NILEMAGAZINE.CO.UK | #20 | JUNE–JULY 2019 £4.90 NILENILE~ Because You Love Ancient Egypt WOMEN OF POWER PHOTO © AXEL HYDRE NILE 8 46 NEW 53 THE LIGHT A ENIGMATIC 24 ON THE ROYAL MUMMY FROM KV55: 19 RIVER BENT AFFAIR PYRAMID Diana T. RAMESSES II’s Nikolova PART 1 SPIRIT Franck Monnier M. Traugott TEMPLE Betsy Kissam The Ptolemies were Huber A new photogram- as ruthless as they The incredible metric survey were incestuous. In When tomb KV 55 PALACE photography of of Sneferu’s Bent this particular was discovered in AT ABYDOS Chester Higgins Pyramid at dynasty, the end 1907, a crumbling highlights some of Dahshur was always justified the Jeff Burzacott mummy was found the shared cultural carried out in means. inside that has This issue’s ARCE legacies between 2018. The data Diana T. Niko- perplexed Egypt- Update highlights the ancient people collected provided lova looks at ologists ever since. a discovery that who made up the significant and Ptolemies VI and Who was it? The forever changes empires of Aksum valuable new VIII (and Cleopatras answer promises to the archaeological (modern Ethiopia), information about II and III), and their identify the father landscape of Kush (Sudan) and the construction of cosy-yet-murder- of Tutankhamun. Abydos. Kemet (Egypt). the monument. ous relationships. 2 NILE #20 | JUNE–JULY 2019 NILE #20 June–July 2019 4 Map of Egypt 5 Timeline 19 ARCE Update 60 Looking Back 62 Exhibitions & Events THE COVER 64 Coming Up WOMEN OF 64 Contact NILE POWER AND 65 Back Issues INFLUENCE 65 Subscribe to NILE Brian Alm The second article in a SUBSCRIBE & SAVE! three-part series on the Get Nile Magazine delivered to remarkable royal women of your door every two months ancient Egypt who, out of and save over 20%. duty or ambition, stepped Every 6th magazine is free! beyond the ancient world’s See page 65 for your fabulous traditional roles and shaped subscription offer. Egypt’s history. © AXEL HYDRE 35 - FROM THE EDITOR isitors to the Nile Magazine Facebook page may recall seeing a post V including this recent image (right) from the fabulous Temple of Isis at Philae. It’s a sun- shade perforated with hieroglyphs—and we love it! We were also curious about its background, so we did a little research. The shade was created by Egyptian design house Shosha Kamal, and is dubbed “When the Sun Talks”. The company’s founder, Shosha Aboulkheir, recently announced that she was “honoured and privileged to collaborate with the Ministry of Antiquities and UNESCO on rede- signing the tourist experience in all UNESCO world heritage sites in Egypt. The tourist experience redesign includes designing sun- © EGYPTIAN MINISTRY OF ANTIQUITIES shades, seating areas, signage, and street lamps. “When the Sun Talks is a design inspired by the power of the sun for ancient Egyptians. With every facilities at sites throughout Egypt, including Abu Simbel, sunrise. the shadows on the ground will tell the story of Giza, Dahshur, Karnak and Saqqara, and will, in case you the monuments. Our design philosophy is to let the sun, are also wondering, include seating for visitors. with all its glory, speak for the site.” Welcome to issue #20. As always, I hope you enjoy your In case you are wondering, as far as we can tell, the NILE time! hieroglyphs created by the sunshade don’t really say any- thing, although that doesn’t lessen the impact one little bit. Jeff Burzacott ~ Similar shades will be appearing as part of upgrades to [email protected] NILEMAGAZINE.CO.UK 3 NILE The fungus is dead. A decade-long rescue project in the Tomb of Tutankhamun has revealed that those mysterious brown spots on the walls, which were once active mould and fungus, aren’t getting any worse. DNA analysis and comparisons with photos from the 1920s show that the spots haven’t changed since the tomb’s discovery in 1922. Instead, it turns out that the greatest threat to the decoration in the tiny tomb is its popularity, and the Getty Conservation Institute has spent ten years undoing the damage. Through getting to know the tomb so intimately, The Getty has made some fascinating discoveries. You can read all about it—including details not reported anywhere else—in the next issue of NILE Magazine. This freshly-cleaned scene, from the south wall of the Burial Chamber, shows the deceased Tutankhamun welcomed into the netherworld by Anubis and Hathor. © J. PAUL GETTY TRUST NILEMAGAZINE.CO.UK 1 THE ENIGMATIC ITS IDENTITY MUMMY FROM FINALLY KV 55: PART 1 RESOLVED 8 NILE #20 | JUNE–JULY 2019 AKHENATEN © STAATLICHE MUSEEN ZU BERLIN—ÄGYPTISCHES MUSEUM UND PAPYRUSSAMMLUNG, ACC. NO. ÄM 21348. PHOTO: SANDRA STEIß © STAATLICHE MUSEEN ZU BERLIN—ÄGYPTISCHES MUSEUM UND PAPYRUSSAMMLUNG, ACC. NO. ÄM 21351. PHOTO: SANDRA STEIß The face of an unorthodox pharaoh. (ABOVE) A plaster These two heads from Amarna perfectly display model of a younger Akhenaten in his early 20s, and (RIGHT) the tell-tale characteristic traits of Akhenaten, and are a second version from the same age. These busts were used remarkably consistent; divided down the centre, each face is as models from which sculptors would create stone effigies. almost a mirror image of the other (BELOW). NILEMAGAZINE.CO.UK 11 PHOTO: BARRY KEMP. © THE AMARNA PROJECT Looking up at the entrance ramp of Amarna tomb TA 27; wide entrance very similar to that for Akhenaten’s tomb. This twenty-one steps flank the central ramp used for sliding the tomb, however, reached only 13 m into the Amarna bedrock royal sarcophagus into the tomb. before work was halted. The most likely candidate for the TA 27 was begun in confident, regal style, and was given a tomb is Smenkhkare, who ruled for only one year. 26 leave us in no doubt that it is the tomb of Akhenaten. accession at the tender age of 9 years was unexpected— The other pharaonic tomb is TA 27, believed to be of the consequence of the untimely death of his predecessor regal status by its prominent and stand-alone position in and mother-in-law, Pharaoh Ankhkheperure Neferneferu- the main wadi, the entry with stairs including the central aten (Nefertiti), who died prematurely around 34 years of ramp for the royal sarcophagus (above), and the large age. Nefertiti had every chance to rule Egypt for another dimensions of its doorway and corridor. In fact, this is the 20 years and reach an age similar to her mother-in-law, only other tomb to very closely resemble Akhenaten’s Queen Tiye, at over 50 years, or her father, the later Pharaoh TA 26. However, TA 27 is far from ever having been Ay, at over 60 years. Therefore, it is very unlikely that digging finished, and wasn’t usable for a burial. Only the first cor- for TA 27 had begun for young Tutankhamun before he ridor was near to completion. The true owner of TA 27 was became pharaoh. never recorded, and three Amarna pharaohs have been On Tutankhamun’s accession, it seems unlikely that proposed: Smenkhkare, Nefertiti, and Tutankhamun. he would commission a new royal tomb at Amarna. Several The latter can be safely ruled out. Tutankhamun’s experts suggest that the royal court’s subsequent move from NILEMAGAZINE.CO.UK 15 UPDATE FROM ARCE CURRENT RESEARCH, EXCAVATION AND CONSERVATION PROJECTS IN EGYPT THE TEMPLE PALACE OF RAMESSES II AT ABYDOS A new discovery by the New York University Expedition to the Temple of Ramesses II in Abydos forever changes the archaeological landscape. © NYU EXPEDITION TO THE TEMPLE OF RAMESSES II IN ABYDOS This is the newly-discovered Temple Palace of after a long journey to Abydos for ceremonial and Ramesses II, adjacent to the king’s Abydos temple. ritual duties, and where he would have held It was here that the king would have retired private audiences with courtiers and officials. NILEMAGAZINE.CO.UK 19 Ramesses II located his temple around 300 metres northwest of the great temple of his father, Seti I. The newly-discovered temple palace is marked by the red rectangle. This is only part of the palace, so we can expect that its full extent will take shape when Temple of Seti I excavations resume next season. Temple Palace of Seti I and storage magazines. The “Osireion” Speculation that Ramesses II constructed an Osireion west of his temple, similar to the temple of Seti I, led to a ground-penetrating radar survey by the University of Pennsylvania in 1992. The results suggested the intriguing presence of an underground structure, some 30 x 30 metres in size. The area is yet to be excavated. © GREATER ABYDOS MAPPING PROJECT round 1280 b.c., a young Ramesses II—ordered While the temple walls once stood around eight metres the construction of a new temple on the noisy high, over the millennia they have been reduced by theft Abydene landscape. At this point, work was to just over two. Those bottom two metres, however, are A still underway on the large nearby temple of renowned for the graceful quality of the reliefs and the the recently-deceased king, his father Seti I. Abydos rang vibrant colours of the original paint, captured on porcelain- to the sound of chisels tapping out delicate reliefs, and the like, fine-grained limestone. chants (and grunts) of work crews hauling heavy limestone It may be that reuse of the temple by Coptic Christians blocks into place. This frenzy of activity marked the large- in the 4th century a.d. helped preserve the reliefs. Usually, scale reestablishment of the cult of Osiris at Abydos after such occupation leads to iconoclastic defacement of the almost six decades of neglect, driven by the Aten-centric pagan images, but here it seems the Copts took an easier philosophy of King Akhenaten.