Friday, July 21, 2017

The rock tombs of El Amarna .. The Tomb of Meryra II ( No. 2 ) .. Part ( 11 )

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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