AE 146 - Jan / Feb 2025

To modern eyes, the use of silver for the coffins of the pharaohs buried at Tanis, as described by Roger Forshaw, seems strange. We might expect to see something like Tutankhamun’s solid gold coffin, especially in the undisturbed tombs. Was this an indication that the pharaohs of the Twenty-first Dynasty were impoverished compared with those of the Twentieth Dynasty? Not so, because, for most of Egypt’s history, silver was valued more highly than gold. Whereas gold could be obtained relatively easily from Nubia in the south, silver had to be imported from much further afield. We associate silver with tarnishing caused by sulphur compounds polluting the atmosphere, but this must have been much less of a problem in ancient Egypt before the advent of the Industrial Revolution. 

On the other hand, the Tanite pharaohs did find it necessary to reuse all manner of objects and materials from previous dynasties, from granite obelisks to gold jewellery. These must all have been transported to Tanis on the universal highway that was essential to the creation and maintenance of the ancient civilisation – the River Nile. Gordon Longworth has made a study of the details of the construction of the vessels that plied the river, and has even made detailed models of them.

Alan Lloyd has chosen four individuals from the ancient society who were evidently interested enough in the past to study it, and asks what their motives for doing so might have been. Could they be classed as Egyptologists?

Tourists visiting Hurghada on the Red Sea coast do so mainly to enjoy the Egyptian weather, the sands, and the water sports. But perhaps a few may visit the museum there in which, as Geoffrey Lenox-Smith discovered, they could have a crowd-free opportunity to examine some of the objects from Tutankhamun’s tomb that visitors queued to see in London.  

There is little to see now of the city of Antinoöpolis, founded by the Roman emperor Hadrian in commemoration of his lover, but Barbara Gai reveals the importance and grandeur that it once enjoyed. I wonder if Antinous wore earrings? As Hilary Wilson points out, ear jewellery was fashionable for both men and women in ancient Egypt.