|
Death Mask of Tutankhamun |
|
|
The death mask of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun is made of gold inlaid with colored glass and semiprecious stone. The mask comes from the innermost mummy case in the pharaoh’s tomb, and stands 54 cm (21 in) high. The emblems on the forehead (vulture and cobra) and on the shoulders (falcon heads) were symbols of the Two Lands of Upper and Lower Egypt and of divine authority. The vulture Nekhbet and the cobra Wadjet protected the pharaoh. 





COFFINS Tutankhamun's mummified body was found within three coffins or sarcophagi, each one within the next. The largest is still in the original tomb in the Valley of the Kings along with his mummy, but the other two are here. This is the middle coffin, made of wood covered with gold, semiprecious stones, glass and obsidian. The inner coffin is made of solid gold and weighs 110 kilograms (which at 2004 prices makes the gold by itself worth over one and a half million US dollars). 
Inner Coffin 
Middle Coffin 
Middle Coffin

The Egyptian Vulture The Egyptian vulture is a tool-using bird. Egyptian vultures are specialists in egg-eating. They are among the only known birds in the world to use stones as tools. They will repeatedly strike at an abandoned ostrich egg with stones, then use their beak to enlarge the hole and penetrate membrane. Then it feasts on the oozing interior of the egg. In ancient Egypt the vulture is considered to be nearer to God who is believed to reside above the sky.

The Egyptian Cobra The ancient Egyptians worshipped the cobra and used it as a symbol on the crown of the pharaohs. It is used as a protective symbol, the Egyptians believed that the cobra would spit fire at any approaching enemies. It is also called asp. |