Egypt in this period had just emerged from an era of devolved power, fragile central government and intermittent warfare between various Egyptian kingdoms, dynasts and petty warlords. It is telling that such sentiments arose in the Middle Kingdom. Two texts from the Middle Kingdom (c.2050-1710 BC) show that, far from striving blindly towards eternal life, there were those who were engaged in critical, even cynical, religious philosophy and thought. Yet, despite this popular view of the Egyptian afterlife, some Ancient Egyptians were highly ambivalent about such beliefs. Likewise, the power-crazed вЂCannibal HymnвЂ™ from the pyramid of the Old Kingdom pharaoh Unas (c.2345-15 BC) reads: вЂThe lifetime of Unas is everlasting, his limit is eternity.вЂ™ ShelleyвЂ™s Ozymandias resonates with the student of Ancient Egypt for a reason.

In вЂThe Great Hymn to the AtenвЂ™, from the reign of the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten (c.1350-35 BC), the pharaohвЂ™s wife Nefertiti is described as вЂliving and youthful for ever and everвЂ™. They desiccated their bodies for use in the afterlife and built pyramids вЂ“ вЂresurrection machinesвЂ™ вЂ“ that would ensure the pharaoh had eternal life by transfiguring him into a star, living on in the night sky forever.ДЄncient Egyptian literature often suggests a similar ethos. The lone and level sands stretchВ far away.ДЄncient Egyptian religion is, in these terms, a naive and narcissistic effort to deny the inexorable predation of time, which strives instead for immortality. Of that colossal Wreck,В boundless and bare Look on my Works, ye Mighty,В and despair! ShelleyвЂ™s Ozymandias, describing an inscription on a shattered, ancient statue, captures this in its coda: But the figurines prove the existence of trade routes that predate Sheshonq IвЂ™s reign, potentially showing that Egypt had not become as isolationist as was previously thought.Ancient Egypt is commonly believed to have been a society enthralled by the notion of eternal life. Despite this, Psusennes was able to import copper from the thriving industry in Arabah, and these ties may have even allowed metal art to flourish in Egypt during this time.ДЄfter Psusennes, Pharaoh Sheshonq I invaded Arabah as part of his Egyptian unification campaign, perhaps in an effort to control the copper supply himself. The Third Intermediate Period was a time of uncertainty and divided rule for Egypt, which faced multiple invasions and political upheaval, with a split kingdom ruled by the Pharaoh in Lower Egypt and a high priest in Upper Egypt. The four royal ushabtis, examined by Ben-Dor Evian and her team, and currently housed at the Israel Museum, were recovered from Tanis, the PharaohвЂ™s capital, and date to the reign of Psusennes I, who ruled from 1056 to 1010 B.C.E.

They were believed to perform any labor required in the afterlife on behalf of the deceased. Ushabtis were common grave goods in ancient Egypt. In said in a statement to ARTnews, she said that the new research shows that, вЂњdespite internal strife within Egypt and the decline of the empires in the ancient near east, Egypt continued to play a significant role in the region.вЂќ Ben-Dor Evian also noted that the research will aid in identifying materials from the Timna and Feynan copper mines that date back to the Third Intermediate Period. Mysterious Figurines Discovered in Iran's 'Burnt City'Д«en-Dor Evian, a curator of Egyptian archaeology at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, collaborated on the project with researchers from Tel Aviv University and Geological Survey of Israel. Earliest Gold-Plated Bronze Buddha Statues Found in China's Shaanxi Province

Egyptian pharaoh