DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0074
42 EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE.
Assyria. His daughter, the proud Hatasoo, invaded Arabia, and brought
home richest treasures and many unhappy prisoners. But no Pharaoh better
deserves the name of great than her brother, Thothmes III., the Alexander of
seventeen centuries before our era. Under him Egypt became the arbiter
of the destinies of nations. Long before the siege of Troy, his fleets con-
quered Cyprus, and his armies overran Nubia and Abyssinia. During his
reign, in the poetical language of the time, Egypt placed her boundaries where
she chose. The undiminished empire of the Egyptians continued under the
sceptres of the remaining kings of this dynasty, which counts among.its rulers
the illustrious names of Amenophis III. (the builder of colossal portraits of
himself, the Memnon statues) and Amenophis IV., the heretic Khoo-en-aten.
Under the following dynasty, the Nineteenth, the fortunes of Egypt main-
tained a certain outward eclat; but across the glory of its warrior kings, the
Setis and Rameses, was cast the shadow of coming trouble. Rebellion had
now to be quelled : the widely scattered members of the empire showed signs
of breaking up. Now we meet the despotic figure of Rameses II., the Sesos-
tris of the Greeks, and oppressor of the children of Israel.So We see him in
the fourteenth century B.C. hard pressed in battle, and hear him, in Pentaur's
hymn, vow "hard stones," "eternal witnesses," to the gods of his piety; and
on his safe return we see spring up on Egyptian soil countless monuments,
commemorative of his great deeds. But, after his successor, decadence set in ;
and by the following, the Twentieth Dynasty, the great waves of triumph and
glory had set back in rapid ebb, and Egypt was threatened and invaded by
Ethiopians and Assyrians.
Following this ebb and flow, we see the artistic activity of the New Thcban
Empire, in its architectural monuments, mounting now to unrivalled heights
of gorgeous display, now sinking to poor and feeble efforts, sculpture following
its sister art. The inspiration of military success, contact with the outer
world, and the accumulation everywhere of great riches, produced their effect.
Egyptian architecture now assumed forms of colossal size, and unfolded rich
variety in detail. The vast temples, with forests of columns and courts, of
this age, have been the astonishment of all later time. Sculpture, both in
statue and relief, accompanied architecture with greatest profusion. As exist-
ing ruins testify, it was the age of colossi. Not alone Thebes was thus rich,
all the other religious or political capitals of Egypt — Abydos, Memphis, Tanis,
and Sal's— had their giants. This extravagant size is still more astonishing
when we remember that these colossi were mostly in one block of the hardest
stone, requiring for their execution untold patience and time.
The limestone monolith of Rameses II., once standing with a height of
thirteen meters before the temple of Ptah at Memphis, now lies prone in
the midst of a forest of palm-trees at Mitrahenny (Fig. 22). Every year,
when the Nile rises, this giant is covered by the waters, the portrait-face and
Assyria. His daughter, the proud Hatasoo, invaded Arabia, and brought
home richest treasures and many unhappy prisoners. But no Pharaoh better
deserves the name of great than her brother, Thothmes III., the Alexander of
seventeen centuries before our era. Under him Egypt became the arbiter
of the destinies of nations. Long before the siege of Troy, his fleets con-
quered Cyprus, and his armies overran Nubia and Abyssinia. During his
reign, in the poetical language of the time, Egypt placed her boundaries where
she chose. The undiminished empire of the Egyptians continued under the
sceptres of the remaining kings of this dynasty, which counts among.its rulers
the illustrious names of Amenophis III. (the builder of colossal portraits of
himself, the Memnon statues) and Amenophis IV., the heretic Khoo-en-aten.
Under the following dynasty, the Nineteenth, the fortunes of Egypt main-
tained a certain outward eclat; but across the glory of its warrior kings, the
Setis and Rameses, was cast the shadow of coming trouble. Rebellion had
now to be quelled : the widely scattered members of the empire showed signs
of breaking up. Now we meet the despotic figure of Rameses II., the Sesos-
tris of the Greeks, and oppressor of the children of Israel.So We see him in
the fourteenth century B.C. hard pressed in battle, and hear him, in Pentaur's
hymn, vow "hard stones," "eternal witnesses," to the gods of his piety; and
on his safe return we see spring up on Egyptian soil countless monuments,
commemorative of his great deeds. But, after his successor, decadence set in ;
and by the following, the Twentieth Dynasty, the great waves of triumph and
glory had set back in rapid ebb, and Egypt was threatened and invaded by
Ethiopians and Assyrians.
Following this ebb and flow, we see the artistic activity of the New Thcban
Empire, in its architectural monuments, mounting now to unrivalled heights
of gorgeous display, now sinking to poor and feeble efforts, sculpture following
its sister art. The inspiration of military success, contact with the outer
world, and the accumulation everywhere of great riches, produced their effect.
Egyptian architecture now assumed forms of colossal size, and unfolded rich
variety in detail. The vast temples, with forests of columns and courts, of
this age, have been the astonishment of all later time. Sculpture, both in
statue and relief, accompanied architecture with greatest profusion. As exist-
ing ruins testify, it was the age of colossi. Not alone Thebes was thus rich,
all the other religious or political capitals of Egypt — Abydos, Memphis, Tanis,
and Sal's— had their giants. This extravagant size is still more astonishing
when we remember that these colossi were mostly in one block of the hardest
stone, requiring for their execution untold patience and time.
The limestone monolith of Rameses II., once standing with a height of
thirteen meters before the temple of Ptah at Memphis, now lies prone in
the midst of a forest of palm-trees at Mitrahenny (Fig. 22). Every year,
when the Nile rises, this giant is covered by the waters, the portrait-face and