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.
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