Educator How-To: Create your own ancient Egyptian art using frontalism

Ancient Egyptian artists adhered to strict rules when producing works of art. The human form was depicted with the head in profile, eye drawn in full, torso forward-facing, and legs in profile — one foot in front of the other. This style, known as frontalism, gave the figures a sense of formality. Whether standing or […]

Emails from the other side: our Museum Mummy reaches out

As the Digital Media Editor, I get a lot of strange emails. Some are from spambots offering awkward praise for our blog. Others are more direct, like “What is a Digital Media Editor even for, anyway?” and “Why isn’t everything free, everywhere, always?” But the strangest — and most exciting — email I’ve received lately […]

Educator How-To: Deciphering Papyrus with the Egyptian Book of the Dead

Background: The Book of the Dead, ironically, is not a book at all, but rather a diverse collection of magical spells intended to aid the dead in successfully navigating the complicated and oft tumultuous process of reaching the afterlife. The bulk of the 200-plus spells discovered to date were created on papyrus, and a few […]

Field Notes: Why the pyramids of Abydos are the most fascinating in Egypt

Editor’s Note: Peter Lacovara, Senior Curator at Emory University’s Carlos Museum, has worked on numerous expeditions in Egypt and published several books on his work and experience, including The Pyramids and Sphinx, Tombs and Temples of Giza, and Excavating Egypt: Great Discoveries from the Petrie Museum of Egyptology. The first blog in this series can […]

Educator How-To: Why square it when you could cubit?

The cubit was Ancient Egypt’s standard unit of measure, much like our foot or meter measurement. There were two cubit lengths in ancient Egypt: the short cubit and the royal cubit. The short cubit was the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger of the pharaoh. The royal cubit was the […]


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