Meditations of Galleries 101-103


 Gallery 101-103

It is appropriate to begin my mediations at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the Egyptian galleries.  Egypt is arguably the beginning of western civilization and according to the Torah there is always an Egypt in our life.  This concept which I first heard as a very young child during the Passover seder may have begun my fascination with Egypt and it's many beauties and histories.  The many theologies of Egypt range across all human examples:  many gods, one God, life after death, the weighing of our life on scales to see if our heart and a feather are equal and we will be able to enter the afterlife.

There are many beautiful objects in this gallery but I spent the most time with the Hippo goddess referenced as a small statue with a woman's body, a hippo head and a long crocodile tail in back.  This combination of human and animal traits suggested that we all have these many aspects to our life.

 According to the Met website The objects in this room record the early history of people in the Nile Valley beginning around 300,000 B.C. through the time of Egypt’s first pharaohs, whose last king died about 2700 B.C.  Most pieces were excavated from burials and were items that people believed necessary for the next life.


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