Tuesday, June 10, 2008

"A Fortunate Find"
8:17pm

When I visited the Met museum's store, I saw many things that called to me, but they were either too expensive or too heavy to haul. So I left those there. However, one lightweight book practically leapt into my hand. Its gray cover was humble, but it was cheap, and it was about ancient Egypt. So _Ancient Egypt in the Metropolitan Museum Journal_, Volumes 12-13 (1977-1978) came home with me. And what a fascinating little book it is! In addition to two other interesting articles, one featured new info regarding my research into all Set related imagery. _Notes on Sticks and Staves in Ancient Egypt_ by Henry G. Fischer includes a section regarding the was scepter.

He had info regarding two wooden was fragments which I'd photographed, but for which I was unable to get a good shot of the little info card:



(Fischer's photo shows a fragment with the forked end)
From a late Middle Kingdom burial, Met museum
"subsequently identified as coming from Pit 211 of the 'priests' cemetary' at Deir el Bahri,
belonging to a certain Snwsrt-'nh, no earlier than the end of the Twelfth Dynasty"
from _Notes on Sticks and Staves in Ancient Egypt_, Henry G. Fischer, Metropolitan Museum Journal, 1979

Fischer also discussed some unusual instances of was scepters. Usually only the gods and occasionally royalty held the was scepter, along with the priesthood, but there are a few rare scenes of commoners with the scepter:



"Two Eleventh Dynasty inscriptions, from Dendera and Thebes, show a hieroglyph in which the w3s-staff is held by a standing figure that is neither royal nor divine (Figure 35). In the first case (a) it serves as the determinative of hl3w 'chiefs' in the statement of an official: '[I acted as] stew[ard] for six chiefs.' In the second (b) it is an ideograph, evidently replacing _ _ _ in the word mniw 'herdsman,' and the context is: 'the herdsmans was beside his----(word lost)... the herdsman was beside his swine.' A third Eleventh Dynasty inscription from Thebes shows the w3s-staff in the hands of a mummiform determinative of twt 'statue,' where it is emblematic of the Osiride hereafter (Figure 35C)."
from _Notes on Sticks and Staves in Ancient Egypt_, Henry G. Fischer, Metropolitan Museum Journal, 1979

There's even an example of a craftsman sculpting a was scepter:


Sixth Dynasty Craftsmen
The was scepter is "among the equipment that is being manufactured for two of the Sixth Dynasty nomarchs at Deir el Gebrawi."

Fischer adds that "the w3s-column may have likewise have belonged to the equipment of the local temple"

I'm glad to be able to add this info to my page on Was scepters.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

"Grow-Ing"
6:50am


Maybe I will color this...

Thursday, June 12, 2008 A

"More Griffins"
6:02am


Metternich stela (MMA 50.85)

The Met museum has an exceptionally well carved stela called the Metternich stela. My pitiful photo above is no help at all, so I'll place here the image from the museum website:


Magical stela, Late Period, Dynasty 30, reign of Nectanebo II, ca. 360–343 B.C.
Egyptian
Greywacke; H. 32 7/8 in. (83.5 cm)
Fletcher Fund, 1950 (50.85)

(from their website
"The top half of this stela was skillfully carved in a hard dark stone. On the part below the central figure panel, rows of hieroglyphs record thirteen magic spells to protect against poisonous bites and wounds and to cure the illnesses caused by them. The stela was commissioned by the priest Esatum to be set up in the public part of a temple. A victim could recite or drink water that had been poured over the magic words and images on the stela. As a mythic precedent, the hieroglyphic inscription around the base describes the magic cure that was worked upon the infant Horus by Thoth, the god of wisdom and writing."

It is filled with interesting imagery, including griffins:

Zooming in...

It is similar to one found in TeVelde's book regarding the god Set:

"Griffin with Seth-head drawing a chariot"

That's not the only griffin featured. On the side panel is:

(Yes, the stairway is in better focus... sigh!)

Which resembles the 'Tesh-tesh' griffin illustrated in TeVelde:

Slightly more elaborate head deco in the 30th dynasty version, also the griffin is clutching daggers, as Tutu often does...

The Met museum website makes this interesting final note:
"Nectanebo II (r. 360–343 B.C.) was the last indigenous king of ancient Egypt. He struggled valiantly against the Persian empire only to be defeated in the end. After the lost battle, he fled to Upper Egypt, and nothing is known about his end."

Hopefully it wasn't death by poisonous bite or wound!

Forward...
Go Back to Archives...
Go Back to Main Journal Index Page...
Go to Index of Joan's pages...


© Joan Lansberry