My name is Kelly L. (Parden me for not including my last name, I am afraid that I do not feel comfortable with giving that out over the internet), I am US Citizen and I am currently a student at Red Rocks Community College, Colorado. At this moment I am taking a fast track class on Early Civilizations and I was assigned a project that is due on September 23.
My project is on Ancient Egypt and I am currently looking for some information, that I hope you can help me with. The information that I am looking for, I can not find on the internet and I am at a loss as to where to look for it. The information for my report that I am in need of, are details on the Crook and Flail used by the Pharaohs of Egypt. The same ones that are pictured with the God Osiris. The information that I am in need of is: details on the size (length, width and so forth) of each, colors, material used in making them, any kind of markings or other details that are not noted on websites and the pictures that I have seen so far.
Sadly I haven't been able to get much in the way of details, except for the gold color and what appears to me as beads, but I am unable to see for sure. I want to include these things in my report as the Crook and Flail play a major role in my project.
I am hoping that maybe you can help me with this task or perhaps point me in the right direction. Thank you so much for you time and aid in what ever you can do for me!
Sincerely,
Star
Dr. F's Email -
Dear Star,
As I am sure that you are aware from your research that the crook and flail are insignias of kingship, and are carried mainly by kings, but some gods may carry flails too. Although these implements are placed on the coffins of kings and sometimes inserted in statuary, in these cases they are considered to be only models of the crook and flail. Although often made of precious metals, they may not have been robust enough for use in real life. For example, a crook, which is derived from the wooden cane used by shepherds to control their sheep, in the model is often shown gold plated and reinforced with blue copper bands.
The only 'real' examples of these pieces of royal regalia that we know were definitely 'used' by the king in his life, come from the tomb of Tutankhamun. In addition to the 3 sets of model crooks and flails that were placed on his three coffins, (made of sheet gold, dark blue faience and polychrome glass and carnelian) 3 crooks and 2 flails from his possession in life were also found in the tomb (in the Antechamber and the Treasury).
The crooks are made up of cylindrical sections of ark blue glass, obsidian and gold mounted onto a copper alloy rod.
They are repectively: 33.5cm or 13 1/4 inches long; 43cm or 16 7/8inches long; and 43.5 or 17 1/8 inches long.
The flails, originally either shephard's whips or tools for harvesting agricultural produce and incense gum were probably originally made of wood (handle) and leather. The ones from Tutankhamen had a similar construction as the crooks but the beads were made of gilded wood. They are 43.5cm or 17 1/8inches long and 33.5cm or 13 1/4inches long.
The 2 smaller crooks are inscribed on the gold cap placed at the base of the handle. One has the name of Tutankhaten in cartouche, showing that it was owned and used by Tut when he was a boy and before he changed his name later in life. The other bears his later name. These are the only inscriptions on them.
This information has been obtained from
Nicholas Reeves, The Complete Tutankhamun, Thames and Hudson, London, 1990. page 153.
and
G. Graham, 'Insignias in' The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, edited by Donald B. Redford. Oxford University Press 2001. p. 164-5.
I hope this answers your questions for your project. Best of luck with your research.
Sincerely
Dr. F.
Curator
Dept of Ancient Egypt and Sudan
As you can see,I also dropped both emails addresses and the name of the curator, using only the first initial of the last name. Need to respect that privacy thing! *winks*