Walk into the Penn Museum and you’re face to face with a sphinx, the largest in the western hemisphere.
“In October 1913 a colossal granite sphinx arrived in Philadelphia to great excitement. Weighing close to 15 tons, the sphinx was the second largest ancient Egyptian monument ever to come to America (after New York’s Central Park obelisk that had arrived in 1881). The sphinx, over 3,000 years old, has inscriptions of the famous pharaoh Ramses II (Ramses the Great) who reigned ca. 1200 BCE.” Penn Museum website

As you can see, the head is badly damaged while the body and cartouches are in excellent shape. At some point, the body, up to the shoulders, was buried in sand, preserving it. Eventually, the entire sphinx was buried before being discovered.

Let’s head over to the Egyptian gallery. There’s so much to see! On this head, the cobra and the royal headdress seem to indicate a Pharaoh. Looks like he’s meditating. 🙂

This bit of temple relief shows Ramses II killing a warrior. Have you ever thought about the time and effort it took to record things in stone?? Makes writing things down look positively speedy!

Sekhmet, depicted with a lioness head, was the protector of pharaohs and the Eygptian goddess of war as well as healing. I guess that combination of war and healing is the perfect way to make sure you’re never out of job.

These jars of wine for a woman’s tomb are beautifully decorated. When our girls were younger, we took lots of home school field trips to the outstanding Cleveland Museum of Art. The Egyptian exhibit was always a favorite part of those trips.
I hope you enjoyed what Penn Museum has to offer. What say you to some coffee or tea?

Here’s our friend Ramses II again, this time with a bit more color.

for Jo’s Monday Walk
My favorite outing while on vacation: visiting museums. This looks like an interesting exhibit.
Thanks for sharing it, Janet. Have a great week … Izzy 😎
Glad you enjoyed it, Izzy, and have a great week also.
I’ll have a strong black coffee, please!
Sounds good. Hope you enjoyed the walk and are having a great Monday.
Thanks, Happy Monday!
I love visiting museums. Thanks for bringing us along with you on this tour.
Next time you get down to Philly, Dan, take a few hours and visit. It’s well worth it.
Philly is a place I hope to be able to visit in retirement. It’s four hours by train (and I love being on a train) so it really won’t be that hard to schedule.
The style is so very distinctive, isn’t it, Janet? I’d love to cruise the Nile. Do you know Sartenada? He’s Finnish, and has just published the most beautiful images of the temples. 🙂 🙂 Thanks so much! Wishing you a happy week.
I don’t know him, Jo, but I’ll have to look him up Cruising the Nile would be quite an experience, that’s for sure. I hope you have a happy week as well.
I’m always up for an Egyptian exhibit! And for tea and snackies. Let’s get some Turkish coffee and baklava!
I’ll have tea and baklava, but not the sweet mint tea. I’m happy you liked the tour of the exhibit.
janet
Thank you for the tour! Is that paint on Ramses II ancient or has it been restored sortof?
I think that’s ancient because they seemed to mention in the information if there’s been restoration.
OK, I went to their site and found that the paint is original. 🙂 Glad you could come on the tour.
Thanks for this lovely stroll around some stunning artifacts.
My pleasure, Su. Glad you could come along.
[…] Monday walk…like an Egyptian […]