The destruction of the Great Library of Alexandria

Ancient Origins

Alexandria, one of the greatest cities of the ancient world, was founded by Alexander the Great after his conquest of Egypt in 332 BC. After the death of Alexander in Babylon in 323 BC, Egypt fell to the lot of one of his lieutenants, Ptolemy. It was under Ptolemy that the newly-founded Alexandria came to replace the ancient city of Memphis as the capital of Egypt. This marked the beginning of the rise of Alexandria. Yet, no dynasty can survive for long without the support of their subjects, and the Ptolemies were keenly aware of this. Thus, the early Ptolemaic kings sought to legitimize their rule through a variety of ways, including assuming the role of pharaoh, founding the Graeco-Roman cult of Serapis, and becoming the patrons of scholarship and learning (a good way to show off one’s wealth, by the way). It was this patronage that resulted in the creation of the great Library of Alexandria by Ptolemy. Over the centuries, the Library of Alexandria was one of the largest and most significant libraries in the ancient world. The great thinkers of the age, scientists, mathematicians, poets from all civilizations came to study and exchange ideas. As many as 700,000 scrolls filled the shelves. However, in one of the greatest tragedies of the academic world, the Library became lost to history and scholars are still not able to agree on how it was destroyed.

An artist’s depiction of the Library of Alexandria. Image source.

Perhaps one of the most interesting accounts of its destruction comes from the accounts of the Roman writers. According to several authors, the Library of Alexandria was accidentally destroyed by Julius Caesar during the siege of Alexandria in 48 BC. Plutarch, for instance, provides this account:

when the enemy tried to cut off his (Julius Caesar’s) fleet, he was forced to repel the danger by using fire, and this spread from the dockyards and destroyed the great library. (Plutarch, The Life of Julius Caesar, 49.6)

This account is dubious, however, as the Musaeum (or Mouseion) at Alexandria, which was right next to the library was unharmed, as it was mentioned by the geographer Strabo about 30 years after Caesar’s siege of Alexandria. Nevertheless, Strabo does not mention the Library of Alexandria itself, thereby supporting the claim that Caesar was responsible for burning it down. However, as the Library was attached to the Musaeum, and Strabo did mention the latter, it is possible that the library was still in existence during Strabo’s time. The omission of the library can perhaps be attributed either to the possibility that Strabo felt no need to mention the library, as he had already mentioned the Musaeum, or that the library was no longer the centre of scholarship that it once was (the idea of ‘budget cuts’ seems increasingly probable). In addition, it has been suggested that it was not the library, but the warehouses near the port, which stored manuscripts, that was destroyed by Caesar’s fire.

The second possible culprit would be the Christians of the 4th century AD. In 391 AD, the Emperor Theodosius issued a decree that officially outlawed pagan practices. Thus, the Serapeum or Temple of Serapis in Alexandria was destroyed. However, this was not the Library of Alexandria, or for that matter, a library of any sort. Furthermore, no ancient sources mention the destruction of any library at this time at all. Hence, there is no evidence that the Christians of the 4th century destroyed the Library of Alexandria.

The last possible perpetrator of this crime would be the Muslim Caliph, Omar. According to this story, a certain “John Grammaticus” (490–570) asks Amr, the victorious Muslim general, for the “books in the royal library." Amr writes to the Omar for instructions and Omar replies: "If those books are in agreement with the Quran, we have no need of them; and if these are opposed to the Quran, destroy them.” There are at least two problems with this story. Firstly, there is no mention of any library, only books. Secondly, this was written by a Syrian Christian writer, and may have been invented to tarnish the image of Omar.

Unfortunately, archaeology has not been able to contribute much to this mystery. For a start, papyri have rarely been found in Alexandria, possibly due to the climatic condition, which is unfavourable for the preservation of organic material. Secondly, the remains of the Library of Alexandria itself have not been discovered. This is due to the fact that Alexandria is still inhabited by people today and only salvage excavations are allowed to be carried out by archaeologists.

While it may be convenient to blame one man or group of people for the destruction of what many consider to be the greatest library in the ancient world, it may be over-simplifying the matter. The library may not have gone up in flames at all, but rather could have been gradually abandoned over time. If the Library was created for the display of Ptolemaic wealth, then its decline could also have been linked to an economic decline. As Ptolemaic Egypt gradually declined over the centuries, this may have also had an effect on the state of the Library of Alexandria. If the Library did survive into the first few centuries AD, its golden days would have been in the past, as Rome became the new centre of the world.

Featured image: One of the theories suggests that Library of Alexandria was burned down. ‘The Burning of the Library of Alexandria’, by Hermann Goll (1876).

 By Ḏḥwty

How Old Are the Most Ancient Houses in a Prominent Cypriot City?

Ancient Origins

Polish archaeologists working on Cyprus have discovered the oldest-known homes in Nea Paphos, a prominent capital city and harbor of the ancient Greeks.

The homes date back an impressive 2,400 years and shed new light on the earliest days of an important city. Teams of Polish archaeologists have been working in the city since 1965 but have so far excavated just 10 percent of it, so they expect to excavate many more great finds. The homes were in use for about 1,000 years, from 400 BC until about the 7th century AD, says a press release about the find on the website Science & Scholarship in Poland, or PAP.

 During the last excavation season we managed to reach some of the first buildings erected in this ancient city,” Dr. Henryk Meyza of the Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures of the Polish Academy of Sciences told PAP. His team does research in the city’s residential district.

 Another team also works in the vicinity—the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw, also headed by Dr. Meyza. Speaking on the discovery, Dr. Meyza said:

"From the beginning, they [the houses] were erected on a regular grid of streets, which cut the area into about 100 by 35 m [328 feet by 115 feet] lots. The houses were rebuilt and erected in a similar way in successive decades. This was also because the construction of this district was preceded by the construction of water drainage system in the stone substrate that was used throughout the history of the city.”

The remnants of a water tank in Nea Paphos; the founders of the town built a water system before building the homes. (Photo: Dr. Henryk Meyza)

The city of Nea (New) Paphos was founded because Palea (Old) Paphos’ harbor was no longer accessible. Nea Paphos had a convenient harbor on which were built large piers. The last independent king of the state of Paphos founded the new city, Dr. Meyza said.

The capital called Nea Paphos would become the largest Greek fleet town after Alexandria in Egypt. Cyprus had much timber, mainly cedar, for the construction of ships back then. As such, it was a valuable asset to the Egyptians of the Ptolemy dynasty. They made the city bigger and more important. "However, the majority of visible relics come from later times," said Dr. Meyza.

Excavations have been ongoing in the area since 1965. (Photo: Dr. Henryk Meyza)

In recent years, the archaeologists have been working to excavate a house they call Hellenistic because it dates to the 4th century BC. It has a simple layout. Several homes are centered around three courtyards, the press release states. The central courtyard was a square with colonnades around it and a garden in the middle. As Dr. Meyza told PAP:

“The house has been researched since the 1980s, but because of its large stylistic heterogeneity it has always been a mystery to us. It was only in recent years that we learned how many redevelopments and changes in its layout had taken place. The central part housed pools of different sizes, and the largest, square pool had a side length of about 7 m. The last phase of development, with the garden, was built only in the late 1st or early 2nd century AD, already in the Roman period.”

 The researchers try not to disturb later walls while also getting to the deepest layers to excavate the oldest buildings. These buildings date back to the city’s founding the 4th or 3rd century BC. Archaeologists have independent knowledge of when it was founded from ancient written sources.

Dr. Meyza added that the oldest houses are not that impressive aesthetically. They have clay floors, unlike the newer homes which had beautiful mosaic floors or stone slabs. But they do give insight into the way residences were constructed in that era.

To prevent the destruction of the ruins of the ancient city, the archaeologists dig only where they can look under the earth’s surface. This prevents them from damaging well-preserved relics of walls from more recent times. But even with this extra care, the archaeologists have been able to make some conclusions about the city’s importance.

 Top image: A house and villa in Nea Paphos, a town of vital importance to Greek and Egyptian rulers for its harbor and nearby timber for ship construction. (Photo: Dr. Henryk Meyza)

 By Mark Miller

5,000-Year-Old Mesopotamian Pay Stub Reveals Workers Were Paid with Beer

Ancient Origins

An ancient cuneiform tablet dating back to 3,000 BC, which was discovered in the Mesopotamian city of Uruk, in modern day Iraq, reveals that the workers of the ancient city were paid with beer rations.

Beer was then a thick, nutritious, carbohydrate-loaded brew that fueled the labor of Mesopotamian and also Egyptian workers as they did the hard work of constructing stone buildings, monuments, ziggurats and pyramids.
New Scientist reports that the Mesopotamian pay stub is one of the oldest known examples of writing. The article states:

Perhaps it’s no surprise that one of the earliest known examples of writing features two basic human concerns: alcohol and work. About 5000 years ago, the people living in the city of Uruk, in modern day Iraq, wrote in a picture language called cuneiform. On one tablet excavated from the area we can see a human head eating from a bowl, meaning “ration”, and a conical vessel, meaning “beer.” Scattered around are scratches recording the amount of beer for a particular worker. It’s the world’s oldest known payslip, that the concept of worker and employer was familiar five millennia ago.

Uruk was not the only place in the ancient world where people were paid in beer. According to an article on Smithsonian.org quotes libation archaeologist Patrick McGovern as saying: “For the pyramids, each worker got a daily ration of four to five liters. It was a source of nutrition, refreshment and reward for all the hard work. It was beer for pay. You would have had a rebellion on your hands if they’d run out. The pyramids might not have been built if there hadn’t been enough beer.”

The Uruk archaeological site in Mesopotamia; as in Egypt, the Mesopotamians built their monuments in stone and paid their workers in beer. (Wikimedia photo)

Monument and pyramid workers also received bread as part of their wages. After all, man does not live by beer alone.
Ars Technica points out that Geoffrey Chaucer was paid about 252 gallons of wine per year by Richard II of England. The member of parliament, government official and author of The Canterbury Tales lived in the 14^th century AD.
Even in modern times, one of the perks of working at certain establishments in some countries is drinking beer or other intoxicating beverages for free.
Regarding Mesopotamia, the epic of Gilgamesh has a passage on beer in which Enkidu becomes cultured by beer and bread:

Enkidu, a shaggy, unkempt, almost bestial primitive man, who ate grass and could milk wild animals, wanted to test his strength against Gilgamesh, the demigod-like sovereign. Taking no chances, Gilgamesh sent a (prostitute) to Enkidu to learn of his strengths and weaknesses. Enkidu enjoyed a week with her, during which she taught him of civilization. Enkidu knew not what bread was nor how one ate it. He had also not learned to drink beer. The (prostitute) opened her mouth and spoke to Enkidu: 'Eat the bread now, O Enkidu, as it belongs to life. Drink also beer, as it is the custom of the land.' Enkidu drank seven cups of beer and his heart soared. In this condition he washed himself and became a human being.

Gilgamesh was written in the 3^rd millennium BC, some time after this ancient pay stub was issued. The epic of Gilgamesh also takes place in the city of Uruk.

Tablet 5 of the epic of Gilgamesh (Wikimedia photo/Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg))

The site BeerInTheWorld.com says historians have traced beer’s roots to ancient African, Egyptian and Sumerian tribes. Sumer was a part of ancient Mesopotamia. “The oldest proven records of brewing are about 6,000 years old and refer to the Sumerians,” the site says. “It is said that the Sumerians discovered the fermentation process by chance.”
Featured image: This is the oldest known pay stub in the world, dating back 5,000 years to the city of Uruk in Mesopotamia. The wages were beer. (British Museum photo)
By Mark Miller

Beer Before Wine: Research Shows that Spain was a Beer Country First

Ancient Origins

A Colorado State University professor says he wants to write a book on caelia—an ancient Spanish beer that was replaced by wine after the Roman Empire invaded Iberia. He also may collaborate with a brewery or the university’s prominent fermentation program to produce a batch of the old brew, which he calls “beer juice.”
But if you’re curious and you’re visiting Spain, some Spanish breweries have already resurrected the beverage, the origins of which date back at least 5,000 years.
Jonathan Carlyon, professor of languages and culture, has been studying the prehistoric Spanish beverage. His specialty at the university is early Hispanic literary culture. He knows a lot about Spanish history and its people’s reliance on caelia and beer until the Romans began making incursions in Hispania beginning around 218 BC and introduced wine, says a press release from Colorado State.
Some Spanish brewers already make caelia, but Professor Carlyon is considering asking a Fort Smith, Colorado, brewery or the university’s fermentation program to brew up a batch too. Apart from writing a paper or a book about the beverage, he expressed his interest in perhaps providing a class on the drink for the university’s fermentation students.

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“Now beer is worthy of serious academic scholarship,” he is quoted in the press release. “We’re always trying to recruit students to take our courses and get our minor. The Languages, Literatures and Cultures lens can be used in almost any field.”

Colorado State University Professor Jonathan Carlyon with a bottle of caelia from a Spanish microbrewery (CSU photo)

“The name Caelia, derived from the Latin verb for heating, ‘calefacere,’ was inspired by the heat used in the brewing process,” the release stated. “Carlyon has tracked the consumption of Caelia back about 5,000 years, to a time in Spain when women brewed the lightly carbonated drink as part of their daily routine, using a fermentation process similar to the one they used to make bread. ‘It was like a beer juice, compared to the beer made today,’ he says.”
The Roman Empire’s military was unable to conquer the ancient Spanish city of Numancia, between Madrid and Barcelona. Carlyon says before every battle the soldiers of Numancia got drunk on caelia
“contributing to the Romans’ view of them as fierce, wild fighters who successfully held off the invaders until the Romans wearied of the losses and reverted to building a wall around the fortified city in a siege. Finally, the Romans stopped fighting, closed them in and starved them, but it took two years.”

A pitcher from ancient Numancia. ( Ecelan/CC BY SA 4.0 )

The Romans replaced the native beer culture with viniculture, but what goes around comes around. In 1550, when the Spanish began their incursions into the Americas they listed grapevines as a valuable commodity, not hops or barley, CSU says.
“The fact that they chose that reflected the culture of the time. In 1550, it had been more than 1,000 years since beer had been prevalent,” Carlyon said.

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Proto-cuneiform recording the allocation of beer, probably from southern Iraq, Late Prehistoric period, about 3100-3000 BC ( Takomabibelot/ CC BY 2.0 )

Other academics have been resurrecting ancient libations.
An archaeologist working with a brewery is recreating ancient beers from around the world, including Turkey, Egypt, Italy, Denmark, Honduras and China, Ancient Origins reported in 2015. Alcohol archaeologist Patrick McGovern thinks he may even be able to recreate a drink from Egypt that is 16,000 years old.
Professor McGovern, of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, has been working with Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, Delaware. The professor is using modern technology to detect traces of ingredients. In addition, Dogfish Head Brewery has produced beer using African, South American, and Finnish recipes from centuries ago. For a list of the brews, see dogfish.com/ancientales.
It’s not just beer that archaeologists are trying to recreate. Ancient-Origins.net reported in 2013 that Italian archaeologists planted a vineyard near Catania in Sicily with the aim of making wine using techniques from classical Rome described in ancient texts. The team expected its first vintage within four years.
These attempts at drinking the spirits of ancestors go back quite a few years. There is a reference at thekeep.org about a 1996 attempt by Newcastle Breweries in Melbourne to brew an ancient Egyptian beer too.

The Herald-Sun reported that 'Tutankhamon Ale' will be based on sediment from jars found in a brewery housed in the Sun Temple of Nefertiti, and the team involved has gathered enough of the correct raw materials to produce just 1000 bottles of the ale,” Caroline Seawright wrote at thekeep.org. That beer was 5 to 6 percent alcohol and was sold at Harrods for £50 (about $100) a bottle. The profit was to go toward further research into Egyptian beer making.
Featured image: A glass of beer atop old barrels ( public domain ).
By Mark Miller

History Trivia - Guy Fawkes Day

November 5, 1219 - The port of Damietta (Egypt) fell to the Crusaders after a siege.

1530 St. Felix Flood ravaged the Dutch coast, destroying the city of Reimerswaal in the Netherlands.

1605 - Guy Fawkes Day, the Catholic convert conspired to blow up Parliament and the British royal family.  The gunpowder plot was discovered and Fawkes was arrested before the event was to take place.  Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Bonfire Night, is an annual celebration, primarily in Great Britain, traditionally and usually held on the evening of 5 November.  Festivities are centered on the use of fireworks and the lighting of bonfires.  it is also celebrated in former British Colonies such as Australia and New Zealand.

Rare ancient sarcophagus discovered in Israel

Fox News

An Israeli Antiquities Authority employee cleans an 1,800 years old stone sarcophagus. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

An elaborate ancient sarcophagus has been discovered at a building site in the Israeli city of Ashkelon, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Thursday.
However, the sarcophagus, which is around 1,800 years old, was severely damaged when building contractors attempted to remove it improperly from the ground, according to officials.
The Israel Antiquities Authority said that it will take legal action against those involved.
Described as one of the rarest sarcophagi ever discovered in Israel, the stone coffin weighs 2 tons and is 8.2 feet long. Sculpted on all sides, a life-size figure of a person is sculpted on the sarcophagus’ lid.
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“One side of the sarcophagus lid is adorned with the carved image of a man leaning on his left arm,” explained Gabi Mazor, a retired archaeologist and expert on the classical periods, in an Israel Antiquities Authority press release. “He is wearing a short-sleeved shirt decorated with embroidery on the front. A tunic is wrapped around his waist. The figure’s eyes were apparently inlaid with precious stones that have disappeared and the hair is arranged in curls, in a typical Roman hairstyle.”

The other side of the lid features a carved relief of a metal amphora, a vessel used for transporting liquids such as wine, from which there are intertwining tendrils bearing grape clusters and grape leaves. The sarcophagus is also decorated with wreaths and images of bulls' heads, naked Cupids, and the head of the mythical creature Medusa.
The sarcophagus, which was apparently excavated last week, was repeatedly struck by a tractor in different places, scarring the stone and damaging the decorations sculpted by on its sides, according to the press release.
“The irreparable damage was caused by contractors who encountered the impressive sarcophagus during the course of their work,” officials explained. “They decided to hide it, pulled it out of the ground with a tractor while aggressively damaging it, concealed it beneath a stack of sheet metal and boards and poured a concrete floor in the lot so as to conceal any evidence of the existence of the antiquities site.”
Related: Egypt invites expert behind new theory on Nefertiti's tomb

"This is an extremely serious case of damage to a rare antiquity of unprecedented artistic, historical and cultural importance,” said Amir Ganor, head of the Israel Antiquities Authority’s Inspection Department.

Precious Treasures from Ancient Heracleion to be Revealed

Ancient Origins

Artifacts from the Egyptian city of Thonis-Heracleion, once thought to be little more than a legend, will be displayed at an exhibition in Paris in September. The treasures include a fine sculpture of a pharaoh and a depiction of the god Osiris with golden eyes. These are just two of the artifacts discovered underwater in the submerged ruins of Thonis-Heracleion and Canopus, both of which disappeared in the 8th century after being struck by tidal waves caused by an earthquake. The main cause of this disaster was is thought to be liquefaction of the silt upon which the cities were built, causing them to sink by around 12 feet.
The cities are located beneath the surface in Aboukir Bay near Alexandria and have recently been subjected to excavations by French marine archaeologist Franck Goddio, who is the Founding head of the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology in Paris. The remains of the cities cover 40 square miles (110 square kilometers) of seabed and were initially discovered by Mr. Goddio in 2000. At the time, this was considered as one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of modern times, resulting in the identification of colossal statues and the discovery of ancient coins and jewelry, artifacts indicating a considerable level of opulence at the height of this civilizations history.

Ptolemaic coins found at the submerged site of Thonis-Heracleion, Alexandria, Egypt (Wikimedia Commons)

Thonis-Heracleion, a conjunction of the city’s Egyptian and Greek names, was once incredibly prosperous. The city was founded in the 8th century BC and consisted of a network of canals and a port that served as an important gateway to Ancient Egypt. It also became the most important city in the Mediterranean in terms of international trading. Mr. Goddio’s team discovered more than 700 anchors and 60 wrecks dating from the sixth to the second century BC.
“There will be many important artifacts which have never been seen before, even in Egypt, as they have been discovered recently during our underwater missions” Goddio said, speaking to The Guardian.

Statue being uncovered during the underwater mission, Alexandria, Egypt (IMGUR)

Dr Daimian Robinson, Director of the Oxford Centre for Maritime Archaeology at the University of Oxford, added that within the submerged area there are probably two, or possibly three ancient cities, of which perhaps only 2% at most has been investigated so far. The main effort has been focused on surveying the site to assess the topography, accompanied by a few exploratory excavations for clarification of particular research questions.

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Prior to its discovery, the city’s memory was preserved only through ancient texts, such as those of the Greek historian Herodotus who mentioned that the city once had a great temple and had been visited by Helen of Troy and her lover, Paris. The city of Canopus nearby also appears in ancient writing, notably that of second century BC poet Nicander who wrote that Menelaus’s helmsman, Canopus, was bitten by a viper at this location. Diodorus and Strabo also mentioned the cities in their writing.

The Love of Helen and Paris, Jacques-Louis David (1788) (Wikimedia Commons)

The cities were also famous for their sanctuaries, devoted to Osiris and other Egyptian deities and known for their miraculous healing powers. The Temple of Khonsou, son of the god Amun, was also located there. The discovery of artifacts at these locations correlate with texts and inscriptions, including the Decree of Canopus, preserved on a stela from 238 BC that describes donations, sacrifices and a procession of ships.
Goddio explained that unique artifacts “not known before and not represented in any museum,” such as ritual ceremonial barges have also been discovered at the site along with a black granite carving of a priest’s head and a ceramic depicting Bes, a god who protected people against evil spirits.

Granite head of a priest discovered in the submerged ruins of Thonis-Heracleion, Alexandria, Egypt (Cristoph Gerigk)

The artifacts will be presented to the public at an exhibition at the Arab World Institute in Paris from September 8 - January 31, 2016 entitled Osiris, Sunken Mysteries of Egypt. It will incorporate more than 290 artifacts with film footage depicting the underwater atmosphere of the site. Other artifacts will be loaned to the exhibition from museums in Cairo and Alexandria.
By Robin Whitlock
Featured Image: Oil lamp discovered in the submerged ruins of Thonis-Heracleion, Alexandria, Egypt (Cristoph Gerigk)

History Trivia - Temple of Artemis in Ephesus destroyed

July 21

 356 BC The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was destroyed by arson.

 365 A tsunami devastated the city of Alexandria, Egypt. The tsunami was caused by an earthquake estimated to be 8.0 on the Richter Scale. 5,000 people perished in Alexandria, and 45,000 more died outside the city.

1403 Battle of Shrewsbury: King Henry IV of England defeated rebels to the north of the county town of Shropshire, England.

Polish Archaeologists Discover Rare Gift from Father of Cleopatra

Ancient Origins

A linen cloth that was once given as a gift by the father of legendary Egyptian Queen Cleopatra VII has been discovered by Polish archaeologists during excavations in Western Thebes, now the modern city of Luxor. The cloth was given to an Egyptian temple.
The archaeologists were exploring a deep shaft in a tomb belonging to a dignitary from Ancient Egypt’s Middle Kingdom (around 2000 BC). The tomb is located in the necropolis of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, later occupied by Coptic Christian monks living on the site as hermits during the 6^th century AD.
“Probably the monks living in the hermitage, who were bringing everything they could use from the surrounding area, found the canvas in the ruins of a nearby temple and took it with a practical use in mind” Deputy Head of Mission Andrzej Ćwiek told Science In Poland. “We were lucky to discover this unique object.”
Ćwiek is employed by Adam Mickiewicz University and the Archaeological Museum in Poznań. The excavations have been conducted under concessions obtained by the Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw.

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The linen fragment has a hieroglyphic text painted on it in ink. Two columns of cartouches with ornamental borders surrounding the name of the Pharaoh, Ptolemy XII Auletes (80-51 BC) who was the father of Cleopatra VII. In the 3^rd century, a scribe added the name of the goddess Isis. The fragment is from a velum, a curtain that was used to cover a holy image, such as a statue of a deity, in the Temple of Hathor near Deir el-Medina. The velum was probably Ptolemy XII’s gift to the deity, given that his cartouches can be seen on the gate of the temple. According to Dr. Ćwiek, this indicates that the Pharaoh was involved in the creation of the temple. He could have funded temple equipment including the provision of the velum.

Temple of Hathor, Deir el-Medina (Wikimedia Commons)

Deir el-Medina is the site of a workman’s village, once used to accommodate workmen employed in the construction of the royal tombs in the famous Valley of the Kings, where the tomb of Tutankhamen is located. Although the temple is primarily dedicated to Hathor, the Egyptian cow goddess, it also has sanctuaries in honor of Amun-Sokar-Osiris and Amun-Re-Osiris – Osiris and Amun or Amun-Re respectively. Osiris was the Egyptian god of the dead and god of the underworld, but he was also a god of fertility and agriculture.
The identification of the item was assisted by Prof. Ewa Laskowska-Kusztal from the Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Culture PAS.
The archaeologists also found other artifacts among the debris in the shaft, which is several meters deep. These included fragments of mud brick from the Pharaonic and Coptic period, wooden coffins, small faience beads and amulets, and ushebti clay figurines (funerary figures intended to serve the deceased in the afterlife). Large quantities of these figurines were placed in tombs in order to assist the deceased after his death, in accordance with a command by the god Osiris. The investigation is far from over and excavations of the site will continue in February 2016.

Ushebti clay figurines discovered in the shaft, Luxor, Egypt (M. Kaczanowicz)

Cleopatra was the last Ptolemaic ruler of Ancient Egypt. After her death, Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire. The Ptolemaic dynasty was of Macedonian Greek origin. It ruled the country following the death of Alexander The Great in the Hellenistic Period. Although the Ptolemies refused to speak Egyptian, preferring Greek, Cleopatra herself did learn Egyptian and presented herself during her rule as the reincarnation of the goddess Isis, the consort of Osiris. Following the assassination of Julius Caesar, Cleopatra allied herself and Egypt with Marc Antony in opposition to Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, later called Augustus. After Antony committed suicide when he lost the Battle of Actium to Octavian, Cleopatra also committed suicide. She had three children: twins, a daughter, Cleopatra Selene II and son, Alexander Helios, and another son, Ptolemy Philadelphus.

Drawing of Cleopatra by Michelangelo (1534) (Wikimedia Commons)

Cleopatra has been made famous through her depiction in many works of literature and art, from the famous Shakespeare play through to the 1963 Hollywood movie of the same name, Antony and Cleopatra, starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.
Featured image: Cloth Gifted by Ptolemy XII Auletes to the Temple of Hathor, (A. Ćwiek)

King Tut's Beard Broken Off, Wrongly Glued Back on

by Rossella Lorenzi
Discovery News

Inappropriate epoxy glue is now holding together the long, narrow, blue and gold beard on the famous mask of King Tutankhamun, according a report in the Arabic news site Al Araby Al Jadeed.
Braided like a pigtail with the end jutting forward, the beard was reportedly detached from the over 3,300-year-old mask during a cleaning incident last October at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, where the artifact is one of the top attractions.
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A museum employee, who asked for anonymity for fear of reprisals, told Al Araby Al Jadeed that the beard was unintentionally severed from the chin during ordinary dusting.
Three of the museum’s conservators confirmed the incident to the Associated Press, although they gave different accounts as to whether the beard was knocked off during cleaning or was removed because it was loose.
They all agreed that the beard was glued back on improperly.
Rather than following the regular procedures reporting the damage to the Ministry of Antiquities and send the priceless artifact to the restoration lab, someone opted for a DIY procedure, Al Araby Al Jadeed wrote.
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The beard was fixed with quick drying epoxy that cannot unstuck given its very high adhesive property. Indeed, the material is used for attaching on metal or stone.
Moreover, the glue was used abundantly, causing it to dramatically flow along the beard and chin.
According to the Arabic news site, which has published a picture to show “the presence of a foreign substance between the mask and chin,” it was then decided to remove the residue adhesive with a spatula, only doing more damaging as scratches are now visible.
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The incident, according to the news site, is the reason why the room housing the priceless golden mask is dimmer than the rest of the museum.
“Instructions were given in order to avoid showing the face and the damage in the chin area,” Al Araby Al Jadeed wrote.
The Egyptian museum has not yet confirmed the reports.
Image: King Tut mask at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo before the alleged incident. Credit: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen/Wikimedia Commons.

Mummy Mask May Reveal Oldest Known Gospel

by Owen Jarus
Live Science

    

This mask was one of the masks that the researchers took apart to reveal an ancient papyrus, and they found this mask also contained papyrus that dated to the first century. This mummy mask is similar to the one that contained the first century gospel fragment. Credit: Courtesy of Prof. Craig Evans View full size image

A text that may be the oldest copy of a gospel known to exist — a fragment of the Gospel of Mark that was written during the first century, before the year 90 — is set to be published.
At present, the oldest surviving copies of the gospel texts date to the second century (the years 101 to 200).
This first-century gospel fragment was written on a sheet of papyrus that was later reused to create a mask that was worn by a mummy. Although the mummies of Egyptian pharaohs wore masks made of gold, ordinary people had to settle for masks made out of papyrus (or linen), paint and glue. Given how expensive papyrus was, people often had to reuse sheets that already had writing on them. 
In recent years scientists have developed a technique that allows the glue of mummy masks to be undone without harming the ink on the paper. The text on the sheets can then be read. The first-century gospel is one of hundreds of new texts that a team of about three-dozen scientists and scholars is working to uncover, and analyze, by using this technique of ungluing the masks, said Craig Evans, a professor of New Testament studies at Acadia Divinity College in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.
"We're recovering ancient documents from the first, second and third centuries. Not just Christian documents, not just biblical documents, but classical Greek texts, business papers, various mundane papers, personal letters," Evans told Live Science. The documents include philosophical texts and copies of stories by the Greek poet Homer. [See Images of Early Christian Inscriptions and Artifacts]
The business and personal letters sometimes have dates on them, he said. When the glue was dissolved, the researchers dated the first-century gospel in part by analyzing the other documents found in the same mask.
One drawback to the process is that the mummy mask is destroyed, and so scholars in the field are debating whether that particular method should be used to reveal the texts they contain.
But Evans emphasized that the masks that are being destroyed to reveal the new texts are not high quality ones that would be displayed in a museum. Some are not masks at all but are simply pieces of cartonnage.
Evans told Live Science, "We're not talking about the destruction of any museum-quality piece."
The technique is bringing many new texts to light, Evans noted. "From a single mask, it's not strange to recover a couple dozen or even more" new texts, he told Live Science. "We're going to end up with many hundreds of papyri when the work is done, if not thousands."
Debate
Scholars who work on the project have to sign a nondisclosure agreement that limits what they can say publicly. There are several reasons for this agreement. One is that some of the owners of these masks simply do not want to be made known, Evans said. "The scholars who are working on this project have to honor the request of the museums, universities, private owners, so forth."
The owners of the mummy masks retain ownership of the papyrus sheets after the glue on them is dissolved.
Evans said that the only reason he can talk about the first-century gospel before it is published is because a member of the team leaked some of the information in 2012. Evans was careful to say that he is not telling Live Science anything about the first-century gospel that hasn't already been leaked online.
Soon after the 2012 leak, speculation surrounded the methods that the scholars used to figure out the gospel's age.
Evans says that the text was dated through a combination of carbon-14 dating, studying the handwriting on the fragment and studying the other documents found along with the gospel. These considerations led the researchers to conclude that the fragment was written before the year 90. With the nondisclosure agreement in place, Evans said that he can't say much more about the text's date until the papyrus is published.
Destruction of mummy masks
The process that is used to obtain the papyri, which involves the destruction of the mummy masks, has also generated debate. For instance, archaeologist Paul Barford, who writes about collecting and heritage issues, has written a scathing blog post criticizing the work on the gospel.
Roberta Mazza, a lecturer in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Manchester, has blogged her concerns about the text as has Brice Jones, a doctoral candidate in religion at Concordia University.
When the texts are published the debate is likely to move beyond the blogosphere and into mainstream media and scholarly journals.
Biblical clues
Although the first-century gospel fragment is small, the text will provide clues as to whether the Gospel of Mark changed over time, Evans said.
His own research is focused on analyzing the mummy mask texts, to try to determine how long people held onto them before disposing or reusing them. This can yield valuable information about how biblical texts were copied over time.
"We have every reason to believe that the original writings and their earliest copies would have been in circulation for a hundred years in most cases — in some cases much longer, even 200 years," he said.
This means that "a scribe making a copy of a script in the third century could actually have at his disposal (the) first-century originals, or first-century copies, as well as second-century copies."
Set to publish
Evans said that the research team will publish the first volume of texts obtained through the mummy masks and cartonnage later this year. It will include the gospel fragment that the researchers believe dates back to the first century.
The team originally hoped the volume would be published in 2013 or 2014, but the date had to be moved back to 2015. Evans said he is uncertain why the book's publication was delayed, but the team has made use of the extra time to conduct further studies into the first-century gospel. "The benefit of the delay is that when it comes out, there will be additional information about it and other related texts."

 

 

Pharaonic Rock Carvings Found in Egypt

 

by Rossella Lorenzi

Discovery News

 



A rare wall relief showing an unidentified pharaoh has been discovered within the sandstone quarries of Gebel el Sisila, north of Aswan.
Carved into the vertical face of the quarry wall, some 5 feet above the ground, the stela depicts the pharaoh presenting offerings to Thoth, the ancient god of wisdom, and Amun-Ra, the king among gods.
PHOTOS: Egyptian Pharaoh Carved in Quarry
“It’s particularly rare for these two deities to be portrayed together,” Lund University archaeologist Maria Nilsson, director of the Gebel el Silsila Survey Project, told Discovery News.

She added the three figures are rather poorly preserved, although some details can be made out.
“We can see the characteristic double feather crown of Amun-Ra, and the moon disc of the ibis-headed Thoth,” Nilsson said. “Unfortunately, the item presented by the pharaoh is no longer discernible.”
Mystery Pharaoh Found in Egypt
Preliminary study suggests the stela dates to the late dynastic period, perhaps the Third Intermediate Period, which began with the death of pharaoh Ramesses XI in 1070 B.C. and ended with the foundation of the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty by Psamtik I in 664 BC.
Readable inscriptions on the stela are merely titles of the gods, “Amun-Ra, King of the Gods, Lord of (-)”, and “Thoth, Twice Great, Lord of (-)”.
Just below the winged solar disc of the pharaoh, adorned with two uraei (stylized Egyptian cobras symbols of royalty and deity) the text reads: “Lord of the Two Lands, Behedet (Horus of Edfu).”
The personal text of the pharaoh is limited to “Lord of the Two Lands” followed by a poorly preserved cartouche and a short epithet.
“The team is currently trying to retrieve more information, but the area of the figure and title of the pharaoh is eroded by wind and sand, not to mention a natural fracture in the rock,” Nilsson said.
Roman Emperor Dressed as Pharaoh in Newfound Carving
The finding is the result of an epigraphic and archaeological survey mission of Lund University, Sweden, that has studied the site since early 2014.
The researchers have discovered more than 60 rock art sites on both sides of the Nile that date from the Epipalaeolithic (about 8500 to 6500 B.C.), Predynastic (about 4000-3100 B.C.), and Early Dynastic (about 3100-2686 B.C.) periods.
“Overall, the Gebel el Silsila repertoire consists of mainly abstract patterns, curves and lines, circles and dots, ladder-shaped drawings and a few stylized animals and reptiles,” Nilsson said.
However, there are several unique patterns that are far more elaborated than the abstract designs.
Among the most spectacular discoveries is a rare depiction of two obelisks being cut and loaded onto boats.
Ancient Amulet Discovered with Palindrome Inscription
According to Nilsson, the scene, which is currently studied and analyzed, is particularly important as it may change the chronology of the site’s most famous monument, known as the Speos of Horemheb. This rock-cut temple which is believed to have been originally carved for King Horemheb (1323–1295 B.C.).
“Now, based on a similar contemporaneous scene, we think that it belongs to the early 18th dynasty, possibly to Queen Hatshepsut (1473–1458 B.C.),” Nilsson said.
Nilsson’s team plans to create a detailed archaeological map of the area as well as a 3-D reconstructions of selected monuments.
“We also hope to start smaller excavations that will bring new information about the extraction and transportation techniques, as well as giving us a better understanding about the daily life in the quarry,” Nilsson said.
Image: The rock carved stela with the pharaoh to the right. Credit: Gebel el Silsila Survey Project.

Tomb of Previously Unknown Pharaonic Queen Found

The tomb of Princess Shert Nebti in Abu Sir, south of Cairo, dating from around 2,500 BC and discovered in 2012.

Czech archaeologists have unearthed the tomb of a previously unknown queen believed to have been the wife of Pharaoh Neferefre who ruled 4,500 years ago, officials in Egypt said Sunday.
The tomb was discovered in Abu Sir, an Old Kingdom necropolis southwest of Cairo where there are several pyramids dedicated to pharaohs of the Fifth Dynasty, including Neferefre.
The name of his wife had not been known before the find, Antiquities Minister Mamdouh al-Damaty said in a statement.

New Pharaoh Found in Egypt                       

He identified her as Khentakawess, saying that for the "first time we have discovered the name of this queen who had been unknown before the discovery of her tomb".
That would make her Khentakawess III, as two previous queens with the same name have already been identified.
Her name and rank had been inscribed on the inner walls of the tomb, probably by the builders, Damaty said.
"This discovery will help us shed light on certain unknown aspects of the Fifth Dynasty, which along with the Fourth Dynasty, witnessed the construction of the first pyramids," he added.
Miroslav Barta, who heads the Czech Institute of Egyptology mission who made the discovery, said the tomb was found in Neferefre's funeral complex.

Top Archaeological Finds Expected in 2015

"This makes us believe that the queen was his wife," Barta said, according to the statement.
An official at the antiquities ministry said the tomb dated from the middle of the Fifth Dynasty (2994-2345 BC).
Archaeologists also found around 30 utensils, 24 made of limestone and four of copper, the statement added.

Discovery News

Egypt cemetery is home to a million 'mummies'

A stray dog is seen at an archaeological site in Egypt this year. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

By Matt Cantor
Fox News

For the past 30 years, scientists have been exploring a cemetery in Egypt whose origins are mysterious. One thing they have determined, however: "We are fairly certain we have over a million burials within this cemetery. It's large, and it's dense," says the project's director, Kerry Muhlestein of Brigham Young University.

Dubbed Fag el-Gamous, the grounds are full of bodies that date to between the 1st and 7th centuries AD, Live Science reports. The remains don't belong to royalty, and most weren't actively mummified by people—but the dry surroundings led to what could "loosely" be called mummies, says Muhlestein, who has blogged about the findings.

Brigham Young researchers have dug up more than 1,700 burials over the past three decades, they write in Studia Antiqua, noting that they're not the first researchers to investigate the site.

Among recent findings are the remains of an 18-month-old from about 1,500 years ago. "There was some evidence that they tried much of the full mummification process. The toes and toenails and brain and tongue were amazingly preserved," researchers say.

As for where the child, or countless others, came from, researchers aren't sure. Interestingly, a database reveals that blond people appear to have been buried together, with red-headed ones elsewhere; this could be due to families being buried together, researchers note.
They also found one body that was more than seven feet tall—particularly surprising given poor nutrition at the time. (Perhaps they should alert this giant hunter.)
This article originally appeared on Newser: Egypt Cemetery Holds 1M Mummies

Million-Mummy Cemetery Unearthed in Egypt

by Owen Jarus
Live Science

This image is of a child, around 18 months old, who was wrapped in a tunic and buried with a necklace and two bracelets on each arm. The jewelry makes the team think that the mummy is a girl but they cannot be sure. Credit: Photo courtesy Professor Kerry Muhlestein

TORONTO — She's literally one in a million.
The remains of a child, laid to rest more than 1,500 years ago when the Roman Empire controlled Egypt, was found in an ancient cemetery that contains more than 1 million mummies, according to a team of archaeologists from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.
The cemetery is now called Fag el-Gamous, which means "Way of the Water Buffalo," a title that comes from the name of a nearby road. Archaeologists from Brigham Young University have been excavating Fag el-Gamous, along with a nearby pyramid, for about 30 years. Many of the mummies date to the time when the Roman or Byzantine Empire ruled Egypt, from the 1st century to the 7th century A.D. [See photos of the million-mummy cemetery]

"We are fairly certain we have over a million burials within this cemetery. It's large, and it's dense," Project Director Kerry Muhlestein, an associate professor in the Department of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University, said in a paper he presented at the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities Scholars Colloquium, which was held last month in Toronto.
This cemetery was not a burial ground for kings or royalty. The people buried here were often laid to rest without grave goods, and without coffins for that matter, the researchers said. The deceased's internal organs were rarely removed; instead, it was the arid natural environment that mummified them. "I don't think you would term what happens to these burials as true mummification," Muhlestein said. "If we want to use the term loosely, then they were mummified."
Despite the low status of the dead, the researchers found some remarkably beautiful items, including linen, glass and even colorful booties designed for a child.
"A lot of their wealth, as little as they had, was poured into these burials," Muhlestein said.
The mummified child was buried with several other mummies. It was wrapped in a tunic and wore a necklace with two bracelets on each arm.
"There was some evidence that they tried much of the full mummification process. The toes and toenails and brain and tongue were amazingly preserved," the researchers wrote on the project's Facebook page. "The jewelry makes us think it was a girl, but we cannot tell."
Researchers estimate the infant was 18 months old when she died. "She was buried with great care, as someone who obviously loved her very much did all they could to take care of this little girl in burial," the researchers wrote. It's "very sad, but they succeeded. It was a beautiful burial."
Million mummy mystery
Where exactly these million mummies came from is an ongoing mystery, and one that the team has yet to solve. A nearby village seems too small to warrant such a large cemetery, the researchers said. There is an ancient town named Philadelphia (so named after King Ptolemy II Philadelphus) not far away, but that town has burial sites of its own. [8 Grisly Archaeological Discoveries]
While there is a small pyramid nearby, it was built more than 4,500 years ago, which is more than two millennia before the cemetery was first used.
"It's hard to know where all these people were coming from," Muhlestein told Live Science.
A mummy over 7 feet tall
The stories that these million mummies tell appear endless. The Brigham Young team has excavated more than 1,000 of the mummies over the past 30 years, and Muhlestein admits the team has a publishing backlog.
One discovery that hasn't been published is of a mummy who is more than 7 feet (2 meters) tall. "We once found a male who was over 7 feet tall who was far too tall to fit into the shaft, so they bent him in half and tossed him in," Muhlestein told the audience in Toronto.
That's an extraordinary height given the generally poor nutrition these people had, Muhlestein told Live Science in an interview, adding that "even with great nutrition, it's really unusual" for an individual to reach that height. The great height could be because of a medical condition that caused an excess of growth hormone, but more research needs to be done to determine this.
This surprisingly tall mummy was discovered before Muhlestein became director, and the findings have yet to be published, he said. "We have a large publishing backlog, [and] we're trying to catch up on making our colleagues and the public aware [of the finds]."
Blond and redheaded mummies
While excavating and publishing the discoveries from the cemetery pose daunting challenges, they also provide archaeologists with terrific opportunities.
For instance, the team is in the early stages of creating a database of all the mummies it has excavated. When complete, the database will help the researchers study burial patterns in the area.
While the database is in the early stages, it has already provided some intriguing initial results. Muhlestein said he and the other researchers can use the database to "show us all of the blond burials, and [it shows] they are clustered in one area, or all of the red-headed burials, and [it shows] they're clustered in another area."
These clusters are interesting because they suggest "perhaps we have family areas or genetic groups [in certain areas], but we're still trying to explore that," Muhlestein said.

History Trivia - Pompey the Great murdered

September 28

48 BC Pompey the Great was murdered on the orders of King Ptolemy of Egypt.

351 Battle of Mursa Major: the Roman Emperor Constantius II defeated the usurper Magnentius in one of the bloodiest battles in Roman military history.

365 Roman usurper Procopius proclaimed himself Roman emperor.

855 The Emperor Lothar died in Gaul (present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine), and his kingdom was divided between his three sons.

1066 William the Conqueror and his Norman army arrived in England, landing at Pevensey, beginning the Norman Conquest.

 

1106 The Battle of Tinchebrai: Henry I of England defeated his brother, Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy. Henry's knights won a decisive victory, capturing Robert and imprisoning him in England and then Wales until Robert's death in Cardiff Castle. England and Normandy remained under a single ruler until 1204.

1322 Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor defeated Frederick I of Austria in the Battle of Mühldorf.