Fresh graduates promised employment at Supreme Council of Antiquities

Ahram Online (Nevine El-Aref)

Following several meetings with temporary staff at the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) and its top officials, SCA secretary general Mostafa Amine today met fresh graduates of the Faculty of Archaeology and restoration institutes.

During the meeting, Amine promised to appoint 850 of them who submitted employment requests last July. He told them that in two weeks the SCA will take all the required procedures to appoint them, especially as the SCA had succeeded in securing the funds required to appoint them. This first phase, Amine told the Ahram Online, will be followed by second, third and fourth phases in an attempt to appoint the fresh graduates according to a scheduled timetable.

More re troubles that caused leadership change at the SCA

Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El-Aref)

Abdel-Fattah told Al-Ahram Weekly that his resignation did not stem from fear of the protests, but rather the contrary.

"My resignation is not from floundering or cowardice, but I cannot direct the SCA in this form," he said. He added that he was only given the authority to process the SCA's day-to-day work , but not to appoint temporary staff or pay salaries.

"The SCA's financial situation is really critical and no one helped me," he said.

Abdel-Fattah accused Egypt of abandoning its antiquities sector and leaving it in a desperate state, despite what archaeology had done for the country over the years.

He went on to say that the SCA was in debt to the tune of LE750 million to construction companies responsible for restoration work at several sites. It had also borrowed LE61 million from banks to pay the salaries of SCA employees, in addition to a further LE350 million from the government, which will increase to LE400 million after the addition of benefits.

"How can I pay all these debts?" Abdel-Fattah asks. "I don't even have enough money to pay for the restoration work and the delayed salaries."

Amin, the SCA's new head, is the former director of the Islamic and Coptic Antiquities Department.

Attempt to smuggle 5 Pharaonic statues

Youm7

The Egyptian Border Patrol stopped an attempt to smuggle five Pharaonic statutes that were in the possession of an Egyptian citizen.

The border patrol in the Red Sea region captured an Egyptian citizen Mohamed from the city of Abu Ramad.

Book Review: Dizionario dei nomi geografici e topografici dell’Egitto greco-romano

Bryn Mawr Classical Review (Reviewed by Amin Benaissa)

S. Daris, Dizionario dei nomi geografici e topografici dell’Egitto greco-romano, supplemento 5 (2006-2009). Studi di Egittologia e di Papirologia 8. Pisa/Roma: Fabrizio Serra editore, 2010.

The Dizionario dei nomi geografici e topografici dell’Egitto greco-romano is a familiar reference work to all papyrologists and historians of Graeco-Roman Egypt. Launched in 1935 by Aristide Calderini, its goal has been to collect 1) all Egyptian toponyms attested in Greek and Latin texts, both literary and documentary (papyri, ostraca, inscriptions), and 2) toponyms from other parts of the ancient world mentioned in documents from Egypt. Its chronological framework spans roughly the period from the beginning of the Ptolemaic dynasty to the Islamic conquest of Egypt (c. 300 BCE-750 CE), but does not exclude some earlier or later Greek authors (e.g. Herodotus) and documents. The toponyms assembled range in scope from cities and villages to streets and canals.

Book Review: A Companion to Ancient Egypt (2 vols.)

Bryn Mawr Classical Review (Reviewed by Peter C. Nadig)

Alan B. Lloyd (ed.), A Companion to Ancient Egypt (2 vols.). Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World. Chichester/Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.

One of the recent additions to the Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World is the huge two-volume set, Companion to Ancient Egypt edited by Alan B. Lloyd. A previous companion to the Ancient Near East (edited by D.C. Snell in 2007) features a few chapters on Ancient Egypt. The current book contains 49 articles by nearly as many contributors who specialize in different areas of Egyptian studies from Prehistory to the early Byzantine period. It would exceed the volume of such a review to comment on every chapter herein. The extensive table of content listed below gives an impression of the sheer variety of themes in this publication. Alan B. Lloyd can be congratulated for his effort in bringing so many different experts together.

Many subject headings on governmental, social, and cultural aspects were treated twice with an essay each for the Pharaonic and Graeco-Roman periods. Among the exceptions is Robert B. Partridge’s interesting contribution on transport (chapter 20), which focuses solely on Pharaonic times. In accordance with the series, each chapter concludes with a summary and suggestions for further reading – usually highlighting the most recent or relevant publications.

Book Review: Writings of Early Scholars in the Ancient Near East, Egypt, Rome, and Greece

Bryn Mawr Classical Review (Xianhua Wang)

Annette Imhausen, Tanja Pommerening (ed.), Writings of Early Scholars in the Ancient Near East, Egypt, Rome, and Greece: Translating Ancient Scientific Texts. Beiträge zur Altertumskunde, Bd 286. Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2010.

Thanks especially to the pioneering scholars of the 19th century, a substantial proportion of known ancient scientific texts is now available in translations into modern languages. During the last decades, however, it became obvious that ancient science needs to be understood on its own terms, and that the differences between ancient scientific concepts and “analogous” modern ones, which earlier scholars largely glossed over, must be recognized. In order to address questions raised by this new awareness and to “create a space to examine the challenges and related problems and to propose and discuss possible solutions”(p. 4), a symposium entitled “Writings of Early Scholars in the Ancient Near East, Egypt and Greece: Zur Übersetzbarkeit von Wissenschaftssprachen des Altertums” was organized at the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz from 27 to 29 July. This volume is the fruit of the symposium. It is divided into five sections, as was the symposium itself.

Book Review: The Zodiac of Paris

Bryn Mawr Classical Review (Reviewed by Patricia Johnston and Glenn Palmer)

Jed Z. Buchwald, Diane Greco Josefowicz, The Zodiac of Paris: How an Improbable Controversy over an Ancient Egyptian Artifact Provoked a Modern Debate between Religion and Science. Princeton/Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2010.

On July 1, 1798, Napoleon and his troops entered Alexandria with the intention of establishing a colony in Egypt, disrupting British trade with India, and purportedly freeing the Egyptians from their Mameluke oppressors and imposing liberty and equality on this land. After a struggle with the Mamelukes (who were supported by the British and the Ottoman Turks), Napoleon fled to France on Oct. 11, 1799, leaving behind the savants—the intellectuals and scholars who had accompanied him—along with remnants of the French army to preserve the glory of Napoleon. The savants had been given a vacant palace in Cairo and an academic organization, the Institute of Egypt. Napoleon had also ordered them into the field to make copious notes, chart maps, record contemporary life, gather artifacts and natural specimens and, above all, to document the ancient temples and monuments. During this campaign Vivant Denon drew the circular Dendera Zodiac, which he published in 1802, after the Napoleonic expedition. In 1821 the actual zodiac was moved to Paris and in 1822 installed in the Bibliothèque Nationale, and in 1964 it was moved to the Louvre.

Book Review: Money in Classical Antiquity

Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Sitta von Reden, Money in Classical Antiquity. Key Themes in Ancient History. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

This wide-ranging work attempts to survey the whole of ancient money—emphatically not just coinage, for we have moved well beyond Finley’s idea that cash constituted money in the ancient world (quoted here, p. 9 and 92). In seven chapters of unequal coverage, the author leads up to an epilogue on “monetary culture.”

Monetization is generally taken as an indicator of acculturation; as a consequence its definition is as important as our ability to describe a “monetized” culture. von Reden expands the definition by arguing from the inclusion of bullion, jewelry etc. in early coin hoards that these objects had monetary function as well, and that monetization would have expanded with or without the invention of coinage. This is almost certainly true of bullion, not necessarily so for other objects.

Ch. 2 turns to cases, particularly that of Athens. Here the pivotal role of Solon—not in coinage, but in monetization— is highlighted. It is argued that the abolition of debt-bondage, and its replacement by contractual tenancy, promoted the use of coin; and that monetization was furthered by an increase in output (though not a “massive” one as at p. 39) after the success in the Persian Wars, and again after ca. 450 at the height of the Athenian empire. Certainly there is plenty of evidence for the use of coin (some described on p. 41) in the late fifth century.

The second case is that of Egypt which, as is well known, had no coinage of its own before Alexander.

New Book: Ancient Egyptian Demonology

Peeters

Ancient Egyptian Demonology. Studies on the Boundaries between the Demonic and the Divine in Egyptian Magic. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta, 175. Editor: Kousoulis P., 2011.

In the Egyptian context, what we term magic and demon, drawing on our own cultural heritage, are not seen as negative aspects of cultural practice and conceptualisation. Similarly, the Egyptian equivalents do not carry the pejorative connotations borne by the modern terms and their Greek antecedents; magic and demons can be forces for good as well as evil. Indeed, the practice of magic and the conceptualisation of personified demonic agents are central to the Egyptian understanding of the workings of the world from the very continuation of the cosmos itself down to the vicissitudes of existence faced by individuals. In particular, the broader practice of magic and articulation of the involvement of demonic agency form one of the crucial links in Ancient Egypt between individual existence on the human level and the level of nature or the cosmos, the realm of the gods.

Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep son of Hapu and Ay/Horemheb

Luxor News Blog (Jane Akshar)

With some good photos.

A fellow student asked me if I had any photos of this temple and it is one of the ones I had never visited so thanks Patricia Kennedy for spuring me into action.

If you take the tiny road in front of the main ticket office and go along 1/4 of a mile or less you come to the Pharoahs Hotel. Ask them nicely and they will let you up on the roof to take photos.

Online: Virtual Ancient Thebes

CyArk

Thanks to the Art of Counting blog for this link.

Ancient Thebes is home to the Ramesseum, one of the world's most important surviving examples of an ancient Egyptian temple. A project was designed to achieve an accurate sampling of the Ramesseum's ground plan for use in publication and conservation of the monument. Comprehensive laser scan coverage for the entire Ramesseum area was acquired along with detailed close-range 3D scans within the stone temple itself.

Online: A Virtual Exploration of the Lost Labyrinth

Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis

This paper reports on a case study that explores the possibility of reproducing a destroyed historic site from its remaining artefacts. Using VR (virtual reality) technologies, we construct a series of low-end, 3D models that are navigable through the Web. This gives us the opportunity to visualise, explore and present ancient sites in their original form. We focus mainly on the Hawara Labyrinth site. However, the method developed is generic in that it is applicable to other sites and artefacts that require reconstruction and dissemination using digital technologies. The feedback from this pilot project will be integrated into an on-going project on creating online learning and teaching resource.

Photo for Today - Temple of Luxor, open air museum

Apologies that it has been longer than usual since my last update - I have been exceedingly busy recently.

Cartouches of Thutmosis IV

New antiquities head at the SCA, but protests continue

Ahram Online (Nevine El-Aref)

Following weeks of protests, which reached a head last week. One will just have to wait and see what happens next, but it sounds as though Abdel Fattah's resignation may have smoothed the way for Amine to secure finances from the Prime Minister to meet protester demands.

Today, in his first day in office, newly appointed Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) Mostafa Amine met with protestors camped in front of the SCA’s Abassiya building for four days.

Amine told Ahram Online that he told protestors that he agreed with Prime Minister Essam Sharaf to immediately resolve their problems and to appoint all temporary staff who have spent more than three years working at SCA.

As a first step, he asserted, 4065 temporary employees will be immediately appointed to be followed by more appointments until the almost 12,000 temporary employees are all made permanent. The protestors were convinced and promised to end their protest. . . .

Asked about the fate of Egypt's ancient monuments under his tenure, given his specialty in Islamic and Coptic monuments, Amine assured that his training would not be an obstacle to caring for ancient Egyptian monuments. “My duty is to preserve Egypt’s antiquities, whether Islamic, Coptic, Jewish and Pharaonic,” Amine confirmed.

Amine told Ahram Online that he wants some time to reorganise the SCA and its administrative and archaeological works, but he promises to complete the SCA’s mega projects.

Ahram Online (Nevine El-Aref)

Around two hundred temporary employees of the Supreme Council of the Antiquities (SCA) are picketing the front entrance of the Egyptian Museum demanding the quick fulfillment of promises made by their bosses.

Newly-appointed SCA secretary general Mostafa Amine earlier on Sunday agreed to grant permanent contracts to temporary employees.

But two hours after his meeting with protesters they were demonstrating once again in front of Cairo's main antiquities collection to ensure Amine's pledge is swiftly implemented.

One protester, Mahmoud Ahmed Meselha, told Ahram Online that temporary workers had resumed their protest because they did not believe the promises that had been made.

Excavation equipment discovered in White Desert, investigation ongoing

Youm7 (Maher Abu El Noor)

Director of New Valley Security Othman Naji today received a report indicating that excavation equipment had been discovered about eight kilometers from the main street inside the White Desert Natural Reserve, a clear violation of the no excavation or digging policy.

Naji instructed a team to investigate the incident.

The team discovered a hole – one meter and a half in depth and three meters wide – inside of which was found human bones and pottery.

International institutes participate in developing world heritage sites in Dahshour

Youm7 (Allam Abdel Ghafar )

The governorate of Giza, the Egyptian Tourism Development Institute, UNECSO representatives and the World Tourism Organization will hold a meeting during the next few days to put the final plan of developing tourism in Dahshour by developing its international heritage sites.

“There are ten international and local institutes participating, implementing and improving the international heritage sites in Dahshour.

The governorate in cooperation with special institutes will research about facilities of implementing touristic investments,” the governor of Giza Ali Abdel Rahman said.

New Book: Sais I by Penelope Wilson

Egypt Exploration Society

Penelope Wilson's Sais I soon to be published.

We are pleased to announce the imminent publication of Penelope Wilson's Sais I: The Ramesside Third Intermediate Period at Kom Rebwa.

Sais was Egypt¹s capital in the 26th Dynasty, but it also had an earlier history, unknown before the EES/Durham University/SCA work at the site. This volume is the final excavation report for work carried out in the Northern Enclosure area of the site at Kom Rebwa, funded by the British Academy through the Egypt Exploration Society and the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Excavations between 2000 and 2004 uncovered levels dating between the 20th Dynasty and the Third Intermediate Period. The best preserved levels consisted of part of a house, whose roof had collapsed and an earlier kiln, used for firing faience beads as well as pottery. Lower, buried layers also included Old Kingdom material, hinting at the earlier history of the area. The report contains invaluable information about everyday rural life in the Delta, with anlayses of the different layers, the pottery and the small finds, as well as plant remains and animal bones.

Exhibition: Nesperennub in Australia

Brisbane Times

I had no idea that Nesperennub was still travelling!

A 3000-year-old Egyptian mummy - originally embalmed with a bowl attached to his head - is the feature attraction of the newest exhibition at the revamped Queensland Museum in 2012.

Brisbane will be the only Australian city to host the touring exhibition from the British Museum, "Mummy: Secrets of the Tomb".

The central piece of the exhibition is the mummy of the priest Nesperennub, a prized treasure of the British Museum.

Nesperennub's mummy was discovered at Luxor, the site of Thebes, in the 1890s.

Nesperennub lived about 800 years before Christ and died at about 40 years of age.

According to documents from the British Museum, Nesperennub and his father both worked as priests in the religious complex of Karnak, around 500 kilometres south of Cairo.

Documenting Egypt's Abandoned Palaces

The Polis Blog

With photos.

Nikolskaya currently teaches photography at the American University in Cairo and is editing her upcoming book, "Egyptian Dust: The Social Life of Endangered Spaces," which will be released in February 2012. The book will include 70 pictures featuring buildings in ten Egyptian cities, with text by historian and poet On Barak.

Polis recently met with Xenia Nikolskaya in Stockholm to talk about the project.

For the last four years you have been documenting abandoned Egyptian palaces for your project "Dust." How did you come up with this idea?

One day, by chance, I walked by the Sarageldin palace in Cairo's Garden City. It was a fascinating little villa with sculptures and a garden — very romantic. The doorman asked me if I'd like to see the inside, and of course I did. All the windows were covered with shutters, and I was very curious to see the interior. It was like a sleeping beauty. The furniture was still in place, but it looked like the residents left suddenly, possibly at the time of the revolution in 1952. When I processed my pictures, the first thing I noticed, besides the beautiful interiors, was the dust. The dust is clearly visible in the pictures.

Photo for Today - Temple of Luxor (open air museum)