Ruins of the “golden city” of King Amenhotep III. What they found was very impressive, it was a labyrinthine city with mud-brick walls, creating an ancient metropolis built by King Tutankhamun’s grandfather King Amenhotep III. The work of the richest Pharaoh On the banks of the Nile, in the city of Luxor adjacent to the Valley of the Kings of Egypt, about 480km south of Cairo, a century ago, archaeologists discovered a very impressive tomb of the king. Tutankhamun. However, the “lost city of gold” built by King Amenhotep III is equally impressive. “Because the area is close to some major monuments and because it is a relatively flat desert, the wind accumulates sand on the surface very quickly and the mud brick walls also disappear easily” – Egyptologist Betsy Bryan of John Hopkins University talks about the city buried under the sand (she was not directly involved in this research). Within weeks of starting excavations, Hawass’s team discovered mud bricks stamped with the name of King Amenhotep III. That helps them estimate the city was built 3,400 years ago when King Amenhotep III ruled from 1391 BC to 1353 BC. “I call it the ‘golden city’ because it was built during the golden age of Egypt,” Hawass said. According to Betsy Bryan, King Amenhotep III was “the richest pharaoh”. He ruled in times of peace and this enabled him to amass unprecedented wealth. “He was never at war. All he did was sit down and count money for 40 years, so he kept building,” she said. However, the exact location of the “golden city” has not been found for nearly a century. “Many foreign missions have come looking for it and have never found it,” Hawass said in a press release, adding that it could be the largest ancient city ever found in Egypt. In 1934 and 1935, a French excavation team went to Luxor to find the “lost city of gold” but found nothing. According to Hawass, the attempt failed because archaeologists were looking in the wrong place. To date, Mr. Hawass’ team has discovered ruins of the city in an area of ​​at least 800 square metres, but it is likely that the city is much larger. It could extend straight to the king’s palace in Malkata, about 3km south of the twin statue depicting King Amenhotep III called Colossi of Memnon, according to Bryan. An unprecedented discovery The newly discovered city appears to be divided into industrial and residential areas. To the south, archaeologists found an ancient bakery with a cooking and meal preparation area, an oven, and pantry pottery. Another neighborhood has many workshops, a mud brick factory used to build temples and amulet factory. Another part of the city is the houses. Beyond the size of the city, Mr Hawass said the “huge amount of artifacts” his team discovered there made it an unprecedented archaeological find. It gives us a rare glimpse into the life of the ancient Egyptians at a time when the empire was at its richest. Buildings surround the street and have walls as high as 2.7 meters. Scattered throughout the buildings, Mr. Hawass’ team found rooms filled with pottery, glass, metalwork and weaving tools. The ancient Egyptians used these objects in their daily lives. However, they have not been touched for millennia. In addition, Mr. Hawass’s team also found a large cemetery north of the city. It is not known how large the cemetery is, but they have discovered a cluster of underground tombs with stairs leading to the entrance to the tomb. In one area of ​​the cemetery, they found a grave containing a skeleton with a rope wrapped around the knee. Mr Hawass is still looking into why the body was buried this way. “For those of us who care about people and how they do things, this place is a treasure trove,” Ms. Bryan said. Near the cemetery, Mr. Hawass’s team found a piece of pottery containing dried meat, possibly from a butcher at a slaughterhouse. The urn has an inscription indicating that the meat was for a festival commemorating the rule of King Amenhotep III. According to Ms. Bryan, the city’s residents are skilled craftsmen, making ceramic vases, glassware and temple decorations under the name Amenhotep III. In addition, Hawass’s research team has also discovered amulets, rings and wine caskets in the city. Many more mysteries will be revealed as the secret of the “golden city” continues to emerge, but what archaeologists have discovered so far, can see the wealth and bustle in a city. Egypt in its heyday.

Statue of Pharaoh Akhenaten. Photo: AFP. The figure of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, possibly the father of King Tutankhamun, has been digitally recreated. The remains were found in 1907 in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt in tomb KV55, not far from Tutankhamun’s tomb. More than a century after the tomb was discovered, genetic analysis indicated the skeleton inside belonged to King Tutankhamun’s biological father. From other clues in the tomb, archaeologists believe that this remains is Akhenaten, a pharaoh who reigned from 1353 to 1335 BC and was the first pharaoh in Egypt to worship monotheism. However, some experts oppose these conclusions. They believe that the true identity of this remains cannot be definitively concluded. Re-identification of the remains took many months by scientists at the Research Center for Forensic Anthropology, Paleontology, and Archeology (FAPAB) in Sicily, Italy. The experts collaborated with Cicero Moraes – a Brazilian 3D forensic artist known for facial reconstruction. Unlike previous iterations of the KV55, the new model removes hair, jewelry, and other makeup to focus on facial features. King Akhenaten’s face has been recreated digitally. Photo: FAPAB . Research Center Akhenaten ascended the throne as Amenhotep IV, which means “Servant of Aten” – an Egyptian sun god. He then began to eliminate the priesthood of serving the gods of Egypt in order to establish a monotheistic creed of Aten, according to the Ohio State University Department of History. Archaeologists found KV55 in the tomb with bricks engraved with the incantation named Akhenaten. Another coffin contains the remains of a woman named Kiya, identified as Akhenaten’s concubine, and round jars containing the mummy’s organs, FAPAB announced on March 10. KV55 was mummified, but the preserved meat decomposed during excavation, leaving only the skeleton. Based on the objects in the tomb and the sex of the skeleton, some archaeologists conclude this person is Akhenaten. However, analysis of teeth and bones revealed that the man was younger than expected. This man died around the age of 26, possibly even between the ages of 19 and 22, while according to records, Akhenaten ruled Egypt for 17 years and had a daughter in the first year of his reign. . Francesco Galassi, director and co-founder of the FAPAB Research Center and an associate professor of archaeology at Flinders University in Australia, said: “Some archaeologists are inclined to suggest that Akhanaten began to reign as a young man. a young man rather than a child. For this reason, many attempts have been made to prove that KV 55 is older than the actual anatomical index.” Other experts suggest that the KV55 could be Akhenaten’s younger brother Smenkhkare, but there is little evidence that such a brother exists, Galassi said. Today, Smenkhkare is often thought to be not a real person, but an identity of Queen Nefertiti, who may have taken this name when she ascended the throne following Akhenaten’s death. Galassi says this will effectively rule out the “little brother” hypothesis for KV55. Genetic analysis indicates that KV55 is the son of Amenhotep III and the father of King Tutankhamun, providing further evidence for the theory that the remains are of King Akhenaten, according to a study published in 2010 in the journal JAMA . This conclusion is not without controversy, however, as the genetic data of Egyptian mummies can be “complicated” because inbreeding within families was a common practice during the Egyptian dynasties. Ancient Egyptian. A FAPAB representative said that a more detailed report on the reconstruction of the KV55’s identity will be published in 2021.

Bust of Prince Khaemweset. Photo: Keith Schengili-Roberts Ramesses II was one of the most famous rulers of ancient Egypt from 1279 to 1213 BC. He was the third Pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty. He had 50 sons and between 40 and 53 daughters. During this period, Egyptian princes held important positions in the court, such as becoming high priests or commanders of the army, and Khaemweset was no exception. Khaemweset’s childhood is detailed on reliefs in three temples in Nubia. He grew up during a tumultuous period in ancient Egyptian history, when his grandfather and father waged war against the Hittite Empire to restore and expand the territory. During the famous Battle of Kadesh – the battle between Ramesses II and the Hittite king Muwatalli II – Khaemweset was also present and acted as an important assistant to his father. He was even tasked with managing prisoners of war. In temple paintings and hieroglyphs, we see him participating in many other major campaigns such as the Battle of Dapur to conquer Syria and the Siege of Qode. In 1263 BC, Khaemweset became a priest of the Temple of Ptah in Memphis when he was only 18 years old. The priest was a very important position in the temple system. They are responsible for performing sacrifices, worshiping and reciting funeral mantras. As a priest, Khaemweset presided over many important ceremonies, including the embalming and burial of several Apis bulls. This is a sacred animal worshiped in Memphis, because the Egyptians believed that they were the sons of the goddess Hathor. Khaemweset was responsible for overseeing the daily rituals in Memphis, mainly in honor of the god Ptah. He redesigned the Serapeum temple in Saqqara, where Apis bulls were buried. He dug a long and wide tunnel beneath the temple. There are many burial chambers on both sides of the tunnel [một dạng phòng trưng bày], where Apis bulls would be buried in a lavish and rich manner. In 1850, the French archaeologist Auguste Mariette thoroughly excavated the temple of the Serapeum. However, most of the rooms built on Khaemweset’s orders were empty, and most likely they were looted in ancient times. During his time, Khaemweset restored the famous pyramid of Djoser. Photo: Charles James Sharp. Khaemweset left an important mark on the history of ancient Egypt, not only in his time but also in the present day. During his lifetime, he repaired and restored countless temples, ancient ruins, and burial sites. Because the history of Egypt spans many centuries, many old monuments and burial places of early Pharaohs or courtiers are lost and ruined. Khaemweset spent a lot of time and effort identifying their identities and restoring these monuments and structures, making them as magnificent as before. The most prominent of them is the tomb of Pharaoh Shepseskaf [người cai trị Ai Cập khoảng năm 2510 trước Công nguyên]; pyramid of Pharaoh Unas [người trị vì Ai Cập năm 2345–2315 trước Công nguyên]; pyramid of Pharaoh Sahure in the early 25th century BC; Userkaf’s pyramid; and the famous pyramid of Djoser. This is how he revived the history of Egypt and kept it from being forgotten. Khaemweset’s great merits are recorded on the walls of the pyramids he restored. Some hieroglyphic texts also describe him bringing gifts and offerings to the deceased gods and pharaohs. This shows his understanding of the importance of worship in ancient Egypt. In many ways, Khaemweset is known as the first Egyptologist, as well as one of the first archaeologists in history. Miriam Lichtheim, the famous translator of many ancient Egyptian texts, wrote of Khaemweset as follows: “Khaemweset was an archeology enthusiast. As a priest, he inspected many damaged tombs and rebuilt them. We know him as a wise scholar, dedicated to the study of ancient monuments and documents.” So far, archaeologists have not been able to determine Khaemwese’s final resting place. It is also not known exactly when or how he died. He most likely died before his father, around 1225 BC. He was about 55 years old then. During excavations of the Serapeum temple in Saqqara, French archaeologist Auguste Mariette discovered the collapsed part of a tunnel. After blowing away debris with gunpowder, he found a coffin, inside was a mummy with a gold mask that seemed to represent a dead man. The rich jewelry accompanying the mummy all bears the name of Prince Khaemweset, son of Ramesses II. However, this mummy is not human but a mass of myrrh and some scattered bones, most likely belonging to a bull. It is therefore speculated that this mummy was essentially a sacrificial Apis bull. It was created to look like a human body, specifically Prince Khaemweset. This leads scholars to believe that this is not the exact burial place of the prince. After his death, Khaemweset and his deeds lived forever in the memory of the Egyptian people. He became the central figure of several heroic stories in later centuries of Egypt, mainly during the Hellenistic period, such as “Setne Khamwas and Naneferkaptah”, “The Tale of Setne Khamwas”, “The Story of Setne Khamwas”. and Si-Osire”. In these stories, Khaemweset is called Setne Khamwas.

The Egyptian pyramids are a giant structure in the middle of the desert and can be seen from extraterrestrial satellites. Building these pyramids was certainly a huge task, so who did it? The pyramids could not have been built by Jewish slaves, as no archaeological remains that can be directly related to the Jews have been found in Egypt dating to 4,500 years ago, when the needles Giza pyramids were built, archaeological research has revealed. Also, the story told in the Hebrew Bible about the slavery of the Jews in Egypt refers to a city called “Ramesses.” A city called pi-Ramesses was founded during the 19th dynasty (circa 1295-1186 BC) and named after Ramesses II, who ruled 1279-1213 BC. This city was built after the pyramid construction period ended in Egypt. Furthermore, no archaeological evidence has been found of the lost city of Atlantis for any length of time, and many scholars believe the story to be fictitious. For aliens, this idea is said to be impossible. In fact, Egyptologists say, all the evidence suggests that the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids. However, how the pyramid builders lived, how they were rewarded and how they were treated is still a mystery that researchers are still investigating. The pyramids and the people who built them Egypt has over 100 ancient pyramids, but the most famous include the first-order pyramid, built during the reign of pharaoh Djoser (circa 2630-2611 BC) and the first real pyramid. was built during the rule of pharaoh Snefru (circa 2575-2551 BC). The Great Pyramid was built at Giza during the reigns of pharaoh Khufu (circa 2551-2528 BC), and two of his successors, Khafre (circa 2520-2494 BC) and Menkaure (c. 2490-2472 BC), there are also pyramids built at Giza. The pharaohs gradually stopped building pyramids during the New Kingdom (1550-1070 BC), choosing instead to be buried in the Valley of the Kings, about 483 km south of Giza. Over the past few decades, archaeologists have found new evidence that provides clues as to who the pyramid builders were and how they lived. Surviving records, including papyri manuscripts discovered in 2013 at Wadi al-Jarf on Egypt’s Red Sea coast, suggest that large groups of workers helped bring the materials to Giza. The papyri found at Wadi al-Jarf tells of a group of 200 men led by an inspector named Merer. This group of workers moved the stones by boat along the banks of the Nile, 18km from the Great Pyramid at Tura, where the stones were used to build the pyramid’s outer layer. Egyptologists have previously theorized that the pyramid builders were largely done by seasonal farmers, times of the year when there was little agricultural work to do. The papyri detailing the pyramid’s history is still in the process of being deciphered and analyzed, but the results indicate that the group led by Merer did more than help build the pyramid. These workers appear to have traveled through much of Egypt, possibly as far as the Sinai desert, carrying out many of the construction projects and tasks assigned to them. This raises the question of whether they are part of a permanent professional force, rather than a group of seasonal agricultural workers who will return to their fields. Pyramid builder treatment? According to Pierre Tallet, a professor of Egyptology at the University of Paris-Sorbonne in France, who is deciphering papyri manuscripts and co-leader of the team that found them, the workers were given a diet that included scrubs. is, vegetables, poultry and meat. In addition to a healthy diet, the papyri manuscript describes members of the working group regularly receiving textiles, which could have been seen as a reward at the time. In addition, officials in senior positions involved in the construction of the pyramids may have received land grants, said Mark Lehner, director of the Association for Ancient Egyptian Studies (AERA), a Massachusetts-based research institute. Historical records show that there were times in Egyptian history when officials were granted land. However, it is not known whether the land-granted officials were involved in the construction of the pyramid. Lehner’s team was excavating a town in Giza that was inhabited and frequented by several workers who were building the Menkaure pyramids. So far, archaeologists have found evidence that the ancient inhabitants of this town once baked large quantities of bread, slaughtered thousands of animals and brewed large quantities of beer. Based on animal bones found at the site, and considering the nutritional needs of workers, archaeologists estimate that about 1,800 kilograms of animals, including cattle, sheep and goats, were slaughtered on average. average daily, to provide food for workers. The remains of the workers were buried in the tombs near the pyramid, showing that the workers had healed their bones. This shows that they have access to medical care that is available at the time. The rich diet of the pyramid builders, combined with evidence of medical care and receiving textiles… has led Egyptologists to generally agree that workers did not must be slaves. However, this does not mean that all workers have equal accommodation. AERA excavations show that some of the more senior officials lived in large houses and had the best cuts of meat. In contrast, Lehner suspects, lower-level workers may have slept in simple houses or “rested” at the pyramids themselves.