Cover Story
Exotic colour and pigments in early Ancient Egypt Barbara Boczar investigates the sources of the wonderful colours used by ancient Egyptian artisans. Features
House of Life Roger Forshaw investigates this intriguing institution and its role in ancient Egyptian society. 
The High Steward Amenhotep Continuing his series of articles about individuals who influenced events in Egypt during their lifetimes, Wolfram Grajetzki now turns his attention to one of the most important members of Amenhotep… 
Magical honey: some unusual uses in Ancient Egypt Ancient Egyptians used honey in cooking, especially to sweeten dishes in the absence of sugar, and in medicine, for its healing properties and to soothe coughs. They also used it… 
The Cleopatras Part 2: Cleopatra II, traditionally untraditional Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones continues his new series on the later Ptolemaic queens, focusing on the tangled family relationships of the second Cleopatra. 
Hilary Wilson on… Mirrors in Ancient Egypt Mirrors, as we know them, did not exist in ancient Egypt, so what did the elite use to check their elaborate make-up? News
Tetisheri Pyramid and cemetery discovery The American-Egyptian South Abydos Project team has completed the restoration of the Tetisheri Pyramid, the last such structure to be built for an Egyptian queen. It was erected as a… 
The world’s oldest book? Routine work on fragments of a Ptolemaic Period papyrus at the University of Graz Library in Austria has revealed traces of stitching, suggesting the text was once part of a… 
Painting secrets revealed A study just published by an interdisciplinary team from Belgium and France has revealed small changes and ‘touch-ups’ to paintings in Theban tombs, showing that images were often adapted and… 
Tutankhamun’s face Tutankhamun’s face has been recreated by researchers from Australia, Italy, and Brazil to demonstrate a new modelling technique based on the use of digitised graphic information. Although the team did… 
Silver bracelets Analysis of the silver bracelets belonging to the Fourth Dynasty queen Hetepheres I has revealed the origins of the silver ore used in Egypt, and the extent of Egypt’s trading… 
Nile engineering Evidence of an ancient hydraulic engineering system has been discovered along the banks of the Nile by the British Museum’s Amara West Research Project. Satellite imagery and aerial drone and… 
Mummy workshops Two mummification workshops – the largest and most complete ever found – have been discovered by the Egyptian mission working in the Sacred Animal Cemetery (Bubasteum) at Saqqara. Dating to… Views
A first look at the Grand Egyptian Museum What's on Geoffrey Lenox-Smith attends the ‘soft opening’ of Giza’s new blockbuster museum. 
Ancient Egypt August listings Museum, What's on THE BELOVED OF ISIS: NERO, THE DOMUS AUREA, AND EGYPT This exhibition explores the links between Rome and Egypt in the 1st century AD, and Emperor Nero’s special relationship with… 
Stela of Lady Taperet Objects For this issue, Dr Campbell Price chooses a beautifully painted object from the Louvre Museum in Paris. 
Flinders Petrie’s sequence dating chart The Picture Desk A major step forward in understanding and dating ancient Egyptian ceramics. 
Win a copy of A History of Ancient Egypt : Volume 3 by John Romer Competitions Do you recognise this place? Reviews
A first look at the Grand Egyptian Museum Geoffrey Lenox-Smith attends the ‘soft opening’ of Giza’s new blockbuster museum. Ancient Egypt August listings THE BELOVED OF ISIS: NERO, THE DOMUS AUREA, AND EGYPT This exhibition explores the links between Rome and Egypt in the 1st century AD, and Emperor Nero’s special relationship with… 
A Gift of Geology: Ancient Egyptian Landscapes and Monuments REVIEW BY JPP Colin Reader is a geologist who has combined his professional knowledge with his passion for Egyptology to produce a fascinating geological history of the country. The title… 
The Ptolemies: Rise of a Dynasty – Ptolemaic Egypt in 330-246 BC REVIEW BY SG This is the first of three planned books on the last of Egypt’s dynasties, written not by an Egyptologist, but by a specialist in Classical and Hellenistic… 
The Treasure of the Egyptian Queen Ahhotep and International Relations at the Turn of the Middle Bronze Age (1600-1500 BCE) REVIEW BY TANEASH SIDPURA The objects from Ahhotep’s burial at Dra Abu el-Naga, dating to the Eighteenth Dynasty, are a fascinating assemblage of mostly gold and other expensive materials, and… 
A History of Ancient Egypt – Volume 3 : From the Shepherd Kings to the End of the Theban Monarchy REVIEW BY CAMPBELL PRICE Many readers may remember the documentaries made for British television on Egyptian subjects by John Romer in the 1980s and 1990s. I vividly recall his impassioned… 
Women in Ancient Egypt: Revisiting Power, Agency, and Autonomy REVIEW BY HILARY WILSON This collection of papers from a 2019 Cairo conference represents current research into the life of women in ancient Egypt. By applying contemporary social values and… 
Nubia: Lost Civilizations REVIEW BY ANNA GARNETT Studies of the ancient Nile Valley have traditionally focused on Egypt as the predominant political and cultural power in the region, with relatively limited work in… 
From the editor
Geoffrey Lenox-Smith has been ‘out and about’ in Giza, and it is clear from his report that the Grand Egyptian Museum will be spectacular when it is fully open. Already there are colossal statues and obelisks gathered from various locations and displayed in a way that makes them easy to study, although the current restriction on photography will disappoint many professional Egyptologists and passionate amateurs if it becomes permanent. If mobile phones are allowed, with the problems caused by their automatic flash and people insisting on taking ‘selfies’, surely the use of cameras (perhaps restricted by the need to purchase a permit) would be preferable?
You may know that honey has antiseptic properties, but did you know it repels ghosts – unless you live in Romania, where it attracts them Amandine Marshall will put you right.
There must have been ghosts in the Ptolemaic palaces of Alexandria, where murder seems to have been commonplace. Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones continues his series tracing the lives of the seven Queen Cleopatras by describing the astute political manoeuvres that Cleopatra II used to maintain her authority among her male relatives.
Were ghosts reflected in the mirrors fashioned from polished metal that Hilary Wilson describes? And were the Ptolemies aware of the toxicity of the pigments that they used to decorate their artworks – a convenient source of poisons, perhaps? The colours are vibrant, but, as Barbara Boczar explains, they were often obtained from minerals with dangerous properties.
Amenhotep was a popular name for the officials in the court of pharaoh Amenhotep III. Wolfram Grajetzki selects one of the most important, the High Steward also known as Huy, as the subject of his article, while Roger Forshaw tells us about an institution no doubt very familiar to Huy – the House of Life.
