8 i
4
Entertainment
Wednesday,
May 6,1998
Egyptian artifacts unearthed at Art Museum
Book of the dead. Third to first century B.C.E.
TONI MCMICHAEL
Staff Writer
Mummy Mask. Late first century B. C.E.
30 B.C.E.-395 C.E. Roman Period.
Jinx ¿facts
*X rays of the mummy of
Ramses the Great revealed
that his nose was packed with
peppercorns to preserve its
V . • I
hooked shape.
★ There are about 2.3 million
blocks of stone in the Great
Pyramid at Giza.
★ Ancient Egyptians invented
beer. There were over 17'
varieties.
★ Ancient Egyptians were the
first known people to fish for
pleasure.
★ The earliest toilet seats were
made by Ancient Egyptians in
the city ofAkhetaten.
Wooden toilet seats were
placed above large bowls of
sand.
Sarcophagus
of Djedbaste-
tiuefankh. 332
B.C.E-C.E.330.
A set of canopic jars. Late sixth to fourth
century B.C.E.
The “Splendors of Ancient Egypt” is an extraordinary
exhibit.
The Portland Art Museum has focused on the family
and everyday life and society. From the pre-dynasty pe
riod there are wooden sculptures that portray the agricul
tural background of Egyptian society.
The artifacts date from pre-dynasty to the seventh cen
tury C.E. There are two hundred pieces on loan from the
Roemer-Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim, Germany. The
Portland Art Museum was chosen to be the only host on
the West Coast for this event.
Walking through this exhibit, I was astonished at how
advanced, yet so ritualized, the Egyptian culture was. Egypt
was able to build great pyramids and cities, which devel
oped into powerful governments that ruled for hundreds
of years. Then in a blink of an eye these cultures were
shattered by Rome and Europe.
The splendors that are on exhibit include some unusual
pieces such as wood carvings, stone sculptures, sarcopha
guses, and a real mummy. There are statues of gods and
goddesses: some are just a few inches tall while others are
six to ten feet tall. The largest statue is of Hem-i-nu, a ruler
from the Giza area. Hem-i-nu was responsible for having
the pyramids at Giza built. The statue weighs one and a
half tons and is over 4500 years old.
There is also an 18-foot-long scroll containing one copy
of the “Book of the Dead.” This is just one copy of hun
dreds that have miraculously survived through the ages.
The hieroglyphics on the scroll are astonishing—it’s hard
to believe they were written centuries ago.
There are sarcophaguses—Egyptian coffins—that are
covered with hieroglyphics. Each sarcophagus was hand
painted and tells the story of the person entombed in it.
The longer you look at the hieroglyphics the more you
begin to understand them. The face of the entombed is
painted to resemble a perfect human. They removed any
scars or blemishes in order to keep them from having these
in the afterworld.
As time went on and the Egyptian culture was exposed
to Rome and other European cultures, these sarcophaguses
began to change. The oldest sarcophagus was painted in
black with real gold trim, while the newer ones seem flat
and look more like a European coffin, with a Christian
background to the paintings. They contain very little hi
eroglyphics.
The Portland Art Museum has done a wonderful job
displaying these marvelous pieces of Egypt’s past. The
curator is quite successful in presenting this exhibit in a
very family- and student-oriented way. There are two dif
ferent audio tours offered at no cost, one for adults and
one for children. These tours allow you to walk through
the exhibit at your own pace. You become your own tour
guide.
But don’t be afraid to ask questions. There are people
there if you want to know more about an object and they
are more than willing to tell what they have learned and
studied about each piece on display.
The Splendors of Egypt will continue to amaze people
until Aug. 16. After this it will become a part of Portland’s
past.
The Portland Art Museum is open from 9 a.m. to 7:30
p.m., seven days a week—the last entry is at 6 p.m. The
cost is fairly reasonable, even for college students ($7.50
for museum members; $13 for non-members and adults;
$11 for seniors 55 and older and students 16 and oyer;
and $6 for children (2 and up). So take your student ID
card and go see these ancient pieces of art for yourself,
before it’s too late.
Vizier Hem-iu-nu. ca. 2530 B.C.E. 2700-2200
B.C.E. Old Kingdom.
★ At one time ground up
mummy was a popular potion
believed to have magical
healing powers.
★ Egyptians enbalmed soft
organs but extracted and
threw away the brain, £ *
believing that the heart, not
the brain, was thè seat of ■
wisdom.
★ A recently unwrapped
mummy was covered in a total
of three miles of three inch
wide line bandage.
The Lady
Senebi. ca.
1950B.C.E.
240-1640B.C.E.
★ The mummies of four million
ibises, a sacred bird, were
discovered at a single anima!
cemetery, each in its own
individual pot. Mummies of
house pets and other animals
were also found.
Heti. Old Kingdom. 2300 B.C.E.
dietim
¡Wednesday, May 6, 1998