Triad of King Menkawre

Triad of King Menkawre

This triad represents King Mn k3w Re standing between Goddess Hathor and the local Goddess of the nome (town) Inpw.

King Mn k3w Re is the fifth king of the fourth dynasty and the son of king Khafre.

 He is the owner of the third pyramid in Giza, ruled for about 25 years but he died before completing his pyramid complex which was finished by his son Shepsesskaf.

The triad is made out of schist and it was found in the valley temple of king in Giza.

This triad is one of five statues were found, three of them are in the Egyptian museum while the forth and the fragments of the fifth are in the Boston museum of Fine Arts.

The king is shown standing between goddess Hathor and the local goddess of the city Inpw, wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt and having a false royal beard and wearing the royal short kilt called šndyt. He also holding sticks.

His left leg is stepping forward which is a traditional pose in ancient Egypt, the artist succeeded in showing the facial features in fine way represented in full round , remarkable eye brows , wide eyes , delicate nose , high cheek bones and thin calm mouth .

The details of the body are made in perfect way represented in the muscle of the chests, the arms and the legs, the knees and the toes.

Goddess Hathor, to the right of the king, she is goddess of love, music and maternity.

The name of Hathor means the house of Horus, her main cult center was at Dendara and she tooks tree forms: completely as co with sun disk between her two horns, completely as a lady with the sun disk between her two horns, having the body of a lady and a head of a cow with the sun disk.

Statue of King Zoser

Statue of King Zoser

The statue of king Zoser (Dshr), which means the sacred one, is made out of painted limestone which was brought from Tura, Ma'sara and Mukkatam hill.

It was found in the funerary complex of the king in Saqqara inside a room called "Serdab".

King Zoser was son of queen "Ny ma't hab" the wife of king "khaskhemwy" the last king of the second dynasty. According to Turin papyrus, He ruled for 19 years but the Egyptian historian "Manethon" said that he ruled for 29 years.

He had two tombs, one is a memorial mastaba at Beit el Khalaf, south of Gerga and the other one is the step pyramid at Saqqara.

His name was inscribed on stela called "famine stela" dates back to the Ptolemaic period and mentions that there were a great famine during the reign of Zoser because the River Nile failed to rise for seven years so zoser asked for the advice from Imhotep who said that king Zoser should gain the favor of Khnum god of the first cataract. Therefore, ZOser went to the first cataract and presented offerings and gifts to the temple of Khnum. As a result, the Nile raised and Egypt was saved.

The statue of Zoser is almost life size statue and it represents the king while being seating on high back throne and wearing the "Heb Sed" garment.

What is "Heb Sed"??

It's an important festival in ancient Egypt, when the king rules for about thirty years; he celebrates the "Heb Sed" to renew his rule for another thirty years.

However some kings used to celebrate these festivals without waiting for thirty years.

The "Heb Sed" garment envelopes the whole body while leaving parts of the hands and legs free. His right arm is on his chest while his left hand is left open over his lab.

The king wears the nms headdress over a heavy wig, which has two straps on the front and a third one on the back and his ears are left exposed.

From the artistic point of view, the heavy hair wig and the beard protected the neck of the statue from being broken.

The king wears a long false beard which is partly broken and has a thin moustache which is unusual feature because kings used to shave their moustache and bead. (As sort of purification)

Looking to the face, the eyes were inlaid but they were fallen and the nose is broken.

We realize that the artist avoided the details of the body and the arms. Also, he didn't succeed in making the correct proportion that the statue has broad shoulder and narrow legs. Beside the fingers are tall and the feet are bigger than the normal size. All of these disadvantages were because the artist wasn't skillful enough and still made his first steps in this art.

On the pedestal of the statue, there are hieroglyphic inscription represented the name of the king.

 

Htp di.f

Htp di.f

The kneeling statue of htp di.f, a high priest who lived in the time of the first three kings of the second dynasty, considered to be on of the earliest private statues in ancient Egypt.

It is made out of pink granite and was discovered at Memphis (Mit-Rahina nowadays) in 1888.

The statue represents htp di.f in the kneeling position having the prayer attitude that he rests his arms upon his legs, over his head, he is wearing a stepped hair wig and the artist had shown the facial features in good way represented in the full round face , marked eyebrows , wide eyes , high cheekbones, delicate nose and thin mouth. He also wears a short kilt. 

We notice that the statue has short neck and the arms attached to the body. This is to protect the statue from being broken because the neck and the arms considered the weak points of the statue which could be easily damaged.

There are also some disadvantages in the statue represented in: the knees are flat, the details of the body are not clearly shown like the chest and the arms and the proportions of the body are not correct so the head are so big to the size of the body. These disadvantages in the statue is because the artist wasn't skillful enough, having limited experience and was making his first steps in the art of making statues.

On the front of the base, the name and the titles of htp di.f are inscribed in raised relief and also the name of his father is written. Looking to the back of the statue, on the right shoulder, there are three " srkh" which is the façade of the royal palace surmounted by the falcon god Horus, inside each one inscribed the names of the first three kings of the second dynasty: "htp skhemwy" (the two powers are in peace), "Ra nb" (the lord of Re) and " Ny ntr" (who belongs to the god)

Some scholars believed that the statue was made for htp di.f in the end of the third dynasty not the second dynasty when he lived depended on: the style of the kneeling position and technique of inscription with raised relief on the frontal base appeared towards the end of the third dynasty and the is a statue in Berlin museum, which dates back to the end of the third dynasty and it resembles the style of the statue of htp di.f.