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Statue of Taweret | Photos by Tales from the Two Lands

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Tales from the Two Lands @talestwolands.bsky.social · 5d

And this might indicate some sort of continuity over the millennia with the very much later Horus cippi, little figurines of a child form of Horus standing on crocodiles and clutching snakes. These were used in healing by pouring water over the figurine to be magically activated.🧵4/5

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Tales from the Two Lands @talestwolands.bsky.social · 5d

They are probably grouped together because they are all dangerous creatures. And it is possible that these jars had some sort of protective or healing function, perhaps involving the pouring of liquids as some of these jars have spouts. 🧵3/5

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Tales from the Two Lands @talestwolands.bsky.social · 5d

This is part of a small group of pots from the late Naqada II to Naqada III period which are decorated with the same group of animals: crocodiles, snakes and scorpions. Unlike other contemporary jars these aren’t part of a representation of a landscape. 🧵2/5

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Tales from the Two Lands @talestwolands.bsky.social · 5d

This jar is nearly 5500 years old, and was found at a site in Upper Egypt called Mo’alla that is about 20 miles south of Luxor. It’s best known for the tomb of Ankhtifi who lived about 1200 years after this pot was made. 🧵1/5

#Egyptology

A photograph of an ancient Egyptian pot. It is taller than it is wide, with a narrow based that flares out with the widest point about ¾ of the way up the pot. After that it narrows in to the mouth of the pot which is about twice as wide as the base.

The point is a pale brown-ish orange in colour and has animals painted on it in a brown-ish red paint. At the top on the shoulder of the pot are scorpions, with one visible in full and the tail of another visible to the right. In the centre of the pot is a crocodile painted vertically so it looks a bit like it is standing on its tail with its four paws stretched out to the side like it's clinging on to a wall. To the right and left are three snakes on each side, again painted vertically like they are standing on their tails, They are not straight but are wiggly.

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Tales from the Two Lands @talestwolands.bsky.social · 19d

See it on my photo site: photos.talesfromthetwolands.org/picture.php?...

Jigsaw Puzzles:
easier: www.jigsawplanet.com?rc=play&pid=...
harder: www.jigsawplanet.com?rc=play&pid=...

🧵6/6

Provenance unknown. Late Period, c. 600 BCE. British Museum acc. no.: EA35700 - DSC_7735.jpg

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Tales from the Two Lands @talestwolands.bsky.social · 19d

When I photographed it, it was in the World Museum in Liverpool on long term loan from the British Museum (acc. no. EA35700) but I think it’s back in the British Museum now although not on display. 🧵5/6

Tales from the Two Lands @talestwolands.bsky.social · 19d

This statue is also unusual in how large it is, most figures of Taweret are amulets or small figurines. But this one is a little over a meter tall, so maybe it had been placed in a temple rather than a household. It’s a shame we don’t know where it was found. 🧵4/6

Tales from the Two Lands @talestwolands.bsky.social · 19d

It’s made of breccia which is an interesting choice of stone for a statue – I find the variegated nature of the stone distracts from the shape that the stone is carved in to. I don’t know if it was painted, but that seems unlikely as surely then they’d pick a plainer stone. 🧵3/6

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Tales from the Two Lands @talestwolands.bsky.social · 19d

She wears a wig, you can see the vertical lines of it coming down from the top of her head to her shoulders, and the front of it extends down her front. Her hippo ears poke through it pulled flat back against her head, and on top she wears a cylindrical headdress called a modius. 🧵2/6

Shabti of Amenhotep III | Photos by Tales from the Two Lands

Tales from the Two Lands @talestwolands.bsky.social · 19d

This toothy lady is Taweret, a protective household deity who looked after mothers & childbirth. She’s a composite creature but most of what we see here are the hippo aspects of her imagery, out of frame she also has the legs & paws of a lion and the tail of a crocodile. 🧵1/6

#Egyptology

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Tales from the Two Lands @talestwolands.bsky.social · 26d

It is now in the World Museum Liverpool, acc. no. M13937. 🧵8/8

See it on my photo site: photos.talesfromthetwolands.org/picture.php?...

Jigsaw Puzzles:
easier: www.jigsawplanet.com?rc=play&pid=...
harder: www.jigsawplanet.com?rc=play&pid=...

Provenance unknown. New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, reign of Amenhotep III, c. 1390-1352 BCE. Acc. No.: M13937 - DSC_7916.jpg

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Tales from the Two Lands @talestwolands.bsky.social · 26d

It’s not known where it was found, but we can assume it was once buried with the king in his tomb WV22 in the western part of the Valley of the Kings. That tomb was robbed in antiquity, then tourists in the early 19th Century took souvenirs from what was left. 🧵7/8

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Tales from the Two Lands @talestwolands.bsky.social · 26d

This shabti would once have been beautiful, as befits such a wealthy king: gleaming white stone and brilliant blue paint in the carved inscription. Even missing the head and lower legs, and even tho the paint has started to fade you can see what it must’ve been like. 🧵6/8

Tales from the Two Lands @talestwolands.bsky.social · 26d

And he’s responsible for most of the Sekhmet statues that you can see in museums across the world, he commissioned over 700 of them to stand in his mortuary temple and in the temple of Mut at Karnak. These may’ve been to propitiate the goddess in a time of plague. 🧵5/8

Tales from the Two Lands @talestwolands.bsky.social · 26d

We also have monuments: the Colossi of Memnon are actually enormous statues of Amenhotep III flanking the entrance to his mortuary temple at Kom el-Hattan. There’s been a lot of archaeological work there over the last few decades, and much more is known of the temple. 🧵4/8

Tales from the Two Lands @talestwolands.bsky.social · 26d

Amenhotep III wasn’t a conqueror, he ruled these lands because his predecessors had done the hard work of fighting – there’s only one military campaign of his reign that’s known, but we have quite a bit of diplomatic correspondence preserved at his son’s capital at Amarna. 🧵3/8

Tales from the Two Lands @talestwolands.bsky.social · 26d

During his time Egypt exerted its authority over a large area outside of the traditional land of Egypt, stretching south into Kush (in modern Sudan) and northeast up a coastal strip of the Levant to Kadesh (in modern Syria). And their trade networks extended as far as Greece. 🧵2/8

Faience Canopic Jar of the Lady Hathor (easier) - jigsaw puzzle (96 pieces)

Tales from the Two Lands @talestwolands.bsky.social · 26d

This rather beaten up shabti once belonged to the Pharaoh Amenhotep III, who was king during one of Egypt’s greatest periods of wealth and prosperity. He was the ninth king of the 18th Dynasty in the New Kingdom, reigning from c. 1390 BCE to 1352 BCE. 🧵1/8

#Egyptology

A photograph of a fragmentary Egyptian shabti figurine. The piece is a pale cream colour and is the torso & upper legs of a human figure. It has arms carved as crossed on the chest at the wrists with the hands clutching tools: a flail in its left hand and a crook in its right. Below the arms the figure is covered with neatly carved hieroglyphs in columns. Each hieroglyph is filled in in blue although this is beginning to become patchy. The piece is mounted in a plastic cradle on a metal pole for display in a museum.

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Tales from the Two Lands @talestwolands.bsky.social · Jul 25

(Edited to add: zsl454 on reddit points out that the inscription says "Qebehsenuef" which is one of the other Four Sons of Horus. This is probably a mismatched set made up of the best two parts that Manchester Museum have.)

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Tales from the Two Lands @talestwolands.bsky.social · Jul 25

Jigsaw Puzzles:
easier: www.jigsawplanet.com?rc=play&pid=...
harder: www.jigsawplanet.com?rc=play&pid=...

🧵6/6

An online jigsaw puzzle with 96 pieces.

www.jigsawplanet.com

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Tales from the Two Lands @talestwolands.bsky.social · Jul 25

This jar is in Manchester Museum, acc. no.: 6869.a, and when I visited in 2016 it was on display but that is no longer the case. 🧵4/5

See it on my photo site: photos.talesfromthetwolands.org/picture.php?...

Faience Canopic Jar of the Lady Hathor | Photos by Tales from the Two Lands

From Sidmant, Middle Egypt. New Kingdom, Dynasty 19, c.1295-1069 BCE. Acc. No.: 6869.a - DSC_4359_01.jpg

Tales from the Two Lands @talestwolands.bsky.social · Jul 25

The human head on this jar means that it was to hold Hathor’s liver and was protected by Imsety (one of the Four Sons of Horus), who in turn was protected by Isis. Another jar from this set is now in Pennsylvania, and it has the jackal head of Duamutef who protects the stomach. 🧵3/5

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Tales from the Two Lands @talestwolands.bsky.social · Jul 25

Most canopic jars that I’ve seen have been a white stone, alabaster or limestone, so this one is quite striking in its bright blue colour. The lid looks like it is in better shape than the jar itself, which has been reconstructed (in the 1920s) and touched up with plaster. 🧵2/5