My in laws have this decoration on their wall. Pretty sure it’s all nonsense, probably came from Walmart, but even nonsense tends to have been copied or inspired from a real source.

It looks like they’re giving an offering to Ra. I don’t recognize any of the cartouches pretty sure a lot of the symbols aren’t even real.

Some people say Ahmose really pronounced Musa is this correct?

I saw a post about letters from old coptic that didn't make it to coptic: https://x.com/tonogenesis/status/1490661242121306113?lang=ar
I wanted to ask 2 things
1- Did some coptic letters really not make it to the modern coptic?
2-If yes why did the egyptians abandon these letters>?

I enjoy reading the accounts of early archaeologists, here is Giovanni Belzoni, former circus strongman in 1817 exploring a tomb near Thebes.

"Fortunately, I am destitute of the sense of smelling, I could taste that the mummies were rather unpleasant to swallow. After the exertion of entering into such a place, through a passage of fifty, a hundred, three hundred, or perhaps six hundred yards, nearly overcome, I sought a resting-place, found one, and contrived to sit ; but when my weight bore on the body of an Egyptian, it crushed it like a band-box. I naturally had recourse to my hands to sustain my weight, but they found no better support; so that I sunk altogether among the broken mummies, with a crash of bones, rags, and wooden cases, which raised such a dust as kept me motionless for a quarter of an hour, waiting till it subsided again. I could not remove from the place, however, without increasing it, and every step I took I crushed a mummy in some part or other. It was choked with mummies, and I could not pass without putting my face in contact with that of some decayed Egyptian ; but as the passage inclined downwards, my own weight helped me on : however, I could not avoid being covered with bones, legs, arms, and heads rolling from above. Thus I proceeded from one cave to another, all full of mummies piled up in various ways, some standing, some lying, and some on their heads. The purpose of my researches was to rob the Egyptians of their papyri..'

Reminds me of an' Indiana Jones' movie

I was curious about woodwork in ancient Egypt so looked at a bunch of different kinds of box construction.

I was really curious about the shape of shabti boxes and, not knowing what a shabti was, thought maybe they were designed so that you could only see into the box from one side as the lid was opened.

Then learning they were funerary and tombs had lots of them I thought "oh they're gifts from mourners to the family and to save embarrassment nobody can see how many shabtis someone has already".

I googled a bit, learned that they represent workers, and thought "oh ok maybe it represents favours to the deceased and that might need to be private".

But googling a little more I haven't stumbled across anything except that the shape might represent an architectural feature of a chapel. But I don't know what shape that is in reference to.

So now I'm hooked and want to learn all about them. I'm interested in resources and cultural practices for shabti and the shape of shabti boxes. If anybody here has knowledge or can point me to resources, please point me in the right direction.

I've seen faience bead necklaces and other jewellery for sale on various antiquities websites. Some of it seems very cheap- £90. Are these a scam?

There are wayyy too many people who are convinced bronze can’t cut stone, despite plenty of examples of people doing so. They say softer than granite. It’s like… so it iron, granites tougher than steel. That’s just not how a chistle works, it’s the impact that breaks flakes off, not the cutting surface. You’re just hitting a rock with another rock, the chistle’s purpose is just to focus that energy.

Also, why do we call their saws “bronze saws?” The saws we cut rocks with today are almost entirely made of steel, but we don’t call them steel saws: we call them carbide or diamond saws. Why don’t we call Egyptian saws “quartz saws?” There’s even precedent in archeology: the Aztecs didn’t have wooden swords, they had obsidian swords.

I am writing a fantasy book some of the characters come from a place that is inspired by the culture of ancient Egypt I would appreciate help with names. I hope this is the place to ask. This is the first time I use reddit. ( English is not my first language so I'm sorry if there are any mistake.)

I read once that written Egyptian, hieroglyphics can be read. But no one knows how spoken Egyptian sounded. The written language was different from spoken. Is this correct.

Hello,

I have been practicing reading/writing Hieratic with Poe's Writing of a Skillful Scribe and Möller's Paläographie, and would like to broaden my horizons. Is there somewhere I can find high quality images or reproductions of other Hieratic texts? I've been able to find some "normalized" hieroglyphic transcriptions of Hieratic texts, but I'm looking to practice the Hieratic itself. I'm very interested in studying different scribal handwritings and graphic variations within interconnected texts. Thank you all!

I was reading John Gadsby’s ‘Travels in the East’(1852) and he claims to 'prove' that the bricks in the pyramid of Thutmose III were made by the ancient Israelites. He collected samples and showed that the quantity of straw in the clay greatly reduced in that reign which he said confirmed the Exodus account of them no longer being given straw as part of their labour. He adds that the 2 finger holes in each brick shows they were made by slaves. Is there any validity in any of this?

(He says that he collected samples of bricks from that reign and before to compare the amount of straw but these were destroyed by customs officials in Liverpool.)

In Pharaoh's dreams (Genesis 41,) the 7 cows and 7 ears of corn represent 7 years. Do cows and corn represent years in heiroglyphics?

Apologies if this is a basic question. I'm curious to what extent, if at all, Pharaohs were considered divine?

I know Akhenaten is an outlier so my question relates to 'normal' Pharaohs. Many thanks!

Hi everyone!

I’ve been on a wild journey into the world of ancient geometry, and I thought this might be the perfect place to share my discoveries. Over the past several months, I’ve been researching the royal cubit—yes, that ancient unit of measurement you’ve probably heard about in the context of the Egyptian pyramids. But there’s so much more to it than meets the eye.

Did you know there’s an alternative value for the royal cubit, 0.4761904 meters, that might reveal surprising geometric insights into how the Great Pyramid was designed? My work explores how this value could have been used in ancient calculations involving π, fractions, and even connections to the Earth’s dimensions.

Why am I posting here?

Because I know you’re the kind of people who get as excited as I do about the intersection of math, history, and curiosity. My research has led me to fascinating ideas about how ancient builders might have thought about geometry—not just as a tool for construction, but as a way of understanding the world and the cosmos.

Some of the questions I’ve been wrestling with:

• How could the geometry of the pyramids be so precise without the modern tools we rely on today?
• Could ancient measurement systems like the royal cubit have links to the metric system we use now?
• What does it mean, philosophically, to think of math as both practical and poetic?

Where you can find more details

I’ve been writing about my journey on Substack, where I dig deeper into the math, the history, and the “what ifs.” It’s been a labor of love, and I’d really love to share it with people who might enjoy it as much as I’ve enjoyed putting it together.

Here’s the link if you’d like to check it out: https://eimablank.substack.com/

https://preview.redd.it/7vw71brrmr2e1.png?width=1677&format=png&auto=webp&s=44125e060a762b5686f3f4da76821ecd3dc0ae93

I’m talking about from a mythological standpoint I know they actually weren’t the first pharaohs.

So my understanding is that the Egyptians were pretty particular about where they placed their tombs. Symbolism and direction were important. The dead usually were placed along the western side of the Nile and the living generally were found on the Eastern shore. I can think of exceptions, but that was generally the case to my understanding. In addition, some tombs also placed significance on the northern direction and the stars that never seemed to move from their perspective.

I'm curious how general rules of architecture played out in towns away from the Nile. Did the people who lived along the western oasis' align their tombs and necropolis on the western side of town or west of whatever Oasis they were presumably sheltering next to? Did they retain any interest in the north as a direction? Did they demonstrate any traditions or behavior unique to their locations egyptologists believe to be significant departures from the Nile Valley traditions? This is of course mostly pertaining to the classic eras of Egypt- Old, Middle and New Kingdoms, although I am interested in later tombs as well despite how other societies and cultures will have altered and 'cross-pollinated' the traditions we might be observing.