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Manchester Museum, Egypt and Sudan
Museum, Museums outside Egypt · also called Manchester Museum Egypt, Manchester Museum Egypt and Sudan gallery, Two Brothers Manchester, University of Manchester museum
Manchester Museum's Egypt and Sudan gallery holds the coffins of the Two Brothers, Khnum-nakht and Nakht-ankh, whose painted columns of text name them, their titles and their mother. The stela of the soldier Sebek-khu tells of a campaign under Senusret III.
Point your camera at the signs
Signs to look for
- Stone jug with a handle W9ẖnm The jug with a handle writes Khnum, the ram god in Khnum-nakht's name and title.
- Forearm holding a stick D40 The forearm with a stick ends the word nakht, strong, in both brothers' names.
- Head and neck of a canine F12wsr The head and neck of a canine is wsr in Senusret on Sebek-khu's stela.
- Sedge M23sw The sedge opens the offering formula, an offering that the king gives, on the coffins.
- Bread on an offering mat R4ḥtp Bread on a mat (hotep) follows it in the same formula.
Names you can find here
The story of Manchester Museum, Egypt and Sudan
The collection grew from Petrie's digs, paid for in part by the Manchester cotton merchant Jesse Haworth. In 1890 Haworth and Martyn Kennard gave the finds from Kahun and Gurob, two towns in the Fayum, and a new wing was added for Egypt in 1912. Today the museum holds around 18,000 objects from Egypt and Sudan.
The Two Brothers were found in 1907 in an untouched tomb at Deir Rifeh, south of Asyut, and came to Manchester the same year. They lived in the 12th Dynasty. Their outer box coffins and inner coffins are painted with lines of text, some of them spells known from the Coffin Texts. A DNA study in 2018 found they had the same mother but different fathers.
Sebek-khu's stela was found at Abydos by John Garstang in 1901. Its text tells his life as a soldier and names a place, Sekmem, which is often taken as Shechem in Canaan. It counts as the earliest known record of an Egyptian campaign in that region. The museum closed for rebuilding in 2021 and reopened in February 2023.
Inscriptions to see
Coffins of the Two Brothers
Khnum-nakht was a wab priest of Khnum, and Nakht-ankh's title calls him son of a governor. Both coffins name their mother, Khnum-aa, lady of the house.
Stela of Sebek-khu
Limestone, from Abydos, of the reign of Senusret III (Manchester 3306). The king's name and the story of the campaign are carved in neat Middle Kingdom signs. Check before you go whether it is on display.
Objects from Kahun
Tools, toys and household things from the town of the workers who built the pyramid of Senusret II at Lahun.
Reading the hieroglyphs here
- The coffin texts run in long horizontal bands and vertical columns. Use the live camera along a band and let it fill in sign by sign.
- Painted signs on wood read well in the camera. The carving on the stela is small, so step close and trace a sign when the reading is unsure.
- Human remains and single objects are sometimes moved off display. Check before you go.
Hiero Lens boxes the signs and names them, on your phone; nothing is uploaded. On worn stone, trace a sign over the photo.
Questions
Who were the Two Brothers at Manchester Museum?
Khnum-nakht and Nakht-ankh, two men of the 12th Dynasty buried together at Deir Rifeh. Their coffins call them brothers and name the same mother. DNA later showed they were half-brothers.
Does Manchester Museum have mummies?
Yes. The Egypt and Sudan collection includes human and animal mummies and their coffins. The museum asks visitors how human remains should be shown, and some have been taken off display.
What is the Sebek-khu stela?
A Middle Kingdom stela from Abydos with the life of the soldier Sebek-khu, who served Senusret III. It holds the earliest known record of an Egyptian campaign in Asia. The place it names, Sekmem, is often read as Shechem.
Where it is
Open in OpenStreetMap · Written from published sources and not yet checked on site by our team: displays and open tombs change.