Treasure of Tutankhamun, Cairo

La tomba di Tutankhamon (607), situata nella Valle dei Re [1048], fu scoperta da lord Carnavon e Howard Carter il 27 novembre 1922. Oggi il suo tesoro è conservato al Museo Egizio del Cairo.

Anticamera della tomba

Quando i due esploratori entrarono nell'anticamera della tomba si trovarono davanti un caotico deposito di oggetti di vario genere, abbandonato da tremila anni. Carter scriverà più tardi: "ovunque lo scintillio dell'oro".
Di fronte all'entrata erano situati tre letti funerari zoomorfi in legno dorato. Erano il letto funerario di Mehet-Ueret [4], con sponde a forma leonina; il letto funerario di Iside-Mehtet [3], con sostegni dalle sembianze di due giovenche; il letto funerario dedicato ad Ammut [4], con sponde con teste di ippopotamo, corpo di coccodrillo e zampe di leone.
Sopra e sotto i tre letti vi erano poi tanti altri oggetti.

Personal Funerary Equipment

In Tutanhkamun's tomb was found the most complete set of protective measures discovered in any burial. The mummy was contained within three coffins all placed in a stone sacophagus, which in turn was enclosed within four shrines. A second part of the personal funerary equipment concerned the mummified internal organs of the decease. These was usually placed in four vessel called canopic jars. The wole shrine was plaed under the protection of four gilded figures of the protective goddesses Isis, Nephthys, Selkis and Neith. The most important object that was found in the Burial Chamber is the gold mask of young Pharaoh. The mask consists of two sheets of gold, raised into shape and joined together by hammering. On the brow are the protective deities Nekhbet and Wadjyt both in gold and precious stones.

Shabtis

They are figures which magically assist the deceased in carrying out certain manual duties in the afterworld. They are shabtis or shawabtis, and they are usually shown carrying hoes, mattocks and baskets. In the Burial Chamber of Tutankhamun was found 413 statue of shabits and there is a huge diversity in material size, iconography and inscription. The finest figure are of carved wood and was placed in the burial by the royal scribe Nakhtmin and the tresurer May.

Personal objects

In the tomb of Tutankhamun was placed also many personal objects like furniture and boxes filled with linen, clothes and jewels; there are also others objects that have had a ritual meanings which we can not comprehende. Some of this are funeral biers. One of this shows Pharaon with a falcon and on sides, a text that carry a long traditional address by the sky-goddes Nut and a short statements in which the king is said to be revered by the four Canopic Genii, Anubis, Osiris and Horus. There is also a beautiful wood head of the king which emerging from a lotus flower. It represent the birth of the young sun god at the beginning of time. There are also two figures of Pharaoh, the gold statuette and the blue glass figure of the king

Figures of Deities

These statues of deities was placed in the Treasury in twenthy-two shrine-shaped black boxes. They contained figures of the king, of deities with animal attribues and deities in human form. There are Isis and Nephthys cosmic gods like Atum, Ptah and Amsety. There are also others deities like Ihy Shu,Ta-ta and Mam; they are little known Egyptian gods.

Jewellery

Great number of pieces of jewellery of Tutankhamun's treasure was found on the mummy and in the various boxes of Antichamber and Treasury, including the great Anubis shrine, a beautiful object with the jackal-god Anubi outstretched on a gilded shrine with four long carryng poles. It is not possible to say whether it was so placed as guardian of all the precious and sacred things stored in the Treasure. Between the many jewells founded, now placed in the Egyptian Museum of Cairoare the collars ornated with precious stones and decorated with animals deities, like the falcon, the cobra and the scarab. There is the famous Horus Collar, that was found on the mummy and has a purpose as much amuletic Another type of jewels are the necklaces with pectorals and pendants, like a magnificient pectoral with the Sun God represented by both the scarab and the falcon which are fused as one. Above the scarab is the bark of the Moon with the eye of Horus representing the Moon. Composed of gold, lapis lazuli, calcite, turquoise, and glass. It was found on the mummy of Tutankhamun. There are also many beautiful earrings: these earring are also notable technically for the lavish use of gold granulation. The hoops are decorated with formalized lotus flowers and buds linked by stems all carried out in granulations. Another type of jewellery that was found are the bangles and bracelets and many gold rings decorated with precious stones and divinities like Amon-Re and Thoth. It was found others jewelled objects, gold buckle with the King and the Queen, gold plaque with a bull, with hunting scene and with the King in his chariot

Animal deities

Many Egyptian Gods were represented with animals forms, or with animal head, and it is true the existence of many mummified animals, particularty cats, baboons and dogs, also bulls, falcons and snakes. Many gods were manifested as animals, or in some spects shown in animal form. The god Amun, Thoth, Khepri. Some boxe of treasure conteined figures of animal deities; Sakhmet, the lioness-headed deity may have been included as consort of Path, the great creator god. There are also many gilded wood staues. The goose of Amun, a striking blach-painted image with gilded beack; the figure of Sakhmet, the liones goddes seated on a throne with a fheatered pattern; the figure of Duamutef, one of the four Canopic Genious, shown with jackal-headed, an identity which may have great antiquity; the genious is generally thought to take care over the stomach of the deceades. There are also a pair of nome standards (a nome was a province of Ancient Egypt) with two gilded snakes, a standard with Sopdu, a falcon with a feathered headdress which could be considered a form of Horus of Nekken, and a figure of Netjer-ankh in form of a erect cobra.

Amulets

Ancient Egyptian religion was rich in symbolism and the hierologyhic script contained many signs with magical and amuletic power. A considerable number of this has the form of an animal leg with hoof. Some amulets were found from the Annexe, a kind of glorious junk-room into which a huge amount of material of all kinds was stuffed. There were boxes with fine objects of food, jairs of wine, boats, furniture and a great many odds and ends. There were some fine amulets, including the djed amulets that granted stability and endurance to the deceased. The origin of the djed go back to the earliest time, when Egyptian religion was concerned with many natural object and phenomena. There are also some sceptres and a Faience papyrus column Forniture and object in the Tutankhamun's tomb were found three great gilded wooden couches. They are the couch of Isis-Mehtet with two elongated cow figures that form the two sides of this bed, the ritual couch of Ammut, the "globber of the dead", as the inscription on the rail between the head states. The goddes is usually represents weith a crocodile head, lion forequarter and hippopotamus rear and the ritual couch of Mehet-Weret. They were made for the use of the dead king, not in his life. Others important ritual objects were found in the Burial Chamber, a set of magical briks and an Osiris bed. There are also two Anubis emblems and a jair lid with fledgling and eggs.

Royal Statues

In the tomb were finded two statues of Pharaoh which were placed in the Antechamber by the bloked entrance to the Burial Chamber. There were seven other gilded wooden statue of the king in the tomb, not all with the features of the young monarch. They are the guardian statues, a life size wooden statues, similar but not identical. They are gilded over the non-fleshy parts-headdress, collar and pectoral. One of this is the figure of the king wearing the nemes head cloth. The other is the figure of the king with the afnet head cloth. There are also the gilded wooden statues of Pharaoh with the white crown, the red crown, on a leopard and represented as harpooner in the Tutankhamun's tomb were found many royal presents, on and under the mummy. They were the beautiful plam of a cerimonial fan, gilded and inlaid with cartouches of the Pharaon. The diadem, found on Tutankhamun head, beneath the Golden Mask. This object shows a principal decorative motif of circular pieces of carnelian set in gold with central buttons. There are also the sceptre, the flail and crook and the ostrich hunt fan.

Dresses and cosmetic objects

In the tomb of Pharaoh were found many recognizable pieces of clothing, mostly made of fine linen and embellished with delicate embroidery, elaborate beadwork and gold sequins. There were sashes and and scarves, large number of gloves and many pairs of sandals. The Egyptian had a huge repertoire of cosmetic containers. Those for a king were special; mirrors of precious metal have gone, burt their elaborate cases were left. The royal corselets, are decorated with a bird with a scarab body and a pendent ornament that shows Amon -Re presenting life and a long reign of Tutankhamun. There are also the head of a leopard, which is a sacred animal. The eyes are made of trasparent quarz with details painted on their backs. There are also two pairs of sandals, the gold sandals and the sandals with enemy figures. The one has the surface of the soles that is striated to represent the weave of the material of which simple Egyptian sandals were made, usually papyrus leaves or rushes. The other has the design that shows Asiatic and Nubian prisoners. Between the cosmetic containers there are the ivory jewel box. The knobs for closing, the caps on the feet and the little hinges are made of gold. There is the mirror case with kneeling god, that is the god Heh, whose duty it was to promote the long reign of the ruling king. Finally, there are the cosmetic box that is a spectacular example of the jeweller's art, with a decoration full of symbolism.