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Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Museum, Museums outside Egypt · also called The Met, Met Museum Egyptian Art, Temple of Dendur, Metropolitan Museum Egyptian wing
The Met's Egyptian galleries let you walk through an Old Kingdom tomb chapel and a whole Roman-era temple, the Temple of Dendur, where the emperor Augustus appears as pharaoh with cartouches. The statues of Hatshepsut from her temple at Deir el-Bahari carry her names in full.
The museum dug in Egypt for decades in the early twentieth century, at Thebes, Lisht and elsewhere. A share of the finds came to New York, so many objects here have a known findspot. The galleries run in time order from the entrance chapel to the Temple of Dendur in its glass hall.
Hatshepsut is the strongest thread. The Met's excavators pieced together statues from her temple that had been smashed after her death. Her inscriptions often use feminine forms, yet many statues show her as a male king with a beard. Read the text and the image together and you see how she presented herself as ruler.
Dendur was built c. 15 BC under Augustus. Egypt gave it to the United States in 1965 for its help in saving Nubian monuments from the Aswan dam. It opened in the Met in 1978, in a glass hall of its own.
Inscriptions to see
Temple of Dendur
A small sandstone temple to Isis and two local brothers, Pedesi and Pihor. Augustus makes offerings to the gods, named in cartouches. Visitors in the nineteenth century carved their own names in the stone too.
Mastaba of Perneb
The limestone tomb chapel of an official from Saqqara, at the entrance of the Egyptian wing. The false door and walls carry his name and offering formulas.
Statues of Hatshepsut
Seated, kneeling and sphinx statues from Deir el-Bahari. Her cartouches are carved on the thrones and bases.
Middle Kingdom stelae and coffins
Offering stelae and painted coffins of the Middle Kingdom, with long columns of neat text. They are good practice for the offering formula.
Names you can find here
Signs to look for
- Forepart of a lion F4ḥꜣt The forepart of a lion (hat) opens Hatshepsut's name on her statues.
- Raised arms D28kꜣ The raised arms (ka) are in Maatkare, Hatshepsut's throne name.
- Ankh S34ꜥnḫ The ankh held by the gods in the Dendur reliefs, offered to the emperor.
- Cartouche V10 Cartouches hold Augustus' Egyptian names on the walls of Dendur.
- Bread on an offering mat R4ḥtp Bread on a mat (hotep) opens the offering formula on Perneb's false door.
Reading the hieroglyphs here
- In the Dendur hall, side light from the windows makes the carving easier to read.
- Point the live camera at Perneb's false door: the large carved signs box well and the offering formula repeats.
- Work forward from the earliest rooms, so the signs grow familiar before the temple texts.
Point your camera at a wall Hiero Lens boxes the signs and names them, on your phone; nothing is uploaded. On worn stone, trace a sign over the photo.
Questions
Why is an Egyptian temple in the Met?
It was a gift from Egypt. Its stones were shipped to New York and rebuilt block by block inside the museum.
Who built the Temple of Dendur?
It was built c. 15 BC, under the Roman emperor Augustus, who is shown in its reliefs as a pharaoh making offerings.
Does the Met have statues of Hatshepsut?
Yes, several, in the galleries of the New Kingdom. Look for her names on the thrones and bases.
Where it is
Open in OpenStreetMap · Written from published sources and not yet checked on site by our team: displays and open tombs change.