Nesirtyre

Main blog: zarya-zaryanitsa

[zarya-zaryanitsa]

Middle Egyptian handbook: Because hieroglyphs do not preserve the original vowels of Egyptian words, Egyptologists normally put a short e (as in met) where necessary between consonants other than æ, j, y, and w. Here is a short sentence in transliteration, showing how most Egyptologists would pronounce it.

Me, Polish, fighting the urge to just read all the consonants together: We have very different ideas of “necessary”.

[elhieroglyph]

Ancient Egyptian Gold Rings

[elhieroglyph]

Ancient Egyptian Body Parts: Right Eye From An Anthropoid Coffin, New Kingdom or Later, 1539-30 B.C.E. Obsidian, Crystalline & Blue Glass.

[rudjedet]

Should make a Controversial Truths about ancient Egypt version that’s specifically about the medical papyri, with thrilling entries such as:

There is no evidence the ancient Egyptians used tampons to collect menstrual blood; this idea probably comes from misinterpreting the various recipes for vaginal suppositories in the medical papyri

The sometimes-cited “abortion” recipe from the Ebers papyrus is not an abortion recipe but rather a contraceptive treatment. The medical papyri do sometimes use ambiguous language in similar treatments, which have been cited by non-Egyptologists as referring to abortions, but these cases deal with contraceptive measures or stillbirths/miscarriages

Egyptian medicine didn’t “resort to magic only when purely rational treatments didn’t work”. While we do see an increase in treatments that invoke heka to effectuate a cure for ailments that may have been beyond the skillset of the Egyptian physician, heka does crop up in a lot of perfectly manageable situations such as treating a stuffy nose or untying a bandage. Heka was an integral part of medicine, not something that was “a last resort”

Egyptians didn’t have a form of proto-electroshock therapy for migraines/gout/other types of chronic pain; this idea comes from a paper that features a mistranslation of a recipe against migraines/headaches in the Ebers papyrus, which left out half of the remedy, imposed modern English idioms upon the original Egyptian, and ignored basically everything we know about Egyptian medical practices in order to make the electrotherapy claim hold weight

Yes, the Egyptians did have a pregnancy test that also doubled as a gender prediction test. A study from the 1960s found it fairly accurate when it came to predicting pregnancy, but it did not have a good track record for gender prediction. However, it is also true that we’re not altogether sure which grains respectively should be used for the gender prediction part of the test, so we can’t make any definitive claims

The Edwin Smith Papyrus makes mention of using the pulse as a measure of overall health, citing “if it (the heart) is weary to speak” as part of the diagnostic process. While there is some discussion on what the phrase used means exactly, it’s likely that the Egyptians knew of the connection between a strong pulse and good health roughly a millennium before the advent of Hippocratic medicine

Contrary to popular belief, the Egyptians didn’t think the brain was completely useless: they actually knew it was vital in life and that damaging it could lead to injury and even death, they just didn’t know exactly what it does. This knowledge becomes clear in the Edwin Smith Papyrus; this text contains the earliest known mention of a contrecoup injury and accurately ties the effects elsewhere in the body (a partially paralysed leg) to head trauma sustained after a fall

[satsekhem]

“The Eye is invoked in the Book of Overthrowing A/Pep, in the Bremner-Rhind papyrus. ‘The Eye of Ra shall appear against you. It shall consume you and chastise you in this its name of “Devouring Flame”; it shall have power over you in this its name of Sekhmet; ye shall fall to its blast, and fierce is the flame which comes forth from its blast.”

—

P 126

, Hathor: A Reintroduction to an Ancient Egyptian Goddess by Lesley Jackson

[egypt-ancient-and-modern]

Roman period box showing a king making an offering to a solar form of Sobek

[memories-of-ancients]

Gold, carnelian, lapis lazuli, and turquoise pendant from the Tomb of Ramses II, Egypt, 1279-1213 BC

from The Louvre

[theancientwayoflife]

~ Wooden figure of the Anubis-jackal, with long tail.

Cultures/Period: Late Period

Place of origin: Egypt

Medium: Wood

[memories-of-ancients]

Gold Nile catfish pendant decorated with green glazed faience, chalcedony, turquoise, carnelian, lapis lazuli and black stone inlays.

Egypt, 18th Dynasty, 1985-1773 BC

from The Walters Art Museum

[zarya-zaryanitsa]

An epithet is a characterizing word or phrase added to or used in place of the name of a god or person. Examples include “Ptah, Giver of Shape and Form,” and “Sekhmet, Lady of Life.” Epithets can reveal the deities’ special characteristics, their relation to other gods, their relation to humans, their manifest powers and abilities, their relation to specific places and other types of information that help us understand the unique character of these divine beings. By pronouncing or writing an epithet we begin to enter into relationship with that deity. In thoughtfully saying “Ra, Lord of Life” we help ourselves to better understand that god. We also draw nearer to him by virtue of our knowledge. 

In numerous magical texts the reciter claims to know the name of one or another god, thereby enabling that person to interact with and influence that deity. The same technique occurs in spells adressed to evil forces. The reciter announces that he knows the name of that entity and claims thereby to have power over that being by virtue of that special knowledge. Of course when calling a god, it is not about having power over him but rather calling on that particular aspect of the deity named.

- Everlasting Egypt by Richard Reidy

[thehereticpharaoh]

This is what hieroglyphs and figures in ancient Egyptian temples looked like before their colors faded. They were recreated using a polychromatic light display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, following thorough research.

[ms-hells-bells]

If this is your kind of thing, new zealand has the world's first life sized re-creation of an Egyptian temple for an idea of how it would have looked back then

[eunique]

For those who want to know where in New Zealand it is, this is in Hamilton Gardens in Hamilton!

[treasure-of-the-ancients]

Blue chalcedony intaglio featuring a hero with griffins, Greco-Persian, 6th-5th century BC

from Christies

[arjuna-vallabha]

5th century Pre-christian Noubadian silver crown embossed with beryl, carnelian and glass, found in the royal cemetery of Ballana, Nubia, Egyptian traditions remained in Nubia even after the Christianization of Egypt

[nesirtyre]

Bottles in the Shape of a Pomegranate, New Kingdom, Ramessideca. 1295–1070 B.C., part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection

Pomegranate juice was prized as a drink, but it can also be used as an astringent to shrink tissues and reduce swelling in wounds. This jar depicts the fruit in its unripened state, when the juice is too sour to drink, and may have juice intended for medicinal purposes. Another jar in the collection probably held juice for consumption as a drink.

[nesirtyre]

Necklace of fly beads, Egyptian, New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, 1550–1295 B.C., part of the MFA Boston collection

Fly ornament necklaces, occasionally presented to courageous soldiers, may have been worn as talismans to ward off insects.

[dwellerinthelibrary]

This decorative glass plaque at the Miho Museum depicts the Apis bull. I love these things’ combination of precise detail and liquid wobbliness. From Ptolemaic or Roman Egypt, First Century BCE to First Century CE.

[thehereticpharaoh]

Conserving wall paintings in the Tomb of Queen Nefertari 1985