Anthropoid sarcophagus of the priest Piay
The massive sarcophagus of the Piay made of Aswan rose granite belongs to the Egyptian collection of the Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim . Piay was the 19th / 20th century in the Ramesside period . Dynasty high priest and asset manager for the cult and business operations of the mortuary temple Amenhotep III. in Thebes West and the Sokar sanctuary attached to it (inventory number: PM 1887).
Location
The sarcophagus was found in the Theban necropolis Qurnet Murrai west of the temple of Amenhotep III. in a shaft grave . Although a photo documents the recovery, the precise location of the shaft grave has not been recorded. After its discovery, the sarcophagus was wound up like in antiquity and then transported to the Nile on rollers . Wilhelm Pelizaeus acquired the sarcophagus in the spring of 1911 from Service des Antiquités in consultation with Gaston Maspero , who had it recovered from a shaft grave in West Thebes (Qurnet Murai) especially for this purpose on Pelizaeus's account. Wilhelm Pelizaeus owed Georg Möller to indicate that the object was suitable for his collection . The sarcophagus arrived in Hildesheim in time for the opening of the Pelizaeus Museum in the summer of 1911.
size
The sarcophagus is 2.48 m long, 1.08 m wide, 1.23 m high and weighs 4.56 t.
description
The lid does not show a mummy , but the dead man in the costume of the living, bearded and with a long apron and angular porch. The wig falls down to the shoulders, which are bare like the entire upper body. This can be seen u. a. on the muscles and the exposed navel. The arms are stretched out and the hands are resting on the apron. This gesture is also known from statues and is interpreted as a prayer gesture. On the sides of the coffin tub, various deities are depicted who are responsible for the protection and integrity of the deceased and who support them on their way to the afterlife. Nephthys is depicted at the head end and Isis at the foot end . They protect the sarcophagus from head to toe. To the right and left are the four sons of Horus Amset , Duamutef , Kebechsenuef and Hapi, as well as Thot with an ibis head holding a standard. As is customary in the New Kingdom , the two udjat eyes as a protective symbol are not missing from this sarcophagus decoration.
literature
- Bettina Schmitz : The anthropoid sarcophagus of the Piay, Pelizaeus Museum 1887: Materials for a little-known object. In: Bettina Schmitz (Ed.): Festschrift Arne Eggebrecht : for her 65th birthday on March 12, 2000 (= Hildesheimer Ägyptologische Papers. Volume 48). Hildesheim 2002, pp. 89-106, pls. 19-22.
- Hans Kayser : The Egyptian antiquities in the Roemer-Pelizaeus-Museum in Hildesheim. Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim, Hildesheim 1973, p. 100.
- Albert Ippel , Günther Roeder : The monuments of the Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim. Curtius, Berlin 1921, pp. 100-101.
Web links
- Entry at The Global Egyptian Museum