Hatshepsut - Netery Menu photo update

Hatshepsut's latest monument being re-erected in the Open air Museum, Karnak (following the wonderful work done by CFEETK on the Red Chapel). Dr Leser has forwarded these photos of the latest in the developments. I am really pleased to see the progress of this monument.

 I extend my sincerest thanks to Dr. Karl Leser for these wonderful photos. Your continued support is a major asset to my research.

The first photo shows the front view of the Netery Menu, which is really taking shape.

The second photo is a side view, giving an idea of the extent of the monument once it's finished. Working from fragments, CFEETK have progressed well in the last year or so.

Situated in the entrance of Karnak's Open air Museum - a seperate ticket will need to be obtained in order to view this munument. The cost compared to British tourist sites of much lesser quality is very reasonable.

Once completed i will expect CFEETK to give a full report on the work undertaken. I will contact them at some stage in the future to check this. Any information will be passed on.

These photographs are copyright Dr. Karl Leser.

If anyone out there is not aware of Dr. Lesers work on Hatshepsut - please visit his website (German and English language). See below:


MaatKaRa Hatschepsut

Regards,
Stuart

Statues of Senenut by Dr. Karl Leser

I recently posted about a Senenmut Statue which is located in a Luxor Storage Magazine. Unable to provide a photo at the time, it has been brought to my attention by Dr. Karl Leser that this item, plus others which i have yet to identify have been listed on one page on his website.

Whilst i will report on the individual locations separately, it is great to have the statuary of Senenmut all in one place and makes further research that much easier.

Please visit Maat-Ka-Ra Hatschepsut, go to Site Map and then Statues of Senenmut. Even the more fragmented statues have been included by Dr. Leser.

With thanks to Dr Leser for pointing this page out to me. This will prove to be a valuable resource to all of us interested in Senenmut's statuary.

Regards,
Stuart

Hapuseneb - by Maat-Ka-Ra-Hatschepsut

Hapuseneb served as High Priest of Amun during the reign of Hatshepsut and has left behind a tomb, statues and artifacts which allow us a small glimpse in the background of Hatshepsut's life. I will discuss the artifacts and statues at a later date.

See Maat-Ka-Ra-Hatschepsut

The information provided by the above link actually highlights an issue with my Hatshepsut Project Museum Database. Many of Hapuseneb's artifacts do NOT mention Hatshepsut, but we DO know he was active during the time of Hatshepsut. Do I include these artifacts? If i do, i feel a can of worms opening up in my face, but if i don't - am i depriving the database of information? This is a real concern.

My thanks to Dr Leser once more for your superb website.

Regards,
Stuart

TT71- Tomb of Senenmut (By Dr.Karl Leser)

TT71- Tomb of Senenmut is discussed in detail on Maat-Ka-Ra-Hatschepsut. A number of pages clearly illustrate the finds in and around the tomb itself and there are a number of excellent quality photographs and diagrams. Excellent descriptions of the features of the tomb itself are given, including what's left of the decoration.

A point worth mentioning is that there are a number of Hatshepsut artifacts which i have yet to report on, which are mentioned in the above linked pages of tomb TT71. Some of these i have looked into at some length and some are relatively new to me. These will be mentioned in the future as seperate posts and will be included (eventually) in a database of objects outside of museum collections, when i get around to it (unlikely to be in 2011 due to other Hatshepsut projects i am working on).

I mentioned a while back that the book "Hatshepsut From Queen to Pharaoh" is my bible. Maat-Ka-Ra is my online Hatshepsut bible. Not only is the site remarkably informative, but Dr. Leser is a very accomodating man, who has done more for my understanding of Hatshepsut than any other single resource.

It is no surprise that i have extensively linked to his site from this blog.

Regards,
Stuart

Hatshepsut - Medinet Habu

Maat-ka-Ra-Hatschepsut has a series of pages on Hatshepsut at Medinet Habu. Known today as the area where we see the 20th Dynasty Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III.

For her part Hatshepsut:

"built or finished a small temple of Amun ("Djeser set" or "Holy is the Place" )"

at Medinet Habu. Further information and the source for the above quote can be seen at Maat-ka-Ra-Hatschepsut - go to Monuments>Medinet Habu.

Regards,
Stuart

Ahmose Pen Nekhbet

Ahmose Pen-Nekhbet was an official who served under a number of Pharaohs in the Early New Kingdom. His tomb, (EK2) at El Kab (osirisnet) houses his biography (reshafim). And what a guy he was. He held various titles, fought for Egypt and names himself as Tutor to Neferure:

"The divine consort, the Great King's Wife, Makere, triumphant, repeated honors to me. I reared her eldest daughter, the Royal Daughter, Nefrure, triumphant, while she was a child upon the breast ........."

(from the "his biography" link, above)

Maat-ka-Ra Hatschepsut has a full page on Ahmose - go to: Persons>Pennechbet

Regards,
Stuart

Hatshepsut - Mortuary Temple of Merneptah

Merneptah (or Merenptah if you prefer) was the 13th son of Rameses II and would become the 4th Pharaoh of the 19th dynasty upon the death of his father.

A number of mortuary temples of the 18th and 19th dynasties are tourist attractions today on the West Bank of Luxor. They are in a varied state of restoration and Merneptah's own temple is in a very poor condition when compared to that of Hatshepsut (Deir el Bahri) and Ramses III (Medinet Habu). Many of the finds from the mortuary temple of Merneptah were actually re-used material from temples of previous 18th dynasty Pharaohs. These include Amenhotep III, Akhenaton and Hatshepsut.

An article on the mortuary temple of Merneptah can be seen on Osirisnet.net.

Dr. Karl Leser's website (Maat-Ka-Ra Hatschepsut) provides a photo of a limestone block fragment featuring 2 cryptograms of Hatshepsut's throne name. In total he mentions 10 blocks in total from Merneptah's temple. Please follow the link, go to Monuments>Other Monuments>Fragments for further details.

Stuart

Hatshepsut - Contra Temple at Karnak

I've mentioned before that Hatshepsut erected 4 obelisks at the Karnak temple complex in Luxor (Thebes).

The standing obelisk and the fallen obelisk are a pair. The two others (also a pair) had a slightly different fate. We have pieces of these only. Their bases have been damaged but are still visible today. See Maat-Ka-Ra-Hatschepsut for photos of these bases. Visit Site Map/Obelisks. Also on his site, Dr. Leser shows 2 further fragments from Karnak and a detailed page

The location of these is the Contra Temple as described by Digital Karnak.

Now that the locations of the Karnak Obelisks have been described i will turn my attention to the fragments which i am aware of in Museums.

Hatshepsut - False Door of her Vizier, User

Updated 11/04/2014

From Jane Akshar.

Discovered at Karnak, False Door of her Vizier, User

this article provides another piece of the very large jigsaw puzzle that makes up the background life of Hatshepsut.

Wikipedia has a page on User, a Vizier. He is another person from Ancient Egypt who was involved in the life of Hatshepsut. He was buried on the West Bank of Luxor in tomb TT61.

For further information on the false door please visit Maat-Ka-Ra-Hatschepsut. Dr. Leser provides transliterations and translations of the full text and provides some useful background information on User (who is also known as Useramun). Please click the link and visit: Persons/Useramun.

With thanks to Dr. Karl Leser for the additional information.

Regards,
Stuart

Hatshepsut - Temple of Amun- Khamutef, Karnak

Previous posts relating to Hatshepsut's building projects at Karnak have all been within the Amun precinct.

The Mut precinct and specifically the Temple of Amun- Khamutef are very well covered on Maat-Ka-Ra-Hatschepsut by Dr. Karl Leser.

Current excavation and restoration work within the precinct of Mut is the responsibility of the John Hopkins University. Working on the site since the late 1970's their recent work is very well documented (follow the link). Each season (since 2001) they've posted online reports and photographs of their work, including the New Kingdom finds of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III. Please also feel free to contact them. You will find their details on the link above.

Regards,
Stuart

TT11 - Tomb of Djehuty

TT11 (Theban Tomb No.11) in the Theban Necropolis is the tomb of Djehuty. Djehuty was the Overseer of the Treasury & Overseer of the Works during the reign of Hatshepsut.

Other than Senenmut, i have yet to include anyone with a real connection to Hatshepsut (outside family members), so this will add another name to the Hatshepsut Project. His tomb mentions of course Hatshepsut, for whom he worked and is another person who is involved in the life of our female pharaoh.

Jane Akshar's blog provides some very useful posts, as does Dr Karl Leser's website (search Persons,Djehuti).

Senenmut and Djehuty, as well as the other people involved in Hatshepsut's reign provide a lot of information for modern day scholars and researchers. Dates, achievements, job titles and much more can be found on the walls of their tombs and on their statues.

Update: Further findings in Djehuty's tomb by Kate Phizackerley

Regards,
Stuart

Hatshepsut - NTrj-mnw - Karnak Open Air Museum

M20081120_594
Originally uploaded by kairoinfo4u

Let's start by making then name a bit easier to say - NTrj-mnw can be pronounced Netery Menu (Neterry Menoo).

Located in the Karnak Temple Open Air Museum, the NTrj-mnw (meaning "Divine Monument") in the form of 240 blocks- is the latest of Hatshepsut's monuments to be mentioned on this blog.

Dr. Karl Leser, known (amongst other achievements) for his Hatshepsut related website Maatkara Hatschepsut informed me about the "Divine Monument" by email. His website has an excellent description of the monument and further photos, including the appearance of Neferure. The above photo provided by Kairoinfo4u just happened to be a saved favourite of mine on Flickr. Until today, i did not know which monument this came from.

All information on the transliteration and translation, plus the location and number of blocks within this post comes directly from Dr. Leser's website, which is where you will find out the currently available information regarding this monument (click on the above link).

Two points i would like to add:

* We have 2 further cartouches of Hatshepsut which appear to be undamaged in the way we would expect of a Hatshepsut cartouche.

Look at both Lion's heads (the lions head and paw make up the "Hat" in the name Hatshepsut. They are carved individually and are different. Also note the distance between the flail (the item held in the hand of the seated figure) and the lions paw to show that both cartouches were done at different times (perhaps by different individuals?). These are the types of things that stand out to me when looking at blocks like this.

Thank you Dr Leser for the information supplied by private correspondence and your website.

Thank you also Kairoinfo4u - you're becoming a regular on my blog and long may that continue.

Regards,

Stuart

Deir el Bahri - Senseneb

http://www.metmuseum.org/Imageshare/eg/large/INST.1979.2.30_chr.jpg

Thanks to Debbie for the information about watercolour paintings at the MMA. This is the second of the Howard Carter Deir el Behri watercolours which i have been able to locate pictures of. One thing that strikes me about the 2 featured so far is the quality.

Until today, the name of Senseneb/ Seniseneb was unknown to me. Often my posts are written like this - literally as i find out something new and useful- it appears here.

Having referred to Dr Leser's site and also Anneke Bart's site, as well of course as the source of the picture, the MMA (linked above) - the name of Sen(i)seneb will be an important part of the Hatshepsut jigsaw.

Sen(i)seneb is the mother of Thutmose I, grandmother of Hatshepsut. Although very early days, i have yet to find out much about her, except for her appearance at Deir el Bahri and her relationship to Hatshepsut. If i can find out more, i will post my findings at a later date.

Regards,
Stuart

Hatshepsut - Beni Hasan

Beni Hasan in what is known as Middle Egypt (for obvious reasons) is home to an intriguing site known as the Speos Artemidos.

The Speos Artemidos (this is a Greek name, roughly meaning "Grotto of Artemis" (Artemis is a Greek god) is a rock-cut temple dedicated to the goddess Pakhet ("she who scratches"), although other deities appear in inscriptions.

Beni Hasan in Ancient Egypt was used as far back in Pharonic times as the Old Kingdom and continued well after the 18th Dynasty. The site appears to have been mainly used as a cemetery although the Speos Artemidos was not used as this at all. Hatshepsut seems to have used this particular area for something quite different, besides the worship of Pakhet (a local goddess to the Beni Hasan region).

Before Ahmose I, founder of the 18th Dynasty was Pharaoh, Egypt was in its second intermediate period. This is a period in Egyptian history where "foreigners" ruled Lower (Northern) Egypt and local native Egyptian rulers controlled Upper (Southern) Egypt. These foreigners are known to us as the Hyksos.

It is the Hyksos who make this temple so interesting. By the time of Hatshepsut's reign the Hyksos period was a piece of history (since then we had the reigns of Amenhotep I, Thutmose I and Thutmose II. I would suggest that this is like looking back at World War 1, as a very rough timescale.

Since then, Egyptians ruled all of Egypt. We see successful military campaigns, the Valley of the Kings was used for burial for the first time, trading expeditions, rebuilding projects across Egypt and much more.

So what makes Hatshepsut write the following quote in the walls of the Speos Artemidos?

Hear ye, all people and folk as many as they may be, I have done these things through the counsel of my heart. I have not slept forgetfully, (but) I have restored that which had been ruined. I have raised up that which had gone to pieces formerly, since the Asiatics were in the midst of Avaris of the Northland, and vagabonds were in the midst of them, overthrowing that which had been made.

From the Speos Artemidos Inscription
Pritchard, James B. ed. Ancient Near Eastern Texts, Princeton, 1969, p. 231

from http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/hatshepsut_inscription.htm

I would suggest a keen sense of her country's history to be the key here. As far as i have seen so far, her father Thutmose I did not refer back to the time of the Hyksos (but am happy to be corrected) so she was not following tradition.

We know from her building work mentioned on the Hatshepsut Project so far that Hatshepsut was a builder of note, commissioning so much in her reign. As far as for her claim to have "raised up that which had gone to pieces formerly" It seems Hatshepsut, as Pharaoh felt it necessary to record the Hyksos in the way she did to highlight her dislike for her country's former history and saying herself as a truly Egyptian ruler she will do what is necessary to stabilize Egypt and to allow it to move on from the past.

For more information i suggest:

Dr Karl Leser - go to Monuments> Speos Artemidos
http://www.maat-ka-ra.de/english/start_e.htm

Reshafim
http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/hatshepsut_inscription.htm

Wiki on the Hyksos
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyksos

Anneke Bart - 18th Dynasty family tree
http://euler.slu.edu/~bart/egyptianhtml/kings%20and%20Queens/Dynasty18.html

Wiki on Beni Hasan
http://www.archaeowiki.org/Beni_Hasan

Kind Regards,
Stuart

Hatshepsut's Rock Cut Tomb

I recently linked to Jane Akshar's blog (Luxor News), regarding photos of KV20. The photos were taken and owned by Richard Sellicks.

I am pleased to report that Richard has also kindly posted photos of Hatshepsut's rock cut tomb
on Jane's blog. Now this is not KV20. Before becoming Pharaoh, Hatshepsut began making a "fitting" tomb for herself. When Hatshepsut became Pharaoh, the rock- cut tomb was no longer suitable. The Valley of the Kings, KV20 was the replacement.

Hatshepsut's rock cut tomb does not contain Hieroglyphs or what some call treasure (gold, jewelery, etc). For those working in Egypt- information is treasure. The main source of information within this tomb comes from a Sarcophagus (now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo), discovered by Howard Carter.

The inscriptions, titles given and the apparent abandonment allows us to see a small part of the life of Hatshepsut. A transition period, from Kings Daughter to Pharaoh. For further reading, please see:

Maat-Ka-Ra-Hatshepsut - Tomb description, diagram, photos, inscriptions (Go to Site Map, Cliff Tomb)
Egyptopia.com- Sarcophagus

Regards,

Stuart

Hatshepsut - Luxor Museum

When i go to Luxor again (hopeful thinking), one of my first stops will be the Luxor Museum.

My wife and i didn't have enough time and money when we went in 2008, which was a real shame. Next time we will definitely take an evening visit.

Amongst their former collections, (blocks from) Hatshepsut's Red Chapel had been on display, until being moved (further details have been provided below).

Just a taster:

http://www.suziemanley.com/may/l_museum.htm

(pictures 6 & 19)

Thanks to the site owner Suzie Manley.

Stuart


*************************************************************************************
I have edited this post to show (correctly) that the blocks USED to be a part of the Luxor Museum. As pointed out by Dr Karl Leser, the Red Chapel of Hatshepsut has been re-built and is situated today in the Karnak Temple Open Air Museum. For more information on the reconstructed Red Chapel, then please visit Dr Lesers site:

http://www.maat-ka-ra.de/english/start_e.htm

Go to: Sitemap, Monuments, Red Chapel

*************************************************************************************

Hatshepsut Shabtis (?)

From Maat-Ka-Ra Hatschepsut

Thanks to Dr. Leser for the work here. Please note that these are "possibly related" to Hatshepsut.

Shabti 1: Rijksmuseum, Den Haag (The Hague), Netherlands
Shabti 2: Bordeaux Museum, France

Please follow my link to Dr Lesers own work, which describes the shabtis very well and also includes translations of the shabtis.

Regards,
Stuart

Hatshepsut's Obelisk at Karnak

The only standing obelisk of Hatshepsut still left in- situ in Karnak Temple complex, Egypt.

The Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut (Djeser Djeseru at Deir el Bahri) still has scenes showing the quarrying of 2 obelisks from a quarry in Aswan.

The Red Chapel of Hatshepsut (also situated in Karnak- now in the open- air museum) also shows the scenes of Hatshepsut erecting 2 (different) obelisks.

At Karnak today this is the only standing obelisk of Hatshepsut, but not the only one there. At the site of the scared lake, in the Amun Precinct we can see what is generally referred to as the "Fallen Obelisk of Hatshepsut". Only the tip of this obelisk remains and you get to see the Hieroglyphic inscriptions up close. I can tell you they are wonderful. The below photo from my only visit (so far) will give a taster.

Amun, being ever present as Hatshepsut's (divine) father and of course as the main deity worshiped at Karnak Temple.





For more in depth information on both the Obelisks of Hatshepsut, Karnak and the Red Chapel, I recommend a visit to:

Obelisks and Hatshepsut in Karnak -Maat-Ka-Ra-Hatschepsut

Red Chapel -Osirisnet.net

Regards,
Stuart

Maat-Ka-Ra Hatschepsut

I have been to the site Maat-Ka-Ra Hatschepsut that many times, i have to share the link:

http://www.maat-ka-ra.de/english/start_e.htm (Dr Karl Leser's website)

Very informative and includes a huge amount of in-depth information which will be a form of guide or bible for this blog and my Hatshepsut studies.

All thanks to Dr Karl Leser

Stuart