The rule of the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, represented a bit of an aberration in Chinese art. He is the only emperor, in Chinese history, who insisted that life-size terracotta figures be built.
After the emperor’s death Chinese artists went back to creating small-scale figurines of warriors, civilians and animals. Among these figurines is this terracotta representation of a dog, created for the first emperor of the Han dynasty, Emperor Gaozu (Liu Bang). Dogs were common in China by this point and were presumably used for either hunting or companionship.
News of this exhibit has been leaking out in bits and pieces for weeks. But today the official announcement of it was made and full details have been released.
The exhibit will be hitting the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto Canada starting in late June. The precise exhibition start/end dates are being arranged.
As reported earlier the exhibit will be stopping at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary and the Royal BC Museum in Victoria BC. A stop in Montreal was announced several months back.
Nothing keeps Dr Zahi Hawass awake at night quite like the prospect of being the first person to lay eyes on a millennia-dead Egyptian mummy. “I could not sleep with thinking about it all the time,” he reveals at the start of Heritage Key’s latest fantastic video by Nico Piazza, documenting the opening of an intact tomb at Saqqara. “Thinking about the moment that I will come down,” he continues, “about 11 metres, and begin to open a sealed sarcophagus that no one ever touched since 2,600 years ago.”
Dr Zahi Hawass takes us inside a tomb in Saqqara, Egypt as his team prepare to open us a limestone sarcophagus for the first time, with its contents unknown. On opening the sarcophagus, the contents reveal there to be a mummy inside which will then be taken away for tests and examinations to check for gold and amulets.
Dr Hawass emphasises the personal importance this discovery has to him, and how it reinforces his passion for archaeology!
I’m going to be filing more detailed blogs at the end, once I have the time to do a proper write-up of all the research.
For now here are some news-briefs that I want to fill you in on.
-The Seila Pyramid is flat! No – it is not a step pyramid. It is a true pyramid. Professor Kerry Muhlestein of Brigham Young University, presented the latest research.
A team of engineers, using GPS equipment, completed a 3D model of the pyramid recently. Combined with (unpublished) excavation results it is now clear that it is not a step-pyramid.
Made of green serpentine marble, this sculpture of a dog originally guarded the entrance to a pavilion, according to Roman tradition. From the Horti Maecenatiani. It was found on the Esquiline Hill near the Auditorium di Mecenate in 1877. Mecenate was a friend and councillor to the Emperor Augustus. He transformed what was previously a necropolis into a sumptuous residence. The Horti Maecenatiani later became imperial property and were incorporated into the Domus Aurea during the rule of Nero.
Submitted by Tank Green on Fri, 02/13/2009 - 13:41
Many Myths and Meanings
It is important to remember that religion in ancient Egypt should be thought of in the plural. There were many different religions centred on many different gods and goddesses, spread across different geographical regions and social classes. Like all forms of culture, they also changed over time.
Likewise, the ancient Egyptians also had different types of relationships with animals. The lucky ones became pets or helped in farming. The unlucky became food or offerings. Ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses were often depicted in the form of animals, sometimes as combinations of animals, including human bodies with animal heads.
News of this exhibit has been leaking out in bits and pieces for weeks. But today the official announcement of it was made and full details have been released.
The Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities, and the 
Likewise, the ancient Egyptians also had different types of relationships with animals. The lucky ones became pets or helped in farming. The unlucky became food or offerings. Ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses were often depicted in the form of animals, sometimes as combinations of animals, including human bodies with animal heads.
