Manual of Egyptian Archaeology and Guide to the Study of Antiquities in EgyptMaspero, G. (Gaston)
History
Manual of Egyptian Archaeology and Guide to the Study of Antiquities in Egypt
Maspero, G. (Gaston)
Art -- Egypt; Egypt -- Antiquities
Besides the jewels found upon the mummy of Queen Aahhotep, a number of arms
and amulets were heaped inside her coffin; namely, three massive gold flies
hanging from a slender chain; nine small hatchets, three of gold and six of
silver; a golden lion's head of very minute workmanship; a wooden sceptre
set in gold spirals; two anklets; and two poignards. One of these poignards
(fig. 304) has a golden sheath and a wooden hilt inlaid with triangular
mosaics of carnelian, lapis lazuli, felspar, and gold. Four female heads in
gold _repoussé_ form the pommel; and a bull's head reversed covers the
junction of blade and hilt. The edges of the blade are of massive gold; the
centre of black bronze damascened with gold. On one side is the solar
cartouche of Ahmes, below which a lion pursues a bull, the remaining space
being filled in with four grasshoppers in a row. On the other side we have
the family name of Ahmes and a series of full-blown flowers issuing one
from another and diminishing towards the point. A poignard found at Mycenae
by Dr. Schliemann is similarly decorated; the Phoenicians, who were
industrious copyists of Egyptian models, probably introduced this pattern
into Greece. The second poignard is of a make not uncommon to this day in
Persia and India (fig. 305). The blade is of yellowish bronze fixed into a
disk-shaped hilt of silver. When wielded, this lenticular[79] disk fits to
the hollow of the hand, the blade coming between the first and second
fingers. Of what use, it may be asked, were all these weapons to a woman--
and a dead woman? To this we may reply that the other world was peopled
with foes--Typhonian genii, serpents, gigantic scorpions, tortoises,
monsters of every description--against which it was incessantly needful to
do battle. The poignards placed inside the coffin for the self-defence of
the soul were useful only for fighting at close quarters; certain weapons
of a projectile kind were therefore added, such as bows and arrows,
boomerangs made in hard wood, and a battle-axe. The handle of this axe is
fashioned of cedar-wood covered with sheet gold (fig. 306). The legend of
Ahmes is inlaid thereon in characters of lapis lazuli, carnelian,
turquoise, and green felspar. The blade is fixed in a cleft of the wood,
and held in place by a plait-work of gold wire. It is of black bronze,
formerly gilt. On one side, it is ornamented with lotus flowers upon a gold
ground; on the other, Ahmes is represented in the act of slaying a
barbarian, whom he grasps by the hair of the head. Beneath this group,
Mentû, the Egyptian war-god, is symbolised by a griffin with the head of an
eagle. In addition to all these objects, there were two small boats, one in
gold and one in silver, emblematic of the bark in which the mummy must
cross the river to her last home, and of that other bark in which she
would ultimately navigate the waters of the West, in company with the
immortal gods. When found, the silver boat rested upon a wooden truck with
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