File:Ancient Egypt ((198-)) (18008625039).jpg

Title: Ancient Egypt
Identifier: ancientegypt00fiel (find matches)
Year: [198- [198-]] ([190 [190s)
Authors: Field Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Egyptology
Publisher: Chicago : Field Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

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Wall C The two registers shown here depict variations of the same theme: the deceased and his wife, seated within the tomb, recei\'e offerings from theh\'ing to ensure their continued well-being. In contrast with the pre\ious two walls, the paintings here were never finished. This is mosth' true for the te.xts which, when thev are present at all. were drawn only in outline and not filled in. Most of the figures were finished in paint, but fine details on the offerings and much of the couple on the upper left side were never completely done. In the upper register, two rows of men bring in food and bouquets ffopj and jars of oil with wicks fbof- toiti). This lower group is led bv theSei»!-priest, wearing a leopard-skin, who regularlv presided at Eg\i)tian funerals and is seen here stretching out his riglit hand and uttering a spell. Nakht andTaw\-are described as ""rec[eiv]inggi[fts) of.. .with which Aniun), pre-eminent among the holv ones, is well sui)plied during the course of even' dav." In the lower register, the more conspicuous figure of theSf/n-priest was destroved bv agents of Akhenaten, perhaps because this king claimed for himself the right to act as sole intermediaiv be- tween mortal men and the gods. Behind him, the upper row of offering bearers are "gi\'ing forelegs and choice cuts of meat. Words spoken four times— "Be pure, be purel"—on behalf of the Osiris, the Astronomer of Amun, Nakht." The men in the lower row are seen earning in slaughtered birds and (irink offerings, but the te.xts here were not even fully drawn, and thev are completely missing from the rest of this register. The tomb owner and his wife are seated at the lef^ end of each register. On top, Nakht sniffs a flower (incompletelv drawn bv the artist), while below he holds a boucjuet, perhaps a punning refer- ence to the similaritv in the words for "bouquet" and "life" (both written 'cinkh'). It is possible that these offering processions represent the annual Feiist of the Vallew during which the deceased's relatives visited tlie tomb and presented the tomb owner's statue with the bouquet of Amun. A simi- lar practice, adapted to the Muslim religion, sur- \'i\'es in Egv-pt to this dav. 21

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