Historical Notes
Tomb No. 2 is that the Meryra II, who should be
distinguished from his namesake Meryra I, who was a very much bigger man, being
" High-priest of the Aten in Akhetaten, and Bearer of the Fan in the right
hand of the King " . His tomb is No. 4 on the other side of the ravine in
the northern group . Our Meryra II is merely a Royal Scribe and Superintendent
of the Royal Harem .
His tomb is the only one of the northern group which has
kept its clustered columns ( two in number ) intact . Meryra II must have
occupied a similar position in Nefertiti’s household to that occupied by Huya
in Queen Tiye’s, and it is presumably no coincidence that their tombs lie
together . It has a more detailed version of the foreign tribute scene, and
another which is unique in the tombs in that it originally depicted Smenkhkere and
Merytaten as King and Queen, successors to Akhenaten and Nefertiti . Little now
survives of it . There is no reason to think that this Meryra was related to
the other one, owner of tomb No. 4 . Calling him Meryra II is a purely modern
convention .
A
- Architectural Features
Exterior
( Plates 28, 29 ) — No great labour was expended on the exterior . The bank of
rock in which the tomb was excavated was low ; and as it was cut back for a
very short distance, the portal had to be correspondingly low, and unprotected
by a cornice of rock . It has suffered severely in consequence, the surface
being in most parts quite weathered away . It can just be seen that the jambs
were inscribed in three columns . On the left the titulary of the Aten can be
recognized, and on the right familiar phrases of prayer, such as " grant
him a duration like ( Aten ) " . On the left these were terminated by the
figure of the deceased and his prayer . The forecourt of this tomb is still
largely choked with uncleared ancient debris . The façade of the tomb is much
destroyed, but originally it possessed an inscribed doorframe . ( Plate 29 ) .
The Outer Hall ( Plate 46 ) — This is the only tomb of the north group
which has kept its columns intact, and the outer hall presents in consequence a
very pleasing aspect architecturally . The walls, too, owing to their
unfinished and unpainted condition, present a cleaner surface and reflect the
light freely . The columns which, conformably to the small size of the wall,
are only two in number, support architraves parallel to the axis of the tomb,
and decorated with a running inscription on the outer side ( Plate 36 ). The
ceiling between them is higher than at the sides, and slightly arched . The
columns are of the type elsewhere used, and in appearance most nearly resemble
those in the tomb of the other Meryra ( I ) . In this case, however, the
sheathing is not marked, the tablet is placed lower down and so as to face the
incomer, and the heads of the inserted bundles of three stems each are shown in
sculpture above the bands . Neither abacus nor tablet has received inscriptions
. The entrance from outside has no framing, but that to the second chamber is
decorated with the usual portal, and the pediment above is adorned in paint
with the usual series of cartouches and figures of the deceased at prayer ( a
short inscription lost ? ) . The top of the doorway has been broken away in
order to admit more light to the inner rooms . This was done, no doubt, by
later occupants, who have also cut a neat recess in the wall close by, and
drawn two rough sailing-boats in ink . The west wall of the tomb is quite blank
of sculpture or design . The north wall is also bare, except for the sculpture
and sketch given in Plate 41 . The pit found in this room is probably not
contemporary, and is sure to have been violated .
The Inner Chambers — These are of the narrow
transverse pattern adopted for the corridor type of tombs . Two rock-cut
architraves cross the ceiling . A mastaba was left at the east end to receive
the mouth of the burial shaft, but of this there is only the merest
commencement . The shrine also is only partially hewn out, but it gives sign of
the intended statue of the deceased . The doorway to the shrine was to have
been furnished with a decorated door of the type shown in tombs Nos. 1 and 3 ;
but it was only begun, even the jambs being only marked out in paint . Here
also a recess has been made in the wall close to the door . The inner hall was
never finished, the west wall being quite blank of sculpture or design . The
north wall is also blank, save for a fragmentary design of Meryra being
rewarded by the king and queen . The shrine is only partially hewn out, and the
statue is scarcely indicated .
The Sculpture — If the sculptures in many places betray haste, the best
parts show considerable powers of drawing the human figure, though those of
animals are failures . The arms and hands and Akhenaten's lolling attitude in
Plate 32 are skilfully rendered, and even the rough execution of the crowded
scenes on the east wall does not destroy this power ( notably the groups of
wrestlers and the leaping children in Plate 38 ) . The technique is very poor,
the final coating of plaster being allowed to fill up the outlines, so that
only the larger figures are successful . Wilful injury has robbed us of many
important fragments that Lepsius and others copied ; and the upper parts of the
walls, where the bats congregate, are almost destroyed by their agency .
1. The
Prayers of Meryra - The thickness of the outer wall . ( Plates 30, 31 )
The
walls are greatly damaged both by time and violence, but, thanks to Nestor
L'Hôte, the modern thefts are partially recoverable . It will be seen that the
walls were already patched with better stone in ancient time . The figures show
nothing distinctive . Originally figures of Meryra stood in an attitude of
adoration . The texts were hymns to the Aten, that on the east to the setting
sun .
2. The
King at Home - South wall : West side . ( Plates 32, 46 ) .
The south wall of the hall has on its left ( west )
side a scene of Akhenaten sitting under a simple kiosk . Nefertiti is pouring
out wine for him, and two of his daughters, Merytaten and possibly Meketaten,
are also ministering to his needs .
The scene engraved on this wall has no very obvious
connection with the life of Meryra . Its presence here is due to the curious
practice of Akhenaten of dispersing the scenes which should have occupied the
walls of his own tomb throughout those of his courtiers . As a result, instead
of seeing the deceased and his family enjoying the burial provisions, or those
earthly banquets which were to be the standard and pattern for post-mortem delights, it is the royal family whom we find at the
richly furnished tables ; while the deceased, as in life, serves his royal
master . If his own repast is remembered at all, it is relegated to the walls
of his private chamber, the narrow inner shrine .
The King's repast is not an infrequent subject in
these tombs, but the scene here shown forms an especially charming picture of
royal recreation . Akhenaten sits in one of the kiosks, which were an
indispensable part of an Egyptian garden . The light roof is borne on columns,
the sides being left open . It was a pleasant custom to hang the ceiling of
these garden pavilions with flowers and foliage, and this habit passed into a
decorative device . Here we see nature and convention united ; for while sprays
hang from the roof-beam in all the irregularity of nature, the alternating bud
and flower of the lotus form part of the carved design. The stiffly arranged
bouquets which are mixed with the sprays show the transition from nature to art
.
The columns of the kiosk show one of those elaborate
patterns which are known to us only in picture, no examples having survived .
This is natural ; for the open-work design of the capitals, often representing,
as here, the open flower, could not be executed in stone, and was not, so far
as we know, in metal . It must then have been of wood, and very fragile at the
best . That shown here is a papyrus column of very peculiar shape . The shaft
is solid, and has the peculiar contraction at the foot, where the sheaths of
the papyrus are seen . But similarity to the ordinary type ends at the neck,
where the shaft is abruptly cut off and furnished with a kind of abacus . On
this rests an open-work design representing three open papyrus-heads on slender
stems, which gain the needed support by being attached to the interior rim of a
ring . ( This we must suppose to lie in a horizontal plane, not as in the
picture, where the two very different forms given to it show how subjective the
representation is ) . To the outer rim (?) of this ring or disc are fastened
three pendant ducks and as many bunches of lotus, which, while appearing to
hang from it, form a clever means of support .
Akhenaten sits under the shelter of this light
pavilion, or rather he lolls in that attitude of slack repose which his artists
seem to have judged to be characteristic of him, in a cushioned chair ( again
with irritating drapery round the carved legs ), his feet resting on a soft
footstool . The Queen, " living and healthy for ever and ever ", and
her little daughter, no less than the officials of the household, are assiduous
in ministering to all his pleasures . He has already in one hand a few flowers
from the plentiful supply which little Ankhes-en-pa-aten has brought . The
other hand holds out a shallow patera, which the Queen fills with some choice
beverage from a little jar, filtering the liquid through a strainer as she
pours . His eldest daughter, Merytaten, stands at his knee, offering some
additional gratification, and Meketaten (?) brings the cap of ointment (?) for
the head ( frilled, like everything else ) .
It may easily have been that at such entertainments
Meryra performed the office of chamberlain, receiving the viands from the
servants and tasting them before presenting them to the monarch . At any rate,
in the unfinished scene which is appended predella-wise to the main group, an
officer appears to be discharging this function . Two vessels are before him on
pedestals near a high lamp-stand (?), and he is taking a large goblet from the
hands of a servant . Here, too, are shown the musicians of the harem, who
divert the King with music . These female performers, six in number, are all
furnished with stringed instruments, two playing the harp of seven strings, two
the lyre, and two the lute ( or the viol with the bow ? ) .
The picture is framed in the familiar border, the blue
sky stretches above, and the free space under the ceiling is filled in with
coloured bands .
3. Meryra
rewarded by Akhenaten - South wall : East side . ( Plate 33, comprising Plates 34
to 36, and 47 ) .
The scene on this wall is that repeated on almost
every tomb of El Amarna that offers scope for it . The bestowal of golden
necklaces and other costly articles of dress or plate ( dishes, goblets, cups,
gloves, signet-rings, bracelets, fillets, &c., and perhaps even gold itself
) was the traditional proof of royal favour . Except in special cases the scene
of this presentation is the verandah of the palace . The building may be
altered by omissions and rearrangement, but the essential features are always
the same, and point unmistakably to a single impression on the memory of the
artist . Generally only the verandah or only the façade of the palace is shown,
but wherever there is space some part of the interior is added behind . In the
tombs of Ay, Tutu and No. 7 the whole complex of the royal establishment is
depicted ; even, in the case of the two first, in duplicate . Here the space
was desired for the princesses ; yet the artist has managed to place one of the
store chambers at the top of the picture, and so indicate the palace interior
by sample . Above the serpent-crowned framing of the balcony are seen the four
columns which support the roof, and, to the right, the two columns of the porch
. The two doors underneath seem to be the side-doors of the façade, placed
there for convenience . The ascent to the balcony is not shown, though the
doors are some distance from the ground .
The decorations on the framework of the window correspond, in the main,
to that shown in Plate ( 6-a ) . Divine and royal cartouches and titularies
within variegated borders make the surface rich with fine detail and bright
colours. The panel of the front, which
is usually filled by a geometric design ( Plates 6-a, 17-a ), is here filled
with a characteristic Egyptian design, the faint ink of which is only partially
recoverable . In the centre is the sma symbol of union ( Sema ) .
On the right of it is a clump of the plant of the South, growing in the fields
( or on trellis-work ? ) while on the left, a group of papyrus stems, the plant
of the North, springs from the clods . Some of the stems grow up straight,
others bend over and meet them flower to flower, and yet others fetter the
necks of captives ; of whom there are three on each side . The captives bound
by the plant of the North represent races of the North ( three different types
? ) . Similarly those on the right belong to the negro races of the South . The
design thus combines two ideas ; the union of the Upper and Lower Egypt, and
the subjection to each of its neighbour races . The captives walk on tiptoe,
whether in indication of their half-throttled state, or whether, like Agag,
they walk delicately in apprehension of the worst .
The interest of the royal family in the reward given
to one, who as superintendent of the Queen's household was so well known to
them, is made evident . The King, who from the balcony hands down the necklaces
one by one to Meryra, receives them from the hands of the Queen ; she, in her
turn, having been supplied with them by the princesses Merytaten and Meketaten .
Their younger sisters, Ankhes-en-pa-aten, Nefer-neferu-aten the younger, and
Nefer-neferu-ra are also present . Very little exaggeration has been shown in
the drawing of these childish figures ; far from being flaccid, they are
notably thickset and sturdy ( Plate 47 ) . The King's sash is richly worked, as
in Plate 17-a . The ties at his breast seem to indicate some upper garment too
thin or close-fitting to be represented . The triple sets of armlets which
Ankhes-en-pa-aten wears are only uncommon because this painted detail has so
often perished . The thick cushion of the balustrade is upholstered in red,
with diamonds of blue and another colour .
In the courtyard of the palace ( Plate 35 ), one of
the outer gates of which is seen in the right-hand top corner, are assembled
the King's train, two royal chariots, and the indispensable scribes and
attendants of Meryra . This official himself stands in the porch close under
the balcony, and receives a great double necklace from the hands of the King to
add to the two which are already upon his neck . Three scribes are busy making
entries of the gifts . It will be noticed that the ancient Egyptian servant,
like the modern fellah, was wont to save his precious shoes from wear as much
as possible, carrying them with him merely for use when his foot-soles gave out
.
The group of foreigners ( ambassadors ? ) is
interesting for the variety of dress and headgear which they exhibit .
Unfortunately, the painted detail is imperfectly preserved . The picture of the
bearded Semite with a heavily-fringed garment wound round and round his body in
graceful folds, and secured round the waist by a broad girdle into which a
handkerchief (?) is tucked, is unmistakable . The negro tribesmen wear the
white jibbeh with red sashes and
belts, or else tunics from which one or more real or imitated tails dangle . It
is impossible to say if the men in the topmost register carry weapons or only
wands of office .
The dado ( Plate 36 ) shows, as usual, the
by-incidents of the scene ; in this case, the return of Meryra to his home, and
his acclamation by the household there . The lowest register shows Meryra
arriving at the gates in his chariot, his neck laden with the king's bounty.
Men and women have come out to meet him . The former raise their arms and
applaud the new fortunes of their master ; the latter, forming into a choir,
dance, beat cymbals and wave branches .
Above this is shown the next movement in the little
drama . Meryra has passed through the gates and, on descending from the
chariot, is again saluted with exuberance by his servants . Unable to contain themselves, they dance
and shout, and one falls on the ground to kiss his master's feet . Even the
charioteer joins in the acclaim : the grooms show a more practical devotion,
and are already busy rubbing down and feeding their charges .
Meanwhile the servants bring the whole bounty of the
king, set out on tables, that Meryra may see its full extent . It includes a
grand repast, sent from the royal kitchen . The picture which we gain here of
the villa of an official of Akhetaten is interesting . It is shut in from the
outside world by enclosing walls and a high gateway, in front of which two
trees have been planted . The space immediately within the gates is pleasantly
laid out, date-palms, alternated with shade-giving trees, being set in rows on
both sides of a T-shaped tank . A gateway in a cross-wall ( shown in section )
admits to another courtyard, at the back of which is a small building . The
walls carry no roof, and the gateway also implies an open enclosure : yet the
porch and the contents within suggest a ceiled room . Behind this again is seen
a fragment of the harem ; whose occupants, not being permitted to share in the
demonstration outside, are giving themselves to dancing and mirth within the
walls . The building above represents the main building, containing the
dining-hall . The staff of servants is cleverly suggested by the house-boy, who
leisurely sprinkles the floor with water from a jar, and the bawwâb ( doorkeeper ), who has nothing to do but lean idly against the door-cheek
and gossip .
Part ( 12 ) .. Coming SoOoOon .....
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