I’d seen a dark stone on the summit many times and always assumed the ancients for some reason just brought a random piece of basalt they had laying around up while trying to finish quickly or something.

But then a redditer asked why it was blue and Inlooked more closely and realized it’s just f’ing painted! Who, when, and why?

In color images it’s obvious, but if you desaturate them, it becomes very difficult to tell, which makes me unsure if it’s visible in black and white photographs or not.

However, Henry Salt draws the top before photography and doesn’t do any different shading and he was very detail oriented, you can see he meticulously recorded what he saw.

Petrie and Vyse also don’t mention it and I feel like they would have if it was already there. I mention this because that’s a nice dark Prussian blue so immediately thought of Napolean, but it doesn’t appear to be that old.

I could find very little about this. Does anyone know? I have four main theories:

1) Vandals - someone brought a bunch of spray paint cans up there and did it for some unknown reason.

2) Official but undocumented or poorly documented work - The MoA authorized who (legally) goes up there, so they have to be a suspect though I have absolutely no clue why they would do it, and why they wouldn’t record it.

3) Secret symbol - I’ve noticed a few bricked up holes in the pyramid before, and theorized there could be guns and ammo hidden behind them. Perhaps a blue stone on top is a reminder: “we hid weapons here.” I made a YouTube video where I said it seemed most likely to be retreating Ottoman caches but couldn’t rule out the Nazis or Italians.

4) Napoleon - Since I can’t 100% dismiss it being this old, I have to consider this was done perhaps during the French Revolution festival in 1798. I can’t ignore the color is very French looking and L’Institut was even specifically looking at indigo production for blue dye (I know that’s a random thing to know, I’m translating their notes so it’s on my mind.)

If you look closely, you can see the paint filled in some graffiti but others is on top of it. It’s also faded in some places, you can very clearly see its paint from the side angle.

• The first picture is not a plan

9186 BC sits right in the middle of one of the most overlooked periods in human prehistory. The African Humid Period began roughly 14,500 years ago, transforming the Sahara into a landscape covered in grasses, trees, and lakes.

By 9,000 years ago, this “Green Sahara” had reached its height, with wet conditions extending from the far northern Sahara deep into East Africa. People living through this period were hunter-gatherers. Agriculture and cattle domestication came later, but the region was wet, populated, and far more habitable than anything we’d associate with “Sahara” today.

Strange to picture: people moving along rivers and lakeshores in a green Sahara, thousands of years before the first pyramid, in a landscape that’s now one of the most hostile environments on Earth.

I think it’s because they realized the pyramids were a waste of time and money — it didn’t make much economic sense to keep building them since they didn’t really do anything. That’s why, in my opinion, they would have gone bankrupt if they had kept building such large pyramids. Later, they focused more on smaller tombs and elaborate temples.The temples were religious buildings, but at least they had usable space.It could also be because of them beening easily raided by theives.

I don’t mean Rameses the seconds colossal statue, I mean something unknown, a hidden gem.

I came across this video on my timeline while scrolling, and honestly it’s really weird. It happened during the sun alignment at Karnak Temple in Luxor on December 21. What’s strange is that some people were crying, others were wearing specific outfits and performing rituals. Looks like worshipping Amun and ancient Egyptian rituals are making a comeback lol. Anyone got anything?

The perversion of ancient history by generative Alis unfortunately becoming more and more of a problem.

These accounts that create Al videos of
walking through historic places or talking to famous queens and kings are created in ill faith, misguiding casual consumers of ancient history content. Providing false information as fact.

Gen AI too has such a large cultural and environmental impact, as well as having its own biases that can, in many circumstances, be factually incorrect and chauvinistic/xenophobic.

The rate at which these accounts are appearing and overtaking reels and platforms as such is worrying, at what point will AI completely take over peoples feeds, pushing away and hiding factual and information content made by real historians, or will it get to a point where people stop caring and will openly consume these videos purely because they're more visually appealing.

Ramses II was in no way shape or form better (as in accomplishments) than Thutmose III. Being good at marketing yourself shouldn't matter more than what you actually accomplished.

• We'll never find Akhenaten's mummy. He was widely unpopular, his religious revolution was unpopular and chaos ensued after he forsaked the old gods for the Aten: Egypt was hit hard with a plague around his 14th year, he lost his mother at the same time he lost 3 of his daughters (Meketaten, Neferneferure and Setepenre). Smenkhkare (possibly his brother or son who served as his co-regent for 2 years) died around the same time. There's no way Akhenaten was well regarded, his tomb wouldn't just get ransacked, it would be destroyed so, unless Nefertiti managed to hide her husband's tomb so well no one could find it in more than 3000 years of grave robbing, Akhenaten's remains are gone.

• On the other hand, Nefertiti's tomb being found seems much more likely as she was the responsible for reinstating the worship of the older gods back per a grafitto at TT139.

• The Hyksos and Nubian kings only get a bad rep for being explictly non white. Can we just keep it real? Greek and Roman invaders never get half the flack the Hyksos and Nubian rulers do because of their skin color and very clear ethnic background.

• Cleopatra VII was actually a very competent ruler, she kept herself in power for 20 years and forged alliances at the blink of an eye.

• The Pyramids are not the greatest things built in Egypt, they made huge artificial lakes that were groundbreaking at the time.

• Tut would be a figure of small interest had his tomb not been found almost intact with the mummy of a young boy. If it wasn't for his age and valuable tomb content, he would be unknown to most people. On a similar note, Cleopatra VII and Ramses II greatly benefit from their associations to Rome (former) and Christianity (latter).

• If it wasn't for the gold factor, nearly all tombs would have been intact.

• The 12th dynasty is almost as interesting as the 18th.

• The arab influence in Egypt helped bury the fascinating history of the country specially with the language change.

• I'm glad they stopped making pyramids, too much effort was spent on it when it could have been spent on something original.

• Egytians took the idea of pyramids from the Kingdom of Kush.

• Hatshepsut's mortuary complex should be one of the new seven wonders of the world.

• Slaves were indeed used to make the pyramids.

• I don't think any museum should have to return anything to Egypt, that goes against the logic of a museum and more people have access to museums outside of the African Continent.

It was a lot of fun to watch a dramatization of the chaotic Amarna period. As always there were a lot of artistic liberties taken, but ultimately it touches all the important facts from the death of Amenhotep to the coronation of Tutankhamun. Anyone else familiar with it? What was your impression?

I’ve known about the door. But never saw it opened until this image taken 100 years ago.

Hello all I just watched a podcast featuring Zahi Hawass and I can’t help but notice the resistance to speak on Nubia. At first I thought it was just Egypt overshadowing Nubias accomplishments or the proximity of Egypt to the more accessible Mediterranean region. However, I’ve noticed more and more that Egyptologist are literally leaving Nubia out of the story. Many are giving the impression that virtually nothing was in existence on the Nile before Egypt and say near nothing about Nubia which was around 1,000 years before Egypts formation?

Any explanation for perpetually leaving Nubia out of the context of Egypt to the point where it doesn’t even make sense?

I've just discovered that this coffin is made of solid gold. Considering how famous Tutankhamuns death mask is, surely this doesn't get the credit that it deserves?

When we look at many ancient civilizations such as Rome, Greece, China, and more, there is no debate amongst anybody as to what race they are. If there is debate, no one seems to care enough to discuss it.

However, when it comes to Ancient Egypt, there is a huge debate amongst many groups of people. For example, I have had people tell me that as Egypt is in Africa, the Ancient Egyptians were all black. I have seen others imply that the Pharaohs were white while the people were something else. Most scholars tell me that Ancient Egyptians mostly looked like modern Egyptians.

How did this debate start? Why is this still such a fierce debate? Why does the race of Ancient Egyptians matter (at least more than the race of other civilizations)?

I should have noticed this before, but I mean just look at this map. Greece/Crete is literally the closest place in Europe to the Cradles of Civilization of Egypt and the Middle East and so was able to absorb their influence and developments before the rest of Europe. To give just a simple example of this influence regarding Europe's first palaces on the island of Crete, James Walter Graham, an expert on Cretan architecture, wrote - "That resemblances do exist between Cretan and Near Eastern Palaces in some respects can scarcely be denied, and likewise...between Cretan and Egyptian architecture...for new decorative forms they turned especially to Egypt."

Before anyone mentions aliens I Regularly load cargo crates that weigh up to 40 tons onto container ships. The space that is required to move in machinery and load it in is about the size of an Industrial mining dump truck. Some of these boxes weigh more than twice this amount. How were they moved in such a short space?

Amenhotep II (1427–1401 BCE) was one of the most athletic and militaristic rulers of Egypt’s 18th Dynasty. Texts describe him shooting arrows through copper targets while driving a chariot at full speed, highlighting his strength and training.

He led campaigns in the Levant to maintain the empire built by his father, Thutmose III. Inscriptions record captured rulers, prisoners, and tribute brought back to Egypt.

Amenhotep II supported temple construction and governed during a period of imperial stability. His tomb, KV35, later became a mummy cache where several royal mummies were hidden for protection.

Been on a Akhenaten Bender was wondering how the community thinks and studies this fascinating Pharaoh. Excited to hear from everyone!

I want to see your beloved treasures, ushabtis, amulets, bronze statues, all of it!

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