In Photos: 8 chambers discovered inside Sahure’s Pyramid in Abusir Necropolis - Ancient Egypt - Antiquities - Ahram Online

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In Photos: 8 chambers discovered inside Sahure's Pyramid in Abusir Necropolis

Nevine El-Aref , Tuesday 26 Sep 2023

A joint Egyptian-German mission has made an unprecedented discovery of eight previously undocumented storage chambers – or magazines – within Sahure's Pyramid in the Abusir Necropolis south of Giza.

This discovery was made during conservation work carried out by the German-Egyptian archeological mission from the University of Würzburg headed by Egyptologist Mohamed Ismail Khaled. The work began in 2019 and is supported by the Antiquities Endowment Fund (AEF) of the American Research Centre in Egypt (ARCE).

The project aims to safeguard the substructure of the pyramid by cleaning its interior chambers, stabilizing its interior to prevent further collapse, and consolidating its previously inaccessible burial chambers.

"This discovery sheds new light on the interior design and architecture of King Sahure['s Pyramid], the second king of the Fifth Dynasty (2400 BC) and the first king to be buried in Abusir," said Mostafa Waziri Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA).

The magazines will be opened to scholars for studies after the completion of its restoration, he added.

Khaled explained that during the restoration process, the team determined the original dimensions and layout of the antechamber. Although the eastern wall of the antechamber was badly damaged, and only the north-eastern corner and 0.30 m of the eastern wall were still detectable, traces of a low passage, previously observed by British explorer John Perring in 1836, were unearthed.

"This important discovery proved that the observation made during Perring's exploration was correct," Khaled pointed out, adding that the eight magazines were uncovered after the passage was cleared of rubble.

The northern and southern parts of the magazine's area were severely damaged, particularly the ceiling as well as the original floor. "However, remnants of the original walls and parts of the floor can still be seen," Khaled observed.

"Accurate documentation of each magazine's layout and dimensions, has significantly enhanced our understanding of the pyramid's interior design," said Khaled.

The restoration process aims to balance preservation and presentation, ensuring the structural integrity of the magazines while making them accessible for future study and the potential public.

He pointed out that state-of-the-art technology, including the 3D laser scanning, enabled the Egyptian-German team to investigate the pyramid in detail and comprehensively map its external and internal areas.

"The frequent scans provide real-time progress updates and create a lasting record of the exploration efforts."

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https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2023/09/25/british-museum-bought-ancient-egyptian-artefact-from-convicted-antiquities-smuggler/

British Museum bought ancient Egyptian artefact from convicted antiquities smuggler

Statement confirms it has co-operated with US investigation after tomb relic deal

Shabtis of King Senkamanisken and his wife on display at the British Museum in London. Alamy

Tariq Tahir

Sep 25, 2023

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The British Museum bought an ancient Egyptian artefact from a dealer with a conviction for smuggling antiquities out of the country, The National can reveal.

The museum bought the shabti, a figurine found in many ancient Egyptian tombs, from Mousa Khouli, also known as Morris Khouli, who runs an auction house in New York.

It told The National the artefact was currently the subject of its cooperation with an investigation by US authorities. It said the nature of its assistance to the US authorities was "ongoing".

Experts have questioned whether the museum carried out any due diligence on Mr Khouli and the wisdom of it relying on scans of ownership records provided by a criminal whose convictions include making false statements.

The British Museum was embroiled in scandal recently after it was revealed 2,000 artefacts had been stolen from the institution over a "significant" period of time, leading to the resignation of its chairman Hartwig Fischer.

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British Museum ignored requests for details of 'illicit items', expert says

Mr Khouli pleaded guilty to buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures, according to the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York.

He smuggled them into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items, prosecutors said, in 2012.

US authorities this year revealed 77 antiquities seized from Mr Khouli in 2012, along with the Egyptian artefacts, had been returned to Yemen.

British Museum records show a shabti dating from the Thirteenth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, which lasted from 1782-1650 BCE, was bought in 2017 from Mr Khouli's Palmyra Heritage Gallery.

Angelika Hellweger, a lawyer and art crime expert, told The National Khouli's name should have raised "red flags" with the British Museum.

She said it was "astonishing" that the museum accepted scans of documents showing family ownership from someone convicted of making false declarations.

"Where are the originals? That's what I want to know, because a scan can be manipulated," said Dr Hellweger, a legal director at London firm Rahman Ravelli.

"They put it in writing on the acquisition notes that they received scans, which I find astonishing. You can't properly verify a scan. As a lawyer, the fact that there's only scans would make me nervous.

"Does the British Museum have an explanation from Mr Khouli about why there's only scans?"

The museum says in the acquisition notes outlining ownership that Mr Khouli provided scans of a four-page Arabic document, which record the purchase of the artefact in 1946 by an Egyptian man, Ezz el-Din Taha el-Dharir, who then took it to Brooklyn two years later.

It remained in the possession of his family until it was sold by a descendant of the original buyer, Dr Ashraf el-Dharir, a collector in Brooklyn, the British Museum said.

Angelika Hellweger questioned what due dilligence, if any, was done on Khouli. Photo: Rahman Ravelli

Dr Hellweger explained that the community of antiquities dealers such as Mr Khouli was "not a big one", so his background should have been familiar to whoever was overseeing the purchase of the shabti.

"There should have been red flags raised when dealing with such an individual," she said.

"The question is whether the British Museum had this purchase checked by independent experts. Maybe Mr Khouli sold a legitimate item but there is, at least, suspicion.

"I would say they really needed to do due diligence, especially if they're buying from a dealer with a criminal conviction."

Dr Hellweger said the fact that the artefact was recorded as being in the hands of the family for such a long time also raised suspicions and in her experience that has been used as a cover.

"Fraudsters who don't really have enough provenance documents say 'this antiquity was 50 years in family hands'. It's only an indicator and it needs digging into deeper."

The British Museum describes the shabti as 15cm tall, with "eyes with heavy lids and an unsmiling mouth" and a "rare" combination of attributes.

False statements

Prosecutors said Mr Khouli covered up the smuggling, which took place between October 2008 and November 2009, by making false statements to law enforcement authorities.

He also provided misleading descriptions of the contents on shipping labels and customs paperwork.

The antiques dealer had faced up to 20 years in prison but was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service.

The items he trafficked were confiscated from him and subsequently repatriated to Egypt in April 2015.

The antiquities returned to Yemen in February included 64 relief carved stone heads, 11 Quran manuscript pages, a bronze inscribed bowl and a funerary stele from tribal cultures in the highlands of north-western Yemen dating back to the 1st century BCE.

Rick St Hilaire, a lawyer and former chief prosecutor in the US who is a leading authority on transnational cultural heritage crime, followed the case of Mr Khouli's original prosecution back in 2012.

"If you're a curator and I'm the general counsel, the conversation we should be having is what due diligence must be done when purchasing an item," he told The National.

"And one important aspect of due diligence is knowing the person offering the piece for sale.

"In a US courtroom, if a testifying witness has been convicted of a crime of dishonesty then as a prosecutor, you can use that conviction to question their credibility.

"Generally speaking, is it good stewardship for a museum or a collector to acquire an item from a dealer who's been convicted of a crime, specifically for antiquities trafficking?

"If I'm a general counsel advising a museum and we know that a dealer offering an archaeological object for sale has a criminal background related to antiquities trafficking like smuggling, trade fraud or theft, then I would say just stay away from it. It's too risky, and why invite reputational harm?"

Egyptian statues and artefacts on display at the British Museum. Getty Images

Mr St Hilaire said the antiquities world was lacking comparable standardised due diligence processes that exist to prevent financial crime.

"The problem is that you don't have an accepted best practice for due diligence to discover looted or smuggled cultural objects and there's no standard as a benchmark, so people can overlook having to look deeper into a dealer's background or getting import documents and the like," he said.

"While there are notable exceptions, many museums still are not getting that when you buy antiquities, you're walking into the realm of the black and grey markets that piggyback the legitimate market. Buyer beware."

Chris Marinello, a leading expert in recovering stolen, looted and missing works of art, said conducting due diligence was not difficult.

"It would seem that the due diligence department, if there is one, at the British Museum needs to learn how to conduct a Google search," Mr Marinello, the founder of Art Recovery International, told The National.

"Had they done so at the time of acquisition, they would have instantly been alerted to the US Attorney's Office Press Release and Forfeiture Notice dated April 18, 2012 regarding their seller. I can't think of a more obvious red flag."

A British Museum representative on Monday said: "Establishing the provenance of an object is an integral part of the museum's acquisition process.

"We have been offering assistance to the US authorities in New York with enquiries since 2019. It would be inappropriate to comment further while these remain ongoing."

Mr Khouli has been contacted by The National for comment.

Updated: September 26, 2023, 1:46 AM

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Alicante Egyptologist Solves Enigma Of 4,000-Year-Old Manuscript « Euro Weekly News

https://euroweeklynews.com/2023/08/27/alicante-egyptologist-solves-enigma-of-4000-year-old-manuscript/

Alicante Egyptologist Solves Enigma Of 4,000-Year-Old Manuscript

By Chris King • 27 August 2023 • 19:37

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Image of an Egyptian manuscript. Credit: Anonymous (Egypt)/ Public Domain Wikimedia Commons

AN Egyptologist from Alicante has solved a mystery surrounding a manuscript that dates back some 4,000 years.

The enigma was finally explained thanks to Marina Escolano-Poveda, a 37-year-old Spanish researcher who is currently a teacher at the University of Liverpool in England.

Since 1842, the papyrus has been stored in the Egyptian Museum in Berlin and its text is very well-known to Egyptologists across the world.

However, until now, none of these experts had been able to unravel the full meaning of 'The Dispute of the Desperate with his Soul'. It would appear that it is a story similar to that of William Shakespeare's 'Hamlet', in which the hero wonders if is it better to live or die. 'To be or not to be, that is the question', is the famous quote.

'Some believed to see in this text the reflections of a suicidal man; others, the dialogue between a deceased and a spirit, on the occasion of the last judgement', explained Escolano-Poveda.

The original manuscript was missing its first pages

The manuscript was missing several pages of its introductory chapter which made it impossible to contextualise the remainder of the text, something which had baffled the experts for such a long time.

As luck would have it, Escolano-Poveda discovered the missing pages in the archives of a small museum in Mallorca. Her incredible find allowed the reader to finally understand the main protagonist of this almost 4,000-year-old philosophical tale that consists of the assembly of 72 pieces.

'It's about a dying man who describes in a colourful way how he sees his last hour coming', explained the historian from Alicante.

'Contrary to what we thought previously, the hero does not die at the end since it is clearly specified in the introduction that it is he himself who is the author of this text. That tells us that he survived. If we had to qualify the episode, we would say today that the narrator had a near-death experience', she continued.

The Egyptologist added: 'All the elements of what is called a near-death experience (NDE) in English are there: the description of a tunnel at the end of which a light shines; the splitting of the personality of the person who goes through this type of ordeal, and the fact that he sees himself in agony from outside his body'.

Escolano-Poveda found the missing pages in Mallorca

Revealing how she first happened upon the missing pages, the researcher explained: 'It was during a congress, organised in 2010 in Mallorca, that I first came across this document in the form of a puzzle'.

'Nobody knew what it was about. It must be said that, given its poor condition, no researcher had really bothered to look into it. But it intrigued me', she continued.

At that time, Marina Escolano-Poveda was a doctoral student at the renowned Johns-Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States.

She subsequently spent several years studying the pages from every angle. 'I was told that this document was written in demotic characters. Looking closer at the dynasty, I established it to be an early Middle Kingdom text'.

The Spanish Egyptologist also noted rare characters transcribed sometimes in black ink, sometimes in red ink. In particular, she noticed a mysterious hieroglyph in the shape of an elongated boat.

The mystery started unravelling in April 2015

It was thanks to a new examination of the document in April 2015 that she noted analogies between the Mallorcan text and the famous Berlin papyrus on the basis of this specific spelling.

'I remember perfectly the moment when I had this revelation. It must have been 3 o'clock in the morning. I was listening to the song 'Salir' by the group Extremoduro. I then realised that the papyrus I was looking at was by the same author as that of La Dispute!, she exclaimed.

The researcher immediately wrote to James Allen, her thesis director and professor at Brown University in Rhode Island. His nocturnal e-mail consisted of only one question: 'Do you think, in view of the elements that I submit to you here, that the two texts from Berlin and Mallorca are from the same scribe?'. She quickly replied in the affirmative.

Another Egyptology expert, Richard Parkinson, a professor at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, also validated the discovery.

Escolano-Poveda published the first article on her findings in 2017 in the prestigious German journal Zeitschrift für Äegyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde.

She later made more discoveries in Mallorca

She returned several times to Mallorca and made other discoveries. 'The pieces of papyrus kept on-site include extracts from other books', she detailed.

Among them was 'The Pastor's Tale', which narrates a meeting between a cattle herder and a goddess. 'A tale that we tended to think of as a moral tale, as a deity seems to be trying to seduce a human into his bed. My hypothesis is quite different: the goddess seems to me mainly interested in the peasant's cattle', the Egyptologist suggested.

Also included in the Mallorca papyrus are extracts from a famous liturgical work: The Book of the Dead. This literary work lists the blessings that each deceased must pronounce when crossing the kingdom of the dead.

A few months ago, Bernard Mathieu published some of the researcher's conclusions in one of his latest books – La Littérature de l'Egypte vieille, Vol. III, published by Belles Lettres, 2023.

The researcher hopes to organise an exhibition in Berlin

Marina Escolano-Poveda now dreams of organising an exhibition in Berlin where the separate parts of the story she has been studying for so long would be reunited.

'I would like this event to restore the papyrus of Mallorca. On this occasion, we could study it and perhaps retrace its history' she said.

It is a story that begins in an auction room in 1837 in London, where ancient documents are scattered. 'I found traces of this auction at Sotheby's. One of the lots, in good condition, landed in Germany', she explained.

'The other, less well preserved, must have been bought by a Frenchman because the paper that serves as the support for the fragments that I examined resembles that used at the time by the Louvre and the National Library', she continued.

Escolano-Poveda now wants to establish the conditions under which this second batch landed, in part, in Mallorca in 1913. 'I say "in part", because I know that other fragments are in New York today', she added. The investigation appears to be far from over, as reported by lepoint.fr.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. Do remember to come back and check The Euro Weekly News website for all your up-to-date local and international news stories and remember, you can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

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Northern Cal. ARCE Upcoming Egyptology Lectures

American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) Northern California Chapter Upcoming Lectures The following are among the lectures to be presented by ARCE's Northern California Chapter and by the UC Berkeley Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures. Unless otherwise indicated, lectures will be at 3 pm Sunday at venues to be determined. The Upper Egyptian Temple of Edfu: Its Architecture as an Image of the World 1:30 PM Zoom Lecture October 15, 2023 Dr. Dieter Kurth, Prof-Dr. Emeritus, Hamburg University Zoom lecture coordinated by the Orange County chapter of ARCE. To register, please click on this link and follow the directions. This lecture will be recorded. The Qeheq Papyrus: A Bridge Between Egyptology and Berberology November 5, 2023 Jason Silvestri, UC Berkeley Contexts and Circumstances in Designing the Divine in Ancient Egypt December 10, 2023 Dr. Jennifer Babcock, SUNY Topic TBD Jan. 14, 2024 Rafh (Didi) El-Behadei, University of Chicago Topic TBD Feb. 11, 2024 Maryan Ragheb, University of California, Los Angeles Topic TBD March 17, 2024 Dr. Julia Troche, Pratt Institute; State University of New York Topic TBD April 14, 2024 Dr. Tom Hardwick, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston/Houston Museum of Natural Science Topic TBD April 28, 2024 Dr. Aidan Dodson, University of Bristol Walking Among Pharaohs: George Reisner and the Dawn of Modern Egyptology May 5, 2024 (2 p.m. Pacific Time, live at the Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco) In cooperation with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco Dr. Peter der Manuelian, Harvard University In the Shadow of Egypt's Last Pyramid: Uncovering the Ahmose Cemetery and Its Historical Implications Sept. 15, 2024 Emily Smith-Sangster, Princeton University --------------------------------- Parking is available in UC lots all day on weekends, for a fee. Ticket dispensing machines accept debit or credit cards. Parking is available in lots around the Social Sciences Building, and in lots along Bancroft. A map of the campus is available online at http://www.berkeley.edu/map/ For more information, please visit https://www.youtube.com/@NorthernCaliforniaArce, https://facebook.com/NorthernCaliforniaARCE, https://www.arce-nc.org/, https://twitter.com/ARCENCPostings, or https://khentiamentiu.org. To join the chapter or renew your membership, please go to https://www.arce.org/general-membership and select "Berkeley, CA" as your chapter when you sign up.

New discoveries off Egyptian coast reveal ‘treasures and secrets’ | CNN

https://www.cnn.com/travel/egypt-sunken-temple-discoveries/index.html

New discoveries off Egyptian coast reveal 'treasures and secrets'

By Radina Gigova, CNN

Updated 6:12 AM EDT, Wed September 20, 2023

Gold objects, jewelry and a Djed pilar, a symbol of stability made of lapis lazuli, were retrieved

Christoph Gerigk ©Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation

CNN  — 

New "treasures and secrets" have been revealed at the site of a sunken temple off Egypt's Mediterranean coast, the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM) announced in a news release Tuesday.

An underwater archaeological team, led by French marine archaeologist Franck Goddio, has made further discoveries at the site of a temple to god Amun in the ancient port city of Thonis-Heracleion in the Bay of Aboukir, the institute said.

The team investigated the city's south canal, where huge blocks of stone from the ancient temple collapsed "during a cataclysmic event dated to the mid-second century BC," the institute said.

The temple to god Amun was where pharaohs came "to receive the titles of their power as universal kings from the supreme god of the ancient Egyptian pantheon," it said.

"Precious objects belonging to the temple treasury have been unearthed, such as silver ritual instruments, gold jewelry and fragile alabaster containers for perfumes or unguents," IEASM said. "They bear witness to the wealth of this sanctuary and the piety of the former inhabitants of the port city."

Thousands of animal mummies discovered at ancient Egyptian site

The archaeological excavations, conducted jointly by Goddio's team and the Department of Underwater Archaeology of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities of Egypt, revealed underground structures "supported by very well-preserved wooden posts and beams dating from the 5th century BC," the institute said.

"It is extremely moving to discover such delicate objects, which survived intact despite the violence and magnitude of the cataclysm," said Goddio, who is president of IEASM and director of excavations.

The discoveries were made possible thanks to the development and use of new geophysical prospecting technologies that can detect cavities and objects "buried under layers of clay several meters thick," the institute said.

Relics from Greek presence, too

Demonstrating the Greek presence in Ancient Egypt, a delicate bronze duck-shaped pourer was discovered among ceramics at the site of a newly discovered Greek sanctuary to Aphrodite in the submerged ruins of Thonis-Heracleion..

Christoph Gerigk ©Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation

East of the Amun temple, a Greek sanctuary devoted to Aphrodite was discovered containing bronze and ceramic objects.

"This illustrates that Greeks who were allowed to trade and settle in the city during the time of the Pharaohs of the Saïte dynasty (664 - 525 BC) had their sanctuaries to their own gods," the institute said.

The discoveries of Greek weapons also reveal the presence of Greek mercenaries in the area, IEASM said. "They were defending the access to the Kingdom at the mouth of the Canopic Branch of the Nile. This branch was the largest and the best navigable one in antiquity."

Diving at Thonis-Hercleion to discover ancient treasures is a delicate task. A votive hand is show emerging from the sediment during an excavation.

Christoph Gerigk ©Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation

The remains of Thonis-Heracleion are now located under the sea, 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) from the present coast of Egypt, IEASM said. The city was for centuries Egypt's largest port on the Mediterranean before the founding of Alexandria by Alexander the Great in 331 BC.

"Rising sea levels and earthquakes followed by tidal waves triggering land liquefaction events, caused a 110 square kilometer portion of the Nile delta to totally disappear under the sea, taking with it the city of Thonis-Heracleion," the institute said.

The city was discovered by the IEASM in 2000.

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In Photos: Restored Ottoman-era Suleiman Pasha Al-Khadim Mosque inaugurated - Islamic - Antiquities - Ahram Online

https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/40/508479/Antiquities/Ancient-Egypt/In-Photos-Restored-Ottomanera-Suleiman-Pasha-AlKha.aspx

In Photos: Restored Ottoman-era Suleiman Pasha Al-Khadim Mosque inaugurated

Nevine El-Aref , Saturday 16 Sep 2023

The Suleiman Pasha Al-Khadim Mosque, known as the Sariyat Al-Gabal Mosque, was officially inaugurated today after the completion of an architectural restoration.

The mosque, known by Egyptians as the Sariyat Al-Gabal Mosque, was built in 1528 by the Ottoman governor of Egypt Suleiman Pasha Al-Khadim.

The inauguration was led by Ahmed Issa, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, and Cairo Governor Khaled Abdel-Aal. 

Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) Mostafa Waziri and Vice-Governor of Cairo Gihan Abdel-Moneim also attended the event.

Issa noted that the mosque is a masterpiece of Ottoman architecture and an invaluable part of the country's cultural heritage.

He added that the state is spending three billion Egyptian pounds on various restoration projects in the current fiscal year as a means of enhancing the country's tourism industry.

Revenues from tickets to historic sites increased five-fold in the last two years, said Issa.

"The restoration is a self-financed project carried out by SCA restorers using the latest scientific techniques, and with reference to the original mosque design," Waziri said. 

He added that the restoration project took five years at a cost of about EGP 5 million.

Hisham Samir, assistant to Minister Issa for archaeological projects, said that the restoration work included removing plasterwork added over the centuries, cleaning the masonry, and repairing the mosque's walls, woodwork, and decorative elements.

The Sariyat Al-Gabal Mosque was built on the ruins of a former Fatimid mosque built in 1140 by the Fatimid governor Abu Mansur Qastah Ghulam Al-Muzaffar Ibn Amir Al-Guyush.

In the Ottoman period, the mosque served the Janissaries, an elite unit of the Ottoman armies that conquered Egypt in 1517.

​Sariyat Al-Gabal is considered to be Egypt's earliest Ottoman-style mosque and is characterized by domes, semi-domes, pencil-shaped minarets, and ceramic tiling.

The mosque consists of a prayer hall, a kuttab (Quranic school), and a mausoleum. It features an open central courtyard of coloured marble, surrounded by four domed porticoes, in classic Turkish style.

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At the foot of ancient power: The Grateful Dead's 1978 Egypt shows revisited

https://www.thenationalnews.com/weekend/2023/09/15/at-the-foot-of-ancient-power-the-grateful-deads-1978-egypt-shows-revisited/

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ANE Today - The Harsh Life of Diplomatic Messengers in Egypt in the Late Bronze Age The Harsh Life of Diplomatic Messengers in Egypt in the Late Bronze Age

https://www.asor.org/anetoday/2023/09/diplomatic-messengers-egypt

The Harsh Life of Diplomatic Messengers in Egypt in the Late Bronze Age

By Mohy-Eldin E. Abo-Eleaz

 

International relations in Egypt during the Late Bronze Age (~1500 BCE – 1200 BCE) depended mainly on diplomatic envoys; the large quantity of exchanged royal gifts and the increase of marriage alliances are evidence of these relations. Negotiations conducted through official messengers between the kings of Egypt and the kings of Near Eastern states were an important mechanism for managing these relationships.

Map of Egypt and other Kingdoms during the Late Bronze Age. By Simeon Netchev (CC BY-NC-SA)

Stele of Thuthmose III (1479–1425 BCE) from Gebel Barkal (Sudan). Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition. Photograph © 2023 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

The exchange of messengers was an expression of good relations between kings, who were keen to secure safe passage and the brisk exchange of messengers. In the Gebel Barkal stele in Nubia, Thutmose III boasts: "[I spread] my dread in the ends of Asia without my messenger being hindered." These official messengers had to withstand numerous dangers and difficulties to accomplish their missions, such as the possibility of encountering bad roads, robberies, and assaults. But the risks didn't end there: correspondence between the kings of Egypt and various rulers across the Near East suggests that royal messengers were subject to harsh treatment especially in the Egyptian court, raising questions as to whether the Egyptian king was violating diplomatic norms—the envoys' "diplomatic immunity", so to speak.

One example comes from correspondence exchanged between Egypt and Babylon, which is preserved in the form of clay tablets found at Tell el-Amarna. The Babylonian king, Kadashman-Enlil I, complained that the Egyptian king, Amenhotep III had unreasonably detained his messenger for 6 years (EA 3). He also allegedly disparaged Kadashman-Enlil's messengers as "nobodies" and "liars", apparently perturbed that they were asking to meet with the Babylonian princess whom Amenhotep had married as part of a negotiated alliance. It seems that Amenhotep was angered by what he saw as disrespect on the part of the Babylonian king, who had delegated envoys from the lower ranks of society. To humiliate the messengers, Amenhotep gathered all his wives—including the Babylonian princess—and presented them without indicating who was who. Since the messengers were of such a station that they did not know the Babylonian princess, they could not identify her; they did not dare ask which one she was.

A Messenger appears before the king. Drawing after a mural in a Theban tomb. From Norisk familjebok (1915)

This was not an isolated incident. Later, the Babylonian king Burnaburiyaš II wrote to Akhenaten likewise to complain about the detention of his messenger for two years in Egypt. And a similar case occurred during the reign of Ramesses II, who had married two Babylonian princesses just as Amenhotep III did a century earlier. He also did not permit the messengers of her father to visit her in Egypt. All of these letters reflect the tension between the two powers, highlighting the Babylonian envoys' negative experience at the royal court in Egypt during the reigns of Amenhotep III to Ramesses II.

Accusations of mistreatment were not limited to correspondence between the Egyptian and Babylonian king. According to the Assyrian king Ashur-uballit I, the Egyptian king Akhenaten went so far as to endanger the Assyrian messengers' lives: "Why should messengers be made to stay constantly out in the sun and so die in the sun?" (EA 16)  It is possible that the messengers were forced to stand in the blazing sun for hours as part of Akhenaten's new religious rituals surrounding the worship of the sun disk Aten. Or, Akhenaten may have been reacting to the delay of his own messengers in Assyria. The latter is suggested by another message from the Assyrian king, explaining that he had detained the Egyptian messengers due to bandits.

Limestone relief at Amarna Depicting Akhenaten and Nefertiti worshiping Aten. Wikimedia Commons / Jean-Pierre Dalbéra.

The Small Aten Temple at Akhetaten (Tell el-Amarna). Temples to Aten were open-air structures. © 2009 Kyera Giannini (CC BY 2.0)

A further example is found in the correspondence from Tušratta, the Mitanni king, who sent his chief minister, Keliya, along with another envoy to the court of Amenhotep III, requesting they not be delayed. However, they were detained in Egypt for so long that Tušratta wrote again, complaining that they had become forgotten. Their detention might have been for a criminal reason related to their reputations and the involvement of other messengers of Mitanni in an unknown crime that occurred during an earlier visit to Egypt. In any case, Akhenaten allowed them to return home after taking further punitive actions against them.

Statue of Rameses II in the Temple of Luxor. G. Eric and Edith Matson Photograph Collection, Library of Congress.

The detention of envoys as retaliation is clear from another letter, also from the period of Akhenaten concerning the envoys of the King of Alashiya (Cyprus). Here, it is suggested that Akhenaten detained the messengers because he thought that his own messenger was being held in Alashiya. However, the king of Alashiya made the excuse that it was a plague on the island that caused the three-year delay in returning the messenger to Egypt. Whether or not Akhenaten was persuaded is unknown.

During the Nineteenth Dynasty, Ḫattušili III, the king of Hittites, wrote to Ramesses II asking about the treatment of Zuwa, the Hittite messenger to Egypt. Ramesses left Ḫattušili in no doubt about what he thought of his envoy, responding, "Who is this dog?" and stating that he had ordered Zuwa to be bound by hand and foot. Hattušili objected, stating "to chain the hands and feet of messengers is not according to custom," and "It is not right to kill a messenger!" suggesting that there were some commonly accepted standards, even if Ramesses ignored them.

The rulers in Syria-Palestine complained repeatedly of neglect and detention of their messengers inside Egypt. Sometimes, the complaint merely concerns the neglect of responding to their messages. In other cases, it was because of the Egyptian king's favoritism towards messengers from one city over others, such as when the messenger of Akka was honored more than Byblos' messengers. In an extraordinary example, the citizens of Tunip themselves wrote to Akhenaten about the neglect and detention of their messengers for twenty years in Egypt.

Facsimile of a painting from the Tomb of Menkheperrasone depicting foreign princes at the court of Tuthmosis III. The third figure from the left is the prince of Tunip presenting his son to the court. From Davies (1936), Ancient Egyptian Paintings Vol 1, Pl. XXI. ©University of Chicago.

From the letters above, we must question whether the accusations are true, and whether the Egyptian kings violate "diplomatic immunity" of the messengers. Is it possible the foreign rulers exaggerated for rhetorical effect, perhaps using routine phrases in the letters without real meaning? We can make the following observations:

1. 1-  In some cases, it was the kings' ignorance of the distances between Egypt and the neighboring countries that could foster a repeated request for sending back envoys.
2. 2-  The time taken by the messengers to travel from one court to another obviously depended on a number of factors. These could include dissimilar terrains, different purposes of travel, and variations of seasons. One factor that should be considered when calculating traveling speed to Egypt is the combination of transport being used.
3. 3-  It was common for the envoys and foreign messengers to reside in the king's court for indefinite periods, and the return of any envoy to his own country depended on the consent of the host king.
4. 4-  Neither the envoys themselves nor the kings who sent them were much in control over the length of their stay in a foreign kingdom, especially if their host was not particularly cooperative or diligent in expediting their return.
5. 5-  Delays might have been due to the time taken to draw up a response for the delegation to take back to their kings, to put together a consignment of gifts to accompany them, or to do all the necessary preparations for the dispatch of a royal bride.
6. 6-  No specific dates occur in the letters, whether from the Egyptian palace or to the palaces of the other Near Eastern kings; sometimes it was years that were a symbolic number to express a long period of time.

If all the previous considerations are taken into account, one can largely acknowledge the credibility of the letter-writers' complaints about long detentions. Neglect could occur as an initial stage that might lead to detention, and possibly even death, inside the Egyptian palace for political, bureaucratic, and criminal reasons.

Even so, the messengers cannot be regarded as having diplomatic immunity in the modern sense, despite the protests of the aggrieved kings. But from the correspondence, it appears that Egypt was still the country most known for detaining foreign messengers during the Late Bronze Age, and therefore the most dangerous diplomatic posting.

Mohy-Eldin E. Abo-Eleaz is Associate Professor History and Civilization of Egypt and the Ancient Near East at Minia University.

 

Further Reading

Abo-Eleaz, M.-E. E. (2018). Neglect and Detention of Messengers in Egypt during the Fourteenth and Thirteenth Centuries BCE. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, 54:17–34.

Bryce, T. (2004). Letters of the Great Kings of the Ancient Near East: The Royal Correspondence of the Late Bronze Age. Routledge.

Gestoso Singer, G. (2016). Fortunes and Misfortunes of

The Harsh Life of Diplomatic Messengers in Egypt in the Late Bronze Age

By Mohy-Eldin E. Abo-Eleaz

 

International relations in Egypt during the Late Bronze Age (~1500 BCE – 1200 BCE) depended mainly on diplomatic envoys; the large quantity of exchanged royal gifts and the increase of marriage alliances are evidence of these relations. Negotiations conducted through official messengers between the kings of Egypt and the kings of Near Eastern states were an important mechanism for managing these relationships.

Map of Egypt and other Kingdoms during the Late Bronze Age. By Simeon Netchev (CC BY-NC-SA)

Stele of Thuthmose III (1479–1425 BCE) from Gebel Barkal (Sudan). Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition. Photograph © 2023 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

The exchange of messengers was an expression of good relations between kings, who were keen to secure safe passage and the brisk exchange of messengers. In the Gebel Barkal stele in Nubia, Thutmose III boasts: "[I spread] my dread in the ends of Asia without my messenger being hindered." These official messengers had to withstand numerous dangers and difficulties to accomplish their missions, such as the possibility of encountering bad roads, robberies, and assaults. But the risks didn't end there: correspondence between the kings of Egypt and various rulers across the Near East suggests that royal messengers were subject to harsh treatment especially in the Egyptian court, raising questions as to whether the Egyptian king was violating diplomatic norms—the envoys' "diplomatic immunity", so to speak.

One example comes from correspondence exchanged between Egypt and Babylon, which is preserved in the form of clay tablets found at Tell el-Amarna. The Babylonian king, Kadashman-Enlil I, complained that the Egyptian king, Amenhotep III had unreasonably detained his messenger for 6 years (EA 3). He also allegedly disparaged Kadashman-Enlil's messengers as "nobodies" and "liars", apparently perturbed that they were asking to meet with the Babylonian princess whom Amenhotep had married as part of a negotiated alliance. It seems that Amenhotep was angered by what he saw as disrespect on the part of the Babylonian king, who had delegated envoys from the lower ranks of society. To humiliate the messengers, Amenhotep gathered all his wives—including the Babylonian princess—and presented them without indicating who was who. Since the messengers were of such a station that they did not know the Babylonian princess, they could not identify her; they did not dare ask which one she was.

A Messenger appears before the king. Drawing after a mural in a Theban tomb. From Norisk familjebok (1915)

This was not an isolated incident. Later, the Babylonian king Burnaburiyaš II wrote to Akhenaten likewise to complain about the detention of his messenger for two years in Egypt. And a similar case occurred during the reign of Ramesses II, who had married two Babylonian princesses just as Amenhotep III did a century earlier. He also did not permit the messengers of her father to visit her in Egypt. All of these letters reflect the tension between the two powers, highlighting the Babylonian envoys' negative experience at the royal court in Egypt during the reigns of Amenhotep III to Ramesses II.

Accusations of mistreatment were not limited to correspondence between the Egyptian and Babylonian king. According to the Assyrian king Ashur-uballit I, the Egyptian king Akhenaten went so far as to endanger the Assyrian messengers' lives: "Why should messengers be made to stay constantly out in the sun and so die in the sun?" (EA 16)  It is possible that the messengers were forced to stand in the blazing sun for hours as part of Akhenaten's new religious rituals surrounding the worship of the sun disk Aten. Or, Akhenaten may have been reacting to the delay of his own messengers in Assyria. The latter is suggested by another message from the Assyrian king, explaining that he had detained the Egyptian messengers due to bandits.

Limestone relief at Amarna Depicting Akhenaten and Nefertiti worshiping Aten. Wikimedia Commons / Jean-Pierre Dalbéra.

The Small Aten Temple at Akhetaten (Tell el-Amarna). Temples to Aten were open-air structures. © 2009 Kyera Giannini (CC BY 2.0)

A further example is found in the correspondence from Tušratta, the Mitanni king, who sent his chief minister, Keliya, along with another envoy to the court of Amenhotep III, requesting they not be delayed. However, they were detained in Egypt for so long that Tušratta wrote again, complaining that they had become forgotten. Their detention might have been for a criminal reason related to their reputations and the involvement of other messengers of Mitanni in an unknown crime that occurred during an earlier visit to Egypt. In any case, Akhenaten allowed them to return home after taking further punitive actions against them.

Statue of Rameses II in the Temple of Luxor. G. Eric and Edith Matson Photograph Collection, Library of Congress.

The detention of envoys as retaliation is clear from another letter, also from the period of Akhenaten concerning the envoys of the King of Alashiya (Cyprus). Here, it is suggested that Akhenaten detained the messengers because he thought that his own messenger was being held in Alashiya. However, the king of Alashiya made the excuse that it was a plague on the island that caused the three-year delay in returning the messenger to Egypt. Whether or not Akhenaten was persuaded is unknown.

During the Nineteenth Dynasty, Ḫattušili III, the king of Hittites, wrote to Ramesses II asking about the treatment of Zuwa, the Hittite messenger to Egypt. Ramesses left Ḫattušili in no doubt about what he thought of his envoy, responding, "Who is this dog?" and stating that he had ordered Zuwa to be bound by hand and foot. Hattušili objected, stating "to chain the hands and feet of messengers is not according to custom," and "It is not right to kill a messenger!" suggesting that there were some commonly accepted standards, even if Ramesses ignored them.

The rulers in Syria-Palestine complained repeatedly of neglect and detention of their messengers inside Egypt. Sometimes, the complaint merely concerns the neglect of responding to their messages. In other cases, it was because of the Egyptian king's favoritism towards messengers from one city over others, such as when the messenger of Akka was honored more than Byblos' messengers. In an extraordinary example, the citizens of Tunip themselves wrote to Akhenaten about the neglect and detention of their messengers for twenty years in Egypt.

Facsimile of a painting from the Tomb of Menkheperrasone depicting foreign princes at the court of Tuthmosis III. The third figure from the left is the prince of Tunip presenting his son to the court. From Davies (1936), Ancient Egyptian Paintings Vol 1, Pl. XXI. ©University of Chicago.

From the letters above, we must question whether the accusations are true, and whether the Egyptian kings violate "diplomatic immunity" of the messengers. Is it possible the foreign rulers exaggerated for rhetorical effect, perhaps using routine phrases in the letters without real meaning? We can make the following observations:

1. 1-  In some cases, it was the kings' ignorance of the distances between Egypt and the neighboring countries that could foster a repeated request for sending back envoys.
2. 2-  The time taken by the messengers to travel from one court to another obviously depended on a number of factors. These could include dissimilar terrains, different purposes of travel, and variations of seasons. One factor that should be considered when calculating traveling speed to Egypt is the combination of transport being used.
3. 3-  It was common for the envoys and foreign messengers to reside in the king's court for indefinite periods, and the return of any envoy to his own country depended on the consent of the host king.
4. 4-  Neither the envoys themselves nor the kings who sent them were much in control over the length of their stay in a foreign kingdom, especially if their host was not particularly cooperative or diligent in expediting their return.
5. 5-  Delays might have been due to the time taken to draw up a response for the delegation to take back to their kings, to put together a consignment of gifts to accompany them, or to do all the necessary preparations for the dispatch of a royal bride.
6. 6-  No specific dates occur in the letters, whether from the Egyptian palace or to the palaces of the other Near Eastern kings; sometimes it was years that were a symbolic number to express a long period of time.

If all the previous considerations are taken into account, one can largely acknowledge the credibility of the letter-writers' complaints about long detentions. Neglect could occur as an initial stage that might lead to detention, and possibly even death, inside the Egyptian palace for political, bureaucratic, and criminal reasons.

Even so, the messengers cannot be regarded as having diplomatic immunity in the modern sense, despite the protests of the aggrieved kings. But from the correspondence, it appears that Egypt was still the country most known for detaining foreign messengers during the Late Bronze Age, and therefore the most dangerous diplomatic posting.

Mohy-Eldin E. Abo-Eleaz is Associate Professor History and Civilization of Egypt and the Ancient Near East at Minia University.

 

Further Reading

Abo-Eleaz, M.-E. E. (2018). Neglect and Detention of Messengers in Egypt during the Fourteenth and Thirteenth Centuries BCE. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, 54:17–34.

Bryce, T. (2004). Letters of the Great Kings of the Ancient Near East: The Royal Correspondence of the Late Bronze Age. Routledge.

Gestoso Singer, G. (2016). Fortunes and Misfortunes of Messengers and Merchants in the Amarna Letters. Fortune and Misfortune in the Ancient Near East: Proceedings of the 60th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale Warsaw, 21–25 July 2014, 143-161.

Moran, W.L. 1992. The Amarna Letters. Johns Hopkins University Press.

Rainey, A.F. 2015. The El-Amarna Correspondence: A New Edition of the Cuneiform Letters from the Site of El- Amarna Based on Collations of All Extant Tablets. In W. Schniedewind and Z. Cochavi-Rainey, (eds.), Handbook of Oriental Studies. Vols.1-2. Leiden, Brill.

Click here for a PDF of this article.

Messengers and Merchants in the Amarna Letters. Fortune and Misfortune in the Ancient Near East: Proceedings of the 60th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale Warsaw, 21–25 July 2014, 143-161.

Moran, W.L. 1992. The Amarna Letters. Johns Hopkins University Press.

Rainey, A.F. 2015. The El-Amarna Correspondence: A New Edition of the Cuneiform Letters from the Site of El- Amarna Based on Collations of All Extant Tablets. In W. Schniedewind and Z. Cochavi-Rainey, (eds.), Handbook of Oriental Studies. Vols.1-2. Leiden, Brill.

Click here for a PDF of this article.

--   Sent from my Linux system.