Old Mummification Museum Lectures - Female Smitting scenes

Smiting the enemy, keeping it in the family - Prof Earl Ertman
I have been really bad writing this lecture up and I shouldn’t have been because it was most instructive and certainly gave me a whole new set of ideas.
Earl Ertman and Otto Schaden have worked together for years (KV10) and Prof Ertman joked how some people even think they are related. The lecture was about the peculiar incidents of Nefertiti appearing in traditional smiting of the enemies scenes. Visitors will be familiar with these as they are common on pylon walls. The pharaoh is shown with mace in one hand and the hair of supplicating enemies in the other about the bash their brains out. This image powerful displays the pharaohs might, power and dominance. These images start on objects as early as the Narmer palette. So what is a female doing in the picture?

Nefertiti is shown sometimes behind the pharaoh and even, amazingly enough on her own. Indeed even one of the children (possibly Meritaton) is also showing making it quite a family day out. Perhaps the professor joked they couldn’t get a babysitter.

He also showed scenes of royal barges with side walls showing various smiting poses. Although some of the scenes are very fragmentary they seem to indicate some quite controversial options going on in this traditional scene.

Interestingly enough although no other queen is showing doing this there is a scene which could be Ankesamun copy her mothers stance but in a lesser way possible handing implements to her husband or possible and more controversially helping in the smiting.

It was a very thought provoking lecture and will be published in the Armana letters.

I have to say that this series of lectures has been of a much higher quality than before. The last two years we only got updated site reports but now we are getting quite a scholarly program. Thank you SCA and Mr Mansour for organising this

Posted by Jane: - 11:14 pm - Edit| 1 Comment »
January 31st, 2006