DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4372#0152
I CM
lhat hero the colours with which the whole was painted, arc pre-
served in their original freshness, so as to distinguish the red co-
lour and the blue harness of the horses, the blue, green, red and
white of the Egyptian and Bactrian garments, and of the cars
of the Egyptians and their adversaries, as well as the fainter blue
of the water into which the fugitives are fallen.
Above this battle-scene is a procession of priests in white
gar men ts,cach bringing some sacred image as an offering to a
male figure sitting, which is much defaced, but which appears
to be the king. In the same line he is cutting down with a sickle
a thick bush or stalk, which a priest is holding in his hand : next
to this group another priest is pouring water over a sacred white
bull with a riband round his neck, the lunar crescent and disk
over his head, and two palm branches above.
On one of the side walls oi' the portico the Egyptian army is
represented in the act of storming a fortress. The enemy have
square, circular, and Boeotian shields, with bows and arrows:
some of the Egyptians are already in possession of the upper-
most works, the rest still disputed;—where they are masters of
the place, they arc hurling down the garrison into the ditch below,
while in other parts the defendants continue a vain resistance
with lances, bows and arrows, and with stones. Some of the
women have run out, and are begging for mercy; others endea-
vour to escape with their goods. The father of a family is lifting
up his hands to pray for the lives of his wife and children, but
the blood-thirsty assailants have already begun the slaughter by
cutting off his eldest son. From the top of the fortress one is
holding a censer with fire, apparently as a signal of submission.
Two others, having let themselves down from the back of the
fort by means of a rope, hoping to reach the rocks below, are
depicted
lhat hero the colours with which the whole was painted, arc pre-
served in their original freshness, so as to distinguish the red co-
lour and the blue harness of the horses, the blue, green, red and
white of the Egyptian and Bactrian garments, and of the cars
of the Egyptians and their adversaries, as well as the fainter blue
of the water into which the fugitives are fallen.
Above this battle-scene is a procession of priests in white
gar men ts,cach bringing some sacred image as an offering to a
male figure sitting, which is much defaced, but which appears
to be the king. In the same line he is cutting down with a sickle
a thick bush or stalk, which a priest is holding in his hand : next
to this group another priest is pouring water over a sacred white
bull with a riband round his neck, the lunar crescent and disk
over his head, and two palm branches above.
On one of the side walls oi' the portico the Egyptian army is
represented in the act of storming a fortress. The enemy have
square, circular, and Boeotian shields, with bows and arrows:
some of the Egyptians are already in possession of the upper-
most works, the rest still disputed;—where they are masters of
the place, they arc hurling down the garrison into the ditch below,
while in other parts the defendants continue a vain resistance
with lances, bows and arrows, and with stones. Some of the
women have run out, and are begging for mercy; others endea-
vour to escape with their goods. The father of a family is lifting
up his hands to pray for the lives of his wife and children, but
the blood-thirsty assailants have already begun the slaughter by
cutting off his eldest son. From the top of the fortress one is
holding a censer with fire, apparently as a signal of submission.
Two others, having let themselves down from the back of the
fort by means of a rope, hoping to reach the rocks below, are
depicted