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Dear friends,      (7 September 1999)

Thanks for your article "Charlatans and Egyptology." Perhaps you could help me determine whether a story, taken from class work in in an American public school, is history or fiction. Here it is:

***********************

The Pharoah Khufu

Khufu was a wealthy Egyptian boy, raised traveling over his father's land, hunting and fishing. The time came for him to enter the temple school, where he faced a series of tests. The priest that greeted Khufu on the temple steps stared straight into his eyes, but Khufu just met his stare. The second priest made Khufu take a vow of silence for seven days, and he entered the temple. He would not be able to leave for three times seven years. First Khufu was locked in a small chamber with only one passageway out. The way became so small he was crawling like a snake on his belly. The second test was a dark passageway filled with icy black water. A room of fire was Khufu's third test, but the fire was just reflected on mirrors and did not burn Khufu. After these tests Khufu was able to enter the temple school. Khufu spent three times seven years in the temple school learning all the Egyptian knowledge of the time. At the end of the 21 years, priests conducted Khufu through one final test. They put him in a sarcophagus and he fell into a death like sleep for three days. In this way Khufu obtained the knowledge of Osis. After leaving the school Khufu became a priest, and finally a pharoah. He was the pharoah known for building the largest four sided pyramid at Giza.

Can you tell me if this story comes from an Egyptian historical source? Another possibility is that it is drawn from occultist fiction. Any assistance that you can render would be appreciated. Thanks.

Dan Dugan

Secretary, PLANS

NOTE BY THE MODERATOR - As to your query, as an Egyptologist, I've never heard that story before, besides, by its mention of sort of "initiation tests", it resembles the many occultist books that invent things without any consideration for the facts. There is so much of that in these "New Age" days ! As I said, I would suggest people stick to publications by reputable scholars from reputable academic institutions, otherwise you'll risk repeating occultist nonsense, to your discredit. Best wishes and thank you for posting this message so we can clarify things.

Arte Egipcio      (17 de Setiembre de 1999)

Soy un estudiante español, que presenta sus respetos y pide ayuda. Debo presentar un trabajo sobre el arte egipcio y no sé como debería plantearlo, en España no hay muchos sitios donde se pueda consultar sobre el tema. Mi nombre es Luis y vivo en Barcelona. Gracias.

NOTA DEL MODERADOR - Es un tema muy amplio y no sé la extensión y la profundidad que su trabajo debe tener pues no mencionó si es para una universidad o para alguna otra institución, sin embargo puedo decir que conviene empezar con algunos conceptos generales sobre la naturaleza del arte y de la expresión artística, luego yo pondría conceptos generales sobre el arte egipcio en particular destacando sus características principales que lo definen frente al arte de otros pueblos, luego aclararía que al ser Egipto un país de una geografía muy particular, había diferenciaciones regionales en el arte como en todo lo demás y además el arte evolucionó y varió de acuerdo a las diferentes circunstancias históricas a lo largo de miles de años. El período de Amarna especialmente ofrece muchas oportunidades de comentarios interesantes. No debe Ud. tampoco descuidar el tema de los cánones en la historia del arte egipcio y su evolución. Debe Ud. describir las principales características de la pintura, la escultura, la arquitectura (civil, religiosa y funeraria) y las llamadas artes menores, también conviene tratar las técnicas de los artistas y los elementos usados en su trabajo y su vida como artistas y cómo se veía la profesión de artista en la sociedad contemporánea. En fin, un tema muy amplio, para el que Ud. puede encontrar muy buena bibliografía en cualquier biblioteca importante del mundo. Yo le sugiero leer el clásico de Michalowski sobre el arte egipcio y si lee inglés, el de W. Stevenson Smith "Art and architecture". Para los cánones, Harris, "El legado de Egipto" y luego otras obras para redondear el tema, sin dejar de lado, por supuesto, sus propias ideas sobre el tema ya que supongo que se espera que Ud. no solamente copie lo que otros dicen sino que aporte, con cautela y fundamentando, sus propias ideas.Espero que estos comentarios le resulten útiles. ¿Algún otro de los visitantes de este Foro desea ayudar al amigo con sugerencias y recomendaciones?

Hello,          (22 September 1999)

I would be glad if you take a look at our new site:

"Carlo Vidua and the Travellers of 1800 in Egypt"

http://www.doit.it/Egypt

Any comment is welcome !

Marco Maroccolo (Italy)     (egypt@aleph.it)

Thousands of mummies...        (1 October 1999)

I've read in the papers recently about the discovery of hundreds (and the possible existence of thousands, they even talked of 10,000) ancient Egyptian mummies in the desert, west of the Nile Valley. The articles made much of this discovery, as they usually do when something captures their fancy for some reason, but from the pictures they included, I don't think those mummies are in very good condition or are very good examples of mummification in ancient Egypt, they seemed very late in date. I was surprised about the numbers being the location out in the desert. I'd like to hear any opinions you may have on this subject.

Jimmy        (jimmyspa@my-deja.com)

Re: Thousands of mummies...        (3 October 1999)

J. M. Duarte        (jmduarte@i.com.uy)

Dear Dr. Alberto Bianchi,       (7 October 1999)

I am a student at Cal State University Long Beach. I am looking for some information for a presentation that my group and I are putting together. If you could give me some insight into Egyptian society, how they play as children and/or adults, in the past or present. Also any elements of play that might be apparent in religious ceremonies, work methods, or any cultural events. The class I am taking, Universality of Play, is a study of the importance of play, evolution of play and how it has been viewed throughout time. Any special stories or information you can share with me about Egyptian culture will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Christy Gutmann        (cgutmann@csulb.edu)

Dear Christy,       (10 October 1999)

Although you addressed your request to Dr. Bianchi, I'd like to help with some ideas of my own too. I assume that you're familiar with the classic book by J. Huizinga, "Homo Ludens" that takes playing and games beyond the surface of what appears to be a form of entertainment for children and grown-ups. If you haven't read it, I think you should and select from it what it's still relevant today, because this book is quite old but still valuable and thought provoking.

Toys are known in ancient Egypt form the earliest times, some objects that must have been toys, were found in prehistoric graves occupied by children. From the Early Dynastic period, quite elaborate game sets were recovered from the tombs of adults. From historical sources such as tomb reliefs and paintings, we know that the ancient Egyptians, young and older, indulged in many kinds of forms of playing, some like the ones children in Egypt still play, not involving any artifacts, such as lying on the ground and without seeing, being hit by someone, whose identity they had to guess, different sorts of athletic games that involved gymnastic ability, others involving the use of balls that were thrown and had to be caught, and of course, games such as senet (a kind of board game that seems to have been a combination of chance and skill), dogs and jackals, the serpent game, etc. Little girls had all sorts of dolls, some with movable limbs, as well as figures of animals, also movable.

You'll find an interesting article on the subject in one of the Uruguayan sites, at:

http://www.oocities.org/SoHo/Village/5607/

look for the second page of the English version.

I hope these brief notes help.

Julio Rosas       (jurosas@my-deja.com)

Some remarks on Toys and Games in ancient Egypt       (12 October 1999)

In the case of little girls, they played with dolls of several kinds, carved from wood or made of clay or other materials. Some of them often had wigs and were dressed with elaborate clothes. They had their cots and even beds. Some of the ones made of clay had a rounded base instead of feet which allowed to play by pushing them and they would perform a sort of dance. Others had limbs that could be moved by pulling strings, which was also done with models of dwarfs or pigmies and of animals such as hippopotamus or crocodile.

Girls also played by dancing after tying a ball or a mirror to their tresses, thus they contorted their bodies and did a spin with Hathorian reminiscences. The iconography also shows four girls, holding the hands of two older ones with their backs touching and so they performed acrobatic movements.

As for the boys, they played several games involving greater physical capacity. In one of them, each embraced the one preceding him, the first two with their feet touching, then they held hands and made efforts to topple their opponent. They also jumped over obstacles and at other times, they sat on the floor facing each other with extended arms and legs, trying to pull their opponent. Another game seems to have been similar to the modern leap frog.

In the harim, young girls were very expert in several juggling feats and dancing involving difficult movements which were much appreciated by those who watched them.

Adult men practiced games which were forms of athletic ability. One of them, very risky, involved a man with a stick placed between two fighting bulls, who tried to prevent the animals from getting at each other.

Game boards were played already from the earliest dynasties and were the entertainment of adult well-to-do people. The one called "the serpent" involved the mhn snake whose name meant "the coiled one" and had a mythical significance. The snake's body was divided in spaces and had its head at the centre and the tail ended outside the circle. The players threw some balls trying to reach the first spaces in the spiral so that they could place their pawns there.

The serpent was linked to the underground nightly voyage of Ra in whose boat we find it completely covering the god's shrine. The fact that the snake appears coiled (as we see it in the uraei of kings of the Late Period) is probably due to its extreme length, necessary so that it can fulfil its protective function.

In this game the pawns were made in the shape of lions (three male and three female), all in the attitude of rest, it is reasonable to think that they are a representation of the solar god Ruty, present here with sexual dimorphism in order to facilitate the game.

There was also another game called "hounds and jackals", which I think in fact implied two different species of dogs, in which a board of various shapes was used, which had a palm tree in its centre. Around it and at the edge of the board, sticks were placed which ended in the shape of the head of one or other of the animals. It seems this game consisted of the accumulation of points scored by the players in relation to the signs at each location. It cannot be ruled out that this game had some kind of religious implication.

The most important board game seems to have been the one called "Senet" which involved a board divided in two parallel lines of spaces with a total of 30 boxes. In these, signs were painted connected to the voyage the dead had to make in the netherworld. Thus, boxes 16 and 27 meant being thrown into the fire pit that awaited the condemned souls or their death by drowning. The senet board rested on four lion legs. In some cases gold, ivory and ebony were used to make these elaborate boards. The number of pawns varied between 14 and 26 and had a conic or cylindrical shape. Two sticks were also used and their sides were painted with different colours. It was not only a game of chance but also of skill so that your pawns would land in the favourable boxes and also to dislodge those of your opponent. This game, practiced at first as a form of entertainment, later (mainly during the New Kingdom) took a mythical importance and so many sets were found in royal tombs. It seems that the player who could win the game on this earth, had somehow assured his or her place next to Ra in his nightly journey through the netherworld and eternal life in the solar paradise, thus avoiding a possible condemnation in the judgment hall of Osiris.

Some suggested readings:

C. Aldred, "The development of ancient Egyptian art".

J. J. Castillos, "El Egipto Faraónico".

Ch. Desroches Noblecourt, "Tutankhamen".

P. Montet, "Daily life in ancient Egypt in the times of Ramesses".

P. Piccione, "In search of the meaning of senet", Oriental Institute publications.

L. Reinhardt, "Kulturgeschichte der Nutztiere".

Alberto Bianchi       (juancast@yahoo.com)

Solicitud       (17 de Octubre de 1999)

Hola amigos egiptólogos de Uruguay, quisiera preguntarles si vieron el video de National Geographic, "Egipto: en busca de la eternidad", si lo han visto, ¿me podrían hacer un pequeño resumen con lo que trata?, porque donde yo vivo no lo consigo en ningún lado y tengo que hacer un trabajo.

Gracias.

Roberto Bernasconi        (nahuelb@netverk.com.ar)

Re: Solicitud       (20 de Octubre de 1999)

El video de la National Geographic, "Egipto: en busca de la eternidad", es una muy buena producción que está entre los más populares de nuestra Videoteca social, por ser ameno e informativo a la vez. Dura aproximadamente una hora y comienza con imágenes de la vida rural del Egipto de hoy, luego imágenes de las grandes pirámides y la esfinge de Guiza, después de algunas breves notas sobre los orígenes del estado egipcio antiguo, nos muestra los trabajos de W. Fairservis en Hierakónpolis para rescatar los vestigios de ese pasado remoto. Luego se traslada al templo de Karnak y a Abidos donde nos presenta a Omm Sety, un peculiar personaje dentro de la egiptología, que dedicó sus últimos años al estudio de los templos de Abidos. De regreso en Luxor, la acción se traslada a la Chicago House donde Lanny Bell dirige los trabajos de la revisión epigráfica de los templos de Luxor para preservar textos e imágenes por medio de fotos y dibujos fieles. A continuación se describen las decoraciones de las tumbas y el trabajo de Kent Weeks para su adecuada preservación. Después la acción se traslada a El Cairo y se mencionan los principales acontecimientos de la vida independiente moderna de Egipto. Finalmente, se describen los trabajos de rescate de los templos de Abu Simbel. La excelencia de las imágenes, una constante de la National Geographic (y quizás su punto más fuerte), esta vez se complementan con comentarios sobrios e informativos.

Luis Suárez        (luis-suarez@bigfoot.com)

Pedido       (25 de Octubre de 1999)

Hola, mi nombre es Lorena, soy una estudiante de 1er. año de liceo del San Juan Bautista. Estudiamos Egipto en Historia y Geografía así como también hicimos trabajos sobre este país en otras materias. Ahora debo preparar una carpeta sobre arte egipcio y no tengo casi material. ¿Serían Uds. tan amables en proporcionarme algo sobre este tema? Se lo agradezco desde ahora.

Gracias.

Lorena Cobertti       (cobertti@adinet.com.uy)

NOTA DEL MODERADOR: Hallarás mucha información e imágenes en colores en nuestras 25 páginas de Egiptología en Internet (algunas en español y otras en inglés), que están centradas alrededor de:

http://members.spree.com/juancast/

También en el enlace marcado como "Recomendamos" en nuestra página "Maravillas del Egipto Milenario" hallarás mucha información. Espero que te resulten útiles para tu propósito.

The Great Pyramid        (6 November 1999)

I maintain a site that showcases the discoveries and ideas in the book called Pharaoh's Pump. This site talks about how the Great Pyramid was built.

This is the book that is so highly regarded in the recent best selling book, 5/5/2000 : "Ice, the Ultimate Disaster" by Richard W. Noone, and other books.

Please check out the site at:

http://www.thepump.org

Thank you for your time and consideration. If you have any questions or comments let me know.

Warm regards,

Steven Myers          stevenm@harborside.com

Re: The Great Pyramid        (7 November 1999)

Dear Mr. Myers,

I visited your webpage and read its contents. I regret to say that although I respect your ideas, I found your theory similar to others by engineers and other such professional people specialized in disciplines that have very little to do with the humanities, history in particular, who study ancient monuments and come up with apparently brilliant ideas that explain how those monuments were built and what purposes they served.

Unfortunately, they do not seem concerned with the historical side of the matter, that is, providing proof that the monuments served such purpose as documented by the builders themselves in texts or images, and that the technical knowhow (hydraulics in this case) was current in those ancient times. Also you seem to imply that the Great Pyramid served a purpose other than a strictly funerary one, which is contradicted by all the archaeological evidence surrounding it and the transmitted traditions that Herodotus and others picked up when they visited Egypt.

I wish you people would use your undoubtedly sound knowledge of technical matters to more constructive purposes and always had the sense to consult and seriously bear in mind the findings of archaeologists after so many years of research. Ingenious explanations will always remain merely that and no more until engineers, astronomers, geologists, etc. grasp the basic fact that if any archaeologist were to dabble in those technical matters (which they have the sense not to), they would expose themselves to rejection and perhaps even ridicule. The contributions of scientists can lead to dramatic advances in Egyptology provided they work side by side with egyptologists, allowing their expertise in their field guide your research so as not to go against all we know of ancient Egypt.

Since the times of Piazzi Smyth (a widely respected astronomer) the world has seen these ingenious theories enjoy brief popularity and then be forgotten because their creators ignored this basic rule of commonsense and decided to go on a tangent of their own. Historically speaking, that something is (or was) possible, doesn't turn it into a proof that it really happened.

Respectfully yours,

J. J. Castillos        juancast@yahoo.com

Egyptians' Ethnicity        (15 November 1999)

I've always been curious as to the ethnicity of the ancient Egyptians. Are they the same race of people that inhabit the country today, or were they more Africoid?  Thank you for responding!

Othretic1@aol.com

NOTE BY THE MODERATOR - I don't know what you mean exactly by the word "Africoid" but current thought is that they were much the same as today's Egyptians. You can find an article on the subject in one of our pages at:

Papers on Egyptology

I hope the information contained therein convinces you that they were a very mixed population, as it was common in most ancient civilizations. Perhaps ethnic diversity is a positive force, the good old "melting pot" idea?

Re: Egyptians' Ethnicity        (18 November 1999)

Thank you for responding to my curiosity. But still I have my questions and fascinations about this. In a class that I am taking, they show a lot of the Egyptian artifacts and sculptures and temples. The replicas that the ancient Egyptians created of their kings and queens were of Africoid people. The people of today's Egypt, I was taught, were the descendants of the Arab conquerors, is that not true?  I do agree that white racists have hidden a lot of information from the world to perpetuate black inferiority. And I believe that in the past they put the image in the world's mind that African people were primitive and savage by nature. But however, I do find it hard to believe that the ancient Egyptians were a mixed people. How can you say that the original people of a land were mixed? Mixed civilizations always come after a migration. In my class all the pictures shown of the temples and structures are of definite Africoid people. The replicas show thick lipped, broad nosed people. All the great statues that haven't been vandalized show the thick lips and broad nose. Today's current Egyptian population do not display those features. It was also conveyed in class that the sphinx's nose was taken off because of its broadness indicating the trait of the Africoid people. This was supposed to be done by Napoleon's armies as one of the early seeds of racism. And I now believe that a lot of the vandalism that has occurred in the past took place for a racist purpose. Because, think about it, why were the noses the main feature that was knocked off of statues? Could you if it's possible send me, or direct me to some more pictures so I can do a little research for myself, so I can perhaps print it out and take it back to my class?

Othretic1@aol.com

NOTE BY THE MODERATOR-  You have to be careful, I don't know what classes you're taking but people can select objects in order to convey a wrong impression. You have to bear in mind that the "Arab conquerors" were very few compared with the vast Egyptian population, so they simply can't have changed it much. All the physical anthropological evidence shows that from early times the Egyptians were a mixed population, which makes sense given their geographic location. Still, there are people that distort the historical evidence for their own purposes, I suggest you don't fall in that trap. Blacks were at all times part of the Egyptian population and they even got to be kings in certain times, but to say that the ancient Egyptians were Black is clearly untrue. I also believe there is much to be proud in being Black, although white racists have always tried to hide this and the highly evolved African ancient cultures in Nigeria and Zimbabwe (and probably others we don't know about, waiting to be discovered and studied), prove the point. Besides, it seems man evolved from early African ancestors, so there is plenty for Black people to be proud about. So it's not necessary for them to falsify history and make the ancient Egyptians into what they were not. Look further and you'll see that there were Egyptians of all kinds in the past. Perhaps you were informed by people with a clear prejudice to prove something. As I said before, being Egypt at a crossroads between Africa and Asia, migrations did occur and that's clearly present in the human remains from the earliest times. Any good book of the many there are on ancient Egyptian art and painting showing human types will prove my point. Same as today, in ancient Egypt, the farther south you went, the darker the skin and other features. I don't quite agree with the reason for the alteration to the sphinx's nose, I think it is driving the issue a bit too far. In this subject there are many people who try to prove a point with complete disregard for the facts. Don't let them fool you, just look for the real situation.

Good luck in your studies.

New Website on Egypt and Magazine         (8 December 1999)

Note we have launched a new Egypt-specific component of our web site. You can view it at:

http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/

"click" on the Egypt Revealed button. Also note that we are launching a new magazine (EGYPT REVEALED) that will cover Egyptian archaeology (will also have a small travel component as well -- will also include archaeology and related topics from the surrounding regions).

Please tell others who might be interested. Thanks.

Jeff Leach

President, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief

Scientific American Discovering Archaeology

1205 N Oregon St.

El Paso, Texas 79902

tel: (915)533-8503

fax: (915)544-9276

jleach@elp.rr.com

www.discoveringarchaeology.com

CLICK HERE TO GO TO OUR MAIN PAGE

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