CAIRO: A limestone pharaonic painting has gone missing from Egypt’s famed Saqqara necropolis, becoming the latest artifact to disappear in a country known for its rich and lengthy history.
The painting was in the tomb of Khentika in the Saqqara necropolis outside Cairo, Mohamed Ismail, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said Sunday. The mastaba tomb was found in the 1950s and hasn’t been opened since 2019.
Ismail’s statement said prosecutors were investigating the circumstances of the painting’s disappearance and didn’t give further details.
Egyptian media reported the painting exhibited the ancient Egyptian calendar that divided the year into three seasons mirroring the Nile River’s ebb and flow. It included the flooding season, Akhet, the planting season, Proyat, and the harvest season, Shomu.
The tomb dates to the sixth dynasty of the ancient Old Kingdom — roughly from around 2700 B.C. to 2200 B.C.
