History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria in the Light of Recent DiscoveryKing, L. W. (Leonard William)
History
History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria in the Light of Recent Discovery
King, L. W. (Leonard William)
Egypt -- History -- To 332 B.C.; History, Ancient
quarters of Whitechapel.
[Illustration: 358.jpg Wall-Painting from a Tomb]
The first two paintings are representative of a very common style of
fresco-pictures in these tombs. The care with which the animals
are depicted is remarkable. Possibly one of the finest Egyptian
representations of an animal is the fresco of a goat in the tomb of
Gen-Amen, discovered by Mr. Mond. There is even an attempt here at
chiaroscuro, which is unknown to Egyptian art generally, except at Tell
el-Amarna. Evidently the Egyptian painters reached the apogee of
their art towards the end of the XVIIIth Dynasty. The third, the
representation of tribute-bearers, is of a type also well known at
this period. In all the chief tombs we have processions of Egyptians,
Westerners, Northerners, Easterners, and Southerners, bringing tribute
to the Pharaoh. The North is represented by the Semites, the East by the
Punites (when they occur), the South by negroes, the West by the Keftiu
or people of Crete and Cyprus. The representations of the last-named
people have become of the very highest interest during the last few
years, on account of the discoveries in Crete, which have revealed to
us the state and civilization of these very Keftiu. Messrs. Evans
and Halbherr have discovered at Knossos and Phaistos the cities and
palace-temples of the king who sent forth their ambassadors to far-away
Egypt with gifts for the mighty Pharaoh; these ambassadors were painted
in the tombs of their hosts as representative of the quarter of the
world from which they came.
The two chief Egyptian representations of these people, who since they
lived in Greece may be called Greeks, though their more proper title
would be “Pe-lasgians,” are to be found in the tombs of Rekhmarâ and
Senmut, the former a vizier under Thothmes III, the latter the
architect of Hatshepsu’s temple at Dêr el-Bahari. Senmut’s tomb is a
new rediscovery. It was known, as Rekhmarâ’s was, in the early days of
Egyptological science, and Prisse d’Avennes copied its paintings. It was
afterwards lost sight of until rediscovered by Mr. Newberry and Prof.
Steindorff.
[Illustration: 360.jpg FRESCO IN THE TOMB OF SENMUT AT THEBES.] About
1500 B.C.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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