In celebration of International Women's Day, the Egyptian Museum in Cairo is showcasing today three displays in its foyer highlighting the role of women in ancient Egypt.
Elham Salah, head of the Museums Department at the Ministry of Antiquities, explains that the first display is a collection of jewellery that was owned by Queen Keramama, the mother of 23rd dynasty King Osorkon III (8th century BC).
The collection was originally discovered in Tel El-Muqdam (Leontopolis), and includes a necklace with the image of the deity Khnum, a cobra diadem, scarab bracelets, the Eye of Horus, as well as a necklace in the shape of a scorpion with a human head wearing a Hathor headdress.
The second display, which is on show at the third gallery on the museum’s ground floor, is a red quartzite head from a composite statue of Queen Nefertiti, the wife of the 18th dynasty monotheistic King Akhenaten (14th century BC). The artefact was excavated by C. Fisher in 1916 in Mit Rahina.
The third display is a limestone Greek-Roman statuette of a woman that was repatriated from France in 2017.
Museum curator Sabah Abdel-Razek said that the activities of the day include a presentation on a large monitor at the entrance of the museum relaying the history of women in ancient Egypt and their role in various aspects of life, in addition to a free evening guided tour accompanied by museum curators.
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