The colossal statue of Amenhotep III and Tiye is a monolith group statue of Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III of the eighteenth dynasty, his Great Royal Wife Tiye, and three of their daughters. It is the largest known dyad ever carved. The statue originally stood in Medinet Habu, Western Thebes.
The statue is made of limestone, its width is 4,4 m, its height is 7 m. The almond shaped eyes and curved eyebrows of the figures are of typical late 18th dynasty style. Amenhotep III wears the nemes headdress with uraeus, a false beard and a kilt; he is resting his hands on his knees. Queen Tiye is sitting on his left, her right arm is placed around her husband's waist. Her height is equal to that of the pharaoh, which shows her prominent status. She wears an ankle-length, close-fitting dress and a heavy wig with a vulture headdress, modius and double uraei. The cobras and the vulture are crowned, the proper right cobra wears the white crown of Upper Egypt, while the proper left one wears the red crown of Lower Egypt.
The three smaller figures depict three of their daughters. Princess Henuttaneb, standing between her parents, is depicted as a grown woman, in a close-fitting dress and a full wig with modius and plumes but without uraei (this is the only difference between her mother's headdress and hers). Next to Amenhotep stands the damaged figure of a younger daughter, Nebetah, while next to Tiye stands the even more damaged figure of another princess, whose name has been lost. The dyad is one of only two statues depicting Henuttaneb, and the only one of Nebetah.
The statue is likely to have been carved around the first sed festival of Amenhotep III. Arielle Kozloff writes that the age of the daughters depicted on the monument, especially that of Henuttaneb, and the style of Queen Tiye's wig, which was "at its most developed, nearly shrouding her face" suggests that the statue was made during the third decade of the king's reign. It is possible that it was made from the good quality limestone which was removed to create the open courtyard of TT192 – a huge tomb belonging to Queen Tiye's steward Kheruef, work on which was started around this time.
The eldest daughter of the royal couple, Sitamun is absent from the statue group, probably because she was elevated to the rank of great royal wife by Year 30 of Amenhotep's reign. Henuttaneb was the second or third daughter, born either before or after Iset, who became queen in Year 34. Henuttaneb is nowhere mentioned as a queen, but on this colossus she is described as "the companion of Horus, who is in his heart". This is the only instance of this queenly title being given to a princess, and her name is sometimes written in a cartouche, which may indicate that she was elevated to queen like Sitamun and Iset. The third princess on the statue, whose name is destroyed is sometimes tentatively identified as Iset, but Amenhotep may have had as many as sixteen daughters, not all of whom are known to us.
The statue belonged to the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III, which has been mostly destroyed since, but during its time was the largest temple complex in Thebes, surpassing even the Karnak temple. As it was built too close to the floodplain, less than two hundred years later it already stood in ruins and most of its stones were reused by later pharaohs for their own building projects. The place where the statue was found is likely to have been the south gate of the mortuary temple complex, as it is as far from the temple as the Colossi of Memnon at the east gate.
Tags: Egyptian Museum Cairo Egypt Egito museu museum Museu Egípcio sculpture escultura estátua statue arte colossal The Colossal Statue of Amenhotep III and Tiye Colossal statue of Amenhotep III and Tiye monolith Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III the eighteenth dynasty Great Royal Wife Tiye Tiye Amenhotep III faraó Medinet Habu Western Thebes Limestone The Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep III Kom el-Hettân the Pharaoh Amenhotep III Amenhetep III the New Kingdom the Western bank Henuttaneb Nebetah cca. 1360 BCE Cairo Museum
Mount Benben, according to Egyptian mythology, was where the creative god Atum sat. Benben stones are those that are at the top of the pyramids. This one was on the pyramid of Amenemhat III (aka. The Black Pyramid : flic.kr/p/Pi2Ktw ), the Temple of the Phoenix.
The inscriptions say something like, "Open your face to the king, so that he can see the lord of the horizon and can cross the sky".
In the Pyramid Texts, e.g. Utterances 587 and 600, Atum himself is at times referred to as "mound". It was said to have turned into a small pyramid, located in Heliopolis (Egyptian: Annu or Iunu), within which Atum was said to dwell. Other cities developed their own myths of the primeval mound. At Memphis, the god Tatenen, an earth god and the origin of "all things in the shape of food and viands, divine offers, all good things", was the personification of the primeval mound.
The Benben stone, named after the mound, was a sacred stone in the temple of Ra at Heliopolis (Egyptian: Annu or Iunu). It was the location on which the first rays of the sun fell. It is thought to have been the prototype for later obelisks and the capstones of the great pyramids were based on its design. The capstone or the tip of the pyramid is also called a pyramidion. In ancient Egypt, these were probably gilded so they shone in sunlight.
Many Benben stones, often carved with images and inscriptions, are found in museums around the world.
The bird deity Bennu, which was probably the inspiration for the phoenix, was venerated at Heliopolis, where it was said to be living on the Benben stone or on the holy willow tree.
According to Barry Kemp, the connection between the benben, the phoenix, and the sun may well have been based on alliteration: the rising, weben, of the sun sending its rays towards the benben, on which the benu bird lives. Utterance 600, § 1652 of the Pyramid Texts speaks of Atum as you rose up, as the benben, in the Mansion of the Benu in Heliopolis.
From the earliest times, the portrayal of Benben was stylized in two ways; the first was as a pointed, pyramidal form, which was probably the model for pyramids and obelisks. The other form was round-topped; this was probably the origin of Benben as a free standing votive object and an object of veneration.
During the Fifth Dynasty, the portrayal of benben was formalized as a squat obelisk. Later, during the Middle Kingdom, this became a long, thin obelisk.
In the Amarna Period tomb of Panehesy, the benben is seen as a large, round-topped stela standing on a raised platform.
The pyramidion, which is the capstone of a pyramid, was covered with inscriptions and religious symbols. Some of these were scratched off, leading researchers to conclude the pyramidion was never used or it was defaced during Akhenaten's rule.
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Benben was the mound that arose from the primordial waters Nu upon which the creator deity Atum settled in the creation myth of the Heliopolitan form of ancient Egyptian religion. The Benben stone (also known as a pyramidion) is the top stone of the pyramid. It is also related to the obelisk.
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A pyramidion (plural: pyramidia) is the uppermost piece or capstone of an Egyptian pyramid or obelisk, in archaeological parlance. Speakers of the Ancient Egyptian language referred to pyramidia as benbenet and associated the pyramid as a whole with the sacred benben stone. During Egypt's Old Kingdom, pyramidia were generally made of diorite, granite, or fine limestone, then covered in gold or electrum; during the Middle Kingdom and through the end of the pyramid-building era, they were built from granite. A pyramidion was "covered in gold leaf to reflect the rays of the sun"; during Egypt's Middle Kingdom pyramidia were often "inscribed with royal titles and religious symbols".
Very few pyramidia have survived into modern times. Most of those that remain are made of polished black granite, inscribed with the name of the pyramid's owner. Four pyramidia – the world's largest collection – are housed in the main hall of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Among them are the pyramidia from the so-called Black Pyramid of Amenemhat III at Dahshur and of the Pyramid of Khendjer at Saqqara.
A badly damaged white Tura limestone pyramidion, thought to have been made for the Red Pyramid of Sneferu at Dahshur, has been reconstructed and is on open-air display beside that pyramid; it presents a minor mystery, however, as its angle of inclination is steeper than that of the edifice it was apparently built to surmount.
Tags: Egyptian Museum Cairo Egypt Egito museu museum Museu Egípcio Benben Stone god Atum the pyramid of Amenemhat III the Temple of the Phoenix the temple of Ra at Heliopolis Heliopolis pyramidion The bird deity Bennu the phoenix Bennu bird Amenemhat III Cairo Museum the Pyramidion of the Pyramid of Amenemhet III Dahshur capstone benbenet polished black granite the main hall Black Pyramid of Amenemhat III the Middle Kingdom of Egypt 2055-1650 BC Amenemhet is Mighty Jacques de Morgan Imenemhat Qanefer Amenemhat is mighty and perfect The Dashur pyramid πυραμίς pyramís The colossal statue of Amenhotep III and Tiye Colossal statue of Amenhotep III and Tiye monolith Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III the eighteenth dynasty Great Royal Wife Tiye Tiye Amenhotep III faraó Medinet Habu Western Thebes Limestone The Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep III Kom el-Hettân the Pharaoh Amenhotep III Amenhetep III the New Kingdom the Western bank Henuttaneb Nebetah cca. 1360 BCE
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The gold mummy mask of King Amenemope, from the royal necropolis of Tanis discovered in 1939-1940 by Pierre Montet, the first intact Egyptian Pharaoh tomb ever discovered.
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This mask was part of the mummy-shaped coffin of gilded wood of Amenemope.
The mask is composed of thick sheets of gold molded with the features of the king. The round face of the king is surmounted by the uraeus, the royal cobra, which is attached to the forehead.
The cobra's long sinuous body descends from the headdress and coils round itself before raising its head. It is made of solid gold with inlays of red stone and blue turquoise. The pupils, the eyebrows, and the outlines of the eyes are bronze.
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Usermaatre Amenemope was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the 21st Dynasty. Ruled during 1001-992 or 993-984 years.
Tags: Egyptian Museum Royal Mummies Hall Cairo Egypt Egito museu museum Museu Egípcio esfinges sala Amarna Ramsés II Galerias Tutancâmon Midan Tahrir Tutancâmon Tomb of Tanis Tânis
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