Ashurnasirpal II

Figure 1 - Winged Genie with a Pine Cone

     Oddly enough, the Egyptian Museum in Munich also has a VERY small collection of Mesopotamian objects, including a glazed brick, striding lion from Babylon and several winged Genies from the palace of Ashunasirpal II at Nimrud.

     Ashurnasirpal, who reigned from 883 to 859 B. C.,  was the successor of Tumulti-Ninurta II and was in turn succeeded by Shalmaneser III.    

     Ashurnasirpal was one of the great conquerors of Assyrian history. He commemorated many of his victories with gory descriptions of mutilating the dead in any city that opposed him. He also boasted about burning the children in at least one of the cities he conquered.

Figure 2 - Another Winged Genie with a Pine Cone

     During his reign, the King moved the capital of Assyria to Nimrod and built a new palace there. The reliefs shown here are from that palace and show the winged Genies that are so often shown in Assyrian art. In figures 1 and 2 a winged genie carries a pine cone in one hand and a bucket(?) in the other. Possibly he is using the pine cone to get water from the bucket and sprinkle it as part of a purification ceremony.

Figure 3 - A Third Winged Genie from Ashurnasirpal's Palace

     In figure 3 we see a winged genie who has his right arm upraised (as a salute to the King??) and carries what might be some sort of multi-stemmed plant in his left hand. I have not been able to figure out the exact significance of this particular relief.

     In all three reliefs there are many similarities in the iconography of the figures. All three wear a helmet decorated with bull's horns. All three also have long, elaborately curled hair and the Assyrian "wrist watches" (actually some sort of bracelet) that occur so commonly on these figures. The arm and leg muscles are clearly indicated in the carvings and the feather of the wings are elaborately detailed by the sculptor(s).



Copyright (c) by John Freed

Hadrian's Villa (Finis)

Figure 1 - The Canopus at Hadrian's Villa

     As a god, Antinous had aspects of both Osiris and Thoth as well as Dionysis. The cult of the young man was established at Antinuopolis, Hermopolis, Alexandria, Bithynion and Mantinea. Over thirty cities in Greece and Asia Minor issued coins to Antinous and numerous statues of him have survived to modern times (including the statue in Munich illustrated in a previous post, as well as a similar statue of while marble that is now in the Vatican).

Figure 2 - Roman Representations of Isis and Serapis

     One portion of Hadrian’s Villa was called the Canopus (see figure 1), and was a replica of the sanctuary of the god Serapis (figure 2) in Alexandria. Hadrian had the Canopus built as a memorial to Antinous.

     The young man’s final resting place may have been found by archeologists at Hadrian’s Villa in 2002, and in 2005 new finds at the Palestra (gym) of the villa may indicate that this portion of the complex was actually a shrine to Isis or some other Egyptian god(dess).

Hadrian's Villa (Continued)

Figure 1 - Antinous (Munich)

     While in Egypt, the Roman Emperor, Hadrian, had a tragedy strike. A court favorite of his, a man name Antinous, died under mysterious circumstances (possibly he fell in the Nile and drowned). Antinous was deified after his death and worshiped throughout the Roman Empire.

     Antinous was of Greek origin, but born in what is now Turkey. Little is known of his life other than the fact that he became a favorite of Hadrian's and travelled with the Emperor throughout the Roman Empire. In Libya, Hadrian may have actually saved Antinous' life by killing a lion.

Figure 2 - Bust of Antinous (Louvre)

After his friend's death, Hadrian founded the city of Antinopolis near the place where his favorite died, and this city became the center of the worship of Osiris-Antinous. The Emperor also encouraged the worship of a god named Hermes-Antinous in the Greek parts of the empire.

Figure 3 - Another Bust of Antinous (Louvre)

     In researching this post on Antinous, I remembered that  there are two busts of this young man in the Louvre in Paris. Both of these busts (figures 2 and 3) were originally found in Hadrian's Villa, along with the statue shown here (figure 1, now in Munich). Both of the busts show Antinous wearing the Nemes headdress normally worn in Egypt only by the Pharaoh. In figure 3 you can see the young man's curly hair showing below the headdress.



Copyright (c) 2014 by John Freed

Hadrian's Villa

Figure 1 - Hadrian's Villa Near Rome

     I was able to link together my last two vacations in an unexpected way. One of the places I visited in 2013 was Hadrian's Villa, a short distance from Rome. This was where the Roman Emperor Hadrian built a retreat from the responsibilities of being emperor. One of the more scenic spots in the villa is an artificial lake that was surrounded by numerous statues (Figure 1).

     Some of these statues were either originally from Egypt (see figure 2) or were carved in a mixture of Egyptian and Roman style (figure 3).

Figure 3 - Roman Imitation of an Egyptian Sphinx

     Hadrian travelled to Egypt during his reign and seems to have enjoyed his time there, although tragedy did strike during his visit....

Old Kingdom Family Statues

Figure 1 - Husband and Wife Statue from the Old Kingdom

     The examples of family statues that I have shown so far all date to the New Kingdom. This type of statue goes far back in time however, with many examples dating to the Old Kingdom on display in museums around the world. Some, like this one (a representation of Sabu and his wife Meritites), also show one or more of the children of the husband and wife.

     In Ancient Egypt, children were often represented as having a finger of one of their hands held to their lips and a long lock of hair represented on one side of their head (with the rest of the head being completely shaven). This cannot be seen here since the representation of the child (between the parents legs in Figure 2) has been broken away.

Figure 2 - feet of the couples child shown between the adults legs

     This statue has one interesting difference from other statues of this type. Notice the space between the couple is carved out and a gap exists between the adults. In almost all (if not all) of the statues I have seen of this type, the area between the adults would be an area of "blank" stone and would not have been carved out like this.

     Notice also the much simpler clothing worn in the Old Kingdom. Meritites wears a simple sheath dress and the "transparent" garment shown on the husband's shoulders in the New Kingdom is nowhere to be seen here. The kilt he wears here is also of a much simpler style than it would become later in Egyptian history.


Copyright (c) 2014 by John Freed

Representations of Husband and Wife

     A few posts back I talked about dual statues of a husband (Sibe) and wife seated side by side. Representations of a husband and wife together are also common in tomb reliefs. The carving shown here is from the Egyptian Museum in Munich and bears close resemblance to the statue of Sibe shown in a post I did on October 11th.

     This carving is from Dynasty 18 and shows a man and his wife seated side by side. The wife is shown on a smaller scale than her husband, as is normal in Egyptian art. She wears the pleated linen dress common at this time and has a perfume cone on her head. She carries a lotus flower in her right hand and has her left arm wrapped around her spouse's back. All of this is pretty normal for this type of scene.

     The husband also wears a linen garment and wig exactly like those worn by Sibe. In this representation, the tomb owner is shown with his staff of authority rather than the folded handkerchief that Sibe clutches. The couple is shown here seated in front of an offering table piled high with offerings and capped with a lotus flower, which is also quite a common (even cliche) scene in New Kingdom tomb reliefs.

The Egyptian Offering Ritual

     One of the most common objects to be found in any collection of Egyptian art are stelae with inscriptions on them that (if recited) will magically present offerings to the deceased. These stelae were usually set up in conspicuous places, such as in temples or in the offering chapels of tombs. The offering inscription itself is known from thousands of examples and this one is pretty standard. The inscription starts at the right and reads top to bottom from the right to the left:

Line 1: "An offering given by the King under Osiris Khenti-Amenti, Lord of Abydos"

Line 2: "May he give bread, beer, oxen and geese, alabaster and linen, everything good and pure (upon which) a god lives to the ka of"

Line 3: "Sobekhotep, born of Sit-Hathor"

The horizontal line of text at the very top of the stela says: "The one honored under the good god (the King)".

     The offering formal is not only found on stelae, but is also found on coffins (particularly along the top of the coffin's trough), statues and many other objects, especially those of a funerary nature.


Photo copyright (c) 2014 by John Freed