Now that the Centennial of the Egyptian Museum is over, the spectacular "Hidden Treasures" exhibition in the basement of the Egyptian Museum is still open to the public. And if you want to see a beautiful woman and how very sexy one ancient artist made her look, just come to the exhibition.
Ahmed Abdel-Fatah, director of antiquities and museums in Alexandria, says everyone believed the headless Isis statue in the new museum at the Alexandria Library was the most beautiful statue of Isis on show so far. But now we have another, though broken into three parts. Nadia Lokma, the museum's head of conservation put her golden hands to hard work to restore this statue. When it was finished I was giving an interview for CNN about the artifacts on shown in "Hidden Treasures", but all through the interview I could not stop looking at this incredible statue. The sculptor has put the divine blood in the goddess's body, and had worked on every part of her face and figure to show her beauty.
The statue is huge. It portrays Isis with a slightly plump frame, but when I looked at her face I remembered Ahmed's describing the statue as if he were in love with Isis. The statue appears to be in Roman style; it was made at a time when Isis was worshipped in Rome and Athens. She was identified with Aphrodite and Venus, but she was also the mother of Egypt because she was the one who used her magic to return Osiris to life, and raised her son Horus to take revenge on his devilish uncle Seth. The statue will take its place as a masterpiece outside the basement.
The statue of Isis is not the only piece rescued by underwater archaeologists in Alexandria. There are many others, such as the Late Period stela dating from the reign of Nektanebo II and all the gold pieces and coins stored in the treasury at the office of Ahmed Abdel-Fatah. Mohamed Abdel-Maqsoud, the head of "Mission Impossible", had called me from Alexandria to say: "We are coming tonight with all the underwater artifacts, but we will stop in Tanta to pick up a big surprise!"
Accordingly, I went to the museum to see Abdel-Maqsoud's surprise. To my delight it was another unique statue from the Delta, a black granite statue of Horus in hawk form dating from the Late Period. The statue represents Horus standing on a rectangular base designed for a hieroglyphic inscription, although the artist chose to leave it blank. Superb detail, especially the body of Horus, makes it one of the best sculptures of this period. The height is about 122cms, and under the base of the statue we found written the name of the Pharaoh Amasis. This showed that the base had come from another location and was being reused in this statue. The huge Late Period sarcophagus, the Isis statue, the stela of Nekhtanebo II, the hawk-headed Horus and the statue of Amenemhat I are now being shown outside the basement entrance to welcome everyone to the exhibition.
One unique Archaic Period artifact, a palette of the solar animals from the Delta, has an interesting story. It was discovered on private property owned by the famous composer Kamal El-Tawiel, who is a good friend of mine. According to the Egyptian Antiquities Law of 1983, artifacts or monuments on any land located near archaeological sites, or any land with evidence of antiquities or the possibility of discovering antiquities, is controlled by the government. If any individual purchases land and is aware of artifacts of or the possibility of artifacts then they become responsible for the loss of excavation. The law states that the director of antiquities should appoint a committee to decide who will pay for the excavation. So even though this land was owned by my friend, the decision was that the landowner must pay for the excavation. The discovery happened in a village called Minthet Abu-Ezat, located near the town of Sinbalwien in the Delta.
The excavations were carried out under the young archaeologist Salem Gabra El- Bagdadi. A large cemetery was unearthed with certain tombs dating from the first Dynasty. To our great surprise we discovered a tomb rich with funerary objects, most probably the richest Archaic cemetery recently discovered in Egypt. A beautiful palette broken into five pieces was discovered, which when it was restored was found to be missing its top. The scenes of the palette are unique. It depicts such animals as a hunting dog, followed by an animal with long legs resembling a gazelle, and behind the dog another gazelle. In the middle of the palette are two animals facing each other with long raised tails and long necks curved around each other to represent the unification of the two lands. The circle formed by the intertwined necks was used to mix kohl, the eye makeup used in both ancient and modern Egypt. The palette probably sat on the dressing table of a wealthy Egyptian.
There are more unique statues in the exhibition, including the 16 statues found by a Cairo University team and hidden for a long time in a rock-cut tomb used as a storeroom, as well as great artifacts from my discoveries at the Valley of the Golden Mummies and the Tombs of the Pyramid Builders.
To be continued...