DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4032#0035
J"
*Hm
like genuine Egyptians, although they were of
a foreign race. "We have here a proof of the
dislike which the Egyptians felt towards the
negro type, unless they had to represent cap-
tives or vassals paying tribute. Here the
Nubians are like priests, they are fulfilling a
sacred office, therefore their strange type must
not be indicated.
There must have been in this respect
very strict religious laws and regulations.
It is quite possible that in many cases we go
astray, not knowing that the representation
which we see is merely conventional, and does
not give us the real type of the person, which
would betray his origin. A striking instance
of the errors which we are apt to commit
was given by the discovery made in Syria, at
Sendjerli, of the great tablet relating the con-
quests of Esarhaddon, where we see the king
Tahraka pictured as a negro. It is clear that
in this case it is Esarhaddon's sculpture which
is reliable and true. The Assyrian king would
not have represented Tahraka as a negro if he
had not been so. But the hieroglyphical in-
scriptions of Tahraka, and his sculptures, not
only leave us in absolute ignorance of this fact,
but would lead us to consider him as an
Egyptian of pure blood.
Why did Osorkon wish that Ethiopians should
be present at his festival in the Delta ? Had he
any special connection with Ethiopia, by birth
or by conquest ?—These are questions to which
Ave can give no answer ; but if Osorkon is the
Zerah of the book of Chronicles,2 it is curious to
notice that he is called there Zerah the Ethio-
pian.
The next station is above, and consists again
of a procession in three rows (pi. x.); the lower
onebeiug of priests, the two upper ones of men
carrying statuettes in the form of mummies, each
of which has a different name. I do not know
the meaning of this kind of ushebtis carried
2 2 Chron. xiv. 8.
THE SECOND ASCENT TO THE PAVILION. 25
before the king, and of which there is a large
number on the top row. Osorkon is standing
behind them, and receives 2S£, an offering
which looks like a lotus-bud. Here the scene
takes a funereal character. Behind the king
is a shrine where he is standing, and which is
called
a common word for a funereal
chamber in the inscriptions of the Old Empire.
Before him are twelve gods : Ra, Turn, Shu,
Tefnut, Seb, Nut, Osiris, Horns, Set or Suti,
Isis, Nephthys, and his own ha, his double.
The same shrine is seen at Soleb, where it ends
also with the image of Amenophis III. Not-
withstanding the name of: the shrine, we must
not consider this ceremony as funereal; it is
not Osorkon's grave. The ceremonies in
honour of the gods and of the dead are very
similar. Whether offerings were made to the
statue of a god or to that of a dead king, the
ritual was nearly the same, and probably the
religious prescriptions applied to both cases
equally.3 We must not forget that the temple
is the abode of the god; it is the place where
the god resides, hidden in a shrine protected
by high walls, in the obscurity and shade
which are pleasant in a hot climate. The same
may be said of the grave, it is the abode of the
deceased, where, according to Egyptian ideas,
he is to remain undisturbed for ever; no
wonder that the ceremonies were much alike in
both places. The i the funereal house, was
only the imitation of a shrine, such as that in
which Osorkon is seen standing in the presence
of all the great gods of the land, and it had the
same name.
THE SECOND ASCENT TO THE
PAVILION.
We now go over to the northern side. For some
reason which we do not know, it is much more
destroyed than the southern. Except quite at
Lerum., Bitualbuch, p. ix.
E
■■■*■
*Hm
like genuine Egyptians, although they were of
a foreign race. "We have here a proof of the
dislike which the Egyptians felt towards the
negro type, unless they had to represent cap-
tives or vassals paying tribute. Here the
Nubians are like priests, they are fulfilling a
sacred office, therefore their strange type must
not be indicated.
There must have been in this respect
very strict religious laws and regulations.
It is quite possible that in many cases we go
astray, not knowing that the representation
which we see is merely conventional, and does
not give us the real type of the person, which
would betray his origin. A striking instance
of the errors which we are apt to commit
was given by the discovery made in Syria, at
Sendjerli, of the great tablet relating the con-
quests of Esarhaddon, where we see the king
Tahraka pictured as a negro. It is clear that
in this case it is Esarhaddon's sculpture which
is reliable and true. The Assyrian king would
not have represented Tahraka as a negro if he
had not been so. But the hieroglyphical in-
scriptions of Tahraka, and his sculptures, not
only leave us in absolute ignorance of this fact,
but would lead us to consider him as an
Egyptian of pure blood.
Why did Osorkon wish that Ethiopians should
be present at his festival in the Delta ? Had he
any special connection with Ethiopia, by birth
or by conquest ?—These are questions to which
Ave can give no answer ; but if Osorkon is the
Zerah of the book of Chronicles,2 it is curious to
notice that he is called there Zerah the Ethio-
pian.
The next station is above, and consists again
of a procession in three rows (pi. x.); the lower
onebeiug of priests, the two upper ones of men
carrying statuettes in the form of mummies, each
of which has a different name. I do not know
the meaning of this kind of ushebtis carried
2 2 Chron. xiv. 8.
THE SECOND ASCENT TO THE PAVILION. 25
before the king, and of which there is a large
number on the top row. Osorkon is standing
behind them, and receives 2S£, an offering
which looks like a lotus-bud. Here the scene
takes a funereal character. Behind the king
is a shrine where he is standing, and which is
called
a common word for a funereal
chamber in the inscriptions of the Old Empire.
Before him are twelve gods : Ra, Turn, Shu,
Tefnut, Seb, Nut, Osiris, Horns, Set or Suti,
Isis, Nephthys, and his own ha, his double.
The same shrine is seen at Soleb, where it ends
also with the image of Amenophis III. Not-
withstanding the name of: the shrine, we must
not consider this ceremony as funereal; it is
not Osorkon's grave. The ceremonies in
honour of the gods and of the dead are very
similar. Whether offerings were made to the
statue of a god or to that of a dead king, the
ritual was nearly the same, and probably the
religious prescriptions applied to both cases
equally.3 We must not forget that the temple
is the abode of the god; it is the place where
the god resides, hidden in a shrine protected
by high walls, in the obscurity and shade
which are pleasant in a hot climate. The same
may be said of the grave, it is the abode of the
deceased, where, according to Egyptian ideas,
he is to remain undisturbed for ever; no
wonder that the ceremonies were much alike in
both places. The i the funereal house, was
only the imitation of a shrine, such as that in
which Osorkon is seen standing in the presence
of all the great gods of the land, and it had the
same name.
THE SECOND ASCENT TO THE
PAVILION.
We now go over to the northern side. For some
reason which we do not know, it is much more
destroyed than the southern. Except quite at
Lerum., Bitualbuch, p. ix.
E
■■■*■