Middle Kingdom Hair Dressing

Fig. 1 - Wig of a Dyn. 12 princess

    Humans have changed remarkably little in thousands of years. While this should probably not be surprising, I am frequently reminded of it during the course of studying the ancient Near East. From Hammurapi's law code, which lists legal cases that could occur today as well of thousands of years ago, to more mundane things like the ancients attempting to enhance their attractiveness by their choice of clothing it is remarkable how similar we are to the ancients.

     One example of this is hair dressing. In ancient Egypt women seem to have often shaved their heads (to keep cooler?), but they seem to have worn wigs when socializing or appearing in public. Figure 1 shows a reconstructed wig from the Middle Kingdom which is in the Metropolitan Museum. The owner was a princess who could afford to have it decorated with gold ringlets. No doubt she had a full complement of jewelry to wear with the wig as well has a mirror to admire the results.

     Often the wigs needed more hair added into them to repair damage of give them a fuller look. A scene from the tomb of the 11th Dynasty Queen Neferu (raging of Montuhotep II) shows one of her attendants styling the royal wig. The Queen is also wearing a broad collar and is obviously preparing for some party or affair of state. In a scene from the same tomb (figure 3) one of the Queen's attendants is preparing a new lock of hair that can be added to the Queen's wig.

   

Copying Tombs in the Valley of the Kings

     Modern technology is doing some fascinating things in the Valley of the Kings. I reported a while back that a full reproduction of the tomb of Tutankhamen had been created and opened to the public. Computers were used to scan the paintings in the burial chamber and to create a full sized replica of the tomb. This technology creates a snapshot in time of the tomb so that future archaeologists can compare the current state of the tomb to the scan to determine if there has been any deterioration in the tomb.

     This technology is being used in other tombs now. For instance, the entire tomb of Seti I is being scanned and a full size replication of part of the tomb has been opened to the public while the remainder of the tomb is being reproduced. This reproduction, which includes the Pharaoh's burial chamber is on display in Basel, Switzerland and includes a copy of Seti's calcite sarcophagus (now in the John Soane Museum in London).

     The new issue of KMT magazine just arrived in my mailbox and they have an article on a special exhibit dedicated to Amenhotep II currently open in Milan, Italy. One of the things mentioned in the article is a full sized reproduction of Amenhotep II's burial chamber. Looking at photos in the article certainly gives the impression that the tomb has been faithfully and accurately copied.

     If you cannot get to Egypt, the Valley of the Kings can now come to you!

a New "Chamber" in the Great Pyramid??

     A team of scientists have scanned the great pyramid at Giza using cosmic rays and have found a large "void" or empty space in the pyramid. What exactly this void is, is uncertain at this time. No entrance to it is known and it could be pretty much anything at this point.

     My initial thought was that this may be a "relieving" chamber that was included to help keep the pyramid from collapsing due to its immense wait. Dr. Aiden Dodson has been quoted as suggesting the same thing. 

     There is some suggestions that this space is a second "grand gallery" like the one that leads to Khufu's burial chamber, but his is nothing more than speculation at this point.

     As new information becomes available, I will post it here.

Middle Kingdom Sphinx Head

Figure 1

     There are quite a number of sphinxes known from Egypt's Middle Kingdom. For instance, there is the very large sphinx, now in the Louvre in Paris, that was originally made in Dynasty 12 but later re-carved for the Hyksos (Dynasty 15) Pharaoh Apophis. One of the most interesting of the Middle Kingdom sphinxes, though, is the much smaller one represented only by a head that is now in the Brooklyn Museum.

Figure 2

     What makes this piece unusual is that it is a sphinx with the head of a woman, most likely a Queen or Princess. Originally this piece had inlaid eyes, possibly of metal, which were pried out at some point in history (you can see the damage to one of the eye sockets from this removal in figure 1).

     The face of this carving does not have the careworn features so common in the statues of Dynasty 12 kings and has rather heavy eyebrows and  pointed chin that lends a certain softness to the piece.

     The Brooklyn Museum dates this piece to the reign of Amenemhat II and says that it may have been found at Hadrian's villa, just outside of Rome. A couple of years ago I did a number of blog posts about Egyptian artifacts that are still at Hadrian's villa (see my posts from December of 2014) and many others now in Munich that were found at this Roman emperor's home.

Senwosret III

     The sculptures shown in the previous post are not the only examples of royal art from the Middle Kingdom that show the pharaoh as careworn. The example here is now in the Metropolitan Museum. It is carved from quartzite and is highly expressive despite its damaged state.

     Senwosret III is here shown with heavy-lidded eyes and a downturned, almost sad looking mouth. The eye brows are heavy and creased just above the nose.

     There is a great deal of speculation as to why the Middle Kingdom kings were shown with such expressive faces. In both the Old and New Kingdoms, the Pharaoh is almost always shown as eternally youthful and with an expression of serene confidence, but not so in the Middle Kingdom. Did the Pharaohs of the Middle kingdom remember the hard times of the First Intermediate Period and foresee to oncoming difficulties of the Second Intermediate Period? Or are modern scholars reading way to much into this art style? It is hard to say, but it does create lively conversations among art historians.

Odd First Intermediate Period Stela

     The First Intermediate Period was a period of political instability. The artwork of the period is best called "provincial" as the well off nobles did not have access to the best sculptors and, for the most part, the artwork from this time shows it.

     This particular stela was carved for a man named Maaty and his wife Dedwi. The carvings are sunk fairly deep into the stone and then filled with paint or a paste of some sort. The inscription above Maaty and Dedwi contains the standard offering formula that reads from right to left and starts, "A gift given by the King and by Anubis, who is upon his hill..."
   
     A cynic would say that all First Intermediate Period stelae are odd, but this one has a quirk I have never seen before. Look on the right side of the third line of the text. The line starts with the signs "f nb nefer". Look carefully at the nefer sign (figure 2). The center of the bottom portion of the symbol is "hollow". This is, to the best of my knowledge, the only time this sign is carved in this way. What is the significance of this? It is hard to tell to be honest.

Middle Kingdom Royal Statues

Fig. 1 - Senwosret III (British Museum)

Fig. 2 - Senwosret III (detail)

     Middle Kingdom royal statuary is very different from Old Kingdom royal statues. In the Old Kingdom the king is shown with a serene, almost superior look on his face. He can handle any and all problems and nothing could possibly go wrong.

Fig. 4 - Senwosret III

Fig. 3 - Senwosret III (Brooklyn Museum)

     The First Intermediate Period shattered this illusion. Things could go badly wrong and the Pharaoh was far from infallible. As a result, royal statues from the Middle Kingdom often show the king with a care-worn expression on his face, almost as if the difficulties of his office are overly stressful even for a living god like the Pharaoh. A good example of this is a statue of Senwosret III (figures 1 and 2) that was found at Dier el-Bahri in the temple of Nebhepetre Mentuhotep (who re-unified Egypt and brought the First Intermediate Period to an end). This statue, with its downturned mouth and tired looking eyes, shows the King as a weary figure dealing with the tremendous responsibility of managing his kingdom.

     The statue in figures 3 and 4 once again shows the Pharaoh Senwosret III. The statue does harken back to the famous statue of Khafre (4th Dynasty) that is now in the Cairo Museum by showing the King seated on his throne, wearing a Nemes headdress and a "kilt". But Khafre is shown with a quietly confident look on his face, while this statue of Senwosret is strikingly different in that it shows the King once-again as careworn and almost sad.

     Another change in royal statuary is the appearance of statues carved on a colossal scale (I am not aware of a truly colossal statue dating to the Old Kingdom). The head shown in figure 5 is part of a statue found in Bubastis. The lower portion of the statue is carved with the name of Osorkon II (Dynasty 22), but the style of the face marks this piece of art as a representation of Amenemhat II. Not the deeply carved eyes which would have had insets placed in to represent the royal eyes.

Fig. 5 - Head of Amenemhat III, British Museum

Famous Statuette of Pepi II and his Mother

     One of the Brooklyn Museum's most famous works of art is this delightful statuette of the Sixth Dynasty Pharaoh Pepi II and his mother Ankhnes-meryre II. It is made of alabaster and shows the Pharaoh's mother holding her son on her lap. Pepi came to the throne as a child, but is shown here as a small King, rather than as a child.

     This work of art has a few unusual features to it. For instance, even though Pepi is sitting on his mother's lap, his throne is shown to the side of the throne that Ankhnes-meryre II sits on. Also, there are separate inscriptions on the statuette, one for each person shown. The face of the Queen is not carved in great detail. The eyes are barely roughed out and one wonders if they were not painted on when the statue was first created. A hole in the Queen's forehead probably indicates that a uraeus was once appended to this object.

     Pepi is shown with almost impossibly long legs and with the body of an adult even though this statue clearly commemorates his mother's regency for her young son, who may have been about the age of five at his coronation.

     Pepi has the distinction of possibly being the longest reigning king in all of history. After coming to the throne as a child he may have lived to be about one hundred years of age (although some scholars dispute this and think that sixty was a more likely age for his death).

     A nobleman named Harkuf, who served under Merenre and Pepi II put a copy of a letter (which he received from the young king) on the wall of his tomb at Aswan. Harkuf had just led an expedition to Nubia and sent a message ahead to tell the child-king that he was returning with a dancing pygmy to entertain the Pharaoh. Pepi responded with a letter that  reads like a it was dictated by a child who was excited by the prospect of seeing the dancing pygmy. The letter tells Harkuf to guard his small charge carefully and to see that no harm came to him as the King desired to see this wonder more than anything. This letter is one of the few times in all of Egyptian history that we get a glimpse at the personal life of a ruler.

     The bad news to Pepe's reign was that he probably ruled too long and lost control of his kingdom. After his death, Egypt fell into a state of political chaos that we now call the First Intermediate Period.

Pepi I

     Teti was the founder of the Sixth Dynasty and his son, Pepi I was either the second or third king of the dynasty. Some scholars think there was an usurper between Teti and Pepi I, others disagree.

     Teti and Pepi continued to build pyramids like their predecessors had. They also carried over a new idea first seen in the tomb of Unis (the last Pharaoh of the Fifth Dynasty) when they had elaborate funerary texts, now called the Pyramid Texts, carved in their burial places. Funerary temples lay before the pyramids and are covered in elaborate, and beautifully executed, carvings.

     Statuary from Pepi's reign is not common. One of the most famous pieces from this reign is a copper statue of the king which is now in the Cairo Museum. The statue shows Pepi, with his arms at his sides, confidently striding forward.

     Another well-known representation of Pepi, now in the Brooklyn Museum,  is the statuette shown here. It is carved from Graywacke and has a small hole in the forehead where an uraeus would have been inserted. The pupils of the eyes are obsidian and the whites of the eyes are made of alabaster. The eyes themselves are inserted into copper rims. The Pharaoh is shown kneeling and offering "nu" pots to (probably) a god or goddess.

   

Old Kingdom Royal Sculpture

     At the beginning of the Old Kingdom royal statuary was still a bit blocky and not overly elegant. A good example of this is the granite head of the late Third Dynasty to early Fourth Dynasty statue shown here.

     The head is slightly larger than life-size and shows the king wearing the white crown. The face has rather indistinct features and a rather "brooding" expression. Notice also the impossibly large ears.

     This head, which is now in the Brooklyn Museum reminds me of similar ones I have seen from this time period (in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston for instance).  The provenance of this head is unknown.

     Based on this statue it is rather hard to believe that in just a few years Egyptian sculptors will produce the exquisite statues of the Pharaoh Menkara that were found in that king's funerary temple at Giza.

The New Issue of KMT Magazine

     The new issue of KMT: A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt arrived in my mailbox. As always it is full of interesting articles and gorgeous photographs. The magazine contains an article on the contents of the almost intact tomb of Maiherpri (found in the Valley of the Kings in 1899) as well as coverage of a Ramesses II special exhibit in Karlsruhe, Germany and another special exhibit in the Turin Museum. The usual information packed columns are on display as  "For the Record" contains information about exhibits and new publications in Europe and the Americas and "Nile Currents" reports on the latest excavations in Egypt. All in all, another great issue.

An Old Kingdom Sarcophagus

     At the end of the Pre-Dynastic Period, Egypt was unified by a Pharaoh of Upper Egypt (possibly Narmer) and royalty began distinguishing themselves from the "average" Egyptian. Their mastabas tombs in the first two dynasties became larger than the burial places of the average persons, who were usually buried in simple graves with a few pots, some jewelry and, once in a while, a wooden coffin or bed (examples of both can be seen in the Old Kingdom galleries of the Metropolitan Museum). In the early third Dynasty Djoser and his architect Imhotep built a step pyramid that was, at the time, the largest stone building erected in human history.

     In the Fourth Dynasty this trend continued as Khufu, Khafra and Menkara built the great pyramids. But other members the royal family also began showing their wealth. They were often buried in large mastabas in the shadow of the king's pyramid.
   
     Pictured here is the sarcophagus of a prince or his wife which is currently in the Brooklyn Museum. It was carved from an incredibly heavy granite block and is decorated with a pattern of niches that imitate the front of a major building complex. The lid, which was carved from a separate block of granite, has four holes drilled in it to allow ropes to be used to lower the lid onto the body of the sarcophagus after the body was laid to rest in it.

New Find in Egypt

     Unlike Iraq and Iran where archaeological excavations are currently almost non-existent, Egypt has a lot going on. A couple of the latest finds include:

1) A Greco-Roman necropolis has been found at Tuna el-Gebel- this necropolis contains the burials of numerous animal mummies (birds and baboons at least). But as excavations continued a cachette of seventeen non-royal human mummies was found. Some of the burials were in limestone sarcophagi and a couple of wooden coffins were also found.

2) The Thirteenth Dynasty Pyramid found at Dashur - some clarity is arriving as to exactly what has been found. Some thought it was the re-discovery of a pyramid that was found many years ago, but now it does seem to be a new pyramid. The original pyramid was found in 1957 and contained the remains of a canonic jar bearing the name of King Imeny-Qemaw. The new pyramid contains a fragment of a Pyramid Text for that pharaoh.  Also, a wooden canonic chest has been found bearing the name of the princess Hatshepsut who is known from two other Dynasty Thirteen objects inscribed with her name. The canpoic box was found in the pyramid's burial chamber, so this pyramid seems to have been built for Imeny-Qemaw's daughter Hatshepsut.

An Early Pesesh-kef?

     A Pesesh-kef is an implement used during the ancient Egyptian funerary ritual known as the Opening of the Mouth. Small kits containing a Pesesh-kef and some vases used in purification rituals are known from the Old Kingdom (as early as the Fourth Dynasty).

     In the Pre-Dynastic Period, a fair number of objects that are similar to the Pesesh-kef have been found in burials. Some egyptologists call these objects "fish-tailed knives" rather than Pesesh-kefs. The exact use of this object is unclear. It does have a very fine and sharp cutting surface in the "Y" portion of the "knife".

     But what was it used to cut and is having a Y-shaped cutting edge really useful? The answer to these questions is unclear, but Ann Macy Roth has proposed an interesting theory. She says the fish-tailed knife / pesesh-kef was used to cut the umbilical cord after a child was born.

     This object was found in a Naqada 1 grave at Ma'mariya and is now in the Brooklyn Museum.

Pre-Dynastic Jewelry

Fig. 1 - Naqada II Necklace

     Jewelry has been used by humans since time immemorial to enhance their appearance and, in many cases, to function as amulets that magically protect the wearer. The necklaces shown here came from Pre-Dynastic burials and may have been used for either or both purposes.

     The necklace in figure 1 comes from the Naqada II Period.  The large beads at the bottom look like cowrie shells and remind me of the golden cowrie shells found on one of the girdles of Princess Sit Hathor Yunet (dating to the reign of Senwosret II in Dynasty 12).

Fig. 2 - Naqada II Necklaces

     Figure 2 shows two more necklaces, but these date to the Naqada III Period. Figure 3 is a close up of the necklace in the upper left corner of figure 2.

Fig. 3 - Close up of a necklace in fig. 2

     These objects are made of a mixture of semi-precious stones and faience, which is ground quartz, a glaze and a binder mixed together. Faience was made by the Egyptians for thousands of years as an imitation of Lapis Lazuli stone. In fact, faience became so common that when an Egyptian text referred to the actual lapis stone, the text would usually call it "real Lapis Lazuli".

Pre-Dynastic Knives

     A number of stone knives have been found in Pre-Dynastic excavations and one of the best examples is in the Brooklyn Museum. The blade is flint, polished on one side and delicately flaked on the other to give a sharp cutting edge. The handle is made of elephant ivory and has extremely small carvings of many animals (including elephants, giraffes, lions and sheep as well as some animals that have not yet been identified to everyone's satisfaction) on it. The upraised portion of the handle is a "thumb-rest" (according to the museum's label) for a right-handed user.

     The knife dates to the Naqada III period (about 3100 B. C.) and is from Abu Zaidan, where it was found by de Morgan during the 1907 - 1908 excavation season. A similar knife, found at Abydos seems to be from a slightly earlier period (Naqada II, 3400 - 3300 B. C.).
 

Pre-Dynastic Egypt

Fig. 1 - Typical Pre-Dynastic Pottery, Brooklyn Museum

     Back when I was an archaeology student the Pre-Dynastic Period was divided into three parts by Egyptologists. The earliest was the Badarian Period, followed by the Amratian and finally by the Gerzean. I always remembered the order of the periods as they we "in the BAG". In some older books, you can still find these terms used.

     Then scholars decided that there were not really three separate cultures in Pre-Dynastic Egypt, but rather there was only one with three sub-periods, Naqada I, Naqada II and Naqada III. The pottery of each period is quite distinctive and can easily be recognized, even by a confirmed non-pottery person such as myself.

Fig. 2 - Pottery from Naqada I (left) and Naqada II (right)

Fig. 3 - Naqada III pot with painted boat decoration

     Figure 1 shows an example of pottery from each of the three periods. The pot in the middle, with the black top is from the Naqada I period (formerly the Badarian), while the bowl to the right is from Naqada II (once called the Amratian) and the pot to the left is from Naqada III (Gerzean). Figure 2 shows a close up of the pottery from the first two periods, while figure 3 shows a close-up of the pot from the Naqada III period.

     In figure 3 the pot is decorated with a painted boat with oars and two small "buildings" on the deck of the boat. This is a very typical type of decoration for the pottery of this era and serves to remind how the Nile formed the primary travel route in Egypt even in the earliest of times.

     Or is this right? According to the Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, the Badarian Period is now, once again, called  the Badarian. Naqada I is what used to be called the Amratian, Naqada II is what used to be called the Gerzean, while Naqada III may have seen a Pre-Dynastic unification of Egypt (the evidence for this is that local Lower Egyptian pottery is replaced by Upper Egyptian Naqada pottery in Naqada III).

     Incidentally, I corrected a paragraph above to read "Badarian" not "Bavarian" (spell check strikes again!)

The Brooklyn "Bird Woman"

     I went to the Brooklyn Museum last weekend. It was the first time I had been there in many years. The collection has been completely re-installed, is brightly lit and has a very modern look to it. Many of the objects in the collection are justifiably famous. One of those objects is the famous Brooklyn "Bird-Lady".

     This object dates from the Naqada II period, about 3,500 to 3,400 B. C. and is made of terra-cotta. What exactly is it supposed to represent is unclear. Perhaps it is a fertility figure? The reason it is often called a "bird-lady" is that its face resembles a bird with a large beak.

   

Confusion over "New" Pyramid Find

     We reported a couple of days ago that the remains of a new pyramid have been found at Dashur, North of the Bent Pyramid of King Snefru. Now it is being reported that the find is actually South of the Bent Pyramid.

     Now the question is arising that this "new" pyramid may actually be a re-discovery of a Thirteenth Dynasty pyramid that was originally found in the 1950s. In any event it is an interesting find and I do have some links to share:

     Ahram Online (in English)

     Ahram Online (in Arabic)

     A paper discussing the 1950s find

Over the next few weeks I am sure the confusion will get sorted out. When it does I will let you know.

A New Pyramid Found in Egypt

     A new pyramid has been found in Egypt, or to be more exact, the remains of a pyramid have been found. It seems to date to the thirteenth Dynasty and was found at Dashur near the Bent Pyramid.

     The find has brought out the usual suspects. One "newspaper" has revived the "curse of the Pharaohs" story, while a couple of other publications claim that the pyramid might have been Egypt's first attempt at a smooth sided pyramid! Given that it was built hundreds of year after the Giza Pyramids this story is a bit of a laugh. Possibly the author has gotten things garbled a little. The bent pyramid might have been the first attempt at a smooth-sided pyramid, but the "reporters" are saying the nearby Dynasty Thirteen pyramid was the first try at a true pyramid.

     In any event, this is an interesting find and hopefully it will provide some useful information about the poorly understood Thirteenth Dynasty.

Mummy Exhibit at New York's Museum of Natural History

     To all of you who will be in New York City in the next few months, you may want to check out a new mummy exhibit that has opened at the Museum of Natural History. Naturally Egyptian mummies are part of the exhibit, but so are mummies from Peru. I have not yet seen the exhibit (it has just opened) and will provide more details once I do see it. In the meantime, here is some more information about it. 

   Also in the news is the discovery of the tomb of one of the Ptolemaic "Kings" in Cyprus. The tomb is that of 12 year old Ptolemy Efpator, who was appointed King of Cyprus by his father Ptolemy the Sixth of Egypt. The child ruled Cyprus for about two years. The Ptolemy were the descendants of General Ptolemy, who was a commander for and close friend of Alexander the Great. After Alexander's death, Ptolemy declared himself Pharaoh of Egypt and promptly stole Alexander's body, which was en route to Macedonia for burial. Ptolemy had Alexander buried at Memphis, but the world conquering Macedonian was later re-buried in Alexandria. Another article on the discovery, with a re-construction of the tomb, can be found here.

Tutankhamen's Funeral Objects from Nefertiti's Funerary Equipment?

     It has been known for many years that some of the objects in Tutankhamen's tomb were not made for his funeral. Nicholas Reeves has taken a look at this in an article in the latest copy of the Bulletin of the Egyptological Seminar ("Tutankhamen's Mask Reconsidered", BES volume 19, 2015). He lists a number of objects that seem to have been made for some one else's funeral, but which were used in Tutankhamen's burial. The canonic coffinettes, some of the mummy trappings, and even the world famous gold death mask were actually made for Ankhkheperure Neferneferuaten.

     It has been suspected that Ankhkheperure Neferneferuaten was Queen Nefertiti serving as a co-regent with her husband Akhenaten. Strong support for this theory has now emerged as Dr. Reeves has re-examined Tutankhamen's death mask and noted that the young king's cartouche on the mask was altered in ancient times to replace a cartouche of Ankhkheperure Neferneferuaten. This would seem to prove that Ankhkheperure did rule as a Pharaoh. It does not prove that this was the throne name of Nefertiti, but it would seem very possible that it was her throne name.

     If you can get a copy of BES 19, do read Dr. Reeve's article as it contains some very interesting material. BES 19 is also a "festschrift" commemorating the career of Dorothea Arnold, who is well-known and well-respected in the field of egyptology.

Palace of Sennacherib Found

     Archaeologists working in Mosul to assess the damage caused by ISIS to what is believed to be the tomb of the Prophet Jonah have discovered that the palace of Sennacherib lies below the Prophet's final resting place. Apparently ISIS had dug tunnels into the site looking for artifacts to loot.

     One of the tunnels contained an inscription from the reign of Esarhaddon. who was the son of Sennacherib. The tunnels are apparently in danger of collapsing which would do even more damage to the site.

Dynasty Thirteen Group Statue

     As the Middle Kingdom wound down and the Second Intermediate Period began, group statues like the one illustrated here became more common. This group is of a nobleman named Senpu and his family. They are shown standing in front of an altar which they hoped would have offerings placed on it in their memory. Senpu is the cloaked figure in the center, and he is surrounded by his mother, two brothers and another woman (his grandmother?).

     The garments of the men are are good examples of some that I have mentioned in the last few posts. Senpu wears a cloak that he holds together with his right hand, while his brothers wear long "kilts" that are tied at the waist (you can see the knot sticking out above the top of the kilts).

     The women are dressed in fairly traditional sheath dresses that come up to just below the breasts. The breast are covered by straps that go over each shoulder.

     This statue is now in the Louvre in Paris and was originally found at Abydos.

More Middle Kingdom Statues

     There are some other garment styles on the statues of Middle Kingdom nobility than the one shown in the previous post. Figure 1 shows a mid to late Dynasty 12 statue of a man wearing an almost all-covering shawl. You can see the edging of the shawl below the chin of the man and notice how his right hand is almost covered by the garment (it almost seems as if the right hand is holding the two sides of the shawl closed around him). Statues wearing such shawls continue on into the Second Intermediate Period.

     Figure 2, also from Dynasty 12, shows a man names Nemithotep seated and wearing a shawl like the one in figure 1. This statue also shows the nobleman wearing a wig with the pointed lapets mentioned in the previous post.

     Finally there is the seated scribe  statue (figure 3) of the Dynasty 13 high steward Gebu. This statue shows yet another commonly worn garment of the period. This one covers Gebu from just below his breast, down over his abdomen and over his legs. If you look carefully at the top of the garment (on the left side of the photo) you can see some cloth showing above the tip of the garment. This is likely a representation of a knot that holds the garment in place. Gebu also wears a wig with pointed lapets.


   

12th Dynasty Statue of Sehetepibreankh

Figure 1 - Sehetepibreankh, Met Museum

     Each major period of Egyptian history has distinctive features in its art work. In the statues of the nobility the clothes they wear are very different from period to period.

Figure 2 - Folded Cloth in the Right Hand

     The statue shown here shows a typical representation of a Middle Kingdom nobleman. In figure 1 we can see a statue of Sehetepibreankh (Sehetepibre is one of the names of the Pharaoh Amenemhat I, during whose reign this nobleman began his career, so his name means Amenemhat Lives). There are some details of the statue which are a holdover from the Old Kingdom. For instance, Sehetepibreankh holds in his right hand a folded cloth (figure 2) which is commonly shown in statues from the Old Kingdom (and would be shown in the statuary of the New Kingdom as well). The legs of the statue are also carved in a way that reminds me of Old Kingdom sculpture.

Figure 3 - Showing a common Middle Kingdom Wig

Figure 4 - Notice the Hair at the Bottom of the Wig's Lapets

     But the wig worn by this nobleman is quite different from that worn in the Old Kingdom. Note how the lapets slant down to a point (figure 3). This is common in the statuary of Dynasties Twelve and Thirteen. Also, look at the lapels closely in figure 4. I am not quite sure what is being represented here. It might be that a cloth is covering the actual wig (notice how the hair seems to stick out below the "cloth" at the bottom of the wig's lapets and on the owner's forehead). Or is the hair arranged differently at the bottom of the lapets than it is in the rest of the wig and there is no cloth being shown over the wig at all?


Copyright (c) 2017 by John Freed

Somethings Never Change

     Many years ago I was in Egypt for the second time. I had learned enough on the first trip to be confident that I could get around without a tour group the second time. So I decided to take the bus from Midan Tahrir (just outside the Cairo Museum) to the Great Pyramid. I waited patiently for the bus. When it arrived everyone else who was waiting for it pushed their way on at the same time as everyone on the bus was pushing their way off. Not wanting to be the bad American tourist, I decided to wait until the dust settled and then politely board the bus. Needless to say the door to the bus closed in my face and I settled down for the long wait for the next one. Guess who led the pushing when the next bus arrived? Yes, it was the bad American tourist.

     As the bus rolled along the road to Giza the local kids were jumping up and grabbing a hold onto the side of the bus to ride for free. There were dozens of kids (and a few adults) hanging onto the outside of the bus this way. As I stood on the bus I had this vision of a Volvo getting too close to the bus with tragic results. Fortunately that did not happen.

     After  a short time I was able to start taking in the scene around me. Taking public transportation when you visit another country is a good way to learn a little about the lives of the locals. There were folks holding baskets of something or other, others excitedly talking, etc. There was also a woman who was holding two geese by the wings. The geese were, not surprisingly, honking and flapping around covering the bus (and me) in their feathers.

     This reminded me of the many scenes carved on tomb and temple walls by the ancient Egyptians, where a servant brings live geese to the tomb owner by holding the birds by their wings. Figure 1 shows a representation of such a scene. This piece is from the pyramid complex of Amenemhat I at Lisht and is now in the Brooklyn Museum. It clearly shows that somethings never change. At least some of the modern Egyptians do the same things their ancestors did thousands of years ago.