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Egyptian Section

Further Remarks on the Prostrate Kings

By: H. G. Fischer

Volume XXI / Number 2

It not infrequently happens that a dossier on some class of ancient objects is no sooner closed and the result published when a new, quite unsuspected piece of evidence turns up and has to be left outside the gate. Even in collecting the scanty evidence for so rare and striking a phenomenon as the representation […]


Memphis (Mit Rahineh) in 1956

By: Rudolf Anthes

Volume XXI / Number 2

Two main goals lay before me when I left for Mit Rahineh in January, 1956. First, to finish the 1955 excavation of the temple of Ramses II at the southwest corner of the Great Enclosure of Ptah. Second, either to find evidence of the promising character of the site or to conclude this excavation at […]


Prostrate Figures of Egyptian Kings

By: H. G. Fischer

Volume XX / Number 1

Those who visit the Egyptian galleries and see about them the imposing representations of the pharaohs which are displayed there-the large seated statue and sphinx of Ramses II, for example, or the reliefs of Merenptah’s massive gateway-may not be aware that the most remarkable portrayal of a king in our collection is a stone statuette […]


A First Season of Excavating in Memphis

By: Rudolf Anthes

Volume XX / Number 1

Excavating in Egypt means, in most cases, digging in the desert which adjoins the cultivated area of the valley of the Nile to the east and to the west. The dry soil of the desert has preserved whatever was buried by men and covered by drifting sand in the course of centuries and millennia. The […]


Norman Bel Geddes

Designer

By: Norman Bel Geddes

Volume XVI / Number 3

Of this sculptured Mayan death’s head from Guatemala, Mr. Bel Geddes said: This intrigues me. I don’t especially like it but it is fascinating. I am convinced it was not made as a thing of beauty to be looked at for any special reason. The carving of the skull is terrifyingly realistic and yet is […]


A Guide to the Egyptian Collections

The Egyptian Collections of the University Museum

By: Hermann Ranke

Volume XV / Number 2-3

The objects forming the present collections of the University Museum were acquired in various ways. In the early days-the Museum was first opened to the public in 1898-a number of objects were purchased from dealers in this country and abroad, while others were presented by public-spirited Philadelphians. From the very beginning the Museum had subscribed […]


Egyptian Deities and Their Sacred Animals

The Egyptian Collections of the University Museum

By: Hermann Ranke

Volume XV / Number 2-3

The Egyptians, throughout their history, have been most god-fearing people. But they did not believe in only one god as we do. The whole of nature, for them, was filled with divine beings which appeared in trees and especially in animals and which they felt impelled to worship. This is true of the wild fig […]


A Sketch of the Geography and History of Egypt

The Egyptian Collections of the University Museum

By: Hermann Ranke

Volume XV / Number 2-3

EGYPT, situated in the northeastern corner of Africa, is a small country, if compared with the huge continent of which it forms a part; its size about equals that of the state of Maryland. And yet it has produced one of the greatest civilizations of the world. Egypt is the land on both sides of […]


A Sketch of Egyptian Chronology

The Egyptian Collections of the University Museum

By: Hermann Ranke

Volume XV / Number 2-3

Prehistoric Period Before 3200 B.C. The Old Kingdom ca. 3200-2280 Archaic period (dynasties 1-3): ca. 3200-2680 Pyramid period (dynasties 4-6): ca. 2680-2280 First Intermediate Period dynasties 7-10: ca. 2280-2060 The Middle Kingdom dynasties 11 and 12: ca. 2060-1785 Second Intermediate Period dynasties 13-17: 1785-1580 The New Kingdom 1580-1085 dynasty 18: 1580-ca. 1340 dynasty 19: ca. […]


Warp and Woof

By: C.-J. H.

Volume XIV / Number 3

WARP AND WOOF, the University Museum’s current exhibit of historic and contemporary textiles, has a double aim: to spread before the visitor the almost miraculous products of the primitive loom, and to suggest how infinite are the decorative possibilities to be discovered in ancient and primitive design. Side by side with the rich fabrics of […]