Crocodile God of the Fayum

Fig. 1 - Limestone Statue of Sobek

     The Ancient Egyptians often represented their gods as having a human body and the head of an animal. The Middle Kingdom statue of the god Sobek in Figure 1 illustrates this perfectly.

     The god is shown wearing a collar on his upper chest area and a wig with long, almost female, hair. The hair may be shown this way since Sobek was associated with Isis in caring for Osiris.

     The sculpture is of limestone, dates to the reign of Amenemhat III and is now in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Sobek first appears, as far as we know, in the Pyramid Texts and is worshiped until the end of ancient Egyptian civilization.

Figure 2 - Crocodile Eating a Catfish

     The Egyptians often took mummified animals to the temple of a particular god as offerings. Sobek's temple at Kom Ombo has a large collection of mummified crocodiles, which were stacked haphazardly in a storeroom the last time I was there. Some of the mummies were from medium sized crocodiles that must have been rather dangerous to capture and kill. Mummified crocodile eggs were also presented to the the god as votive offerings.

     Crocodiles were often represented in Egyptian art in their non-divine form as well. Figure 2 shows a Middle Kingdom relief of a crocodile that is devouring a catfish while a reed boat floats above it. This relief is likely from a tomb and may have originally been part of a standard fishing / fowling scene that was so common in Middle Kingdom tombs.

Black Obelisk of Salmaneser III

Fig. 1 - the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III

     Shalmaneser III was a powerful Assyrian King who pushed the borders of Assyria eastwards into Babylonia and Iran, westwards into Urartu and Syria and then southwards  up to the borders of ancient Israel. This obelisk describes his conquests in text located at the top and bottom of the object.

Fig. 2 - and Elephant and Three Monkeys Being Brought as Tribute

     In between the text descriptions of this King's victories are illustrations of some of the tribute brought to Assyria by foreigners. Figure 2 shows an elephant and three monkeys being brought to Shalmaneser's palace at Nimrud. Figure 3 shows a pair of double humped camels being presented to his highness while Figure 4 shows Jehu, the King of Israel, kissing the ground before Shalmaneser's feet.

Fig. 3 - Camels Brought Before the King

     Shalmaneser ruled a little over 100 years earlier than Sargon II (who built Khorsabad). He ordered this obelisk to be set up in Nimrud, which was the Assyrian capital during his reign. This object is now in the Oriental Institute, in Chicago.

Fig. 4 - King Jehu of Israel Submits to Shalamneser

     No word on who cleaned up after all these animals were paraded before the ruler.

All photos copyright (c) John Freed 2016

Colossal Statue of Tutankhamen

     Tutankhamen is one of Egypt's most famous Pharaoh's, but not for anything he did in his life. He was a completely minor King whose existence was not recognized by later rulers of Egypt. Very few objects from his reign, other than the objects found in his tomb, still survive. This statue, which is now in the Oriental Institute in Chicago, is possibly the largest surviving statue of the king. If it really is Tutankhamen.

     The statue bears the name of Horemhab carved over the erased name of Aye. But artistically, this statue looks like it dates to Tutankhamen's reign. Possibly it was only partially finished when the young ruler died and it was usurped first by Aye, and then by Horemhab.

     In any event, this statue is huge, standing about 17 feet high and weighing about six tons. Tutankhamen is shown wearing a Nemes headdress surmounted by the double crown and wearing the false beard of the Pharaoh.

     There is an indication that this work of art originally had the King's wife standing next to him, but only the feet of the Queen remain. This statue was found with a second, very similar, statue that is now in the Cairo Museum.

     If you look carefully at the photos, you will notice that the statue is heavily restored. The Oriental Institute has, correctly I think, left the restored portions of the work a different color so that visitors can tell the difference.

New Pre-Dynastic to Early Dynastic Find in Egypt

     As always, there are many things going on in Egyptian archaeology. One of them is the discovery of a pre-dynastic site at Abydos, near the temple of Seti I. The site dates to around 3300 B. C., which makes it a fairly late Pre-Dynastic settlement. Some of the tombs may also belong to the First Dynasty and could be the burial place of the officials who oversaw the construction of the tombs of the First Dynasty Pharaohs located nearby. For some photographs and more information follow this link.

New Ptolemaic Galleries at the Met

     The newly re-installed Ptolemaic Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum are getting some positive buzz since they opened. The new issue of KMT magazine has published a nine page article on the galleries. The article has the usual great photos that KMT is well known for publishing. The galleries are very nice and the papyri have been re-installed a little lower on the wall then they were previously, which makes them much easier to see.

     Speaking of papyri, Dr. Janice Kamrin gave a lecture at the New York chapter of the American Research Center in Egypt on November 17. Her topic was "Imhotep Comes Forth by Day" and  the lecture focused on the Book of the Dead of Imhotep, which is one of the papyri re-installed in the Met's Ptolemaic gallery. Dr. Kamrin had a photo of the papyrus, which is extremely long, mounted on a backing board. The case that it went into had several glass doors that needed to be opened so that the papyrus could be slid in. Judging from the photos, it must have been a tricky task, especially given the risk of damaging the papyrus.

     The papyrus has many interesting vignettes, but the one that caught my eye was a portrayal of the Opening of the Mouth Ritual which showed the deceased seated. This is not a common portrayal of this ritual.

Oriental Institute Satirical Ostracon

Fig. 1 - Oriental Institute Satirical Ostracon

     One of my favorite objects that has survived from ancient Egypt is a limestone chip (called an ostracon) with its delightful painting of a young boy being judged by a mouse dressed like an Egyptian official. The boy has obviously been found guilty and his punishment is administered by a stick wielding cat.

     There are also papyri with similar satirical scenes on them. One famous one shows a lion playing a game of senet with a gazelle and a cat herding a flock of birds with a shepherd's crook. Yet another papyrus shows a female mouse having her hair done by a cat servant.

     This like this New Kingdom painting remind us how people have not changed so much in thousands of years.

Upcoming Events

     If you are in the New York City area on Thursday, November 17, there will be a meeting of the New York Chapter of the American Research Center in Egypt at 6:00, at the Institute for the study of the Ancient World (15 East 84th St.). You can click here for more information or to RSVP if you plan to attend. The lecture is "Imhotep Comes Forth by Day" and will discuss a Book of the Dead Papyrus in the recently re-installed Ptolemaic galleries in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The lecture is free and open to the public, but you do need to RSVP if you would like to attend.

     If you are in Philadelphia on December 7th, the Penn Museum will host Dr. Jennifer Houser Wegner who will give a lecture entitled "The Strong Silent Type: The Sphinx" at 6:00 pm. Space is limited, so if you would like to attend, please pre-register here.