μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ

Had this idea in my head about everyone’s favorite crocodile god as one of my favorite twitter memes, including the saying in hieroglyphs!

Process:

I used the Thesaurus Linguae Aegypticae for this.

“Flat” I kept as “flat” “qrh”

“Fuck” I went to “fucker” which then became “copulator” in the lexicon. Originally it did include a phallus so I made it more abstract for generic audiences. “nk.w”

“Friday” I struggled with as I could not find a lot of information on time names in Ancient Egypt so I went for the generic “day.” “hrw”

Yes, you can get this on redbubble and yes, I will be posting this on like every Friday to my stories for the rest of time!

I was immediately drawn to the complex story of Regina of Arbeia or South Shields and I hoped to reflect the implications we can draw from her tombstone. I’ve imagined her spinning wool, showing a calm yet pointedly annoyed expression as her husband (and former enslaver) looms behind her, holding a jewelry box yet his face out of frame. He feels he is providing for her; Regina has a more complicated reaction.

It is evident that Barates, a Palmyrene immigrant, thought he cared for her, possibly naming her “Queen” despite her being a local Englishwoman and definitely having her own indigenous name at birth that has been lost to time. He also went an extra step and expense to include an inscription in his native language as well as the Latin. Yet, she was freed “only” to be made his wife. It is impossible to know their true dynamic, though a power imbalance is unavoidable.