Display of King Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye 1

Mutemwiya

Mutemwiya (also Mutemwia, Mutemweya; "Mut in the divine bark") was a minor wife of Thutmose IV, a pharaoh of Egypt, in the Eighteenth Dynasty and the mother of the child who would become Amenhotep III.
She received many of her titles, including that of Great Royal Wife, only after her husband's death and the selection of her son to succeed him. His elevating her to this title was an attempt to make his selection as pharaoh seem more traditional. At that time she gained prominence as the new pharaoh's mother. During Thutmose's rule, only his two other wives, Iaret and Nefertari bore the title of Great Royal Wife, which usually was reserved for the royal women of Egypt who carried the lineage.
Mutemwiya is shown in the Luxor temple, in scenes depicting the divine birth of her son Amenhotep III. A statue, which shows her in a boat was found in Karnak and it now is in the collection of the British Museum; probably it had been taken from her mortuary temple, which would have been its original location. She was buried in Thebes.
Along with her daughter-in-law, Tiye, she also is shown on the Colossi of Memnon erected by Amenhotep III. These two women would have been stressed as his relatives since his position in the royal lineage was weak.
While she occasionally was identified by some researchers as a daughter of King Artatama I of Mitanni—in an attempt to give her an exotic origin—no evidence proves that she is the same person, and nothing about her own background is known. In fact, it now is believed by many that there is evidence that she was not a daughter of Artatama..
Mutemwiya's titles include:

Statue of a sacred boat dedicated to Mutemwiya - circa 1400 BC, black granite from the Temple of Karnak, on display at the British Museum

• God’s Wife (hm.t-ntr)
• Great King’s Wife (hm.t-niswt-wr.t)
• Lady of The Two Lands (nb.t-t3wy)
• Great King’s Wife, his beloved (hm.t-nisw.t-wr.t mery.t=f)
• Hereditary Princess (iry.t-p`.t)
• Great of Praises (wr.t-hzw.t)
• Sweet of Love (bnr.t-mrw.t)
• Mistress of Upper and Lower Egypt (hnw.t-Shm’w-mhw)
• God's Mother (mwt-ntr)

Mutemwiya is called both "king's mother" (mut nesu) and "god's mother" (mut netjer), but this amounts to the same thing since the god in question was the reigning king, Amenhotep III.
The date of her death is unknown, but she is believed to have survived long into her son's reign. The evidence for that is her presence among the sculptures of the Colossi of Memnon, which was built well into his reign, as well as a mention of her estate on a wine-jar label found in Amenhotep III's Malkata palace in Thebes

Display of King Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye 2

Photographs By Yahia Rady

Amenhotep III (sometimes read as Amenophis III; meaning Amun is Satisfied) was the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty. According to different authors, he ruled Egypt from June 1386 to 1349 BC or June 1388 BC to December 1351 BC/1350 BC after his father Thutmose IV died. Amenhotep III was the son of Thutmose by Mutemwia, a minor wife of Amenhotep's father.
His lengthy reign was a period of unprecedented prosperity and artistic splendour, when Egypt reached the peak of her artistic and international power. When he died (probably in the 39th year of his reign), his son reigned as Amenhotep IV, later changing his royal name to Akhenaten.

 

The Egyptian Museum 2

Ancient wall carvings found in a Pharoh's burial chamber

The greatest collection of Egyptian antiquities is, without doubt, that of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. It is a place of true discovery and, even after many visits, I continue to make new and delightful discoveries every time I venture into its many galleries.

To be sure, the museum can be daunting in the sheer numbers of its antiquities on show, but there is an order within its layout and it is a dream come true for anyone wanting to study Egyptian antiquities.
However, the negative side is that the environmental and display conditions leave a great deal to be desired. Labels on some exhibits date from early in the century and many items have no labels at all. Guidebooks are available at the museum, although they are limited to some of the major items.

The museum's ground floor follows the history of ancient Egypt. Upon entering through the security check in the building, one looks toward the atrium and the rear of the building with many items on view - from sarcophagi and boats to enormous statues.
Just in front of these you will find an Object of the Month on display. Behind it are some of the most important items from the time of the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt some 5,000 years ago, including the famous slate palette of king Narmer - one of the first documents of Egyptian history. Also on show are small masterpieces of sculpture - keep in mind that these are some 50 centuries old. This is an area that should not be missed!
The photographs shown here feature the atrium area and the area to the right of the entrance. From the entrance area itself, turn left and you will find an amazing diversity of small statues from the Old Kingdom - they depict individuals, families, and people at work.
Continuing around the building in a clockwise direction takes you forward in time as you duck into the different rooms. At the far end of the building you will be confronted by material from the time of the heretic pharaoh, Akhenaten.
Keep moving and eventually you will have reached the Graeco-Roman period and walked through more than 3,000 years of history!

Upstairs on the first floor (i.e.second level) are thousands of smaller items from the span of Egyptian history. Of course, everybody wants to see the treasures from Tutankhamun's tomb - these occupy a large area along almost two side of the upper floor. Chariots, gloves, jewellery, the famous mask - many of the antiquities from his tomb are displayed here. Tutankhamun's tomb contained four gilded shrines nested one inside the other. All four of these shrines are on display in the museum. They are lined up in order of decreasing size. The innermost of these covered a stone sarcophagus which remains in the tomb. Inside the stone sarcophagus were three coffins - the innermost being made of 110 kilograms of solid gold. Inside that lay the pharaoh himself wearing the famous gold mask (at right). Tutankhamun remains in his tomb to this day.

Two of his three coffins are on display in the same room as the mask, along with stunning jewellery. This room alone can occupy one for a considerable time. The room has been remodelled recently with better presentation. Obviously, there are usually crowds, although often these lessen toward the end of the day. It is therefore a good idea to leave the Tutankhamun exhibits until later, unless one is short of time.
Apart from the Tutankhamun exhibits upstairs, there are countless coffins, amulets, ushabtis, household items, etc. Some of the Middle Kingdom tomb models of armies, boats and landowners surveying their livestock shouldn't be missed. The human figures almost seem alive! Also upstairs is the Mummy Room where you can come face to face with some of the great rulers of ancient Egypt.
However, a word of advice - don't try to see everything. If you do, you will not remember anything! If you have a chance to go at least twice, perhaps do an overall survey and then concentrate on what pleases you most on the next visit.
Some of the museum's exhibits can be seen by using the links below. They are given in no particular order so that one may stumble across some of the wonders of the museum.

InsideThe Egyptian Museum front Entrance 4

Photographs By Yahia Rady

Interior design

y

There are two main floors of the museum, the ground floor and the first floor. On the ground floor there is an extensive collection of papyrus and coins used in the Ancient world. The numerous pieces of papyrus are generally small fragments, due to their decay over the past two millennia. Several languages are found on these pieces, including Greek, Latin, Arabic, and the Ancient Egyptian writing language of hieroglyphs. The coins found on this floor are made of many different elements, including gold, silver, and bronze. The coins are not only Egyptian, but also Greek, Roman, and Islamic, which has helped historians research the history of Ancient Egyptian trade. Also on the ground floor are artifacts from the New Kingdom, the time period between 1550 BC. These artifacts are generally larger than items created in earlier centuries. Those items include statues, tables, and coffins. On the first floor there are artifacts from the final two dynasties of Ancient Egypt, including items from the tombs of the Pharaohs Thutmosis III, Thutmosis IV, Amenophis II, Hatshepsut, and Maherpen, and also many artifacts taken from the Valley of the Kings

InsideThe Egyptian Museum front Entrance 3

he Egyptian Museum of Antiquities contains many important pieces of ancient Egyptian history. It houses the world’s largest collection of Pharaonic antiquities, and many treasures of King Tutankhamen. The Egyptian government established the museum, built in 1835 near the Ezbekeyah Garden. The museum soon moved to Boulaq in 1858 because the original building was getting to be too small to hold all of the artifacts. In 1855, shortly after the artifacts were moved, Duke Maximilian of Austria was given all of the artifacts. He hired a French architect to design and construct a new museum for the antiquities. The new building was to be constructed on the bank of the Nile River in Boulaq. In 1878, after the museum was completed for some time, it suffered some irreversible damage; a flood of the Nile River caused the antiquities to be relocated to another museum, in Giza. The artifacts remained there until 1902 when they were moved, for the last time to the current museum in Tahrir Square.