Scholars have discovered an ancient treaty ina cache of Assyrian tablets excavated at Tayinat last summer. It was made by the Assyrian ruler Esarhaddon, who was trying to ensure that his son, Ashurbanipal, would be recognized as his successor. Translation work is ongoing and many details are not yet known. The treaty dates to ca. 672 BC, several decades after Tayinat was conquered by Tiglath-Pileser III. Professor Tim Harrison said in a University of Toronto news release that: The tablet is quite spectacular. It records a treaty – or covenant – between Esarhaddon, king of the Assyrian Empire and a…
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King Tut will be staying in Toronto for two more weeks. The Art Gallery of Ontario announced today that his departure will be delayed until May 2 due to demand for the exhibition. The shows next stop is Denver the start date of which remains unaffected. Visiting hours for the Toronto show have also been extended to accommodate the crowds. To accommodate weekend visitors, the Gallery has extended the exhibitions hours on Friday and Saturday evenings. Visitors will now be able to purchase tickets for entry at 4:30 pm, 5:00 pm, and 5:30 pm. The King Tut galleries will remain…
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One of the pharaohs recorded on the Royal List of Abydos whose tomb is still unaccounted for is the mysterious Userkare. In our Heritage Key video The Hunt for the Lost Pharaoh:Userkare Dr Vasko Dobrev speculates on the possible location for the tomb of Userkare, a 6th Dynasty pharaoh who ruled shortly after Pharaoh Teti was assassinated by a priest. In this video, Dr Dobrev – Egyptologist and Archaeologist – shares that he believes Userkare to be buried at the Southern end of the Saqqara necropolis, where other 6th Dynasty kings can be found as well. The plateau that Dr…
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It could be the job of your dreams – working among the treasures of the Boy King, and helping the great unwashed explore the mysteries of Ancient Egypt. Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs is seeking positive and team-oriented individuals for its Audio Tour and Movie team. The exhibition – which promises to be a blockbuster along the lines of King Tut’s last visit to the city, more than 30 years ago – is wrapping up its American tour in New York’s new cultural institution, Discovery Times Square Exposition, for nine months beginning April 23, 2010. The job…
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Housed inside Cairo’s Egyptian Museum are many of the artefacts from King Tutankhamun’s tomb (KV62) including the Ritual Figure of Sekhmet, which was discovered in 1922 by the great explorer Howard Carter and his financier Lord Carnarvon. The two men who had a trusting and close bond, as well as a love for Egyptology as explained by his modern day ancestors in a Heritage Key interview (Watch the video about Carter and Carnarvon). Included in the discovery were 34 ritual figures, believed to be of significant importance in the burial ceremony. Egyptology photographer Sandro Vannini has been capturing many of…
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An Egyptian excavation team has made a new discovery at Karnak during routine excavation works. A large red granite false door belonging to the tomb of Queen Hatshepsuts vizier User and his wife Toy has been unearthed in front of the Karnak Temple. Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, explained that the door is 175 cm tall, 100 cm wide and 50 cm thick. It is engraved with religious texts, as well as different titles of the vizier User, who took office at the time of the fifth year of Queen Hatshepsuts reign, circa 1474…
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In three weeks the King Tut exhibit Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs will be leaving Toronto, heading off to the mountains of Denver. The exhibition has been a huge success, and has prompted a new wave of Egyptomania unseen since King Tut’s 1979 visit to the city. It wouldnt be appropriate for the king to leave without a send-off, and the Art Gallery of Ontario has an interesting one. This Wednesday the gallery will play host to the premiere of Osiris and Isis the Opera. Composed by Colin Mack and directed by Guillermo Silva-Marin, this show will…
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Channel 4’s digital channel More4 has kicked off a juicy seven-week series of documentaries fronted by historian Bettany Hughes. The Ancient World began on Wednesday 24 March with a new film about Alexandria, the city founded by Alexander the Great in 332BC. Hughes travelled to Egypt in search of the city’s ancient origins, delved beneath the streets and explored the sunken ruins that are all that remain of what was once the largest city in the world. Alexandria is one of the world’s greatest ancient cities. It’s a hugely fascinating place and a topic ripe for exploration. For centuries it…
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Help! In just twenty-four hours, my mummy has developed a will of his own and became politically active. MacMummy refuses to open his coffin until the Rosetta Stone is returned to Egypt, and is even rallying other mummies to join in on the protest and urging them to become a member of ‘Mummies for the Return of the Rosetta Stone’. I’m not quite sure if it is a blessing to have the most enterprising mummy ever, as he’s now… on strike. How did Ilet it get so far out of hand? We were admiring the pictures of the massive Anubis…
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You live long enough in this city and you’ll see things you couldn’t even imagine – like a 25-foot tall Anubis statue being towed around New York harbour, which is what happened yesterday morning. Anubis’s arrival heralds the one-month countdown for the exhibition, Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, which opens April 23 at the Discovery Times Square Exposition in Manhattan, on the final leg of its journey round North America. Tickets for the show went on sale the same day. The exhibition has already wowed Tutaholics in San Francisco, and exhibitors hope that Tut will cause the…