Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Museum, Museums outside Egypt · also called Ashmolean, Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, Oxford Ashmolean

The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford holds some of the earliest royal writing from Egypt, found at Hierakonpolis in 1897 to 1899: the Narmer and Scorpion maceheads and a seated statue of Khasekhem. Two thousand years later in date, a sandstone shrine of the Kushite king Taharqa from Kawa in Nubia stands whole in the gallery, its walls covered in his name.

Point your camera at the signs

Signs to look for

Scorpion L7srqt The scorpion beside a rosette on the Scorpion Macehead is read by most scholars as the king's name.
Catfish K8nꜥr The catfish is nꜥr, the first sign of Narmer's name in the serekh on his macehead.
Chisel U23ꜣb The chisel is mr, the second sign of Narmer. It sits under the catfish in the serekh.
Falcon G5ḥr The falcon of Horus stands on top of every early king's serekh, on the maceheads and on the statue of Khasekhem.
Sekhem sceptre S42sḫm The sekhem sceptre means power and writes Khasekhem's name on the base of his seated statue.
Mouth D21r The mouth is r, in Taharqa's cartouche on the walls of his shrine.
Cartouche V10 The cartouche rings Taharqa's names on the shrine. On the maceheads, a thousand years earlier, kings wrote no cartouche yet.

Names you can find here

The story of Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

The Egyptian collection grew with British excavations of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and much of it has a known findspot. Since November 2011 it has filled six Ancient Egypt and Sudan galleries on the ground floor, built around the Taharqa shrine, which was too heavy to move.

The first gallery, Egypt at its Origins, shows how writing began. James Quibell and Frederick Green dug at Hierakonpolis, the town of the falcon god Horus, from 1897 to 1899 and found a deposit of temple offerings: maceheads, palettes, ivories and the Narmer Palette, which went to Cairo. On the Narmer macehead the king's name stands in a serekh, the palace front under the falcon, the same way it is written on the palette. Nearby stand two colossal limestone statues of the god Min from Koptos, among the oldest large stone sculptures known.

Later galleries carry the story through the Middle and New Kingdoms to Nubia. A painted wall fragment from Amarna shows the daughters of Akhenaten and Nefertiti at their parents' feet. The shrine of Taharqa closes the walk: built around 680 BC for Amun at Kawa, taken apart and brought to Oxford in 1936, and rebuilt on a foundation two metres deep.

Inscriptions to see

Narmer Macehead

A limestone macehead from the main deposit at Hierakonpolis (AN1896-1908 E.3631). Narmer sits under a canopy in the red crown, his name in a serekh with the falcon on top. The register below counts the spoils: 120,000 captives, 400,000 cattle and 1,422,000 goats.

Scorpion Macehead

A ceremonial macehead about five times the size of a working one, found in pieces at Hierakonpolis and put back together (AN1896-1908 E.3632). A king in the white crown holds a hoe, with a scorpion and a rosette before his face, read as his name. He is often placed just before Narmer, though scholars still debate it.

Two Dog Palette

A siltstone palette from the same deposit (AN1896-1908 E.3924), about 42 cm tall. Two dogs frame its top and real and fabulous animals hunt across both faces. It carries no writing, and comes from the generation of carvers just before the first royal names.

Shrine of Taharqa

A sandstone shrine from the temple of Amun at Kawa in Nubia (AN1936.661), the largest Egyptian building standing in Britain. Its reliefs show Taharqa making offerings to Amun and other gods, with his cartouche beside each figure of the king.

Amarna princesses

Part of a painted wall from Amarna (AN1893.1-41.267), found by Flinders Petrie in 1891 and 1892. Two small daughters of Akhenaten and Nefertiti sit on cushions at the feet of their parents, whose figures are mostly lost.

Reading the hieroglyphs here

The maceheads are round and carved low. Walk around the case and read one strip of the scene at a time, holding the phone square to it.
On the Taharqa shrine, the cartouches sit at about head height beside each figure of the king. Stand back a step so the whole ring fits in the box.
Painted fragments and small objects rotate or go on loan, and one of the Min statues has been away on loan, so check before you go if you want to see one piece.

Hiero Lens boxes the signs and names them, on your phone; nothing is uploaded. On worn stone, trace a sign over the photo.

Questions

What Egyptian objects are in the Ashmolean?

The best known are the Narmer and Scorpion maceheads, the Two Dog Palette and other finds from Hierakonpolis, a seated statue of the 2nd Dynasty king Khasekhem, the colossal Min statues from Koptos, the painting of Akhenaten's daughters from Amarna and the shrine of Taharqa from Kawa.

Is the Narmer Palette in the Ashmolean?

No. It was found at Hierakonpolis in the same dig and is in Cairo. The Ashmolean has the Narmer Macehead from that deposit, with the king's name written in a serekh as on the palette.

Can you see hieroglyphs at the Ashmolean?

Yes. The earliest royal names are on the maceheads and the statue of Khasekhem, and the walls of the Taharqa shrine are covered in carved texts and cartouches from about 680 BC.

Where it is

Open in OpenStreetMap · Written from published sources and not yet checked on site by our team: displays and open tombs change.