Volume 6, Number 2 -- Summer 1995
THE OSTRACO]Y
EGYPTIAN STUDY SOCIETY @ DHNHrgse PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE GraemeDavis FrankPettee Judy Greenfield Mary Pratchett SandyKerns CherylPreyer David Pepper Jill Taylor
I N T HI SI S S UE PAGE ARTICLE 1 Mentuhotep ll (Part ll) by R i chard H arw ood
ESS STAFF LIAISON Dr. Robert Pickering
10
Did TutankhamonLie in State?
14
Egyptian Literature for Young Folk
by R obert H anaw al t
17 THE OSTRACOAIis publishedthree times per year by members of the Egyptian Study Society. The ESS, a support group of the DENVERMUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY,is a non-profit organizationwhose purpose is to study ancient Egypt. Articles are contribu ted b y me m ber s on a v olunt ar y bas ii. M e m b e r part icipatio nis en co ura ged. Not hing m ay be pr int ed i n w h o l e or in part witho ut writte n per m is s ion. @19 95Egy pt ianSt udy Soc iet y Publication of THE OSTRACON is supported by a grant from THE PETTY FOUNDATION
22
by NormaLivo Lecture Notes: by Judy Greenfield, DavidPepper.and Jill Taylor Expansion Theory of the Great Pyramid David Roberts'Egypt The Second lntermediate Period The Coffin Project The World's Oldest Road Conservation in Archeology House of Scrolls by GraemeDavis
II: MENTUHOTEP FOUNDEROF THE MIDDLEKINGDOM Part 2: The Pharaoh By RichardHarwood ABOI|T THE AUTHOR: Richard Harwood is the Senior Vice President and Manager of the Trust Department of Bank One, Colorado Springs. Pursuing a life-long interest in Egyptology, he the Temple of became fascinated with of the Middle in the origins ll and Mentuhotep his during Kingdom second trip to Egypt in 1991. Harwood is a member of the ESS and the author of an helpful exceedingly OSTRACON article on guidebooks for Egypt. This article NOTE: was published in two parts in successive THE of issues OSTRACON. See the Summeri Winter 1994 issue for Part 1 .
who gives life to the Two Lands");but, after the first blush of military success, he changedhis Horusnameto Neteryhedjet(meaning"the divine one of the crown of Upper Egypt"). In 2040 B . C. E . ,f re s h f ro m h is v ic t o ry o v e r He r a k l e o p o l i s , Mentuhotep again changed his name to S e ma t a wy(me a n in g" Un it e ro f t h e T w o L a n d s " ) , , dadopted a d d e dt h e t h ro n en a me Ne b h e p e t rean t h e f u ll f iv e f o ldt it u la ryo f a p h a ra o h:" t h e H o r u s Sematawy, He of the Two Goddesses Sematawy,the Golden Horus Kashuty,King of Upper and Lower Egypt Nebhepetre,Son of Re
T H E OL D KIN G D O M 6TH DYNASTY(2323.2152 BCE) Teti 12323-22911 Pepi | 12289-22551 Merenre(2255-22461 Pepi ll (2246-2152l. PERIOD FIRSTINTERMEDIATE 7TH DYNASTY(2152 BCE) " 7 0 p h a ra ohsi n 7O daY s" g T H D YN AS T Y( 2152-2134B C E ) 1 5 w e a k p h araohsw ho rul edfrom Memphi s gTH/1OTH DYNASTIESl2 | 34-2O4OBCE) (Herakleopolitanl 1 8 p h a ra o h si ncl udi ng Achtoy | - lV and MerYkure concurrent with I lTH DYNASTY(2134-2O4OBCE)(Theban) 12134-21181 Inyotef I (2118-2069) Inyotef ll {Wahankh) (2069-2066t?l ) Inyotef lll (20661?l -2061) MentuhotepI 12061-2040l Mentuhotepll (Neteryhedjet)
Mentuhotep". Thus, the various names adopted by Mentuhotep mirror the stages in his reunification of f irst the Egypt: indicating change that he united all of Upper Egypt and the second that he accomplished the conquest of the entire country. During each change, the pharaoh retained his f amily Mentuhotep, name meaning "Montu is reflecting content", the acceptance of the local war god of Thebes as the main deity of the period.
The actual identity of Mentuhotep ll is f ar f rom clear and has been a subject of among controversy f T H E MID D L EKIN G D OM Egyptologists or alRegardless of the B .C .E .) 1 1 T HD YN AS TY(2O4O-1991 most a century. The (2040-2010) Mentuhotepll (Nebhepetre) controversy concernstems uncertainty (2010-1998) Me n tu h o tepl l l (S ' ankhare) names, his ing from the fact that (1998-1991) M e n tu h o te pl V scholars modern Mentuhotep adoPted it was that agree and at least two, MentuhoCHRONOLOGY Nebhepetre FIGURE1: PHARAONIC perhaps three, diff ertep ll who succeeded ent names during his the unifying in reign. Did the names This whole' new a into Egypt fragments of Seankhibtawy, Neteryhedjet, Sematawy, and opinion was shared by the ancient Egyptians or several? individual one to Nebhepetre belong themselves. In a temple inscription of the 19th For many years, scholars believed the names Dynasty, the names of Menes of the First belongedto three different pharaohs' Dynasty, Nebhepetre Mentuhotep of the 11th Dynasty, and Ahmose of the 18th Dynasty are At present, however, most scholars agree that listed together, obviously as the founders of the all of these titularies were held successively by Old, Middle and New Kingdoms (Hayes, p'152). one and the same person." lt now appears that Mentuhotep l's successor came to the throne bearing the name Seankhibtawy (meaning "He Sum m er1995
Although Mentuhotep ruled for 51 years, 3O of them as pharaoh of all Egypt, comparatively little is known of his political reign. He succeeded in crushing the rebellious elements among his own people and wasted little time in consolidating his borders and reestablishing trade in the Mediterranean,sending ships to Byblos and punt. He reopened the quarries at the Wadi el Hammamat and Hat-nub in the Eastern Desert; and he protected his mines and overland trade routes by vigorous campaigns against the traditional enemies of Egypt collectively called the " Nine Peoples of the Bow" or, more simply, the "Nine Bows". In an inscription from his chapel at Dendera, Mentuhotep is described as "clubbing the eastern lands, striking down the hill countries, trampling the deserts, enslaving the Nubians, ... the Medjay and the Wawat, the Libyans, and the [Asiatics]" (Hayes, p.154). Because of its proximity to Thebes, much of Mentuhotep's energy was directed toward protecting the border with Nubia, possibly building on the campaigns of his predecessors. The rock walls at the eastern end of Shatt el Rigal , a ravine in the western cliffs on the ancient border of Nubia, record a journey made by Mentuhotep in 2022 B.C.E. to meet his eldest son who was returning from a tour of inspection of the lands to the south. Accompanying the pharaoh were his mother, Oueen Yah, and most of his court including sculptors who carved relief figures of the king and his family on the rock walls (Winlock, p.33-34it.22 Throughout the long reign of Mentuhotep, the provincial nomarchs retained much of the power and independence they had seized during the chaotic years of the First Intermediate period. At each of the provi ncial capitals, the local prince held his own court, maintained his own army and fleet, and dated events to the years of his own rule. He also made his vast and lavishly decorated tomb in the necropolis of his ancestors, surrounded by the tombs of his many officials. The success of Mentuhotep's reign, if not its very existence, was due in large part to his ability to control these nomarchs, to gain their loyalty, and to turn their vast resources to the uses of the entire nation (Hayes, p.1b4). Like so much of Egyptian history, we know much about Nebhepetre Mentuhotep f rom the Summer 1995
monuments he built. While inscriptions dating from his reign have been found at the First Cataract at Abisko and in the quarries of the Wadi el Hammamat and Hat-nub, it is in the various chapels and buildings he erected that the history of his reign is traced. These monuments can be divided into two chronologicalgroupings: those built at Dendera and Gebelein during the period when Mentuhotep was vanquishing his enemies and using the Horus name Neteryhedjet, and those built at Abydos, Ballas, Karnak, Tod, Armant, el-Kab, and Elephantine after he had reunited the Two Lands and changed his Horus name to Sematawy. Mentuhotep's f amous temple at Deir el-Bahricapsulizeshis entire reign and contains both titularies. From the first chronological group, the small kachapel at Dendera is the most interesting and now stands in the atrium of the Cairo Museum. When it was discovered in 1916, the chapel was in an excellent state preservation. of Unfortunately, as it was being dismantled for shipment to Cairo, the blocks were placed in the shade of a nearby tree. A sudden storm developed and the tree fell, destroying several of the blocks and damaging many of the fine reliefs. However, the remaining reliefs show a high standard of art that presages the exquisite work of Mentuhotep's immediate successors. The chapel itself measures only j.S by 4.75 feet, with a maximum height of 7.75 f eet. Most of Mentuhotep's monuments f rom this period were made of sandstone, but the Denderachapel was made of limestone. On the right door jamb, an inscription identifies both the builder and his purpose: "...beloved of [Hathor, mistress of] Dendera, the son of Re 'Mentuhotep', living like Re forever, the living god, foremost of the kings. ilt isl the ka-chapel of Mentuhotep, which he made as his monument for his statue 'Belovedof-Horus', living forever". Thus this chapel, like those of other pharaohs of the Old and Middle Kingdoms, was built to hold a cult-statue of Mentuhotep himself which would receive off erings placed there f or the benefit of the king's soul. The main scene in the chapel is on the rear wall and depicts a victory of Mentuhotep over his enemies; it is quite probable that the chapel was built for this occasion. On the west bank of the Nile, about 17 miles 1
south of Thebes, lies the village of Gebelein. During part of the First lntermediate Period, the village had been a colony of Nubian mercenaries. It was here that Mentuhotep built another chapel to the goddess Hathor. Although only three blocks of the chapel have'survived, it seems clear that the main purpose of the chapel was for propaganda at a time when Mentuhotep was struggling to unite the whole country. On one of these blocks, the "Son of Hathor, mistress of Dendera, Mentuhotep" wears the crown of Upper Egypt and holds the hair of a prisoner whom the pharaoh is about to club with a mace. lnterestingly, the prisoner is not a foreigner, but an Egyptian, as indicated by the shendyt-kilt he is wearing. Behind this prisoner, three others are shown kneeling with their arms hanging down, waiting their turn to be clubbed. lnscriptions in front of them identify the prisoners as Nubians, Asiati cs, and Libyans. The inscription above the scene describes the event as "Subduing the chiefs of the Two Lands, establishing Upper and Lower Egypt, the Foreign Lands, the Two Banks, the Nine Bows..." (Habachi, p. 1 9). While all the monuments built by Mentuhotep prior to his unification of Egypt in 2O4O B.C.E. portray his conquering of enemies, those built after that date commemorate the events without scenes of war. An example of this later motif was found at Abydos. Starting with Khufu of the Fourth Dynasty (whose tiny ivory statuette, the only known likeness of him, was found there), almost all pharaohs of the Old Kingdom erected chapels and cenotaphs near the traditional center of the worship of Osiris. After Mentuhotep recaptured Abydos early in his reign, it is probable that he used the city as headquarters f or his troops in the f inal push northward against Herakleopolis. Later, as the first pharaoh to unite Egypt after the collapse of the Old Kingdom, Mentuhotep added to the Abydos complex. His contribution was most likely a small shrine adjacent to the main temple (Baines & Malek, p.117]', built like his chapel at Denderato hold a cult-statue of himself. Despite his known reunification of the entire country, no monument or object inscribed with Mentuhotep's titularies has ever been discovered north of Abydos. Although the shrine at Abydos had long since been destroyed, in 1902-1903 Petrie found five
sandstone blocks from it that had been reused in the foundations of 18th Dynasty buildings in the Osiris Enclosure. In 1914, Lefebvre found two more blocks in the same place, this time of limestone. One of the limestone blocks depicts an unidentified god addressing Mentuhotep: "l give thee Upper and Lower Egypt...like Re, forever", and another of the blocks, now in the Cairo Museum, shows several deities wishing Mentuhotep "...all joy, that you may live as king of the Great Place, O king of Upper and Lower Egypt Nebhepetre, living forever" (Habachi, p.171. assumed that For many years, it was Mentuhotep built nothing on the east bank of the lf Mentuhotep built stone Nile at Thebes. monuments at Abydos and Elephantine, it is almost certain that he would have built similar structures at Karnak, the great temple of the capital. ln fact, a crude offering table dedicated by Nebhepetre Mentuhotep to Osiris, now in the Cairo Museum, was found at Karnak. Labib Habachi found another offering table in a store south of the First Court of Karnak (although it was presumably discovered somewhere within the temple) with an inscribed cartouche reading "May live the king of Upper and Lower Egypt 'Nebhepetre', son of Re 'Mentuhotep', given life like Re forever" (Habachi,p.33). Finally, in a wall of reused blocks between the east gate in the temenos wall [wall enclosing a temple or other sacred areal and the small temple of Ramses ll, a block of red granite was found. The block had evidently been used as the lintel of a door and shows the f igure of Mentuhotep sitting under the sun-disk with two uraei and outstretched wings while two deities stand on each side of him (Habachi, p.36). lt seems likely that these objects were originally made for one or more monuments erected by Karnak. However, these at Mentuhotep monuments have been lost under the enormous building projects that became the great Temple of Amun. "...like Re, living forever." In two of the scenes in Mentuhotep's chapel at Dendera, built before he changed his Horus name to Sem atawy in his 21st regnal year, the pharaoh is shown wearing the Crown of Two Feathers which is peculiar to the god Amun. In another scene in the same Sum m er1995
chapel, an ithyphallic figure stands behind Hathor and wears the crown of Upper Egypt to which two feathers are attached. The f igure is wrapped in a garment from which one arm is raised, and behind the figure is a booth. Except for the crown, which was usually associated with Amun, these characteristics are those of the gods Min, the chief deity of Koptos, or Kamutef, to whom there was a reference in Mentuhotep's chapel at Abydos. Surpri singly, the inscription on the scene does not refer to any of these gods but, rather, to "The good god, lord of the Two Lands, son of Re 'Mentuhotep"' (Habachi,p.52l .
Mentuhotep was identified with and assimilated into these gods during his lifetime and was undoubtedly deified before his death. It was after his death, however, that the veneration of Mentuhotep reached its peak. A procession of statues in the Min Festival at the Ramesseum has Mentuhotep standing between Menes and Ahmose. Each of these pharaohs founded one of the great periods of Egyptian history, but it was only Mentuhotep whose cult was maintained for centuries by his successors. In the 13th Dynasty, some 150 years after Mentuhotep's death, Sesostris lll erected a granite stele on the western end of his predecessor'stemple at Deir el-Bahri. Under the cartouche of Sesostris are two almost identical scenes: on the left, Sesostris offers food and drink to Amun, and on the right he does the same to Mentuhotep. lt was also on this stele that Sesostris lll decreed that offerings of ten loaves of bread and two vases of beer be brought from the Temple of Amun at Karnak to the Temple of Mentuhotep every day (Naville,
These unusual representations of the living king in the form of deities are not unique to Dendera; similar representationsand inscriptions are found in his ruined chapel at Elephantineand on graffiti from the lsland of Konosso near Philae. This self-glorification was probably intended to enhance the status of both the king and the throne at a crucial juncture of Egyptian history. The ploy worked, for it seems clear that
: :::--. :.-' i;': : -'-1.'.'.::::: -
(rll
"IE@@TF6E=
\-
t
nqr
....-._;;if";V Figure 2. The Temple Court of Mentuhotep ll. Su mmer1995
(Arnold)
Part 1). There is also evidence that each year, during the celebration of the Feast of the Valley, the statue of Amun was carried to the west bank of the river to visit the Temple of Mentuhotep (Habachi,p.50). During the Ramesside Period of the 19th and 2oth Dynasties, the cult of Nebhepetre was revived, and his name was invoked and worshipped in several of the tombs in the Theban necropolis. In the tomb of Ramses ll, the name of Mentuhotep is found on the lintel of the entrance into the inner chamber. In other tombs, the owners are seen making offerings to Mentuhotep or libating before him. By the end of this period, however, no further inscriptions were placed in tombs, and the cult of Nebhepetreseems to have run its course.
THE TEMPLE OF MENTUHOTEP ll. Nebhepetre Mentuhotep died in 201O B.C.E. after a reign of 51 years. His son and successor, S'ankhare Mentuhotep lll, inherited a united and tranquil country populated by a generation to whom the civil war of the First Intermediate Period was little more than a legend. The founder of the Middle Kingdom was buried at his f unerary temple under the protecting cliffs of Deir el-Bahri. This is perhaps the most impressive monument to have survived from this period of history. As revolutionary as the design of the Temple appears, it may have been inspired by the monuments of Mentuhotep's predecessors. The kings of the early 1 1th Dynasty in Thebes built their tombs at el-Tarif, a low area of the desert north of the entrance to the Valley of the Kings. Although similar in type to contemporary provincial tombs elsewhere, those at el-Tarif were distinguished by their majestic size and Formed like three monumental architecture. sides of a rectangle, with the open end facing the Nile, the court within the three walls measureo as much as 985 feet long and 20O feet wide. The rear wall of the enclosure was cut into the rock cliff. This wall, like the two side walls, consisted of door-like openings flanked by square pillars, creating the impression of a pillared f acade with long arcades or ambulatories Icovered walkwaysl on all three sides of the court.2t The king was buried in a rock-cut chamber located behind the rear pillars 5
and f lanked by similar chambers containing members of the royal family. Court officials cut their tombs in the side galleries. For reasons not yet known, Mentuhotep decided not to build his tomb at el-Tarif, choosing instead the large, empty, cliff-encircled bay of Deir elBahri almost directly across the Nile f rom Karnak. lt is also not known at what point in his reign Mentuhotep began building his mortuary temple, but the fact that inscriptions have been found in the temple complex showing both his second and third titularies indicates that the temple was probably begun before Mentuhotep conquered Herakleopolis and united the Two Lands. Deir el-Bahri is roughly contained within a semicircle of high cliffs, some 1 31 5 f eet across (north to south) and 850 feet deep. Within the perimeter of this area, Mentuhotep laid out a large open court surrounded by a sandstone wall that followed the natural contours of the bay and a fieldstone wall across the eastern front. The enclosed area had a shape roughly that of a broad spear head with the blunted point protruding into the cliffs at the rear of the bay. lt was in this blunted point, in the f ar that of the bay, southwestern corner (See Mentuhotep built his mortuary temple.2a Figure 2.) The main temple was built in the form of d "T", with the cross-bar being a large square and the stem of the "T" being cut into the cliff behind it. The square consisted of a platf orm of solid masonry with a much smaller solid core of masonry rising above it in the center like a box The sides of the lower sitting on a table. platform, roughly 135 feet square and 16 feet high,25 were faced with f ine limestone and decorated with reliefs showing Mentuhotep's prowess in war. On the front (east) side of the temple was a double colonnade of 48 square pillars presenting an effect similar to t he porticos of the earliersaf/-tombs [Arabic: row] at el-Tarif. The top of this lower platform was reached by a 16 foot wide ramp set in the middle of the east facade. At the top of the ramp was a covered, double colonnade of square pillars running along the perimeter of the east and south sides of the platform and set 13 feet in from the north edge. S u m m er1995
Behind this colonnaded hall, through an opening on the east side of an inner wall, was a roofed ambulatory of 140 octagonal pillars that surroundedthe central core on all four sides. The central core, 56 foot square, rose an estimated 25 feet above the lower platform and projected at least 10 feet through the roof of the covered ambulatory surrounding it. The visual effect, as seen in Figure 3, was of an airy monument built on three levels, with the roof of the upper colonnade and ambulatory forming the second level and the top of the central core forming the third. The possibility that a structure may have been built on top of the central core has caused considerable controversy among Egyptologists. Edouard Naville, the Swiss archeologist who excavated the temple between 1903 and 1907 on behalf of the Egypt Exploration Fund, was the first to propose that this platform was actually a pedestal on which originally stood a solid pyramid (Naville, Part 1). Naville's theory has been accepted or repeated by several distinguished Egyptologists including Herbert Winlock, Ahmed Fakhry, and William Hayes. More recently, however, Dieter Arnold has made an exhaustive study of the temple and has concluded that no such pyramid could have existed atop the central core, and that the platform was more likely a solid, mastaba-like structure with nothing above it (Arnold, p.3435). (Compare Figures 3 and 4) lf, in fact, the
platform did originally support another structure, all traces of it have long since disappeared. Level with the floor of the temple's second tier, the stem of the "T" runs back into a cut in the western cliff. To the west of the ambulatory was an open, colonnaded middle court. Here, in the center of the court, was found the concealed entrance to Mentuhotep's actual burial chamber. A descending passage ran westward for 500 feet into the bedrock under the base of the cliff . At the end of the passage was the burial chamber itself, lined with granite and filled from floor to ceiling with a shrine-shapedsarcophagus of fine alabaster. When the sarcophagus was opened, archeologists f ound no sign of the pharaoh's body or the painted coffin that must have contained it; the room held only two small wooden model boats, several bows, a few broken scepters, and a number of funerary cones inscribedwith the king's name and titles. To the west of the middle court was the hypostyle hall, its roof supported by 80 octagonal pillars. The western end of this hall held an offering table and behind it was a small, rock-cut niche originally designed to hold a kastatue of Mentuhotep. Unlike later New Kingdom temples, the Temple of Mentuhotep was built both for the cult worship of the pharaoh and as his actual burial site.26
Figure3. The Templeof Mentuhotepll, sideview. (Arnold)
Su mm er1995
THE TEMPLE COMPLEX. The TemPle of Mentuhotep itself was approached f rom the valleytemple, which is yet to be discoveredbut probablylocatedsome 328 feet east of the modern edge of the desert and buriedseveralmeters be l o w fie ld s n o w under cuftivation. A hig h w a l l e d, o p e n br ick causeway connected t h e valley temple with the courtyard of the main t e mp l e ove r on e and a half miles to the w e s t . Passingthrough a pylon in the east wall of the courtyard,an ancient visitor would have found h i ms e lfin a m a ssivegarden. A s original lyd e s i g n e d ,the pr o ce ssionalfrom the east wa ll t o the baseof the temple would have been linedon each side with 14 sycamore-figtrees. Although 25 of the 28 large holes (20 feet in diameter) were dug for these trees, it appearsthat only the first four holes in front of the temple were ever used. Behind these trees were grovesof smaller
piercedwith holes that may have held a crook a n d f la il. E a c h s t a t u e s h o ws t h e p h a r a o h d re s s e din a c lo a ke x t e n d in gt o h is k n e e s . S i n c e t h is c lo a k is s imila rt o t h a t u s e d in t he H e b - s e d Festival,the statues may date to Mentuhotep's 3 9 t h re g n a l y e a r wh e n h e c e le b ra t edh i s H e b s e d . Win lo c k d is c o v e re d1 3 o f t h e s e s t a t u e s d u rin g h is e x c a v a t io n so f t h e t e mp le . 2 8 I n a l l cases, the statues had been decapitatedand buried in the large tree holes in the courtyard. No one is certain at what point in history the statues had been buried or why they had been decapitated(or what was done with the heads, o n ly o n e o f wh ic h wa s f o u n d ), f o r t h e r e i s n o evidencethat the memory of Mentuhotepwas ever persecuted. The constructionof the Temple of Mentuhotep underwentseveralchangesthroughoutthe phar-
aoh's lifetime a including reorientation of temple the to courtyard south far the the side of Nobay." were where these changes evident more than in the discovery of the Bab el-Hosanin norththe central part of the courtyard. 1899, In Howard Carter, then Inspector General of the Egyptian AnN ebhepetre-Mentuhotep Detiquities 1 0 9 . A r e co n str u ctio n of the templ e-pyrami d of partment, was Figure4. The Temple of Mentuhotepll with hypotheticalpyramid. across riding (FakhrY) courtyard the in front of the temple when the ground gave way beneath his horse's feet. Examining the hole, Although most of the sycamore-fig trees were Carter noticed traces of masonry and decided to never planted and the holes dug for them were excavate. He soon discovered that the hole was filled in, the processional through the courtyard the entrance passage to a tomb, with the original was lined on both sides with standing statues of mud-brick seal still intact on the door. Within the pharaoh. These sandstone statues were the tomb chamber, Carter found a seated Osiride in form, that is, with the legs together, sandstone statue of Mentuhotep, wrapped in the flesh painted red, and the hands crossed and
tamarisk shrubs f lower and f lanking beds temPle the and ramp protecting the colonnade on the front of the platl ower f orm." Shortly Mentuafter hotep's death, the however, caretemple takers stopped the watering plants; the young trees died f rom lack of moisture and were cut down. The ax marks of the wooden choppers still show traces of this clearing.
-l
-
" n .9 g v s i s : % Es
Sum m er1995
white linen and lying on its side next to a plain M i d d le Kin g d o mcoffin. This statue, Osirid ein f o r m an d si m i l ar to the standing st a t u e s discoveredin the courtyard,is now in the Cairo M u s eu m . l n a l l p r o b a b ility,this tomb (calledB ab el- Ho s a n or "The Gate of the Horse" becauseof Carter's d i s c over y) ha d originally been designed f o r M e n tuh o tep 'sactual burial. When the loc a t io n of the royal tomb was later changed to the temple itself, this tomb was converted to a cenotaphand the statue symbolicallyburiedas a substitutefor the Pharaoh. In addition to Mentuhotep's own tomb, the templecomplexcontainsthe tombs of some two d o z e n o the r m embers of the royal family a n d court. Six of these tombs were found between t h e t em p le 's am bulatoryand the middle c o u rt . Excavatedby Naville and Winlock, these tombs were constructed in the early part of Me n tu h o tep 'sr eign. This is indicatedby th e f a c t that the later wall of the ambulatorywas built on top of the tombs' entrances and f rom inscriptionsreferringto the pharaohby his preunificationtitulary. They were built for members o f M e n tuh o tep 's "harem", the royal la d ie s rangingin age from five years to scarcelymore t h a n 20 . All si x of these pit tombs were a lik e . limestone a Each was provided with s a r c oph a g u s,several of which are of g re a t b e a uty. Ab o ve ground,each had an elabo ra t e ly carvedlittle shrineto hold her ka-statue. In their ea ch is identifiedas a "P riest e s so f i n s c r i pti on s, H a t h o r " an d ea ch naively claims to hav e b e e n t h e " So leFa vo r iteof the K ing". The tombs of two major wives were also found w i t h in th e tem p le complex. The short, s lo p in g passageof one, that of Oueen Tem, the mother M en tuh o tep's successor S 'an k h a re of Mentuhotep,was discoveredin the southwest c o r ne ro f the tem ple'shypostylehall. Th e seco n da n d more impressivetomb wa s t h a t o f O u e e nNe fr u, the pharaoh'sfull sister ' A ls o dating f rom the early years of Mentuhotep's r e i g n,th e to m b was tunneled into the b a s e o f t h e cl i ff ju st ou tside the northern wall o f t h e o r i g i na lcou r t. A short corridordescen d st o a s ma ll su b ter r anean chapel, paneled wit h e l a bo r a telycar ved and painted limestones la b s . Su mm er1995
A second and longer corridor leads from the chapel to a false crypt and then to the burial c h a mb e rit s e lf . T h e t o mb h a d b e e n p l u n d e r e d prior to modern excavation and most of the burial equipmenttaken. However, some of the limestone reliefs, like those showing Oueen Nefru and her hairdresser (now in the MetropolitanMuseum of Art), are outstanding e x a mp le so f 1 1 t h Dy n a s t yt o mb s c u lp t u r e . Among the few items recoveredfrom the tomb of OueenNefruwere the four oldestushabtisyet d is c o v e re d . T h e s e s ma ll mu mmif or mf i g u r i n e s were made of wax, each wrapped in linen and placed within a tiny wooden coffin decorated with the name of the queen and the wediat eye on the left side. ln t h e c e n t u rie sf o llo win g O u e e n Ne f r u ' s b u r i a l , h e r t o mb b e c a me a p la c e o f p il g r i m a g ef o r ancientEgyptians.The tomb was still so popular 5OOyears after her death that, when Senenmut constructedpart of Hatshepsut'sTempledirectly above the entrance, he excavated a special t u n n e l in t o t h e t o mb f o r Ne w K ing d o ms i g h t seersto visit the first corridorand chapel' Many of the blocks recoveredfrom this part of the tomb show the ink graffiti left by the visitors' A f in a l t o mb f ro m t h e t e mp lec o mp l e xi s w o r t h y of note. Most of the tombs of Mentuhotep's court were built in the towering cliff that rises a b o v et h e De ire l-B a h rip la ino n t h e no r t h ' l t w a s here that Winlock discovereda tomb in 1926 containingthe battered bodies of 60 men, all p re p a re d f o r b u ria l in t h e s imp l e s t m a n n e r . Examinationshowed these men to be common soldiers from the early reign of Mentuhotep, many of them with arrows still in their wounds (Win lo c k p , . 2 9 ). lt is t e mp t in gt o t h i n k t h a t t h e y had beenslainin a battle of extremeimportance, p e rh a p sin t h e a c t u a l c a p t u re o f H e r a k l e o p o l i s , and that the pharaohhad honoredtheir loyalty wit h a b u ria l wit h in t h e p re c in c t so f h i s o w n mo rt u a ryc o mP le x . of T HE E NDO F A N E RA . De s p it et h e v e n e r a t i o n t h e a n c ie n tE g y p t ia n sf o r Me n t u h o t e ph, i s t e m p l e Some 550 years after did not fare well. Me n t u h o t e p ' sd e a t h , Ha t s h e p s u tc h o s e D e i r e l B a h ri a s t h e s it e o f h e r o wn mo rt u a r yt e m p l e . He r a rc h it e c t . S e n e n mu t , n o t o n l y u s e d 8
Mentuhotep's design for the new temple, building a portion of the queen's temple directly over the earlier complex, he also appears to have used Mentuhotep's temple as a guarry for the Shortly after the death of new building. Hatshepsut, her co-regent and successor, Tuthmosis lll, built a third temple to Amun and Hathor at Deir el-Bahri, wedged between the temples of Mentuhotep and Hatshepsut.30 lt appears that a large part of the blocks used for this last building were also quarried from Mentuhotep's temple complex. This resulted in pieces of architectural elements, broken statuary, and reshaped blocks f rom all three monuments being scattered in a confusing jumble throughout the Deir el-Bahri area.
25.
26.
27.
28.
As visually dramatic as Deir el-Bahri is, with the three temples nestled at the base of the towering cliffs, the location proved to be a dangerous one. What the quarrymen began, Nature completed. There is evidence that the Temple of Mentuhotep was peppered by rock slides from the face of the cliff for centuries. Then, in the 21st Dynasty, some 8OO years after Mentuhotep's death, a major avalanche fell on all three temples. The quarrymen working at Mentuhotep's temple dropped their baskets and tools on the spot (Arnold, p.62) and never returned. Today, all that remains of the temple are the rock foundations, fragments of the colonnades and hypostyle hall, and the central core of the temple itself, ruined reminders of a pharaoh who changed the face of Egyptian history forever.
ENDNOTES(cont'd. from Part 1) 2 1 . Al though V andie r, Sto c k , a n d G a rd i n e r a l l share th i s opinion, s ee H a b a c h i , p ' 4 9 , w h o s i d e s w i th Pos ener and m a k e s a s tro n g a rg u me n t that Seank hibt awy w a s th e k i n g i m m e d i a te l y p ri or to Me nt uhot ep ll an d w a s c o n s i d e re d b y th e l atter to be an us ur per. 2 2 . Bot h O ueen Y a h a n d th e s o n , In y o te f, di ed sh or t ly af t er t hi s j o u rn e y . Y a h w a s p robabl y b ur ied in t he s a ff-to m b o f Me n tu h o te p l at el Tar if and I ny ot e f w a s b u ri e d a t h i s f a ther' s te mple at Deir el -Ba h ri . 2 3 . Th e pillar ed app e a ra n c e o f th e s e to mb s gave th em t he nam e s a ff-to mb s ' T o d a te , th re e saffto m bs hav e bee n e x c a v a te d , th o s e o f In yotef I a n d ll and M ent u h o te P l . 2 4 . l f one s t ands o n th e c a u s e w a y l e a d i n g to the T e m Pl e o{ th e H a ts h e p s u t, Tem ple of 9
29.
Mentuhotep can be seen i n the far l eft cor ner of l t w as because of Ment uhot ep's the bay. templ e compl ex that H atshepsut' s was built agai nst the northern sl ope of the c lif f s r at her than i n the mi ddl e of the baY . A ctual l y, thi s porti on of the templ e was not a perfect square and measured approxim at ely 146 feet on the east and w est si des and 123 f eet on the south and north si des. C ompare thi s templ e to the Tem ple of H atshepsut, w hi ch w as bui l t to honor t he pharaoh and H athor, but w as never int ended t o serve as her tomb. l n the Metropol i tan Museum' s col l e ct ion f r om the templ e i s a sandstone ostracon on which appears to be a pl an of the garden drawn in r ed i nk. l f thi s i s the case, i t i s the earliest known archi tectural bl uepri nt ever di scovered' One of these statues, on w hi ch t he only recovered head has been pl aced, f or m s t he centerpi ece of the Mentuhotep exhibit at t he Metropol i tan Museum of A rt. S ee A rnol d f or a detai l ed outl i ne of t hese
changes. 30. A ccordi ng to P rof. Jadw i ga Li pi nska , dir ect or of the P ol i sh A rchaeol ogi cal Mi ssi on tha t has been excavati ng thi s si te si nce 1961 , this building w as probabl y a w ay-stati on for the Bar que of A mun duri ng the Feast of the V al l ey r at her t han a funerary templ e. [Li pi nska and John son, p. 20. l
CITEDREFERENCES I want to express special gratitude to Dr. DorotheaArnold, Curator of the Departmentof EgyptianArt at the MetropolitanMuseumof Art in Ne w Y o rk Cit y , wh o g ra c io u s lyg a v e h e r t i m e , a s s is t a n c e , a n d a c c e s s t o t h e M u s e u m ' s Me n t u h o t e pc o lle c t io n s . Aldred, Cyril. THEEGYPTIANS.London:Thames a n d Hu d s o nL t d . , 1 9 8 7 . Arnold, Dieter. THE TEMPLEOF MENTUHOTEP DEIR EL-BAHARI. New York: The AT MetropolitanMuseumof Art EgyptianExpedition, 1979. B a in e s ,J o h n a n d J a ro mir Ma le k . AT L A S O F ANCIENTEGYPT.New York: Facts on File, Inc., 19 8 0 . Breasted,James Henry. A HISTORYOF EGYPT. Ne w Y o rk : Ch a rle sS c rib n e r' sS o n s , 19 0 9 . S u m m er1995
David, A. Rosalie. THE EGYPTIANKINGDOMS. N e w Yo r k: E.P.Dutton & Co., Inc., 1975.
DID TUT LIE IN STATE? By Robert A. Hanawalt
Delia, Robert D. First Cataract Rock lnscriptions: Some Comments, Maps, and a New Group. JOUBNAL OF THE AMERICAN RESEARCH CENTERlN EGYPT: Vol. XXX, New York: The A m e r i canRe se a r chCenterin E gypt,1993. Fakhry,Ahmed. THE PYRAMIDS. Chicago:The U n i v .of Ch ica g oPress,1961. KING NEBHEPETRE Habachi, Labib. MENTHUHOTEP: HIS MONUMENTS, PLACE IN UNUSUAL HISTORY. DEIFICATION AND REPRESENTATIONSIN THE FORM OF GODS. Deut s c h e n W i e s ba d e n : M itteilungen des Abteilung Kairo, Band Instituts Archaologischen 1973. 1 9 . Otto Ha r r a ssowitz. Hansen, Kathy. EGYPT HANDBOOK. Chico: Inc., 1990. M o o n Pu b lica ti ons, Hayes, William C. THE SCEPTEROF EGYPT: PART/. New York: The MetropolitanMuseumof Art, 1953. L i p i n skaJa , d wig a and GeorgeB . Johnson . T h e Way-station of Thutmose lll at Deir el-Bahari, K M T : Fa ll, 19 92, S an Francisco: K MT 1992. C o m mu n ica ti on s, Naville, Edouard. THE Xlth DYNASTY TEMPLE AT DEIR EL-BAHARI: TWENTY-EIGHTHMEMOIR OF THE EGYPT EXPLORATIONFUND. London: T h e Egyp t Exp lo r ationFund, 1907 (P artl), 1 9 1 0 ( Pa r tll ) , an d 1 9 1 3 (P artlll). T r i g g er ,8.G., B.J. K emp, D. O'Conner,and A . B . Lloyd. ANCIENT EGYPT: A SOCIAL HISTORY. C a mb r id g eU niv. Press,1983. Winlock. Herbert E. THE RISEAND FALL OF THE MIDDLE KINGDOM lN THEBES.New York: T h e MacM illa nC ompany,1947.
Robert Hanawalt became About the Author: interested in the study of pharaonic Egypt over 4O years ago. He has an extensive personal library of literature on Egypt and is a member of the ESS, ARCE, The Egyptian Exploration Society of Great Britain, and the Oriental lnstitute of He has.traveled widely throughout Chicago. Egypt and is presently facilitator of the two Hieroglyph Study Groups of the ESS.
When King Tutankhamon died, did his body lie in state? Of course it did! But now the issue arises, for how long? The normally accepted period of time for the mummification and burial practices of the people in the land of Kemet was 70 dayst. But now presented that, in been evidence has Tutankhamon's case, the period between death and entombment may have been as much as six to eight months! ln an article entitled The Death of Niphururiya and it's Aftermath, (by Trevor R. Bryce and published in Volume 76 of JEA in 1990)2, the author establishes a substantial case for a long period of time between Tut's untimely demise Bryce did most of his and his interment. research through Hittite documents3 as well as using more commonly known Egyptiantexts. The bulk of Bryce's article convincingly argues that Niphururia is indeed Tutankhamon. While this has long been accepted by most scholars, there have been those, some recently, who claim Niphururia is either Akhenaten or that Smenkhare.o Nevertheless, the translation by the Hittites of Niphururia as the throne name of Tutankhamon, which was NebkheperRes,seems now to be well secured. What appeared to be self evident, for reasons pointed out later in this article, is now reinforced with an almost indisputableargument. So what? Bryce's article identifies the period of time, indirectly, when Niphururia (Tut) died. At best, it was at a very awkward time for Egypt.
Su mmer1995
10
One needs to have some perspective on the politics in the Mid-East at the time of the regency of Tut in order to appreciate the full measure of the situation. The entire eastern end of the Mediterranean basin was under the control of three 'super powers': Hatti (the Hittites), Mittani, and Egypt' Each was a powerful entity surrounded by vassal states that were tied to their " protectors" through political and trade alliances, an arrangement quite similar to that in Europe and Eastern Asia during the recent cold war. The Hittite's hegemony extended through that area known today as the Troad, a part of Turkey. Mittani had dominion over most of what is now Syria, and Egypt controlled the Nile Valley to the Fifth Cataract, as well as Palestine and a portion of Syria.6 War was constantly breaking out between the vassal states, and the sponsors were either supported or did not support their dependencies, according to theil own needs. The princes of the vassal states usually paid their tribute rather unhappily, or pleaded for military assistance, or threatened to join the other side (through their capture, of course) or asked for gold. This is the bulk of the subject matter contained in the so called Amarna Letters discoveredat the site of Akhetaten in 1887'7 Sometime in the summer of c.1323 B'C.E.8 Egypt attacked Kadesh, at that time under Hittite The Hittites retaliated by attacking control. Amka, which was Egyptian subject territory. The attack was led by the Hittite commanders Lupakki and Tarunta-zalma and is recorded in two of the Prayers of Mursili // as well as in p""6r.3
laoainl
ln the second Plague Prayer of Mursili we r e a d , " ...h esen t out Lupakki and Tarunta-z a lma and they attackedthose countries. But the king o f E g y p td ie d in those days.....B utsincethe wif e of the king of Egypt was destitute,she wrote to ". m y f a t he r ..... This establishes two imPortant points: 1) the king of EgyPt died during the period of the war, which is known to be late summer or early autumn, and 2) the widow queen had contacted the Hittite Further, in the same king. 11
document, Mursili says "When the Egyptians became frightened, they asked outright for one of his IMursili's father, Suppiluliumal sons to (take over) the kingship...." This is certainly the story of Ankhesenamon and Zannanzal The cause of Tutankhamon's deat h is not certain, although more and more evidence points to the fact that he was probably killed' That is not to say that he was murdered.e We do know that he was between 18. and 20 years old when he died and that there is a rounded depressionon his left cheek just in front of his ear; the skin Around the f illing it resembles a scab. circumference of the depression, which had slightly raised edges, the skin was discolored.lo Further, there is a piece of bone, not ethmoidtt in nature, still located in the skull cavity, as shown by X-ray. Cyril Aldred, noted art historian and authority on the Amarna Period, makes the statement that the wound was probably caused by a knife, arrow, or speart' and asserts that the king was probably murdered. Tut was not a child and followed in the footsteps of his ancestors in establishing a reputation as a mighty warrior and hunter. Buried with him in his tomb were 49 bows of various types and numerous arrows, bow strings, arm-guards, etc.tt lt is possible that he could have been accidentally killed while hunting, or even in the military action described above. Although if the latter was the case, the Hittites would probably ln any event, the political have noted it. situation at the time was not such to suggest an assassination. The Egyptians were now in the horrible position of having to replace a king, who had no living heirs, in the middle of a military conflict! lt is no wonder that Mursili says, "When the Egyptians became frightened..."
so-called "Ankhesenamon begins the So Episode". Upon the death of Tut, his wife, Ankhesenamon, apparently wrote a letter to Suppiluliuma informing him that the king was dead, that she had no sons of her own and asked him to send to her one of his sons whom marry and make she would naturally Ouite Pharaoh. Tut's Cartouche Suppiluliuma was very susplclous
:' so
S u m m er1995
and sent an envoy, one Hattusa-ziti, to Egypt to investigate. Hattusa-ziti returned the f ollowing spring, accompanied by the Egyptian envoy, Hani, and reported that everything was as stated. certainly if there had been any little princes who were the sons of Pharaoh running around, he would have heard about them. Suppiluliuma then sent his son, Zannanza to Egypt to marry the queen. Unfortunately, Zannanza never made it. He died on the trip, and Suppiluliuma held the Egyptians responsible. (l personally f eel that a much stronger case for murder can be made here than with Tut). He eventually launched a retaliatory attack on Egyptian territory in Syria. Egypt had gone f rom late summer to early spring with no pharaoh on the throne. When the Hittite arrangement fell thr ough, and with the threat of war with the Hittites, something had to be done, and done quickly. Ankhesenamon married Ay, a courtier who was probably her grandfather. Ay then presided at the entombment services of Tutankhamon some seven or eight months after his death. Ay ass umed the throne, and reigned for about four years. Upon his death, Ankhesenamon also disappearedfrom the scene. The time of Tut's burial is pretty well-established by the funeral wreaths on his coffin. They were made of cornflower blossoms, mandrake, and other plants.ra Both the cornflower and the mandrake bloom only in the late spring (late March and April) in Egypt. As stated earlier, normally interment took place at the end of 70 days. But there is a problem with burying Egyptian kings. At the time of burial, the ka of the Osiris King and that of the Horus King meld, extending the Royal Ka in a continuum that lasts throughout eternity.lu And 70 days after Tut's untimely death there was no Summer 1995
s u c c e s s o r,n o " L iv in g Ho ru s " ! Un t i l a n e w p h a ra o hwa s d e s ig n a t e dT, u t c o u ldn ot " t a k et h e win g s o f a f a lc o na n d f ly t o h e a v e n . " What do you do with a king's mummy for seven or eight months? There is no known precedent for this, thus anyone's speculation is as good as anyone else's. (And about 85o/o of Egyptian history" is speculation.) Tut's death could have been kept a state secret and the general public not informed of his demise until the issue of succession was resolved. Or his mummy could "visit" all of the temples in Egypt and be worshipped and anointed by the priests (almost certainly general public, not the although they would have probably known about it). There is also the possibility that the mummy was held in the tomb until the time of the burial services, although this is highly unlikely. Given the contents of the tomb, it needed to be sealed as quickly as possiblefor security reasons! One additional possibility is that the mummy did actually lie is state for worship by the family and the priesthood,either in a palace, such as that at Malkata, or in a mortuary temple. Tut apparently had a mortuary temple built for himself in an area near the site where Ramses lll later constructed his mortuary temple at Medinet Habu.to Or perhaps his mummy could have been placed in the mortuary temple of Amenhotep lll, his grandfather, which was fronted by the "Colossi of Memnon" and apparently was the largest and finest of them all. The above is pure speculation, but the f act remains that there was an extended period of time between Tutankhamon's death and his burial in a very small tomb in the Valley of the Kings, one of three tombs that were evidently started for him.17
12
Whateveroccurred,the very natureof the King's early death and entombment is a tragic tale of the end of a great family of rulerswho controlled Eg y p tf o r a lm o st2 5 0 years. @FlobertA. Hanawalt,
1995, Denver.
ENDNOTES processof mummifying 1. The desiccation a body took approximately 40 days,with another15-30
2.
3.
4.
5. 6.
I .
B.
13
d a ys allowed f or w a s h i n g , p a c k i n g , w ra p p ing, a n d anoint ing t he co rp s e . Se e D ' A u ri a , L a c o v ara, and Roehring: Mummies and Magic (Museum of Fi n e Ar t s : B os t on, 1 9 8 8 ). l t i s i n te re s ti n g to note th a t t he c ur r ent cu s to m o f s o me mo d e rn day Eg yp t ians is t o r et u rn to th e i n te rm e n t s i te 4O d a ys f ollowing buri a l a n d h a v e a f i n a l f u n eral me a l on t he gr av esi te . See Bryce, Trevor, Journal of Egyptian The Death of Vol. 76 (l990), Archeology Niphururiya and lts Aftermath, p.97-105, E.E.S.: L o n d on. J E A is th e o ffi c i a l p u b l i c a ti o n o f the Eg yp t ian E x plor at i o n S o c i e ty , a L o n d o n -b a sed o rg a niz at ion t hat a n y o n e w h o i s s e ri o usl y i n te res t ed in A nc i e n t E g y p t s h o u l d c o n si der j o i n i ng. Primarily Guterbock :The Deeds of Suppiluliuma as told by his son Mursili ll (Journal of Cuneiform Stu d i es , Cam br idge , 1 O) (h e re a fte r, " D e e d s " ) and r.he Plague Prayers of Mursili, various sources but primarily Laroche, Catalogue des Textes Hittites (Pa ri s , 1971l. . Krauss, Ende der Das Amarnazeit (Hildesheim, 1978) c.f . Wilhelm and Boese, in High, Middle or l o w (G ot henbur g, 1 9 8 7 ). Th e trans lit er at ion o f th e g l y p h s fo r T u t' s th r one name is nb xprw ra Co n tr ar y t o a r a th e r w i d e l y h e l d o p i n i on, Akh e n at en appar e n tl y d i d n o t l o s e c o n tro l i n fo re i gn af f air s . lt a p p e a rs th a t th e re w a s a wel l d e fi n ed f or eign po l i c y d u ri n g th i s p e ri o d . For fu rth e r inf or m at ion o n th e o o l i ti c a l s i tu a ti o n i n the Ne a r E as t at t his t i me , s e e Mu rn a n e ' s T h e Road to Ka des h / O r ient a l In s ti tu te : C h i c a g o , 1 9 9 0 ) An En glis h t r ans lati o n o f th e A m a rn a L e tte rs has The l t i s : M o ra n : re ce nt ly been pub l i s h e d . ( J o h n H o p k i n s P r ess: U n i v . Ama rn a Let t er s Ba l ti m or e, 1992) . I w o u l d l i k e to n o te h e re that so me of t he" beggi n g fo r g o l d " re c o rd e d b y s ome i n i n ter pr et ing t he A ma rn a l e tte rs ma y h a v e b een tra d e init iat iv es , r a th e r th a n a s k i n g fo r o u tri ght g i fts. A f t er all, wh a t d o e s " s e n d me mu c h gol d a n d I will s end y ou a n y th i n g i n m y c o u n try t hat yo u as k f or " r eally m e a n ? Th e dat e v ar ies ac c o rd i n g to a u th o r. T h i s d a t e i s Tutankhamun Reeves' The Complete f rom (Th a mes and Huds o n : L o n d o n , 1 9 9 0 ) w h i c h i s o n e of t he lat es t p o p u l a r b o o k s o n th e w h ol e Tu ta n k ham on epis o d e . N o te a l s o th a t th e re are
four di fferent spel l i ngs of the ki ng' s na m e in t his arti cl e and endnotes. These are the sp ellings of the ti tl es as gi ven by the vari ous auth or s. This w ri ter prefers " Tutankhamon" . 9. W hi l e al l sorts of conspi racy theori es abound and ate popul ar readi ng, a careful stud y of t he successi on of pol i ti cal events fol l ow i ng his deat h makes murder as the cause of hi s dem ise highly unl i kel y. 1O. Leek's The Human Remains from the Tomb of Tut' ankhamun, Tut' ankhamun' s Tomb Ser ies (Gri ffi th Insti tute: Oxford, 19721, c.f . p. 1 1 8, Reeves' The Complete Tutankhamun (Thames and H udson, 1990), and A l dred' s A khenat on, K i ng of E gypt (Thames and H udson : London, 1988). Thi s so cal l ed " scab" i s qui te visible in pi ctures of Tutankhamon' s mummy. 11. The ethmoi d bone i s the " nasal separat or " t hat w as broken through i n order to remove t he br ain duri ng the mummi fi cati on process. 12. Op.C i t. A l dred, p.297. 13. Murray and N uttal l ' s A H and Li st to Howar d Carter's Catalogue of Objects in Tut'ankhamun's Tomb, Tut' ankhamun' s Tomb S eri es ( G r if f it h Insti tute: Oxford, 1 963). 14. Carter's The Tomb of Tutankhamen (Dutton & C o.,l nc.: N ew Y ork,1972l c.f. R eeves p.1O 6- 107. 15. S ee Frankfort, p.101-139, K i ngshi p and t he G ods (U ni v. of C hi cago P ress: C hi cago, 1978) f or a descri pti on of thi s ceremony. 16. W hi l e evi dence of thi s i s qui te sl i m and not concl usi ve, sti l l thi s i s a strong possi bi l i ty. ln 1935 tw o col ossal statues of Tut w ere fou nd in t he Medi net H abu compl ex. One i s now in t he E gypti an Museum i n C ai ro and the ot her is l ocated at the Ori ental Insti tute i n C hi cago. Bot h w ere l ocated i n the mortuary templ e of Ay, which had been added to and taken over by Hor em heb. The statues had been usurped by bot h Ay and H oremheb, w ho overw rote thei r names in t he car touches on the statues. The tw o statues ar e t he type normal l y associ ated w i th mortuary t em ples and w ere certai nl y found i n the general ar ea of the other 18th D ynasty royal mortuary t em ples. In the same l ocati on, a si ngl e fi red b r ick wit h Tut' s seal on i t w as al so found. For furt her inf or mati on see H ol scher, p.1O2-104, The Excavat ion Habu ll: The Temples of the of Medinet E i ghteenth D ynasty (U ni v. of C hi cago Pr ess: C hi cago, 1 939). H ow ever , t her e is 17. Tut w as buri ed i n K V 62. some evi dence that K V 23, i n w hi ch Ay was See buri ed, w as ori gi nal l y i ntended f or Tut . R eeves, op.ci t. p.78. There w as possibly one other tomb that w as started for Tut i n t he Royal S ee Murnane and Van W adi at A khetaten. The Boundary Stelae of Akhetaten Siclen: (K egan P aul Internati onal : London and New Yor k, 1990). p.218, f.106. S um m er1995
EGYPTIANLITERATURE FORYOUNGFOLK By Dr. NormaJ. Livo ABOUT THE AUTHOR: D!. Norma Livo is a retired professor from CU at Denver. She now reviews children's books for the Rocky Mountain News and is the author of | 2 books on folklore and storytelling. Her travels have included Egypt and she has recently returned from Finland where she gathered material for future stories. Livo was awarded The Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts for | 995.
What makes a story? Beforediscussingspecific stories,the word story itself needsto be defined. A story dependson who hears it. As listeners and readers,we all discover different things in the same story. Sometimes we have the e d u c ati on a l b a ckground and experien c e t o understandthe story, but other stories we just s k i m a s w e can n otfully comprehendthem . T h e same story can leave one person with a smile and anotherwith tears. Whether we know it or n o t , we ar e all guided by the voices of o u r a n c e sto r s- the yhad generationsof memorie sin t h e i r h e a d s. M ore about ancient stories will f o l l o w la ter .
entertainment, history, astronomy, religion, lit e ra t u rea, n d s o c ia la n d n a t u ra ls c ie n c e s .T h e s e stories were never intended just for children. They were part of an inter-generational community and, at various levels, they served the needs of all. Storiesserve to maintainthe c u lt u ra l t ra d it io n s wh ic h c o me t o d e fi n e a p a rt ic u la rg ro u p . Ult ima t e ly ,t h e b a s i c f u n c t i o n of folk storiesseems to be to help childrenand adults on the long journey that is the human enterprise. Storiesserve as maps and markers left by those who haVegone before. As proof that books written for youngerpeople can influencelives, refer to the interviewof Dr. Donald Ryan, archeologist,by BarbaraFenton and Judy Greenfield in THE OSTRACON (F e b ru a ry1 9 9 2 ). Wh e n a s k e d wha t g o t h i m interestedin Egypt in particular,Ryanresponded, "l was familiarwith Egypt from my archeology b o o k s . . . .O n e b o o k in p a rt ic u la rre a l l ye n t r a n c e d me: THE WORLD OF THE PHARAOHS, by Hans B a u ma n n . . . . ltwa s a b o o k writ t e n f o r y o u n g e r people. lt was presentedfrom the viewpointof a young Egyptianboy guidedby a mysteriousold fellow who was supposedto have been a helper of Howard Carter when he found King Tut's tomb." Material aimed at younger readerscan certainlyhave a positiveinfluenceon their future liv e s .
Storiesabout events and peoples (animals)that a r e r ea l, r e m e m bered,historical,or embellis h e d a r e a ll p a r t of us. W hat are some of the v a lu e s of stories? Some say that storiesmake us more h u m an . Th e y he lp us live varied lives. S t o rie s a l s o he lp us see the world from insidethe s k in s of people different from ourselves. They help d e v e lo pcom p a ssionand insightinto the beh a v io r of ourselvesand others. A good story can show us the past in a way that helps us understand the present. One of the most importantfeatures of a story is that it develops the imagination. St o r i es also h e lp us entertain ideas we n e v e r c o u l d ha ve ha d without them. S torie s a re m a g i c al: th e y can take us out of ourselv e sa n d r e t u r n us ch a n g ed through the power of s e lf t r a n so f r m a ti on .
Informational Books. Many of the bookslistedin this article'sreferencesection are photo essays on ancientEgypt and the peoplewho livedthere, documentedby the mummies,pottery,weapons, and other objects they left behind. The books d e s c rib e a n c ie n t E g y p t ia n s o c ie t y , r e l i g i o n , o b s e s s io nwit h t h e a f t e rlife , a n d m e t h o d s o f mu mmific a t io n . T h e s e b o o k s c h r o n i c l e t h e h is t o ry a n d s ig n ific a n c e o f mu m m i e s a n d d e s c rib et h e c e re mo n ie a s s s o c ia t e d with them.
Ancientstoriesare the best storiesbecausethey have been worked out over the ages by the " f o l k ." Folk sto r ies,or fairy tales, are ess e n t ia l f o r t h e de ve lo p mentof a people. The seemin g ly s i mp le folk story is a combinati o n o f
LIVING HISTORY: PYRAMIDS OF ANCIENT E G Y P T(e d it e db y J o h n Cla re )d e s c ri b e st h e d a i l y life in a n c ie n t E g y p t d u rrn g t h e t i m e o f t h e P h a ra o hCh e p h re nI K h a re f ] , in c lu d i n gc l o t h i n g , ma k e u p , h o me life , re lig io u s p ra c t i c e s , b u r i a l
Su mm er1995
The materialthat is availablefor young readers in c lu d e s in fo rma t io n a l b o o k s , b o o k s o n mythology,and other picture story books. ISee referenceslisted at the end of this article for specificdetailson these books.l
14
rituals, and the construction and role of the pyramids. GIFT, Robert Sabuda ln TUTANKHAMEN'S illustrates the life and achievements of the pharaoh with silhouettes aff ixed to painted handmade Egyptian papyrus. lt is told in storyform wi th additional historical notes. The most unique book has to be THE TOMBS OF THE PHARAOHS bV Sue Clarke. lt is a marvel of paper engineering -- the book is shaped li ke a pyramid! Librarians are going to LOVE shelving this book-have you ever shelved a triangle? There are actually eight pages to this fat book but what an introduction to pyramids! Each page pops up to reveal dramatic lift-the-flaps, hidden pockets, and fold outs that recreate the experienceof excavating an undisturbed tomb. Mythology Books for Young Readers. In looking at Egyptian mythology, we must remember that myths are the sacred stories through which we try to make sense of the world we live in. lt was no different for the Egyptians in ancient times. Gerald McDermott's book, THE VOYAGE OF OSIRIS,tells the ancient story of Osiris and his brother Seth in lyrical language accompanied by art that is bold and yet luminous. GODS AND PHARAOHS FROM EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY, bV Geraldine Harris, presents the myths of ancient Egypt and a glimpse of the civilization that created them. This 132 page book includes 26 stories from legend and myth, a section on hieroglyphic writing, a guide to the symbols that appear in the illustrations, as well as an index to people and places mentioned in the text. ln /S/S AND OSIRIS (edited by Jacqueline Onassis), author Jonathan Cott explores their love story encompassing betrayal and loyalty, death and rebirth, forgetting and remembering, and duty righteousness, and and evil compassion. He attempts to illuminate the story from the perspective of people who are today worshipping and living their lives according to the principles the gods represent. This is a fascinating contemporary book.
OSIBISreconstructstheir story from hieroglyphic writ in g so n t h e wa lls o f p y ra mid s t, h e i n s i d e so f coffins, booksof papyrusfound in tombs, hymns and poems copied by scribes, and the ma g n if ic e n tp a in t in g so n t h e wa lls o f t h e g r e a t v a lle yt o mb s . Other PictureStory Books. Lise Mannicheis an Egyptianscholarwho has translatedtales literally from the hieroglyphs,which she has reproduced a lo n g wit h t h e E n g lis ht ra n s la t io n . O n e o f h e r books, THE PRINCE WHO KNEW HIS FATE, recountsthe 3,OOOyear-oldEgyptiantale of the princewhose fate to die by eithera crocodile,a s n a k e , o r a d o g , is d e c re e d a t h is b i r t h . l t includes additional information about the backgroundof the story and the civilizationof ancientEgypt. I have a copy of her HOW DJADJA-EM-ANKH SAVED THE DAY in scroll form as well as in a c c o rd io n -f o ld efdo rm. T h is s t o ry t ak e s p l a c e a b o u t 4 , 5 0 0 y e a rs a g o . lt wa s wri t t e n d o w n 1 , O 0 0y e a rs la t e r a n d c a n s t ill b e s e e nt o d a y o n a p a p y ru ss c ro llwh ic h is in t h e B e rli nM u s e u m . It is set in the time of King Seneferu and d e s c rib e st h e k in g ' s p o we r, re lig io n,a n d d a i l y E g y p t ia nlif e . lt is t h e t a le o f a k in g a n d h i s ma g ic ia n . ln c id e n t a llyt,h e s c ro ll v e r s i o nn e v e r d id we ll a t a ll. A g a in it c re a t e d a s h e l v i n g problem for libraries-- how do you shelve a s c ro ll? THE WINGED CAT bV D. N. Lattimore is an o rig in a pl ic t u re -b o o sk t o ry a b o u t a y o un g s e r v a n t g irl a n d a Hig h P rie s t wh o mu s t e a ch f i n d t h e correct magic spellsfrom the Book of the Dead t h a t will o p e n t h e 1 2 g a t e s o f t h e Ne t h e r w o r l d . Thus, it r,nlillbe determinedwho is telling the t ru t h a b o u tt h e d e a t ho f t h e g irl' s s a c r e dc a t . Shirley Climo mixes f act and f able in THE EGYPTIAN CINDERELLA. Set in the sixth c e n t u ryB . C. E .in Rh o d o p e sa, G re e ks l a v eg i r l i s s c o rn e db y t h e E g y p t ia ng irls . A f a lc o n s w o o p s down and snatches one of her rose-redgold s lip p e rswh ic h it d e liv e rst o t h e g re a t P h a r a o h . T h e p h a ra o hs e a rc h e sa ll o f E g y p t t o f i n d t h e o wn e r o f t h e t in y s h o e a n d ma k e h e r h i s q u e e n . I t is a f a c t t h a t a G re e k s la v e g irl, R h o d o p i s , ma rrie d t h e P h a ra o hA ma s is a n d b e c a m e h i s queen.
Jules Cashford's THE MYTH OF /S/S AND 15
S um m er1995
A recent f ictional picture book is ZOOM UPSTREAMby Tim Wynne-Jones. Zoom, the c a t , follo ws a mysterious trail throu g h a bookshelfto Egypt. There he is joined by his f r i e n d M ar ia in a searchfor his Uncle Roy . T h e endpapers contain hieroglr/phswhich tell the story of a cat named Preposterous,Egypt's first f e l i n e p h a r a o h . Clues for these hierogly p h sa re g i v e nwith a n in vitationto decipherthem. Summary. Thereare many resourcesavailableto introduceyoung readersto the facts and stories of ancient Egypt. Who knows when the next Donaldor Donna Ryan will discovera book that sparks them with an intense lifelong interest in Egvpt?
REFERENCES
Lattimore,DeborahNourse. THE WINGEDCAT, A TALE OF ANCIENT EGYPT. Haroer Collins: Ne w Y o rk , 1 9 9 2 . Norma J. Livo, and Sandra Rietz. STORYTELLING PROCESS AND PRACTICE. L ib ra rie Un s limit e dL: it t le t o n ,19 8 6 . Macaulay,David. PYRAMID. HoughtonMifflin: B o s t o n ,1 9 7 5 . Manniche, Lise. HOW DJADJA-EM-ANKH SAVED THEDAY. Crowell.New York, 1976. Manniche, Lise. THE PRINCE WHO KNEW HIS F A T E . P h ilo me l:Ne w Y o rk , 1 9 8 1 . McDermott,Gerald. THE VOYAGEOF OSlRlS. Win d mill:Ne w Y o rk , 1 9 7 7 .
Cashford, Jules. THE MYTH OF ISIS AND OS/A/S. BarefootBooks:Boston.1994.
Putnam, James. MUMMY--EYEWTNESS BOOKS. Knopf: New York, 1993.
Clare, John D., Editor. LIVING HISTORY PYRAMIDS OF ANCIENT EGYPT. Harcourt Br a c eJo va n o vich:S an Diego,1992.
Sabuda, Robert. TUTANKHAMEN'S clFT. Ma x we llMa c milla nNe : w Y o rk , 1 9 9 4.
Clarke, Sue. THE TOMBS OF THE PHARAOHS. H y p er io nN : ew York, 1994. Climo, Shirley. THE EGYPTIAN CINDERELLA. C r o w ell:N ew Yo r k, 1989.
Wilcox, Charlotte. MUMMIES AND THEIR MYSTERIES.Carolrhoda:Minneapolis,1993. Wynne-Jones,Tim. ZOOM UPSTREAM. Harper Co llin sL a u raG e rin g e B r o o k :Ne w Y o r k , 1 9 9 4 .
Cott, Jonathan. lSlS AND OS/A/S. Doubleday: N e w Y or k. 19 9 4 . Crosher,Judith. HISTORYOF ANCIENTEGYPT. V i k i n g :N ew Yo r k, 1993. David, Rosalie. GROWING UP lN ANCIENT EGYPT. Troll Associates:Mahwah, NJ, 1994. Fenton,Barbaraand Judy Greenfield. lnterview with Dr. Donald Ryan, THE OSTRACON. Vol. 2, N o 1 . Fe b r u a r y,1992, p. 3-5. Harris, Geraldine. GODS AND PHARAOHS FROM EGYPTIANMYTHOLOGY. Peter Bedrick: N e w Yo r k. 19 9 3 . Hart, George. ANCIENT EGYPT--EYEWITNESS B O O KS. Kno p :f New Y ork, 1990. Su mmer1995
C osmeti c spoon (P etri e Museum, U ni versi ty C ol l ege, U C . 14365) to
L ECTURENOTE S
THE EXPANSION THEORYOF THE GREAT PYRAMID Presentedby RobertLowdermilk ESSM eeting,July 1994 Notes by Jill Taylor & Bob Lowdermilk O u r o wn Bob L o wdermilkpresentedyet ano t h e r t h o u g ht- pr o vo king lecture as he sharedwit h u s his currenttheory on the events which occurred d u r i n g th e co n struction of K hufu's G re a t Py r a mid ,bu ilt du r ing the Old K ingdom aro u n d 2600 B.C.E. and one of the Seven Wonders Of The Ancient World. lt is an architectural marvel; yet, so little is actually known about this magnificent edifice. However, there are a number of intriguing aspects to be found in its design. Lowdermilk summarized his ideas as T h e Sp h in x a n d T h e Gr e a t P yrami d of follows. He believes that the size of the Great Pyramid could have been more than doubled in volume due to the following sequence of events which occurred during the construction period. 1) The Subterranean Chamber was abandoned. possibly due to an accidentally contacted perched water table which may have caused it to be flooded. 2) The King's Burial Chamber was then moved from under the pyramid up to an unusually high position in its body and was designed to be lined with granite. All other pyramids have their burial chambers much low er in their structures than that of the Great Pyramid. The room we now call the Oueen's Chamber 3) may have been constructed as an emergency burial chamber in case Khufu were to die before his granite-linedchamber was fini shed. Evidence of this hypothesis may be found in 17
the fact that the so-called air-ducts terminate so that five inches of stone was left in place at the interior walls of the Oueen's Chamber; the vents did not actually open into the room. This f ive-inch blockage could have been removed if Khufu died and this room was used as his final resting place. 4) The granite for the King's Chamber had to be quarried approximately 600 miles up the Nile, and this stone is much more difficult to extract than is the locally quarried limestone used to build 98% of the Great Pyramid. Lowdermilk is convinced that it may have taken almost twice as long as planned to quarry the 1,500 cubic yards of granite used to build the King's Chamber. 5) At this point, the pyramid's architects may have doubled the size of the original pyramid's f rustum (base of trunc ated pyramid) to prevent f armersi the masons f ronr being idle during the time of the K hufu. Nile's f looding while they waited for the granite for the King's Chamber to be quarried. Doubling the volume of the pyramid's frustum at the base of the King's Chamber would have multiplied the original pyramid's total volume by 2.37 times. The original passage into the pyramid would have been abandoned because of this expansion; and a new passage to the newlydesigned high burial chamber would have to have been cut through the in-situ stone of the original smaller pyramid. lt is currently known that the rough-finished stones of the ascending passage indicate that the lower half of the passage was tunneled through the in-situ stones. However, the upper half of the ascending passage was constructed normallV with the f inished blocks being set in place to form the passage. Once the granite for the King's Chamber was completed, a new work schedule was requiredto S um m er1995
complete the pyramid during Khufu's lifetime. The added volume of the pyramid would have caused Khufu to conscript enough workers to work three 1OO-dayshifts each year. This new three-shift-per-year schedulewould have allowed pyramid the to be built in 20 years or 44 shifts. Herodotusclaimedthat l OO,OOO men built it in 2 0 y e a r s. L o wd e rmilkmaintainsthat a max imu m of 33,OOOmen were used for each of the three 1Oo-dayshifts -- the equivalentof l OO,OOO men i n a y ea r . The best proof for these theories may residein t h e a s ye t un d iscovered originalpassagele a d in g i n t o t he or ig in a lp yramid. ln Februaryof 19 9 3 , L o w d er m ilkche cked out the locationwhic h h e suspectsis the upper end of that passage. He could not find evidencethat there was a passage under the floor of the descendingpassage,but n e i t h ercou ldh e find evidencethat it is not th e re . L o w d e r m ilkw on d ered,"lf it is there, what mig h t be found in that passage? Will it be empty, will it be filled with the rock chips generatedduring the expansionprocess,or will it have trash in it, thrown in by the pyramid-builders?Proof of its e x i s t e n cew ou ld satisfy me. I believeit is th e re . I t w o ul d ha ve be en a passage,open only d u rin g the second, third, and fourth years of the constructionof the OriginalPyramid. Time will tell if my hypothesesare correct." As usual, Lowdermilkleft us all with much to ponder upon and incentive to keep our eyes peeledas we trudge up and down those narrow, d a r k p a ssa g e si n the fascinatingand myst e rio u s p y r a mid s!
gt,W,gtt E( IE IE DAVID ROB E RTS 'E GY P T Presentedby William Petty ESSM e e ting,November,1994 Notes by Jill Taylor ESS President, Bill Petty, delighted the ESS a u d i ence with his interpretation of Da v id at the final general Roberts,artist extraordinaire, David Roberts trav e le d m e e t in g o f 1 9 9 4. t h r o ug h o u tEgyp t in 1838-1839 sketchin ga n d p a i n t in g , an d f i nally compiling a marv e lo u s p o r t f olio of th e ancient monuments a n d Summer'l 995
"modern" Egyptian scenes. His prints and reprintsare now prizedby many Egyptophiles. Born in 1796, David Robertswas a self-taught artist from Scotland,who began his careeras a h o u s ep a in t e r. He h o n e d h is s k illsas a s c e n e r y painter at Drury Lane and Covent Garden Theatresin London and eventuallywas elected to the Royal Academy. The goal of Roberts' journeyto Egyptand the Holy Land eleven-month was to produce images of the ancient monumentsfor commercialpurposes. Petty, like a quick-changeartist, becameDavid Robertsright beforeour eyes as he assumedthe clothing and identity of this famous Scotsman. Thus, the stage was set for us to re-live his travelsand experiences in the Landof Egypt. Petty traced Roberts' progress through Egypt wit h s lid e so f a ll o f h is p a in t in g sa n d i n t e r e s t i n g anecdotesof his adventures. Upon completing the journey from Alexandriato Cairo,the artist chartereda boat to take him up the Nile from Ca irot o A b u S imb e lf o r f 1 5 p e r mo n t h . Robertsbravedthe sun, mosquitoes,and snakes for the sake of his art. He had to sink his boat to rid it of rats prior to sailingup the Nile. He was mobbed by the locals when he set up the tools of his trade as they were unusedto seeing artists at work. Roberts' companionsalmost causedan "incident"as they greetedthe passing boat of the Pasha Mehemet Ali with loud and enthusiastichip-hip-hoorays. The royal crew mis t o o kt h e g re e t in gf o r s o me t h in gm o r e s i n i s t e r ! Ho we v e r,t h e mis u n d e rs t a n d inwa g s c l e a r e du p a n d t h e g ro u p c o n t in u e d o n t h e ir s o m e w h a t s u b d u e dwa y . Ro b e rt ss o me t ime smin imiz e dt h e f ig u r e si n h i s picturesto enhancethe size of the monuments (a trick often used by architects) and also re s t o re d(o n c a n v a so n ly ! ) mis s in gc o l o ro r o t h e r features. His pictures, however, give us a re a lis t icf e e l f o r t h e mo n u me n t sa s t h e y o n c e were before the hordes of tourists and e x c a v a t o rsp u t t h e ir ma rk s o n t h e m a n d t h e i r s u rro u n d in g s .S u c h s c e n e s a s t h e S p h i n x a n d T e mp le so f E d f u a n d A b u S imb e l,h a l f - b u r i e d by t h e Co lo s s i o f Me mn o n i n u n d a ted t h e s a n d ,a n d b y t h e Nile s t ir u p a f e e lin go f p o ign a n c yf o r a p h a ra o h ' sd re a mo f e t e rn a llif e . 18
As the icing on the cake of his grand performance, Bill Petty shared with us his personal collection of David Roberts' prints. A number of people became instant fans of the artist as they were privileged to view the actual subscription editions displayed on easels at the back of the auditorium. The lecture and exhibit gave us all a much better appreciation for a marvelous artist.
=l
=l
sE
=E =l
fitIil[[ THE SECONDINTERMEDIATE PERIOD PresentedBy David Pepper ESSM e eting,January1995 Notes by Judy Greenfield " N a t u r e ab h o r s a v acuum"....andwhen hu ma n society lacks a strong centralizedpower, that v o i d ,t oo , i s i ne vitablyfilled. ESSmember,David Pepper,amply illustratedhis talk, Ancient Egypt's Second lntermediate Period, with slides of maps, king lists, and artifactsfrom this elusive time in Egypt's past. The IntermediatePeriods in Egyptian history were characterizedby chaos and confusion, w e a k kin g s,an d a dividednation. Pepperbegan his presentationwith a number of q u e s t i on s. H ow much do we know abou t t h e M i d d l e Kin g d o m ? W e know quite a bit, f ro m g r a v e goo d s, pyr a mids,ruins, and papyri. Ho w m u c h do we kno w about the New K ingd o m? O u r k n o wle d g eof the New K ingdomis siz a b le . , ve T o mb s , tem p le s ( includingDeir-el-B ahri)gra ( Tut's go o d s is p e rhapsthe most famous) , a n d documents(papyrussuch as copies of Book of the Coming Forth by Day a.k.a. Book of the D e a d l w i tn e ss th is period from 1550-1O 7 O B . C . E.Ho w m u ch do we know about the ye a rs be t w e enthe M i dd le and New K ingdomskn o wn P eriod(c.1785-1 5 5 0 a s t h e S eco n dIntermediate Why this deart h o f B . C . E.) ? N ot m uch. works don't d e lv e in f o r m ati on ? C om prehensive pe r io d in t o t his and there are few S e c o n d In t e r med ia tePer iod scholars. Museum colle c t i o n s d o n 't fe a ture many artifacts from t h is pe r i o d, eithe r , a n d excavationreports are a ls o s l i m. 19
To better understand this period in Egyptian history, we must look to the neighboring c o u n t rie sa t t h e t ime . T o t h e n o rt h la y t h e h o m e of the ancientGreeks:the Cycladicculturein the A e g e a n ,a n d t h e Min o a nc u lt u rea t K n o s s o s . l t has been determinedthat the latter maintained ties with the Greekmainlandand with Egypt. Mesopotamia,to Egypt's northeast,was home to the Sumerians,who had reconqueredthe A k k a d ia nin v a d e rso f t h e ir la n d . A ro u n d 1 8 0 0 B . C. E . , t h e E la mit e s e n t e re d e a s t e r n Me s o p o t a mia , a n d a t t h e s a me t i m e , t h e Amorites, a Semitic people, arrived in western Me s o p o t a mia . Un d e r t h e A mo rit es , B a b y l o n became the capital of Mesopotamia and conqueredits rival, Syria. Basedon artifactual evidence, the arm of the Amorite nation stretchedfar into Palestineunder rulerssuch as Ha mmu ra b i. I n t h e E a rly B ro n z eA g e ( c . 2 0 O O B . C. E . ),P a le s t in eo, n t h e n o rt h e a s ts ho r eo f t h e Me d it e rra n e a na, n d mu c h o f t h e N e a r E a s t , e x p e rie n c e d ro u g h ta n d f a min e . Urba nc e n t e r s were being abandonedand the famous city of Jerichowas razed. Meanwhilein Egypt.....Duringthe 13th Dynasty ma n y min o r k in g s ru le d f o r v e ry s ho r t r e i g n s . E v e n p riv a t e in d iv id u a lsa s p ire dt o k ing s h i pa n d some succeededfor a very short span. Around 1 7 4 O -1 7 2 5 B . C. E . , E g y p t ia n s ma de p u n i t i v e raidsto the coasts of Palestine.Then, evidence suggeststhat Egypt itself was overcomearound 1 6 4 0 B . C. E . b y f o re ig n e rsf ro m P a l e s t i n ea n d S y ria . Du rin gt h is t ime o f in v a s io n ,m o n u m e n t b u ild in g n e a rly c e a s e d , wit h lit t le t i m e a n d mo n e y f o r c iv il b u ild in g . lrrig a t io ns y s t e m s , whose maintenancewas traditionallyoverseen by the king, fell into disrepair. Latertexts tell of t y ra n n ic a l k in g s wh o b le d t h e p e o p l e w i t h b u rd e n s o me taxes. Wh o we re t h e s e f o re ig n e rs ?T h e 1 5 t h D y n a s t y in E g y p twa s ru le db y t h e Hy k s o s ,in va d e r sf r o m t h e Ne a r E a s t wh o h a d o v e rp o we re dt h e p e o p l e o f t h e B la c kL a n d . T h e e x a c t n a t io n al i t yo f t h e s e " s h e p h e rdk in g s " h a s n o t b e e n d e t e r m i n e db, u t t h e y we re p ro b a b lya S e mit icp e o p le . T h e o r i g i n o f t h e n a me Hy k s o s is n o t e v e n c e r t a i n ,b u t i t ma y me a n re b e ls , in v a d e rs ,p la g u e be a r e r s ,o r f o re ig n ru le rs . T h e ir d y n a s t y , ru le d f r o m t h e n o rt h e rn c a p it a l o f A v a ris , la s t e d so m e 1 0 0 y e a rs , a n d c o -e x is t e dwit h t h e s o ut h e r n 1 7 t h S u m m er1995
Dynasty which ruled from Thebes. These f oreigners worshipped Sutekh-Set, a Baal-like war god. After the Hyksos fled, the Egyptians destroyed their monuments , leaving little in the way of large structures f or the archeologists. Pepper speculated that some of the smaller sculptures, considered by some scholars as simply an indigenous, innovative art style, ffiâ‚Źly, in fact, have been made for or inspired by the Hyksos. Both Egyptian and Palestiniantowns of the 1Sth dynastic period had ramparts of battered stone, long sloped entryways, moated ditches, and steeply sloped defensive walls. The presence of the Hyksos kopesh swords and other weapons typical of the Levant also support the argument that the Hyksos were of Palestinian origin. In addition, Middle Minoan styles on scarab rings (e.9. coiled designs) are representative of their trade with Byblos. Scenes of bull-leaping, imported f rom Crete, were also depicted in Hyksos culture, and it is known that the Hyksos traded with Crete. lt is evident that during this Egyptian "dark dga", Phoenicia, Palestine, Syria, and the Black Land all impacted one another. The Second Intermediate Period ends with Ahmose and his brother, Khamose, reuniting the land. Power was consolidated at the Theban capital and reliefs began to depict the subjugation of foreigners. The New Kingdom had just begun.
RRR THE COFFINPROJECT PresentedBy The Mummy Study Groupand The Art Study Group ESSM eeting,February1995 Notes by Jill Taylor l f y o u w er e n o t there, you should have b e e n ! Fi n a l l y,afte r m onths of hard work (and s o me t e r r i fi c ti m es) , the two study groups un v e ile d it was beautiful! T H ECO FF|N...And
Art Study Group concocted a project. They proposed to replicate one of the mummiform coffins in the DMNH collection utilizing ancient Egyptian techniques and materials as much as was feasible. During the summer of 1994, the DMNH allocated a space for the project so that museum visitors could observe the on-going project. Docents (ESS volunteers) were on hand to explain the process and to demonstrate the tools (reproduced from in-depth research) which the ancient Egyptians used for building a coffin. The coffin was shaped, gessoed, and painted right before the eyes of thousands of visitors, The project generated so much interest in the community that TV and newspaper crews came to check out the action, and in turn brought in even more visitors due to the prime time and front page coverage. One of the first things the group discovered was that if the project was to be completed by the end of the summer, some modern tools had to be plugged in! The Egyptians had apprentices to constantly sharpen their blades and repair broken tools, but this group had only volunteers with limited time to offer. However, a lot of research went into discovering what materials were used and how they were developed and assembled, including the types of wood, the recipe for plaster, the tools that were available,the source for the paint pigments, etc. A taste of this creation process was presented by a short video put together by Bill Petty and Frank Pettee. Scenes of the planning, measuring, carpentry, and painting as well as demonstrations and docents' interpretations were there for all to appreciate. Each stage of the reproduction of the coffin was explained by a member of the two study groups. Bill Petty introduced the video, Frank Pettee explainedthe docents' role, Jack Kullman told us about the carpentry, and Alic e Gemmell explained the gessoing and painting. Photos, replicas of ancient Egyptian copper tools created by Kullman, references, and various samples of the materials used were also on display. And then the finale: The mummiform coffin was unveiled and everyone got a chance to view it inside and out. SEE THE COLOR INSERT!
L a s tyea r ,the ESSMummy S tudy Groupa n d t h e Su mm er1995
20
THE DISCOVERYOF THE WORLD'S OLDEST ROAD Presented By Dr. Thomas Bown
CONSERVATIONIN THE SERVICEOF ARCHEOLOGY Presented By Judy Greenfield
ESS Meeting, March 1995 Notes by David'Pepper
ESS Meeting, April 1995 Notes by David Pepper
Denver-basedpaleogeologist, Dr. Thomas Bown, presented a fascinating lecture that described his work on the oldest paved road in the world. In conjunction with his colleague, Dr. James Harrell, from the University of Toledo, they have been studying a transportation road that was found in the Faiyum Depression area of Egypt. lt was originally thought to date from the time known as the Middle Kingdom. Bown's research discovered that previously known sections of the road, near a quay on the shore of Lake Moeris, linked up with newly discovered sections which led down from a large basalt quarry some 12 km [7.5 mi.] away in the hills of Gebel el-Oatrani. Following the flagstone paving down from the quarry, curious circles of stones were discovered. Based on a pottery investigation,this proved to be an Old Kingdom quarrymen's camp. This new finding proved the road to be older by some 5OO years than the f lagstone-paved roads on Crete and Skyros which were previously thought to be the oldest paved roads. Dr. Bown has wr itten an article detailing his work at this site which will appear in a future issue of THE OSTRACON.
21
Judy Greenfield is a member of the ESS and a freelance art conservator, formerly with the Rocky Mountain Conservation Center. Her lecture covered the preservation of artifacts, both ancient and relatively modern. She began with a general discussion of art conservationand the principles which guide it, illustrated various aspects of her work (including an Egyptian cartonnage fragment), and concluded with a summary of the Getty Institute's efforts in the Tomb of Nefertari. Conservation, a marriage between science and craftsmanship, aims to preserve the artifact and any information it embodies. "Artifacl" here can mean anything from a painting to a photograph to a taxidermy specimen to a historic building to wall paintings in an ancient Egyptian tomb. Unless archeological discoveries are stabilized and preserved before they are exhibited, there will be little left for future generations to see. Greenfield discussed her work on a variety of materials: cloth, leather, plaster, wood, and metal. Each of these types requires a unique conservation method. The first part of her presentation illustrated the materials with which the conservator works: cleaning and restoration chemicals, glues and epoxies, paints and solvents, and a needle and thread - to name just a few. The lecture was illustrated with slides of conservators at work, touching up artworks, mending, patching, and reassemblinga variety of objects. Often working in teams, these specialists can bring objects which appear to be little more than junk back to life. Surprising discoveries can sometimes be made along the way, and gleaning information about the artifact is an important facet of art conservation. Greenfield showed a slide of a portrait painting of a woman (c. mid-19th century) brought to the Rocky Mountain Upon Conservation Center to be cleaned. examination, her colleagues realized that an entire section of the painting had been painted 1995 Summer
over. Removal of this "ne\ru" paint revealed that a child had originally been painted sitting next to its mother. lt was speculated that perhaps its grieving parent had had the youngster's portrait overpainted after its death. Many of the restoration projects the audience was shown looked not only time-consuming, but very demanding of technical training and artistic talent. Using x-radiography, Greenfield showed how a set of medieval bone-handled blades she had worked on while in England were constructed. She not only cleaned and mounted a set of these utensils, but produced three-view assembly drawings, showing how each blade was attached to its handle. She also described how a bone or antler die may have been "loaded" several hundred years ago! The next part of the lecture f ocused on the conservation of ancient Egyptian materials. Greenfield was charged with conserving a decorated f ragment of ancient Egyptian cartonnage from a mummy case. This mummy plaster and gesso was mask of badly fragmented. First, it had to be stabilized and a reversible mount created so that it could be displayed vertically in the owner's home. For a thorough description of her work, and an explanation of Bob Hanawalt's translation of its hieroglyphs,see the Summer/Winter' 94 issue of THE OSTRACON. We then "visited" the tomb of Nefertari in Egypt. Through the millennia, the tomb's wall paintings have suffered deterioration. This is largely due to the nature of the limestone walls from which the tomb is carved. Salt deposits within the rock have caused the plaster and paint to f all off . Greenfieldexplained how the Getty Institute has done considerablework in this tomb for the past 10 years and has recorded in painstaking detail their exacting methods of restoration. The Getty staff used old photos and drawings to see which "modern" areas had been subjected to restorations and how extensively the paintings have deterioratedthrouqh time. The Institute's work included removing the modern reconstruction and associated art work in order to return the fresco to its state when the earliest drawings and photos were done. Greenfield showed slides of a scene that
included a seated figure on a chair which, over the last hundred years, had been restored more and more inaccuratelyas time passed. In addition, large sections of the plaster on the walls of this tomb had flaked away from its bedrock backing due to mineral crystallization (which has actually been present in the tomb since antiquity because the sepulcher had not been carved from the best quality of rock). The fragile plaster sections have been carefully glued back onto the walls by the conservators using hypodermic syringes filled with glue! Further conservation efforts involved removing previous restorations and replacing gaps in the image with a mud plaster similar to that used by the ancient artists. The fills were textured, to help visually blend them yet still make them distinguishable from the original plaster. The basic idea was to leave as much of the original scene as possible, but upon close inspection to clearly show which areas had been destroyed. Sometimes light lines would be painted in the restored areas to help them blend into the scene, but they were always kept clearly recognizable as a restoration and not hidden as oart of the original scene. Studies of the tomb's climate, as well as visitors' impact on the tomb, were also carried out by the G.C.t. ESS members have been treated with fascinating presentations covering the processes of locating and excavating artifacts and on the interpretations of how they were used or what they mean. At Judy Greenfield'slecture, we had a chance to hear how these artifacts are taken care of. The work of the conservator, that unsung hero in the back rooms of museums, will enable f uture generations to view and study these objects which are a vital part of the heritage of humanity.
+
Summer 1995
ZL
-Z
H O U S EOF S C R OL L S
i\*l \
ss/,/
-GF l.J
collection of offering-tables,one of which, away from the others and easily overlooked, is circular and lavishly carved with the names of the seven sacred oils and instructions for each step of the food ritual. Notable among the wall-carvingsare several panels from the tomb of Tutankhamun's general, Horemheb
tr[["$ 'l
I It
@v MUSEUMREVIEW The EgyptianGollectionof The NationalMuseum of Antiquities, Leiden,Netherlands by GraemeDavis Th e Du tch N ati onal Museum of A ntiq u it ie s ( R i j k sm u se u mvan Oudheden) is situat e d in Leiden, about 20 minutes by train from Am s t e r d a m 's Schipol airport and a simila r d i s t a ncefr om the nation's capital at the Ha g u e ( d e n Haa g ) . l ts three floors of exhibitionsp a c e i n c l u d e disp la ys of the archeology of t h e N e t h er la n d sas w ell as Classicaland E tr u s c a n material.but of most interest to ESS members w i l l b e th e Eg yp ti ancollections. Th e m use u m 'sEgyptiancollectiontakes up p a rt of the first and second floors (groundand first floors to the Dutch), and starts even before you p a y t he sm a ll fe e to get in. The spaciouslo b b y i s d o min a tedby a small E gyptiantemple f ro m N u b i a, r e scu e dfr om the rising waters of L a k e Nasser. Egypt presentedit to the Netherlandsin 1 9 6 9 in r e co g n itionof the UNE S COcampa ig nt o s a v e a nu m b e ro f monumentsfrom high wa t e rs c a u s edby the Aswan Dam. Th e b u lk of th e collectioncame from two ma in s o u r ce sin the 1 8 2Os. The E gyptiangover n me n t a l s o do n a ted cer tain carvings in recognit io no f f i n a n c i alsu p p o r tb y the Dutch royalfamily. T h e g r ou n dflo o r i s given over mainlyto sta t u a ry a n d w all- ca r vin gs. There is an impre s s iv e
000s00
On the first floor is an impressive collection of mummies and mummy-cases, including cats, fish, crocodiles, and other animal mummies as well as humans. There are many painted mummy-cases, as well as slipper coffins and Faiyum portraits. The mummy collection is laid out in spacious and well-lit modern display cases, making it less cramped and more accessiblethan the mummy collections of many other museums. However, the light levels may be rather higher than is desirable f or the preservation of the paint on the mummy-cases and the papyri which are displayed hanging above some of them. On the subject of papyri, it is noted in several books that the d'Anastasy collection, located in this museum, is one of the best collections of Hellenistic magical papyri in the world. Some prior arrangement with the museum might be necessary to see this collection, however, as the only papyri on open display were two or three exhibited alongsidethe mummy cases. The National Museum of Antiquities is well worth the attention of ESS members who find themselves in the Netherlands on business or vacation. One disappointment was the museum's bookstore, which was very small and did not support the Egyptian collection as it deserves. While its Egyptian collection cannot rival the sheer volume of Egyptian antiquities in the Louvre or the British Museum, it is still a large enough collection to be of international significance, displayed in a very appealing and accessibleway.
rYpcYprYr
df\ilf\/th
/n\ /fh m\ /fh /f|\ ffi\
kkftkkk
TH E D ENVERM U SE UMOF NA TURA LHIS T O RY 2 0 0 1 C olo r a d oBlvd. D e n ve r .CO 8 0 2 05 z5
Sum m er1995