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August 18, 2007
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I scanned through various thumbnails from my folders on Ancient Egypt just to see what would amuse me and was caught by a particular image of Tutu found at the Global Egyptian Museum. I gathered together various images of Tutu that I'd saved, observed the commonalities, and then attempted a line drawing, using photos of stalking lions, cobras, men's head in profile and the nemes headdress. A book description reveals that:
Tutu (Tithoes) was a popular god in the Ptolemaic and Roman periods of Egyptian history, with his origins in the earlier Egyptian religious tradition. The god provided protection against demons, and his appearance as a striding sphinx was often combined with symbols of his power and visual references to demons and other divinities. The god Tutu demonstrates the continuing vitality of the pharaonic religion under the pressure of foreign cultures and ideas. This monograph provides the first comprehensive study of the god Tutu. It is based upon a collection of attestations, largely unpublished, which derive from monuments in various parts of Egypt and from museum collections all over the world. Moreover, the results of recent archaeological field work in Shenhur and in the temple of Tutu in the Dakhla Oasis have been included in full. The catalogue of monuments is accompanied by an analysis of the god Tutu, his iconography and his place in the Egyptian religion.
I find it particularily fascinating that there was a "temple of Tutu in the Dakhla Oasis", as this was one of Set's regions.
A little net digging, and I turn up this, from writings about excavations at this temple:
"On the east wall south of the central niche are black ink
drawings of a cult image of Seth, a small figure of Tutu as
a sphinx and a vulture with wings outstretched. On the
south wall there is a single bust of Bes, bearded and
wearing a feather crown. These depictions confirm the
identification of the structure as a shrine; they are
discussed in this volume by Olaf Kaper and the classical
paintings are described by Helen Whitehouse." (page 199)
Olaf Kaper is the author of the earlier mentioned book.
Still more searching about the Dakhla area turns up the Dakhleh Oasis Project, where I learned a bit more. Not only is there a temple of Tutu there, a temple of Seth is there, too, but it is in bad shape, as this page explains:
"The site to-day is a temple temenos, a heavy wall enclosing the remains of a stone temple dedicated to Seth, and many associated mud brick buildings. Finds include blocks dating to Thutmosis III, Psamtik and several other Late Period rulers of Egypt and two hieratic stelae dated to the XXI and XXV Dynasties.
The temple has been largely destroyed by subsequent building activity in the modern town."
But the Dakhleh Oasis archeologists are doing their best to salvage it:
"Colin also gave an account of the work at Mut, which is anything but straightforward. Here there is much work to be done on the temple to Seth where the recovered material ranges from Second Dynasty to Mamluke."
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