About 2000 years after the Gospel according to Judas sowed discord among early Christians, a Swiss foundation says it is translating for the first time the controversial text named after the apostle said to have betrayed Jesus Christ.

The 62-page papyrus manuscript of the text was uncovered in Egypt during the 1950s or 1960s, but its owners did not fully comprehend its significance until recently, according to the Maecenas Foundation in Basel.

The manuscript written in the ancient dialect of Egypt's Coptic Christian community will be translated into English, French and German in about a year, the foundation specialising in antique culture said today...

[More]   The Daily Telegraph, Australia, March 30, 2005.

By Hassan Saadallah

The SCA is collaborating with a Polish team to transform the archaeological city of Marina into an 'archaeological site museum'.   It is the first Roman resort uncovered in the north of Egypt.

Excavations on the site have led to the unearthing of 28 houses and 200 tombs, some of which are carved in the rock up to 10 metres deep.

According to Dr Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the SCA, Marina is one of the most important Greco-Roman cities found intact on the Mediterranean coast.   It includes villas, temples, palaces, cisterns, baths and tombs that include a memorial of the Roman emperor, Caesar Commodus.   Because of its historic and archaeological significance, measures have been taken to protect it from the creeping urbanisation of modern summer resorts on the coast.

The Director of Lower Egypt Antiquities, Dr Mohamed Abdul Maqsoud, explains that Marina dates to the third century AD and was uncovered by chance in 1986 when a Chinese company was engaged in construction work.   Bulldozers digging on the site exposed parts of columns and baths.   A survey, conducted to probe the area, has revealed that a city as large as 1.5km lies underground.   The city apparently abounds in unique architectural structures.

The team of excavators have managed to outline the features of the city and the roads that link it to a harbour, in addition to the numerous tombs.   Remains of the harbour were found underwater, including quays and breakwaters.   Several archaeological pieces - known as the 'Fayyoum Faces' - were found in good condition.   It is unusual for similar items to be found undamaged in coastal areas.   The villas found show finesse and elegance typical of houses on the coast.   Items used for everyday life such as lamps, spoons, glasses and chairs were also found.   A statue of the goddess of beauty, Afrodite, sitting on a white marble rock was among the excavated items.   Stables have been located alongside villas and the city was surprisingly found to have had an advanced sewerage system.   So far the walls of some of the structures, along with tombs and memorials, have been restored.   Yet a lot more work is still needed to reveal the whole city.

[Source]   The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, 31 March 2005.

More on the recent boat discovery.

Archaeologists have found the remains of boats used by ancient Egyptians for trading trips, the culture minister said in comments published on Wednesday.

boats were discovered in caves in a pharaonic harbour on Egypt's Red Sea coast around 300 miles southeast of Cairo, Farouk Hosni said in comments carried by Egypt's state MENA news agency...

[More]   Reuters, USA, Mar 30, 2005.

An article by Dennis Prager about Egypt, death and the Torah.

...Egyptian civilization was steeped in death. Its bible was the Book of the Dead, and its greatest monuments, its very symbols, the pyramids, were gigantic tombs...

[More]   WorldNet Daily, USA, March 29, 2005.

Sohag police found an ancient mummy in the Akhmim District fields yesterday.

The discovery of the mummy came in the aftermath of a report sent to Sohag police that a corpse bas been found buried in a field...

[More], Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, March 30, 2005.

Ancient Egyptian mummies on display in museums and stately homes are beginning to offer up their secrets to modern medicine.

Scientists have taken samples of tissue from more than 1,000 mummies to build a medical map revealing the way that disease has evolved over 5,000 years.

Egyptologists at the KNH centre for biomedical Egyptology at Manchester University have been charting the evolution of schistosomiasis, more commonly known as bilharzia, from antiquity to the modern day...

[More] The Times, UK, March 29, 2005.

Also Now, medical check-ups for mummies, The Statesman, India, March 29, 2005.

Nevine El-Aref previews the Egyptian Museum's exhibition highlighting the work of French Egyptologists George Legrain and Jean François Champollion.

Today at sunset Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) Secretary-General Zahi Hawass, French Cultural Attaché Denis Louche and senior French and Egyptian officials and archaeologists are schudled to attend the opening of the special exhibition "Champollion, Legrain... Treading the Land of Egypt" at the centennial hall of the Egyptian Museum.

The exhibition has come to Cairo after six months in the capital of the French Alps, Grenoble, where it marked the centenary of Egyptologist George Legrain's famous discovery of the Karnak Cachet.   It also coincides with the ninth International Congress of Egyptologists...

[More]   Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 735, 24 - 30 March 2005.

An interesting article relating to a new book by Desmond Zwar called "The Queen, Rupert & Me."

The article attributes the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb to a British spy named Richard Adamson, working on Carter's team, rather than Carter himself.

[More]   Middle East Times, Cyprus, March 22, 2005.

Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni agreed to the establishment of a laboratory Museum to renovate a number of papyri at the Egyptian museum with total cost of 2 million euros earmarked by an Italian university.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Antiquities said that the project will be the biggest in the Middle East.

[Source], Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, March 27, 2005.

On April 7, 2005 at 11 a.m. at the Bowers Museum, a team of radiologists and curators will conduct computed tomography (CT) scans of six ancient Egyptian mummies from the renowned collections of the British Museum.   The mummies are the focus of the Bowers’ upcoming landmark exhibition, Mummies: Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt, which opens April 17, 2005.

This is the largest collection of CT scans ever performed on Egyptian mummies utilizing the newest, state of the art technology.   This historic event, a first in Southern California, will occur in cooperation with the British Museum; Moran, Rowen & Dorsey, Inc. (MRD), a radiology group that provides cutting edge diagnostic medical imaging in Orange County; General Electric, a leading medical technology company; and Mobile Interim Solutions, an industry leader in boost diagnostic imaging capacity at medical facilities...

[More]   Art Daily, Mexico, March 29, 2005, via Archaeologica.

for Egypt week

Discovery Networks Europe, a division of leading global real-world media and entertainment company Discovery Communications, today announced that it has signed a pan-European sponsorship deal with The Egyptian Tourist Authority to promote Egypt and The Red Sea Riviera as a holiday destination.

The campaign will launch simultaneously with Discovery Channel's Egypt Week programming special on 27 March and will be fully integrated both on the channel and the company's interactive platforms...

[More]   AME Info, UAE, March 23 - 2005.

Further information to follow as I cannot find anything obvious on Discovery UK's website.

The colossus of Queen Merit Amon, the wife of Ramses II, was discovered last year by an Egyptian-German team at Tel Basta in Sharqia. Since then it has been restored and placed on a concrete base in Tel Basta's open museum.

The colossus is three metres high, weighs seven tonnes and bears inscriptions on its back revealing the name of the queen and some aspects of her life.

Tel Basta lies about 80 kilometres northeast of Cairo and is one of the Delta's richest archaeological sites. It was of great significance in the Old Kingdom, flourishing from the 5th dynasty until the end of the Roman period. Its primary monument is the red granite temple of the cat-goddess Bastet, which was documented by the Greek historian Herodotus in the fifth century BC. The site also includes the temples of the 6th dynasty pharaohs Teti and Pepi I; a pair of jubilee chapels built by Amenemhat III and Amenhotep III; as well as temples dedicated to the gods Atum and Mihos.

[Source]   The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, March 24, 2005.

The SCA is carrying out a huge project to restore the Ramesside temple on the west bank of the Nile in Luxor. So far, the first stage has already been implemented, including the registration of all architectural elements and the reinforcement of the first gateway which was in a precarious condition owing to rising underground water.

The mortuary temple of Ramses II was built on an area of l200m2 by the cult of Amun. The principle building was a typical New Kingdom stone temple consisting of two successive courtyards, a hypostyle hall leading to a room, and a sanctuary. The complex includes the remains of a royal palace, a large number of mud-brick granaries and storerooms.

The temple, as Dr Hawass explains, was almost destroyed by an ancient earthquake. He noted that the front of the gateway was covered by inscriptions and reliefs of the famous battle of Qadesh against the Hittites. On the entrance's sides are seen reliefs of Ramses II offering sacrifice. While the first courtyard no longer contains its original 16 columns, the remains of a granite colossus of Ramses in a seating position still exist.

The second courtyard was originally distinguished by two rows of columns of which only eight survived the earthquake. The hypostyle hall used to rely on 48 columns divided into six rows. The hypostyle hall leads to a room for the sacred Bark - a ritual boat containing a cult image. The walls of the room were decorated with reliefs of the priests' sacred parade.

Dr Hawass concluded that the Ramesside temple needs years to be restored to its original shape.

[Source]   The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, March 24, 2005.

By :Hassan Saadallah

A team of Egyptian excavators have recently uncovered the remains of stables, barracks and storehouses at Tel Al Sabha, 88 kilometres southeast of Al Arish. This once acted as a stopover point on the ancient trade route that linked Arabia with Gaza and Arish.

The route was in use between 200 BC and 50 AD, said Dr Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the Supreme Council for Antiquities (SCA). He explained that several routes serving military, trade and religious purposes crossed Sinai in order to link Egypt with Sham and Hijaz. The oldest of these routes was the old military road known as Horus.

The structures discovered were built of limestone which was brought from quarries in the mountainous area near Tel Al Sabha. The find includes an 11m2 administrative structure which was divided into three chambers. The floors are made of a combination of tiles and limestone, covered by a layer of mortar in order to produce a smooth surface.

There is also a small group of three houses. The first is rectangular, consisting of three rooms and two storehouses inside of which were found stoves and pottery chard which date back to the Roman age. A millstone made of red sandstone was among the find in addition to a Roman bronze coin and a storage surface for placing daily-used pots.

The second building comprises a hall, measuring 6.5x4 metres, and a room, measuring 2.4x3.3 metres, inside of which was a furnace. The third building is triangular, measuring 8.8x5.8 metres and containing two rooms.

Horse stables were also uncovered on the site. It is worth noting that the western wall of the 7.2x7.4 metre stable structure is built on a higher level than its opposite wall which means that the building followed natural contours without levelling the site.

[Source]   The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, March 24, 2005.

More on the recent ship discovery.

The first remains of ancient Egyptian seagoing ships ever to be recovered have been found in two caves on Egypt's Red Sea coast, according to a team at Boston University in the US.

The team also found fragments of pottery at the site, which could help resolve controversies about the extent of ancient Egyptian trade voyages.   But details of the newly disclosed finds remain sketchy.

Kathryn Bard, who co-led the dig with Italian archaeologists in December 2004, has revealed to the Boston University weekly community newsletter that the team found a range of items - including timbers and riggings - inside the man-made caves, located at the coastal Pharaonic site of Wadi Gawasis...

[More]   New Scientist, UK, 23 March 2005.

Melissa Saad's sixth-grade classes at Mariner Middle School got up-close and personal with the ancient Egyptian practice of mummification this year.

As part of their social studies class, students mummified chickens.

"When you're dealing with such ancient history, it's hard for them to connect," Saad said.   "Their energy level is super high with this.   It has kept their interest in studying ancient Egypt going..."

[More]   The News-Press, Florida, USA, March 22, 2005.

...the Sun God Ra was the most universally worshipped king of the gods and all-father of creation. He commanded a chariot that rode across the sky during the day...

[More]   Science Blog, 18/03/2005, via ArchaeoBlog.

Skeletal remains held by the National Museum of Scotland have been identified as a lost Egyptian queen and her child.

The discovery has been made by scientists who used forensic investigative techniques to attempt to solve the mystery of the remains.

The bodies were acquired for the collection a year after being discovered by Sir Flinders Petrie in 1909 at Qurna, a village on the west bank of the Nile, which has been the focus of illegal excavations...

[More]   The Herald, Scotland, UK, March 22 2005, via Archaeologica.

An Egyptian-Canadian mission unearthed a Fort from the Old Kingdom in Fairuz area in South Sinai.

The mission, which is represented by experts from Egypt's Supreme Council for Antiquities and Toronto University, was conducting digging operations in Sahl El Markha site, 160 kilometers south of Suez, on the Western Coast of Sinai.

Dr. Mohamad Abdel Maqsoud, director-general of the Lower Egypt and Sinai monuments, said the unearthed stone fort rose three to Four metres high.

The Fort was discovered inside turquoise and copper mines in the area.

[More] Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, March 21, 2005.

Kathryn Bard had "the best Christmas ever" this past December when she discovered the well-preserved timbers and riggings of pharaonic seafaring ships inside two man-made caves on Egypt's Red Sea coast.   They are the first pieces ever recovered from Egyptian seagoing vessels, and along with hieroglyphic inscriptions found near one of the caves, they promise to shed light on an elaborate network of ancient Red Sea trade.

Bard, a CAS associate professor of archaeology, and her former student Chen Sian Lim (CAS'01) had been shoveling sand for scarcely an hour on their first day of excavation on a parched bluff rising from the shore at Wadi Gawasis when a fist-sized hole appeared in the hillside.   "I stuck my hand in, and that was the entrance to the first cave," Bard says.   "Things like that don't happen very often in archaeology..."

[More]   B.U. Bridge, Boston University, Massachusetts, USA, Vol. VIII, No. 23, 18 March 2005.

Thieves have taken £15,000 worth of ancient Egyptian figurines and a human skull from Bagshaw Museum, Wilton Park.

The figurines, known as Shabtis, are carved from stone and jade. They are small statuettes which were buried with the dead to work as servants in the afterlife.

The burglars smashed a double-glazed window and broke through shutters to reach the religious artefacts overnight last Friday.

[More]   Dewsbury Today, UK, 18 March 2005.

The production of replicas of Egyptian artifacts is a team work process that reveals the beauty of our heritage helps in the spreading of our heritage, archaeological awareness, and plays a role in tourist publicity.

The Ancient Egyptian Art Revival Centre (AEARC) affiliated to the Supreme Council for Antiquities is a project that derives its glamour from of wonder of the ancient Egyptian heritage...

[More], Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, March 17,2005.

The golden jewelry collection from Egypt's Dush Temple was displayed in Cairo's Egyptian Museum on Tuesday for the first time since its discovery by French archaeologists 16 years ago.

The collection, dating back to the Greco-Roman period, features a golden diadem fronted by an image of the god Serapis and a 493-gram (one pound) necklace in the form of a snake ornamented with golden coins from the second half of the second century AD...

[More]   Middle East Times, Cyprus, March 16, 2005.

By Hassan Saadallah

Suez was not untouched by the ancient Egyptian civilisation.   It actually played a crucial role as a trading and political link with the Euphrates civilisation until the end of the Roman age.   This was highlighted by excavations and discoveries last year in the Gulf of Suez, which now brings the number of ancient sites -- dating back to ancient Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Nabati times -- up to 29, clustered around four different areas.   The first lies south of Suez, embracing l3 sites, while another, containing ten sites, lies north of Suez.   The third area lies to the west of Suez, with the fourth site found inside the city itself and includes Tel Al Yahudia and Tel Qalzam.

The newly discovered sites pertain to pre-historic ages and early dynasties.   Excavators found five etched rock panels on Suez Zaafarana road, spread along a line of about five kilometres.   Similar panels were found to the west of the first site.   Circular and oval shaped quarry worker houses were discovered at Al Khafuri, with pottery chard found inside the clustered structures.

A quarry -- whose rocks were most probably used in building Amon temple at Ain Shams in Cairo -- was also found on the Cairo-Suez road.   Two water wells were uncovered near Abu Dawoud at the foot of a mountain which may have been used for gathering rain water to supply quarry workers with their needs.

An ad-hoc committee is to be formed by the Supreme Council for Antiquities to inspect the newly discovered sites, which are to undergo restoration work as soon as possible.

[Source]   The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, 17 March 2005.

More on...

Egypt has reclaimed seven rare pieces of antiquities from Britain that were stolen a couple of years ago.

The 9,000-year-old pieces that resurfaced during a purchase attempt in Britain early this year arrived aboard in EgyptAir plane from London and were transferred to the Egyptian Museum amidst tight security measures.

The seven pieces were stolen from the Museum of Cairo University's Faculty of Arts.

[Source], Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, March 17, 2005.

The supreme council for Antiquities (SCA) announced that the Polish mission excavation in the Qurna has made one of the biggest Coptic finds in Egyptian history.   While working in one of the tombs in Luxor's Barr Gharbi (west bank), the Polish group discovered three papyrus books including important Coptic writings, dating back to the sixth century AD.   Although the tomb where the books were found dates to a much earlier era, Dr. Zahi Hawass, director of the SCA, explained that the early Copts, who suffered from persecution, had probably hidden the important books in an ancient tomb for fear of discovery.   Hawass further added that the finds are equal in importance to the Naga Hammadi manuscripts, which were discovered inside some clay urns.   This find is likely to shed light on the practices of the early Egyptian Copts and includes a book with a decorated wooden cover (22.5cm by 17cm) and another book comprising 50 pages and bound in a leather cover.   The third book has both wooden and leather covers, but is in very bad condition.   Theologists cannot wait for the restoration processes to begin, so as to start deciphering the information to be found inside the books.

[Source]   Egypt Today, Egypt, Volume #26, Issue 03, March 2005.

Customs die hard, nowhere more than in Egypt.   Archaeological documents show that from as early as the Old Kingdom up to modern times, an endemic and persistent distrust in medicine and justice, as practiced in the land, often led the Egyptians to address their requests for health and legal redress directly to their dead relatives and the gods.   Later, when monotheistic religions prevailed, they were addressed to saints whose extraordinary powers had become firmly rooted in popular belief.

In a paper presented to the Eighth Congress of Egyptologists, Cairo, 2000, ("Letters to the Dead in Ancient and Modern Egypt"), historian Hisham El-Leithy cites 15 letters from the Old Kingdom [c.2613-2181 BC] written in hieratic (a script based on hieroglyphics but simplified and using abbreviations), sent to dead relatives as well as other letters, written in demotic (the everyday script used from the middle of the 8th century BC until the 4th century BC) to certain gods.   He noted that letters from the Middle Kingdom [c. 2050-1786 BC] were no longer addressed to the deceased but to deified humans such as the god Prince Hekayeb.   It's a practice that continued until the late New Kingdom [c. 1567-1320 BC] when letters were found addressed to Amenhotep son of Hapu (c.1546-1526 BC), an Old Kingdom physician