Objects of the cult of the dead
Many ancient Egyptian objects in museums and collections originate from funerary contexts. The texts of the Book of the Dead are a collection of spells, incantations and liturgical instructions intended to provide the deceased with access and orientation in the afterlife. Uschebti figures are supposed to perform field work in the afterlife on behalf of the deceased owner and are therefore often equipped with hoes and seed bags. The "Uschebti saying" is the 6th chapter of the Book of the Dead.
Uschebti, Saqqara / 664-525 B.C.
Book of the Dead papyrus, Thebes / ca. 1076-944 B.C.
Round sculpture: King and Queen
Round statues are part of the furnishings of architectural monuments, especially sacred buildings and tombs. In the context of their installation sites within the monuments and with regard to the assigned architectural function, statues were integrated into cult and life. Basically, round images are categorised into different areas, such as cult, ritual, guardian and protective statues. Each category of round sculptural image can be accompanied by a certain variety of types in the specific execution.
Statue fragment of Chefren, Giza / ca. 2450 B.C.
Statue fragment of a queen, place of discovery unknown / ca. 1850 B.C.
Temple relief and sculpture lesson piece
In Egypt, interior and exterior walls, ceilings and columns in sacred buildings could be covered with images and hieroglyphs cut into the stone. In tombs, too, murals were often first executed in relief before they were painted with colours. Painted relief was the normal form of images intended for eternity. A sunken relief (Akhenaten fragment) is regularly found more on exterior walls of monuments, a raised relief (such as the sculpture fragment) more on interior walls.
Relief fragment, King Akhenaten, Amarna / ca. 1350 BC / Reproduction
Depiction of a falcon, place of discovery unknown / 4th-1st century BC / reproduction
Writing and writing utensils
Whether writing was first used in Egypt or Mesopotamia is a matter of debate. Both areas have a tradition of writing that goes back to the 4th century BC. The most important writing material produced in Egypt from the papyrus plant is already attested for the early 3rd century BC. A writing bowl, in which the ink was mixed, and a rush were among the most important utensils. The statuette of Nebmerutef carrying a papyrus roll on his knees shows the traditional working posture.
Statuette of a scribe, Hermopolis Magna (?) / ca. 1370 BC / reproduction
Writing bowl, place of discovery unknown / 15th-11th century BC / reproduction
Papyrus scroll / modern 20th century [?]
Collection at the Seminar of Egyptology and Coptic Studies
The Aegyptiaca of the University of Göttingen, some of which were acquired for the Academic Museum as early as the end of the 18th century on the initiative of J. F. Blumenbach (1752-1840), are distributed among various collections. Mummies, parts of mummies and funerary equipment are kept in the Archaeological Collections, the Anthropological Collection and in the collection of the Centre for Anatomy. In contrast, most of the objects now at the Department of Egyptology and Coptology are on permanent loan from the Ethnological Collection and still bear corresponding inventory numbers. These came into the possession of the Institute of Ethnology (today: Institute of Ethnology) in 1939 via the private collector Emilie Ronath. Mrs Ronath had collected them during her work as an educator in Egypt between 1881 and 1887. The teaching collection of the Department of Egyptology and Coptology is supplemented by a ceramics teaching collection established by Hermann Kees (1886-1964), director of the department from 1924 to 1945 (recorded and dated by Eva-Maria Engel in 2012).
The Aegyptiaca of the Ethnological Collection were transferred to the Seminar for Egyptology and Coptology on permanent loan as a result of an exhibition of Egyptian small art objects in 1997. They are catalogued in the "Catalogue of the Aegyptiaca of the Ethnological Collection of the Georg August University Göttingen" (Göttingen 2005) by Barbara Böhm, which contains 73 objects with inventory numbers.
