The exhibition “Pharaoh in Canaan: The Untold Story” at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem gives us the opportunity to explore the cross-cultural ties between Egypt and Canaan during the second millennium BCE.
The story of Egypt and Canaan is most commonly known from the biblical narratives of Joseph and Moses in Egypt. The exhibition expands this story by examining two central developments: settlement of the Canaanites in the eastern part of the Egyptian Delta during the Middle Bronze Age; and the consequent period of Egyptian rule over Canaan that saw the establishment of an Egyptian military and administrative presence in Canaan during the Late Bronze Age. The connection between Egyptian and Canaanites was very fruitful and brought some of the most significant innovations in history, for example the alphabet.
The exhibition features a variety of Egyptian and Egyptian-inspired objects from Canaanite sites as well as illustrative objects from Egypt, ranging from large-scale royal victory stelae and anthropoid coffins to scarabs and amulets. Many of the objects are drawn from the Museum’s own collections, together with loans from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, N.Y.; the Louvre Museum, Paris; Vienna; the Egyptian Museum in Turin, Italy; and numerous other collections.
The use of digital resources brings the visitors back in time to this fascinating era and allows them to experience the historical story between Egypt and Canaan, an untold story that changed the region in which we live today.
This outstanding exhibition will run until October 25 2016, so be sure to visit!
