A Falcon in the Egyptian Museum
The Egyptian Museum in Cairo is the home of the world's largest collection of antiquities from Ancient Egypt. It is a vast, dark building overflowing with art and artifacts guaranteed to completely overwhelm the first time visitor. I explored this treasure house in 1981, visiting it on six occasions. I would gladly have come back six more times.
The ground floor of the museum is laid out as a timeline of Egyptian civilization from the predynastic era over 5000 years ago to the Greek occupation by Alexander the Great. Here the contrast between the simple pre-dynastic artifacts of stone and clay and the exquisite artworks of the early dynasties could not be more striking.
In a room devoted to the Old Kingdom is a statue of Pharaoh Chephren (Khafre), builder of the second largest pyramid. This large statue, carved of diorite, a hard, difficult to work stone, shows the Pharaoh in a sitting posture. Standing on the back of his throne is the falcon god Horus, his outstretched wings in a protective position around the Pharaoh's head. The falcon's head looks out above that of the Pharaoh. Horus is guiding the Pharaoh and the effect is so awesome that this statue is considered one of the world's greatest works of art.
I was unaware of its reputation but this statue caught and held my attention each time I passed it, rising above all the wonders on display. The face is so well carved you would not be surprised to hear it speak, and the falcon-god gives this statue a intensely powerful spiritual aspect unlike anything I had ever seen.
There are guards in each room of the museum, sometimes explaining the exhibits or showing something extra in the hopes of a little bakshesh (tip). They start clapping at closing time to move the patrons toward the entrance, a system I took advantage of by positioning myself at the back of the museum as closing approached so I could be one of the last to leave.
The guards are professional but informal so, on my last visit to the museum I reached out and placed my hand on the back, uncarved, portion of Chephren's statue. No one disturbed me as I held the contact for perhaps a half minute. Nothing dramatic happened - no great shockwave of energy, no reincarnational insight, just the satisfaction of sharing space with something I admired greatly.
Sadly I do not have a picture I can post here of Chephren's (Khafre's) statue, however a good one is located at: www.egyptmyway.com. Scroll down about 2/3 of the page to see it.
One remarkable and meaningful facet of the diorite Chephren statue is that the figure of Horus cannot be seen when viewing the statue from the front. Thus the Egyptian populace does not see the guiding hand of the god as the Pharaoh rules the country. A good frontal view of the statue is here.
Ancient Egypt has a wealth of beauty and mystery. The Ascending Passage website explores some of the lesser known approaches to this important culture: AscendingPassage.com
The pyramids, viewed from the Nile.
Chephren's is second from the right.
Etching from a sketch by David Roberts, 1838.
PYMD.com is the story of the pyramids of Egypt, The Chephren page includes an account of the discovery of the internal passages and chambers of his, the second greatest pyramid: Egyptian Pyramids - Secrets and Mystery.
An ancient mystery - the lost history of the Human Race beyond the meager 6,000 years from which we have written texts - is the focus of:AncientMystery.info
A directory of anomalous hints of realities beyond the academic canon, Whycat.com features a wide range of spiritual, paranormal and hippie topics with links to selected websites.whycat.com
The ground floor of the museum is laid out as a timeline of Egyptian civilization from the predynastic era over 5000 years ago to the Greek occupation by Alexander the Great. Here the contrast between the simple pre-dynastic artifacts of stone and clay and the exquisite artworks of the early dynasties could not be more striking.
In a room devoted to the Old Kingdom is a statue of Pharaoh Chephren (Khafre), builder of the second largest pyramid. This large statue, carved of diorite, a hard, difficult to work stone, shows the Pharaoh in a sitting posture. Standing on the back of his throne is the falcon god Horus, his outstretched wings in a protective position around the Pharaoh's head. The falcon's head looks out above that of the Pharaoh. Horus is guiding the Pharaoh and the effect is so awesome that this statue is considered one of the world's greatest works of art.
I was unaware of its reputation but this statue caught and held my attention each time I passed it, rising above all the wonders on display. The face is so well carved you would not be surprised to hear it speak, and the falcon-god gives this statue a intensely powerful spiritual aspect unlike anything I had ever seen.
There are guards in each room of the museum, sometimes explaining the exhibits or showing something extra in the hopes of a little bakshesh (tip). They start clapping at closing time to move the patrons toward the entrance, a system I took advantage of by positioning myself at the back of the museum as closing approached so I could be one of the last to leave.
The guards are professional but informal so, on my last visit to the museum I reached out and placed my hand on the back, uncarved, portion of Chephren's statue. No one disturbed me as I held the contact for perhaps a half minute. Nothing dramatic happened - no great shockwave of energy, no reincarnational insight, just the satisfaction of sharing space with something I admired greatly.
Sadly I do not have a picture I can post here of Chephren's (Khafre's) statue, however a good one is located at: www.egyptmyway.com. Scroll down about 2/3 of the page to see it.
One remarkable and meaningful facet of the diorite Chephren statue is that the figure of Horus cannot be seen when viewing the statue from the front. Thus the Egyptian populace does not see the guiding hand of the god as the Pharaoh rules the country. A good frontal view of the statue is here.
Ancient Egypt has a wealth of beauty and mystery. The Ascending Passage website explores some of the lesser known approaches to this important culture:
Chephren's is second from the right.
Etching from a sketch by David Roberts, 1838.
PYMD.com is the story of the pyramids of Egypt, The Chephren page includes an account of the discovery of the internal passages and chambers of his, the second greatest pyramid:
An ancient mystery - the lost history of the Human Race beyond the meager 6,000 years from which we have written texts - is the focus of:
A directory of anomalous hints of realities beyond the academic canon, Whycat.com features a wide range of spiritual, paranormal and hippie topics with links to selected websites.
Labels: Chephren statue, Egyptian Mysteries, Travel to Egypt
posted by AccentNepal | 5:09 PM
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nice
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