Friends of the Carlos Museum joined Dr. Peter Lacovara, Senior Curator of Ancient Egyptian, Nubian and Near Easter Art, for an exclusive tour of Egypt and Jordan. With tour guide and historian, Salah Tawfik, travelers explored some of the region’s most important archeological sites and journeyed down the Nile on a private dahabya, a river-going sailboat, popular between 1920 and 1940.

Joan Dillon described her journey as a "trip of a lifetime," where she was able to "sense the centuries in each pyramid." Salah's rich accounts of each site's significance, highlighted the interplay between mythology and humans in a universe which the ancient Egyptians sought to balance through their supplications to their gods.

The journey began in Cairo with a visit to the last remaining wonders of the ancient world, the Great Pyramid of Khufu, along with other pyramids and tombs of Giza and the fabled Sphinx. In Midan Tahrir, Cairo, travelers explored the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities and toured the ruins of  Memphis, the ancient capital of Egypt in Pharaonic times.

Following Cairo the group flew to  Luxor for a two-day tour of the area's magnificent sites. Travelers visited the Temple of Karnak, the largest surviving temple in Egypt, Luxor Temple, and the Luxor Museum, where the some of the greatest treasures discovered are on view, including the mummy believed to be that of Ramesses I, presented to Egypt by the Carlos Museum. The group was also treated to a special tour of Chicago House, headquarters of the University of Chicago's expedition.

The journey through Egypt included a Nile trip from Luxor which ended in Aswan with a visit to the Granite Quarries, the Island temple of the goddess Isis at Philae, and the Nubian Museum, one of the newest and most beautiful museums in Egypt.

A generous and timely donation from the tour participants allowed the Michael C. Carlos Museum to purchase a bronze situla, a pail or bucket that was used for libations offered in the temples.

Situla
Egyptian, Late Period, Dynasty 27-30
Bronze

Situlae are pails or buckets used to carry holy water and other liquids used in religious ceremonies.  They are found throughout the Ancient Near East, Egypt and Nubia and in the Greek and Roman worlds and continue to be used in the Roman Catholic Church. This example is of a type frequently shown on Egyptian temple walls where the king presents a libation to the gods. It takes its shape from a type of pottery amphora with a button base that was tied to a water wheel. This small version is of a type that was left by visitors to temples and sacred sites and was either decorated with scenes of the gods on the exterior or left plain as in this example.
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1. Pyramids Giza and the fabled Sphinx
2. Terry Hynes, Ann Means, and Salah Tawfik
3. Peter Lacovara, Michael Habif, Terry Hynes, Gail K. Habif, Ann Means, Kaki Thurber, Virginia Taylor, Joan L. Dillon, Peter Mayfield, and Annetter Mayfield