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I took a trip to the Museum of Fine Arts on Friday, to take part in prototype testing for a touchscreen display they're working on for the new American wing. The weather was unseasonably warm, so I walked from Kenmore down through the Fells. Saw the tallest river grass I'd ever seen (15'), tuft-tipped, and a huge raptor (a golden eagle, I think) ripping apart the tattered remains of a squirrel close above me, on the lowest branch of a tree. Prototype testing was fun and informative, and they're sending me a $75 gift card in gratitude. (Thanks to Michael B. for referring me!)
Most importantly, I learned that the MFA wasn't nearly as inaccessible as I'd thought (only a 15 minute walk from Kenmore, and thus 40 minutes from my front door). Since this was a free-admission-for-Bank-of-America-members weekend I went back again today. I spent most of my 90 minutes in the special exhibition: the tomb of Djehutynakht, a 4000-year-old Egyptian nobleman. His tomb had been raided by thieves, who set his and his wife's mummies on fire after looting the place; only one head remains, but thankfully the fire didn't spread, so we have most of the contents of the tomb to look at. Of which there were many.
For Egyptians, burying someone was like packing their RV to go on a long trip: models of everything they might need on the journey through the underworld, from plucked geese to spears to spare shoes to servants to carry it all, were buried along with them, along with backup drawings, in case some of the things got lost. On the inside wall of the innermost sarcophagus, like an ancient AAA, they drew a map of the two winding paths through the underworld for the dead soul to consult, marked with the demons he would encounter along the way:
Most importantly, I learned that the MFA wasn't nearly as inaccessible as I'd thought (only a 15 minute walk from Kenmore, and thus 40 minutes from my front door). Since this was a free-admission-for-Bank-of-America-members weekend I went back again today. I spent most of my 90 minutes in the special exhibition: the tomb of Djehutynakht, a 4000-year-old Egyptian nobleman. His tomb had been raided by thieves, who set his and his wife's mummies on fire after looting the place; only one head remains, but thankfully the fire didn't spread, so we have most of the contents of the tomb to look at. Of which there were many.
For Egyptians, burying someone was like packing their RV to go on a long trip: models of everything they might need on the journey through the underworld, from plucked geese to spears to spare shoes to servants to carry it all, were buried along with them, along with backup drawings, in case some of the things got lost. On the inside wall of the innermost sarcophagus, like an ancient AAA, they drew a map of the two winding paths through the underworld for the dead soul to consult, marked with the demons he would encounter along the way:
[This one's name is] Scowler. Those who are in it are: He whose face is hot; He of the loud voice; Oppressor; Monster; Trembler.Beside the mummy's head, two little red doors are painted, giving the soul a way to get in and out of the coffin; above the doors are eyes, so the soul can look out and see the rising sun. Lists of every item the soul carried into death are neatly incised in tiny hieroglyphics on the walls of the coffins, with tiny pictures of the servants carrying them.
