File:Ancient Egypt ((198-)) (18168352026).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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WallD The scenes depicted in the two registers shown on this wall had been represented in Eg\-ptian tombs since almost the ver\'beginning. During the earliest historic periods, when tombs ofhigh officials clus- tered around the kings" p\Tamids near Memphis, the Eg^-ptian Delta lax- nearb\'. MostK' unde\'eloped ibr agriculture at tliat time, it was a hunter's paradise, the haunt offish, fowl, hippopotami, and crocodiles. The cliiTiate of the Delta was also well suited to the cultivation of the \ine, and wine produced by Delta estates was nrtualh- the exclusive preserve of the upper classes. Life be\-ond the tomb was incon- ceivable without these trappings of the good life on earth. At the same time, the EgNptians" admiration tor unbounded nature was checked by a deep respect for orderliness. EgNpt, as a farming nation, owed its prosperity to the social organization that permitted full exploitation of the annual Nile flood. The Delta, with its untamed, wide open spaces, was also a threatening place where the powers of chaos held swav. The subjugation of nature thus represented a \ictor\' over the adverse threes the deceased might meet in the ne.xt world. Moreover, the channelling of potentially destructive elements into constructive paths was an expression ofM«'a(, the cosmic harmony that was seen as the ideal condi- tion of the universe. Fisliingaudfoivliu^iit the marshes is shown in the upper register. In two representations that are mirror-images of one another, Nakht stands in a reed skiff. Members of his famih' hold him upright by grasping his legs and midsection, as he spears fish Iriglit) and wields, along with his son, a boomerang against the startled birds who rise in a cloud from the dense thickets of reeds and papvrus sta]V.s(left>. The artist who painted this scene neglected to draw in the harpoon on the right, but two fish are nonetheless seen being lifted from the water between the two boats, while the te.xt on the upper right speaks of Naklit's "penetrating the pools and traversing the mar.shes, amusing himself (and) spearing fishes." Abo\-e the scene on the left, the deceased is "amusing himself, watching pleasant things (and) practicing iield sports, consisting of the work of the Marsh Goddess, by the companion of the Lady of the Fish- and Fowl-catch, the Astronomer of [Amun...], the scribe Nakht, the triumphant, and his sister, the chantress of [Amun], the lady of the house, Tauy. She says: "Amuse yourself with the work of the Marsh GoddessI (As for) the marsh bird, his moment is appointed for hini"" The da\'"s catch is gathered up by the servants on the right—note one of them, with his sandals strapped to his arm—and brought before the two tomb owniers who appear seated at the left end of the register, "amusing themselves (and) watching pleas- ant things consisting of the products of the marshes of Lower Egypt." A keen obser\'ation of nature went into the composition of scenes like this, which por- tray many kinds of birds and insects: note especially the nests of eggs and the butterflies, the marsh fowl struck in midflight b\- boomerangs, and the dragon- flies. Besides remo\ing the name of Amun, Akhena- ten's agents also hacked out the tomb owners pet goose from the front deck of each boat, presumably because the bird was sacred to Amun. A cat, who had crawled up the stem and had its mouth around the neck of one of the fledgling birds in a nest above the prow of the boat on the left, was also erased: it may have been the animars identifica- tion with Mut, the consort of Amun, that drew the 23

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