Judy Kay King spent the last four years decoding ancient Egyptian symbols and interpreting the results through biosemiotics, a biological science of signs and messages in living systems.

King's new book, "The Isis Thesis," takes images found in ancient Egyptian artwork and compares them to the microscopic shapes of bacteria and viruses. Not only do many images match, King said, but the mythological stories are metaphors for the molecular biology of the bacteria and viruses...

Author links bacteria and Egyptian symbols, Traverse City Record Eagle, Michigan, USA, August 06, 2005, via ArchNews.

cf. Isis Thesis Home Page.

Egypt Through Other Eyes: The Popularization of Ancient Eygpt, presenting more than thirty books, ranging from the commercial to the commemorative, focusing on Western fascination with ancient Egypt will be on view in the ancient Egyptian galleries of the Brooklyn Museum.   The long-term installation, including many works that have never before been on public view, is the latest in a series of exhibitions presenting rare material from both the world-renowned Wilbour Library of Egyptology and from the Museum’s holdings of ancient Egyptian art...

Exhibition of Rare Material from Wilbour Library, Art Daily, August 15, 2005.

cf. Exhibition of Rare Material from Wilbour Library of Egyptology Opens August 12, Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA, July 2005.

Mexico and Egypt share a rare historical distinction: a superabundance of monumental pyramids and other relics of ancient civilizations.   But although foreign experts have helped lead the exploration of Egypt's rich archeology for more than a century, specialists from Mexico have never been invited.   Until now.

For the first time, a Mexican archeological team has been selected by Egypt's top antiquities authorities to work in the famous Upper Nile Valley.

The group was chosen to refurbish the so-called Tomb of Puimre, or TT39, one of the country's most important unrestored burial chambers.

The team, selected by the Egyptian government's Supreme Council of Antiquities and made up mainly of scientists from the University of the Valley of Mexico, in March will begin a five-year renovation project to make the site suitable for the public to visit...

Building a Modern Partnership on Relics, Los Angeles Times, California, USA, August 13, 2005.

A write up of an at an international conference at Auckland University July 13-16 which focused on the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus.

Cleopatra dallied with Romans from Julius Caesar to Mark Antony to save her skin and fabulous lifestyle.   For scarcely less pressing reasons, at least of political exigency, her male forebears in the Ptolemaic dynasty felt forced into bed with their sisters to secure their power base as foreign occupiers on the Nile by an untroubled succession.

No particular proclivity for "pushing the prong into forbidden fleshpots" — to quote a Ptolemaic poet who paid for such frankness with his life — led to Ptolemy II marrying his bossy elder sister Arsinoe II in 274 BC...

Sad stories of the birth of kings, Athens News, Greece, July 29, 2005, via rogueclassicism.

The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology is facing a predicament.

Or is that the University Museum?

Or the University of Pennsylvania Museum?

Or the Penn Museum?

Or the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology?

Or that funky museum with the 12-ton sphinx and Egyptian mummies across the river?

Whatever you call it, the museum finds itself with too many names, a logo most people don't get, and no image that captures what it is...

A Penn treasure plays name that tomb, Philadelphia Inquirer, Pennsylvania, USA, August 11, 2005.

Noted Egyptologist Lisa Schwappach-Shirriff has discovered ancient texts which show 5000 year old tabloid-style gossip.

One ancient Egyptian text describes an unidentified king often visiting the home of one of his generals at night.   The often repeated phrase “in whose home there was no wife” suggests the king was having a gay affair.

Scwappach-Shirriff says that Ancient Egyptians gossiped about celebrities, and were interested in their sexuality among a number of other things — much like today’s tabloids.   She notes, however, that the gossip does not necessarily mean their culture was anti-gay.   The implicit disapproval, she says, is more likely about important people’s failure to produce heirs.

Ancient Egypt Gossiped About Gays, Gay NZ, New Zealand, August 15, 2005.

A gang who smuggled ancient Egyptian artefacts worth about $55 million out of Egypt were sentenced on Saturday to between 15 and 55 years in prison.

Some of antiquities were seized at Cairo airport, but many of the more than 57,000 articles were smuggled out.   Some have been returned, including artefacts sent back in July from Australia, where they were found for sale on the Internet.

Three men who were in custody received between 15 and 42 years in jail, a Cairo court ruling said.   One of the three was an official from the state's Supreme Council of Antiquities...

Smugglers of Egyptian antiquities sentenced, Reuters via San Diego >Union-Tribune, California, USA, August 13, 2005.

cf. Egypt antiquities smugglers get up to 55 years in jail, AFP via >Middle East Times, Cyprus, August 15, 2005.

cf. Cairo court hits smugglers with heavy jail-terms, Gulf News, UAE, August 14, 2005.

by Zahi Hawass

Many people who excavate in Egypt believe that the rules announced three years ago for foreign expeditions to Egypt are new rules, formulated for the first time.   Actually, almost all of these are old rules that have been on the books for years, but have never been enforced.   There are only two new rules: first, that there should be publications in Arabic of all excavation results; and second, that no new excavations can be started in Upper Egypt (although new concessions can be granted in the Delta).   All of the other rules were formulated long ago.

We are entering a new era in Egypt.   It is time to make protecting and caring for the monuments a priority, a job that requires the cooperation of all Egyptologists and scholars, both native and foreign.   All of us need to dedicate our time to this effort.

There are, however, people who complain about the rules.   Newspapers publish untrue statistics, claiming, for example, that the SCA has stopped over 100 expeditions from working.   This is completely untrue.   It is true that we no longer let anyone who wants to work in Egypt do so, and have turned down applications from people who are unqualified, or whose projects do not meet our clearly published criteria.

Who complains about these new rules?   One example is a group of amateurs from France who want to drill inside the Great Pyramid, doing damage to prove a theory that has no basis and no academic support.   Since the rules permit scholars to work only with the support of a reputable institution, they brought in a French Egyptologist to act as a dummy member of the team, simply to give them the authority to apply.   This Egyptologist is not an expert on pyramids, and the application was rejected by the Permanent Committee, with the advice of the top experts in the field of pyramid studies.

We need people to understand that we are not against anyone.   Our goal is to preserve the monuments of Egypt and protect our cultural heritage.   To achieve this goal, we need everyone to follow and respect our rules.   No more amateurs, no more non-scientific work.   But to those who work with us, and care about Egypt's past, present, and future, we say thank you.

Secrets from the Sand, The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, August 15, 2005.

"The reopening of "Das Egyptische Museum und Papyrussamlung" in Germany where the bust of Queen Nefertiti is exhibited was the focus of most German newspapers," reported the Middle East News Agency yesterday.

Das Egyptische Museum will continue to exhibit the precious Egyptian relics until October 2009, said Berliner Zeitung newspaper.

The relics will then be moved to another museum, it added...

Nefertiti focus of German papers, State Information Service, Egypt, August 14, 2005.

Bibliotheca Alexandrina will join a national project to issue an atlas of Egypt in cooperation with the Egyptian Scientific Society.

The atlas will expound Egypt's history, economic capabilities and role on the regional and international arenas.

The history section will explore the Egyptian people's contributions to world civilization over various epochs...

New Egypt atlas by Bibliotheca Alexandrina, State Information Service, Egypt, August 13, 2005.

Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni agreed to carry out a joint project with the Higher Council of Luxor City with the aim of reviving history and culture of the City, presenting it in form of an integrated panorama and turning it into an open museum with total costs of LE 250 Million.

He said the project, which starts late this month, will be carried out in stages.

He added that the project included lightning the western bank of the River Nile and reopening the Rameses Road.

Integrated project to turn Luxor into open museum, State Information Service, Egypt, August 12, 2005.