Tuesday, August 1, 2017

The rock tombs of El Amarna .. The Tomb of Meryra I ( No. 4 ) .. Part ( 14 )

A. Historical Notes
Close to the tomb of Ahmose lies the Tomb No. 4, which is that of Meryra I, which is one of the largest, and perhaps the most important of the whole series .
Meryra I was one of the great figures in the life of the holy city, being high-priest of the Aten in the house of Aten in Akhetaten, Fan-bearer on the right hand of the King, Royal Chancellor, Sole Companion, Hereditary Prince, and Friend of the King . He is the only high-priest of the Aten who is known to us, and he still held his office in the sixteenth year of the reign so that it seems likely that he continued in his high position till the death of Akhenaten . The fact that his burial-chamber is unfinished and never used shows, however, that he must have shared in the downfall of the faith which he served ; though there is no extant indication of what part he played in the debacle of Atenism .





B. The tomb described

1 - Injuries to the Tomb .
This fine tomb was as little spared as the rest when, soon after the death of the king, his heresies were avenged by the mutilation of the Aten, of the faces and figures of the royal pair, and of the cartouches of all three . The erasure has been so thorough in most instances as to leave scarcely a feature of King or Queen remaining, despite the deep relief of the sculpture ; but it appears to have been confined to these points, the names, faces, and figures of the princesses being usually spared . The faces, generally, in the tombs have indeed suffered more injury than other parts of the sculptures ; but this may be due to later Christian or Mohammedan antipathy to portraiture . At the period or periods when the tombs were occupied as dwellings or transformed into churches by Copts, their chambers, though rarely exposed to iconoclastic assaults, were not spared where convenience was in question . The desired architectural changes were made without scruple, and where the walls were not cut away or cut into, they were often covered with a coating of plaster, which has been preservative or destructive, according as it has proved easily removable or not .



This tomb has suffered the loss of the pair of columns on the West side of the Great Hall, and a recess has been cut in its South wall, not to mention the numerous holes made to receive fittings, pegs and ropes . More lamentable injury was wrought to the texts in the tombs of El-Til some years ago for purposes of plunder . In this tomb the thief set his heart chiefly on the little explanatory inscriptions, and in trying to hack them out has done much additional damage . The procedure was so clumsy that probably not a single fragment was ever successfully removed, yet this did not deter the scoundrel from renewed attempts . The extent of these modern injuries can be seen on reference to Plates below . Fortunately the whole can be restored from L'Hôte and Lepsius .










Time and chance are responsible for special loss to a much smaller degree . It may seem, indeed, on a comparison of the plates of this tomb with those of Lepsius, that a considerable amount has disappeared since his day . This is only true of the temple on the North wall ( Plates 11 and 12 ) where the thin overlay of plaster is falling away, and in the cases of wilful injury just mentioned . In other instances, notably in the features of the King and Queen, the lower part of the North wall ( Plate 20 ), and the right half of the garden on the North wall ( Plate 32 ), missing details have been supplied by the artist Karl Augustus Weidenbach from existing parallels or conjecture . Some one of the previous copyists has gone over the outlines of many of the scenes in the tombs of El-Til with lampblack, rendering them very unsightly; but it is sufficient for us to condemn the practice without attempting to affix the blame .












2 – Exterior .
The tombs of El Amarna show on the outside little love of orderliness and precision, an accusation which may be extended in a less degree to their interiors ; for they are rarely, if ever, in a state of absolute completion, or free from some sign of slovenly construction .



The essential feature outside was the inscribed portal, surmounted by a cavetto cornice, and generally protected in addition by eaves of rock, which were left to overhang when the cliff was cut back . Usually, however, the rock is also hewn to form a blank wall for some distance to right and left of the doorway .



The tomb of Meryra does not differ from the general type . The hillside at this point forms a steep rock-slope, which had to be cut back about 20 feet to give the necessary elevation to the front which was wished for it . First intentions seem to have been more ambitious still ; for a rock frontage was commenced above and further back than the present façade . No doubt the architect became alarmed at the enormous amount of stone still to be removed and contented himself with more modest proportions . The present façade of the high-priest's tomb, however, by its length of nearly one hundred feet, is amply suggestive of the unusual spaciousness of the interior .



The portal generally projects an inch or two from the wall ; but in this tomb the relief is gained by simply cutting a recess round it . Its decoration is in a stereotyped form ( Plate 40 ) . On each jamb is a salutation of the sun, the King and the Queen in four columns, the formula being thus repeated eight times, differing only by the alternation of the two names of the King . Here, as elsewhere, it is the decorative effect of the cartouches which is the motive for their incessant repetition .



The adoption of a cartouche for the god is a new departure of Akhenaten, with the idea, perhaps, of emphasizing the personality of the sun-god, which close association with the visible orb might tend to depreciate. The artificiality of the device is seen in the adoption of two cartouches to hold one designation, and this an appellation that had been only regarded as an appropriate epithet before Akhenaten made it the supreme name, and divided it between the two cartouches .



At the foot of the jamb is a representation of the deceased kneeling behind the columns of hieroglyphs which set forth his prayer . These smaller texts are now almost obliterated ( see Plates 35 and 40 ) .



On the lintel, here and elsewhere, a similar figure of the deceased and his prayer are set at either end, facing inward . The space between is surmounted by the heavenly canopy and occupied by two duplicate designs, in which the two cartouches of Ra-Horakhti, with the appropriate titulary, are faced by the three smaller cartouches of the King and Queen similarly accompanied ( cf. Plate 34 ) . This combination, which we shall find incessantly repeated, thus represents, in a kind of shorthand, the picture of the King and Queen in full regalia, worshipping before the Aten . The prayers on the lintel are too much worn to be reproduced. Above the lintel are the roll and cavetto cornice.  The projecting part of the latter is not cut out of the rock, but formed by a row of short blocks cut to shape and let into a groove made in the face . This method is not infrequently adopted in the tombs .



The façade is almost upright near the door, but elsewhere there is in places a considerable batter ; for the face is far from being in one plane, some parts having been cut back so much further than others that the wall has the appearance of having been furnished with irregular buttresses . Almost the whole length of it has an overhanging coping of rock, deep to the west of the doorway, but tailing off to nothing at either end . A good-sized recess and several little arched niches have been cut in the wall on the east side, the former at a good height from the ground . The cutting back of the rock slope, in order to gain the elevation for the façade, has formed a level court more than twenty feet wide in front of the tomb, and this was further marked off by leaving a low enclosing wall of rock on the outer side, with a broad gap in the centre for entrance ( Plate 2 ) . The court has thus the appearance of the walled-in garden before a modern double-fronted house . At the time when the desert cliffs were the dwelling-place of a numerous Coptic population, this court was seized upon for a dwelling, and the rough stones which formed the walls now encumber the space . It was for the convenience of these settlers, no doubt, that the above-mentioned recess and niches were cut ; smaller holes in the wall have served to receive the ends of rafters. The blocks and chips thrown out from the excavation have formed a level terrace outside this court .



3 - Thickness of Walls and Antechamber .
In the case of all the other tombs of El Amarna one passes directly from outside into the main chamber . This may be a long and narrow hall, continuing in the axis of the entrance or set at right angles to it ; or it may be a large room, the roof of which is supported, if its size demands, on two or more columns. But in this tomb an antechamber intervenes between the entrance and the large hall ; and, though this arrangement is in itself imposing, it throws the reliefs of the inner room into more than semi-darkness . As usual, the outer wall of rock is left of such substantial thickness as to afford room for sculpture on either hand in the entrance-way . In this tomb these spaces are occupied by two figures of Meryra, cut in strong relief on a sunk surface, and by the prayers which are supposed to be on his lips or in his heart ( Plates 4, 41 ) . His hands are raised in the usual attitude of adoration . He has the shaven head of the priest, and wears no ornaments, save that he carries slung round his shoulders the insignia of office, a fan, in virtue of his office of " Fan-Bearer at the right hand of the King ", and a crook-sceptre as a sign of authority, general or particular .




The full-dress figures of Meryra ( Plates 37, 38, and 41 ) also seem to prove that the baggy folds are absent, and instead we see the hem of the gown falling below the calf . The gown, girded up in this way, is a common dress of all classes of men above the very lowest . It was put on over the tunic ( Plate 37 and Plate 8, where it is white ), and, when worn long, a sash with an ornamental edging ( Plate 8 ) was used to confine it at the waist . When the lower part of the gown was tucked up, and so served as its own girdle, this sash was carried in the hand . ( Personal attendants always hold it ) .






A good deal of the pattern and colouring of the painted ceiling in the thickness of the wall is recoverable ( Plate 39 ) . The space is divided into three compartments, severed by columns of blue hieroglyphs on a yellow ground and bordered by the familiar ribbon of coloured rectangles within green bands . Within this again is a broader border of coloured chequers . The centre panel within this double border is filled in with a well-known Egyptian ceiling-pattern, derived from bead-work. In the side panels is a pattern of concentric diamonds . The hieroglyphs are almost obliterated, but no doubt contained prayers for burial favours, for the columns end .



The Antechamber is a small square chamber with a slightly arched roof which springs from the East and West walls . A cavetto cornice runs round the walls under the ceiling, aiding the illusion that we are in a constructed instead of an excavated room . On the North side this cornice is replaced by that of the door . The ceiling-device has perished, as have also the coloured bands, etc., which decorated the pediment on the North and South .



On the East and West walls the framing of a doorway has been roughly indicated, whether in order to bring them into symmetry with the other sides of the room, or with the idea that shrines might be constructed here later if needed ( as in some tombs of the South group ) . The framing, though plastered, is blank, except that on the North wall the device of the five cartouches has been sketched on the lintel in red ink . The space enclosed is merely rough-hewn, but those to right and left of this false portal are occupied by two sculptured devices ( Plate 40, taken from the West wall ) . That on the North side shows an enormous bouquet of flowers arranged in tiers with geometrical precision ( Panel B ) . On the summit is an arrangement of feathery papyrus heads mingled with red poppies, but the pretty effect which this would have is not suggested in the least by the conventional drawing . The body of the bouquet is formed of five bunches ( marked off by plain bands ) containing, (1) the yellow fruit of the persea, (2) lotus flowers and buds, (3) persea-fruits, (4) poppies alternating with, persea-fruits, (5) cornflowers, (6) poppies and persea-fruits, and (7) the bud of some flower . On the South side of the framing on both walls is panel A, showing the cartouches and titles of Ra-Horakhti and the royal pair under the radiant sun . Both panels are bordered by the band of coloured rectangles . This device is repeated also on both sides of the North door with the hieroglyphs facing inwards to the doorway .



The two sides of the South wall are occupied by standing figures of Meryra similar to those in the thickness of the outer wall ( Plate 38 ) . The insignia are not shown here, but a plain collar is worn in both cases, and a gold ( yellow ) bracelet in addition by the figure on the East side . The prayers are in solid blue hieroglyphs . The framing of the doorway which leads into the hall is of the usual architectural design, having broad jambs, on which prayers are written in four columns. The hieroglyphs are parti-coloured on a yellow ground ( Plate 39 ) . A considerable part of the left jamb has been cut away by thieves, but the loss is recoverable from Nestor L'Hôte, whose text is inserted in Plate 39 in broken lines .




On the East side of the room there is a trench in the floor, running North and South, which enlarges and deepens slightly towards the ends ( from 7 to 10 inches deep ) . Similar troughs, but larger, deeper and rougher, are found in three other tombs in this group . They occur in each case in the outer hall, parallel with the wall and near it; and if this implies intentional provision, I would suggest that they were cut out in order that the impurities might be collected there for removal when the room was cleansed by washing or sweeping . If, as is not unlikely, sacrificial animals were slaughtered in the tomb, such a provision would be almost a necessity .



A partition of rock as substantial as the outer wall separates the antechamber from the great hall . Here again the walls are occupied by large figures of the occupants of the tomb and the prayers ascribed to them . On the right ( East ) is Meryra, facing outwards ( Plates 4, 37 ) . He is in the attitude we have become familiar with, but a more usual and more pleasing method of representing the draped figure is adopted .



On the opposite wall is a female figure in a similar attitude of prayer, who, though only described as " a great favourite of the Lady of the Two Lands ", is shown by this silence to be the wife of Meryra ( Plates 4, 36 ) . Her name is Tenre . The lady wears the mantle of fine linen hung from the shoulders, which is the almost invariable dress of the Egyptian woman of this period, and, to judge strictly by appearance, her only garment . Indeed in small examples the robe is marked merely by two outlines, with indications of the folds in red ink only, so that, to the unpractised eye, the women one and all appear to be nude . If the drawings represent a single garment, it must also have been very simple, consisting solely of a length of cloth, which was drawn over the shoulders and upper arm, and secured by the corners on the breast, while the garment was also wrapped round the form below the armpits and knotted together under the bosom by a wisp gathered up from the ample material . ( Sometimes, instead of being knotted together, it was tied round the body by a long sash, and this useful article of dress is very frequently seen in the hands of attendants, male and female ) . But since the dress is often seen, as in the case of Tenre, falling freely from the elbows, it appears rather to indicate an additional robe thrown over the shoulders, and worn loose and open over an under-garment . Thus, in Plate 13, the foremost woman in the lower group might be dressed in a single garment ; but the figure above, like that of Tenre, scarcely can be, unless the free fall from the elbow is inexact and due only to the artist's love of detached and sweeping lines . Besides, the colour shows that the dress is really not meant to be open, but reaches below the ankles in front also, though the artist there leaves the figure quite free from lines of dress . The young girl in the same group, whom we should scarcely have expected to be clothed at all, wears a fitted garment, fastened at the throat, quite similar to those worn by men ( cf. Plate 33 ) . Grown women probably retained this and threw over it a loose mantle, which could be tied round the body or left open as they pleased .







Tenre, like most Egyptian women, wears her hair, or wig, in long, thick plaits, each being divided into two or three smaller ones near the end . It is bound round the brow by a coloured fillet, and again lower down by a red ribbon . On her head she wears the curious headgear ( some receptacle for ointment ? ) which was worn by men and women in New Kingdom days on festive occasions, and which here has a flower and buds of the blue lotus projecting from it . A wide collar, or cape, and bracelets complete her attire .



4 - The Hall of Columns .
We now enter the main hall, a room of spacious proportions and dignity . The loss of two of its original four clustered columns has spoiled its symmetry to some extent, but it is still imposing . The papyrus-bud columns are, as usual at El-Amarna, rather squat . The ceiling in the aisles is flat, but in the nave slightly arched, and at a higher level . The cavetto cornice again runs round the room under the ceiling, except above the doorway . It was originally painted with red, blue, and green plumes ( cf. Plate 6 ) .







The two portals are of the familiar pattern and decoration, but their height gives them an exceptionally fine appearance . The decoration of the lintel of the South door is in the invariable form ( Plate 35, where only one side of the central device is shown ) . The jambs are occupied by the titularies of Ra-Horakhti and the royal pair in three columns, surmounted by the canopy of heaven . The inscription is a shortened form of that on the façade . The kneeling figure of the deceased and his prayer are added in a compartment below, and beneath this, again, is a finial consisting of a horizontal band surrounded by two others . The lintel of the North door ( Plate 34 )  is treated like those already noticed, but the surface of the jambs is occupied by prayers to the Aten on behalf of the Ka of Meryra . The hieroglyphs, which are parti-coloured, are very much injured .




5 - The Second Hall and Shrine .
The partition-wall between the hall and the third chamber is even thicker than those through which we have already passed . This third room was intended to be another columned hall, like the second ; but it has scarcely been more than roughly delimited, and the only part where the rock has been entirely removed is the nave . The shrine beyond the third chamber is in a still more unfinished state .



Structurally, the addition of the antechamber may have added dignity to the tomb, but it has undoubtedly made it more difficult to make out the reliefs ; but, of course, the place was not meant for the edification of tourists, but for a tomb, and the reliefs were designed for the use and profit of the dead, not for the instruction of the living .



C. The Sculptured Scenes
The peculiarity of the tombs of El Amarna is less marked in the case of Meryra . The thickness of the outer wall was a space generally conceded to the occupant, and Meryra by adding an antechamber trebled his memorial-figures and covered an additional portal with prayers . The figure of his wife also appears ; perhaps because she was a favourite of the Queen . The career of Meryra also suggested the subject of at least two of the scenes of the main chamber, although a much smaller place was given in them to his dignities than to the royal condescension in bestowing them .



The scenes, which cover six wall-spaces ( the east and west walls, and the surfaces on both sides of the doorways on the north and south walls ) comprise five subjects :-
1.  The Investiture of Meryra as High Priest of the Aten . ( South wall, West side ) . ( Plates 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 26 ) .    
The south wall, west side of the hall, has a scene of Meryra being invested with the office of high-priest of the Aten . The royal couple lean out from a richly decorated balcony, and are accompanied by the little Princess Merytaten . Meryra is being carried shoulder-high by his friends and servants below . He is also represented as kneeling beneath the royal balcony, considerations of time and space not having any weight in comparison with the importance of getting the whole business depicted . The new high-priest is decorated with golden collars, and four scribes are busily taking down a report of the proceedings . Servants, ushers, and fan-bearers are in attendance, and Meryra's chariot waits for him below . The little speech which Akhenaten is making to his servant is as follows : ' The King who lives by truth, Lord of the Two Lands, Nefer-khepru-re-ua-en-re [ Akhenaten ], says to the High Priest [ literally, ' Great-of-visions ', which was the ancient title of the high-priest of Re at Heliopolis ] . ' Behold, I make thee high-priest of the Aten to me in the temple of Aten in Akhetaten, doing it for love of thee, saying, '' O my servant who hearkenest to the Teaching, my heart is satisfied with every business that thou art about '' . I give to thee the office, saying, '' Thou shalt eat the provisions of Pharaoh [ life, prosperity, health ! ] thy Lord, in the temple of the Aten " ' . To which Meryra replies : ' Abundant are the rewards which the Aten knows to give, pleasing his heart " .















2.  A Royal Visit to the Temple . ( West wall and North wall, West side ) . ( Plates below ) .










This subject not only fills the long West wall, but extends to the adjoining part of the North wall . This is made clear by the absence of side borders and the continuation of the sky over both . The explanation of the visit would probably have been given us in the inscriptions which accompanied the figures on the North wall ; but these have been destroyed by an ancient mutilation . It may be that it has connection with the last scene, and shows the King driving to the temple to present Meryra to the priesthood as their head .



The figure of Meryra cannot be identified, but it is probable that he was represented in the scene ( the first figure of the second row, Plate 14, or occupying one of the chariots in the lowest register of the West wall, shown on Plate 20 ) . Or the scene may simply depict one of the great celebrations when Meryra, as High Priest of the Sun, had the honour of receiving the King and exercising his high office before him .



On the left in the top corner ( Plate 18 ) is the royal palace, from which the King and Queen have started out . The building is drawn a second time on the East wall ( Plate 26 ), and there are numerous representations of it also in other tombs of the necropolis .



The two diagrams in this chamber are very interesting ; for, while the first is in section, that on the East wall is in plan, so far as either term can be applied to Egyptian methods of drawing. If we try to unify these two efforts of one artist to reflect in outline the mental impression made by a familiar building, we find that both agree in providing the building with an outer court protected by a wall . This was pierced by a large gateway in the middle and by a small doorway on the left . The gateway has the characteristic Egyptian form, derived from the closed doorway by the removal of the centre of the architrave . The two leaves of the door are secured, it appears, by a bolt which crosses both near the bottom and locks into the wall .



The figure of the King driving his chariot and pair is represented on a scale corresponding to his importance ; and, but for the mutilation it has undergone, would present a fine example of Egyptian art, both for spirit of outline and for minute decoration in colour . The latter is now almost invisible .



The Queen follows, driving her own chariot . This, however, is probably to be set down to the flattery that waits on royalty ; for the princesses of tender years are similarly depicted . The artist has followed custom in representing her figure and equipage on a smaller scale than the King's . Otherwise, except that the sides of the chariot are less open, all is the exact counterpart, even to the bow-case . The Queen is clothed in a helmet, and in the usual woman's dress, tied in this case round the figure by a sash, the ends of which are seen streaming behind her .



Four princesses follow her in two chariots, two in each . Of the two sisters, one is shown holding the reins and whip, while the other, with the affection which in this reign seems to have been regarded as a royal virtue or prerogative, throws one arm round her sister and with the other holds tightly to a handle in the rim of the chariot, and so keeps both steady in the swaying vehicle . In the first chariot were the elder princesses, Merytaten and Meketaten ; but their figures are now lost .



In the registers above and below the princesses and their escort are a dozen men in what must be construed as a running attitude . They carry staves and must be the eight saïses running beside their chariots, with two men in charge of them bringing up the rear on each side . Finally, the lowest register ( Plate 20 ), which serves as a kind of dado, presents another procession of soldiers, chariots, and runners .



3.  The Royal Family making offerings to the Sun . ( South wall, East side ) . ( Plates 8, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27 ) .












The south wall, east side, has a scene of the royal family making offerings to the Aten . The king and queen are sprinkling incense upon the burning offering, while their daughters, Merytaten and Meketaten, shake their sistrums behind them . One of the most interesting scenes in the whole tomb is the choir of blind singers with their blind harpist, who figure in the scene of the making of offerings to the Aten . There are seven singers, with a harper who plays on a harp of seven strings, while his companions beat time with their hands and sing . The faces and expressions of the men are admirably rendered, and there is no better piece of work in the whole necropolis of El-Amarna than this .



4.  The Royal Family worshipping in the Temple . ( Upper half of East wall and part of North wall, East side ) . ( Plates 5, 18, 25, 26, 27, 28, 33 ) .











The subject, like that on the opposite side of the hall, is continued on the adjoining part of the North wall . The two great occasions in Meryra's career seem to have been his elevation to the high-priesthood of the Aten and the recognition of his successful administration of that office by the collection of the imposts due to the temple . The lower part of the East side of the wall shows the reward given to Meryra by the King for the devotion which he had shown in his office ; and the second visit to the temple, depicted on the upper half of the same walls, may be connected with the occasion also, for the presentation to the god of the dues collected in the land for the service of the temple would naturally be made the subject of a public ceremonial by the King . One would have expected, however, to find the great altar made the scene of so important an offering .



The delineation of the enormous building is so complete and detailed that this alone occupies the greater part of the East wall and all the East side of the North wall . The action is therefore limited to the south end . Here we find the King and Queen worshipping the sun in the outer court of the temple between the first and second pylons . The scene is almost exactly analogous to that which has just been described . Five stands are set before the King, piled as before with offerings, and two similar but lower ones, with a bouquet between them, stand before the Queen . Two vessels on light stands contain the drink offerings . Meryra ( for no doubt it is he ) holds the spouted libation-vase and the censer in readiness ; but the King and Queen are occupied with a previous part of the ceremonial, which prescribed the elevation of the sekhem-sceptre before the god, in recognition of the delegated authority which the royal pair owed to him . The head-dress of the King is destroyed, but the great double feathers and disc which surmounted the Queen's helmet remain .



The four princesses, with as many female attendants carrying sashes and fans, stand just within the entrance pylon . Nefer-neferu-aten-ta-shera, as the youngest and least known, is explicitly named ; the others, contrary to custom, are unidentified . The clothing of the two lower figures, in comparison with the nudity of their little sisters above, marks them out as older, and the relative age of each child is also shown by her height . This careful discrimination excludes the possibility of a twin birth, and is therefore of importance in estimating the chronology of the reign and of its tombs . Each princess shakes a sistrum in honour of the god. ( Plate 5 ) .



5.  Meryra rewarded by the King . ( Lower half of East wall and part of North wall, East side ) . ( Plates 14, 25, 29, 32 ) .







On the east wall and adjoining part of the north wall is a scene of the royal family worshipping in the temple, with a most elaborate delineation of this great building ; while the lower register of this scene depicts the rewarding of Meryra by the king for his services in connexion with the worship of the Aten . The Pharaoh's speech on this occasion is as follows : ' Let the Superintendent of the Treasury of Golden Rings take the high-priest of the Aten in Akhetaten, Meryra, and put gold on his neck to the top of it, and gold on his feet, because of his obedience to the doctrine of Pharaoh [ Life, Prosperity, Health ! ], doing all that was said regarding these splendid places, which Pharaoh [ Life, Prosperity, Health ! ] made in the House of the Benben in the temple of Aten, for the Aten in Akhetaten, filled with all things good, and with barley and wheat in abundance, " The Offering Table of Aten ", for the Aten ' .





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