All the way from UCL's Petrie Museum Comes...
The Ring of the Eye of Horus
How did it get here?
In 1884, the amazing William Petrie and his merry gang set out to excavate sites in Egypt, this work has been continued ever since by the Egyptian Exploration Society and we know that this ring was discovered in a house in the city's Northern suburbs during their 1926-1932 excavation. How's that for ambiguous!
It was first given to the Wellcome Collection as part of their share of finds, but after World War 2 was transferred to the ring collection of UCL's Petrie museum where it lives in a small cupboard along with hundreds of other little artefacts.
Do you think the time period when things are discovered is important for the meaning they're given?
How would a ring be percieved in in ancient Egyptian times as opposed to today?
Take a closer look
Amarna Project on Facebook
So what's Amarna?
Want to learn more?
If you want to learn more about the Amarna period and the heretic Pharaoh Akhenaten, check out this great article by Dr. Kate Spence for the BBC HERE
Collection: Grant Museum of Zoology, kept unprotected on the mezzanine floor in the Grant museum (Carnall, 2015; pers. com).
Accession Number: UC24520
Previous object Numbers: no.153752
Inferred date: 1325 BCE
What's so special about this ring then?
About the Aten
So what do you think?
Was the ring a symbol of resistance?
Was having this ring significant a showing you didn't agree with your Pharaoh or just a relic you were given by your mum before you moved house?!
Other Jewelz from Amarna you can see!
The Amarna Revolution
Acknowledgements
With special thanks to UCL Petrie Museum and curator Alice Stevenson, for allowing access and photography of the object.