DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6640#0061
THE TWEXTY-SECOND DYNASTY.
•17
Thebes and in the upper part of the country,
and that it was in order to establish firmly his
dominion over Upper Egypt that he raised
there the greater number of his monuments.
With Osorkon I. we return to the sculptures
of large proportions, to the great representa-
tions accompanying important constructions (pi.
xxxix.). It is chiefly in the first hall that they
are met with in great number ; they adorned the
outward walls, and many fragments of them
have been preserved. It is impossible not to be
struck at first sight by the beauty of the work-
manship (pi. xviii.), which may be observed
in the specimens brought to the European
museums. The good traditions are not yet lost;
it may even be said that more care has been
taken with those sculptures than with many
works of Rameses II., made rapidly and with
negligence. The reason of it is that under the
Bubastites the centre of political life tends
more and more to go over to the Delta; Thebes
is abandoned to the high priests of Amon,
while the King lives in Lower Egypt, probably
because of the wars with which he was con-
stantly threatened by the Asiatics or the
Libyans. Judging from what Osorkon I. and
Osorkon II. made at Bubastis, which is not
seen in any other edifice of Egypt, I am in-
clined to think that this city was their capital
and their customary residence.
The sculptures of Osorkon I. are chiefly in
the first hall; but several of his inscriptions
are engraved underneath the Hathor capitals,
in places where they could not be seen, and
where it was not possible to engrave them
unless the monument was lying on the ground
and had not yet been raised. It is exactly as
with the cartouches of Rameses II., which are
under the obelisks, on the surface touching the
ground. This circumstance leads us to imagine
in what state the temple of Bubastis must have
been at the time of Osorkon's accession to the
throne. We cannot attribute to him the Hathor
capitals ; we have seen before, that, although
there is no positive proof, we must assign them
to the twelfth dynasty, to Usertesen III.,
who enlarged the temple and built the hypostyle
hall. On the other hand, we cannot admit that
Osorkon I. displaced the capitals in order to
inscribe his name underneath. We are thus led
to conclude that in his time the temple was
ruined, and the pillars and columns had been
overthrown. It was not the hypostyle hall alone
which had been so badly treated; it was the
same with the two first halls ; for we see there
that a block which, under Rameses II., was
part of the basement and bore the lower part
of a sculpture, was placed under Osorkon I. in
the second or third layer of blocks, and was
engraved with the heads of large figures which
adorned the outward wall. The second hall,
which was reconstructed later by Osorkon II.,
was in a similar condition, for I cannot admit
that it was deliberately that the king cut to
pieces or broke the statues of Rameses II.
which he employed for building his walls.
We are in doubt as to the epoch when those
devastations took place; it is not probable
that they were caused by a natural accident,
such as an earthquake; they were the result of
a war or an invasion. If we adopt this last
alternative, they must be attributed to the
wars which preceded the reign of Rameses III.,
when a Syrian called Arisu usurped the power
and tyrannized over the country, persecuting
gods and men, until, as is related by Rameses
III., SetnekM ascended the throne and re-
established the worship and the legitimate
dynasty. It is certain that Osorkon I. recon-
structed the temple, beginning with the eastern
hall, where most of his sculptures have been
found. With the rebuilding coincides the
change in the dedication, which was not com-
pleted under Osorkon I., but which was defini-
tive after Osorkon II. Bast, who had only a
secondary rank under the twelfth dynasty or
Rameses II.; to whom statues or tablets were
dedicated, but who was not yet the great
•17
Thebes and in the upper part of the country,
and that it was in order to establish firmly his
dominion over Upper Egypt that he raised
there the greater number of his monuments.
With Osorkon I. we return to the sculptures
of large proportions, to the great representa-
tions accompanying important constructions (pi.
xxxix.). It is chiefly in the first hall that they
are met with in great number ; they adorned the
outward walls, and many fragments of them
have been preserved. It is impossible not to be
struck at first sight by the beauty of the work-
manship (pi. xviii.), which may be observed
in the specimens brought to the European
museums. The good traditions are not yet lost;
it may even be said that more care has been
taken with those sculptures than with many
works of Rameses II., made rapidly and with
negligence. The reason of it is that under the
Bubastites the centre of political life tends
more and more to go over to the Delta; Thebes
is abandoned to the high priests of Amon,
while the King lives in Lower Egypt, probably
because of the wars with which he was con-
stantly threatened by the Asiatics or the
Libyans. Judging from what Osorkon I. and
Osorkon II. made at Bubastis, which is not
seen in any other edifice of Egypt, I am in-
clined to think that this city was their capital
and their customary residence.
The sculptures of Osorkon I. are chiefly in
the first hall; but several of his inscriptions
are engraved underneath the Hathor capitals,
in places where they could not be seen, and
where it was not possible to engrave them
unless the monument was lying on the ground
and had not yet been raised. It is exactly as
with the cartouches of Rameses II., which are
under the obelisks, on the surface touching the
ground. This circumstance leads us to imagine
in what state the temple of Bubastis must have
been at the time of Osorkon's accession to the
throne. We cannot attribute to him the Hathor
capitals ; we have seen before, that, although
there is no positive proof, we must assign them
to the twelfth dynasty, to Usertesen III.,
who enlarged the temple and built the hypostyle
hall. On the other hand, we cannot admit that
Osorkon I. displaced the capitals in order to
inscribe his name underneath. We are thus led
to conclude that in his time the temple was
ruined, and the pillars and columns had been
overthrown. It was not the hypostyle hall alone
which had been so badly treated; it was the
same with the two first halls ; for we see there
that a block which, under Rameses II., was
part of the basement and bore the lower part
of a sculpture, was placed under Osorkon I. in
the second or third layer of blocks, and was
engraved with the heads of large figures which
adorned the outward wall. The second hall,
which was reconstructed later by Osorkon II.,
was in a similar condition, for I cannot admit
that it was deliberately that the king cut to
pieces or broke the statues of Rameses II.
which he employed for building his walls.
We are in doubt as to the epoch when those
devastations took place; it is not probable
that they were caused by a natural accident,
such as an earthquake; they were the result of
a war or an invasion. If we adopt this last
alternative, they must be attributed to the
wars which preceded the reign of Rameses III.,
when a Syrian called Arisu usurped the power
and tyrannized over the country, persecuting
gods and men, until, as is related by Rameses
III., SetnekM ascended the throne and re-
established the worship and the legitimate
dynasty. It is certain that Osorkon I. recon-
structed the temple, beginning with the eastern
hall, where most of his sculptures have been
found. With the rebuilding coincides the
change in the dedication, which was not com-
pleted under Osorkon I., but which was defini-
tive after Osorkon II. Bast, who had only a
secondary rank under the twelfth dynasty or
Rameses II.; to whom statues or tablets were
dedicated, but who was not yet the great