Ancient Egypt at The British Museum

Today we went back to the British Museum.  The line was quite long today, but I didn’t mind.  It was not raining yet! In class, we spent our time taking a test and learning about early civilizations including Egypt.  Once inside the museum, we decided to take what we learned in class and view real-life evidence. We went up to the large staircase to the Egyptian exhibition.  I had been here many times before as I have had the privilege to live in London for nearly a year. However, each time that I go I find myself truly in awe of this set of rooms, not only by the sheer amount of artifacts (or people for that matter) but also for the richness of materials and details on said artifacts.  
I focused specifically on mummies.  I had seen these dead people many times before, but I had never looked at them as closely as I did today.  What I found particularly interesting about these mummies was how they differed in terms of appearance. I thought to myself, ‘why do some look different than others?’  Now, I understand that male mummies and female mummies will have stylistic differences but what I was looking at was the difference in materials, ornaments, decoration, etc.  Some had a death mask directly on the shrouded body while others had one on the sarcophagus. Others were made of wood while some were made of gold. This stark contrast clearly noted a difference in status among the elite.  As only the elite in Ancient Egpyt would be mummified, it was obvious to see which lords and Pharaohs were richer than others.  

Sidenote:  I love the Cleopatra mummy because many tourists crowd around it thinking it is THE Cleopatra when in reality, all the females in the Ptolemaic dynasties were named that.

Comments

  1. Michelle MarohnicAugust 1, 2019 at 5:20 PM

    Hi Aiden!! Out of all the exhibits in the British Museum, the mummy hall was definitely one of the most fascinating (as well as crowded). It's interesting to see how popular it is and how much it has to do with the artifacts themselves or Hollywood's influence on the image of the mummy. I think mummies have a very distorted image, in reality it was simply a way to bury the dead and send them into the afterlife. I thought it was very interesting that you brought up the differences in male and female mummies. In terms of jewelry in ancient Egypt, there was a different in burial pieces in women's caves versus men's.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dr. Amy KowalAugust 3, 2019 at 11:36 PM

    I finally found that Friday nights, the mummies are not so crowded, but my sons did not enjoy them so much!

    ReplyDelete

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