Cavernous tombs, faceless statuettes and cracked stone — these vague ideas of ancient Egyptian civilization and its spiritual traditions risk oversimplifying centuries of history. Over time and across its many social classes, ancient Egypt developed a culture far too rich and diverse to be defined only by the pyramids and Cleopatra, who actually ruled during Ptolemaic Egypt — the later Greek-ruled period that came thousands of years after the pyramids were built.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new “Divine Egypt” exhibition seeks to round out its permanent Egyptian display with a focus on how religious traditions shaped daily life and death. Featuring over 200 objects, the show doesn’t overdo the excess, and instead enlightens viewers on the intimate relationship ancient Egyptians had with their gods.
The exhibition’s narrative follows a sequence of labeled rooms that lead the viewer through the different representations of Egyptian deities and what roles they played for devotees. This concept is first introduced in sections focusing on the gods Horus and Hathor, members of the court of Re. Hathor’s representation evolved throughout the centuries, often depicted as either a woman, cow or both simultaneously. Meanwhile, Horus is always associated with one singular image: a falcon. His visual uniformity juxtaposes Hathor’s multiplicity. Introducing the exhibition with this religious complexity, these gods let viewers know that we should not expect simple answers to this history.
The “Coping with Life” room grounds the ancient Egyptian community’s experience. The gods examined throughout play a central role in devotees’ religious activity. For example, the centered objects in this space — including “Statue of a kneeling King Amasis” and “Water lily attachment, probably for a processional barque” — are arranged in a semi-circle of pillars to emulate the shrines that would’ve moved on floats during an ancient festival. Religion permeated every aspect of their lives, but this history is often overshadowed by the burial tombs Western audiences have come to be familiar with.
The final section focuses on death and burial practices. “Overcoming Death” challenges the viewer’s perceptions of Egyptian representations of mortality. It’s easy for us to view the Egyptian fixation with death as a sort of morbid fascination, a sensationalization of life’s end, when the history is much too vast for that narrow, Western thinking. The simple, unobtrusive presentation of “Falcon-headed coffin and grain mummy with Osiris mask,” a grain-stuffed symbolic mummy inside a wooden coffin, preserves the commemorative energy of Egyptian burial practices.
Rich with history, “Divine Egypt” admits to the gaps in our knowledge of ancient Egyptian history but still attempts to bridge these gaps. The exhibition reminds us that there is always a bigger picture — that what we think we know or choose to focus on in ancient Egyptian history does not encompass the centuries of evolution, contradiction and complexity.
The Met’s “Divine Egypt” is open now through Jan. 19, 2026 and pay-what-you-wish for NYU students.
Contact Oshmi Ghosh at [email protected].