Pepper* - So worth risking the curse.

So worth risking the curse.

Jan. 17th, 2008 at 2:57 PM

Wow. Amazing. Completely worth it. I wasn't disappointed at all by the absence of Tutankhamun's famous mask –the collection was huge and gorgeous enough on its own. I did have a few Stargate squees, mainly at the canopic jars, but mostly I was just awestruck by how amazing these things looked – how precious and detailed. Some museum exhibits look as though they'd have been about as precious to their owners as my tea mug is to me – they're fascinating because, to someone X amount of years ago, they were ordinary. This stuff, though, had the look of objects that someone would want to take with them into the afterlife. Ceremonial, elegant, beautiful. On the whole, of no practical use.

It was a very odd feeling to look at 3,200-year-old brushstrokes on one of the painted boats. There's an strange feeling of connection when you look at something painted and see where the line wobbles slightly because their hand got tired, or because someone spoke to them, or because they lost focus for a moment, thinking about what was for dinner. The items that were flawless were completely amazing, but there's something human about those tiny errors.

Having said that, I think the item I loved most was this long-handled fan:

It doesn't look like a fan, but it has holes all around the top edge that would originally have held ostrich feathers. The scene on this side is of Tutankhamun hunting ostriches, and on the reverse is him returning home in triumph, his servants carrying the ostriches he's killed. What I love most about it is the Egyptian habit of putting legs on things. In the left corner, just about visible in this picture, is a tiny ankh, with little legs, running along behind Tut's carriage with a long-handled fan.

(Years ago, I went to Egypt. I asked about one particular hieroglyph on a pillar somewhere, a little feather with legs, and was told that the feather is an 'i' sound, and the legs mean that it's an "active" word. The little legs are on this page – D 54 and 55. The feather is H6.)

I stayed for two hours. I would have stayed for longer, but it was after work, mid-week, with a long journey home. (And they're stiffing us on the DVD price, Aurora - £25! Sucks. I got one anyway.)

Oh, and has anyone ever included shabti in a fic? I'm sure I vaguely remember having read something with them... They're little figures, put in a tomb to do the dead person's work in the afterlife.

If not, they should totally be written about. As should some Goa'uld skilled workers (scientists, like the woman in Double Jeopardy, or killers, like the Ashrak). And Jack's reaction to people who think the Air Force is soft (as in majorsamfan's recent post). And the fact that Abydos (as in the real-life place in Egypt) is associated principally with Osiris. Just putting these ideas out there, for anyone to grab...

A few last pics – the stopper of a canopic jar (the jar itself is missing, I guess – hah!), an unguent jar with Tut personified as a lion with an adorable pink tongue, and a box in the shape of a cartouche, with Tut's name on.