DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4191#0027
TRANSPORT OF THE COLOSSUS.
19
I came to bring it, ray heart enlarged, the towns-
men all rejoicing: exceeding good was it to see
5. more than anything.
The aged one among them leaned upon the boy, the
strong-armed was with the trembler (palsied), their
hearts rose, 6. their arms became strong, each one
of them displayed the force of a thousand men.
Behold, this statue, well squared, was coming forth
as a rock (or, " when coming forth from the block
of stone"), more 7. costly than anything. A fleet
had been equipped and filled with valuable things ;
the foreheads (?) of my army, the goodly youths of my
troops were 8. with the feats of its foreheads (?).*
Their speech was full of my praises (and) of
my favours of-before-the-king, my children 9. in
splendour (?) adorned after me. My country-folk
shouted praises. I approached to the habitation of
this town. 10. The whole divine cycle (?) rejoiced,
it was exceeding beautiful to see more than anything
that the /m-princes had done formerly (or) the
sah-ad-mer officers had done 11. [for future fame]
within this city, (whom) I had placed on altar-
bases upon the river-bank.2 Their hearts never
devised these things that I did, in that I had made
for myself 12. [a sepulchre?], established for ever
and ever, after that this my tomb rested from its
work of eternity.
3. The colossus dragged by. rows of men (pis. xii.
and xv.).
The statue taken from the quarries of Hetnub
must have been of alabaster, or rather arragon-
ite, and is by far the largest monument in this
material on record, being a seated statue,
13 cubits, i.e. over 20 feet, in height. In the
picture it is all white, excepting the head-dress
and artificial beard, which are coloured blue.
The right arm is bent; the hand, closed and
holding a napkin, rests on the thigh. The
the meaning is correctly given ; we might translate the last
part " overseers well skilled. The strong-armed said, ' I
have come to pull it, with pleasure in my heart,' " showing
how willingly men volunteered to help.
1 Cf. Catalogue des Monuments, I., i., de PMlae a Ombos,
p. 66, where hetru em selcu tep-mad-ef occurs; but the passage
is extremely difficult.
2 Or "the fta-princes placed before, the sab-dd-mer officials
placed behind (in the procession) within this city, I enter-
tained at banquets upon the river-banks."
only clothing is a head-dress and loin-cloth.
The chief interest centres in the former, the
copies of which vary considerably. The head-
covering was painted blue, with black ribbing.
The questions to decide are, whether it had the
uraeus in front, so representing a king, and
whether it had a twisted pig-tail behind. None
of the early copies show the uraeus, but the
photograph strongly suggests it. The copies
by Ricci and Weidenbach show a short and
thick prolongation of the head-dress behind the
plinth, bound round at the end with a cord.
The photograph partly confirms this, but the
prolongation appears to be narrower, thus
indicating that the head-dress terminated in a
variety of the pig-tail (really a gathering to-
gether of the material) that is proper to this
adornment of kings. The throne is plain;
doubtless it was a solid block in the original,
with legs and seat indicated in sculpture; the
cushion is shown bent over the low back.
Behind was the usual plinth to support the
figure, reaching to the neck. The base is rect-
angular and plain. The colossal statue is placed
upright on a wooden sledge ; a band formed by
a number of ropes (coloured brownish) passes
over the lap and arm, and is fixed to the side
of the sledge, while two other bands below the
knee and above the foot are brought round
horizontally behind the chair. In order to
tighten them, these bands have been forcibly
twisted, and the twist secured by sticks passed
through and kept in place with cord. Where
the bands were liable to chafe the stone, the
statue has been protected by pads of dappled
ox-skin.
The front of the sledge is curved upwards
and rounded at the top, and to it are attached
four hawsers, dragged by parallel lines of men,
each row consisting of twenty-one pairs, pull-
ing on opposite sides of the rope, and a
leader, the latter with the end of the rope
over his shoulder. On the knees of the
colossus stands a superintendent, clapping his
c 2
■**
19
I came to bring it, ray heart enlarged, the towns-
men all rejoicing: exceeding good was it to see
5. more than anything.
The aged one among them leaned upon the boy, the
strong-armed was with the trembler (palsied), their
hearts rose, 6. their arms became strong, each one
of them displayed the force of a thousand men.
Behold, this statue, well squared, was coming forth
as a rock (or, " when coming forth from the block
of stone"), more 7. costly than anything. A fleet
had been equipped and filled with valuable things ;
the foreheads (?) of my army, the goodly youths of my
troops were 8. with the feats of its foreheads (?).*
Their speech was full of my praises (and) of
my favours of-before-the-king, my children 9. in
splendour (?) adorned after me. My country-folk
shouted praises. I approached to the habitation of
this town. 10. The whole divine cycle (?) rejoiced,
it was exceeding beautiful to see more than anything
that the /m-princes had done formerly (or) the
sah-ad-mer officers had done 11. [for future fame]
within this city, (whom) I had placed on altar-
bases upon the river-bank.2 Their hearts never
devised these things that I did, in that I had made
for myself 12. [a sepulchre?], established for ever
and ever, after that this my tomb rested from its
work of eternity.
3. The colossus dragged by. rows of men (pis. xii.
and xv.).
The statue taken from the quarries of Hetnub
must have been of alabaster, or rather arragon-
ite, and is by far the largest monument in this
material on record, being a seated statue,
13 cubits, i.e. over 20 feet, in height. In the
picture it is all white, excepting the head-dress
and artificial beard, which are coloured blue.
The right arm is bent; the hand, closed and
holding a napkin, rests on the thigh. The
the meaning is correctly given ; we might translate the last
part " overseers well skilled. The strong-armed said, ' I
have come to pull it, with pleasure in my heart,' " showing
how willingly men volunteered to help.
1 Cf. Catalogue des Monuments, I., i., de PMlae a Ombos,
p. 66, where hetru em selcu tep-mad-ef occurs; but the passage
is extremely difficult.
2 Or "the fta-princes placed before, the sab-dd-mer officials
placed behind (in the procession) within this city, I enter-
tained at banquets upon the river-banks."
only clothing is a head-dress and loin-cloth.
The chief interest centres in the former, the
copies of which vary considerably. The head-
covering was painted blue, with black ribbing.
The questions to decide are, whether it had the
uraeus in front, so representing a king, and
whether it had a twisted pig-tail behind. None
of the early copies show the uraeus, but the
photograph strongly suggests it. The copies
by Ricci and Weidenbach show a short and
thick prolongation of the head-dress behind the
plinth, bound round at the end with a cord.
The photograph partly confirms this, but the
prolongation appears to be narrower, thus
indicating that the head-dress terminated in a
variety of the pig-tail (really a gathering to-
gether of the material) that is proper to this
adornment of kings. The throne is plain;
doubtless it was a solid block in the original,
with legs and seat indicated in sculpture; the
cushion is shown bent over the low back.
Behind was the usual plinth to support the
figure, reaching to the neck. The base is rect-
angular and plain. The colossal statue is placed
upright on a wooden sledge ; a band formed by
a number of ropes (coloured brownish) passes
over the lap and arm, and is fixed to the side
of the sledge, while two other bands below the
knee and above the foot are brought round
horizontally behind the chair. In order to
tighten them, these bands have been forcibly
twisted, and the twist secured by sticks passed
through and kept in place with cord. Where
the bands were liable to chafe the stone, the
statue has been protected by pads of dappled
ox-skin.
The front of the sledge is curved upwards
and rounded at the top, and to it are attached
four hawsers, dragged by parallel lines of men,
each row consisting of twenty-one pairs, pull-
ing on opposite sides of the rope, and a
leader, the latter with the end of the rope
over his shoulder. On the knees of the
colossus stands a superintendent, clapping his
c 2
■**