I joined Sue for a visit to see the Ramses II exhibition at the Australian Museum.
The exhibition did not open till the earlier afternoon, so we first visited the coastal cliffs at Vaucluse.
I was looking for Nankeen Kestrels and Peregrine Falcons – but had no luck. Here is a Sulphur-crested Cockatoo –
Then we caught the ferry to Circular Quay. It was looking quite stormy – a good day to visit a museum.
The storm hit was we walked from Museum Station to the Museum. Lightning and thunder. We later heard that people sheltering under a tree at the Botanic Gardens had been injured when the the tree was struck by lightning.
The Ramses II exhibition was very interesting. He was perhaps the greatest of the Egyptian pharaohs.
The photo below shows the cartouche of Ramses II –
These are very thin gold foils –
Instead of paper, the Egyptians of the time used rocks as sketching surfaces –
This is an outer coffin –
The symbols of the pharaoh were a flail and a crook –
Jewellery was very intricate –
And the Egyptians had a fondness for cats –
This figure has a cobra head –
Scarab beetle carving –
Mummified cat –
Coffin and coffinettes –
The small coffinettes held the embalmed organs of the person in the coffin. The organs were embalmed separately.
Finger stalls –
Ramses II coffin –
Note the flail and crook, and the cartouche at the bottom.
This was photographed from a video – showing Ramses II embalmed body –
And what he would have looked like.
He died around 90 years of age, and feathered around 100 children with multiple wives.
This was a very interesting and worthwhile exhibition.