Egypt
- More Re Hawass On The Ny Obelisk.
Ahram Online In New York City's Central Park stands a 21-metre-tall red granite obelisk carved during the 18th Dynasty to commemorate King Tuthmose III, grandfather of King Tutankhamun. This obelisk is one of a pair originally erected in Heliopolis,...
- Esna Revisited
Al Ahram Weekly (Giovanna Montalbetti) With photographs. History is fickle: a city bursting with life today may well slip into oblivion tomorrow. The cycle that seems unavoidable for all cities and empires, albeit to greater or lesser degrees, is sometimes...
- Hawass Dig Days - Obelisks
Al Ahram Weekly Obelisks were signs of victory, and the inscriptions carved on them record the titles and achievements of the Pharaohs. The tip of an obelisk, called the capstone or pyramidion, was cased with gold, its brilliant shine connecting it with...
- Ancient Gold Cartouches Unearthed In Egypt
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=16288"The discovery of gold cartouches dating back to 1400 BC sheds new light on the relationship between two ancient Egyptian rulers, Egypt's antiquities department said Friday. A team of French and Egyptian...
- Rescuing The Temple Of Esna
http://www.uk.sis.gov.eg/online/html11/o200524m.htm An Egyptian State Information Service item about the planned restoration of Esna temple. The threat comes from a combination of high underground water and the low level of the Nile water in front of...
Egypt
A tall tale - Esna's hoax obelisk
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/815/eg5.htm
"Early this week the Upper Egyptian city of Esna was peacefully going about its usual business. Farmers were busy in the fields, merchants were trading in the market and weavers sat in front of their looms. Housewives were cooking Ramadan's iftar meals. Yet on Monday the city woke up to breaking news: a Ptolemaic obelisk dating from the reign of the famous Queen Cleopatra VII, found half-buried under the house of an Esna resident named Sayed Mahmoud, was up for sale with an asking price of $100 million.
The obelisk was said to be six metres high, carved of schist and decorated with hieroglyphic texts, lotus flowers and cartouches featuring Queen Cleopatra's face and profile. The news appeared on the Internet as well as in several Egyptian and foreign newspapers.
Intensive investigations carried out by the Esna police and antiquities inspectors, however, revealed the story to be a hoax and an attempt by Mahmoud, a well-known local crook, to defraud tourists by spreading a rumour that antiquities lay buried under his house."
The obelisk was said to be six metres high, carved of schist and decorated with hieroglyphic texts, lotus flowers and cartouches featuring Queen Cleopatra's face and profile. The news appeared on the Internet as well as in several Egyptian and foreign newspapers.
Intensive investigations carried out by the Esna police and antiquities inspectors, however, revealed the story to be a hoax and an attempt by Mahmoud, a well-known local crook, to defraud tourists by spreading a rumour that antiquities lay buried under his house."
See the above page for the full story.
- More Re Hawass On The Ny Obelisk.
Ahram Online In New York City's Central Park stands a 21-metre-tall red granite obelisk carved during the 18th Dynasty to commemorate King Tuthmose III, grandfather of King Tutankhamun. This obelisk is one of a pair originally erected in Heliopolis,...
- Esna Revisited
Al Ahram Weekly (Giovanna Montalbetti) With photographs. History is fickle: a city bursting with life today may well slip into oblivion tomorrow. The cycle that seems unavoidable for all cities and empires, albeit to greater or lesser degrees, is sometimes...
- Hawass Dig Days - Obelisks
Al Ahram Weekly Obelisks were signs of victory, and the inscriptions carved on them record the titles and achievements of the Pharaohs. The tip of an obelisk, called the capstone or pyramidion, was cased with gold, its brilliant shine connecting it with...
- Ancient Gold Cartouches Unearthed In Egypt
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=16288"The discovery of gold cartouches dating back to 1400 BC sheds new light on the relationship between two ancient Egyptian rulers, Egypt's antiquities department said Friday. A team of French and Egyptian...
- Rescuing The Temple Of Esna
http://www.uk.sis.gov.eg/online/html11/o200524m.htm An Egyptian State Information Service item about the planned restoration of Esna temple. The threat comes from a combination of high underground water and the low level of the Nile water in front of...