DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4862#0114
THE GOLD OF SYRIA
differentiate him somewhat from the type we have met with on s^ria
Plate XXXI.
The third figure is one of great importance, being well preserved Kefti
and nowhere quite paralleled. He is of very dark complexion, though
it falls short, by many shades, of that of the men of Punt depicted
on Plate XXXIV. His face is beardless; his black hair falls in long
strands over his shoulders, and on his back, where it falls clear and
therefore longer, it reaches nearly to his waist. A fillet binding it on the
crown ought perhaps to have been shown; for the swelling of the hair
on the temples beneath such a band is quite distinct. His tunic is of
the simple Syrian pattern, which in slightly varying forms, is given to
three out of the four ambassadors here, either through ignorance of the
details of the national dress, in emphasis of racial or geographical ad-
mixture, or owing to a wide-spread export of Syrian goods. The first is
the most probable explanation. The long hair and beardless face of this
member of the embassy mark him out as an inhabitant of Kefti, and
the vase of north Syrian type which he carries in the parallel scene
in Plate XXXI, supports the attribution. The portrait thus forms a very
valuable ethnographic datum, supplying one of the many missing links
in the connection of Egypt with the civilization of Crete and of Asia
Minor.1
The fourth member of the embassy is fair, not only in complexion Libya
but also in color of hair, although his beard is dark. The hair is very
1 The scene leaves it uncertain whether the designation "chiefs of Further Syria" is meant to be applied
only to a part of the delegation of "foreign chiefs" or to the whole. The former supposition relieves us of
the necessity of appending Libya to Further Syria. The latter seems supported by PI. XXXI, which in-
cludes a group, apparently parallel to this one, under that title and even under the narrower one of "Retnu."
The fact probably is that though the peoples of the North are depicted, the Syrians so far outweigh the rest
in importance that the latter are not even considered in the caption. In all likelihood neither Libya nor
Kefti made any contribution to this tribute. They are added merely for the sake of completeness, or be-
cause the group has been borrowed as a whole from some other source where it represented the northern
races which were regarded as subject to Egypt (on the east, Retnu to the north and the Amu to the south;
on the west, Kefti to the north and Libya to the south).
It is strange that Puyemre did not take his portrait of the inhabitants of Kefti from the contemporary
tomb of Rekhmire or its source, or the man of Punt from Sahure. A dispassionate inquiry into the reliability
of Egyptian representations of foreigners is greatly needed.
For a discussion of the evidence regarding the land Kefti see Wainwright, Liverpool Annals, VI, p.
24, where I have added a note on the above figure.
91
differentiate him somewhat from the type we have met with on s^ria
Plate XXXI.
The third figure is one of great importance, being well preserved Kefti
and nowhere quite paralleled. He is of very dark complexion, though
it falls short, by many shades, of that of the men of Punt depicted
on Plate XXXIV. His face is beardless; his black hair falls in long
strands over his shoulders, and on his back, where it falls clear and
therefore longer, it reaches nearly to his waist. A fillet binding it on the
crown ought perhaps to have been shown; for the swelling of the hair
on the temples beneath such a band is quite distinct. His tunic is of
the simple Syrian pattern, which in slightly varying forms, is given to
three out of the four ambassadors here, either through ignorance of the
details of the national dress, in emphasis of racial or geographical ad-
mixture, or owing to a wide-spread export of Syrian goods. The first is
the most probable explanation. The long hair and beardless face of this
member of the embassy mark him out as an inhabitant of Kefti, and
the vase of north Syrian type which he carries in the parallel scene
in Plate XXXI, supports the attribution. The portrait thus forms a very
valuable ethnographic datum, supplying one of the many missing links
in the connection of Egypt with the civilization of Crete and of Asia
Minor.1
The fourth member of the embassy is fair, not only in complexion Libya
but also in color of hair, although his beard is dark. The hair is very
1 The scene leaves it uncertain whether the designation "chiefs of Further Syria" is meant to be applied
only to a part of the delegation of "foreign chiefs" or to the whole. The former supposition relieves us of
the necessity of appending Libya to Further Syria. The latter seems supported by PI. XXXI, which in-
cludes a group, apparently parallel to this one, under that title and even under the narrower one of "Retnu."
The fact probably is that though the peoples of the North are depicted, the Syrians so far outweigh the rest
in importance that the latter are not even considered in the caption. In all likelihood neither Libya nor
Kefti made any contribution to this tribute. They are added merely for the sake of completeness, or be-
cause the group has been borrowed as a whole from some other source where it represented the northern
races which were regarded as subject to Egypt (on the east, Retnu to the north and the Amu to the south;
on the west, Kefti to the north and Libya to the south).
It is strange that Puyemre did not take his portrait of the inhabitants of Kefti from the contemporary
tomb of Rekhmire or its source, or the man of Punt from Sahure. A dispassionate inquiry into the reliability
of Egyptian representations of foreigners is greatly needed.
For a discussion of the evidence regarding the land Kefti see Wainwright, Liverpool Annals, VI, p.
24, where I have added a note on the above figure.
91