DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4391#0013
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
9
of Hannibal. But the saw-fish and the pteroceras
shell imply a people from the sea ; and that the Red
Sea, rather than the Mediterranean. And, moreover,
there is no trace of anything characteristic of the
Nile ; no crocodile or lotus, as on the primitive pottery,
no hippopotamus, no hawk. We are led then to look
to the Red Sea, and to suppose that the people from
thence had formed their religious ideas and emblems
before they entered Egypt. That they resided a
long time at Koptos is shewn by the three Min
statues varying in style of art and details. Such
differences of work in a very early stage imply a
considerable difference in time. And the presence
of three such colossi, so large that any one would
be a notable centre for worship, makes it unlikely
that all were used at once ; they rather seem to have
been each substituted in succession, as the earlier
ones became injured.
We are led then to suppose that the statues were
wrought by a people ignorant of metals ; who resided
for several generations at Koptos ; who came from
the Red Sea as strangers to the Nile, but who had
the same worship as the people of Koptos, without
borrowing from the Nile ; whose Min emblem was in
a more primitive and pictorial form than any known
in Egyptian carvings, though like some of the earliest
examples ; and who had real artistic taste and feeling
which was steadily developing. These characteristics
will, so far as we can at present imagine, only agree
in one race, that supposed people from Punt, whom
by portraiture and other considerations I have already
stated to be probably the founders of the dynastic
Egyptian race, the last immigrants who came in
before the historic period. If so, a considerable time
must have passed for them to adopt Egyptian emblems,
as the crocodile, lotus, and hunting dog, upon the
primitive pottery ; and for the further development of
modelling, up to the highest pottery level, which is
equal to the fine archaic stone carving of the Illrd
and IVth dynasty. If we suppose some centuries to
have elapsed between the earliest Min statue and the
finest pottery modelling, it would not be improbable.
16. The nature of the Min emblem we have not yet
noted, as it does not bear directly on the age. In
historic times we find it a ball between two wedges,
in earlier times it was more like a bolt with two rings
or shanks on either side of a central ball, on the slate
carving it is thicker in proportion, on the boat and
ostrich pottery—which is probably Mediterranean—it
is like the form on the Min figures, though roughly
painted. As it is represented as being on the top of
a tall pole, it cannot be a heavy object ; and the form
is most like the early mode of shewing a garland upon
statues. It seems then most likely that it was a
garland of flowers and a feather, on the top of a tall
pole, round which hung saws of saw-fish and pteroceras
shells: in fact, much such a derwish pole as the
southern tribes carry about at the present day. The
questions of how the same emblem comes to be
connected with a people from the Red Sea, and again
with a sea-going people in the Mediterranean (on the
pottery), we shall discuss when dealing with the New
Race in the volume on Naqada.
CHAPTER II.
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
17. The earlier remains of this period, as we
have already mentioned, are the sculptures of the
temple of Antef V (now at Ghizeh, Oxford, Univ.
Coll., etc.). From the thinness of the slabs, which
are only about three or four inches through, and the
absence of any massive blocks of this king's work, it
is evident that the bulk of construction was of mud
brick, and the sculptures merely faced over the
rougher material. These slabs—as we have men-
tioned—were all found lying face down, forming a
rough pavement, over about four feet of earth with
chips of early remains. This pavement is shewn on
the plan. The Usertesen jamb has fallen northward,
and was the southern jamb of the door ; the "box"
of sandstone probably having contained foundation
deposits in the middle of the doorway. The lower
block of the jamb is gone, and thus when complete its
base would have been south of the box. Hence the
Antef. pavement occupied the sanctuary of the Xllth
dynasty temple. Probably the ground was looked on
as too sacred to be disturbed there, and so was
reverently covered over with the slabs of the dis-
mantled older temple of the Xlth dynasty, above which
was probably placed a fine-stone paving for the temple
of Amenemhat and Usertesen.
Some of the Antef slabs are in relief, as shewn on
PL. VI, 1-6 ; and the work of these is finer and more
detailed than that of the incised blocks 7-18. Several
of the portions of scenes here shewn are reconstructed
from many separate slabs ; No. 16, for instance, is
formed of nine pieces, which were found scattered
apart.
c
y
9
of Hannibal. But the saw-fish and the pteroceras
shell imply a people from the sea ; and that the Red
Sea, rather than the Mediterranean. And, moreover,
there is no trace of anything characteristic of the
Nile ; no crocodile or lotus, as on the primitive pottery,
no hippopotamus, no hawk. We are led then to look
to the Red Sea, and to suppose that the people from
thence had formed their religious ideas and emblems
before they entered Egypt. That they resided a
long time at Koptos is shewn by the three Min
statues varying in style of art and details. Such
differences of work in a very early stage imply a
considerable difference in time. And the presence
of three such colossi, so large that any one would
be a notable centre for worship, makes it unlikely
that all were used at once ; they rather seem to have
been each substituted in succession, as the earlier
ones became injured.
We are led then to suppose that the statues were
wrought by a people ignorant of metals ; who resided
for several generations at Koptos ; who came from
the Red Sea as strangers to the Nile, but who had
the same worship as the people of Koptos, without
borrowing from the Nile ; whose Min emblem was in
a more primitive and pictorial form than any known
in Egyptian carvings, though like some of the earliest
examples ; and who had real artistic taste and feeling
which was steadily developing. These characteristics
will, so far as we can at present imagine, only agree
in one race, that supposed people from Punt, whom
by portraiture and other considerations I have already
stated to be probably the founders of the dynastic
Egyptian race, the last immigrants who came in
before the historic period. If so, a considerable time
must have passed for them to adopt Egyptian emblems,
as the crocodile, lotus, and hunting dog, upon the
primitive pottery ; and for the further development of
modelling, up to the highest pottery level, which is
equal to the fine archaic stone carving of the Illrd
and IVth dynasty. If we suppose some centuries to
have elapsed between the earliest Min statue and the
finest pottery modelling, it would not be improbable.
16. The nature of the Min emblem we have not yet
noted, as it does not bear directly on the age. In
historic times we find it a ball between two wedges,
in earlier times it was more like a bolt with two rings
or shanks on either side of a central ball, on the slate
carving it is thicker in proportion, on the boat and
ostrich pottery—which is probably Mediterranean—it
is like the form on the Min figures, though roughly
painted. As it is represented as being on the top of
a tall pole, it cannot be a heavy object ; and the form
is most like the early mode of shewing a garland upon
statues. It seems then most likely that it was a
garland of flowers and a feather, on the top of a tall
pole, round which hung saws of saw-fish and pteroceras
shells: in fact, much such a derwish pole as the
southern tribes carry about at the present day. The
questions of how the same emblem comes to be
connected with a people from the Red Sea, and again
with a sea-going people in the Mediterranean (on the
pottery), we shall discuss when dealing with the New
Race in the volume on Naqada.
CHAPTER II.
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
17. The earlier remains of this period, as we
have already mentioned, are the sculptures of the
temple of Antef V (now at Ghizeh, Oxford, Univ.
Coll., etc.). From the thinness of the slabs, which
are only about three or four inches through, and the
absence of any massive blocks of this king's work, it
is evident that the bulk of construction was of mud
brick, and the sculptures merely faced over the
rougher material. These slabs—as we have men-
tioned—were all found lying face down, forming a
rough pavement, over about four feet of earth with
chips of early remains. This pavement is shewn on
the plan. The Usertesen jamb has fallen northward,
and was the southern jamb of the door ; the "box"
of sandstone probably having contained foundation
deposits in the middle of the doorway. The lower
block of the jamb is gone, and thus when complete its
base would have been south of the box. Hence the
Antef. pavement occupied the sanctuary of the Xllth
dynasty temple. Probably the ground was looked on
as too sacred to be disturbed there, and so was
reverently covered over with the slabs of the dis-
mantled older temple of the Xlth dynasty, above which
was probably placed a fine-stone paving for the temple
of Amenemhat and Usertesen.
Some of the Antef slabs are in relief, as shewn on
PL. VI, 1-6 ; and the work of these is finer and more
detailed than that of the incised blocks 7-18. Several
of the portions of scenes here shewn are reconstructed
from many separate slabs ; No. 16, for instance, is
formed of nine pieces, which were found scattered
apart.
c
y