![]() The designation "magical brick" derives from their rectangular shape, their designation as "brick" in ancient Egyptian texts, and their apotropaic function within the tomb. Placed into niches in the wall or on the floor of the burial chamber, magical bricks protected the deceased at the cardinal directions by warding off potentially dangerous entities. According to the rubric, which provides the manufacturing and placement instructions, four bricks and four amulets set in the bricks were produced for each tomb. Magical bricks were inscribed with selections from Spell 151 of the Book of the Dead. They are made from finely sifted Nile clay and left unbaked, rather unlike your typical architectural sun-baked mud brick. On display in the Oriental Institute Museum are two "magical bricks" from an ancient Egyptian tomb. Blocks from his huge tomb at Thebes are shown elsewhere on this Web page. Diesehebsed was also the sister of Mentuemhat the mayor of Thebes. She was the daughter of Nesptah, who was a Priest of Amun and the Scribe of the Offering Table, indicating that both father and daughter worked for the administration of Amun at Thebes. ![]() Diesehebsed was from one of the most prominent families of Thebes. Another scene of the two women together is known from the Karnak Temple, suggesting that Diesehebsed was a trusted administrator of the God's Wife, who during this period was the virtual ruler of Thebes. Traces of hieroglyphs in the cartouche before the woman to the right identify her as the God's Wife Amunirdis II. She bore the title Singer in the Interior of the Temple of Amun, indicating that she was part of a divine chorus that entertained the god during offering rituals. This block came from the now lost tomb or tomb chapel of a woman named Diesehebsed, who is shown to the left. Today, the Oriental Institute Museum’s Egyptian collection is one of the largest and most complete in the United States. Another important group of approximately 8,000 objects, including our colossal statue of King Tutankhamun, came from the Oriental Institute's excavations at Medinet Habu from 1926 to 1933. These donations were made in exchange for the University of Chicago’s financial sponsorship of their work. In the following years, thousands of objects were received from the Egypt Exploration Fund (now Society) and the British School of Archaeology in Egypt who conducted excavations throughout Egypt. The first significant group of objects was purchased by Oriental Institute founder James Henry Breasted on his honeymoon in Egypt in 1894. The Oriental Institute Museum houses nearly 30,000 artifacts from the Nile Valley that were acquired through archaeological excavations or purchase.
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