Robert and Francis Fullerton Museum

 

The world of ancient Egypt never really interested me while growing up. I was more interested in American history, since that was where I lived and it was a lot cheaper to travel to Topeka, Kansas than to Cairo, Egypt.

“That’ll be forty bucks for the Greyhound,” a ticket person would state. “Or five gazillion dollars to fly across the world to a land of the never-ending desert.”

I already lived in a desert, so I chose the bus to Topeka.

It was not until I viewed a documentary about Egypt that my attention turned around in considering the ancient Egyptians as some of the most advanced folks that have ever populated this earth.

The year I watched the documentary is not important, plus it ages me, but I will never forget the impact it had on me from that point on.

Professor Steven Martin stood on a stage and sang a song about the ancient Pharaoh Tutankhamun – the boy king. Tutankhamun died at the age of 18 years old and his tomb in the Valley of the Kings went undiscovered for over 3,000 years. The treasure-laden tomb was located in 1922 by Howard Carter, an esteemed and wily archaeologist. 

One poignant moment in Professor Martin’s televised lecture was when he sang, ‘How’d you get so funky – did you do the monkey?’

That had a major impact on me with regard to ancient Egypt.

“There’s an Egyptian exhibit at the Robert and Francis Fullerton Art Museum at Cal State, do you want to go?” I asked Laureen.

This Cal State was the California State University of San Bernardino – in case anyone was confused since there are 23 such campuses spread up and down the state of California.

“What sort of exhibit?”

“I guess they have a bunch of stuff dating back a longtime ago in Egypt,” I replied. “A lot about the Egyptian afterlife.”

“You’re not going to dance, are you?”

I thought of Professor Martin, and hoped he would not be disappointed. “No.”

The ancient Egyptians, from my research put a lot of thought into what happened when they died.

Laureen Beyer studying a cartouche

The ‘afterlife’ was really a part of their ‘present life’ since so much thought was put into when they would pass from this realm and into the next.

According to something I read in some Australian archeology magazine: ‘The ancient Egyptians believed that when they died, their spiritual body would continue to exist in an afterlife very similar to their living world. However, entry into this afterlife was not guaranteed. The dead had to negotiate a dangerous underworld journey and face the final judgment before they were granted access.’

That sounded rather ominous to me.

“Yeah, it’s just like your current life, but when you die you gotta travel though all kinds of nasty things with big teeth trying to eat you or getting squirted with a green Jell-O like substance.”

The British Museum had an exhibit referred to as, ‘Ancient Egypt: Secrets of the Afterlife’.

Which really is not much of a secret since it stated that ‘the exhibit would cover everything from the process of mummification and ancient canopic jars used to store the different organs of the body, to mummy masks created only for the wealthiest, which helped a person’s soul find their way back to their body in the afterlife.’

In all transparency, Laureen and I have visited the British Museum, the Louvre, the Museo Egizio, and other places that house ancient Egyptian artifacts. It was all very interesting, but my main point in visiting these museums was to have my photograph taken next to an embalmed Egyptian, so I could ask, “Are you, my mummy?”

For the sci-fi nerds like my wife, that reference was from an episode of ‘Doctor Who.’

The Robert and Francis Fullerton Art Museum is located in the northeast section of the University of California, San Bernardino. A short walk from the parking lot to the west, and if you get there at the right time and correct day, you won’t have to pay for parking.

There is nothing special to the building, a large windowed cement block structure but what it lacks on the exterior is made up for in the interior.

This whole Art Museum is a treasure trove of not only the ancient Egyptian thingies we went to look at but there are rooms full of modern art work, some from the very students who attend the university currently.

There were paintings of this and that; a couple of metal horns facing each other and giggling, a pair of sunglasses on a red background, a blank canvass with a red a tie, a green light bulb attached to a board, a guy with no head and so much more. 

It was enthralling and quite the experience.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Art,” Laureen replied.

And I thought Picasso was hard to understand.

The Egyptian exhibit came into view, and what a view.

Glass case after glass case holding objects that were lost for eons, and here they were now for everyone to see.

Well, for everyone to see if that meant the Inland Empire.

Getting a person ready for burial in ancient Egypt was not for the timid. Usually, the whole mummification process took 70 days to complete and was reserved for the rich. After the person died, they would receive all kinds of attention, like having their innards taken out and stored in ‘canopic’ jars, which would be placed near their sarcophagus.

I did learn something that was really cool. A video at the museum explained which parts of the innards were reserved for the canopic jars after death.

It was not a hit and miss slitting and sliding out of organs and tossing here and there. Nope, there was a method to this measure.

The video referred to it as ‘SILL’, Spleen, Intestines, Lung, Liver. These were the organs the ancient Egyptians carefully removed from the deceased and placed gently into the ceramic canopic jars. 

Brains were tossed to the wayside, since the early Egyptian doctors had no idea what the brain was utilized for.

Sounds like some of our politicians, but I digress.

The heart, it was left in the body since the Egyptians believed this was where wisdom and love emanated from.

‘My heart belongs to you, but please leave it within me since without it I will be an unfeeling doddering and drooling old ghost in the afterlife.’

That was supposedly carved into a cartouche on a pharaoh’s cartouche around 1,300 BC.

We wandered the rooms full of ancient treasures.

There were cartouches, sarcophagus lids, jars full of ancient food items, burial items from small buttons to sew on the outer clothing of the deceased to large beautifully hammered metal chest plates.

Items to adorn a tomb or mummy

Being in this room, with pieces found in ancient tombs was really a sobering experience for both Laureen and me. 

Here were items that had once adorned folks that had died eons ago, and now were we walking from glass case to glass case in wonder at the unbelievable craftsmanship that took place in creating these pieces. 

Items found in various burial sites

A pair of 3,000-year-old playing dice made of wood stared up at us. It was as if a dealer in Las Vegas could use those very dice today, since the numbers were so distinct. What appeared to be a pawn from a modern chess piece sat beside them. I could imagine losing to Laureen at that moment utilizing that piece in my demise.

Rolling the dice

One item I found fascinating was a severed hand of a mummy. I am sure the mummy, if it were around and could speak, would counter my fascination.

“That’s my hand, and you have no business having it in a museum without the rest of me. All I want is my hand to make a handstand, and wouldn’t that be grand?”

Even the rings that bejeweled the severed hand are on display, on the hand itself.

Mummified hand with rings

Laureen bypassed that exhibit.

But one she did not bypass was the one of ancient Egyptian jewelry. Two glass cases revealing marvelous examples of delicately stringed jewelry for the neck and the wrists – along with a few rings.

Some nice jewlery

“You know, Mother’s Day is coming soon,” she said.

There was a large cartouche, hope I have that right, showing a parade of Kings walking into the afterlife. Each pharaoh looked pretty happy, or pretended to be, walking behind each other into the uncertainty of the life after death.

John Beyer pondering the line of Pharaohs

I pondered that a moment or two. 

The entire museum is worth a visit if a person is into ancient Egyptian artifacts. But, who is not with such hits as Indiana Jones, the Mummy, or John’s Hesitancy for Marching into the Afterlife.

This is a place to explore – and don’t forget to dress the part, it will do the soul a lot of good.

 

Easter Eggs

Easter is one of the most recognized Holy Days or Holidays throughout the world - be that if a person is religious or not. And with Easter comes the idea of hiding colored eggs for little children to search for before screaming in delight at the discovery of one of those elusive little treasures.

Hiding eggs or just sort of CREEPY?

An Easter egg is something to marvel about.when looked closely at with an artists eye. The decorative talent, the colors of paints but the question why would someone spend so much time illuminating an egg is always there.  It's that very thing - the why, the how, the when questions which are constantly driving a researcher.

Questions abound within the minds of explorers and thus J and L did a little of their own research on this subject.

Colored ostrich eggs of at least 60,000 years have been found in Africa. For what purpose is still being debated.

Talent from 60,000 years ago - okay recently but . . . 

Early Mesopotamia and Egyptian people looked upon eggs as being associated with birth and death. Five thousand years ago the Sumerians and Egyptians placed golden eggs within tombs as a reminder of the rebirth after death.

Okay - not an egg but a nice watch - it is gold though

Sumerian death golden egg - not a Rolex but cool anyway 

The idea for Christians to use painted or colored eggs during Easter came from a story - some say a myth at the time of the death of Jesus Christ. As Jesus was dying on the cross Mary, his mother supposedly brought a basket of eggs and laid them at the foot of the cross where her son was crucified. Drops of his blood spilled down staining the eggs red. The early Christians celebrated coloring eggs red after that as a memory of his sacrifice for humankind.

Red - the color of blood

Around 1610, and some researchers believe earlier, the Christian Church officially recognized the painted eggs as the sign of resurrection of Jesus Christ. From there the eggs became more and more decorated through the ages.

During Lent (the forty days prior to the resurrection of Jesus) many people fast as a show of penance. The idea is simple - if Jesus gave his life for all of us surely I can give up something meaningful to show my respect. But the forty days of giving up something can weigh on a person and many can not make it resurrection Sunday.

The term Mardi Gras actually refers to the last day before giving up rich and fatty foods. And what does one usually have related to rich and fatty foods (like cakes, sweets and every desert our doctors complain about us eating) - eggs. Chickens unfortunately do not fast from producing eggs. At the end of the forty days there are a lot of eggs laying around and should not be wasted.

I  like  Fat Tuesday - not saying I'm fat but you gotta love the beads

So, there is a great idea - color them, hide them, hunt them, and eat them. No sense in wasting eggs but they do have to be eaten quickly!

But there are still current traditions.

Even today in the country of Romania the practice of keeping gaily painted eggs within a household still stands. They, the eggs, will deter evil spirits from invading the abode and provide assurance of good luck.

We hate eggs - you're safe . . .  unless you have some good Salsa!

In the town of Haux in France on Easter Monday a huge omelet is served in the town square which feeds up to 1,000 people. Over forty-five hundred eggs are used - that's a lot of eggs!

They want hash browns too - you've gotta be kidding!

And of course in the good old U.S.A. there is the Easter egg roll on the south lawn of the White House. Rolling hard boiled eggs with a wooden spoon doesn't sound like fun but it is for the folks, mainly little ones, who partake in this annual tradition.

Drop the spoon and just run!!! There's a big bunny after you!

So the Easter Egg has been around a very long time in many traditions but the point is that it is an important aspect of a day respected world wide.

No matter the reason you and your family decorate the little creation from a chicken just enjoy the thought behind it - no matter what that thought would be.

Happy Easter from J and L.

Egypt's Glory