Six Temples at Thebes - Petrie, 1896

More reading material for those of you with an interest in the Theban (Luxor) West Bank. Of particular interest to this blog is the Temple of Wadjmose (Uazmes) in Chapter 1.


Some information supplied by Petrie includes:

• Discovered by Daressy in 1887
• Written texts on the clearance of the temple/ chapel did not appear in print (public)
• A possible restoration by Amenhotep III
• Brief comments on finds
• Temple/ chapel plan
• Diagram showing its position on the Theban West Bank.

Six Temples at Thebes, Petrie - 1896

From The Internet Archive.


Regards,
Stuart

Senenmut - Lover? Father figure?

Senenmut - Lover? Father figure?

I am not comfortable with the "lover" tag which is still being used to show the issues we have in explaining Senenmut’s closeness to Hatshepsut. To my knowledge no-one has yet proven that Senenmut was or wasn't "romantically involved" with Hatshepsut.

I will not go into detail here regards the "evidence" for each side of the discussion, the fact it is still being discussed says a lot. Sometimes we find archaeology which may help us with the jigsaw which is Ancient Egypt, other times we wish for such evidence, but do not know where to look.

Without argument, we know for sure that Senenmut was very close to Hatshepsut in his many roles conducted within her reign. One such role was as tutor to Neferure - a position repeatedly shown via his block tutor statues we see in museums around the world.

Was Senenmut considered by Hatshepsut as a father figure? Did the death of her father allow her to one day require another man to fill such a void in her life? If so, can we discount Senenmut?

Quite possibly, if Senenmut was indeed a father figure - someone whose advice was treated as a necessity - this may have led to the many benefits and titles awarded to Senenmut during his time in the employ of Hatshepsut. His own "words" in his Deir el Bahri tomb have been translated with romantic background meaning. Perhaps the relationship between these two human beings was mutual - a father/ daughter love, which would not have overstepped the barriers of Ancient Egyptian society.

In today's society, if a father, step-father, guardian says to their young ones "You are the most important person in my life, I love you with my heart and my sole. All i do so is for you and all that i am is because of you" these words will be taken in one way. A loving dedication, romantic and loving without ever overstepping the mark.

I wonder (without evidence) whether this particular angle is worth any time.Does anyone have any personal views on this subject which they would like to share?

Regards,

Stuart

"Scarabs and Cylinders With Names" by William Matthew Flinders Petrie

We are fortunate enough to have a number of quality (if dated) books which have been scanned, so that we may see them today. Many books and articles are available to us and its a joy hunting them down.

The following book, by Flinders Petrie, "Scarabs and Cylinders With Names", is one such book we can all see without the expense of a purchase. Available to download from ETANA it offers an insight into the scarabs and cylinders throughout Egypt's history.

There is a specific division into Dynasties, and is set out chronologically. Hatshepsut ("Hotshepsut") has a number of items included, which i will use for my research.

A very good insight into scarabs and cylinders. Enjoy.

Regards,
Stuart

Good Luck for 2012

Happy New Year to all of you.


I wish all of you the very best.

Regards,

 

Two Tombs Attributed to Tuthmosis I: KV20 & KV38 by Sjef Willockx

The following document is made available at www.egyptology.nl:


Two Tombs Attributed to Tuthmosis I: KV20 & KV38 by Sjef Willockx, 2011

I hope you are enjoying the weekend. TV is pretty awful, although i recorded a Hatshepsut documentary - so not all bad.

Thanks to Sjef for the new link to your work. This document is something which i hope to comment on further in the future. It brings together many things discussed in the past, but with a new set of eyes.

Regards,
Stuart

Hatshepsut Project- 2012. A Request for Help

I posted the following in our Facebook Group, "Hatshepsut Project" today:

2012 - Hatshepsut Project. it would be great to have a show of hands before we hit 2012- to see who would be interested in co-ordinating or helping towards a "Hatshepsut Projet Photographic Database". I know some of you have done this in the past, but i have been so busy outside the Project to do anything significant online recently. It is, to dat,e just an idea. For a moment, forget about me and consider how much time you have to spend and whether or not you have the available resources to help produce something significant for the world to see. Although i have my own ideas, i would rather open it up to all of you. I have (more than) reached my limit on the work i can produce and extend my hands out to you all. The icing on the cake for me would be to have an Egyptologist (more if the offers are forthcoming) to oversee parts of the photographc database that would include translation/ transliteration and any insight beyone that which i myself can produce. As all work within the Hatshepsut Project (and its spin-offs) are free to all - any help will be on a voluntary basis. For that reason, i appreciate many of you will be tied up on other projects. Nevertheless, we have no other database online which we can consider "competition" and i really feel that this may be an opportunity for us all to put that right. As with all of our Projects, we will try to create something new, significant and something which everyone can use for future studies of Hatshepsut. This is the place to ask questions, so please feel free.
Thank you all for being a part of this Project. Phil Stewart, Rita Murray - let me tae this opportunity to thank you publicly for your help. I apologise for not being great with correspondance, but i am always here if you need me.

The request for help is for all. If you feel you may be able to help in some way with the above photographic project then please let me know. I am over- stretched with the Museum Database, so cannot offer my time at present. For this reason and that of obtaining all the help i can get - i thought it best to share with everyone who has been following the progress of the Hatshepsut Project.

Thank you for all the support in 2011. Its been a wonderful year for the Project. We are growing at a pace with new ideas, new followers and i am certainly a lot more confident with my own work than i was before starting this blog 18 (or so) months ago. I am happy to report that we are seen all across the globe and have been spending some time on seeing where people find out about us. To my surprise and pleasure we have been noted in blogs, forums and other sources which have no link to me. This shows me that there is a need to keep going. Hatshepsut is very popular it seems.

I still find it unbelievable that Dr Lesers site is to date the only Hatshepsut- dedicated website of note. Whether that's due to the superb work of Dr Leser (which is my own reason for continually visiting) or something quite different- i have no idea. Come to think of it- can any of you name any site dedicated to Thutmose III- or Senenmut? I mean in the way Dr. Leser has done? Perhaps that is something to look at for the future. I love the idea of eventually growing to be the "Thutmoside Project". The reality is that i am one man, with very limited education (in the fields) and spare time (you can blame Hatshepsut directly for that). I do not wish for any of the Hatshepsut Projects (or future spin-offs) to be hurried "for the sake of it" Projects, so for now - we will keep as we are. 

I will try to find some "new" angles for 2012. As much as this blog has been quieter than i am used to- i have a lifetime of stuff to share with regards to articles and the like. I have a few ideas up my sleeve to try and include one or two people who have inspired my research into Hatshepsut. As much as i love thanking people indirectly and occasionally in private correspondence- i would much prefer some form of "Interview" section, "Meet the Author", "Meet the Egyptologist" or something along those lines. With a number of books and articles in production as we speak - wouldn't it be wonderful to have the author tell use about their work, rather than another faceless Amazon link?

There i go again with the ideas...... honestly i have no way of shutting off. I will do the next best thing an stop typing instead.

Regards,
Stuart
(Stuart Tyler, Styler78, Hatshepstu) - Depending on which platform you see this post.

Egyptological Magazine

The third issue of the free online magazine, Egyptological is out. So far in the three issues, there has already been a number of items of note to this blog:

1. An article on Hatshepsut, by Barbara O'Neill, Hatshepsut, King of Egypt (1479–1458 BC)
2. An Article on the Goddess Pakhet (Speos Artemidos) by Andrea Byrnes,Notes on the Goddess Pakhet
3. Photographs of TT353 by Glyn Morris,Photos of the tomb of Senenmut (TT353) by Glyn Morris

 I have given my word to Andrea (and of course, Kate) that i will draft an article myself in the not too distant future. I will be looking at the new blog, the Hatshepsut Project Museum Database (really just a template currently) and giving an idea of what to expect from it as a resource for studying Hatshepsut.

Please take a look at Egyptological if you haven't already. It covers all of Egypt, then and now.

Regards,
Stuart

Authors note

I am still very much enjoying the fact that loads of information about the Thutmosides is unknown to me. Every now and again i read a snippet of information worth looking into. Its something i enjoy doing and often helps me to increase my own knowledge.

To my knowledge i am the only person who is logging all of Hatshepsut's items as a hobby. That said, i have to be wary of how my own research may be seen by my peers and those who are of a high status in the field who may from time to time check in on the work.

What i have noticed is that a number of people have conducted research into the life of Hatshepsut which (if i can find it) can be of use.

Such people include Luc Gabolde, Flinder's Petrie and Jaeger (full name unknown) who have conducted research into scarab (seals) from the reigns of Thutmose I, II and Hatshepsut. Wiki quotes the following:

"Flinders Petrie's older study of scarab seals noted 86 seals for Thutmose I, 19 seals for Thutmose II and 149 seals for Hatshepsut while more recent studies by Jaeger estimate a total of 241 seals for Thutmose I, 463 seals for Hatshepsut and only 65 seals for Thutmose II.^[12] Hence, unless there was an abnormally low number of scarabs produced under Thutmose II, this would indicate that the king's reign was rather short-lived. On this basis, Gabolde estimated Thutmose I and II's reigns to be approximately 11 and 3 full years, respectively. Consequently, the reign length of Thutmose II has been a much debated subject among Egyptologists with little consensus given the small number of surviving documents for his reign."

From Wikipedia.

Whilst i do not have access to works quoted above- i hope to be able to use the Hatshepsut Museum Database to produce similar comparative work. What i can confirm with some authority is that the Thutmosides certainly left a few scarabs. Different shapes and sizes, colours and themes. In fact it is something which sticks out within the database (by the sheer numbers).

All i have to do now is get on with the new blog so that others can see how things are looking. Realistically, 2012 will be a busy year. It will bring me my first son and will see the growth (publicly) of the database.

Furthermore, discussions within the Hatshepsut Project Group on Facebook have given me a good idea of how we can expand in the future.  An exciting idea being floated is a new project which may or may not be called the "Hatshepsut Project Photographic Database". This (if it goes ahead) would be a wonderful way of documenting Hatshepsut via photographs. Something which is not yet available to us (to my knowledge). Far too early to say any more, but it would be a project which would be run by volunteers, free of charge to view (fingers crossed) and available to all.

Should you wish to know more, i will follow up with a post at a later date. Please feel free to join us on Facebook- you would be most welcome.

Regards,
Stuart

Temple of Wadjmose - West Bank, Luxor

Goodness knows how this managed to escape me, but i got there in the end!

Wadjmose and Amunmose, brothers and their half sister was Hatsheput. Both may have had a ligitimate claim to the throne, but neither survived long enough for that. Wadjmose, Amenmose and Hatshepsut shared a father, Thutmose I.

I have located a number of items/ artifacts relating to Amenmose for the Hatshepsut Museum Database, but Wadjmose is a little harder to locate.

A single monument which is today labelled as the Temple of Wadjmose lies on the Theban (Luxor) West Bank.

I will look into obtaining further details ob this monument. Until then, thanks to Amelia Blandford Edwards for the tip off. What had me confused was Amelia's rendering of the name i know as Wadjmose. It appeared as something like Uatsmes - so i ignored it multiple times, before the penny dropped.

**Amended 27/11/11

Regards,
Stuart

Hatshepsut at Highclere - an update

After spending a good amount of time on the Hatshepsut Museum Database recently - it has become clear to me why i have been unable to locate any item in their collection relating to Hatshepsut.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art houses a number of items purchased from Lady Carnarvon, after the death of Lord Carnarvon. Perhaps to pay for the upkeep of Highclere- i am not sure.

The main thing for me is to know that there were items at Highclere relating to Hatshepsut, but today these items are no longer there.

Regards,
Stuart