Empire Fuel The Roman interest in conquering Egypt around two millennia ago was far more than the love interest of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony in Cleopatra VII (Cleopatra). Egypt’s location as the gateway to the Middle East and Asia, together with its extremely productive agricultural sector and educated populace, satisfied some of the most pressing issues facing the Roman Empire in around 30BC. During the resulting 680 years or so of Roman rule before Egyptians once again ruled themselves, the country become predominantly Christian and lose most of its ‘old’ religious temples. It also enjoyed economic growth and played…
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Modern Discovery of an Ancient Army The enigmatic terracotta warriors were unearthed alongside their emperor in Xi’an, in the central province of Shaanxi, in 1974. They were found accidentally when peasants digging a well broke into a pit containing 6000 life-size terracotta figures. Further excavations revealed the terracotta army – footsoldiers, archers, cavalrymen and officers of all ranks. Current estimates of the three pits containing the Terracotta Army are over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses with many still buried in the pits. Discoveries in other pits have continued at the site with horse bones…
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Holding the symbols of office, she ascended the throne. Once the place where her husband sat, it was now hers, by a right that she was about to assert… Turning, she chuckled to herself as the long beard attached to her chin brushed her chest. She’d put on all of her dead husband’s regalia, knowing that despite her female form, the symbols would connote their own power. “By order of the god Khnum who made the gods out of clay, and who appeared to me in a dream last night, I was told to assume the rule of Egypt. ‘I…
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A 14th Century BC Egyptian sculpture, the Head of Amenhotep III smuggled out in the early 1990s has finally been returned to Egypt. The head was smuggled out by Jonathan Tokeley-Perry who was convicted to a six year custodial sentence in 1997 of illegal smuggling. It is known that the head was diguised as a reproduction before being shipped to the US via Switzerland and the UK. Dr Zahi Hawass was instrumental in bringing the head back to Egypt in a complex case involving two separate criminal proceedings in the UK and US. Karen Sanig, Head of Art Law at…