The Missus and I went with our son to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts today to see the Treasures of Ancient Egypt: Sunken Cities exhibit. It was our son's first visit there, but the Missus and I were there (and I got a great picture) on August 22.
Destroyed by natural catastrophes in the 8th century AD, Thonis-Heracleion and Canopus were once large, powerful centers of trade and religion. Egyptian and Greek cultures merged art, worship, and everyday life in these cities.
In the late 90s, these two significant ancient Egyptian cities, swallowed up by the Mediterranean more than a millennium ago and long since forgotten, were rediscovered in the Bay of Abu Qir. An enormous amount of submerged archeological treasure was discovered, much of it almost completely intact. So much was recovered that an almost complete picture of life in those cities was pieced together.
These are statues of Osiris (background) and his wife, Isis. Osiris was killed by his brother, Seth, but he was resurrected by Isis, who bore him a son, Horus. Osiris, Isis and Horus are basically "the big three" (my words) in the ancient Egyptian pantheon.
A good article on the Sunken Cities exhibit can be found here.
Hey Tim - I clicked on your link to the sunken cities article and got this:
451: Unavailable due to legal reasons
We recognize you are attempting to access this website from a country belonging to the European Economic Area (EEA) including the EU which enforces the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and therefore access cannot be granted at this time. For any issues, contact tdcsupport@timesdispatch.com or call 804-644-4181.
@jon_lip Apparently the local newspaper, The Richmond Times-Dispatch, didn't want to bother with meeting the GDPR requirements for privacy...probably too much fuss and bother when Europeans won't want to read about anything happening in the capital of Virginia. Since they didn't bother with it, your web host is required to prevent your access, so why RTD is keeping you out is a mystery. RTD's decision is kind of odd, though, considering that there are so many web service providers outside Europe that automatically set things up to meet the EU requirement.
Treasures of Ancient Egypt: Sunken Cities at VMFA
Colleen Curran
Jul 1, 2020
"The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has reopened its doors with a bang with the blockbuster exhibit “Treasures of Ancient Egypt: Sunken Cities,” which began its run Saturday.
Visitors will see that immediately when they walk into the museum’s atrium and are greeted by Hapy, an 18-foot-tall statue of the god of fertility.
Hapy is the largest stone sculpture of a god ever found in Egypt and weighs over 5 tons. He’s just one of the nearly 300 objects excavated from the lost cities of Canopus and Thonis-Heracleion on view in the exhibit.
“When people come to this exhibition, they’re going to see amazing works of art that reveal the diversity of the ancient world and the ways that the civilizations of Egypt, Greece and Rome interacted and influenced each other more than 2,000 years ago,” said Peter Schertz, curator of the exhibit.
Unlike Babylon or Pompeii, Canopus and Thonis-Heracleion are two fairly unknown cities that vanished sometime around the end of the second century. Experts think the cities were struck by an earthquake and a tsunami before sinking into the sea. The cities were a mystery to many, lost to time. In the late 1700s, pieces of an Egyptian shrine were found, pointing the way for Franck Goddio and a team of underwater archaeologists to uncover the lost underwater cities in the early 2000s.
The exhibit also explores the religion of ancient Egypt and how the culture began to blend with the Greeks and Romans, as they began to conquer Egypt. During the Ptolemaic period, after the death of Alexander the Great, the leaders invented a cult and a god, called Serapis, which combined elements of traditional Egyptian iconography with Greek religion. The new religion bridged the two cultures and brought them together.
Many of the issues explored in the exhibit speak to today, such as cultural appropriation.
“With this exhibit, we can explore how cultures mingle together. We live in an age where culture is very contested. Walls are being put up to protect certain cultures and sometimes to keep other cultures out. Culture always intermingles, and it’s shown here in Egypt,” Schertz said.
Entry into “Sunken Cities” is timed and ticketed to ensure safe physical distancing. Masks are required at the museum. The facilities and campus are cleaned and sanitized daily, with high-touch areas and restrooms cleaned more frequently. Hand-sanitizing stations are available throughout the museum.
After “Sunken Cities” wraps up its VMFA visit, which has been extended until Jan. 18, 2021 and is organized by the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology, the exhibit will return to its home in Egypt."
451: Unavailable due to legal reasons
We recognize you are attempting to access this website from a country belonging to the European Economic Area (EEA) including the EU which enforces the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and therefore access cannot be granted at this time. For any issues, contact tdcsupport@timesdispatch.com or call 804-644-4181.
Don't know what;s going on here??
Treasures of Ancient Egypt: Sunken Cities at VMFA
Colleen Curran
Jul 1, 2020
"The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has reopened its doors with a bang with the blockbuster exhibit “Treasures of Ancient Egypt: Sunken Cities,” which began its run Saturday.
Visitors will see that immediately when they walk into the museum’s atrium and are greeted by Hapy, an 18-foot-tall statue of the god of fertility.
Hapy is the largest stone sculpture of a god ever found in Egypt and weighs over 5 tons. He’s just one of the nearly 300 objects excavated from the lost cities of Canopus and Thonis-Heracleion on view in the exhibit.
“When people come to this exhibition, they’re going to see amazing works of art that reveal the diversity of the ancient world and the ways that the civilizations of Egypt, Greece and Rome interacted and influenced each other more than 2,000 years ago,” said Peter Schertz, curator of the exhibit.
Unlike Babylon or Pompeii, Canopus and Thonis-Heracleion are two fairly unknown cities that vanished sometime around the end of the second century. Experts think the cities were struck by an earthquake and a tsunami before sinking into the sea. The cities were a mystery to many, lost to time. In the late 1700s, pieces of an Egyptian shrine were found, pointing the way for Franck Goddio and a team of underwater archaeologists to uncover the lost underwater cities in the early 2000s.
The exhibit also explores the religion of ancient Egypt and how the culture began to blend with the Greeks and Romans, as they began to conquer Egypt. During the Ptolemaic period, after the death of Alexander the Great, the leaders invented a cult and a god, called Serapis, which combined elements of traditional Egyptian iconography with Greek religion. The new religion bridged the two cultures and brought them together.
Many of the issues explored in the exhibit speak to today, such as cultural appropriation.
“With this exhibit, we can explore how cultures mingle together. We live in an age where culture is very contested. Walls are being put up to protect certain cultures and sometimes to keep other cultures out. Culture always intermingles, and it’s shown here in Egypt,” Schertz said.
Entry into “Sunken Cities” is timed and ticketed to ensure safe physical distancing. Masks are required at the museum. The facilities and campus are cleaned and sanitized daily, with high-touch areas and restrooms cleaned more frequently. Hand-sanitizing stations are available throughout the museum.
After “Sunken Cities” wraps up its VMFA visit, which has been extended until Jan. 18, 2021 and is organized by the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology, the exhibit will return to its home in Egypt."