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Nile is the world's premier print magazine dedicated to your passion for ancient Egypt. It is smart, punchy and pops with fabulous, high-quality, colour photographs! If you love ancient Egypt then you'll love every bi-monthly issue of NILE Magazine.

05/10/2026

More than 4,400 years old, this portrait still gives us a sense of an extraordinary man whose journey took him from royal hairdresser to the king’s son-in-law.

Ptahshepses began his career at the royal court as a hairdresser and personal servant of the royal family. Eventually, he became a royal confidant and was ultimately appointed to the office
of vizier (prime minister). Finally, Ptahshepses enjoyed the rare privilege of marrying a princess - Khamerernebty - the daughter of the 5th-Dynasty's King Niuserre, who ruled around 2430 B.C.

This red quartzite portrait of Ptahshepses, now in the Grand Egyptian Museum, was discovered by Czech Egyptologists in the pillared court of his sprawling mastaba tomb at Abusir.

Ptahshepses' status and connections saw him building the largest non-royal tomb complex of the Old Kingdom.

Photo: Jeff Burzacott/Nile Magazine

03/10/2026

Another Nile favourite from the Grand Egyptian Museum.

This queen or goddess doesn't have a name, but Ptolemaic queens were often treated as goddesses after their deaths, so she could be both!

Delicately carved from granite, this little figure was discovered at Karnak Temple.

GEM 4338

Photo: Jeff Burzacott/Nile Magazine

02/10/2026

Another Nile favourite from the Grand Egyptian Museum.

This is Itysen. He is in exceptionally great shape for someone more than 4,500 years old.

The inscription on the statue tells us it was made for the 'King's Son, of His Body,' indicating that Itysen was a son or grandson of a pharaoh.

But which one?

Itysen's statue was found at Abu Rawash, north of Giza. This is the site of the ruined pyramid of King Djedefre, son and successor of Khufu, builder of the Great Pyramid. So Itysen was likely Djedefre's son. And he's a new addition to the family. The statue was discovered in 2019.

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Photo: Jeff Burzacott/Nile Magazine

30/09/2026

Queen Henuttawy brought together Egypt's two ruling houses.

Egypt's 21st century was a time of shifting power, between the descendants of the glorious Ramesside era in the Nile Delta, and the rise of the powerful High Priests of Amun in Thebes.

Henuttawy was of royal birth - the daughter of King Ramesses XI, the final pharaoh of Egypt's 20th Dynasty. Her marriage to the Theban High Priest, Pinedjem I, who later took on royal titles himself, saw Henuttawy's children wielding power over the entire country.

Her son, Psusennes I, was crowned as pharaoh in Tanis, in the north, while her daughter, Maatkara, became an Egyptian high priestess in Thebes - a God's Wife of Amun - who also adopted pharaonic titles.

Henuttawy's Book of the Dead is 3.6 metres long, and shows the queen wearing the divine vulture headdress, and dressed in the sheerest, pleated linen.

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Photo: Jeff Burzacott/Nile Magazine

29/09/2026

"He who opens the doors of Heaven in the Temple of Karnak."

This gleaming coffin belongs to a man named Padiamun. His wonderful title indicates that Padiamun accompanied the high priest of Amun into the holy of holies in the great Temple of Karnak, and opened the doors of the shrine that held the deity's statue. To be in the presence of the divine was an honour allowed only to a few worthy initiates.

Padiamun also carried the title, "Master of Mysteries in Heaven, Earth, and the Netherworld”. I, for one, would love that on my business card.

This coffin was the outermost of two that protected Padiamun's mummified body. His burial was one of 153 discovered in a tomb known as Bab el-Gasus - the largest funerary cache ever unearthed in Egypt. Discovered in 1891 at Deir el-Bahari, next to the first courtyard of the temple of Hatshepsut, Bab el-Gasus held the coffins of members of the Theban elite from Egypt's 21st dynasty.

This was a time when the country was split between two power bases. Egypt's official Pharaohs ruled from the eastern Nile Delta, while a dynasty of Theban High Priests of Amun dominated Upper Egypt. Padiamun lived during the reign of the High Priest of Amun, Pinedjem II, who ruled Upper Egypt around 1000 B.C.

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Photo: Jeff Burzacott/Nile Magazine

28/09/2026

So much gold.

The first thing that strikes you in the Tutankhamun galleries in the Grand Egyptian Museum is the sheer amount of gold.

Gold delivered an imperishable quality that spoke of eternity, while pulling the yellow rays of the sun directly into the tomb.

This is Tutankhamun's outer coffin - the first of three that surrounded and protected the king's mortal remains.

Protected by spells both inside and out of the coffin, the king had become Osiris, ruler of the netherworld.

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Photo: Jeff Burzacott/Nile Magazine

25/09/2026

"Don your wig for a joyful hour."

Another Nile favourite from the Grand Egyptian Museum.

Worn mainly by elite men and women as status markers, a luxurious wig could also signal readiness for a celebration, romantic encounter, or a "joyful hour".

This wonderful, little wooden figure dates to Egypt's Middle Kingdom, ca. 1850 B.C.

GEM 1366

Photo: Jeff Burzacott/Nile Magazine

24/09/2026

Another Nile favourite from the Grand Egyptian Museum.

This lifelike, painted wooden statue was discovered in 1950 near the northwest corner of the sacred enclosure surrounding the Step Pyramid at Saqqara.

This is Ishetji, who lived during Egypt's 6th Dynasty, around 2230 B.C.

Ishetji held many important titles under King Pepi II, including 'Sealer of the King', 'Chief of the Estates of the Pyramids of Pepi I and Pepi II', and 'Sole Companion of the King'.

His standing statue shows Ishetji holding a sekhem sceptre in his right hand (a symbol of authority), wearing the short wig and small beard fashionable among high officials at the time. The statue's expressive face may indeed be a faithful portrait of the man.

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Photo: Jeff Burzacott/Nile Magazine

23/09/2026

Another Nile highlight from the Grand Egyptian Museum.

The queen herself.

It's not hard to find this statue of Hatshepsut in the Kingship Galleries in the Grand Egyptian Museum. She is almost always surrounded by admirers.

From princess to queen to pharaoh, Hatshepsut ruled Egypt for nearly two decades. Her reign was a golden period of stability, prosperity and an ambitious building programme, including her magnificent cult temple at Deir el-Bahari in Luxor.

This kneeling statue of the female pharaoh was unearthed on the upper court of Deir el-Bahri. It was likely originally positioned before a statue of Amun-Re so that she would be forever worshipping the god and, in turn, eternally receive his divine blessing.

Because the office of pharaoh was traditionally male, Hatshepsut is often shown with a muscled male body and false beard to convey her royal authority.

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Photo: Jeff Burzacott/Nile Magazine

22/09/2026

Another Nile highlight from the Grand Egyptian Museum.

In ancient Egypt, white linen represented purity, and only the finest fabric could be used in the presence of a god.

The GEM information panel suggests that this decorated piece may have been used as a covering for a divine statue.

On the linen we see an enthroned Amun-Re, Lord of Heaven. In one hand, the god holds the ankh, the symbol for life, and in the other, the was sceptre, representing power and dominion.

This impossibly fragile linen was discovered in Luxor, and dates to Egypt's New Kingdom.

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Photo: Jeff Burzacott/Nile Magazine

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