have an excellent group of speakers already because these are fantasies based on the booked – some old friends and some new Ottoman harems, and nothing like ancient faces. We very much hope that it will be Egypt. This raises some rather interesting possible, eventually, to return to face-to- questions – what was an Ottoman harem face meetings which will also be presented like; and, apart from Gurob, what other live via Zoom for participants who are evidence do we have for the character of unable to attend in person. We will be harems in ancient Egypt? What can the announcing further details of the numerous programme at the Study Day sessions HAREM and will continue to include the CONSPIRACIES information in Hotep. tell us – not We hope that Members will want to least the well- share their thoughts on what we have documented done over the last year and our future attack on plans at the Zoom AGM which will be Ramesses III? in September 2021 – date to be confirmed. Registration will be required for this free meeting. Unnamed Queen of Ramesses III, Medinet Habu 4 Reminder of our next Zoom lecture and images posted on social media by Sat 19 June 2021 looters and traffickers. CircArt has helped to stop the sale of many such objects, enabling Waiting room open from 13:30 (London their repatriation and prompting major Time GMT+1) police investigations.