Roman Influence

WOMAN PLAYING TYMPANUM (DRUM)

Terracotta

Roman Period (2nd-4th centuries CE)

Fayum, Egypt

Askren Purchase, 1925

KM 3229

and

WOMAN PLAYING TYMPANUM (DRUM)

Terracotta (2nd-4th centuries CE)

Roman Period

Fayum?, Egypt

Gift of P. Ruthven, 1935

KM 6588

Stela of Shemsu, made by his siter Ny

Limestone; Egypt; Middle Kingdom (1991-1783 BCE); 26 cm h., 21.75 cm w., 5.0 cm thickness; Source: Bay View, 1971; Kelsey Museum 71.2.190

Translation: An offering that the king gives [to] Osiris, Lord of Abydos, that he may give invocation-offerings of bread, beer, oxen, fowl, and every good and pure thing upon which a god lives to the spirit of the follower of the Lord of the Two Lands Shemsu. It is his sister who makes his name live: Ny.

http://www.lsa.umich.edu/kelsey. Accessed 7/9/15.

I found that the University of Michigan: The Kelsey Museum of Archaeology was indispensable in Egyptian wordless history.  Their site listed above has had several different exhibits on Egypt alone.  The piece at the top is from the Roman era which I am sure all of us know quite a bit about Roman history; however, the next picture is the one I found most fascinating.  First in the fact of how old it is estimated to be.  For believers in the Bible, as I am, this means this piece is from right around the time of Abraham lifetime.  It is very possible that Abraham would have heard this story or even known Ny.  Putting this artifact in that light, gives a little light on what surrounded Sarah and Abraham when they went to Egypt.