Notice : The illustration below the text
Crossing the upper court to the doorway at its south-eastern corner, we
notice that the east wall of the court has on its southern half reliefs, only
partially preserved, of a procession of soldiers in gala equipment, carrying standards,
and leading panthers .
While the thrones of Hatshepsut and Tuthmosis III are
carried on poles in the midst . Above are scenes ( mutilated ) in which barges
are transporting a colossal royal statue, wearing the Red Crown of Lower Egypt
.
We now enter the chambers on the south side of the court, which have
much ruined reliefs .
They lead to the Mortuary Chapel of Hatshepsut, or Southern Hall of
Offerings . The reliefs to the right and left of the entrance show butchers
slaying and preparing the sacrificial offerings . On the north and south walls
are processions of servants bringing offerings, after the style of the Old
Kingdom reliefs at Saqqâra .
The figure of the priest carrying a crane, with its neck and bill firmly
held together in his right hand, and the other figure of a crane walking, with
its beak tied back to its neck . The object in either case being to prevent the
bird from struggling or flying, are noteworthy . The figure of Hatshepsut is,
as usual, erased .
Returning to the court again, we pass along to its south-western corner,
where is a door leading to a small chamber dedicated to Amen-Rê . Here are
reliefs of Hatshepsut ( usurped ) in favour of Tuthmosis I and II ), making
offerings to Min-Amûn and Amen-Rê .
We now turn to the Sanctuary . The niches in the west wall have reliefs
on their walls, with the usual representations of Hatshepsut and her
substitutes offering to the gods . Statues of the queen once occupied these
niches .
The entrance to the Sanctuary is by a granite doorway in the middle of
the west wall . This is approached by a Ptolemaic portico, and is adorned with
much defaced reliefs .
The sacred shrine of the Sanctuary has three chambers .
On the southern wall of the first, at the foot, is a scene of the temple
garden, with birds flying about papyrus thickets, and ducks and fish swimming
in a piece of ornamental water .
Above, Hatshepsut and her daughter Nefrurê, make offering to the barque
of Amen-Rê .
On the opposite wall, Hatshepsut, Tuthmosis III and the Princess Nefrurê
offer to the boat, behind which stand defaced figures of Tuthmosis I, Queen
Ahmôse, and the little princess Bit-nefru .
The second chamber has nothing to note ; but the innermost sanctuary, as
we have already seen, was taken over by the Ptolemaic artists, who decorated it
with two processions of gods . Those, on the right-hand wall being led by Amenhotep,
son of Hapu, the deified factotum of Amenhotep III . And those on the left hand
by Imhôtep, who occupied a similar position in the reign of Zoser ( 3rd
Dynasty ), and shared the same destiny .
The contrast between the delicate and beautiful work
of the 18th Dynasty to which we have grown accustomed, and the
clumsy and ill-proportioned figures of the Ptolemaic artists, with their building
muscles and rolls of fat, could not be better exhibited than here, where the
Ptolemaic work is seen in close relationship with that of Hatshepsut .
In the valley to the south of the temples of El-Deir El-Bahari, and only
a matter of 110 yards or so in an air-line from the south-west angle of the
pyramid platform of the 11th Dynasty temple, lies the cache in which
the great collection of royal mummies was stored until their discovery in July,
1881 ( DB320 or TT320 ) .
A few yards to the north of the lower court of Hatshepsut's temple was
the great common tomb in which one hundred and sixty-three mummies of priests
were found ten years later than the Pharaohs .
We must mention here, however, the great discovery made in February and
March, 1929 by the Expedition of the Metropolitan Museum, under The American
Egyptologist, Mr. Herbert Eustis Winlock, of the rock-hewn tomb of Queen
Meritamûn ( TT 358 ), who was apparently the daughter of Tuthmosis III and Queen
Meritrê, and probably the wife of her brother Amenhotep II ; but who seemingly
died early in the reign of this Pharaoh, without issue . This tomb opened to
the north of the north portico of Hatshepsut's great temple and actually ran
underneath the portico for a part of its length .
Mid-way it was interrupted, as often in the royal tombs, by a deep well,
and on the edge of this pit the excavators found an intruded burial, that of
the Princess Entiuny ( or Nauny or Nany ), daughter of King Pinûtem ( or Pinedjem
) of the 21st Dynasty . Having crossed the pit, it was found that
Queen Meritamûn's gigantic outer coffin, over 10 feet high, still lay in the
sarcophagus-chamber, and that inside it was the disproportionately small inner
coffin, with the mummy of the queen within it . Now, are in the Cairo Museum, where they are Nos. 6150 and 6151, U
46/51, centre, and U 51, centre ( east ) .
Good Bye, and have a nice time
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