sphinx statues

The Great Sphinx is believed to be the most immense stone sculpture in the round ever made by man. However, it must be noted that the Sphinx is not an isolated monument and that it must be examined in the context of its surroundings. Specifically, like many of Egypt's monuments, it is a complex which consists not only of the great statue itself, but also of its old temple, a New Kingdom temple and some other small structures. It is also closely related to Khafre's Valley Temple, which itself had four colossal sphinx statues each more than 26 feet long.

The material of the Sphinx is the limestone bedrock of what geologists call the Muqqatam Formation, which originated fifty million years ago from sediments deposited at the bottom of sea waters that engulfed northeast Africa during the Middle Eocene period. An embankment formed along what is now the north-northwest side of the plateau. Nummulites, which are small, disk-shaped fossils named after the Latin word for 'coin', pack the embankment. These were once the shells of now extinct planktonic organisms. There was a shoal and coral reef that grew over the southern slope of the embankment. Carbonate mud deposited in the lagoon petrified into the layers from which the ancient builders, some fifty million years later, carved out the Great Sphinx.

The Great Sphinx

The Great Sphinx is to the northeast of Khafre's (Chephren) Valley Temple. Where it sits was once a quarry. We believe that Khafre's workers shaped the stone into the lion and gave it their king's face over 4,500 years ago. Khafre's name was also mentioned on the Dream Stele, which sits between the paws of the great beast. However, no one is completely certain that it is in fact the face of Khafre, though indeed that is the preponderance of thought. Recently, however, it has been argued that Khufu, builder of the Great Pyramid, may have also had the Great Sphinx built.

Magic vands-3

During the New Kingdom, representations of the mighty griffin become considerably more numerous. As an artistic emblem for the display of royal power, as with the sphinx, the king sometimes assumed the appearance of a huge terrifying griffin, and is rendered trampling underfoot the traditional enemies of the country. The form of this beast also gradually underwent a change, becoming more gracile, appearing like a sleek canine, and the head and bill come to resemble those of a large vulture or an eagle, rather than a falcon.

Beginning in the late New Kingdom, griffins can be seen on magical statues and stelae pulling at breakneck speed the chariot of the youthful god Shed, who shoots his unerring arrows at an assortment of typhonic creatures, thereby helping to bring safety to their owners.

Magic vands-2

When placed in burials, these devices apparently could also offer similar protection to their deceased owners. In addition to the now familiar cast of imaginary beasts we have been introduced to, new monstrous characters make their appearance on these wands.
Among the most important, is the lion-man, which later becomes the grotesque dwarf-god Bes, but who, at the same time, is a bit comical looking, and was routinely represented full- faced. Then there is the hippopotamus that stands upright on its hind legs with a long Nile crocodile fused to her back, both dangerous denizens of Nile waters, which later develops into the goddess Taweret.
Both Bes and Taweret become extremely popular in the New Kingdom as magical protectors of the home and family. Their images routinely appear on objects of household everyday use, such as beds, chairs, headrests, toilet articles, and like items.

Magic vands-1

Certainly one of the richest sources for the fraternization of the real and fabled in Egyptian iconography derives from a sizable group of objects usually called ‘magic wands’ or ‘magic knives’ also of Middle Kingdom date. Fashioned of strips cut from the curved tusk (tooth) of a hippopotamus, they are about 15 or 16 inches in length, and when carefully made, can display a bestiary of apotropaic creatures, both benevolent and malignant, and a variety of potent symbols engraved upon them. They are also frequently accompanied by short texts invoking ‘protection’.

These figures could be magically summoned by reciting certain spells and were utilized to ensure the safety of the nursery or a pregnant woman’s bedroom from harm, especially the venomous bites of snakes and the stings of scorpions, which could easily carry off a newborn or expectant mother

Symbols of unification -4

Perhaps stranger still, again at Beni Hasan, is a garishly painted female griffin with closed wings, wearing a collar and held on a leash in the dynasty XI tomb of Khety (BH 17). Since this griffin appears nearby the tombowner, it was undoubtedly intended to be regarded as a weird pet of Khety’s. The distinguished British Egyptologist, Norman de Garis Davies, who spent some time working in these tombs during the early 1930’s, plausibly suggested that it might, in fact, be a domestic dog, disguised to liken it with this ferocious mythical beast, or that the artist may have intended it to be some sort of a joke. A number of other griffins are also discernable in the decorative program of the Middle Kingdom rock-cut tombchapels at the nearby site of Deir el-Bersha. In one instance, this legendary creation can be seen ambling along in a desert landscape, following a troop of four pet(?) monkeys. If these primates are really tame pets, which seems to be the case, there is also a reasonable possibility that this griffin was also yet another common household dog in full masquerade. One can only then imagine the discomfort these dogs had to endure wearing such elaborate getups, and to what purpose could this serve? Merely a jest or rather in some way a prestigious possession of these nomarchs’, which would follow them into the next world?

Symbols of unification -3

A highly important group of mythical monsters is discernible in a wall-painting in the dynasty XI tomb of the nomarch Baket III (BH 15) at Beni Hasan in Middle Egypt. This grand tomb-chapel is also well-known for its carefully observed collection of birds and bats. In an extensive composition illustrating the tomb-owners’ huntsmen with bow and arrow in the desert, there appears a file of four fancied animals, intermixed with the naturally occurring fauna. Although these curiosities do not appear to be the subject of the chase, the artist has still labelled each of them with their names, as he did with most of the game. These include the dog-like animal of the god Seth, whose zoological identity cannot be ascertained, which has been depicted with its characteristic erect, arrow-like tail and squaretipped ears, but not with its usual curved snout.
Next, come our old familiar friends the griffin and a serpopard. Lastly, there is what is likely to be an outlandish elephant, or so it is called in the caption above it; nevertheless, the single horn protruding from its head is reminiscent of a rhinoceros (but not of a unicorn). While in the dynasty XII tomb of Khnumhotep II (BH 3), at the same site, in a similar desert hunting scene, there is another exotic monster. This one closely resembles the mixture of a cheetah and a griffin, but surprisingly, has a human head sprouting between its outstretched wings. We will encounter this oddity again on ‘magic wands’ of the same age

Symbols of unification -2

Up to this point, the mythical monsters we have examined were not of Egyptian origin, but were unmistakably borrowings from Mesopotamian iconography. Precisely how these were transmitted to Egypt remains a question to be satisfactorily answered, whether it was through direct or second hand means. With the rise of the Old Kingdom, fabulous beasts all but vanished from the Egyptian artistic repertoire, to be reborn in far greater numbers and varieties during the Middle Kingdom. Only a relative handful of exceptions to the above are known. First, was the appearance of a griffin exhibited in the wild on a fragment from the encyclopaedic natural history scenes of the ‘Chamber of the Seasons’ in the dynasty V solar temple of Niuserre at Abu Ghurab. Secondly, the griffin became assimilated as a symbol of Egyptian kingly power and is known from its occasional appearance on royal monuments. Thirdly, the hieroglyphic emblem of the city of Cusae (modern El-Kûsiyah), for reasons which remain imperfectly understood, was symbolized by a pair of serpopards, placed back-to-back, and their necks held by a man standing on top of them. This hieroglyph was utilized in inscriptions found in the decorated rock-cut tombs at the site of Meir, in Middle Egypt. Fourth, was the frequent representation of a definitely indigenous Egyptian monstrosity, the beast associated with typhonic god Seth, a composite of two or more animals, and of whom we will have more to say.

Symbols of unification -1

The central section of the relief decoration on a side of the justly famous ‘Narmer Palette’, also discovered at Hierakonpolis, and now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, is composed of a pair of serpopards with extremely long necks which are intertwined, and whose heads are turned to confront each other. Their necks also form the circular area where the prized eye-paint, malachite or galena, would have been prepared, if this were an actual functional palette. These fictitious marvels are being restrained on leashes by two male handlers.
According to several leading scholars who specialize in the study of the first Egyptians, this motif is likely to symbolize the early unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. As such, it might be a forerunner of when, at a later date, the two emblematic plants of the respective kingdoms were similarly interwoven.

Griffins and serpopards -2

Amid this jumbled mixture of wild beasts, one can readily recognize three serpopards, serpentnecked felines, and a winged griffin, which has the head of a falcon (?) and a body of a lion. These hybrid creatures are engaged in attacking their prey, while two of the serpopards, encircling the raised rim of the grinding area, appear to be licking (the flowing blood?) from the body of a dead antelope before devouring it, which lies directly below an ostrich.

In addition, notice the enigmatic figure of a walking jackal playing a flute or, possibly, a huntsman wearing a jackal’s head and tail. He may be involved in some sort of ritual hunting magic. While the significance of the imagery present on this élite object has been the subject of considerably diverse and clever interpretations by Egyptologists since its discovery, it would be hazardous to make an attempt at evaluating its full meaning here. What does seem comparatively clear, however, is that within the symmetrically sculpted rampant cape hunting dogs, the ‘Two Dog Palette’ presents to its viewer a confusion of combative figures, thus revealing a horrid vision of the disorder and terrors which lie outside the confines of the security in the Nile Valley

Griffins and serpopards -1

In the present state of our knowledge, monsters made their Egyptian début on a select number of monumental or votive slate cosmetic palettes, a gold-handled flint knife and few carved ivory objects, all with low relief decoration on them, which date from about Naqada III (or dynasty 0), approximately 5000 years ago.
Among the first and finest of these fascinating objects is the so-called ‘Two Dog Palette’, found at Hierakonpolis (Kom el-Ahmar) in Upper Egypt, and is now housed in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Carved on either side of this shield-shaped palette is a mêlée of true and strange desert dwelling animals, which are in the midst of intense conflict, and is bordered by two large heraldic cape hunting dogs.

Incongruous elements -2

These hot, chaotic lands were peopled by hostile outsiders and home to menacing animals, lions, leopards, snakes, scorpions and so on, but even more frightening, they were the haunt of spirits and monsters. While the latter were obviously never actually seen, the stories and idle chatter of brave desert travellers, among others, who swore that they had caught fleeting glimpses of them out in the wilderness at dusk or had come across their puzzling tracks, was likely to have made monsters fertile ground for exciting talk (the stuff of myths) among the average Egyptian. Also, they might even have known their respective names and supernatural powers. They consequently became real enough in the Egyptian mind, and yet another good reason to dread entering the blazing deserts. In some ways, they may not have been unlike their contemporary descendants, many of whom maintain a steadfast aversion to the immense desert expanses of their country, for these near waste lands have, for thousands of years, been traditionally linked with the unfamiliar and death.

Incongruous elements -1

The dynasty IV Great Sphinx at Giza is, without doubt, the most conspicuous example, capturing Khephren in godly leonine form, protecting the approach to his pyramid. Abit more complex, but along the same lines of blending of human and beast, is a frightening sphinx with the long tail of a Nile crocodile, such as the colossal statue of one still in situ at Amenhotep III’s mortuary temple at Thebes (Kom el-Hetan), dating from dynasty XVIII. Here, in this article, we will use the term monster as a purely fancied beast, one that never actually walked the face of the earth, but lived exclusively in the imagination, and subsequent artistic creativity, of humankind. They were typically illustrated compounded of various incongruous elements of animal types, the result being not infrequently a very bizarre configuration, that was intended to instill a sense of awe and wonder in its beholder. From the earliest times, the Egyptians living in relative safety along the fertile black banks of the River Nile, perceived the vast deserts flanking them as forbidding places

Monsters in Ancient Egyptian Art

This is an overview of one of the most peculiar natural history conceptions of the ancient Egyptians: the belief in monsters. Mythical marvels first emerge in iconography during predynastic times and can be documented down through the Graeco-Roman Period and beyond. For the residents of the Nile Valley, these extraordinary oddities were judged to be just as real as any other regular living wildlife species, if only more mysterious and dangerous. In fact, these unnatural creations are occasionally executed in art, mingling right along with the standard desert game animals in hunting scenes, especially in the Middle Kingdom tomb-chapels. Lest we should forget, Western made maps of Africa, as recently as just four or five centuries ago, represented the immense interior of the continent as inhabited by fearsome dragons and other malicious beings. In the absence of fact, these represented the unknown and the unexplored
How is the truly monstrous in Egyptian art to be defined? For our purposes, it does not include the pantheon of deities and minor demons which were routinely portrayed as having the body of a human being, but shown with the head of some sort of animal, bird or even an insect. These are composite figures which have a definite logic to them, where the head becomes the critical element of the figure, while the body is reduced to a secondary importance. They can accordingly be read, in the manner of a hieroglyphic sign. So a falcon-headed god is a falcon-god pictured in human form. Precisely the reverse holds true too. Thus, when a king or queen assumes the appearance of a lion, it will still retain the human head of the individual portrayed, while the body displays the characteristics of a lion

temple of Karnak

In a corner of the temple enclosure lie the blocks of buildings dismantled by various pharaohs to make room for their additions to the main temple. The blocks were used as foundations and infill for later buildings and have been recovered during reconstruction and conservation work at the site.

It has even been possible to recon­struct several of the buildings, including the oldest structure of all at Karnak the White Chapel of Senuseret 1 of the Middle Kingdom.

Amongst the number of blocks recov­ered from a number of dismantled buildings, were a large number dating to the reigns of Queen Hatshepsut and Thutmose III.

The red quartzite and black granite blocks come from a barque shrine, the build­ing of which started around four years before Hatshepsufs death in 1483 B.C. Her nephew and successor, Thutmose III, continued with the building of the shrine, but it was never fin­ished and it was ultimately dismantled to make way for larger building on the site.

It would appear that the blocks were carefully stored. within the temple for future use. Some seem to have been reused fairly quickly, but it was Amenhotep Ill, who used all the remaining blocks as filling for his Pylon (now known as the Third Pylon, which was a splendid new river‑facing entrance to the temple).

There the blocks remained hidden from view and perfectly preserved, until exca­vation and conservation work on the pylon between 1898 and 1995. Several hundred blocks were recovered. Black granite blocks clearly came from doorways and the base courses of the shrine, whilst red quartzite was used for the walls. The latter explain why the shrine is known as the 'Red Chapel' of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III. The natural colour of the quartzite varies and the ancient craftsmen painted all the blocks to a uniform red colour.

For many years the blocks were dis­played on low stone benches, and visitors could wander along the lines of blocks and see the exquisite reliefs, carved on both sides, at close quarters. However, in 1997 the decision was taken to reconstruct the shrine, and the work has taken several years and is now almost complete.

The blocks were studied to work out their original order. This was not an easy process, for, unusually most of blocks contain a complete scene, which do not overlap on to adjacent blocks, making the identification of blocks which matched up difficult. It was also realised that a substantial number of blocks (well over half) were missing, so the building has been rebuilt using some new blocks of stone cut from the same red quartzite and black granite. Other areas have been filled with brick, which has been plastered, and the plaster carefully painted to match the stone colour.

The reconstructed shrine is surpris­ingly large (over seventeen metres in length) and visually impressive with the black granite and red stone of the walls. It is divided into two rooms, the larger of the two provided with a low plinth in the floor, on which the barque of the God Amun would have rested. The rebuilt shrine now dominates the open-air museum.

The work has been undertaken by the Franco‑Egyptian Centre, directed by François Larché and with the support of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities. The French and Egyptian workers and craftsmen have done a painstaking and expert job in the recon­struction.

Whilst a substantial building now stands again in the temple, the main drawback with the reconstruction, is that many of the blocks are now high up in the walls and because of their orientation they are not as well lit as before. Consequently it is, sadly, very difficult to actually see the all the carved scenes as clearly as when they were laid in neat rows on the stone benches. If you have a pair of binoculars, take them with you, it will be worth it.

pyramids

The royal tombs have the form of pyramids with a square base, and are the equivalent in stone or brick of the tumulus of heaped earth which was piled over the body of the warrior chief in prehistoric times . The same ideas prevailed as to the souls of kings as about those of private men; the plan of the pyramid consists, therefore, of three parts, like the mastaba,--the chapel, the passage, and the sepulchral vault.