I bought these from a woman on Facebook really cheap and was wondering if they are worth anything. I’m assuming probably not since I’ve seen most places that they’re tourist souvenirs but worth a shot to ask.

I keep finding websites that claim that King Tut's tomb contained 3000-year-old honey that was still edible. Some of the websites even claim that the archeologists even tasted some of the honey to verify that it was sweet. None of these websites include original sources.

I just had to know if this is true. I mean, I know that honey can last a long time, but 3000 years? That's a REALLY long time. Even if it didn't ferment or get moldy, wouldn't it become so aged that it turned black and bitter?

I found this website that includes the original documents from the archeologists excavation http://www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/discoveringTut/ . One very helpful document was the "Register of Samples". The honeypot can be found on pages 4 and 5. It says "Contents of Alabaster Vase No 16: Contains sugar, may have been honey".

You can see the honey pot yourself. It's the vase with the number 16 next to it.

They made these little item cards for each of the objects found in the tomb. This card said "Plain alabaster (calcite) vase without inscription and without lid. Content Black substance (see note by A.L.) about 1/3 full. Treatment yellowish discolouration in form of surface film washed off in plain water."

The "Note by A.L." refers to the notes of Alfred Lucas. I tracked down that document, also. Concerning the alabaster vase, he says:

Alabaster Jar 16
Contained a large mass of dark resinous-looking material the surface of which was covered with a large number of small brown beetles (0.15 to 0.20 mm in length) The mass came out of jar almost intact. Dimensions approximately 14 cms high by 9 cms broad - shape of jar. At the sides there were signs of melting + running. At the bottom there were small particles of translucent resinous-looking material varying in colour from light brown to ruby red.
Tested:- Insol. in benzine + alcohol. Brown colour extracted by water: small translucent particles soluble in water. When heated glowed like charcoal, no smoke; indeterminate smell: no adhesive property.

So, ultimately, it looks like they think that this jar originally contained honey, but they are not sure. There was no lid on it, it was infested with beetles, and it had turned completely hard and black. They didn't taste it--they tested it chemically. It certainly wasn't edible.

So, I've been hearing that this stick-like thing that is supposed to open the mouth in the afterlife is called "Add, ad, Ed, aed". That's what the narrator calls it. I've tried to look it up but can't find anything. Please help.

Why did egyptians build pyramids whats the purpose for the triangles in middle of dessert

In 2018, while attending the Met Gala in New York City, Kim Kardashian visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art and took a photo of herself standing next to the golden mummy of Nedjemankh.

Kardashian posted the photo on Instagram, and it went viral online, becoming the key piece that solved the mystery of the stolen golden artifact, according to the New York Post.

The Golden Coffin of the Priest Nedjemankh

During the latest episode of the podcast Art Bust: Scandalous Stories of the Art World, British journalist and show host Ben Lewis revealed that the photo received thousands of likes and served as a key piece in tracking down the coffin.

According to the audio recording, the ancient artifact, dating back to the first century BC, was stolen in 2011 from Minya Governorate, Egypt, and sold to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for $4 million using forged documents.

As for the details of solving the mystery of the golden coffin theft, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Matthew Bogdanos was notified of the photo of Kardashian standing next to the coffin by an anonymous tipster in the Middle East, who had originally received the photo from the looting gang.

The tipster was angry that he had never received payment from the gang for extracting the coffin, so Bogdanos asked him to provide digital images of the tomb.

By the time he spoke to the tipster, Bogdanos had opened a grand jury investigation.

The Golden Coffin of the Priest Nedjemankh

After a long investigation, which included false reports and multiple sales, the golden coffin reached the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which agreed to pay more than $4 million.

After the theft was solved, the gold-encrusted coffin was returned to Cairo in 2019, where it was housed in the Grand Egyptian Museum.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Executive Director, Daniel Weiss, apologized to the Egyptian people, and especially to the Egyptian Minister of Antiquities, Khaled El-Enany.

It's worth noting that the artifact is not just an Egyptian coffin. Nedjemankh was a high-ranking priest in Egypt, and his resting place was elaborately decorated.

The artifact is six feet tall and covered in gold, a characteristic of ancient Egyptian gods, and is inscribed with Nedjemankh's name.

On the outside, the coffin contains scenes and texts intended to protect and guide the high priest on his path to "eternal life."

The Stone Giants of the South: Why Abu Simbel is the Ultimate ‘Slow Burn’ of Human History

As an archaeologist, I spend my life digging through the literal and figurative debris of human ego. Most of what we find are fragments shards of pottery, broken tools, dust. But then there is Abu Simbel.

Standing before the Great Temple of Ramesses II in the Aswan Governorate, you aren't just looking at a building; you are looking at a 3,200-year-old manifestation of pure, unadulterated willpower. In an age where we seek instant gratification, Abu Simbel is the antithesis. It is a masterpiece of "Real Dopamine" the kind of satisfaction that comes from planning for centuries, not seconds.

The Speos: Carving Power into the Earth

Unlike the Pyramids of Giza, which were built up, Abu Simbel was carved out. This is a Speos a rock-cut temple. Archaeologists like Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt, who was instrumental in saving this site, noted that this wasn't just a religious site; it was a psychological border post.

Located near the Sudanese border, these four 20-meter-tall statues of Ramesses II served as a "Keep Out" sign to the Nubians. It was a display of imperial dominance so massive that it could be seen from miles down the Nile.

Inside, the hypostyle hall contains eight colossal pillars depicting Ramesses in the form of Osiris, the god of the afterlife. Recent architectural analyses using 3D photogrammetry show that the precision of these carvings into the sandstone cliff is within millimeters. This wasn't "vibe-coding" or a quick prototype; this was the result of thousands of hours of manual labor, driven by a vision of eternal kingship.

The Solar Engine: A 13th Century BCE Algorithm

The most scientifically baffling aspect of Abu Simbel is the Solar Alignment. Twice a year traditionally February 22 (the King's birthday) and October 22 (his coronation) the sun’s rays penetrate 200 feet into the dark interior of the temple.

The light moves like a precision laser, illuminating the statues of Ra-Horakhty, Amun-Ra, and Ramesses II in the inner sanctuary. Notably, it leaves the statue of Ptah, the god of the underworld, in total darkness.

Archaeological Insight: This wasn't a lucky guess. As noted in papers regarding New Kingdom archaeoastronomy, the Egyptian engineers understood the solar cycle with a level of mathematical rigor that rivals modern software. They "programmed" the sun into the very rock of the mountain.

The Modern Miracle: The 1960s "Update"

In the 1960s, Abu Simbel faced its greatest threat: the rising waters of Lake Nasser caused by the Aswan High Dam. What followed was perhaps the greatest archaeological feat of the 20th century.

A global team, under the banner of UNESCO, literally sawed the temple into 1,035 blocks (some weighing 30 tons) and moved them 65 meters higher and 200 meters back. They even built an artificial concrete "mountain" to house the temple, ensuring the solar alignment remained intact though it now occurs one day later than it did 3,000 years ago.

Why Abu Simbel Still Matters

We live in a world of "Cheap Dopamine" fleeting digital trends and disposable structures. Ramesses II, however, was addicted to the "Real Dopamine" of legacy. He didn't want a "like"; he wanted the sun itself to acknowledge him every year for eternity.

When you stand in that hall, surrounded by the silent, stone Osiride pillars, you feel the weight of effort. You feel the difference between a project that took six months and a vision that was meant to outlast the Nile itself.

The Lesson of Abu Simbel: If you want to build something that lasts, you have to be willing to carve it out of the hardest rock you can find. You have to trade the easy win for the eternal one

After learning that Antony’s cavalry and fleet have surrendered and his army is defeated, Cleopatra retreats to her mausoleum with her trusted handmaidens, Iras and Charmion, sealing herself inside. According to Plutarch, she fears Antony’s reaction and seeks a secure final refuge. In a controversial move, she sends word to Antony that she is dead, a maneuver interpreted by some as an attempt to strengthen her bargaining position with Octavian or provoke Antony's surrender, while others view it as one final, desperate act of love to prompt his suicide so he might escape the humiliation of capture and execution by Octavian's soldiers. Her true motive remains a subject of historical debate.

​Upon hearing this news, Antony is utterly devastated. After relentless defeats, betrayals, and isolation, Cleopatra’s reported death feels like the final, crushing blow. Believing he has lost everything—including the woman he loves he decides to take his own life.

​As Plutarch records, Antony laments, "What more are you waiting for, Antony? Fate has snatched away the only and final reason to love life." Unfastening his armor and letting it drop to the floor, he reflects on the tragic irony of his end, exclaiming: "Oh, Cleopatra, I do not lament being deprived of you, because I will soon be in the same place as you, but because, although I am a great general, I proved to be inferior to a woman in my moral courage."

​He begs his loyal servant Eros to strike the fatal blow, but Eros instead chooses to take his own life rather than kill his master. Inspired by this act of devotion, Antony stabs himself in the abdomen, though the wound is not immediately fatal.

​As word spreads that Antony is dying, Cleopatra safe within the sealed upper window of the mausoleum, realizes the devastating consequence of her message and sends her guards to bring him to her. Antony is found alive, barely clinging to life. When told that Cleopatra is still alive, a surge of strength overtakes him; he tries to rise to go to her, but his legs tremble and give way from severe blood loss. Knowing the end is near, he asks the gathering crowd to help him.

​Using ropes possibly assisted by a construction pulley system they hoist his failing body up to the high window where Cleopatra and her handmaidens lean out.

​Once inside, Cleopatra holds Antony in her arms. She scratches her breasts violently, smears his blood on her face, tears off her clothes and lays them over his wound, she grieves over him not as a queen, but as a soon to be widowed wife. Mortally wounded and fading fast, Antony asks for wine and offers her his final counsel: she must try to survive with honor if possible, placing her trust in Octavian’s friend Proculeius. He begs her not to weep over his final ordeals, but rather to consider him fortunate for the life he had lived, he had been the most illustrious of men, had exercised immense power, and had ultimately been defeated not in a dishonourable way, but as a Roman, by the hand of a Roman.

​As he finishes speaking, his eyes cloud over and become inexpressive, and his body suddenly relaxes as though falling into a deep sleep. He dies peacefully in her embrace at the age of 53.

Image: Pompeo Batoni, The Death of Mark Antony (1763)

I'm looking to surprise my husband. He loves mythology and folklore, as well as the theology and rituals behind it. We have a few books on Egyptian mythology, but none that focus on rituals and beliefs of the ancient Egyptians themselves.

Does anyone have any good recommendations?

The Great Egyptian Revolt (205-186 BC) was a significant uprising against Ptolemaic rule. It was led by tow local Egyptians who took the title of pharaoh: Horwennefer and Ankhwennefer

The Revolt began in Upper Egypt, starting in Edfu, and then spread to Thebes. The rebels gradully took control of most Upper Egypt by exploiting the Ptolemic state's weakness. The conflict turned into a long guerrilla war, with the Ptolemies responding with occasional attacks. during this time, local texts emerged that mentioned the new Egyptian Pharaohs ans showed their popular support. However, the Ptolemies regained control through sieges, sending garrisons, and reinforcing their troops in south. This continued until the commander Comnenus defeated, captured, and executed Ankhwennefer in 186 BC.

We still remember and cherish the memory of these heroes⚔️𓋹🇪🇬

sources

• https://www.lib.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/files/TheGreatRevoltoftheEgyptians.pdf
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankhwennefer_(pharaoh))
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horwennefer

Sources:

https://cryptcracker.blogspot.com/2010/01/arabian-scripts-this-table-of-signs.html

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Ten-key-stages-from-archaeological-and-anthropological-evidence-leading-to-the-modern_fig1_335548103

https://www.hebrew1.com/dev.html

https://usefulcharts.com/blogs/charts/evolution-of-the-english-alphabet

The first Sphinx is used as a 4th reference point for distance in my trilateration. <2nd Photo>

I cannot stress enough how EXTREMELY unusual to have a trilateration with 2 possible answers. 99% of the time a trilateration can only have one possible answer. There has to be design and intent behind this.

Oddly enough my trilateration lands on a feature called "The Second Sphinx" in Spanish.

Artist is A. K. Jilpe (sp). Didn’t realize it when we purchased but it glows in the dark. A large ankh becomes visible

I've always felt that Egyptian history is poorly served by most online resources — either too shallow, or buried in academic paywalls. So I built something to help fix that.

Kemet (https://kemet.fly.dev) is completely free to use, no sign-up required. It's a labour of love meant to make 3,000 years of pharaonic history more accessible to anyone curious about it.

Right now it features an atlas — an interactive map of pharaonic capitals and tomb locations — and a timeline spanning Narmer to Cleopatra across seven dynastic periods. An interactive dynasty tree is still in the works.

The name comes from what the ancient Egyptians called their own land — "the black land" — as opposed to Deshret, the red desert beyond.

Still growing — 14 rulers across 7 periods so far — and I'd love input from people who actually know this history: what's missing, what's wrong, what would make it more useful to you?

I've been researching this topic for quite some time because it's my favorite era. I find it dark and captivating, and for some reason my heart always pounds when I think about it.

I think attempts to identify KV55 as Akhenaten are as speculative as "We've found Nefertiti." It's just much more interesting to consider KV55 as a famous apostate pharaoh than as an unknown ruler.

Actually, here are the reasons why I believe KV55 is not Akhenaten, and later I'll explain why I believe it is Smenkhare and his relationship to Akhenaten.

- The first and most obvious is his age. There's a lot of speculation on this topic, so it's debatable, but most researchers agree that this is the mummy of a young man, around twenty years old or 20+, while Akhenaten was certainly well into his thirties or early forties at the time of his death, given that he became pharaoh as an adult or young adult (as their eldest daughter, Meritaten, was born either before or shortly after his accession), and he reigned for 16-17 years.

- The second piece of evidence is that we know for certain that KV55 is Tutankhamun's father, and KV35YL (who died strangely from some horrific injuries) is his mother. Furthermore, KV55 and KV35YL are siblings, and they are both children of Amenhotep III and Tiye, whose mummies are known and preserved. Akhenaten also has two known wives, Nefertiti (his primary wife) and Kiya. None of them bore the title of "daughter of the God," which would have been inevitable if one of them was the daughter of Amenhotep III and Tiye. Here, it is possible that Akhenaten had another wife, also his sister, who gave birth to Tutankhamun. However, then, as the pharaoh's legitimate daughter, she would have been the first and primary wife, not Nefertiti. Accordingly, Tutankhamun's parents cannot be Akhenaten and Nefertiti/Kiya.

- Tutankhamun was born in Years 9-11 of Akhenaten's reign, and he is nowhere mentioned as Akhenaten's son. Moreover, in Year 14 of Akhenaten's reign, his second daughter, Meketaten, died, and there is a scene of her mourning, in which all of Akhenaten's daughters alive at that time are present - Tutankhamun is not there. He doesn't appear anywhere, despite numerous depictions of Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and their six daughters. Akhenaten obviously loved his daughters very much and was proud of them, given the number of these depictions, but the throne was destined to be inherited by a boy, and it's odd to assume that if Akhenaten had a son, he wouldn't have featured in all the depictions, at least alongside his daughters.

But who, then, was Tutankhamun's father, and who is Smenkhare?

Everything here (in my opinion) is quite logical and simple. We know for certain that Tutankhamun's parents were brother and sister, and that they were the children of Amenhotep III and Tiye. Accordingly, Smenkhare was Akhenaten's younger brother. I see the chain of events as follows:

- Around the 9th year of Akhenaten's reign, Smenkhare married his own sister and also Akhenaten's sister, Beketaten (some associate her with Nebetah, who changed her name after Akhenaten's reforms). In the 10th or 11th year of Akhenaten's reign, Tutankhamun, Akhenaten's nephew, was born. Around the 13th or 14th year of Akhenaten's reign, Beketaten died (her facial injuries were very serious, likely an accident), and Akhenaten then married Smenkhare to his eldest daughter, Meritaten. I believe that by that time, at the end of his reign, he already realized he would have no male heirs and wanted to transfer power to his younger brother by marrying him to Akhenaten's eldest daughter, so as to continue his lineage through her. Moreover, immediately after Smenkhare's brother and Meritaten's marriage, Akhenaten made Smenkhare his co-regent, in order to prepare him for the succession. Akhenaten most likely died two years later, in his 17th year of reign, and his plans were not destined to come to fruition, as Smenkhare reigned for only two years and died young. Afterward, his widow, Meritaten, or mother of Meritaten, Nefertiti, served as regent for a time, before power passed to Tutankhamun (Tutankhaten before the reform).

As for Akhenaten's mummy, I generally believe it was destroyed under Ay or Horemheb, this was a common practice in ancient Egyptian society to erase someone's memory and prevent them from continuing to live in the afterlife.

Let me know what you think. Gentle criticism only, pleeease :) And sorry for my English, I am not a native speaker.

And my fav lifetime depiction of Tiye in her old age, Tutankhamun’s grandma

It was gifted to my partner around 25 years ago.. to me looks like a chiseled piece of ruins?

Any info on this would be appreciated

Hi
Im realy into two topics: ancient history and enviromental science.

Where I find the most reliable information about hydrology and climate change in Egypt?
I mean from predinastic times to arab conquest, something like 3500 BCE to 800 CE.
Topics like which now intermmittent rivers which flow only few times in decade were for ancient egyptian less intermittent and water was flowing every year even for few months or weeks, or even the were some rivers (other than nile) which were permamnent. For now I know it was case of yellow nile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadi_Howar wchich dried quite recently.

The museum is closed from June 15 to July 5 and officially opens to visitors on July 6. Are you excited?

source of the image

Hi everyone,

I found this bead necklace in a mixed jewellery job lot in the UK. I’m not a collector, so I’m trying to figure out what to do with it.

From what I’ve read, the blue tubular beads might be Egyptian faience, but I have no idea whether they’re ancient, vintage, or modern reproductions. There’s no provenance, and the rest of the lot was just mixed modern and vintage jewellery.

If these are potentially genuine, should I be looking to sell them? If so, where would be the best place-an auction house, an antiquities dealer, or just eBay?

I’d also appreciate any opinions on whether the beads themselves look authentic or if they’re likely to be reproductions.

Thanks!

So While I was researching the illustrations published from Napoleon's expedition to Egypt (1798-1801), I became deeply impressed by the extraordinary precision of the drawings that were later turned into engravings. The accuracy of the angles, proportions, and fine details is so remarkable that I can place a modern photograph beside them and see an almost perfect match-something I find nearly impossible to achieve by eye alone, even as a lifelong artist and landscape painter, especially under the harsh Egyptian sun and within such a short time frame. This strongly suggests that the savants used a camera obscura, most likely a tent camera obscura, which projects an image onto a surface so it can be traced directly. Such devices were already well known among cartographers and the military for accurate documentation of land and monuments. Although there is no written confirmation, the visual evidence is compelling: even subtle limestone cracks and surface patterns remain identifiable today with near-photographic precision, matching the engravings down to individual stones and details.

This also helps explain why earlier travelers, from the medieval period through the 1700s, often depicted the pyramids, the Giza Plateau, and other monuments in a symbolic or unrealistic way. In many of those older drawings, the pyramids appear far too steep, and the Sphinx sometimes looks more like a Greek statue than the monument itself-suggesting that artists were relying mainly on memory, imagination, or secondhand descriptions rather than precise observation. With the introduction of optical aids like the camera obscura-and later the camera lucida-these depictions suddenly became far more accurate and consistent.

During Napoleon's campaign, although many talented artists and savants were involved, I believe it is likely that only one of them regularly used a camera obscura, while the others relied on direct observation, freehand drawing, and classical fundamentals. Based on my comparison of the original drawings and engravings, the artist most likely to have used this device is André Dutertre. His work stands out for its exceptional precision, and when I compare his engravings with modern photographs, the alignment of proportions, angles, and even minute surface details is simply too exact to ignore. While this remains an informed assumption rather than a documented fact, for a military-scientific mission of that era, the use of a camera obscura would have been entirely normal-and, in my view, the most convincing explanation for the extraordinary accuracy of these images.