Quest for Immortality

I went to The Quest for Immortality exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum this week. It is well worth the visit--the largest exhibit from the Egyptian museums since the Treasures of Tut, and (I didn't get to see the Tut show), apparently more eclectic.

I'll say again: go see it if you have the chance. Photos in books aren't the same as seeing things up close at any angle you like.

In younger years I read everything available (not much :-() on ancient Egypt, but I clearly missed a lot. I'd never heard of anything like the sculpture of the resurrecting Osiris: on his belly, with his head raised and an enigmatic smile that for the first time starts to look appropriate.

Curiously the Milwaukee museum doesn't have extensive pictures, but look at National Gallery of Art Slideshows from the Quest for Immortality traveling exhibition. I was grateful for the audio tour since it pointed out details I hadn't thought to look for. This is their transcript of one of the explanations.

Coffin of Paduamen

ALAN SHESTACK: The coffin and mummy board here belonged to a priest named Paduamen. At the right, on the large coffin lid, we see him in the form of a mummy. His hands are crossed on his chest like the god Osiris, lord of the Underworld, for Paduamen hopes to come back to life as Osiris himself did.

DAVID O'CONNOR:In the center of the lid, is the goddess Nut who spreads out her wings to enfold the dead, and protect him from any supernatural danger.

AS: Below, Paduamen and his wife make offerings to the gods.

At the left, the slightly smaller mummy board closely mirrors the decorations on the coffin lid. It would have been placed inside the coffin, directly over the mummy wrappings, adding another layer of physical and magical protection. Here, above the hands, you'll find images of a winged scarab and a sun disk. The scarab represents the rising sun.

At the far left, we look into the bottom part of the coffin. The main figure on it is the winged goddess of the West, representing the entrance to the netherworld.

The underside of the mummy board depicts Maat, goddess of truth and rightness, with ankh signs looped on her arms, the symbol for life. She stands on the hieroglyph for gold, which is also a symbol of the sun. On the reddish-brown interior of the coffin lid, is an image of the mummy god Osiris. You may wonder about his vivid green skin.

DO:It partly has to do with the fact that he's a god of vegetation, because you know, vegetation seems to grow up out of the earth, out of the netherworld, and so the green of Osiris also refers symbolically to the hope of renewed life for the dead.

But look again at the inner mummy board's front. OK, it's easier to do in person rather than looking at the tiny picture on the web. But the face on the inner mummy board is female. If the outer cover is supposed to be Paduamen as Osiris, maybe the inner one is supposed to be Paduamen as Maat? Or perhaps neither one is "Paduamen as".

The bed seemed very flimsy, with fairly shoddy construction. The human-headed lion painted on the back of the boat looked so very Assyrian it startled me--and I think it predates the rise of Assyria somewhat. Over and over: if it looks good, it is good. If it is symbolically there, it is there.

The reconstruction of the tomb of Thutmose III was rather surprising. The ceiling was covered with stars, and the walls with illustrations of the journey of the hours of the night--not in order, and painted in a rather sketchy fashion. Even with the explanation, it was hard to keep the serpents straight, and there were dozens of look-alike gods. I don't know if this was done in a hurry, or if he had some favorite scroll and wanted it reproduced exactly.

Go see it, and wonder for yourself.