Leave no Stone, or Toe, Unturned

Leave no Stone, or Toe, Unturned

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Published on

02.03.2022


Photography Courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art

Finger and Toe Stalls

Three Foreign Wives

Who is Thutmose III?

Egypt’s Ancient Rulers

Gold Sandals and Toe Stalls by an unknown maker
Thebes, Egypt, c. 1479–1425 BC
New Kingdom, reign of Thutmose III


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These gold sandals and toe stalls housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art were once part and parcel to the lavish funerary accessories of an Egyptian queen during the reign of Thutmose III in the mid 18th Dynasty.

 

Gold was everything to the ancient Egyptians who believed that the flesh of gods was made of gold, their bones made of silver and hair made of lapis lazuli. Gold was considered a beacon for immortality, eternity and divinity. The sun god Ra was often referred to as a mountain of gold. The Royal Tomb was known as the “House of Gold.” The pharaohs of the Old Kingdom were called the “Golden Horus.”

 

Egyptian finger and toe stalls fashioned from gold were common to the 18th Dynasty of Egypt and were used to protect the digits of the deceased during burial, especially from “magical dangers.”

 

The gilded accoutrements were found in Thebes at Wadi Gabbanat el-Qurud in the Tomb of the Three Foreign Wives of Thutmose. Similar gold sandals were found on the mummy of Tutankhamun or “Tut,” one of Thutmose’s descendents who ruled at the end of the same dynasty. These gold sandals, however, were practically a fleck compared to King Tut’s sarcophagus weighing in at 110kg of pure gold and valued at over $6 million.

 

Menhet, Menwi and Merti were three foreign-born wives of pharaoh Thutmose III who were buried in an impeccable rock-cut tomb with the finest dressings in the southwest valley near Luxor. Each of the ladies were given the title of King’s Wife, although they likely had minor roles as part of the royal harem. It is unknown whether each of the wives is related to one another, as the faces on the lids of their canopic jars are largely unidentical.

 

Some of the treasures found within their tombs include the gold sandals and toe stalls, gold diadems, carnelian and glass bracelets and a collection of vessels. Each of their bracelets is inscribed with the cartouche of Thutmose III. Cartouches were hieroglyphs made up of an oval and a line at one end, which indicated that any enclosed text referred to a royal name. The ancient Egyptian word for cartouche was shenu, and the cartouche could be likened to an expanded shen ring. The word shen itself meant encircle and the shen ring was symbolic of eternal protection.

Egyptian finger and toe stalls fashioned from gold were common in the 18th Dynasty of Egypt and were used to protect the digits of the deceased during burial, especially from “magical dangers.”

New Kingdom, reign of Thutmose III, from c. 1479 – 1425 BC

L. 26.4 cm; W. 10 cm; W. at heel 7 cm

Other objects found in the tomb include Hathor decorated gold, silver and glass mirrors. The tomb was exquisitely furnished, although none of the three queens were adorned with vulture-themed headdresses common amongst senior queens.

 

King Thutmose III himself is known by historians as the “Napoleon of Egypt” as he was a force to be reckoned with who led Egypt on a trajectory of becoming a conquering nation. Only a few months after taking the reign, Thuthmose III commandeered an army of 20,000 into Megiddo, lo-cated in modern-day Israel—and better known by its Greek name, Armageddon. Scribes who trav-elled with King Thutmose III recorded every painstaking detail of the march to Megiddo, which be-came known as the Annals of Thutmose III.

 

Ancient Thebes, known as Waset to ancient Egyptians and Luxor today, was the capital of Egypt during the reign of the Middle Kingdom (2040 to 1750 B.C.) and the new Kingdom (circa 1550 to 1070 B.C.). It is home to some of the most profound landmarks of ancient history, honoring the living, the underworld and the realm of the gods.

King Thutmose III is known by historians as the “Napoleon of Egypt” as he was a force to be reck-oned with who led Egypt on a trajectory of becoming a conquering nation.

Luxor Temple has acquired the same magnitude and gravitas as the Sphinx and Pyramids at Giza with its many columns and statues of Ramses II that soar high above the compound. The temple was built around 1500 to 1200 B.C., although Tutankhamun and Alexander the Great expanded the premises over the years with their own emblems. The temple was dedicated to Amun for his rank as a fertility god and was central to the annual Opet Festival of royal renewal.

 

The Valley of the Kings is famously known for the tomb of Tutankhamun and its extraordinary gems unearthed by Howard Carter in 1922. The 21st dynasty witnessed a great deal of looting, alt-hough Tut’s tomb remained nearly unblemished. The valley housed winding underground struc-tures with chambers and secret passageways adorned with paintings and ornate decorations and furnishings to elevate the afterlife to the marvels of the living world. The Valley of the Queens, on the other hand, is home to 90 tombs of queens, princes and other royal figures from the New King-dom.

 

Gold sandals and toe stalls by an unknown maker from Thebes, Egypt, Wadi Gabbanat el-Qurud, Wadi D, Tomb of the Three Foreign Wives of Thutmose III.

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