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Ancient Egyptian5,000 BC to 300 AD |
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We have a small but quality selection of Egyptian artifacts. In addition there is supplemental information about Ancient Egypt to help you understand the meaning of the material in the museum.
Artifacts covering four and a half millennia need to be organized. The museum categorizes the material by the era in which it is produced. Scholars have broken ancient Egyptian history into 11 general periods. These are the basis for the Egyptian art galleries in our Museum. However, the period of production of some objects is unknown so there is a special gallery for these items. If you know more than we do, and can relocate some of these object to where they belong send us email. If you notice anything in the wrong place or attributed wrongly -- we need to know -- use the `contact museum' link in the navigation bar at the bottom of every museum page. The survey to this material is in the section called "Egyptian Art and Artifacts".
The Egyptians understood architecture. The effect of an organized space on man was well understood from early in Egyptian history. The monumental sites and colossal statues were created from the fourth dynasty to Cleopatra. Less in the Roman era, because Rome wouldn't pay for it. The survey of these architectural sites is in the Tour of Egypt gallery.
Egyptian Religion, Symbols, and Gods
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Egyptian art is related to religion, art objects in general have a magical significance. To understand the art you need to know something about the religion.
Information on ancient Egyptian magic, symbols and gods.
EGYPT Tour of Monuments and Sites
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To understand what remains of the great monuments built in Pharaohnic times you should take Tigertail's tour of Egypt. We use a U2 supersonic tourist plane to take you from here at the North Pole to see these memorable sights. Warning! Some people get airsick on these fast agile plains, others have trouble breathings. So consider your health. Take the trip and learn a little about ancient Egyptian geography, and where the sacred sites were located.
On this trip, some sites are represented using antique picture postcards of drawings made during the nineteenth century, others are modern photos.
U2 tourist plane Tour of Egypt.
Egyptian Language, Writing, and Hieroglyphics
Egyptian language was one of the first written languages. For many centuries how to decipher it was lost and it was only rediscovered in the 19th century with the help of the Rosetta Stone and much scholarship. Egyptian language and art are intertwined as you may discover when you examine the Egyptian relics in this museum.
A short introduction to the Egyptian Language and its History.
Egyptian History
To get a feeling for the span of Egyptian history the major periods along with the usual names given them is given along the line below. The corresponding dynasty and dates are given below that. Above the line are the names of some important figures in Egyptian history.
The timeline of ancient Egyptian history above shows eleven periods and the correspondence with dynasties and years before Christ. There are more technical details about these periods along with the names of pharaohs and what dates they ruled in the pharaoh list below.
Details of Pharaohs in Ancient Egyptian history.
The bar-graph, below, shows the number of pharaohs in each dynasty for all the periods of Egyptian history. The height of a bar represents the number of rulers in the dynasty. The white horizontal rule marks represent five more rulers. Each dynasty starts along the timeline when it historically started, so dynasties that overlap in time overlap in the diagram.
From the dynasty diagram, above, it is clear that not every dynasty is created equal. A ruler has difficulty accomplishing much in 2 years, but in 25 years much can happen. The end of the good times in the Middle Kingdom is marked by the chaos of dynasties 13 through 17, then the 18th dynasty restabilized the country. The first and second intermediate periods lasted only about 100 years each, while the third intermediate period lasted around four hundred years. The late period alternated between local and Persian rule, with the Persians always threatening to reconquer the country. Eventually they did, but it lasted for only a short time until the Greeks under Alexander the Great took Egypt away from them. He went on to defeat Darius III and for a very short time to rule Persia itself. After Alexander's death the Greek Empire split apart, but it wasn't long until Ptolemy, one of Alexander's generals, took over Egypt and founded his own dynasty. The Ptolemaic dynasty even though nominally a "foreign ruler" lent great stability to Egypt, and for the most part encouraged Egyptian culture, religion, and traditions. Greek rule of Egypt lasted over 300 years until Anthony and Cleopatra held their last stand against Octavian (the Roman Emperor Augustus, adopted son of Julius Caesar). The Romans ruled as long as Greeks did, but unlike them, Egypt was not governed as a separate country, rather it was just a province of Rome.
Egyptian Art and Artifacts
This gallery is organized by time period in Egyptian history. It includes a collection of mummies and other memorabilia. Short historical sketches precede each major period.
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 Mummy of Wah in Two States of Undress |
Visit the collection of Egyptian Art and Artifacts.
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