Photo 1: Ushabti of Pharaoh Seti I 1279 BC It is a statuette that is part of the Pharaoh’s funerary equipment
In these days an interesting exhibition on ancient Egypt is taking place in my city, Vicenza. It is not the classic exhibition that tends only to show the wonders or treasures of some tomb of some illustrious pharaoh, but a journey into the world of craftsmen and artists who in that remote era had the task of serving the pharaoh, painting his tomb or the sarcophagus, or creating the admirable sculptures that have come down to us, or all those works, even humble ones, but which were indispensable for the achievement of the purpose: to prepare the pharaoh’s journey towards eternity.
Photo 2: The goddess Mut, lady of the sky and mistress of all gods
Photo 3: The Pharaoh Ramses II between the gods Mut and Amun
Archaeologists have discovered near Luxor or Thebes, the most glittering city of ancient Egypt, the village of Deir El-Medina. This was the place where the craftsmen and artists dedicated to the construction of the temples and tombs of the pharaohs and notables of the time lived. The exhibition, in addition to highlighting the works of these artists, highlights the findings of the objects necessary for their daily life, their work or their art. Without these men the greatness of the pharaohs would never have been celebrated and handed down to the present day.
Photo 4: Statue of Sekhmet the Lioness goddess, greedy for human blood.
Photo 5: Pyramidion (top) of the tomb of the Egyptian notable Ramose
But even the greatest and most powerful empires have had their crises and their inevitable end. Wood was one of the most precious raw materials as it was practically non-existent in Egypt and the wood for the construction of buildings and even sarcophagi had to be recovered in very distant countries where there were forests, such as Lebanon for example.
Photo 6: Tools found in the village of Deir El-Medina founded in 1550 BC. The inhabitants had the task of building the tombs in the Valley of the Kings and Queens. A plumb bob, a chisel, brushes, a measuring instrument.
Photo 7: Musical instruments, a flute and a lyre (from the Louvre)
It is for this reason that many older tombs are looted and the wooden sarcophagi reused for the construction of new sarcophagi, dispersing the oldest treasures. Even gold is scarce and therefore the woods are no longer embellished with the precious metal but painted yellow. In practice, by order of the new pharaohs or notables, or by depredation for their own interest, the craftsmen and artists, who lived in conditions of extreme poverty, also become the defilers of the sacred sepulchres for obvious reasons of survival, obtaining from the sale of the treasures the necessary for subsistence.
Photo 8: Stele dedicated by the Royal Scribe Ramose to the deities Qadesh, Min and Reshep and many other deities, including foreign ones. A great legacy of polytheism, always welcoming even towards foreign deities, something that disappeared with the advent of monotheisms, all bearers of destruction, wars, religious and racial intolerance.
Photo 9: Tauret, the hippopotamus goddess of motherhood and childhood
The exhibition is housed in the large upper hall of the Basilica Palladiana, a reference monument and symbol of our city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and will last until May 2023.
Photo 10: Wooden sarcophagus of Khonsuirdis. Also called egg because it was supposed to allow the rebirth of the dead woman who is represented with open hands. The men were depicted with clenched fists. Placed vertically before being placed forever in the tomb, the nostrils and mouth of the deceased were opened so that he could breathe and feed upon his rebirth.
Photo 11: The sarcophagus with the mummy of Tariri still intact. We silently and respectfully contemplate this body which, through the care of its loved ones and the perfect work of the funeral assistants, has come down to us perfectly preserved from 655 BC.
Photo 12: The 3D model of Nefertari’s tomb, the most beautiful tomb ever found. Found by the director of the Egyptian Museum in Turin, the Italian archaeologist Ernesto Schiapparelli in 1904.
Video: Multimedia reproduction of the sarcophagus of Butheamon, the last scribe of Deir El-Medina, tried to save at the end of the dynasties, as much as possible from the predation of the tombs by the craftsmen and artists now left without work and subsistence.
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