Masks and masking in ancient Egypt

Acc. no. 123

The Manchester Museum holds two very important objects that provide evidence for the use of masks in ancient Egypt. The first is one of the very few surviving masks that appears to have been worn by the living, rather than placed on a mummy. The Manchester example (Acc. no. 123) is made of layers of linen and plaster, and has been painted black – with signs of paint being applied over broken patches of plaster, implying ancient repair. There are holes for the eyes and nostrils, indicating practical considerations for the wearer. A green triangle has been painted between the brows, and the eyes, cheeks and lips have been picked out with red paint. Despite the common assertion that the Manchester mask represents the dwarf-god Bes, this does not seem obvious from inspection of the mask itself.

The mask was found by archaeologist W.M. Flinders Petrie during his 1888-9 excavations at the pyramid-builders’ town of Kahun. It was discovered in a room of one of the houses there. In the next room, in a hole in the floor, was found a group of objects including a pair of ivory clappers and a wooden figurine of a woman with a lionine face(mask). Although the latter was stolen from the excavation, it is comparable with another example from the Ramesseum tomb group – also in Manchester. These objects have been interpreted as the tools of a ritual performer, whose use was connected with music and magic. The exact context of such use is uncertain.

Acc. no. 5886

The other object is a flake of limestone (known as an ostracon), from western Thebes, probably of New Kingdom date and donated by Sir Alan Gardiner. It bears a unique ink sketch: a scene of a funeral. The sketch shows a tomb shaft – of the type known from Deir el-Medina – with a group of female mourners gathered around it. Within the shaft a man is seen descending, and within the chambers of the tomb itself the burial party carry a coffin into place. A striking detail is that one of the party has a jackal head. Given the informal medium, the sketch is likely to show the burial as it happened, albeit in schematic fashion. The implication is that one of the party is wearing a jackal-headed mask. A famous example in Hildesheim may represent such a mask, used for the impersonation of Anubis, the god of mummification.

Ancient Egyptian ritual centred on the knowledge and action of a ritual practitioner, not on abstract “beliefs”. Masking enabled ritualists to act as gods, bringing divine knowledge and power to confront a given problem or participate in ceremonial acts. Religious texts contain many assertions that the speaker is a specific deity. Such a declaration of authority enabled mortals – both men and women – to impersonate gods, and make their ritual actions more effective. The resulting positive psychological effects are well-attested.

Masks enabled ancient Egyptians to become divine, both during life and after death. Manchester is fortunate to have these two outstanding objects, which shed light on an otherwise sparsely-documented practice.

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Living in nature at Amarna

Acc. no. 7220 – a painted scene from a palace floor, now conserved and soon to be on display

In the last week before we open the Ancient Worlds galleries, we have been making final preparations to put objects – many unexhibited before – on display. A good proportion come from famous sites and it is interesting to consider how they might originally have been used in their original settings.

Manchester holds an important collection of material from the excavations of archaeologist Flinders Petrie and others at Amarna. This site is well-known as the royal residence – what would call a ‘capital’ city today – chosen anew by King Akhenaten (c. 1352 -1336 BC). Akhenaten has been described as “the first individual in history” and is viewed variously as a revolutionary, a heretic, the first true monotheist, and a megalomaniac. Certainly, the theology of the king and his new capital centred on one deity: the sun disk, called the Aten. This deity was praised in hymns recorded on rock-cut stelae and on the walls of elite tombs at Amarna. A particular connection is made in these texts between the life-giving rays of the sun and prosperity of plants, animals and human beings.

One of the themes we explore in the new galleries at Manchester is the experience of living in a royal city, using our rich collection of objects from Amarna. Surviving decoration from the complex of palaces and elite villas at the site shows a delight in representing the natural world, with plants and animals featuring prominently. Part of the royal palace, for example, had a painted floor showing pin-tale ducks flying out of the marshes beside the River Nile, as they would at dawn. Yet here, in a palace, before the king’s throne, the motifs of the painted floor can also be interpreted as heralding the presence of the divine living ruler and his sole god, the sun disc, who – together – dispel darkness each day. Akhenaten and his courtiers clearly wished to emphasise through decoration their desire to be “living in nature”.

Faience inlays and amulets from Amarna

There is extensive archaeological evidence at Amarna of kilns and workshops, which supplied palaces with a range of glazed inlays and appliqués for palace interiors and other decorative objects. Remains show that this was a thriving centre for the manufacture of luxury materials such as glass, and the typically-Egyptian glazed ceramic known as faience. In the new galleries we explore the technology behind faience-making, after conducting our own firing experiments with colleagues from Daresbury laboratory.

I have been particularly struck by the rich array of colours and shapes used. We hold a mixture of decorative elements including tiles and the inlays once attached to them, in addition to separately modelled flowers and fruit such as bunches of grapes and pomegranates. The explosion of colour may seem gaudy to us now, yet it is important to remember that these elaborate decorations were an outward sign of divine bounty, the natural world created by the Aten and ruled over by his only prophet – Akhenaten (whose name literally means ‘Effective for the Aten’). In their own way, these palace decorations created an effect no more ostentatious than the state rooms of Buckingham Palace or Versailles.

These decorations were made for the residence of the living ruler, a transient place compared to the stone-built tomb, or ‘House of Eternity’. This philosophy makes many details of palace decoration seem even more whimsical, illustrating a love of life in ancient Egypt that is often overshadowed by a perceived obsession with death. Manchester Museum is in a fortunate position to have a wealth of material from ‘living’ sites, such as Amarna. In contrast to the previous, 1970s-designed galleries, which were dark and sepulchral (the ‘Daily Life’ section even more than the ‘Afterlife’ one!) our new galleries celebrate the life of ancient Egypt. I hope it would be a celebration Akhenaten – and other Pharaonic Egyptians – would recognise.

This post is an adapted version of one which appeared on the blog of Andante Tours.

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Object biography #8: An inscribed harness finial from a chariot (Acc. no. 9659)

Harness finial Acc. no. 9659

I recently discovered this small object in storage while looking for a piece suitable for visitors to touch on our handling table. Initially, I was unsure of the function of the object (accession number 9659) and invited opinions. Answers ranged from vessel to candle-holder, stamp to spinning implement.

In fact, based on comparison with other artefacts of the same type, this object can be identified as a harness finial from a chariot. It would have been attached onto the yolk between two horses, and would have enabled the reins to run smoothly to control the animals.

A finial in situ on one of the harnesses from Tutankhamun’s tomb © Sandro Vaninni http://www.flickr.com/photos/sandrovannini/4284540920/

A striking parallel in shape and size occurs on one of the chariots from the tomb of Tutankhamun. Interestingly, both seem to have the same deliberate wear or ‘dents’ cut into the upper rim.

Although our example is identified in the catalogue as made of ‘travertine/alabaster’, it seems more likely on close inspection to be made from ivory. The smooth, milky material resembles the stone but has the destinctive criss-cross Schraeger pattern of elephant ivory.

An inscription runs symmetrically around the top of the piece, and reads:

Live, the son of Re, Amenhotep, his fear in the lands…

Unusually, the name Amenhotep is not enclosed in a cartouche, but this name dates the piece to the 18^th Dynasty (c. 1550-1295 BC). It seems likely to refer to either Amenhotep III (c. 1390-1352 BC) or his ancestor Amenhotep II (c. 1427-1400 BC) – a famously athletic and war-like king.

The ‘lands’ mentioned in the inscription is an unusual way of referring to foreign countries; Egypt was defined as the ‘Two Lands’, the archetypal united kingdom. But foreign lands were characterised by their chaotic multiplicity, and so the short-hand of ‘three’ (or ‘many’) sums up the multitude lands who were unknown but afraid of the power of the king. A statement about the fear of the king suits the power of the horse, and the chariot, as vehicles of war.

Volunteers Vivian and Patricia discuss the harness finial with visitors

Sadly, the findspot of this object – which was collected by George Spiegelberg, the brother of a famous German Egyptologist called Wilhelm) – is not known. Stables are have been identified at palace sites, such as the Ramesside Delta capital Pi-Ramesse,  but Memphis or Thebes would be more suited to an 18^th Dynasty piece, naming Amenhotep. Who knows – perhaps this came from a chariot driven by the king himself?

The details of this object (and, yes, a bit of inference) certainly make for an interesting tale, and one that has already captured the imagination of visitors now able to touch this very tactile piece. I am particularly grateful to the very knowledgeable volunteers on the handling table for suggestions and helpful pointers to comparative images for this and other objects. Each of them tell the stories of these objects daily, and always succeed in bringing them to life.

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Texts in Translation #8: The stela of Mery-Re, Overseer of Works on a colossal statue (Acc. no. R4566 1937)

Stela R4566 1937. Photo courtesy of Steven Snape.

This small (21cm high) basalt stela of Mery-Re is a modest commemoration of a man responsible for the construction of a mighty monument. Mery-Re was ‘Overseer of Works’ on the colossal statue named ‘Re-of-Rulers’, one of the many colossi of Ramesses II (c. 1279-1213 BC). Ramesses followed his illustrious predecessor Amenhotep III in creating a large number of colossal statues of himself, each with its own name. Giving a statue a name imparted it with a separate divine identity, making the colossus suited to being singled out for worship as a fully fledged deity. These named statues, what we might term cult colossi, were usually set up outside temples, at what one scholar calls the “boundary between the sacred and the profane.” They appear on a number of other stelae, being adored by range of ordinary people.

To the left, the text on our stela identifies the donor:
Made by the Overseer of Works of (the statue) Re-of-Rulers, Mery-Re.

Mery-Re faces, and offers flowers to, a seated figure of the goddess Satet, on the right. She is captioned: Satet, Lady of Elephantine, Lady of the Sky.

Mery-Re’s graffito on a rock at Sehel Island. Gina Criscenzo-Laycock added for scale.

By chance, friends and colleagues of mine from the University of Liverpool had visited Sehel Island, just upriver of Elephantine Island near modern Aswan, some years ago. Among the many rock cut inscriptions there, they took a photo of one graffito made in the name of Mery-Re, Overseer of Works on the (statue) Re-of-Rulers. This must surely be the same man as depicted on Acc. No. R4566 1937.

Our stela came to Manchester from the collection of Sir Henry Wellcome in the 1980s, and its exact find-spot is unknown. However, the dedication to Satet, the local goddess of Elephantine, and the graffiti at nearby Sehel point to an original location in a temple or chapel near Aswan.

Aswan was a major source of granite throughout the Pharaonic Period and it is likely that this is where the colossus named ‘Re-of-Rulers’ was quarried. The formulaic dedicatory phrase ‘Made by…’ may therefore be the result of a command of Mery-Re to a craftsman under his charge, or it may be the work of the man himself – whose own skilled hand had, no doubt, won him responsibility for overseeing work on a colossal statue of the king, and the creation of a god.

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Texts in translation #5: An ostracon showing Amun-Re as a ram (Acc. no. 9658)

Acc. no. 9658. © Paul Cliff

I recently received an enquiry about the short inscription on this pottery sherd – or ostracon. The piece comes from the collection of Mr George Spiegelberg, a merchant in Manchester and brother of the famous German Egyptologist Wilhelm Spiegelberg (1870-1930). The ostracon shows the head of a ram deity with a rearing cobra before it, sketched first in red and then gone over in black.

The vertical caption reads: Beloved of Amun-Re, Lord of the Sky, Great God.
The text above the ram’s head reads: Amun-Re, the Light of Day.

The provenance of the sherd is most likely to be the New Kingdom (c. 1550-1069 BC) village of Deir el-Medina, built to house the workers involved in the construction of tombs in and around the Valley of the Kings. Hundreds of similar sketches on limestone flakes or pottery sherds – in some sense the equivalent of modern ‘post-it’ notes – have been discovered there. Deir el-Medina was home to a variety of deities, local forms – differentiated by the addition of various epithets – of the gods worshipped in major state temples. Amun-Re was worshipped on the opposite side of the river to the village, at the great temple of Karnak, and is well attested in other contexts in the form of a ram. Here his epithet is ‘Shu en heru’. Shu was the god of air and sunlight, so a literal rendering of the text is ‘the light of day’.

The ostracon was most probably a draughtsman’s trial piece. Apprentices learnt to sketch in red, before a more experienced draughtsman went over this outline in black, correcting any mistakes. While the flake may have had a functional use as a practice piece, it could have served a votive function – as a record of piety – in and of itself.

Although no one is named as being ‘beloved’ of the god (it seems unlikely to me that the name has broken off), the rest of the text all appears to have been written entirely in black. The hieroglyphs fit around the image, within the edges of the sherd – suggesting the text is by a different, more confident hand than the first red outline. By the addition of this short caption, a draughtsman’s sketch is transformed into an explicit depiction of a god.

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Texts in translation #4: an Akh-iqr-n-Ra stela of Ptah-hesy (Acc. no. 1554)

Acc. no. 1554 © Paul Cliff

This is a fine example of a rare type of stela, made to honour the ‘effective spirits of Re’ (Akhw iqr n Ra). Only around 60 are known, and these date exclusively to the later New Kingdom (c. 1295-1069 BC). This limestone example is 29cms in height and was found by W.M.F. Petrie in the first court of the mortuary temple of Merenptah (c. 1213-1203 BC) on the Theban west bank.

The text above the main figure (and recipient of the offerings) reads:

‘The effective spirit of Re, Ptah-hesy, justified’

Ptah-hesy (‘favoured-of-Ptah’) is shown in the classic pose of the ‘effective spirits’: seated and holding a lotus blossom to his face in one hand. In the other, Ptah-hesy holds an ankh – the sign of ‘life.’ This is extremely unusual in scenes depicting ordinary mortals, usually only being the privilege of deities and kings. These attributes indicate the supra-human state of the ‘effective spirits of Re’. They were believed to be the blessed dead, close ancestors who had made a successful transition to the afterlife and were able to journey with the sun god Re in his barque across the sky.

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Line drawing of Acc. no. 1554, after R. Demaree 1983, p. vi (A20)

The solar barque depicted in the upper register of this stela illustrates this concept. Those privileged enough to be on board this divine cruise ship across the heavens were thought particularly well-placed to intercede in the lives of the living and act beneficially for them. Prayers in the form of letters are known, which address the Akhwdirectly. Stelae such as this would have been dedicated to win the favour of the ‘effective spirits’, and were often set up by relatives.

The text above the figure of the donor of the stela identifies him:

‘Made by the guardian of the temple of millions of years, Pen-renut, justified, of Thebes.

We are not certain of the relationship of the two men. The ‘mansion of millions of years’ in which Pen-renut worked is not specified, but must be a mortuary temple on the Theban west bank where the cult of deceased kings would – it was hoped – be celebrated for ‘millions of years’. Here the term is probably intended to imply the mortuary temple of Merenptah, where the stela was found.

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Liverpool Ancient Worlds Summer School – Book now!

LIVERPOOL ANCIENT WORLDS SUMMER SCHOOL

30th July – 10th August 2012, University of Liverpool.

Study Latin and Greek Language, Egyptian Hieroglyphs (Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced), Sanskrit and Akkadian

Egyptology Summer School (30th July- 3rd August): ‘FROM AMARNA TO DEIR EL-MEDINA: NEW KINGDOM RESEARCH AT LIVERPOOL’

This week will comprise individual presentations by lecturing staff and associates on their current research. As well as making their cutting edge discoveries accessible to you, you will attain a detailed knowledge of this period of Egyptian history. Topics to be covered include excavations at a fortress of Ramesses II, new scientific research into Tutankhamun’s life and death, insights into the ancient tomb robbery trials, geophysical surveys at Saqqara, Nubian culture, and lots more. As much of this work is ongoing, you’ll have a privileged look at this unpublished research.

Speakers include: Professor Chris Eyre, Professor Mark Collier, Dr. Violaine Chauvet, Dr. Roland Enmarch, Dr. Glenn Godenho, Dr. Ian Shaw, Dr. Steven Snape, Dr. Joyce Tyldesley, Dr. Bob Connolly, Dr. Ashley Cooke and Dr. Campbell Price.

For more information on the summer school, visit the Liverpool Ancient Worlds website.

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