Archive for October, 2009

Image via Wikipedia A 2,500-year-old priest named Irethorrou will be teaching anatomy to all comers in an exhibition beginning Oct. 31. The mummified remains of this onetime inhabitant of a Middle Egyptian city will be on display in his coffin at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, along with a reconstruction of Irethorrou’s head. The... »

Developers unveiled the restoration of a 650-year-old mosque in Cairo’s old city, part of an effort to revitalize the impoverished district and boost tourism to the country’s treasure trove of Islamic sites. The three-year, $1.4 million project restored the Aslam al-Silahdar Mosque, built in 1344-1345 by Aslam al-Bahai, an amir or nobleman who rose to... »

Dr. James Allen, Wilbour Professor of Egyptology and Chair of Egyptology and Ancient Western Asian Studies at Brown University was asked by Popular Mechanics to decipher the hieroglyphs inside the letters of “The Final Season” in the poster for ABC’s show LOST. The ancient Egyptian writing translates to “Who is the leader (guide)?” »

Nebraska State Treasurer Shane Osborn has seen a lot of odd unclaimed property. But this year the surprise was ancient artifacts, and they’ve set a precedent, Osborn said. A Pharaoh mask from 2,500 B.C., ancient Roman clay jars, daggers from Phonecia, pottery from Greece and hunting spears from Africa comprise the true treasure trove this... »

Image via Wikipedia Beyond the Grecian entrance lobby, Architect Rick Mather has shoehorned a huge, modern concrete-and-glass box into the courtyard. From the surrounding streets, this generous extension is invisible; the streetscape, a heady mix of medieval, Georgian, Regency and Victorian Oxford, is untouched. Mather’s extension actually doubles the museum’s display space. Its six floors –... »

New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art will return to Egypt a fragment of an ancient pharaonic shrine it purchased from a collector. The Supreme Council of Antiquities said that a piece of a red granite shrine, known as a “naos,” was purchased from an antiquities collector in New York last October so that it could... »

In mind-blowing IMAX detail, unravel the enshrouded human time capsules that have become the most fascinating mystery of our time Egypt’s mummies. Probe ancient tombs to uncover these carefully hidden phenomena, and follow top scientists as they embark on a modern-day forensic investigation of the mummies that could have huge implications in the study... »

One of the most profound, deeply affecting questions we face as human beings is the matter of our mortality–and its connection to immorality. Ancient animist ghost cultures, Egyptian mummification, late Jewish hopes of resurrection, Christian eternal salvation, Muslim belief in hell and paradise all spring from a remarkably consistent impulse to tether a triumph... »

The Rocco Forte Collection has been appointed to manage The Shepheard Hotel in Cairo as a five-star hotel within their renowned brand after assisting in the full renovation of the hotel. The company’s plans are in place to convert the 279-room Shepheard Hotel, strategically located along the famous Nile River in the heart of bustling... »

Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great in 331 B.C. The city sits on the Mediterranean coast at the western edge of the Nile delta. Its location made it a major port city in ancient times; it was also famous for its lighthouse (one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World) and its... »