66 TPIE <strong>XIth</strong> <strong>dynasty</strong> TEMPLE AT DEIR EL-BAHAKI metal necklace which covered the fiTce of the king, wliose fe<strong>at</strong>ures had to he slightly fl<strong>at</strong>tened or were left rough and unfinished for the fixing of the necklace. This accounts for the rough blocking-out of the king's face. Tlio cow wears between her horns the lunar disk, a!)ove which are two fe<strong>at</strong>hers. It is the usual i-epresent<strong>at</strong>ion of H<strong>at</strong>hor, the same as on the st<strong>el</strong>es and in the Book of the Dead. She is the goddess of the mountain ; she comes out of her cave and goes towards the river to the marshes, where she was supposed to have suckled llorus. In the Gre<strong>at</strong> Temple, where she comes to the queen and licks her hand,' she says to her, " I have wandered through the northern marshland, when I stopped <strong>at</strong> Khebt, protecting my Horus (child)." In the Book of the Dead, immedi<strong>at</strong><strong>el</strong>y <strong>at</strong> the foot of the mountain out of which she comes, we see quite a forest of high papyrus plants. Here the only way of representing them was to sculpture these plants on the sides of the neck. <strong>The</strong> w<strong>at</strong>er is close to her forefeet, and the buds and flowers i-each to the top of her neck. <strong>The</strong> purpose of this r<strong>at</strong>her extraoi'dinaiy represent<strong>at</strong>ion is to show th<strong>at</strong> H<strong>at</strong>hor is the divine mother of the king, as she was of Horus, whom she suckled in the marshes of Khebt. She says it to the queen in the Gre<strong>at</strong> Temple,' " I fill thy majesty with life and liai)[)iness, as I have done to my Horus (child) in the West of Khebt. I have suckled thy majesty with m)' breasts. I am thy mother who foi-med thy limbs and cre<strong>at</strong>ed thy beauties." We have here a characteristic example of the aim of Egyptian sculpture. <strong>The</strong> wish of the artist was to be understood, and he did not care whether the way in which he ex[)ressed liis thouo-ht was unreal and against the laws of n<strong>at</strong>ure. He wanted to show th<strong>at</strong> tiic goddess, coming out of a mountain, went into a marsh, and he placed a bunch of w<strong>at</strong>er-plants on butli ' <strong>Deir</strong> <strong>el</strong> <strong>Bahari</strong> IV., pi. 94. - IhuL, pi. 96, p. 4. sides of the animal. A Greek artist would never have done anything disagreeing so complet<strong>el</strong>y with the truth. Howevei', we have to admire the Egyptian artist, who by this convention did not spoil the lieauty of his cre<strong>at</strong>ion. <strong>The</strong> <strong>el</strong>fect of these plants is not unfavourable, especially when seen from the front. It does not divert the <strong>at</strong>tention from the admirable mod<strong>el</strong>ling which distin- guishes the work, and from the life and ex- pression which is so marv<strong>el</strong> louslv reproduced in the head. According to the judgment of experts, this cow is perhaps one of the finest represen- t<strong>at</strong>ions of an animal th<strong>at</strong> antiquity has left us ; but while in Greece we sliould certainly know the author of such an admirable cre<strong>at</strong>ion, in Egypt it is anonymous. <strong>The</strong> idea of a st<strong>at</strong>ue or a painting ]-eflecting the mind and conception of one individual man, of being his property, is un- known to the Egyptians. <strong>The</strong>y may reach, as in this case, the highest degree of art, neverthe- less for them it remains a product of industry, the workmansliip (if which may be admired, but of which tliey do not give the credit to the author, who remains unknoAvn. On the neck, between the papyrus buds, we find the cartouche of Amenhetep II. It was not added l<strong>at</strong>er; it has been engraved <strong>at</strong> the same time as the plants ; thus it is clear th<strong>at</strong> the cow was made for him. it is he who is suckled by the goddess, and wlio stands under lier head. Are we to suppose th<strong>at</strong> tiie chap<strong>el</strong> was not finished when Tiiothmes III. died? Nothino' in the sculptures indic<strong>at</strong>es th<strong>at</strong> he was not alive when the shrine was adorned Shall we admit th<strong>at</strong> Amenhetep II. replaced tlie cow which Thothmes III. had dedic<strong>at</strong>ed with liis name by one bearing his own P We have no proof of it, but it seems probable. Had we any record of an associ<strong>at</strong>ion of Thothmes III. with his son, we might imagine th<strong>at</strong> Tiiothmes III. had dedic<strong>at</strong>ed the cow with his son's name in order to establish more strongly his titles to the royal power, by showing th<strong>at</strong> he was the son of H<strong>at</strong>hor ; but
THK IJAI'IIOK SIIUIXK. 67 we have no such n'conl. <strong>The</strong> cartouche of to tlie goddess, lie caused the cow with 1 lis Aincnhetep is the lirst one, the coron<strong>at</strong>ion cartoudie, showing th<strong>at</strong> he is a king in full power, wlio has horn crowned and whose " royal f<strong>at</strong>her's name to he taken out, and his own |>iit in its place. Cow and chap<strong>el</strong> have now heen removed to name" has hcen dill V fixed by the priests. Wf the Cairo Museum, and constitute one of its must conclude th<strong>at</strong>, wisliiiii;- to iiiakc an ollering I chii f nin.iments.
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