Wednesday, August 2, 2017

The rock tombs of El Amarna .. The Tomb of Penthu ( No. 5 ) .. Part ( 15 )

A – Architectural Features
Exterior . ( Plates 1, 2 )



This tomb is hewn in the cliff, 60 yards or thereabouts to the South of No. 4 ( Meryra ) . The rock here forms an overhanging face about 30 feet high, and by cutting back the foot-slope on the left hand a vertical wall 70 feet long and 15 feet high was gained for a façade with but little labour .
Perhaps because by chance the rock above took the exact shape of the usual roll and cornice, though in gigantic dimensions, the portal was furnished with no other . The excavation left a protected court on the North side of the door, and dwellers in the desert at a later period formed this into a snug abode by adding thick walls of piled stone .



The framing of the doorway stands out in slight relief from the wall, and is decorated in the usual wall ( Plate 2 ) . The lintel has the usual device of royal and divine cartouches, flanked on each side by the figure of the deceased and his prayer . It is the exact counterpart of that of Ahmes ( Plate 27-c ) .





The jambs ( much broken and time-worn ) contain prayers in four columns each .



The Wall Thicknesses .
The wall thicknesses have figures of Penthu, - as usual, much damaged . The plaster with which the modelling was carried out over the outlines incised in the rock has mostly fallen away, leaving the scenes only imperfectly indicated in the backing .



Here the usual figures and prayers of the deceased are again found, facing outward . They have suffered great injury, but the texts can be restored from parallels in the tomb of Huya . The hieroglyphs were carefully formed, but retain shape and colour only on the upper part of the walls . Several Greek graffiti are scratched over the figure on Plates 3 and 4 . Penthu wears the long gown, waist-sash and sandals, and has the shaven head of the priest .




The interior
The tomb is practically an exact copy of the tomb of Ahmose, consisting of a long corridor with a cross-corridor at the further end from the door, making it T-shaped . The inner room served as the burial-chamber, the actual place of interment being provided by a shaft, which is protected by a parapet of rock and goes down nearly 40 feet . You can descend this and find a regularly-formed chamber, 17 feet long, opening out of it on the South side . It was partially filled with loose stones, and had evidently been thoroughly ransacked .



Beyond the cross-corridor was the Shrine . It had contained a statue or the block out of which one was to be hewn, but this has been entirely removed . The roof of the outer corridor is vaulted .



Condition of the Tomb
The tomb had, no doubt, been used as a dwelling-place, and to this are due two rounded niches in the South wall and a square niche in the North wall, which have removed a large part of the scenes . In order to give more light to the back room, an attempt was made to break away the whole of the framing of the inner doorway, but it was only partially carried out . The wall-surface of the long hall is in a deplorable condition . The further half on both sides is almost entirely destroyed, owing, apparently, to the poor nature of the rock ; and the parts which have not so suffered are almost equally unsightly . The whole tomb was decorated in a peculiar way, each figure or group being moulded in an inset of plaster . This adhered so indifferently that it has nearly all fallen away, and has left simply the roughly-shaped mould which it occupied . ( Plates 11, 12 ) . The plates therefore give, for the most part, merely the depression which the figure was to occupy . As this sometimes closely resembles, sometimes only roughly approximates to the final picture, a suggested restoration of the outline has generally been added within .




Despite present appearances and the aspect of the scenes, the few fragments of plaster that remain in place show that the reliefs were executed with the greatest care and delicacy . The decoration of the tomb, however, remained incomplete . The lower scene on the South wall finished abruptly half way along, and of the upper design only fragments of the preliminary coloured sketch remain .



B - The Sculptured Scenes
1 — A Royal Visit to the Sanctuary . North Wall - Upper Part ( Plates 5, 6, 7 ) .






Though this subject as a whole has no counterpart in other tombs, it has resemblances . As a representation of the Smaller Sanctuary it is most akin to that in ( Plate 30-c ), and to two pictures in the Royal Tomb . But in each of those scenes, the visit of the King, which is its ostensible motive, is very differently pourtrayed ; while here there is added as a second motive, with a second appearance of the Royal party, the bestowal of rewards on Penthu . As in dealing with a similar picture of the temple, that the first double-gated pylon represents the outer gate of the Temple of the Aten ; the furniture which is seen behind it indicates the intervening courts or sanctuary ; and the second pylon, with the building attached to it, is the Smaller Sanctuary .




The Royal party stand outside the temple, the King holding up his hands in a reverential attitude . The Princesses Merytaten, Meketaten and another, with the usual attendants, accompany their parents . Five chariots, one of them with royal plumes, wait outside .

The furniture, by which the intervening places of offering are symbolized, corresponds most closely to that of the last courts of the larger temple or to that of the dependent building at the rear of the smaller . It is only in the latter that the tables with curved legs, which crowd the space here, occur again ( Plates 11-a, 33-a ) . This picture of the temple, however, finds its closest parallel in the Royal Tomb, where the rays strike through the building in the same way, and the joints of meat stacked on tables and in shrines are a similar feature ; but where the Smaller Sanctuary, like the Greater, is indicated only by furniture and gates .




Penthu and one or two fellow-priests meet the King at the gates, and the picture suggests that the King presently took the opportunity to show his favour to this worthy by substantial rewards . Possibly the similar scene below ( Plate 8 ) records the reward of Penthu's industry as Chancellor, that on the South wall the honour done him as Chief Physician, or Privy Councillor, and this his recompense for true discharge of his duties as Chief Servitor of Aten, the scene of his exertions being in each case chosen as the scene of his reward .



The faces of the royal pair, too, have perished, with the exception of the chin and neck of the Queen, a fragment which, being moulded with extreme care, makes us regret the loss of the remainder . The mannerism of the earliest period is indeed not entirely kept under . The chin, however, is unexaggerated, and the neck, though lean, is such as Rossetti might have drawn . The muscles are strongly indicated ; the cheeks are hollow, giving prominence to the cheekbones, and suggest a hard, masculine aspect . It thus conveys a different impression from the painted profile on the opposite wall ( Plate 10 ), and from other portraits of the Queen and is not convincing . The figure does not extend below the collar-bones ; for, by some inexplicable slovenliness, the cutting out of the matrix for the figure had gone no further, and the modeller in plaster, finding his basis fail, had to round off his work as best he could ( Plate 10.D ) .




Behind the Royal party is seen the familiar columned pylon, the entrance gate to the Smaller Sanctuary . The appearance of this building has already been described from better representations . The walls screening the entrance inside are shown, but the only furniture of the interior now visible consists of numerous shrines stacked with bread and meat . The sun's rays penetrate the building, and the sky extends overhead till it reaches the supporting mountains .



2 — The Reward of Penthu . North Wall - Lower Part ( Plates 8, 9 )



Sufficient remains of this greatly injured design to show that it was the fellow and perhaps the original of one in the tomb of Meryra, which it resembles in all essentials ( Plates 29-a, 31-a ) . It has been suggested already that the same subject once had a place in the hall of Penehsy, and this warns us forcibly how little there may be in these pictures that is personal to the owner of the tomb .




The inscription accompanying the picture of Meryra sets forth that he was rewarded for filling the temple with all kinds of provisions for offerings . The fragments of the corresponding but shorter notice here make it probable that its tenure, and even its wording, were very similar . But the reference to Penthu is lost . Apparently similar services and rewards were claimed in both cases .



The opening scene shows the freight ships drawn up side by side at the river bank, with their prows moored to the shore . There are nineteen single-masted vessels. Fragments of plaster with detail ( mooring-stakes, landing planks, cartouche-headed steering paddles, figures standing by piles of produce, & c.) show that the copy of Meryra followed this closely . The cattle-yards, however, are not in this tomb placed on the river-bank, but at the end of the picture, and in their place we have here a glimpse of the gardens and villas which lay along the quay . Between these find the ships is a broad band, which may represent either the quay or the river . It is impossible to see whether the two strips of garden are simply such or contain colonnades . There is a strip of sky over each, indicating perhaps that they lie side by side, not one beyond the other . The rest of the line of buildings and gardens is lost, except for a small fragment ( on a larger scale in 9.A ) . The rest of the wall-space up to the store-yard was occupied apparently by numerous chariots and their attendants .



The enclosing wall of the store-yard is shown running round on all sides . In its outer court the King and Queen, accompanied by three princesses, their nurses ( recognizable by their bending attitude, Plate 9.E ), and a numerous suite, receive Penthu . He, on his side, has with him a considerable company of shade-bearers, scribes, officials and attendant priests ; for it is presumably in his capacity of Chief Servitor of Aten that he has earned the distinction of the golden insignia . The response of Penthu to the King's generosity is on a strictly official model " Give health to Pharaoh ( life, prosperity and health to him ! ), thy fair child, O Aten . Grant that he may complete [ thy duration; grant it for ever ] " .



Behind the royal party is the granary, filled with heaps of grain ( cf. 31-a ) From here onward the wall-surface is destroyed, partly by natural decay, partly by loss of a great patching block which had been fitted in with plaster . Probably a picture of the treasury occupied the space, but all that now remains is a fragment showing the cattle-house . The stalls are seen at the top of the picture, and between them and the front wall ( below ) are eight (?) groups of cattle, each tended by a cow-keeper ( Plates 9.D, 29-a ) .



3 — Penthu honoured in the Palace . South Wall - Lower Part ( Plate 8 )
This scene seems to be similar to that on the lower part of the West wall of Ahmose ( 33-c, 34-c ), and, so far as we can gather from the fragmentary state of both pictures, represents the reward of the Court official . Hence the ceremony takes place in the palace itself ; the opportunity thus given for architectural display being perhaps one reason for the introduction of the scene .




The King here sits in the great reception room of the palace, and from plate 34-c we should infer that the Queen was shown seated behind him . Consistently with other representations of this hall, a row of four columns is shown . The picture of the interior of the palace on the right is different in arrangement from those hitherto met with, and as it more nearly resembles the picture in the Southern tombs, a closer study of it may be deferred .



Penthu is standing before the King in grateful acknowledgment of the royal gifts which two attendants are fastening upon him . On the left the front wall of the palace is seen, with its façade represented above in elevation . The gateway and side-door below must represent the entrance to the court of the palace from the street : if out of place in regard to the whole it is in true relation to the facade, and more cannot be expected from an Egyptian draughtsman . Nor is unity of time considered essential . The figure of Penthu is found again outside the gates, where he receives the congratulations of his friends, and, as his name and titles are seen above another group, he may have appeared there also in some other role or at another stage in the proceedings . His chariot awaits him and a military escort is in attendance . To judge by a half-effaced inscription on the left, Penthu was accompanied by a crowd of his subordinates in office .



The gate on the extreme left ( on which the last strokes of the sculptor seem to have been spent ) appears to be a repetition of the entrance gates ( cf. 14-b ) .



4 — The King and Queen at Meat . South Wall - Upper Part ( Plate 10 )



Only a few fragments of painting remain here, but it has been found possible to build up a picture on them. Though the scene is familiar, its execution is most interesting . The deft brush of the Egyptian draughtsman never showed to better advantage in the outlines secured ; for the suggestion of restful ease and languid movement is admirable . The hands also show that the artist was better able to depict flexibility and softness than the sculptor to carry it out, and the fragments of the profile convey his impression of the royal lineaments more accurately than most of the finished portraits . The shape of the cup (?) which the Queen holds is noteworthy . The painting is in red outline with the flesh in solid red, but blue is also used on the collar : the cup is left white .



This group lies about six feet from the right end of the wall . It shows the King and Queen ( with a princess beside her ? ) seated on chairs, each before a pile of viands . A hand on the left suggests that a figure of equal size and importance sat facing the King, and the picture in Huya's tomb leads us to ask if it can be Tiy . Conceivably, however, it might be the hand of Penthu or some other official in attendance .



5 — Titles of Penthu .
Penthu is entitled ( Plates 3 and 4 ) :-


·         Royal Scribe .
·         Intimate of the King .
·         Chief Servitor of Aten in the temple of Aten in Akhetaten .
·         Chief Physician .
·         Privy Councillor .

The following epithets are also applied to him ( Plate 2 ) :—

·         Royal Chancellor .
·         Sole Companion .
·         Attendant on the feet of the King .
·         Favourite of the Good God .
·         Beloved of his lord .
·         He who approaches the person of the God .
·         Chief of Chiefs .
·         Companion, chief of the Companions .



Though we know little of the special duties which these varied offices and honours entailed, it is plain that Penthu's rank was high and brought him into close relations with the Court .





Part ( 16 ) .. 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