Egypt
Egypt Today (Richard Hoath)
Egypt Today's regular natural history feature looks at the Ibis and discusses the possible return to Egypt of the type of ibis which was identified with the ancient Egyptian deity Thoth.
The link to NCE doesn't function, at the time of writing.
- Egyptians Fed Ibis Birds For The Afterlife
New Scientist (Linda Geddes) Ancient Egyptians paid special attention to the organs of their dead, embalming them so they would continue to function in the afterlife. Now it seems they did the same for sacrificed ibis birds, and even packed their stomachs...
- Daily Photo By Rick Menges
Standing figure of an ibis Wood, silver, gold, and rock crystal Brooklyn Museum Details of the ibis, including a video about it, can be found on a dedicated page on the Brooklyn Museum website. Copyright Rick Menges, with my thanks Egyptology News Blog,...
- Revered Ibis Surviving (just) In Syria
http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=10927"Scientists have tagged three northern bald ibis, among the last survivors of a species of Middle Eastern bird once so revered that it had its own ancient Egyptian hieroglyph, in an effort to save them from extinction....
- Mummy Fraud Discovered After 2,000 Years
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1802733,00.htmlGuardian Unlimited article about the results of CT scans on a number of mummies, carried out prior to the reopening this month of the Egyptian Galleries at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge: "Analysis...
- Animal Tombs In The Valley Of Kings
In 1906 archaeologist Edward Ayrton discovered and excavated three tombs in Egypt's "Valley of the Kings". When he entered tomb KV50 he found a hot low ceiling shaft tomb with one chamber and two occupants facing off with each other, a mummified yellow...
Egypt
Feature: Return of the sacred ibis
Egypt Today (Richard Hoath)
Egypt Today's regular natural history feature looks at the Ibis and discusses the possible return to Egypt of the type of ibis which was identified with the ancient Egyptian deity Thoth.
The ancient Egyptians venerated a number of deities in animal form but rarely has that veneration been of much benefit to these species in modern Egypt. Most are extinct. Sekhmet, the lion-headed goddess, was venerated as the daughter of Ra but the Lion disappeared from here centuries ago. Taweret, who looked over women during childbirth, was portrayed with the head of a Hippopotamus but the hippo died out at least 200 years ago through hunting and habitat destruction. Sobek was worshipped as the crocodile deity, a symbol of royal power, but the Nile Crocodile has been wiped out north of the High Dam. Thoth, represented as a baboon or an ibis, was master of the scribes, but the present day Sacred Baboon and Sacred Ibis have both disappeared from modern Egypt. The good news for one of these species, reported in Nature Conservation Egypt (NCE)’s first e-newsletter www.nceegypt.org, is that the Sacred Ibis might just be on the verge of returning.
The link to NCE doesn't function, at the time of writing.
- Egyptians Fed Ibis Birds For The Afterlife
New Scientist (Linda Geddes) Ancient Egyptians paid special attention to the organs of their dead, embalming them so they would continue to function in the afterlife. Now it seems they did the same for sacrificed ibis birds, and even packed their stomachs...
- Daily Photo By Rick Menges
Standing figure of an ibis Wood, silver, gold, and rock crystal Brooklyn Museum Details of the ibis, including a video about it, can be found on a dedicated page on the Brooklyn Museum website. Copyright Rick Menges, with my thanks Egyptology News Blog,...
- Revered Ibis Surviving (just) In Syria
http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=10927"Scientists have tagged three northern bald ibis, among the last survivors of a species of Middle Eastern bird once so revered that it had its own ancient Egyptian hieroglyph, in an effort to save them from extinction....
- Mummy Fraud Discovered After 2,000 Years
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1802733,00.htmlGuardian Unlimited article about the results of CT scans on a number of mummies, carried out prior to the reopening this month of the Egyptian Galleries at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge: "Analysis...
- Animal Tombs In The Valley Of Kings
In 1906 archaeologist Edward Ayrton discovered and excavated three tombs in Egypt's "Valley of the Kings". When he entered tomb KV50 he found a hot low ceiling shaft tomb with one chamber and two occupants facing off with each other, a mummified yellow...