DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3720#0026
10
DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS.
Both in the tombs and temples the subjects varied slightly
at different periods; for in the temples of early time, which
were as yet of small dimensions, it was not usual to introduce
the representation of victories, even on the exterior. Sacred
subjects occupied the whole of that limited space; and its
walls within were also devoted to sculptures relating to
religious rites. These were always retained upon the interior
of the sanctuary itself, however large the building became; and
no battle-scene was admitted, even in the eighteenth and nine-
teenth dynasties, nearer to the adytum than the portico, or the
great hall of assembly.
When the temple was as yet little more than the original
square chamber, the Pharaohs were satisfied to record their
victories on tablets engraved on
rocks, or on steles, set up in some
chosen spot, which, having the
form of anEgyptian shield (fig. 2),
were probably derived from an
earlier custom of using it for that
purpose. It contained the date of
the king's reign, the name of the
people lie had defeated, and
whatever important consequences attended his success; and
above was the king, making offerings to the deity, to whose
interference the victory was ascribed. As yet, these subjects
had not become pictorial.
The oldest tombs, however, as at the pyramids, contained
almost as great a variety of subjects as those of the eighteenth
and subsequent dynasties ; and the sepulchral grottoes of Beni
Hassan, of the twelfth dynasty, offer even more than any
single tomb of later date.
It is interesting to find from them that (as before stated) the
c
(W. 2.)
DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS.
Both in the tombs and temples the subjects varied slightly
at different periods; for in the temples of early time, which
were as yet of small dimensions, it was not usual to introduce
the representation of victories, even on the exterior. Sacred
subjects occupied the whole of that limited space; and its
walls within were also devoted to sculptures relating to
religious rites. These were always retained upon the interior
of the sanctuary itself, however large the building became; and
no battle-scene was admitted, even in the eighteenth and nine-
teenth dynasties, nearer to the adytum than the portico, or the
great hall of assembly.
When the temple was as yet little more than the original
square chamber, the Pharaohs were satisfied to record their
victories on tablets engraved on
rocks, or on steles, set up in some
chosen spot, which, having the
form of anEgyptian shield (fig. 2),
were probably derived from an
earlier custom of using it for that
purpose. It contained the date of
the king's reign, the name of the
people lie had defeated, and
whatever important consequences attended his success; and
above was the king, making offerings to the deity, to whose
interference the victory was ascribed. As yet, these subjects
had not become pictorial.
The oldest tombs, however, as at the pyramids, contained
almost as great a variety of subjects as those of the eighteenth
and subsequent dynasties ; and the sepulchral grottoes of Beni
Hassan, of the twelfth dynasty, offer even more than any
single tomb of later date.
It is interesting to find from them that (as before stated) the
c
(W. 2.)