Friday, July 21, 2017

The rock tombs of El Amarna .. The Tomb of Meryra II ( No. 2 ) – The East and North Wall .. Part ( 12 )

4.  The Tribute of the Nations - East Wall . ( Plates 37 comprising Plates 38 to 40, and 47 ) .







The scene on this wall not only is new in kind and manifestly records an historical event, but a descriptive note and a date are appended to it . The one, it is true, is brief and very bald, and the other too broken to be reliable ; but fortunately there is in the adjoining tomb a second, though very differently treated version of the same or a similar occurrence, the dating of which is clear, and agrees with what remains of the numbers here . The inscription is as follows :— " Year [ twelve, second month of the winter season, eighth day ] of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, living on Truth, Lord of the Two Lands, Nefer-kheperu-ra, Son of the Sun, living on Truth, Lord of [ Diadems ], Akhenaten, great in his duration, and the great wife of the King, his beloved, Nefertiti, living for ever and ever . His Majesty appeared on the throne of the Divine and Sovereign Father, the Aten, who lives on Truth ; and the chiefs of all lands brought the tribute ..... praying favour at his hand (?) in order to inhale the breath of life . The inscription in the tomb of Huya records the event as the bringing of tribute from Kharu and Kush ( Syria and Ethiopia ), the East and West, and the islands of the sea " ; a description probably more rhetorical than exact .



The scene is cleverly set out. The King, drawn to a large scale, sits enthroned in the middle of the picture, accompanied by his family . On the right the tribes of the South ( Plate 38 ), on the left the nations of the North ( Plate 39 ), approach the platform humbly . The dado ( Plate 40 ), shows the foreground — the crowd on this side of the pavilion . The canopied platform on which the King sits to receive the gifts is similar to several shown on these tombs, and yet cannot be identified with any of them ( Plates 32, 31-a and 14-a ) ; for the light columns here are as unique as those on the south wall ( Plate 32 ) . They carry a triple capital, formed by the papyrus, the lotus (?), and the lily, superimposed one upon the other in an ungraceful combination . The royal pair sit on cushioned chairs side by side, with their feet resting on double hassocks . Even at this public appearance before men of foreign nations their attitude to one another is still most amatory . The Queen has her right arm thrown round her husband's waist, and her left hand reposes in his . So much is perceptible ; but the bodies of both have been almost erased from the hips upwards in ancient time . As usual, all but the bare outline of the farther figure was covered by the nearer .








Six princesses are shown, a number greater than is found elsewhere . The new comers are Nefer-neferu-ra, whom we have already seen on the south wall, and Setep-en-ra . The pretty groups have been injured by time and ruined by thieves, but the names and attitudes are preserved in several earlier copies and squeezes . Meketaten turns her head to her sister, and so shows us the side without the hanging lock . Attracted by the smell of a persea-fruit ( pomegranate ? ) which Ankhes-en-pa-aten is holding to her nose, she is stretching out her hand for another which is in her sister's right hand . Nefer-neferu-aten seems to be holding up a tiny gazelle, and her sister behind has a similar pet on her right arm, which Setep-en-ra is tickling . Both hold flowers in the other hand . The different ages of the children is not indicated by their height or demeanour . As Setep-en-ra does not appear on the south wall, it may be that she was born during the decoration of the tomb, about the fourteenth year of the reign . Three nurses of the children stand by the side of the platform .



The titulary of the sun above contains some indecipherable additions to what is usual ( perhaps " in the great desert of Akhetaten " on the left ) .



In front is depicted, in six registers, the bringing of gifts by negro tribes of the South, and though the picture does not convey the idea of a spontaneous and unforced payment of tribute, this may be a mistaken impression . In the topmost register are specimens of the gifts . On native initiative and artistic impulse, apparently, the tribute of the South was wont to be made more presentable by the inclusion of set pieces, which were sometimes very complex and even, in a barbaric way, picturesque . One of the commonest and simplest methods was to decorate a yoke with skins and tails of animals, and with rings of gold suspended in long chains or sewn on a foundation of skin or cloth . These hung from the yoke, while a row of ostrich feathers adorned the upper side . One such pole is seen resting on a stand, and two others are being borne by negroes .



A second trophy, of which an example is seen here, takes the form of a representation of the dom palm, presumably in precious metal . It is set in a basket, but here the blocks ( ingots of silver ? ) instead of being built into an elegant pyramid are merely placed in two rough piles . Behind these trophies are seen trays holding ingots (?), bags of gold dust, and rings of gold ; also shields, bows, and arrows, &c . Below, similar gifts are being presented by negro chiefs, from Wawat or Mam in Ethiopia, to judge by their dress ( Plate 35 ) . Ivory, and the eggs and feathers of the ostrich, form part of the tribute, and the Egyptian love of animals is gratified by the inclusion of tame leopards, a wild ox (?), and an antelope (?) .




In the third and fourth registers we see prisoners taken in a raid, or perhaps slaves as a natural item of the tribute . About a dozen male negroes are being dragged forward by ropes tied round their necks and fettering the wrists also . Half that number of women are being led in the same way, except that their hands are left free . Each is accompanied by three or four children, the elder ones led by the hand, the youngest one or two carried in a pannier which rests on the back, but is supported by a band passing round the forehead . This seems to have been a custom general among several tribes .



The next register exhibits a war-like scene, but as weapons are absent, it is to be interpreted as a series of athletic exercises by the troops, who show their prowess in this more pacific form . The sports are of three kinds, wrestling, singlestick, and boxing . In the first competition, two out of the eight combatants have thrown their men, who lie helpless on their backs as dead . Two of the contests are still being stubbornly disputed, though the victors can be easily foretold . The execution of these scenes is very rough, but their vigour is unmistakable . There are only two rivals in the fencing, and one of them has already received a decisive blow on the head . Of the three sets of boxers, one pair is still struggling for the victory, but the victors of the other rounds are already jumping for joy and loudly proclaiming themselves .



Meanwhile Meryra (?) and four other officials are humbly ascending the platform to present themselves to the King . They are followed by their shade and fan-bearers, and by others who may be a select body of the troops which took part in the expedition, or formed the escort to the mission . In the midst the street boys give unrestrained expression, after the manner of their kind, to their delight at the whole proceedings ( Plate 14-a ) . A little group also shows proleptically the intended decoration of Meryra with the double necklace . Honours appear to be reserved for his companions also ; for as many necklaces are displayed on stools, and the closed coffer may also contain something more in the way of reward .




On the left of the platform ( Plates 39 and 47 ) the peoples of the North ( our East ) are seen . Those in the six registers immediately behind are evidently Syrians, to whom the Egyptians applied the loose term Retnu . Nearly all have the bushy hair and full beard, and the robe wound in several turns round the body from ankles to neck . Some, however, have the head shaven, though the beard is long ; — a type which Professor Petrie classes as Amorite .




At the top of the picture we see a large part of the gifts grouped, consisting of those weapons of war which their Syrian campaigns had taught the Egyptians to prize and use . There are bows and quivers (?), falchions and daggers (?), spears, shields, coats of mail (?), and a chariot, with its two horses. Beneath, we see other presents in the hands of men of the Retnu . Three young girls who form part of the tribute are pushed forward in front, as likely to win favour for the rest . The kneeling figures in this and succeeding rows show, no doubt, the leaders of the embassy . Among the gifts here are a metal vase, a casket, an elephant's tusk, a bow and arrows, and three animals, an Antelope, an Oryx, and a Lion . In the next row nine captives or slaves are led forward by Egyptians : their hands are fettered by handcuffs . The two vases shown here may have had ornamental covers ( Hay credits the shorter with a panther's head ), but the state of the wall prevents the exact forms of the vessels on it being ascertained with accuracy .



The next register seems to show a separate deputation, perhaps from the land of the Amorites . Their gift comprises two maidens, a chariot and pair, and various vases of fine workmanship, including a mounted trophy with the head of a lioness on the lid . The lower two registers may show still another tribe of the Retnu, but there are no means of distinguishing it . Their gift consists chiefly of vases in fine metal work . Besides these, there are two antelopes, and a file of slaves, including women and children .



The enumeration of the tribes of the north who presented tribute at this time is continued in the long registers below, perhaps with this difference, that there is no longer any show of force, but a much greater likeness to embassies of peace .



In the topmost of these three rows ( Plate 40 ) a small deputation of seven men is seen, who are clothed simply, and much after the Egyptian fashion . Their offerings are of an equally simple nature, and clearly from a fertile, but not a manufacturing land . There are calves ( or calf-shaped metal weights ), piles of grain or incense shoulder-high, which two men are measuring up, and precious metal (?) formed into a flattering imitation of the two characteristic Egyptian structures, the pyramid and the obelisk . It seems certain from these offerings that they are sent from the land of Punt, its people being grouped here with the northerners as a non-negro race .




The next embassy is as plainly that of a desert population. The eggs and feathers of the ostrich are all they have to offer . Their flowing, open mantle, and the side-lock, and the feather in the hair proclaim them to be Temehu or Libyans .



While the dress of the remaining nation marks it out as Syrian, the queue into which the hair is drawn behind indicates the formidable Kheta ( Hittites ? ) of the distant north . So far, however, from appearing as members of an invading horde, the elaborate and tasteful metal-work which they have to offer, as rich no doubt in material as in form, betoken the highest civilization .



When we seek a more definite origin for these vessels by a comparative study of the metal-work of Syria we find it a difficult task, though vessels of similar types are often seen on Egyptian monuments . They are generally attributed there to the Retnu, a term which at its loosest could cover all Syria ; for to the Egyptians, as to us, these racial names were largely only rough geographical distinctions . The vase, adorned by a bounding bull, as well as that in which the full-faced head of a bull with a disc between the horns forms the cover, is seen in the tribute of Ramses III at Karnak, where they are attributed to the Retnu . Hittites, however, are seen to be included there under this name . In the tomb of Rekhmire at Thebes, where a more careful classification is to be looked for, the finely-chased vases with richly ornamented rims are put in the hands both of the Keftiu ( Cretans ? ) and of the Retnu ; but the use of animals, or animals' heads, as ornaments, and the more elaborate creations, are assigned to the Keftiu . Amongst them are pieces which are almost duplicates of the heads of the ox and the lioness found in our picture . The long-necked lipped jug here brought by the Kheta is carried both by Keftiu and Retnu elsewhere .



Where, then, was the centre of this cultured manufacture ? The answer may be supplied by a scene in a Theban tomb, where the chiefs of the Kheta, the Keftiu, Kadesh and Thenpu ( probably Tunip, a city which in Akhenaten's time was in the hands of the Kheta ), are presenting vases very similar to those shown here . " A sculptor " follows the chief of Tunip, carrying a piece of plate . He wears the dress of the Keftiu, and most of the men who follow, bearing vases, are of the same nationality . A few resemble in face and dress " the chief of the Kheta " there shown ; but he does not show the peculiar Hittite face or garb . From this and other evidence we might gather that the country of the Keftiu was the home of the craft, and that the neighbouring nations, the Hittites, Retnu, and others imported these splendid products, and perhaps even learned to imitate the less elaborate forms ; so that it was as much by their agency as by direct trade with the Keftiu that they were introduced into Egypt . The recent discoveries in Crete render this hypothesis extremely likely by pointing to that island as the home of the Keftiu .



There is no reason, then, why such vases should not be found in the hands of the Kheta, though it is just possible that our artist has erroneously drawn Hittites for Keftiu ; for the Hittites, by reason of distance, are less likely to have sent tribute, and while they are not named or seen in the tomb of Huya, the people of " the islands of the sea " there named are not depicted .



The remaining groups on the wall do not form part of the embassies, but are Egyptian . Below, i.e. on this side of the royal pavilion, is ranged a large body of troops. The six men drawn up in line in front show, perhaps, the number of files, but of these only two are actually depicted . They are curiously armed . Some men of the first file are dressed in the short tunic of the Egyptians, and carry a long staff curved at the upper end, and a battle-axe . Two feathers are worn in the hair . Others wear a longer tunic and carry only a javelin or curved staff . The hair is worn short and a ribbon attached to the back of the head. The men of the second file carry a spear and a hooked staff alternately .



The two palanquins of the King and Queen rest beside the platform . They take the form of state-chairs, each of them carried by two strong poles . Sphinxes bearing the head and crowns of the King of the two Egypts ( the Upper and the Lower Egypt ), serve as arm-rests, and the chair is guarded on each side by the carved figure of a walking lion . The floor on which the creature stands is attached to the poles before and behind by a uaz column, and, in the King's larger chair, by the figure of a kneeling captive also .



Here we meet also the personal attendants of the King, his censing priest, his servants, whose backs are loaded and hands full of all that he may call for, and the police . The two royal chariots wait in front of the platform, gaped at by a little crowd . Here also is the military escort, and several servants who bring forward, for sacrifice or feasting, bouquets, fowl, and three stalled oxen, whose misshapen hoofs show their fat condition .



Although it is given the aspect of a payment of tribute in due course, the depiction of the scene in these tombs alone shows that it was extraordinary, and that its presence here is much less due to any part Meryra or Huya had in it than to the stir which it caused . It may have been that missions from such widely separated regions as Coele-Syria, Ethiopia and Punt met by chance in Egypt, and that the opportunity was taken for a parade of Egypt's greatness . Or, late as it was, it may have been the first time that Akhenaten was able to convince the nations that he was firmly seated on the throne of his fathers, and to arrange an exhibition of loyalty . Or, not unlikely, it was the result of timely military demonstrations on the North and South frontiers . The promptitude and the liberality with which the tribute was paid by many tribes probably always depended on such significant hints . Even if we regard the prisoners in these scenes as slaves, not captives of war, the military sports suggest that there had been some such expedition on the South frontier at least . But whether the inducement to bring tribute was more warlike or diplomatic, Meryra seems to have taken a leading part in it . Some unnamed official at any rate is being rewarded, and we may hope that Akhenaten had this excuse for making a political event so prominent in the eternal house of his servant .



5.  Meryra rewarded by King Se-aa-ka-ra - North Wall : East side . ( Plate 41 ) .


The unfinished picture on this wall seems to reflect the troubles which gathered round the new capital in the later years of the reign or upon the death of Akhenaten . Hastily executed, or left in the rough ink-sketch, the figures of the King and Queen, with the familiar cartouches of Akhenaten and Nefertiti replaced by those of Merytaten their daughter and her husband, Ankh-kheperu-ra, the interrupted project speaks of events, actual or menacing, in which leisured art could have no place . It is somewhat difficult to decide whether the design as well as the cartouches belong to Se-aa-ka-ra's reign, and whether, therefore, these figures represent Akhenaten and his wife or their successors on the throne . In the absence of sufficient grounds of suspicion, we must assume that the whole belongs to the reign, or at least to a co-regency of the new King . Yet it is not obvious why not even one small design should be completed by him, or why the sun and the royal pair should be left untouched . The cartouches seem somewhat large and clumsy in comparison with the rest of the inscription, but the execution of the whole also is very different from that of the other walls . ( We cannot object to there being two scenes of the rewarding of Meryra ; because that occurs in the neighbouring tomb, and there is, therefore, even a presumption in favour of it ) . It might be put forward as a plausible theory that the King's sculptors were called away to work in the tomb of Meketaten, and returned later to complete the scenes . But the execution of the work coincided with an illness of the King, which threatened to prove fatal, and under the circumstances the royal cartouches and figures were not proceeded with ; then, when the apprehension concerning the King was justified, the cartouches of his successor were hastily inserted as a date ; though events, or the disinclination of the new King, stopped any further progress with the tomb . The burial shafts were never made, and Meryra's hopes of a splendid interment here shared the general ruin . The roughly sketched figures of the King and Queen, the ink of which is now almost invisible, stand under the radiating sun in the centre of the picture . Behind them is the palace and before them their faithful palace official, with his friends and attendants . A part of the group has been removed by the formation of a recess here at a later date . Meryra is standing on a stool, or up borne by his friends with officious care, to receive the guerdon of golden necklaces from the king . His breast is already covered with these marks of royal favour ; and it was no doubt a wise proceeding on the part of the new monarch to make sure of the devotion of an official so influential in the royal harem .





Part ( 13 ) .. Coming SoOoOon .....
Uploading .....
Follow us to receive our latest posts, Leave your comment and Tell your friends about our Blog .. Thank you ☺☺

No comments:

Post a Comment