DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6640#0049
THE NINETEENTH DYNASTY.
35
One of them is Horus as a child, the other
Anion. Eight and left, and in the interval
between the figures is sculptured the sign f
hih, a prince. Behind the disk is its prop ; it
is not a pillar as in the statues ; it grows
thinner from the lower part to the top, so that
it presents an oblique surface, and has no thick-
ness at the top; its vertical section is a
triangle. The figures and the disk are on a
circular pedestal bearing ornaments like hiero-
glyphs : zigzags which are the letter n and
the E=a sh. They are still visible in front,
but on the sides they have been cut off. and the
surface has been levelled in order to engrave on
it the cartouche of Eameses II., followed by the
words Jj Ea of the princes. The lower
surface is concave so as to fit exactly on a
convex end, and to be strongly fixed. There
can be no doubt that it is older than Eameses
II., since this king destroyed part of the inscrip-
tions engraved under the figures. The nature
of the monument is obvious ; it is the head-
dress of a gigantic statue of the god Ea.
Supposing the headdress to be one-fourth of
the whole height, the statue was from 22
to 27 feet high. It was not one of the largest
in Egypt; suffice it to mention the colossus of
the Eamesseum at Thebes, or the other, traces
of which Mr. Petrie discovered at San,5 and
which was 92 feet in height. The statue
which had this curious ornament was a statue
of Ea, as we learn from the inscription, Ea of
the princes. The prop which is behind the disk,
corresponded to the top of the square pillar
which is always found behind standing statues.
The usual headdress of Ea is a solar disk ; on a
statue it could not simply be placed on the head
as when the god is sculptured on a wall; it was
fixed to the skull by means of the circular base
which is under the disk, and which has the same
purpose as the crown of asps which we seem a
statue of Eameses II. wearing the a£e/(pl. xv.).
5 Petrie, Tanis i. p. 22.
F
It is not at all extraordinary to find on the disk
two figures. Egyptian art did not like ex-
tensive level surfaces without any ornament; a
disk of such large dimensions and destitute
of anything ornamental, would have'produced a
bad effect, therefore they filled up the blank
space with the figures of Horus and Amon, two
divinities worshipped in the temple, besides the
three signs f which were part of the name of
the god. We shall find again the god Ea on
the sculptures of Osorkon I. (pi. xxxix. n) ;
there is also a large architrave of early date
bearing the wrords ^^|q^^> adorer of
the spirits of On (Heliopolis), which implies
the worship of Ea.
It is probable that the statue had a hawk's
head; there is no fragment which we may with
certainty recognize as having belonged to it,
except perhaps a shoulder (pi. xxiii. c), which
would have the right proportions. We have
here a very rare example of a statue, made of
several pieces, in which the headdress was not
part of the monolith out of which the rest had
been carved. It is an exception to what has
been found till now. But we have another
similar instance in the same temple ; the four
architectural statues with the name of Eameses
II., where the top of the skull has been flattened
in order to support the headdress. One of
those diadems has been preserved, and is now
at the Berlin Museum. In the case of the disk,
the weight being considerable, and the statue
very high, it would not have been safe to put
it merely on a flattened surface of smaller
diameter; therefore the lower surface of the
headdress has been slightly hollowed out so as
to fit exactly on the curve of the skull, while
the-base of the prop crowned the top of the
square pillar behind the statue.
THE NINETEENTH DYNASTY.
Seti I. restored the constructions of Ameno-
phis II., but he does not seem to have built
2
35
One of them is Horus as a child, the other
Anion. Eight and left, and in the interval
between the figures is sculptured the sign f
hih, a prince. Behind the disk is its prop ; it
is not a pillar as in the statues ; it grows
thinner from the lower part to the top, so that
it presents an oblique surface, and has no thick-
ness at the top; its vertical section is a
triangle. The figures and the disk are on a
circular pedestal bearing ornaments like hiero-
glyphs : zigzags which are the letter n and
the E=a sh. They are still visible in front,
but on the sides they have been cut off. and the
surface has been levelled in order to engrave on
it the cartouche of Eameses II., followed by the
words Jj Ea of the princes. The lower
surface is concave so as to fit exactly on a
convex end, and to be strongly fixed. There
can be no doubt that it is older than Eameses
II., since this king destroyed part of the inscrip-
tions engraved under the figures. The nature
of the monument is obvious ; it is the head-
dress of a gigantic statue of the god Ea.
Supposing the headdress to be one-fourth of
the whole height, the statue was from 22
to 27 feet high. It was not one of the largest
in Egypt; suffice it to mention the colossus of
the Eamesseum at Thebes, or the other, traces
of which Mr. Petrie discovered at San,5 and
which was 92 feet in height. The statue
which had this curious ornament was a statue
of Ea, as we learn from the inscription, Ea of
the princes. The prop which is behind the disk,
corresponded to the top of the square pillar
which is always found behind standing statues.
The usual headdress of Ea is a solar disk ; on a
statue it could not simply be placed on the head
as when the god is sculptured on a wall; it was
fixed to the skull by means of the circular base
which is under the disk, and which has the same
purpose as the crown of asps which we seem a
statue of Eameses II. wearing the a£e/(pl. xv.).
5 Petrie, Tanis i. p. 22.
F
It is not at all extraordinary to find on the disk
two figures. Egyptian art did not like ex-
tensive level surfaces without any ornament; a
disk of such large dimensions and destitute
of anything ornamental, would have'produced a
bad effect, therefore they filled up the blank
space with the figures of Horus and Amon, two
divinities worshipped in the temple, besides the
three signs f which were part of the name of
the god. We shall find again the god Ea on
the sculptures of Osorkon I. (pi. xxxix. n) ;
there is also a large architrave of early date
bearing the wrords ^^|q^^> adorer of
the spirits of On (Heliopolis), which implies
the worship of Ea.
It is probable that the statue had a hawk's
head; there is no fragment which we may with
certainty recognize as having belonged to it,
except perhaps a shoulder (pi. xxiii. c), which
would have the right proportions. We have
here a very rare example of a statue, made of
several pieces, in which the headdress was not
part of the monolith out of which the rest had
been carved. It is an exception to what has
been found till now. But we have another
similar instance in the same temple ; the four
architectural statues with the name of Eameses
II., where the top of the skull has been flattened
in order to support the headdress. One of
those diadems has been preserved, and is now
at the Berlin Museum. In the case of the disk,
the weight being considerable, and the statue
very high, it would not have been safe to put
it merely on a flattened surface of smaller
diameter; therefore the lower surface of the
headdress has been slightly hollowed out so as
to fit exactly on the curve of the skull, while
the-base of the prop crowned the top of the
square pillar behind the statue.
THE NINETEENTH DYNASTY.
Seti I. restored the constructions of Ameno-
phis II., but he does not seem to have built
2