Anubis Shrine

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Anubis Shrine
Tutankhamun jackal.jpg
material Wood, stuccoed, lacquered and gilded
Dimensions H. 118 cm; L. 270 cm; W. 52 cm;
origin Valley of the Kings , KV62 , Tutankhamun's tomb
time New Kingdom , 18th Dynasty , Tutankhamun period
place Cairo , Egyptian Museum , JE 61444

The Anubis shrine comes from the tomb treasure of Tutankhamun ( 18th Dynasty , New Kingdom ). The grave ( KV62 ) was discovered almost untouched by Howard Carter on November 4, 1922 in the Valley of the Kings in West Thebes . The object with the find number 261 is today as an exhibit with the inventory number JE 61444 in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo .

Find history

Floor plan of KV62 (The Tomb of Tutankhamun)
1) Treasure Chamber 2) Burial Chamber 3) 3rd Doorway 4) Antechamber 5) Annex 6) 4th Doorway 7) 2nd Doorway 8) Passage 9) 1st Doorway 10) Staircase A) Gypsum Wall B) Wall C) Niche

The Anubis Shrine was located behind the unwalled entrance that leads from the burial chamber (J) into the so-called “treasure chamber” (Ja). The shrine with the Anubis figure lying on it stood on a kind of sledge ("palankin") with two carrying bars and was oriented to the west, the afterlife. Behind it stood the canopic shrine, which contained the canopic box with the four canopic jars and the king's entrails. During the work in the burial chamber, the entrance to the "treasure chamber" ( Store Room ) was closed with wooden boards so that the objects inside were not damaged by the clearance work in the burial chamber. The investigation and clearing of the "treasure chamber" began in the 5th excavation season (September 22, 1926 - May 3, 1927) and Carter describes the Anubis Shrine in his excavation journal for the first time on October 23, 1926.

Anubis figure

Anubi.jpg

The figure of the god Anubis , depicted completely in animal form, was attached to the lid of the shrine. The jackal lying on the shrine is made of wood covered with black paint. The insides of the ears, the eyebrows, the edges of the eyelids of the resting animal, as well as the collar and the knotted band around the neck, the ends of which lie over the animal's legs, are made of gold leaf . The white of the eyes consists of deposits of calcite and the pupils of obsidian . The claws are made of silver , which in ancient Egypt was valued as more valuable than gold .

The Anubis figure was wrapped in a linen shirt, which , according to the hieroglyphic inscription in ink, dates from the 7th year of King ( Pharaoh ) Akhenaten's reign . Underneath was a very fine, gauze-like linen cloth that was "tied at the front of the neck". A scarf was wrapped around the neck of the figure, in which two rows of lotus and cornflowers were woven and which was tied in a bow at the back of the neck of the animal.

Between the front paws of the animal was a clerk range with the names of Akhenaten and Nefertiti's eldest daughter Meritaton .

The figure of Anubis was separated from the lid of the shrine on October 25, 1926, so that one day later it could be transported together with the shrine on the sledge (palankin) through the burial chamber undamaged from the grave and brought to the laboratory.

shrine

Pectoral with the goddess Nut, Egyptian Museum Cairo (JE 61944)

The shrine is trapezoidal. Howard Carter referred to it in his notes as a pylon due to its shape , as can be found at the great temples in Karnak or Philae . Like the lying jackal, it is also made of wood, with a layer of stucco and finally covered with gold leaf. The main decoration is made up of the Djed pillar , a symbol of duration and which is closely linked to the god Osiris , and the Isis knot (also tit amulet), which like the ankh can also stand for life and is a symbol of the goddess Isis . These signs can also be found on the outermost shrine in the burial chamber, which surrounded three other shrines and finally the king's sarcophagus. On all sides of the small Anubis Shrine, there are inscriptions on the upper edge (horizontally) and on the sides (vertical). The inscriptions name two manifestations of Anubis: Imiut ( Jmj wt - "The Wrapper") and "Chenti-Sech-netjer" ( Ḫntj-sḥ-nṯr - "The first of the divine hall"). There is no inscription on the base.

Four small compartments and one large compartment are incorporated into the interior of the shrine. Despite being robbed, they contained a total of various pieces of jewelry, amulets and everyday objects, the use of which is not entirely clear. Howard Carter suspected that these additions were related to rituals for mummification . For example, there were miniature beef thighs and small figures in the form of mummies. The amulets included small figures of the god Thoth and a falcon god, who presumably represents Re-Harachte , as well as a papyrus scepter . In the compartment that held the jewelry, there were eight pectorals without chains or counterweights, wrapped in linen and sealed with a seal. Presumably these were pieces of jewelry belonging to the king or those of the eight priests who had accompanied the procession to the tomb. In one of the pectorals showing the winged sky goddess Nut , Howard Carter found that this originally contained the names ( throne and proper names ) Akhenaten and had been reworked for Tutankhamun.

Of the eight pectorals, three stone scarabs were incorporated. One of them is special because it contains Tutankhamun's heart scarab made of green feldspar with stylized, open wings between the goddesses Isis and Nephthys. In the winged sun disk is (also wing Sun ), a symbol of the god Horus . On the back there is a saying from the Book of the Dead for the heart, which warns the king's heart not to bear false witness against him. Usually these so-called heart scarabs were inserted into the linen bandages when the mummy was wrapped, mostly near the heart.

Use and meaning

Re-creation of the find situation: replica of the Anubis shrine, behind the canopic shrine

The shrine was located on a kind of sledge, also known as a “palankin”, which was provided with two carrying bars on both the front and back. It is therefore assumed that the Anubis shrine was used in the funeral procession of the king and was finally placed in the "treasury" in front of the canopic shrine. This and the orientation of the Anubis figure and the shrine towards the west, where according to ancient Egyptian belief the afterlife lies, indicates the role of the god Anubis as guardian of the Theban necropolis . This is made clear by a small brick (clay tablet) made of unfired clay, also known as a magic brick , which was found at the entrance to the “treasure chamber” in front of the shrine. This brick was thus the fifth magic brick in Tutankhamun's tomb. Four that are aligned with the four cardinal points are common. The small brick made of unfired clay was provided with a miniature torch and charcoal. Zahi Hawass concluded that the fifth brick was supposed to protect the treasure from grave robbers.

According to Carter, this brick was placed at the entrance to the treasury for a reason, as it contained a magic formula designed to protect the deceased:

It is I who hinder the sand from choking the secret chamber, and who repel that one who would repel him with the desert flame. I have set aflame the desert (?), I have caused the path to be mistaken. I am for the protection of the deceased.
“It is I who prevents the sand from suffocating the secret chamber, and who rejects those who reject it with the desert flame. I set the desert (?) On fire, it is my fault if the wrong path is taken. I am there to protect Osiris (the deceased) ”.

The inscription on this brick was the origin of the curse of the pharaoh , which was reproduced in the global press at the time in different versions and not in the original translation.

In fact, this is a paragraph from Proverb 151 in the Egyptian Book of the Dead :

“It is I who prevents the sand from blocking the hidden, and who rejects him who rejects (himself) to the torch of the desert. I set the desert on fire, I led the way (of the enemy) astray. I am the protection of the NN "

Of further importance is the figure of the jackal lying on the shrine itself, which in this representation is written in hieroglyphics ( Gardiner list , symbol E16) for the god Anubis. This hieroglyph, however, also denotes the title “Who is above the secrets”, so that the god presumably has a double function in the sense of a guardian and a keeper of secrets.

Comparable representations

An Anubis figure, similar to that in Tutankhamun's tomb, was found in the tomb ( KV57 ) of King Haremhab in the Valley of the Kings, which, however, lacked the gemstone inlays.

A representation of jackals lying on a shrine can also be found, for example, in the mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut in Deir el-Bahari . The animals are facing each other and also wear a collar and scarf around their necks. The knotted cloth resembles hieroglyph V7 in the Gardiner list :
V7

literature

Web links

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ Howard Carter: The Tomb of Tut-ench-Amun. Wiesbaden 1981, p. 170.
  2. ↑ Rolf Felde: Egyptian gods. 2nd enlarged and improved edition. R. Felde Eigenverlag, Wiesbaden 1995, p. 6.
  3. ^ The Griffith Institute. Tutankhamun: Anatomy of an Excavation. The Howard Carter Archives .: Interior of the Anubis Shrine , accessed September 28, 2015
  4. ↑ Nicholas Reeves: The Complete Tutankhamun - The King. The tomb. The Royal Treasure. London 2000, pp. 133-134.
  5. ^ Zahi Hawass: Discovering Tutankhamun. From Howard Carter to DNA. University Press, Cairo 2013, ISBN 978-977-416-637-2 , p. 105.
  6. ↑ MV Seton-Williams: Tutankhamun. The Pharaoh. The grave. The gold treasure. Luxembourg 1980, p. 142.
  7. ^ Zahi Hawass: Discovering Tutankhamun. From Howard Carter to DNA. Cairo 2013, p. 106.
  8. ^ Zahi Hawass: Discovering Tutankhamun. From Howard Carter to DNA. Cairo 2013, p. 215.
  9. ↑ Howard Carter's excavation journal , October 29, 1926 At: .griffith.ox.ac.uk ; last accessed September 26, 2015.
  10. ↑ Howard Carter: The Tomb of Tut-ench-Amun. Wiesbaden 1981, p. 170.
  11. ↑ Zahi Hawass: Anubis Shrine. (= King Tutankhamun. The Treasures Of The Tomb. ). London 2007, p. 158.
  12. ↑ Excerpt from Erik Hornung : The Egyptian Book of the Dead. Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf / Zurich 1997 (unchanged photomechanical reprint of the 1979 edition) ISBN 3-7608-1037-3 , p. 320.
  13. ↑ Note: Osiris always designates the deceased in such grave texts: "Osiris NN"
  14. ↑ IES Edwards: Tutankhamun. The grave and its treasures. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1997, ISBN 3-7857-0876-9 , p. 153.
  15. ^ Theban Mapping Project: KV57, Wooden statue of Anubis jackal (Ref .: 12656). ( Memento of the original from December 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. On: thebanmappingproject.com ; last accessed September 26, 2015. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.thebanmappingproject.com