Nile Magazine

Inside:

The Face of Nefertiti?
The head of a mummy dubbed the “Younger Lady” was recently scanned and modelled. It’s a remarkable portrait, but is it Nefertiti? We look at the cases for and against the connection.

Tutankhamun's tomb: The final scan results.
There's nothing there! Read the official announcement.

The North Wall of Tutankhamun's tomb: The New Interpretation.
Does the lack of hidden chambers mean that Tutankhamun’s tomb is out of surprises? Far from it. In fact, Nicholas Reeves was on the right track. Traugott Huber reveals that KV 62 WAS built for Nefertiti after all—plus a whole lot more.

Luxor Temple's New Face.
Another of Ramesses II's colossal statues stands again. Or should that be "Amenhotep III's colossal statue"?

The Royal Tombs—Part Four: The Middle Kingdom.
After a century in the wilderness, royal pyramids are back—but not as we knew them.

The Celestial Dung Beetle.
What is it about the humble scarab that led the ancient Egyptians to make it the most popular amulet in Egyptian history?

Plus, the Nile Quiz, ARCE Update, Looking Back, and lots more. Enjoy your Nile time!

Inside:

Living With the Enemy
How a small community of Nubian traders and Egyptian colonists blended and forged a new identity that may have led to the rise of Egypt's largest-ever empire.

Ahmose: Father of a Dynasty
The war against the Hyksos cost Prince Ahmose’s family dearly, and, bizarrely, may have started with some bellowing hippos.

The Divine Falcon
The most commonly-depicted deity in the entire history of ancient Egypt isn't Osiris, Amun or Hathor—it's the divine falcon. We look at the different raptors in the Egyptian pantheon. 

Hieroglyphs: Who Translated them First?
Jean-François Champollion may have been beaten in the race to decipher hieroglyphs by medieval Arab scholars centuries before.

Saving Ancient Egypt
A revised history of Khonsu Temple at Karnak, and a new look for a splendid statue of Amenhotep III - we look at some of the remarkable results of the American Research Center in Egypt's conservation field schools.

Meresankh III: Queen for Eternity
The Giza Project at Harvard University is building a 3D virtual reconstruction of the Giza Plateau as it may have looked when first built. We explore one of the digitally recreated tombs: that of Khufu's granddaughter.

Plus, The Quiz, Looking Back and lots more. Enjoy your Nile time!

Inside:

The Nile Top 5. 
The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities proudly described 2017 as “the year of discoveries,” and it’s pretty hard to disagree. NILE Magazine has certainly enjoyed bringing you the most exciting discoveries throughout the year. Now it’s time to look back and select the Top 5 of 2017.

King Tut: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh. 
The word “blockbuster” should be reserved for Tutankhamun exhibitions. The young pharaoh’s world tour begins in May—and it’s a big one. Historically, Tutankhamun tours have been limited to around 50 original artefacts. This exhibition triples that. Featured in this issue of NILE are some of the spectacular key pieces from the exhibition.

Cleopatra's Asp
Did the famous queen really die of a snake bite? Or were snakes involved in another, more subtle way?

Snakes 
They weren’t always the bad guys. In ancient Egypt, they were often revered. So what happened over the centuries to give our scaley friends such a bad reputation

Royal Tombs 
Part 3 of our series from The Royal Tombs of Ancient Egypt—Aidan Dodson’s detailed history of the resting places of Egypt’s rulers and their families. In this issue, the pyramids get smaller, but the funerary complexes grow as we enter the final two dynasties of the Old Kingdom: the 5th and 6th.

The Belzoni Top 3
So we thought we knew the story of Belzoni, the sarcophagus of Seti I and Sir John Soane. Lenka Peacock presents three things that might surprise you.
Plus, we discover the original beauty of Seti I’s tomb via an incredible recreation at the Antikenmuseum Basel.

Thutmose IV
Thutmose IV is often forgotten, surrounded as he is by the great warrior king Amenhotep II, and the “sun king”, Amenhotep III. Yet it may be that this king’s legacy outshone them both. We might well ask: would there have been an Akhenaten without a Thutmose IV? 

Plus, The Quiz and lots more.

Inside:

The great Big Void in the Great Pyramid.
The first comprehensive report on the ScanPyramids discovery: an enormous “void” above the Great Pyramid's Grand Gallery, and of similar size and shape. Already Egypt's largest and most complex pyramid, the Great Pyramid of Giza just got even more intriguing. Plus, why you can conceivably look forward to even more exciting news.

Sekhmet 
The goddess Sekhmet was one of the fiercer members of the Egyptian pantheon. A happy Sekhmet, however, carried great healing powers. To the Egyptians, it wasn't at all confusing to regard Sekhmet as the fiery agent of Ra's fury, AND the patron goddess of healers and physicians. We get to know an often misunderstood deity.

Ramesses III's Sarcophagus Lid
It was one of Ramesses III's masterpieces, designed to protect the king's mummified body and help launch his deified soul into eternity. So why did the museum that held the lid want to swap it for a pretty statue?

Fascinating Pyramids
Rarely-seen artefacts from museums across Europe, gathered together in the Liechtenstein National Museum. Explore pieces spanning the entire length of Egyptian and Nubian pyramid-building.

A Woman's Afterlife
Things were far from egalitarian in ancient Egypt. In fact, women faced a biological barrier to the afterlife: to be reborn, a deceased woman had to briefly turn into a man. 

Soulful Creatures
Modern medical imaging meets ancient Egyptian animal mummies, and sheds new light on the crucial way that animals could deliver messages directly to the ears of the gods.

Sennedjem
The spectacular family vault of Sennedjem helps provide a new perspective on Theban life on the cusp of the Third Intermediate Period.

Plus, The Quiz and lots more.

Inside:

The Met's New Coffin
On September 12, 2017, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art announced a major new acquisition: the stunning Late Period coffin of a priest named Nedjemankh.

The Coffin of Ramesses II
When the mummy of Ramesses II was discovered in 1881, it was found in a coffin that didn’t look much like the king at all. We look at Dr. Nicholas Reeves’ fascinating research that reveals not only the true owner of Ramesses’ coffin, but also the circumstances surrounding its kingly re-use.

The Origin of Cats
A new DNA study reveals how cats from Egypt and the Near East colonised the world and helped shape the modern cats we love today. Plus we meet the world’s first cat with a name.

The Noble Vulture
How did such an awkward and unattractive bird with unappealing eating habits become the titular goddess of Upper Egypt? Lesley Jackson explores the vulture’s transformation into an elegant and powerful symbol of motherhood, protection and rebirth.

Accessible Egypt
British expats now living in Egypt, Jane Akshar and Joanne Stables  want Luxor to be famous as Egypt’s first disability-friendly ancient heritage site.

The Governors of Elephantine
For almost a decade a Spanish-Egyptian team has been excavating the "Tombs of the Nobles", opposite modern-day Aswan. The Qubbet el-Hawa Project has been spectacularly successful, with a number of new tombs discovered, and new insights into life at ancient Egypt’s southernmost outpost.

Plus, Looking Back and Nile Style!