Today, I take you to the Egyptian National Museum to see the treasures of Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun, which shocked the world.
The Egyptian National Museum is a simple brick red building with two floors.
Before I take you to Tutankhamun's room, let me briefly introduce Tutankhamun.
Tutankhamun was a Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty in the new kingdom of ancient Egypt (his reign was about 1334 BC-1325 BC or 1323 BC). His original name was Tutankhaten, which means "the image of aten", and it was later changed to Tutankhamun, which means "the image of Amon", which also shows that his belief has changed from worshipping adon to worshiping Amon. Tutankhamun reigned in the world at the age of 9, and died suddenly at the age of 19. The cause of his death was once hung over by murder. Before Tutankhamun's tomb was excavated, all the tombs in Egypt were looted, and people could not find the situation of the pharaohs in the past.
In 1907, Howard Carter, a British archaeologist and Egyptian archaeologist, was invited to lead the excavation of the Valley of the Kings. After 15 years of searching, Carter finally found the steps leading to Tutankhamun's tomb. On November 26, 1922, when Carter and others entered the interior of the tomb, they found that it was completely preserved. They found more than 5,000 articles.
Tutankhamun was not the most outstanding Pharaoh in the history of ancient Egypt, but the cultural relics unearthed from its ancient tomb thousands of years later, including Golden mask, golden coffin, golden throne and gold ornaments, shocked the whole world.
From the picture below, we can see that Tutankhamun's tomb is actually very small. The reason is that when he died, he had not built a tomb for him, so he occupied the tomb of a previous noble.
There are two black pharaohs facing each other in the lobby of the exhibition room in Tucamune. They are painted black in wood, wearing gold skirts, gold shoes and scepters. They are almost life-sized. Look carefully, these two people are different. One is wearing a nemes headscarf and the other is wearing a khat headscarf like a bag. In the religion of ancient Egypt, it was Tutankhamun's "card", that is, his spirit. After death, Ka is separated from Hutt, and will follow Tutankhamun's soul to the afterlife. They were guarding the entrance of the tomb originally.
This golden chair of Tutankhamun inlaid with precious stones is resplendent and magnificent, which is considered by Carter as "the most beautiful cultural relic unearthed in Egypt so far".
There is a golden head of lion on each side in front of the seat. There is a footboard in front of the throne.
There is a colorful picture on the back of the chair. The images of the two men are carefully inlaid with stained glass and precious stones. On the blue wig, both of them wear high crowns and a big collar on their chests. Pharaoh wore a pleated skirt and a belt hanging in front; The queen was wearing a pleated skirt, and her young body was faintly visible. Queen Antheramon is applying balm to her husband Tutankhamun. The appearance of a pair of intimacy, obviously influenced by the period of Akhenaten. At the top of the image is a golden sun, and the rays of the sun shine on the Pharaoh and the queen, giving them life.
Relief statues protecting the eagle body of the snake on both sides of the handrail.
Behind the throne are lotus flowers and papyrus, symbolizing the north and south of Egypt.
There are lotus flowers and papyrus behind the throne, symbolizing the north and south of Egypt.
Pharaoh scepter
About 130 scepter were found in Tutankhamun's tomb. Some have been used like this one; Others are exquisitely carved, apparently dedicated to ceremonies.
Tutankhamun's Scepter -- hook and flail
The flail is paired with the hook Scepter (heqa). The ancient Egyptian symbol HEGA (Heka) means "ruler", which symbolizes the ruling power of the king. It is often used by the Pharaoh, and the God of Hades is also used commonly. The hook is used together with the flail, which is often found on the coffin of the mummy of the late Pharaoh. It means that the supreme ruler also enjoys authority in the underworld. This scepter is held in the hands of the statue of the Pharaoh on the lid of Tutankhamun's golden coffin and the body.
Below is sekhem. This is a symbolic scepter. Sekhem means "power".
couch
gold bed with Palm mat. There are gold pillows in front of the bed.
Once considered by Carter to be the most important find, this exquisite case contained many items. On the two short sides of the box is the image of pharaoh incarnated as a Sphinx.
The two long sides of the box depict the scenes which pharaoh conquestded Syria and Nubia.
statue of Tutankhamen
Perfume bottle
the lion shaped perfume bottle
The Pharaoh wore various ornaments. From left to right, they were the crown of Upper Egypt, the crown of Lower Egypt, the double crown of upper and lower Egypt, nemes headscarf and Nubian wig.
Such a small statue is used to serve the king in future generations. We found 365 in the king's tomb, which is exactly the same as our current Gregorian calendar. At that time, astronomy was very developed. The most remarkable thing was that they noticed that there were not only 365 days in a year, but also six hours, so they added one day in four years.
Tutankhamun's chariot
Six chariots were found in Tutankhamun's mausoleum, including two larger ceremonial chariots, one smaller chariot with gorgeous decoration, and the other three chariots with light body, which are daily vehicles.
Pharaoh Tutankhamun's chariots surpassed all pharaohs' chariots in exquisite engineering.
The above funerary objects are in the front hall.
The gold inlaid wooden shrine
The gold inlaid wooden shrine was found on the east wall of the treasure room of Tutankhamen's tomb. It faces the door of the tomb.
The shrine is placed on a wooden sled, with a pillar in each of the four corners supporting a large hollow shrine at the top.
The top of the outer niche is decorated with a protective god Cobra inlaid with colored glass.
There is a sun disk on the top of each snake.
The four goddesses of Isis, nefosis, celekate and nice spread their arms and surrounded the shrine as protectors.
Tutankhamun's viscera were contained in the four alabaster boxes
Tutankhamun's head is exquisitely carved. On the White Alabaster, the Pharaoh's lifelike face is reflected in every detail.
Statue of Anubis with altar
Anubis is the patron of cemeteries and the god of mummification, and a guide to the world after Pharaoh's death. Its incarnation is a jackal. Anubis was made of tarred wood.
Now let's have a look at the structure of the Pharaoh's tomb. Tutankhamun's coffin in the Pharaoh's tomb is almost filled with the whole room.
Four layer wooden holy cabinet: in the first layer of wooden outer coffin (1 in the figure), there is a wooden frame covered with a layer of cloth (2), followed by the second, third and fourth layers of wooden outer coffin (3, 4 and 5 in the figure).
Four layer inner coffin: the cover of the inner coffin (6 in the figure) is made of rose colored granite weighing up to 1.25 tons, which is probably a substitute for the original cover broken by craftsmen in those years. The goddess in relief around the sarcophagus stretched out her arms and wings to hold the foot of the sarcophagus, as if to prevent invasion.
Under the huge Sarcophagus, there are still triple human coffins (7, 8 and 9 in the picture).
Wooden outer coffins are lined up in the corridor.
The outermost layer is a gold coffin, which is 5.1 meters long, 3.3 meters wide and 2.8 meters high.
The outline is large enough to serve as a garage for cars.
The second floor door and its side are painted with mysterious symbols of ancient Egypt, including Anka and die pillar.
The third floor door is engraved with khnum (ram God) and Sobek (crocodile God)
The fourth floor door is engraved with the goddess Isis with open wings, and the top of the door is the sun god.
Below are three layers of humanoid coffin.
The outermost layer is a wooden humanoid coffin plastered with gold, which is as dazzling as the gold from the melting pot. The coffin was covered with a golden statue of the king. The head and hands of the statue are cast into a three-dimensional shape, and the body is embossed.
The Pharaoh's hands crossed on his chest, holding the curved staff and flail inlaid with blue glaze, which are the symbols of kingship.
The Pharaoh's face was made of pure gold, his eyes were made of aragonite and obsidian, his eyebrows and eye circles were made of transparent sapphire, his expression was grim and indifferent, and his face was lifelike.
The second coffin is also a wooden humanoid coffin with plaster gold. The coffin is covered with the gold statue of the Pharaoh, wearing a dress, and covered with the gorgeous decoration of Osiris, the God of hell.
The inner coffin is luxurious and amazing. It is made of a whole piece of pure gold. It is 1.85M long, 51.3cm wide, 2.535mm thick and weighs 110kg. It is the most exquisite and greatest gold product in human history. The lid of the golden coffin shows the appearance of the Pharaoh and the exquisite gold manufacturing technology of ancient Egypt.
Under the coffin is Tutankhamun, the Pharaoh dressed for long sleep. Before Carter opened the lid of the coffin, he had not been seen by the eyes or touched by strangers for 3300 years. He was wrapped in layers of gold and jewelry. Under the mask of pure gold, he was the face of a educated and peaceful young man. The doctor concluded that this was an 18-year-old Pharaoh. Wearing gold slippers, gold fingers on his hands, and various decorations on his body.
Tutankhamun's famous gold mask is about 54cm high, 40cm wide and weighs about 10.23kg. It is made of thick gold plate cast according to the king's appearance before his death. It weighs 11kg. It is the mask that Tutankhamun wore after his death. It is commensurate with the size of the real person's face and just covers his face.
Many hieroglyphs are engraved on the back of the mask, which is the magic formula for summoning gods in chapter 151b of the book of the dead.
There are also some very exquisite cultural relics on the second floor.
From the second floor to the first floor. At the end of the hall, you can see a huge statue of Amenhotep III and his wife sitting side by side. It is more than 10 meters high, even higher than the gate. This is because the stone statue was there long before the museum was built.
Papyrus paintings displayed on the passage from the first floor to the second floor.
Precious cultural relics on the first floor:
The Namir palette (first dynasty) 5000 years ago.
That's all for a brief introduction to Tutankhamun's treasures and the Egyptian National Museum.