Through the Eras

Musicsound. These musicians and their instrument wereunique to the Karnak temples of the Amarna period.Even the tombs of this period did not depict the giantlyre.Pair of clappers in the form of human hands. BROOKLYN MU-SEUM OF ART, 49.58.1-2, CHARLES EDWIN WILBOUR FUND. REPRO-DUCED BY PERMISSION.played the harp, lute, and lyre. Usually these instrumentswere only played by women in other contexts.In fact the harp, lute, lyre, and oboe ensemble was thetypical female band that played at earlier Eighteenthdynastybanquets. This combination of instruments,lacking only the oboe, reflects a general Amarna Periodtendency to break down barriers between thesexes. Queen Nefertiti, for example, took on typicallymale activities such as ceremonially smiting Egypt’s enemiesat the temple in Karnak. The other male ensembleduring this period is composed of a large groupof men—up to seventeen—chanting and clapping tothe rhythm of a barrel-shaped drum. This drum wasprimarily a military instrument in other time periods.These scenes also occur only at Karnak during Akhenaten’sreign.FOREIGN MUSICIANS DURING THE AMARNA PE-RIOD. Male foreign musicians who played in Akhenaten’stemples in Karnak are identified by their unusualclothing and instruments. They wore conical hats andlong kilts with three flounces. They also wore blindfolds.They played both the giant lyre and the handheldlyre. Two musicians played the giant lyre at thesame time. This lyre was taller than the musicians.They each stood on one side of it and seem from therelief sculptures to have played at the same time. Therewere more strings on a giant lyre than on the smaller,hand-held lyre. These additional strings suggest eitherthat the giant lyre had a greater range of notes than ahand-held lyre or that the two musicians played stringstuned to the same note simultaneously. If both playedthe same note, this would increase the volume of theMUSIC IN THE CULT OF THE ATEN. The cult ofthe Aten, Akhenaten’s new religion, included music inthe palace that honored the king as the earthly embodimentof the god. In the “Great Hymn to the Aten” theauthor made a specific connection between offeringfood to the Aten and music. Food offerings were thegod’s meal. The god consumed the spirit of the foodwhile priests or even the royal family acting as priestsconsumed the physical food. While everyone ate, musicplayed. The relief sculptures from the temples at Karnaksuggest that lyres and even lutes were included inthese offering ceremonies in addition to the more traditionalsistra played throughout Egyptian history duringritual chanting.SOURCESLisa Manniche, Music and Musicians in Ancient Egypt (London:British Museum Press, 1991).THE BLIND SOLO HARPIST ANDHIS SONGMUSICAL GENRE AND ARTISTIC CONVENTION. Asearly as 1768 when James Bruce discovered the tomb ofRamesses III, Westerners have been aware of the idea ofthe blind harpist in Egyptian art. Bruce discovered twoimages of a blind harpist who sang about death in thetomb. Bruce had discovered what proved to be a verycommon theme in Egyptian art. At least 47 tombs inthe Theban necropolis depict blind harp players. Thismotif decorated tombs of nobles and royalty. The blindharpist entertained at banquets but sang of death andlife after death. It was only in the mid-twentieth centurythat M. Lichtheim conducted a full study of the blindharpists’ songs. The songs reveal the history of Egyptianattitudes toward death and the afterlife, although theconvention of the blind or blindfolded harpist remainsan intriguing mystery.EARLIEST BLIND HARPISTS’ SONGS. The blindharpists’ songs were carved on tomb walls and on stelaein the Middle Kingdom and the New Kingdom.Their lyrics discuss the nature of death and the afterlifebut are not necessarily part of the funeral ritual.Because their purpose was contemplative rather thanritual words to effect the transformation from thisworld to the next, the authors of these lyrics contem-174 Arts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.)