Submitted by Meral Crifasi on Mon, 03/08/2010 - 15:36
Photographers - thank you for getting your cameras out in support of our photography competition 'Ancient Spotted Photo Contest'.
There were a lot of really great photos submitted, and it has been incredibly hard to choose a winner. But after a lot of consideration we have decided on the winner of the first photo competition of the Ancient World in London series of quests.
Two iron-cast faux-Egyptian Sphinxes flank the either side of Cleopatra's Needle in the City of Westminster, London. Although the original intention of the Sphinxes would have been to appear to be guarding the needle, an installation error means they are both facing the needle instead. The right hand Sphinx is visibly damaged after an aerial bombing campaign during the First World War saw a bomb land near Cleopatra's Needle. To commemorate the event, the shrapnel holes remain unrepaired on the Sphinx to this day.
This beautiful photograph by Manju shows one of the Sphinxes were it rests alongside the River Thames, with the iconic London Eye in the background against the backdrop of a cloudy blue sky. The lighting highlights the heiroglypics on the chest of the Sphinx, which read "netjer nefer men-kheper-re di ankh" (the good god, Thuthmosis III given life).
Submitted by Roger Kean on Tue, 01/19/2010 - 20:27
Review Rating:
8
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This is a wonderful conceit of a book – as the title suggests, a tourist’s guide to the Egypt of Ramses II. Charlotte Booth's text slides carefully between the kind of advice that a traveller of the period would have found useful and the kind of information which enlightens the modern tourist about the physical marvels of ancient Egypt while explaining every aspect of the ancient culture – at least up until 1200 BC.
A good holiday package tour guide should give the traveller a useful overview of essentials, such as where to stay, where to enjoy the local cuisine (and what to expect on your plate), medical health care (in case you get Egyptian tummy from the food), places of interest to visit and what to look for when you get there, and the best times to visit Egypt (avoid the summer floods when most temples are under water). This guide advises on the kind of currency to take with you: "it is recommended you … have plenty of papyrus to bargain with … and perhaps have a couple of goats to hand as well". For the modern tourist, a supply of papyrus is no problem, as anyone who’s ever visited Egypt will well know!
Gustave Flaubert - the author of 'Madame Bovary' - travelled through Egypt from October 1849 to July 1850. Together with his friend and photographer Maxime Du Camp he journeyed from Alexandria in the North to Sudan in the South and back. This journey is the focus of the exhibition 'Het Egypte van Gustave Flaubert' (Gustave Flaubert's Egypt), which runs at the RMO in Holland until April 4th 2010. The expo follows the famous French writer on his journey through Egypt and takes its visitors from the amazing pyramids at Giza and the sanctuaries at Luxor to the gigantic pharaonic statues at Abu Simbel in the deep south.
Submitted by Sean Williams on Tue, 11/24/2009 - 18:09
Saqqara might be one of Egypt's oldest archaeological sites, but it's certainly one of the hottest right now. And the omnipresent Zahi Hawass has been enlightening fans on the latest breakthroughs and theories circulating the ancient necropolis. The first of these centres on the giant Step Pyramid of Djoser, Egypt's first pyramid. Eleven burial shafts have been excavated, homes to each of the Old Kingdom pharaoh's daughters. As such it was the only Old Kingdom pyramid built for the king's family.
Submitted by Sean Williams on Tue, 11/24/2009 - 10:50
It's fair enough not to be allowed to snap away inside the tombs of the Valley of the Kings (unless you're Sandro Vannini , see why here). Flash photography - and that's what you'll need - can have a damaging effect on the delicate tomb paintings, some of which are around 4,000 years old. But jobsworth Egyptian officials denying you a snapshot outside the tombs? According to Egypt's antiquities chief Zahi Hawass, that's not on.
Travelling through Egypt is still today an experience you are bound to remember; wide deserts, gigantic monuments and a whole different culture. But imagine how it must have been for those 19th and early 20th Century explorers? Surely it must have been a once in a lifetime experience, which we now - thanks to this footage from the Travel Film Archive and the Human Studies Film Archives - can relive, be it in black and white and without sound. Enjoy this footage from the era when Carter and Lord Carnarvon discovered King Tut's tomb:
Gustave Flaubert - the author of 'Madame Bovary' - travelled through Egypt from October 1849 to July 1850. Together with his friend and photographer Maxime Du Camp he journeyed from Alexandria in the North to Sudan in the South and back. This journey is the focus of the exhibition 'Het Egypte van Gustave Flaubert' (Gustave Flaubert's Egypt), which runs at the RMO in Holland until April 4th 2010. The expo follows the famous French writer on his journey through Egypt and takes its visitors from the amazing 
Saqqara
