Knife from the Gebel el-Arak
| Knife from the Gebel el-Arak | |
|---|---|
 The front of the blade is decorated using the "ripple flake" technique
|
|
| material | Flint blade , ivory handle (hippopotamus) |
| Dimensions | H. 25.5 cm; |
| origin | Upper Egypt , Gebel el-Arak |
| time | Predynastic Period , Naqada IIIa , around 3200 BC Chr. |
| place | Paris , Louvre , E 11517 |
The Gebel el-Arak knife is a magnificent knife made of ivory and flint from the predynastic period ( Naqada IIIa, around 3200 BC) of Egyptian history . In 1914 it was acquired by Georges Bénédite in the art trade for the Louvre , where it is now on display in room 20. The Gebel el-Arak (جبل العركى), a plateau near the central Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi , was given as the site. The knife became famous for the decoration of its handle, on which both motifs of early Egyptian and Near Eastern art are depicted.
Dimensions, materials and manufacturing
blade
The blade is made of yellowish flint and has a weight of 92.3 grams. Your exact measurements are:
| Length: | 18.8 cm |
| Width of the middle of the blade: | 5.7 cm |
| Thickness of the middle of the blade: | 0.6 cm |
| Length of the handle tongue: | 3.0 cm |
| Width of the grip tongue: | 3.7 cm |
The blade was manufactured in four steps: First, a blank was made. Then both sides were polished. In the third step, the front was decorated using the so-called "ripple flake" technique, ie. H. Starting at the end of the handle, grooves were cut off in a counterclockwise direction, which form a jagged ridge in the middle of the blade. This was probably done with pointed tools made of copper and had a purely decorative purpose. Finally, the back of the knife was provided with a beveled edge. The cutting edge was provided with tiny teeth.
Handle
|
|
| Knife from the Gebel el-Arak, pommel side | Knife from Gebel el-Arak, knobless side |
The hippopotamus leg was used as the material for the handle . It is very flat and has a central, pierced knob on one side, which was used to attach the knife to the belt by means of a strap. The handle has the following dimensions:
| Length: | 9.5 cm |
| Width at the base: | 4.2 cm |
| Average strength: | 1.2 cm |
| Length of the pommel: | 2.0 cm |
| Width of the pommel: | 1.3 cm |
| Thickness of the pommel: | 1.0 cm |
The handle has a 5.5 cm deep cavity on its underside, into which the 3 cm long handle tongue was inserted. A cuff made of gold leaf was probably originally inserted between the two , of which remains were found on both the handle and the blade. Probably by means of a resin , both parts of the knife were firmly glued together.
Relief decoration
Knob side
First row
The top row of the pommel side shows a motif that appears frequently in the Near Eastern art of this era and is referred to in research as the “master of the animals”. A man can be seen looking to the left and grasping two male lions standing on their hind legs . The man is dressed in a smooth skirt that covers half of his lower legs and ends in a clearly recognizable bulge at waist level. A full beard reaches down to his chest. His headgear has been interpreted differently. It consists of a bead and a semicircular attachment. The bulge could represent a diadem , the attachment would then be seen as a skullcap. The latter appears problematic, however, since the skullcap would have moved very far back here, so another interpretation seems more likely, namely that the bulge and semicircular attachment are to be viewed together as a kind of hood .
The man's arms are bent. With them he grabs the two lions standing to his left and right. The left lion touches him with his left paw, the right lion with his right. A characteristic of the lions is their enormous size.
Second row
The second scene shows two dogs opposing each other antithetically . Both wear a collar and each raise a front paw with which they touch the knob between them. The shoulders of the animals are particularly emphasized, as the skin folds that occur there are arranged in a wide band of parallel ridges. This rather unnatural representation differs significantly from the body shapes (but not from the sequence of movements) of the other animals shown.
Third row
In the third row there are two animals facing left. To the left of the pommel you can see a gazelle , to the right of it an ibex . The back of the ibex is no longer preserved. Georges Bénédite already believed that this scene had to encompass the other side of the knife handle: there is a man shown holding a rope in his hands that runs to the left. It has been suggested that this rope could represent a lasso that loops around the Ibex's left hind leg.
Fourth row
Next, a clockwise group of animals and a hunter are shown. The hunter is very fragmented , only the right leg, the left thigh, the phallus pocket and the belly can be seen. He probably once held a leash in one hand that led to the dog in the bottom row. To the right of the hunter, there is an ibex standing on its hind legs, turning its head backwards. The left front leg is bent, the right one hangs down. Bénédite believed that she could also see a loop of lasso on the Ibex's right rear thigh. It is more likely, however, that it is the remains of a spear or stick that the hunter once held in his hands.
To the right of the ibex are two other animals: A lioness can be seen laying her forelegs on the rear of a cattle. The cattle are only incompletely preserved, the front part is practically completely lost. Nevertheless, the animal can be clearly identified as a cow, as the remains of a horn can still be seen.
Fifth row
In the bottom row, there are two right-handed animals. On the left you can see a dog that is very similar to the two specimens from the second row. He belongs to the same race and also wears a collar. A line is attached to this, which apparently leads to the hunter who occupies the bottom two rows on the far left edge of the pommel side. Whether the dog wears the same shoulder stylization as the two animals above cannot be clearly stated due to heavy abrasion.
Another animal follows, of which only the rear part remains. Size and body shape suggest that it could be a Capricorn. It is not known whether another animal was depicted on the right edge of the picture, as this area of the handle is too badly damaged.
Knobless side
First and second row
The top two rows on the knobless side show combat operations in which a total of nine men are involved, all of whom are only wearing a penis sheath . The men can be assigned to two parties, which are differentiated by their hairstyle. One party has shaved their heads while the other has long hair. The men form four groups.
The first group consists of a shaved bald head looking to the right and a long-haired man running in the same direction who looks back at the bald head. The bald head holds a club in his raised right hand . With the other hand he grabs the long-haired man, whose arms are tied behind his back. So the scene shows the removal of a prisoner.
In contrast, the opponents of the second group are still fighting. Again a bald head can be seen on the left and a long-haired man on the right. It is not clear which of the two is superior, but the bald head is holding an object in his right hand, which is probably a flint knife. The long-haired, however, is unarmed.
A very similar scene follows in the left half of the second row. Again a bald head can be seen on the left, this time holding a stick high in his right hand and pulling out to strike. The long-haired man opposite him is unarmed this time too. Nevertheless, the fight does not seem inevitably lost for him, as the bald head only stands on one leg and thus has a very unsteady grip.
The fourth scene differs from the previous ones in several ways. On the one hand, three people are shown here instead of two. On the left and right you can see bald heads, both of which are holding a club in their right hand. Between them stands a long-haired man who is facing to the right, who is fighting with his left bald head and at the same time trying to keep the second at a distance with his left arm. He also differs significantly from the other long-haired people: On the one hand, he has his hair braided into two braids, while the others only have one braid each. Although his face is badly damaged, the ends of the braids are clearly visible on his chest. On the other hand, he is the only long-haired man to be armed. In his right hand he holds a flint knife with which he threatens the bald head on the left.
Third row
The third row shows a bald man on the left and two ships to his right. The man holds a rope in his hands which, as mentioned above, was thought to be a lasso that loops around the foot of an ibex pictured on the other side of the knife handle. It is more likely, however, that it is actually a rope that the man uses to pull the ships ashore.
The two ships, which are probably at Papyrus - rafts concerns are only received incomplete. However, it can still be seen that both overlap in the representation and the right one is in the foreground. The structure of the ships seems to be identical. A stern post can be seen on the left, from which a taut rope leads to the deck. There is also a triple cross bracing. There is a broken circle on the top of the stem. Next is a cabin on the right. A pole, evidently a standard , protrudes from this cabin , at the top of which there is an object in the form of a reclining crescent moon with a circle resting on it. The front stem is forked at its end and has a pointed oval attachment. At the right ship another object can be seen at the lower end of the fore steved, the left ship the corresponding place is no longer preserved. The object is difficult to interpret because it is no longer completely preserved. From a parallel representation in the fifth row of images, however, it can be concluded that a cattle head is represented here.
Fourth row
In this row four corpses are shown with their heads facing each other. The head of the lower right corpse is no longer preserved, and that of the upper right is also barely there. On the other hand, at least the two left ones can be clearly seen that they are bald heads. This seems a bit strange as this group appears to be superior to the first two rows in the fighting.
A large piece has broken out at this point on the left edge of the handle. The upper part originally depicts the lower legs and feet of the man from the third row of pictures. What was shown below is unclear. Theoretically, there would still have been room for a fifth corpse, but at the lower end of the demolition site there are still small remains of a relief that do not match the depiction of a corpse. Parallel representations suggest that it is possibly the wing tip of a vulture .
Fifth row
Finally, three more ships follow in the fifth row. They differ from those in the third row and this time seem to reproduce wooden constructions. Their arrangement is, however, the same as in the third row, ie the right ship is in the foreground and the left one in the background. The ships have a sickle-shaped hull, on the bow (left) there is a caprid head on the right ship and a cattle head on the middle one; on the left ship there is no such representation.
The superstructures of the ships are difficult to interpret. On the foredeck there seem to be two cabins that are similar to those in the third row, but are shown much narrower, which may be due to the lack of space. In the lower area of the cabins as well as to the left and right of them further structures are apparently shown, but their function is unclear. Finally, there is a kiosk at the rear .
References
literature
- Georges Bénédite: Le couteau de Gebel el-'Arak . In: Mémoires publiés par l'Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres. Volume 22, 1916, pp. 1-34.
- Rainer Michael Boehmer: Oriental influences on decorated knife handles from predynastic Egypt. In: Archaeological Communications from Iran. New series Volume 7, 1974, pp. 15-40.
- Rainer Michael Boehmer: Gebel-el-Arak and Gebel-el-Tariff handle: No forgeries. In: Communications from the German Archaeological Institute, Cairo Department (MDAIK). Volume 47, 1991, pp. 51-60.
- Krzysztof M. Cialowicz: La composition, le sens et la symbolique des scènes zoomorphes prédynastiques en relief. Les many de couteaux. In: Renée F. Friedman (Ed.): The followers of Horus. Studies dedicated to Michael Allen Hoffman. Oxford 1992, pp. 247-258.
- Günter Dreyer: Motifs and dating of the decorated predynastic knife handles. In: Christiane Ziegler (ed.): L'art de l'Ancien Empire égyptien. Actes du colloque organisé au musée du Louvre par le Service culturel les 3 et 4 avril 1998 . Paris 1999, pp. 195-226.
- Rolf Krauss: On the historical classification of the vessel fragments Berlin ÄGM 15084/15693 and the knife from Gebel el-Arak . In: Communications of the German Orient Society . Volume 127, 1995, pp. 151-171.
- Alexander Scharff: News on the question of the oldest Egyptian-Babylonian cultural relations. In: Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprach und Altertumskunde Volume 71, 1935, pp. 89-106.
- Uwe Sievertsen: The knife from Gebel el-Arak. In: Baghdader Mitteilungen Volume 23, 1992, pp. 1-75.
- Peter Paul Vértesalji: The hunting knives of the earliest kings of Egypt . In: I. Camping / J. Hahn / M. Uerpmann (ed.): Traces of the hunt - The hunt for traces. Festschrift Hansjürgen Müller-Beck. Tübingen 1996, pp. 1-14.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ G. Dreyer: Motifs and dating of the decorated predynastic knife handles. Paris 1999, pp. 200-202.
- ↑ G. Bénédite: Le couteau de Gebel el-'Arak. 1916, p. 14 f.
- ↑ Björn Landström : Ships of the Pharaohs. 4000 Years of Egyptian Shipbuilding . London 1970, pp. 16-19.
- ↑ Björn Landström: Ships of the Pharaohs. 4000 Years of Egyptian Shipbuilding . London 1970, pp. 19–21, figs. 54–59.
- ↑ U. Sievertsen: The knife from Gebel el-Arak. 1992, p. 18.