Many Egyptian relics from ancient Egypt remain in foreign museums and Cairo is struggling to persuade other countries to send them back, like France which agreed to return a set of 3,000-year-old wall painting fragments.

First Written Languages

Egyptian language was one of the first written languages. For many centuries how to decipher it was lost and it was only rediscovered in the 19th century with the help of the Rosetta Stone and much scholarship. Egyptian language and art are intertwined as you may discover when you examine the Egyptian relics.

About eight-hundred hieroglyphic symbols comprise the ancient Egyptian Language. About 600 of hieroglyphic symbols represent things and ideas. These Ideograms are sometimes called the common signs. These signs are similar to the Chinese written language.

The number and suffering of Egyptian martyrs multiplied exponentially once Christianity became the state religion. Such ‘glorious’ deaths would be relived a thousand-fold – and turned into an immensely profitable business, limited only by commercial competition as shrines proliferated. Taking his cue from Alexandria, Bishop Ambrose in Milan was one of the first to institute the relic worship in Italy in the late 4th century.

Rosetta Stone

The Rosetta Stone, famous for helping the understanding of Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics by showing the same information in three different scripts, has been on display at the British Museum since soon after its 1799 discovery. It is one of the most famous of ancient Egyptian relics.

Cairo wants it back and is also seeking the return from Berlin of the 34-centuries-old bust of Queen Nefertiti that was discovered on the banks of the Nile.

Other artifacts that Egypt would like to regain include the Dendera Zodiac from the Louvre, a bust of pyramid builder Ankhaf from the Boston Museum of Fine Art, and a statue of architect Hemiunu, currently in the Roemer und Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim, Germany.

Relics of the Nile presented an Egyptian terracotta ushabti. The shabti remains intact with a cream base and facial features and mummiform arms in orange. The eyes, names headcloth, and hieroglyphics are presented in striking black pigment. The name is un-translated; however, the glyphs on the front express a prayer to Osiris.

They also presented a nice pair of Egyptian cartonnage feet. These nicely designed cartonnage pieces once adorned the soles of the mummy’s feet and formed the base of shoes that would be worn in the afterlife. This particular pair features colors of blue and yellow and remains in excellent condition with some loss to the upper-right corner in one piece. The papyrus base for the cartonnage is seen beneath the original pigment.

Cartonnage is the term used in Egyptology and Papyrology for plastered layers of fiber or papyrus, flexible enough for molding while wet against the irregular surfaces of the body.

These are some of the famous ancient Egyptian relics which are a treasure of civilization.