Association Au Temps Des Pharaons

24/09/2026

24/09/2026

Another treasure from the Grand Egyptian Museum.

You've already met the 18th Dynasty noblewoman Anuy. This is her husband, Meryneith, who served the royal court through the rise and fall of the Amarna drama, driven by the religious radical King Akhenaten.

Meryneith started his career serving under Akhenaten as Steward of the temple of Aten at Memphis. Akhenaten had elevated Aten, the sun disc, to the position of creator god par excellence, and Meryneith's name soon changed to Meryre ("Beloved of the sun god, Re").

Meryneith may have been 'encouraged' to make this move to oust the reference to the now-proscribed goddess Neith, or it may have been a shrewd move on his part to adapt to the changing political winds.

After Akhenaten's death, Meryre once again became Meryneith under Tutankhamun, with the restoration of the old order of gods.

A wonderful dual statue of Meryneith and his wife, Anuy, was discovered in its original setting within their Saqqara tomb in 2001.

GEM 80585

Photo: Jeff Burzacott/Nile Magazine

24/09/2026

Barn Owl sculpture from ancient Egypt.
Late to Ptolemaic Period, 664–150 BC.

24/09/2026

Nile Magazine continues to bring you the highlights from the new Grand Egyptian Museum.

This wonderful, painted limestone figure of a noblewoman named Anuy is part of a double statue with her husband, Meryre. It was discovered relatively recently, in 2001.

Anuy carried the title of "musician of Amun-Re". Here she wears a sophisticated wig of thick, sinuous strands, ending in corkscrew curls. Two delicately carved lines on her brow indicate Anuy's natural hair, which emphasises the expensive wig, worthy of the high society in which they lived. On the right side, a charming sweep of hair is thrown over her shoulder.

Meryre and Anuy's tomb was unearthed at Saqqara by a joint mission of the Egyptian Antiquities Service and the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden. Fortunately, art collectors who first visited the tomb in the 19th century had missed the statue.

Meryre began his tomb in the reign of the Akhenaten and finished it during the reign of Tutankhamun. The inscriptions in his tomb make clear that he changed his name from Meryneith to Meryre, and back again, to navigate the dynamic political climate.

Anuy’s right arm reaches out to embrace Meryre (out of frame). We'll meet Meryre/Meryneith in the next post.

GEM 80585

Photo: Jeff Burzacott/Nile Magazine

24/09/2026

23/09/2026

A granodiorite statuette (only 33 centimeters in height) of King Thutmose III depicted as a sphinx. He reigned circa 1479-1425 BCE during the 18th Dynasty.

The sculpture once stood in the Karnak Temple Complex near Thebes. However, it was discovered in 1903 buried with thousands of statues, stelae, amulets, inlay plaques, votive cubits, and other artifacts in the north court of the seventh pylon of the Great Temple of Amun at Karnak. This is now known as the 'courtyard of the cachette.'

Scholars believe that the hoard was ritually buried by temple priests during the Ptolemaic Period to relieve the crowding of statues and private offerings that have accumulated over the centuries. Most of the objects found date from the New Kingdom through the Ptolemaic Period, although some objects from the Old and Middle Kingdoms were also unearthed.

"Unobtrusive as they may have been individually, the temple statues gradually accumulated over the centuries until they seriously encroached on the space available and got in the way of new building projects. Temple personnel had to accept new statues, yet could not simply discard the older, hallowed dedications. The usual solution was to relegate the older statues to large pits or caches dug beneath the surface of the temple courtyard. Here, although buried and no longer visible to passers by, the ancient statues were at least still within the sacred precincts."

― Wilkinson, Richard H., The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt, Thames & Hudson Inc., New York, USA, 2000.

This piece (JE 37981) is now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, Egypt.

Photo: Dallet-Alba / Alamy Stock Photo

22/09/2026

A representation of Osiris from a wall in the tomb (KV16) of King Ramesses I in the Valley of the Kings. He reigned circa 1295-1294 BCE as the first monarch of the 19th Dynasty.

Osiris, god of death and resurrection, is shown wearing the atef-crown, sporting a false beard, and holding the crook and flail, classic attributes of this deity. His face and hands are green. In the ancient Egyptian symbolism of colors, green was the color of freshness, prosperity, and rebirth. Thus Osiris was also the god of fertility and vegetation.

"The myth of Osiris, judge of souls in the netherworld and shepherd to immortality, was at the heart of ancient Egypt. Yet, because of the [seemingly] peculiar nature of their religion, the Egyptians never took the trouble to write down or explain his myth. It was up to the Greek philosopher Plutarch, who visited Egypt in the first century AD, to record the first continuous account of the myth of Osiris. In Egypt, the death and resurrection of Osiris were matters not to be divulged – a Great Mystery."

― Mojsov, Bojana, Osiris: Death and Afterlife of a God, Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Oxford, England, 2005.

Photo: Dallas and John Eaton / Apa Photo Agency

22/09/2026

The Deity Who presides over today is
Atum (Dendara VII, 54, I)

𓇋𓏏𓍃𓊹 , Atum (Jtm)

Egyptian Religious Calendar - 20 September 2026
It is the 10th day of “the Month of the Clothing” (𓏠𓈖𓐍𓍱, Mnḫt), the second month of the Egyptian Lunar Calendar

It is the 3rd day of the "Beautiful Feast of Opet", 𓎛𓃀𓎱 𓄤𓆑𓂋 𓋔 𓇋𓊪𓏏𓊒𓉐 , Ḥb nfr n Jpt, dedicated to the Theban Triad composed of Amon, Mut, and Khonsu (it will last until 11 October)
[From the calendar in the "Temple of Millions of Years" of King Ramses III at western Uaset-Thebes]

Religious Prescriptions:
𓊢𓊢𓊢 (meaning that it is an adverse day)

(This is a short excerpt from my book “Egyptian Religious Calendar 2026”, which is available on amazon.
The full entries, with all daily Gods, religious prescriptions, festivities, and rituals, are also available to subscribers of my “Amente Nofre-membership community” on Patreon.

🔗 To get the book, full access to the daily entries and my Egyptology courses, follow the links in my bio, stories, and the "Calendar 2026" highlight)

In the photo,
'Ipet-Sut' ("Karnak"), the highly sacred Precinct of the God Amon-Ra at 'Uaset'-Thebes,
detail from the White Chapel of King Sesostri I (ca. 1961–1917 BCE, 12th Dynasty):

the God Atum giving the 'Ankh' (Life) to King Sesostri I.

Atum wears the Double Crown.
The King wears the Red Crown with the Uraeus on His forehead.

The hieroglyphs on the top say:
"May He give (𓏙𓆑) Life (𓋹)"

22/09/2026

The god Nefertem depicted at the Temple of Seti, as a lion headed man holding the Wedjat Eye, c. 1300 B.C.

To the Ancient Egyptians, Nefertum, the radiant deity of the blue lotus, emerged from the primordial waters as the fragrant bloom that first opened at the dawn of creation.

Often depicted as a handsome youth crowned with a lotus flower (sometimes flanked by plumes or lions), Nefertum embodied both rebirth and divine fragrance, serving as a bridge between the realms of beauty and healing.