ROYALTY 2

(oi) This mighty statue stands at one of the entrances to the Oriental Institute's Egyptian section. It was originally a statue of Tutankhamun but Horemhab took it over and had it reworked in his honor, a not unusual practice for an Egyptian king. About 1319-1292BCE (J3394-3421)

(oi) The back of the statue bears the official titles of King Horemhab, whose name means something like "Horus is in festival", perhaps indicating that he was born on or near a feast day of Horus. Horus, of course, was the god most closely associated with the kingship of ancient Egypt.

(oi) The left hand cartouche reads "Beloved of Amun, Horemhab". The bird and sun disk above this cartouche indicates that he is the Son of Ra. The theory being that each king was conceived on his mother by a visitation from Ra himself, taking on the physical appearance of the man whom she expected to be there. The next cartouche

(oi) Reading from right to left: the sedge and the bee are totemic signs meaning "The King of Upper and Lower Egypt". The group folowing them reads "Lord of the Two Lands", ancient Egypt considered itself two countries united in the king. The carthouche follows: "Sacred are the manifestations of Ra" which is Horemhab's official name as king. The group within the cartouche then finishes off by telling us that he is "Belove of Ra".

(oi) This statue is very impressive, so I'm giving you a walk-around along with some closeups. In the background in this picture is another very large piece, the big stela I show on page Stelae 1. The inscription in the last picture can be seen at the base on this rendition.

(oi) Yet another front view of the statue. We're moving counter-clockwise around it. Horemhab is striding forward confidently, leading with his left foot. Centuries later the Greeks, emerging from their own dark ages would produce statuary remakably similar to this style, which was already a staple of Egyptian portraiture.

(oi) Wanting to kill off the very memory of the Amarna period and Akhenaton, Horemhab dated his reign from the death of Amenhotep III, thus officially obliterating the memory of Akhenaton, Smenkhare, possibly one other king, Tutankhamun, and Aye. Quite a feat!

(ph) Ramesses III smashed an invasion of the "Sea People" who also wiped out the Hittite Empire and settled as Philistines in Canaan. But still, Egypt was weaker after the victory. One of his wives headed a conspiracy to replace him with her own son who had not been chosen for the successon. The plot was discovered but Ramesses III died during the investigation and trial, so the intrigue may have been partly successfull. 1186-1154BCE (J3527-3559)

(oi) The great Ramesses, the second of that name, was so preminent in the minds of the ancient Egyptians that eleven succeeding kings took his name, events unprecedented and unmatched in Egyptian history. Ramesses III defeated an invasion of the "Sea Peoples" which probably included some very early Greeks, some of whom later settled in Canaan, becamed semitized, and were knows as Philistines. These people gave their name to the land of Palestine.

(oi) Two tiles, not really connected with each other, showing the cartouches of Ramesses III.

(oi) Ruled during the long period of Egypt's decline. He was the son of Ramesses III. His tomb is exceptionally well decorated, but like all other royal tombs except one, it was robbed in antiquity. The entrance to the one intact tomb, that of Tutankhamun, was accidentally buried by the rubble which resulted from the digging of Ramesses VI's tomb. 1144-1136BCE (J3569-3677)

(oi) Ruling 600 years after Ramesses III, during the Late Period, an era of slow decline for Egypt, Apries fought wars in alliance with the Jews against Babylon's King Nebuchadnezzar. A Jewish colony was founded on Egypt's southern frontier at Elephantine. He was overthrown by an army revolt. 589-570BCE (J4124-4143)

(ph) One of the better known kings of the Late Period. He usurped the throne from Apries. Living only a hundred years before the great Athenian Century, he was well regarded by the Greeks, who were beginning to emerge into the full glory of their own civilization. Many of them immigrated to Egypt, where they honored his wisdom and legislation by regarding him as one of the Seven Sages. 570-526BCE (J4143-4187).

(ph) At his accession, Egypt was a weak and divided country but Osorkon managed to establish his rule over the whole of the Two Lands. He resisted Assyria's growing influence in the eastern Mediterranean area. 874-850BCE (J3839-3863)

(ph) A sed festival was supposed to be held in jubilee of a king's 30th year on the throne. Osorkon, like some other kings, held his earlier anyway. This fragment shows him participating in one of the ceremonies.

(ph) Osorkon's hands can be seen at the extreme left offering the eye of Horus to the gods Atum, the creator god (left of center) and behind him, Shu, the god of air and space.