News — Ancient Egypt

The Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir El-Bahri, near Luxor, is one of the most extraordinary temples in all of Egypt. The entire structure was designed to blend in with the surrounding mountainous landscape. Hatshepsut was the female king of Egypt who adopted the full titles and regalia of a pharaoh.   But scenes on the walls of the Deir El-Bahri temple had deep red details. We were surprised to see the tree of life and palm trees because they were not common in the other temples we visited.  Hatshepsut's temple consists of three levels with steep stairs between the levels.  There are many...

On a recent visit to Egypt, we visited the Hathor Temple in Dendera. On the roof of the temple, there is a small open-air room. The small room was a chapel dedicated to Osiris. When you walk inside it is noticeable that the walls do not have the same highly detailed hieroglyphs as the rest of the temple. However, when you look up you notice something amazing.  On the right side of the ceiling is a large arching Nut drawing. Nut is the goddess of the sky and heavens. On the left side is a relief that is unique to...

The scarab beetle is an iconic Egyptian deity with fascinating origins. The scarab was thought to have been born from a pile of dung making it a symbol of self-creation. Egyptians would watch the scarab push the dung and noticed it resembled the sun moving across the sky. Ancient Egyptians believed the scarab beetle was a manifestation of the Sun God Khepri. Because the sun would reappear the following day the scarab was known to symbolize rebirth. Scarabs were worn by the living as a powerful amulet for protection. They were also buried with the dead to help them on their...

We now offer many pieces from the Khayamiya (tentmakers) district of old Cairo in our Etsy store. For over 1,000 years, the tentmakers of Cairo hand-stitched huge panels (some as large as 10 x 20 feet) that were attached to the interior of tents. These were primarily used for funeral gatherings, with very bright green, orange and red colors.   The designs are created by the 'appliqué' process which is stitching layers on top of canvas backing. In recent years, the tentmakers began making smaller pieces to be used as bedspreads, wall hangings, and pillowcases, using much softer color tones. The...

  On my most recent trip to Luxor, I went to visit my favorite spot in Medinat Habu (Habu Temple). I was surprised to see scaffolding on a large section of the columns, with a team of young students working diligently on it.  I must admit, I liked the idea of removing dust, dirt, bird poop, etc. However, when I realized that the colorful sections were changing color, I was a bit concerned.   As a purist, I much prefer the 'weathered by thousands of years' look, but I am hopeful that this deepening of the colors will lighten over...