"Top of the Pyramids: Ancient Egypt Civilization Exhibition" is about to open, which is the world's largest and Asia's highest-level exhibition of ancient Egypt cultural relics in history, and it is also the first time that an official museum of China has cooperated with the Egyptian government to comprehensively reveal the secrets of ancient Egypt civilization and its latest archaeological discoveries. The exhibition's 200,000 early bird tickets were sold out in advance, and summer vacation reservations were almost full. More than 800 exhibits, including 788 precious artifacts from different periods of ancient Egypt civilization, are now all in place. Why can cultural relics so far away from China's time and space inspire the audience's enthusiasm for the exhibition? Let's take a look at the report of Shangguan News↓
In the middle of the South Gate Square of the People's Square Pavilion of the Shanghai Museum, the 2.4-meter-tall statue of Menepta Station has been placed in a glass display case, and the staff is in full swing to make the final fine-tuning. Many viewers who entered and exited Shangbo were attracted by the pharaoh's mysterious smile and stopped to watch.
Statue of Menepta standing in front of Shangbo Gate (photo by Lai Xinlin)
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Mythological sustenance in exquisite and strange shapes
The exhibition hall on the first floor of the People's Square Pavilion is arranged as a space intertwined with dark blue and golden yellow. "Pharaoh's Country" is based on the cosmology of ancient Egypt rooted in the natural geographical environment - the world of gods is introduced, presenting a condensed history of ancient Egypt civilization, exhibiting the ancient Egypt's cosmic concept, social order, writing, craftsmanship, burial customs, etc., covering all aspects from social system, daily life to the spiritual world.
Approaching the circular booth at the entrance of the exhibition hall, the eye will be drawn to the artifacts that are very ancient and Egypt: the golden eagle amulet with its wings outstretched, the blue glass scarab lying on the golden base, the eye of Horus with its slender eyeliner, the eagle god who guards the king on his chest, and the statue of Anubis with a lean and sturdy body and a high head...... These exquisite images of cultural relics from thousands of years ago still influence contemporary society today. On social media, the delicate and mysterious images of these artifacts are also the "direct cause" of attracting many viewers.
Statue of Anubis (photo by Lai Xinlin)
One of the artifacts is very special: the figure of a man wearing a crown with his head held high, but his whole body is still lying on the ground. This resurrected statue of Osiris from 664-525 BC depicts the resurrection of Osiris, the first king of ancient Egypt and the god of the ancient Egypt. According to reports, in ancient Egypt mythology, the air separates heaven and earth, and heaven and earth give birth to four children, and Osiris is one of them. But he was murdered twice by his brother Seth, and resurrected twice by his wife Isis. Next to this statue, there are also a number of artifacts related to Osiris, such as the statue of the three gods of Osiris with his wife Isis and son Horus.
Osiris resurrection (photo by Jian Gongbo)
In the exhibition hall, there are many cultural relics with unique and exquisite shapes and full of mythological meaning, which are rare in other ancient civilizations. For example, the bronze meerkat from 664-332 BC has a straight and slender body, and its hands are raised, which is cute and cute; The eagle-headed crocodile statue from the same period on the side has the head of an eagle but grows the body of a crocodile, which is very special. It is reported that when the Greece-Roman civilization met the Egypt civilization, the gods of different civilizations also began to merge, so a new group of gods was created.
Ancient Egypt civilization is also one of the inexhaustible sources of inspiration for the world's cultural works today. The 1999 film "The Mummy" has been a global box office success, and a bronze statue of the villain Aemonhotep also appears in the exhibition. However, unlike the priest with mysterious powers in the film, the Egyptian prime minister was the designer of the ladder-shaped pyramid of Saqqara and was gradually deified as the embodiment of wisdom and learning, and the Greece also equated him with Asclepius, their god of medicine.
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Cultural relics record history and life
Bypassing the circular booth at the entrance, statues of ancient Egypt kings from different periods sit on both sides of the exhibition hall, and walking through it is like entering the history of ancient Egypt.
One of the statues of a pharaoh in dark granodiorite is impressive. The king wears a crown with ornamental patterns on his chest and his hands hanging down in front of him. The most impressive thing is his expression: unlike many pharaoh statues with a smile on his face, this statue has a serious expression, and the corners of his mouth are even downturned to give a hint of sadness.
Between 1901 and 1905, seven statues of similar sculptural style and physical characteristics were unearthed at the Temple of Karnak, two of which were inscribed with the name of King Amenemhet III, so the statues are believed to belong to this king, and this one is one of them.
Serious and sad Amenemhet III (photo by Jian Gongbo)
According to reports, Amenemkht III ruled Egypt for 45 years, during which he ruled with his father Sinuselt III for twenty years, and Egypt entered the "golden age" of the Middle Kingdom under their rule. The stone statue is depicted as a middle-aged man with a serious expression and a slightly sad expression, which is typical of the statue style of a king of the Middle Kingdom.
On the other side is a kneeling statue of Hatshepsut, opposite her is a seated statue of her stepson Thutmose III. Hatshepsut was regent at the beginning of the reign of Thutmose III and then ruled Egypt as king of Egypt, bringing peace and prosperity for more than two decades. But the throne in ancient Egypt was followed by father and son, and the statue of Hatshepsut gradually changed from a traditional female figure to a male figure during the reign. Thutmose III ruled Egypt after the queen's death and systematically erased the queen's traces later in his reign.
Statue of Hatshepsut (photo by Jian Gongbo)
How can you tell which pharaoh these similar-looking statues belong to? The famous statue of Ramses II tells us the answer: the inscription on his shoulder is his name, and some kings even have five names. In the middle of the exhibition hall, there is a seated statue, with the name of Ramses II also engraved on both sides of the feet, but it is a "statue appropriated by Ramses II". Ramses II deified himself in many ways during his lifetime. According to reports, Ramses II not only ordered the manufacture of many statues to show his power and majesty, but also appropriated a large number of statues of kings and gods from the early Middle Kingdom and the New Kingdom to strengthen the connection between himself and the previous kings and gods. The statue in the gallery was originally a god, but its features are overlaid to make it difficult to identify the original.
Egypt couple with different skin tones (Photo by Jian Gongbo)
In addition to the pharaohs, many cultural relics in the exhibition hall also record the lives of nobles, literati and craftsmen at that time. Painted statues of Kaemhersat and his wife and children from 2345 BC to 2181 BC, with reddish-brown skin for men and fair skin for women, children sucking fingers in the middle, and the real hairline under the woman's wig is also depicted. The woman's light complexion indicates that not only do she not have to go out to work, but she also has plenty of sunscreen. At that time, the ancient Egyptians had already invented cosmetics, perfumes and other items, and wearing wigs was also a status symbol.
On the opposite side of the statue, a group of stone tablets with unfinished painted sketches are the "drafts" used by the craftsmen of the time to practice, and the different colors represent the original drafts of the "apprentice" and the "revisions" of the instructor. Ancient Egypt has a paradigm of art, and some family crafts have been passed down to this day.
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A Chinese perspective on the history of Egypt
Walking in the exhibition hall, "Chinese elements" are everywhere. At the entrance of the exhibition hall, the geometric patterns on ancient Egypt pottery bear a striking resemblance to the ornamentation of Majiayao pottery, "There are many places where the two civilizations can prove each other." ”
In the gallery, a sculpture records the importance that ancient Egypt attached to learning: a scribe sits cross-legged and opens a scroll on his lap. Scribes were officials at the grassroots level in ancient Egypt, and they did not have a status threshold, as long as they passed the study. Ancient Egypt emphasized "only reading high" like China, but compared with China's emphasis on literature, history and politics, ancient Egypt valued natural knowledge such as mathematics, astronomy and geography.
On both sides of the scribe, there are also "square carvings" that are mostly seen in ancient Egypt literati: the head is meticulously traced, but the body is simplified into a square, as if the person is squatting on the ground, and the square is engraved with words to record the story of the character. One of the sculptures of Sennamut and Princess Rafurra also contains a piece of "gossip": Sennamut is believed by some researchers to be the lover of Queen Hatshepsut, and also served as the governess of Hatshepsut's only daughter, Rafurla, who died at an early age, and was raised by the queen as an heir. Among the statues of Sennamut found so far, there are 8 images of the princess in their arms.
Sennamut and Princess Ravula statue square carving (photo by Jian Gongbo)
Just opposite this group of statues is a series of ancient Egypt stone tablets collected by the late Qing minister Duan Fang. Around 1905, Duan Fang returned to Beijing after an overseas investigation, and when he passed by the Red Sea, he purchased a large number of stone tablets with ancient Egypt characters, and he himself was also a goldsmith and stoner, and even painted and engraved in Egypt style. At that time, ancient Egypt cultural relics were allowed to be traded, and most of the people in Europe and the United States chose sculptures, but the end chose stone tablets with words, including different periods and different fonts.
End rubbing (photo by Jian Gongbo)
Egypt and China, both ancient civilizations, should enhance mutual understanding and cherish each other. The archaeological team in Egypt has done a very good job over the years, but it is not well known to the world. Many of the cultural relics in the exhibition hall were found by Chinese scholars who went to museums in Egypt to "rummage through boxes", especially in another part of "The Secrets of Saqqara", many of which have even just been unearthed from the site and have not yet been handed over to the museum before coming to Shanghai: we are like scouts, excavating those better, newer, and freshly unearthed artifacts for everyone to understand. I hope to break the stereotype of domestic audiences that Egypt cultural relics are gold masks and mummies, systematically and deeply introduce Egypt civilization, and truly examine it with their own eyes; Egypt archaeologists also want to take this opportunity to promote those historical artifacts that have not yet become "stars", but are truly important.
Source: Shangguan News, Shanghai release
Edit: Carol