DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4143#0017
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12
DEIR EL BAHARI.
PLATES XLVI-LV.
» J&
MIDDLE COLONNADE, NORTHERN WALL (LOWER REGISTER).
These following plates reproduce the sculptures
and inscriptions engraved on the north side of the
retaining wall of the Upper Platform. The scenes
on this wall are particularly interesting, because
they describe the birth of the queen and her
education up to the time when her father thought
her old enough to become his associate on the
throne.
But her enthronement by her father was not
sufficient to establish the claim of Hatshepsu to
regal power; probably her rights were contested
in consequence of strong opposition to a woman
occupying the throne. She wished therefore to
emphasize the fact that she was the legitimate heir
to the kingdom by attributing to herself a divine
origin. According to the legend which she caused
to be engraved on this wall, she was the daughter
of Amon himself; "the great god, the lord of the
sky, the lord of the thrones of the two lands, who
resides at Thebes," was her father, and her birth
might thus be considered as miraculous.
"We have here the oldest version known of a legend,
the origin of which probably goes back as far as the
Old Empire. An allusion to a fable of the same
nature occurs in connexion with the three first
kings of the Vth Dynasty, who were supposed to
be sons of Ra.1 But the legend in its whole length
and with all its details is found here for the first
time.
One of the successors of Hatshepsu, Amenophis III.
of the same dynasty, also desired to be considered as
the son of the god whose name was incorporated in
his own, and left in the temple which he erected
at Luxor a record of his divine birth. East of
the sanctuary of this great temple, the walls of a
whole room are covered with sculptures, beginning
with the announcement by Thoth to the queen
Muteinua that she will be the mother of a son, and
ending with the coronation of Amenophis III. by
Amon himself. Champollion was the first to notice
these interesting sculptures, part of which are to be
Pap. Westcar, pi. ix., 1. 21, et seqq.
found published in the great posthumous work which
appeared under his name.2 Since then they have
been copied again and published by Mr. Gayet.3 If
we compare the texts and sculptures at Luxor with
those which we have at Deir el Bahari, we find a
striking similarity. There are a few variants in the
scenes, but several of the texts are identical, word
for word; so that it is evident that Amenophis III.
merely copied most of what he found inscribed on the
walls of Deir el Bahari.
This legend of divine paternity, which, as we
have stated, probably goes back as far as the Old
Empire, was current as long as the Egyptian religion
endured; but curiously, with the exception of the
cases of Hatshepsu and Amenophis III., we never
find it referring to human beings, i.e. to kings
or queens. It seems to be the stereotyped form
of the description of the birth and enthronement
of the gods, especially in Ptolemaic temples. We
find these identical scenes in all the so - called
mammisi or birth-temples, which are generally small
edifices in close vicinity to the great sanctuaries;
some of them have been preserved with their sculp-
tures at Denderah, Erment, Edfoo, Philae and else-
where. At Ombos the mammisi is nearly destroyed.
At Esneh, the latest of the Roman temples, the birth-
scenes have been engraved in the great columned hall
at the entrance. Even at Philae, where Horus is said
to be the son of Osiris, Amon is the prominent
divinity as at Luxor, and asks Khnum to shape the
body of the young god. We have here an example of
the extraordinary persistence of legends in Egyptian
worship. Moreover, we are led by this fable to one
of the creations of Greek mythology. As has been
observed, this myth bears an extraordinary resem-
blance to that of Jupiter and Alcmene. According
to the Greek poets, the god took the form of
Amphitryo, Alcmene's husband, exactly as Amon
appears to the queen Aahmes under the form of her
husband Thothmes I.
This wall and the chapel of Thothmes I. are the
2 Monuments de VEgypte et de la Ntibie, vol. iv., pis. 339-342.
3 Mission Archtologique Frangaise au Caire, T. xv., pi. 62, et i
>*
'
12
DEIR EL BAHARI.
PLATES XLVI-LV.
» J&
MIDDLE COLONNADE, NORTHERN WALL (LOWER REGISTER).
These following plates reproduce the sculptures
and inscriptions engraved on the north side of the
retaining wall of the Upper Platform. The scenes
on this wall are particularly interesting, because
they describe the birth of the queen and her
education up to the time when her father thought
her old enough to become his associate on the
throne.
But her enthronement by her father was not
sufficient to establish the claim of Hatshepsu to
regal power; probably her rights were contested
in consequence of strong opposition to a woman
occupying the throne. She wished therefore to
emphasize the fact that she was the legitimate heir
to the kingdom by attributing to herself a divine
origin. According to the legend which she caused
to be engraved on this wall, she was the daughter
of Amon himself; "the great god, the lord of the
sky, the lord of the thrones of the two lands, who
resides at Thebes," was her father, and her birth
might thus be considered as miraculous.
"We have here the oldest version known of a legend,
the origin of which probably goes back as far as the
Old Empire. An allusion to a fable of the same
nature occurs in connexion with the three first
kings of the Vth Dynasty, who were supposed to
be sons of Ra.1 But the legend in its whole length
and with all its details is found here for the first
time.
One of the successors of Hatshepsu, Amenophis III.
of the same dynasty, also desired to be considered as
the son of the god whose name was incorporated in
his own, and left in the temple which he erected
at Luxor a record of his divine birth. East of
the sanctuary of this great temple, the walls of a
whole room are covered with sculptures, beginning
with the announcement by Thoth to the queen
Muteinua that she will be the mother of a son, and
ending with the coronation of Amenophis III. by
Amon himself. Champollion was the first to notice
these interesting sculptures, part of which are to be
Pap. Westcar, pi. ix., 1. 21, et seqq.
found published in the great posthumous work which
appeared under his name.2 Since then they have
been copied again and published by Mr. Gayet.3 If
we compare the texts and sculptures at Luxor with
those which we have at Deir el Bahari, we find a
striking similarity. There are a few variants in the
scenes, but several of the texts are identical, word
for word; so that it is evident that Amenophis III.
merely copied most of what he found inscribed on the
walls of Deir el Bahari.
This legend of divine paternity, which, as we
have stated, probably goes back as far as the Old
Empire, was current as long as the Egyptian religion
endured; but curiously, with the exception of the
cases of Hatshepsu and Amenophis III., we never
find it referring to human beings, i.e. to kings
or queens. It seems to be the stereotyped form
of the description of the birth and enthronement
of the gods, especially in Ptolemaic temples. We
find these identical scenes in all the so - called
mammisi or birth-temples, which are generally small
edifices in close vicinity to the great sanctuaries;
some of them have been preserved with their sculp-
tures at Denderah, Erment, Edfoo, Philae and else-
where. At Ombos the mammisi is nearly destroyed.
At Esneh, the latest of the Roman temples, the birth-
scenes have been engraved in the great columned hall
at the entrance. Even at Philae, where Horus is said
to be the son of Osiris, Amon is the prominent
divinity as at Luxor, and asks Khnum to shape the
body of the young god. We have here an example of
the extraordinary persistence of legends in Egyptian
worship. Moreover, we are led by this fable to one
of the creations of Greek mythology. As has been
observed, this myth bears an extraordinary resem-
blance to that of Jupiter and Alcmene. According
to the Greek poets, the god took the form of
Amphitryo, Alcmene's husband, exactly as Amon
appears to the queen Aahmes under the form of her
husband Thothmes I.
This wall and the chapel of Thothmes I. are the
2 Monuments de VEgypte et de la Ntibie, vol. iv., pis. 339-342.
3 Mission Archtologique Frangaise au Caire, T. xv., pi. 62, et i
>*
'