Egyptian Museum                   

       

The Egyptian Museum of Antiquities contains many important pieces of ancient Egyptian history. It houses the world’s largest collection of Pharaonic antiquities. The Egyptian government established the museum, built in 1835 near the Ezbekeyah Garden and later to the Cairo Citadel. In 1855 Archduke Maximilian of Austria was given all of the artifacts by the Egyptian government; these are now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

A new museum was established at Boulaq in 1858 in a former warehouse, following the foundation of the new Antiquities Department under the direction of Auguste Mariette. The building lay on the bank of the Nile River, and in 1878 it suffered significant damage in a flood of the Nile River. In 1892, the collections were moved to a former royal palace, in the Giza district of Cairo. They remained there until 1902 when they were moved, for the last time, to the current museum in Tahrir Square.

There are two main floors in the museum, the ground floor and the first floor. On the ground floor there is an extensive collection of papyrus and coins used in the Ancient world. The numerous pieces of papyrus are generally small fragments, due to their decay over the past two millennia. Several languages are found on these pieces, including Greek, Latin, Arabic, and ancient Egyptian. The coins found on this floor are made of many different metals, including gold, silver, and bronze. The coins are not only Egyptian, but also Greek, Roman, and Islamic. This has helped historians research the history of Ancient Egyptian trade.

Also on the ground floor are artifacts from the New Kingdom, the time period between 1550 and 1069 BC. These artifacts are generally larger than items created in earlier centuries. Those items include statues, tables, and coffins (sarcophagi).

On the first floor there are artifacts from the final two dynasties of Egypt, including items from the tombs of the Pharaohs Thutmosis III, Thutmosis IV, Amenophis II, Hatshepsut, and the courtier Maiherpri, as well as many artifacts from the Valley of the Kings, in particular the material from the intact tombs of Tutankhamun and Psusennes II. Two special rooms contain a number of mummies of kings and other royal family members of the New Kingdom.

THE GODDESS  ISIS 

Several people have requested some information on the goddess Isis. I will already say that there is much more to know an learn about Isis than I habe posted. This is just an overview of who she was and her story. jope you enjoy. C.C. 

Isis originally known as "Aset" or "Iset" is a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs. She was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the patroness of nature and magic. She was the friend of slaves, sinners, 

artisans and the downtrodden, but she also listened to the prayers of the wealthy, maidens, aristocrats, and rulers. Isis is often depicted as the mother of Horus, the hawk-headed god of war and protection (although in some traditions Horus's mother was Hathor). Isis is also known as protector of the dead and goddess of children.

The name Isis means "Throne". Her headdress is a throne. As the personification of the throne, she was an important representation of the pharaoh's power. The pharaoh was depicted as her child, who sat on the throne she provided. Isis was the first daughter of Geb, god of the Earth, and Nut, goddess of the Sky, and she was born on the fourth inter calary day. She married her brother, Osiris, and she conceived Horus with him. Isis was instrumental in the resurrection of Osiris when he was murdered by Set. Using her magical skills, and with the assistance of Thoth, she restored his body to life after having gathered the body parts that had been strewn about the earth by Set. It was believed that the Nile River flooded every year because of the tears of sorrow which Isis wept for Osiris. 

A later myth, tells the story of Anubis, the god of the underworld. The tale describes how Nephthys was denied a child by Set and disguised herself as her twin, Isis, to seduce him. The plot succeeded resulting in the birth of Anubis. In fear of Set's retribution, Nephthys persuaded Isis to adopt Anubis, so that Set would not find out and kill the child. The tale describes both why Anubis is seen as an underworld deity (he becomes the adopted son of Osiris), and why he could not inherit Osiris's position (as he was not actually the son of Osiris but his brother Set), neatly preserving Osiris's position as lord of the underworld. It should be remembered, however, that this new myth was only a later creation of the Osirian cult who wanted to depict Set in an evil position, as the enemy of Osiris.

The most extensive account of the Isis-Osiris story known today is Plutarch's Greek description written in the 1st century BC. 

In that version, Set held a banquet for Osiris in which he brought in a beautiful box and said that whoever could fit in the box perfectly would get to keep it. Set had measured Osiris in his sleep and made sure that he was the only one who could fit the box. Several tried to see whether they fit. Once it was Osiris's turn to see if he could fit in the box, Set closed the lid on him so that the box was now a coffin for Osiris. Set flung the box in the Nile so that it would drift far away. Isis went looking for the box so that Osiris could have a proper burial. She found the box in a tree in Byblos, a city along the Phoenician coast, and brought it back to Egypt, hiding it in a swamp. But Set went hunting that night and found the box. Enraged, Set chopped Osiris's body into fourteen pieces and scattered them all over Egypt to ensure that Isis could never find Osiris again for a proper burial. Isis and her sister Nephthys went looking for these pieces, but could only find thirteen of the fourteen. Fish had swallowed the last piece, his penis. She created a golden phallus, with the help of Thoth, and attached it to Osiris’s body. She then transformed into a kite and with the aid of Thoth’s magic conceived Horus the Younger.

Yet another set of late myths detail the adventures of Isis after the birth of Osiris's posthumous son, Horus. Many dangers faced Horus after birth, and Isis fled with the newborn to escape the wrath of Set, the murderer of her husband. In one instance, Isis heals Horus from a lethal scorpion sting. She also performs other miracles in relation to the cippi, or the plaques of Horus. Isis protected and raised Horus until he was old enough to face Set, and subsequently, became the pharaoh of Egypt.

It was said that Isis tricked Ra into telling her his "secret name," by causing a snake to bite him, for which only Isis had the cure. Knowing the secret name of a deity enabled one to have power of the deity. The use of secret names became central in many late Egyptian magic spells. By the late Egyptian historical period, after the occupations by the Greeks and the Romans, Isis became the most important and most powerful deity of the Egyptian pantheon because of her magical skills. Magic is central to the entire mythology of Isis, arguably more so than any other Egyptian deity.

Isis had a central role in Egyptian magic spells and ritual, especially those of protection and healing. In many spells, she also is completely merged even with Horus, where invocations of Isis are supposed to involve Horus's powers automatically as well. In Egyptian history the image of a wounded Horus became a standard feature of Isis's healing spells, which typically invoked the curative powers of the milk of Isis.

The first written references to Isis date back to the Fifth Dynasty. During the Old Kingdom period, Isis was represented as the wife or assistant to the deceased pharaoh. Thus she had a funerary association, her name appearing over eighty times in the pharaoh's funeral texts (the Pyramid Texts). This association with the pharaoh's wife is consistent with the role of Isis as the spouse of Horus, the god associated with the pharaoh as his protector, and then later as the deification of the pharaoh himself. But in addition, Isis was also represented as the mother of the "four sons of Horus", the four deities who protected the canopic jars containing the pharaoh's internal organs

 Ancient egypt art

According to the history, Egyptian art is five thousand years old and basically all forms of art followed one law: a great concern was put on the mode of representing man, nature and the environment remained still almost the same for thousands of years. This included homeometric regularity, keen observation and exact representation of actual subjects. The arts have emerged and took shape in the ancient Egypt, the civilization of the Nile Valley. Those who could replicate most admired styles of the past were the most admired artists for Egyptian. Most artists tried their best to preserve everything of the present time as clearly and permanently as possible including some art forms that present an extraordinarily vivid representation of the time and the life, as the ancient Egyptian life was lived thousand of years before.

 Paintings and sculptures form of arts were expressed in Ancient Egypt as they were highly symbolic and fascinating. They played the same role to revolve round the past and were intended to keep history alive. Besides, the canonical 2D and 3D art also were the best form of arts that represent the Ancient Egyptian. They were developed in Egypt from 3000 BC and used until the 3rd century. Most elements of Egyptian art were to be noted remain remarkably stable over the 3000 year period. These elements strongly represent the ancient civilization itself completely based on the true history without strong outside influence. This same basic conventions and quality of observation started at a high level and remained near that level over the period.

Gods, goddesses, and Pharaohs became the main subject for many of the great works of Ancient Egypt. These highlighted subjects were also considered divine. They represented the highly religious nature of Ancient Egyptian civilization. Idea of order became the characterization of Ancient Egyptian art. In other side, in order to create a sense of order and balance in the art of ancient Egypt, clear and simple lines combined with simple shapes and flat areas of color. Vertical and horizontal reference lines were also use by the Ancient Egyptian artists to maintain the correct proportions in their work. The art was not limited for the real subjects only as the political and religious, as well as artistic order was also maintained in Egyptian art. Plus, figures were drawn to sizes based not on their distance from the painter's point of view but on relative importance to clearly define the social hierarchy of a situation; the Pharaoh would be drawn as the largest figure in a painting no matter where he was situated, and a greater God would be drawn larger than a lesser god.