Ancient World Review

Egyptian Hieroglyphs: The Language Of The Gods

"The ancient Egyptian writing system is a pictorial script with a huge number of characters: 24 of which stand for what would be recognized as letters, others stand for complete words or combinations of consonants. There are between 700 and 800 basic symbols called glyphs and there is no punctuation or indication of where words or sentences begin or end. The glyphs are usually read from right to left, top to bottom and do not use spaces or punctuation. On the walls of temples and tombs in Egypt, they generally appear in columns." Source: Ancient Origins.

"Traditionally Egyptologists divided Hieroglyphs into three types based on appearance: hieroglyphic, hieratic, and demotic. Hieroglyphic is almost always inscribed on stones in large scale monuments. Hieratic is the 'priestly' script extensively used on manuscripts and paintings, and really is just a rather cursive form of monumental hieroglyphics. And finally, demotic is a highly cursive script that replaced hieratic as the script for everyday use from 600 BCE onward. In fact, some demotic signs translate into more than one hieratic or hieroglyphic signs, so there isn't a one-to-one correspondence between demotic and the other two systems." Source: Ancient Scripts. (Site temporarily unavailable due to some kind of WhoIs verification problem.)

More instructional videos on Egyptian hieroglyphs can be found on the Digital Egyptology YouTube channel.

"Like most ancient scripts, the origin of Egyptian hieroglyphs is poorly understood. There are, however, several hypotheses that have been put forth. One of the most convincing views claims that they derive from rock pictures produced by prehistoric hunting communities living in the desert west of the Nile, who were apparently familiar with the concept of communicating by means of visual imagery. Some of the motifs depicted on these rock images are also found on pottery vessels of early Predynastic cultures in Egypt." Source: Ancient History Encyclopedia.

Next video gives an overview of the Egyptian Hieroglyphic, Hieratic and Demotic scripts as well as the Phoenician and Cuneiform writing systems.

Related: Origins of Cuneiform and Hieroglyphics.

Egyptian Farmer Discovers 2600-Year-Old Stela From Reign Of Pharaoh Apries

Closed captions in English available.

"A farmer living near Ismailia in Egypt has uncovered a 2,600-year-old stela erected by pharaoh Apries [4th king, 26th Dynasty], who ruled from about 589 B.C., to 570 B.C., the Egyptian antiquities ministry reported." Source: Live Science.

"...Efforts are underway to translate the stela. Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said that the stela appears to be related to a military campaign that Apries undertook east of Egypt. 

"The ancient Greek historian Herodotus (lived ca. 484-425 B.C.) claimed that Apries fought a losing war against the Phoenicians that left many Egyptian soldiers dead and sparked a civil war in Egypt that ultimately led to Apries being killed and replaced as pharaoh by a man named Amasis. Whether this stela will shed new light on these events is unclear."

Related: Herodotus on Apries.

King Tut's Tomb Hieroglyphs Deciphered

Note: The burial chamber is "the only decorated chamber in [King Tut's] tomb, with scenes from the opening of the mouth ceremony (showing Ay, Tutankhamun's successor acting as the king's son, despite being older than he is) and Tutankhamun with the goddess Nut on the north wall, the twelve hours of Amduat (on the west wall), spell one of the Book of the Dead (on the east wall) and representations of the king with various deities (Anubis, Isis, Hathor and others now destroyed) on the south wall. The north wall shows Tutankhamen being followed by his Ka, being welcomed to the underworld by Osiris." (Wikipedia)

Note: Archaeologists found four gilded wooden shrines in King Tut's burial chamber. The second was inscribed with a mysterious text which has come to be known as the Enigmatic Book of the Netherworld:

"Engraved on the second gilded shrine of Tutankhamun, discovered in his tomb by Howard Carter, was two parts of a book that is completely unique, though they do seem to have similarities to two scenes from the Amduat [a religious composition] which were depicted on the child king's third shrine. In fact, these texts are designated as an 'amduat', which here for the very first time the term is used to describe a netherworld text in general rather than the specific text to which it is normally applied. This is also the first instance of a composition describing the creation of the new solar disk." Source: Tour Egypt.

"No real title has been found for the book ... Winfried Barta described the text as a 'Kryptograph'. However, because of its obscure nature, with text that was not translated into normal hieroglyphs, most Egyptologists refer to it as the Enigmatic Book of the Netherworld. That is, in the outer panels, the texts which accompany some of the illustrations are cryptographic in order to preserve the secrecy of the formulas. Indeed, this leads to some controversies where the meaning of the text is certainly not clear."

Howard Carter Enters King Tut's Tomb, 1923

"My first care was to locate the wooden lintel above the door: then very carefully I chipped away the plaster and picked out the small stones which formed the uppermost layer of the filling. The temptation to stop and peer inside at every moment was irresistible, and when, after about ten minutes' work, I had made a hole large enough to enable me to do so, I inserted an electric torch. An astonishing sight its light revealed, for there, within a yard of the doorway, stretching as far as one could see and blocking the entrance to the chamber, stood what to all appearances was a solid wall of gold." Source: Howard Carter, quoted in "Entering King Tut's Tomb," Eyewitness To History.

The opening of King Tut's tomb. 1923.

Note: "Carter was a neat, rather stiff man in his late forties, with a carefully clipped mustache and slicked-back hair. He had a reputation in archaeological circles for obstinacy and a temper, but was also respected, if somewhat grudgingly, for his serious and scholarly approach to excavating." Source: "The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt," by Toby Wilkinson.

Carter was like a character out of an H. Rider Haggard novel, one of the prototypes for the figure of the archaeologist / treasure hunter made famous by Indiana Jones. He came from an era before the West had been ravaged by two insane world wars and before Egyptology became a specialized academic profession.

Old photographs taken at the Tut dig show Carter working at the site in a suit and tie, no less. He entered Tut's tomb with his companions -- George Herbert, fifth earl of Carnarvon, and Lord Carnarvon's daughter, Lady Evelyn Herbert -- using a candle to test the air before entering the different chambers. Archaeology was more primitive back in those days, but it was more romantic and adventurous as well.

Reading about Howard, it's hard not to compare the society he came from to the decaying Britain of today. Despite all of its faults, the culture that produced characters like him is long gone and I can't see that as progress.

Carter did everything he could to move his discoveries to Britain, leading some to call him an outright thief. He was accused of manipulating photographs, forging documents and deceiving the Egyptian Antiquities Service, and his team allegedly took as many of King Tut's treasures as they could get their hands on. Many of these artifacts ended up in British museums. They should have remained in Egypt, I suppose, and most of them did, apparently, but I can't get too irate over Carter's maneuvering. You can rant and rave about imperialism and plundering all you want, but it's hard to fault the guy for trying to lay claim to this fantastic discovery for Britain.

Harry Burton, The Official Photographer For Howard Carter's King Tut Expedition

"Harry Burton (13 September 1879 – 27 June 1940) was an English archaeological photographer and Egyptologist, best known for his photographs of excavations in Egypt's Valley of the Kings. His most famous photographs are the 1,400 he took documenting Howard Carter's excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb from 1922 to 1932." (Wikipedia)

Related: Burton's Tutankhamun photographs, online gallery.

The Timbuktu Manuscripts

Video from 2014.

"Timbuktu Manuscripts ... is a blanket term for the large number of historically important manuscripts that have been preserved for centuries in private households in Timbuktu, Mali [see note below]. The collections include manuscripts about art, medicine, philosophy, and science, as well as copies of the Quran. The number of manuscripts in the collections has been estimated as high as 700,000." (Wikipedia)

^"The manuscripts are written in Arabic and local languages like Songhay and Tamasheq.The dates of the manuscripts range between the late 13th and the early 20th centuries (i.e., from the Islamisation of the Mali Empire until the decline of traditional education in French Sudan). Their subject matter ranges from scholarly works to short letters."

Video from 2018.

Note: Mali is located in northwestern Africa. "Rock paintings and carvings indicate that northern Mali has been inhabited since prehistoric times when the Sahara was fertile grassland. Farming took place by 5000 BC and iron was used around 500 BC. Large settlements began to develop in 300 A.D., including Djenne." (Wikipedia)

Timbuktu, perhaps Mali's most famous ancient city, "started out as a seasonal settlement and became a permanent settlement early in the 12th century. After a shift in trading routes, particularly after the visit by Mansa Musa around 1325, Timbuktu flourished from the trade in salt, gold, ivory, and slaves. It became part of the Mali Empire early in the 14th century. In the first half of the 15th century, the Tuareg tribes took control of the city for a short period until the expanding Songhai Empire absorbed the city in 1468." (Wikipedia)

"In its Golden Age, the town's numerous Islamic scholars and extensive trading network made possible an important book trade: together with the campuses of the Sankore Madrasah, an Islamic university, this established Timbuktu as a scholarly centre in Africa. Several notable historic writers, such as Shabeni and Leo Africanus, wrote about the city. These stories fueled speculation in Europe, where the city's reputation shifted from being extremely rich to being mysterious."

The subsequent history of Timbuktu is too complex and chaotic to describe here, but the basic story is easy enough to understand. The town reached its zenith under the Muslims during the 14th and 15th centuries and then entered a long period of decline. All that remains of its golden age are a complex of ancient buildings and mosques made of earth, fiber, straw and wood -- well preserved by the climate -- and this huge collection of manuscripts.

Its typical that the Jihadi scumbags would want to destroy these ancient manuscripts.

The Library of Congress maintains a digital exhibition called the Ancient Manuscripts of the Desert Libraries of Timbuktu.

Under Threat: The Ancient City Of Timbuktu & The Djinguereber Mud Mosque

"An intellectual and spiritual capital in the 15th-16th centuries, as well as the heart of Islamic growth throughout Africa, the city of Timbuktu is situated at the gateway to the Sahara desert. It was also an economic hub, and it’s marketplace saw the trading of manuscripts, gold, cattle, grain and salt. Timbuktu has three great mosques, including Djingareyber." Source: The Zamani Project (lots of high quality photos and videos can be found here).

"Desertification is a threat in Mali, and although these structures are restored regularly, they remain vulnerable. The Djingareyber Mosque was one of several madrasas (Arabic educational institution) that made up the University of Timbuktu, and its central minaret is a visible landmark in the urban landscape of the ancient Malian city. Parts of Timbuktu’s historic centre, including the Djingareyber Mosque, are a UNESCO World Heritage Site."

Who Built The Egyptian Pyramids?

Video from 2014.

"Egypt's pyramids are an archaeological marvel, rising high above the desert sands and visible for miles on end. Building these pyramids was undoubtedly a mammoth task, so who were the individuals that pulled it off?" Source: Live Science.

"There are many theories about who built Egypt's pyramids, including large teams of enslaved Jewish people and wilder ideas, such as inhabitants of the 'lost' city of Atlantis or even aliens. 

"None of these theories, however, have evidence to back them up."

Comment: This is an interesting article, but it doesn't cover any new ground. We've known for some time that the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids using a force of skilled Egyptian workers, not Jewish slaves. As for how the pyramids were built, that's still a mystery. The guy who made the video above says that the Egyptians didn't have the wheel when the pyramids were constructed, but I'm not sure that's accurate. According to Wikipedia, "Evidence indicates that Egyptians made use of potter's wheels in the manufacturing of pottery from as early as the 4th Dynasty (c. 2613 to 2494 BC)," around the same time the Great Pyramid is thought to have been built. Whether the wheel was used to transport stones during the pyramid's construction as another matter. The depiction in the video (starting at 2:09) shows a large number of workers dragging a stone statue across watered sand on a sledge, a more plausible method considering how difficult it would have been to construct wheeled wagons or platforms capable of supporting the weight of multi-ton stones.

The details of the pyramids' construction, while they would be interesting to know, are still kind of prosaic. I've always liked the idea that these fantastic monuments were built by aliens or people from the lost continent of Atlantis. I don't believe that, but the theory that the ancient Egyptian gods were actually extraterrestrials or the inhabitants of an extremely advanced prehistoric civilization which was swallowed up by the sea is definitely entertaining.

Is The Real Mount Sinai In Saudi Arabia?

"'Yahweh came from Sinai' (Deuteronomy 33:2; Psalms 68:18). It is in Sinai that Moses first encounters Yahweh; it is back to Sinai that Moses leads Yahweh’s people from Egypt; and it is from Sinai that, two years later, on Yahweh’s order again, Moses sets off with them to conquer a piece of the Fertile Crescent.

"But where is Sinai, with its Mount Horeb [the mountain where God gave Moses the 10 commandments]? Exodus unequivocally places it in the land of Midian ...

"And where is Midian? Greek authors unanimously place it in northwestern Arabia, on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Aqaba [see map]. Even Paul the Apostle, who spent three years in Arabia, knew that 'Sinai is a mountain in Arabia' (Galatians 4:25). It was not before the 4^th century that the biblical Sinai was misplaced in the Egyptian peninsula, probably for geopolitical reasons (Egypt was within the control of the Roman Empire, unlike Arabia, under Persian influence). But placing the biblical Sinai west of the Gulf of Aqaba didn’t make any sense, since that region had always belonged to Egypt (archeology has confirmed it). Why would the Israelites have settled there when chased by the Egyptian army?" Source: "The Arabian Cradle of Zion," by French historian Laurent Guyenot, The Unz Review. Map from World Atlas.

Comment: Whether you agree with Laurent Guyenot in general, he's right about one thing at least. The idea that the biblical Mount Sinai / Mount Horeb is located on the Sinai peninsula doesn't make any sense at all. If the Jews were fleeing Egypt, why would they settle on Egyptian territory? Assuming this is actual history we're talking about here -- a very big assumption -- they would have left Egypt altogether and crossing the Gulf of Aqaba into Arabia would have been a good way to put some distance between them and the pharaoh. If that's what actually happened -- if the real Mount Sinai is in Arabia and not on the Sinai peninsula -- it would overturn centuries of accepted religious doctrine:

"The biblical Mount Sinai is one of the most important sacred places in the Jewish, Christian and Islamic religions. The summit [in Egypt] has a mosque that is still used by Muslims, and a Greek Orthodox chapel, constructed in 1934 on the ruins of a 16th-century church, that is not open to the public. The chapel encloses the rock which is considered to be the source for the biblical Tablets of Stone. At the summit also is 'Moses' cave', where Moses was said to have waited to receive the Ten Commandments." (Wikipedia)

The supposed Mount Sinai in Egypt. Is this just a pile of rocks in the middle of the desert?

I'm not sure how many Christians, Jews and Muslims still accept the idea that Mount Sinai is in Egypt. Some Christians, at least, have come around to the belief that the mountain is in Saudi Arabia and the idea seems to be gaining in popularity.  The UNZ Review article quoted above points out the effect this is having on Middle Eastern politics:

"The growing popularization of the Arabian Sinai cannot be unrelated to the NEOM project announced in October 2017 by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman: a high-tech, ultra-connected, transnational mega city and economic zone, covering 10,230 square-miles (about the size of Massachusetts), which happens to correspond roughly to ancient Midian."

There's a lot that could be said about the Saudis, the NEOM project and the war in Yemen, among other things, but never mind all that. The UNZ Review article is as much about the current politics of the region as it is about the location of the mountain where Moses talked to YHWH, but I'm just interested in the ancient history here. I'm not going to comment one way or another about the political stuff, but I will say that there is something deeply sinister about the Orwellian NEOM smart-city project.

Getting back to where Mount Sinai is actually located, it would be interesting to know if the conventional wisdom has been wrong all these years, but I'm not sure how anybody could prove that this or that pile of granite in the desert is the biblical mountain where Moses received the ten commandments. You would need an ancient map or some kind of non-biblical documentary evidence to do that and nothing of the sort has been discovered as far as I know. But even if the question could be settled conclusively, what difference would it make?

Scholarly interest aside, the importance of all this depends on whether you believe that the Old Testament stories are true. Call me a skeptic, but I don't believe that YHWH appeared on a mountaintop in the form of a burning bush and gave Moses a list of commandments. I don't believe that YHWH exists in the first place and Moses himself is probably a mythological character:

"The modern scholarly consensus is that the figure of Moses is a mythical figure, and while, as William G. Dever writes, 'a Moses-like figure may have existed somewhere in the southern Transjordan in the mid-late 13th century B.C.', archaeology cannot confirm his existence. Certainly no Egyptian sources mention Moses or the events of Exodus–Deuteronomy, nor has any archaeological evidence been discovered in Egypt or the Sinai wilderness to support the story in which he is the central figure." (Wikipedia)

The Exodus itself, the founding myth of the Israelites, probably never happened as well:

"The consensus of modern scholars is that the Bible does not give an accurate account of the origins of Israel, which formed as an entity in the southern Transjordan region by the 13th century BCE from the indigenous Canaanite culture. There is no evidence that the Israelites were ever enslaved in ancient Egypt or even lived there and scholars broadly agree that the Exodus has no historical basis. There is a widespread agreement that the composition of the Torah or Pentateuch, the biblical books which contain the Exodus narrative, took place in the Middle Persian Period (5th century BCE), although the traditions behind it are older and can be found in the writings of the 8th-century BCE prophets." (Wikipedia)

In light of all this, the question of where Mount Sinai was located seems pretty much irrelevant.

First-Known Pregnant Mummy Discovered In Egypt

"Researchers have discovered the world's first-known pregnant mummy, dating from the first century in Egypt. The find was unexpected, as inscriptions on the mummy's coffin suggested the remains inside belonged to a male priest, according to a new study." Source: Live Science.

"... The mummy turned out to be the remains of a female who died when she was between 20 and 30 years of age and was about 6.5 to 7.5 months pregnant, based on the circumference of the fetus's head."

Note: Nobody knows how this female mummy ended up in a male priest's coffin, but "it's thought that up to 10% of mummies are found in the 'wrong' coffins, due to illegal excavations and looting, according to the study. What's more, there was damage to the wrappings on the mummy's neck, likely caused by robbers who may have stolen some amulets ..."

I have no idea why tomb robbers would take a mummy out of one coffin and place it another, which is presumably what happened if the looting theory is correct.