Newly Discovered Pyramid at Saqqara

Announced on 11/11 by Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass, what remains of a 4,300 year old pyramid is being excavated in Saqqara.

The discovery is the third known subsidiary, or satellite, pyramid to the tomb of Teti. It's also the second pyramid found this year in Saqqara, an ancient royal burial complex near current-day Cairo.

. . .

"This might be the most complete subsidiary pyramid ever found at Saqqara," added Hawass, who is also a National Geographic Society explorer-in-residence.

The pyramid is believed to be the tomb of Queen Sesheshet, whose son Teti was the first of King of the 6th Dynasty.

Sesheshet's son Teti might have been more motivated than the average pharaoh to pay homage to his mother. Sesheshet had come from a powerful family and probably supported his ascendancy to the throne during turmoil at the end of the 5th dynasty.

"She's one of the important ladies at that time," said Hakim Haddad, general director of excavations in Egypt.

"At the end of the 5th dynasty and the beginning of the 6th dynasty, there was a conflict between two branches of the royal families."

. . .

"You can discover a tomb or a statue, but to discover a pyramid it makes you happy. And a pyramid of a queen—queens have magic."

"Queens have magic," says the very not metaphysical Hawas. Hmm... Well, they can do some very cool things on a chess board. But, in all seriousness, this statement has me thinking. That's not an aspect of the queen archetype I've ever given a lot of thought to. Let's face it. Queens are practically superfluous in most fairy tales... unless they're wicked stepmothers. And, there are certainly many evil, magical queens. The story of Snow White comes to mind. And, of course, Susan Sarandon (Queen Narissa) in the very dear fairy tale send-up, Enchanted. She turned out to be a giant, malevolent dragon. (Shades of Melusine?) And, of course, there's the White Witch in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Yes, many black magic practicing queens, I can think of. But I digress...

Sun Caught Live on Camera

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Splendid You rise in the lightland of the sky,
O living Aten, creator of life!
You have dawned in the eastern lightland.
You fill every land with your beauty.

from Great Hymn to the Aten

Hat tip to the The Huffington Post, a NASA pictorial, of the sun in active periods, with solar flares and winds. The sun is currently experiencing an unusually quite phase.

The Sun is now in the quietest phase of its 11-year activity cycle, the solar minimum - in fact, it has been unusually quiet this year - with over 200 days so far with no observed sunspots. The solar wind has also dropped to its lowest levels in 50 years. Scientists are unsure of the significance of this unusual calm, but are continually monitoring our closest star with an array of telescopes and satellites.

I can't speak to the significance either, but these pics are stunning. (One note of caution. If you want to look at the whole, magnificent pictorial in The Boston Globe, it may take some time to load the giant, bandwidth intensive images. It's worth it.)

Graham Hancock's "Quest for the Lost Civilization"

Some helpful soul has posted this movie on YouTube. It seems to be out of print and near impossible to get, although I have a page set up in the bookstore, where you may be able to purchase it on VHS. But unless and until it is issued on DVD, opportunities for viewing have been limited. It is highly recommended viewing. Enjoy.

Now This is Just Dumb

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As noted here the mummy of Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut was recently identified. It's an exciting discovery for archaeologists and Egyptophiles like myself. This morning I opened the Huffington Post to read this idiotic headline: "Mummy Reveals Legendary Egyptian Queen Was Obese, Balding And Bearded." Number 1: Who cares? Number 2: The beard was a false one, and was affected to represent her pharaonic authority. Number 3: Can no woman in history escape objectifying lookism?

Huffington Post is not primarily at fault, here. The headline derives from the source material; an article on Live Science. And it only gets worse from there.

Turns out, Hatshepsut was no Cleopatra. Instead, she was a 50-year-old fat lady; apparently she used her power over the Upper and Lower Nile to eat well and abundantly. Archaeologists also claim that she probably had diabetes, just like many obese women today.

Hatshepsut also suffered from what all women over 40 need—a stylist. She was balding in front but let the hair on the back of her head to grow really long, like an aging female Dead Head with alopecia.

This Queen of Egypt also sported black and red nail polish, a rather Goth look for someone past middle age.

Got it? Hatshepsut was a "Glamour don't." Why this matters roughly 3500 years after the fact is a mystery to me.

Letting alone that Cleopatra's legendary beauty is a subject of some dispute, this article is wrong-headed from the outset. I can't believe it was written by an academic, and female one at that. She does allow that Hatshepsut was extraordinarily successful, but implies that it was in spite of her homeliness. What it was in spite of was a culture that did not allow for female rulers. How ironic that all these years later her memory must still battle a sexist, objectifying standard.

Hatshepsut Mummy Identified

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An unidentified mummy has been confirmed by DNA evidence to be that of the female pharaoh, Queen Hatshepsut.

The mummy was discovered in Egypt's Valley of the Kings burial ground in 1903, but had not been identified as that of the queen and was left on site until two months ago when it was brought to the Cairo Museum for testing, said Egypt's antiquities chief Zahi Hawass.

. . .

A woman monarch who called herself a pharaoh and dressed like a man, Hatshepsut ruled over Egypt during the 15th century B.C.

During her famed 18th Dynasty rule, she wielded more power than Cleopatra or Nefertiti. But when her rule ended, all traces of her mysteriously disappeared, including her mummy.

According to A Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, Hatshepsut's mummy was intentionally hidden because of political intrigue surrounding her reign. Hatshepsut usurped the role of named heir to the throne Tuthmosis III.

Hatshepsut (Ma'atkare') the fifth ruler of the 18th Dynasty (1473-1458 B.C.), the daughter of Tuthmosis I and Queen 'Ahmose. As was common in royal families, Hatshepsut married her half-brother, Tuthmosis II. They had a daughter, Neferu-Re'. By a minor wife, Isis, Tuthmosis II had a son, Tuthnmosis III.

Tuthmosis II was suffering from a systematic illness and died in 1479 B.C., managing to appoint his harem-born son his heir before dying. Hatshepsut stood as regent because Tuthmosis III was quite young. They ruled jointly from all appearances until 1473, when Hatshepsut had herself declared pharaoh, assuming all of the office's masculine titles and masculine attire. She had considerable backing in the court, being able to count on the high priest of Amon, Hapuseneb and other officials. It is possible that her daughter , Neferu-Re', married Tuthmosis III. This princess lived until the 11th year of Hatshepsut's reign.

Administering the affairs of the nation, Hatshepsut also bagan work on her temple at Deir El-Bahri, on the western shore of hte Nile at Thebes. Reliefs on the walls of that shrine portray her fictional divine birth as the daughter of Amon and her right to rule Egypt. She also laid claim to a previous coronation, an equally fictitious event that supposedly happened in the reign of her father, Tuthmosis I making her his co-ruler. At her side in this period was her chief steward, Senenmut, who had entered the service of the royal family during the reign of Tuthmosis II. Other high-ranking officers of the court also aided her until Neferu's death and the downfall and death of Senenmut, in or before the 19th year of her reign. A few years later the Asiatic rebelled in the principalities of the east.

During her reign, Egypt remained secure, and Hatshepsut, initiated many building projects. Although she professed hatred for the Asiatics in her reliefs, Hatshepsut apparently did not sponsor punitive campaigns against them. When Kadesh and its allies started revolt in c. 1458 B.C., Tuthmosis III led the army out of Egypt, and Hatshepsut disappeared. Her statues, reliefs and shrines were mutilated by the Tuthmosis camp in time, and her body was never found. There was some speculation concerning a female corpse discovered in the tomb of Amenhotep II. It is known that Hatshepsut's corpse was hidden from Thuthmosis's allies...

Further reading on Queen Hatshepsut:
Manchester Guardian
Wikipedia
Rich East
Tour Egypt