This was something that creates curiousity in me (which I have loads) especially since it's so mysterious and dark.
Off we went to the exhibit at National Museum last week.
I bought the tickets for us way before we went to Japan.
People of Ancient Egypt believed in life after death so they prepare for their death the way people now prepare for migration as an example.
In this exhibit, it was to show the elaborate preparations for life after death.
Since the exhibit is still ongoing, I will only mention briefly on the interesting facts that I found out.
For those who'd like to know more, please go for the exhibit.
It's not really that expensive.
There are guided tours and more information can be found on National Musuem's website.
We generally see the Sphinx on most occassions (human head with lion body) but we seldom see a statue which has a lion's head with human body.
This is Bastet - the goddess of protection.
Pharohs or Kings usually carry her as an amulet when they head out for war as a symbol of protection.
Since it was mentioned on the tour - the statue of Bastet was the biggest exhibit in size there.
This was a broken sphinx on exhibit.
It was one of the Pharaohs oh Ancient Egypt.
Which is also the main photo in all the marketing collaterals for this show.
On the chest of the sphinx (clearer in the 1st photo) you can see 2 imprints.
These are his birth name and his rank when he passed away.
Only pharaohs are allowed to have the beard as seen.
It was mentioned by the guide that in the history of ancient egypt, there was a female pharaoh who reigned.
She had a custom made beard made so she could wear it.
Another Paraohs' head statue.
The eyes were hollow so it was suspected that there could have been precious materials that was dug out.
There was some introductions of the Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt as they are central to the quest for immortality.
The guide went through in brief some of these gods and goddesses as they appear almost everywhere during the quest.
Reason being they are part of the whole process which they hold pivotal roles.
Above is Osiris - the god of the dead, resurrection and fertility.
A very brief story on him.
Basically, he's the brother/husband of Isis and the brother of Seth and Nepthys. Seth is the God of Chaos, meaning he's not a 'good' god.
So the story has it that Seth had tricked and murdered Osiris. Had him locked in a box and flowed in the River Nile. Isis, his wife, went in search for him and brought him back for burial/mummification thus resurrecting him.
Seth came to know of it and had him chopped up into 14 pieces and thrown these pieces all over the world.
Isis, again, went in search of all 14 pieces but only found 13.
But she made a mould of the missing piece and revived him once again.
Anyone who wants to know what the 14th piece was, please ask me directly.
This is Anubis, many of us will know of him as we have seen him on TV in many shows.
Anubis is the God that has a Jackal head and he's the God of Embalming (process of mummification).
Anubis was believed to have watched over the dead so his picture can also be seen on the coffins of the mummies.
This is Thoth - God of Knowledge and Writing.
He could appear as an Ibis (as above), a baboon or a man with the head of an ibis holding a writing palette.
Lastly, Horus was the son of Osiris and Isis.
He was the God of the Sky or the sun and his usual appearance is a man with the head of a hawk.
After Osiris was murdered by his brother Seth, Horus fought with Seth for the throne of Egypt.
In this battle, Horus lost one of his eyes. The eye was restored to him and it became a symbol of protection for the ancient Egyptians. After this battle, Horus was chosen to be the ruler of the world of the living.
Some artefacts of the jewelleries that existed in Ancient Egypt.
If my memory serves me right, 11 is a bangle for women, 13 are ear studs and 14-17 were different kinds of rings that people wore.
After knowing the history of Ancient Egypt - their Gods, beliefs, life, writings (some of which I did not cover here).
We move on to the quest itself that people prepare for life after death.
I heard interesting facts about the pyramids not being only for Kings.
Commoners are able to build pyramids for themselves as well.
Later in this post we shall see 2 mummies who are not Kings.
Also, the pyramids are build in a way where the stones congregate inwards if the earth shakes thus retaining the pyramid structure.
In the tomb, the dead is self sufficient.
They had the 'door' above to guide their ways within.
There are inscriptions on the door for the dead to read when they 'wake up'.
There are also inscribed offering lists like the one above which has various items such as bread or water on it to provide the deceased.
After all the items are prepared - pyramid, inscriptions, workers (these are small figurines and no human is buried alive), pots etc etc.
We move on to view the deceased.
Cam whored on the way there.
That's Horus.
Exterior of the coffin.
The bottom of the coffin.
These are various amulets that are in the coffin.
Some are to protect such as figurines of the Gods and Goddesses and some have various other meanings such as re-birth.
There were 2 coffins that had the deceased within.
Their coffins, unlike ours, are wrapped outside the deceased and it can't be 'opened' unless you damage it.
Like I mentioned before, not only Kings can be mummified.
This set belongs to a doorkeeper of the temple.
This one belonged to a lady.
They found out that in the coffin there were 3 deceased.
Believed to be twins that died at birth.
They showed the x-rays and the CT scans made of the coffin.
It was hair raising experience knowing that there's a mummy within the coffin.
There was also one mummy on display but out of respect I did not take a photo of it.
This was the book of the dead which will be held onto by the deceased in the coffin.
This was like a manual for the deceased to raise the workers or 'create' food from the inscriptions etc etc.
For the above wall decal, you can see Anubis embalming the deceased.
Usually the person embalming will wear the mask of Anubis.
And his/her organs (liver, lungs, stomach and intestines) will be placed in the canopic contatiners as seen on the right bottom.
Each container has a representation for the organ within it.
After that we headed out to the interactive corner.
There was some activities that we could do.
We made out Amy's name with their 'alphabets'.
Couldn't make Michelle and mine as there was no 'Y' and no 'C' in their alphabets.
Michelle made a pyramid from paper and she was so proud of it!
We walked around the Museum and there was a free exhibit on old paper bags.
I saw Yaohan plastic bag - that brings back memories from my childhood as Thomson Plaza was Thomson Yaohan previously (many many years ago!!).
I saw this:
Anyone knows if this brand still exists??
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