'Tomb 10A' lets you look history right in the face
There are some things that bring the ancient Egyptians closer to us, and some that make them seem further away. Their religious beliefs, for instance, can be dauntingly arcane. And hieroglyphics, too, are hard to parse. But when Djehutynakht, a governor in Middle Kingdom Egypt, informs us that he has no wish to spend eternity eating his own excrement, I think we can all relate.
There were other things Djehutynakht (pronounced “Je-hooty-knocked’’) was adamant he would rather not do for all time, such as standing on his head. And here again, I’m in utter sympathy: “[T]o be upside down is my detestation,’’ he informs us in a passage of script that can be found on the inside of the outer coffin in which he was buried.
On the other hand, carousing, drinking, and eating were all on his list of activities to look forward to in the hereafter.
There is something very moving about the intensity of the ancient Egyptians’ desire not to be forgotten, not to vanish into dust, and indeed to thrive in the afterlife. The Museum of Fine Arts tries, in its own way, to honor this desire with its excellent new show, “The Secrets of Tomb 10A: Egypt 2000 BC.’’
The museum is also trying to right some historical wrongs, beginning with the desecration of Djehutynakht’s tomb by ancient robbers, which left it in a state of utter chaos. But it may also be making amends for its own neglect: Most of the tomb’s contents, which were recovered by archeologists and brought to Boston almost a century ago, have been left to languish in storage ever since.
“The Secrets of Tomb 10A’’ is a fascinating prototype of the kind of exhibition we are likely to see much more of at major museums in the future. Thanks to steadily rising insurance and transportation costs, loan-heavy shows like the MFA’s recent “Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice’’ are getting more and more difficult to mount.
As a result, museum directors will have to draw on their permanent collections for temporary exhibitions. Curators have been coming under increasing pressure to find new and inventive ways to showcase what they already have.
Read entire article at Boston.com
There were other things Djehutynakht (pronounced “Je-hooty-knocked’’) was adamant he would rather not do for all time, such as standing on his head. And here again, I’m in utter sympathy: “[T]o be upside down is my detestation,’’ he informs us in a passage of script that can be found on the inside of the outer coffin in which he was buried.
On the other hand, carousing, drinking, and eating were all on his list of activities to look forward to in the hereafter.
There is something very moving about the intensity of the ancient Egyptians’ desire not to be forgotten, not to vanish into dust, and indeed to thrive in the afterlife. The Museum of Fine Arts tries, in its own way, to honor this desire with its excellent new show, “The Secrets of Tomb 10A: Egypt 2000 BC.’’
The museum is also trying to right some historical wrongs, beginning with the desecration of Djehutynakht’s tomb by ancient robbers, which left it in a state of utter chaos. But it may also be making amends for its own neglect: Most of the tomb’s contents, which were recovered by archeologists and brought to Boston almost a century ago, have been left to languish in storage ever since.
“The Secrets of Tomb 10A’’ is a fascinating prototype of the kind of exhibition we are likely to see much more of at major museums in the future. Thanks to steadily rising insurance and transportation costs, loan-heavy shows like the MFA’s recent “Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice’’ are getting more and more difficult to mount.
As a result, museum directors will have to draw on their permanent collections for temporary exhibitions. Curators have been coming under increasing pressure to find new and inventive ways to showcase what they already have.