Кушитские Щиты из гробнице Тут-анх-амона
Osama Elnur
Kushite shields in the tomb of Tutankhamun
Osama Abdel-Rahman Elnur
[Extracted from the book “Tutankhamun and his Age” (in Russian), Moscow, Dar Al-Sharqiya 1976: 35-41]
During the reign of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, when Merymus was viceroy of Nubia, Khoy Amenhotep, one of the sons of the great nobles, who later became Tutankhamun's "only friend," held the position of "Keeper of Correspondence." We know about Khoy-Amenhotep from the drawings on the walls of his tomb in Qurna. This information is important because it indicates the relations of Pharaoh Tutankhamun with his southern state.
Khoy-Amenhotep rose during the reign of Tutankhamun to occupy the position of “son of the king of Kush.” From his titles, we know that the viceroy in this region was the deputy of the pharaoh not only in Kush, but in all the lands of the south, which is indicated by the title of Khoy-Amenhotep “President of the Southern Foreign Countries Emi-ra-has.ut-resi-and” N.de Garis-Davies &A.Gardiner1926:6. In the Egyptian colonies in Asia, it was permissible, in urgent cases, for him to become a special royal envoy, an assistant to act on behalf of the pharaoh there, and he was granted broad powers as a special royal envoy and Pt Nesut Стучевский 1967, but Khoy-Amenhotep, in his capacity as the ruler of Nubia and the royal scribe, was also “the royal envoy to all foreign countries And.bt nso.t khar haas.w.t nb(w).t.” In addition to that, Khoy held another important title, which is “the bearer of the abyss at the right hand of King Ta-Yi-Khar and Nami-N-Nsut” N.de Garis-Davies &A.Gardiner1926:7-9.
Two titles held by Khoy, “Chief of the Foreign Gold Countries of Amun Emi-Ra Khas.ut Nb.n.amn,” and “Chief of the Foreign Gold Countries of the Lord of the Two Lands Emi-Ra Has.ut Nb.n.b.tawi,” at the Paris meeting of Barisovich Piatrovsky, indicate that the gold extracted from Kush in the era of the New Kingdom was poured not only into the royal treasury but also into the treasuries of the temples. Пиотровский 1964:5-31.
In the ownership of the temples also arrived livestock brought from Kush, which is indicated by the title of Khoi “chief of the livestock of Amun emi ra ka.o.namen” (*). These titles of Khoy testify that he occupied a high position not only in the palace and in the state apparatus, but also in the temples of Amun, even though he was not a priest - as there is no title that indicates a priestly function for him.
If Tkhoti, a confidant of Pharaoh Thutmose III, who was credited with the conquest of Jaffa by a late Egyptian story, bore the titles “hereditary nobleman, divine father, who rejoices the heart of the king regarding any foreign country, located in the middle of the sea, chief of foreign countries, commander of the troops, and royal scribe” Urk.IV,999, then Khoy-Amenhotep was during the reign of Tutankhamun “the son of the king in Kush, and the royal scribe, And the royal envoy to all foreign lands, and the bearer of the abyss to the right hand of the king, and the chief of the cattle of Amun, and the chief of the foreign gold lands of Amun, and the chief of the foreign gold lands of the Lord of the Two Lands.” These titles held by Khoy-Amenhotep clearly indicate that the position of ruler of Nubia was assigned to a person who held a high position in the Egyptian governmental administrative apparatus.
Khoy-Amenhotep was the only ruler of Nubia who built a temple for himself in the main city of Nubia - Persia. Is it permissible to consider this fact to be the tendency of this ruler to become independent from the rule of Nubia? It seems to me that such a hypothesis is possible, but, as far as I know, a factual basis for such a proposition is almost unavailable.
The process of appointing the ruler of Nubia took place in an official ceremony attended by the pharaoh in person. From the drawings on the walls of Khoy-Amenhotep’s tomb, it is clear that his inauguration as ruler of Kush took place in the Pharaoh’s palace. We know about his “departure from the temple of Amun after receiving the blessing directly from him to administer the land of Kush as a hereditary noble, noble and alone, high in his position... Amenhotep” (Figure 1). The ruler's boat heading to Kush is painted with bright colors. At the seat of his rule in Kush, in its main city - Fars, the nobles of the region receive Amenhotep, primarily “his deputy in Wawat Sadamnu.n.Wawat” and “his deputy in Kush Sadamnu.n.Kash”.
After a ceremonial reception, the ruler begins his administrative governmental work, beginning with collecting tribute. It is clear from the drawings on the walls of the tomb that tribute is collected not only from the leaders of the Kushite tribes, but also from every Kushite. Two scribes tally and record the tribute, “the scribe who counts the gold of the son of King Khoi Khornefer Ssh Asp N(u)b.n.sa Nso.t. Khoi Khor Nefer,” and “the scribe of the son of King Khoi Kha Ssh Sa Nso.t. Khoi Kha.”
The tribute offered by the Kushites to the ruler consisted primarily of gold - in the form of rings and dust in sacks. Rich and varied tribute is offered by the leaders of the Wawat and Kush tribes. Tributes are paid through a ceremonial procession (sira in Sudanese colloquial language). On the walls of the tomb are pictures of the Kushites carrying trays on which piles of gold rings were placed, along with dishes filled with precious fats, and bags of gold needles. On the shoulders of some there are tiger skins. Spotted bulls and giraffes are also depicted with a thong captured by Kushyan. A beautiful Kushite princess rides on a chariot shaded by a fan of peacock feathers. The central position in the ceremonial biography is occupied by four of the chiefs and princes of Kush, “the children of the nobles of all foreign countries, Msu, Wur(f). Nuhas.ut Neb(f).t”, who bowed to Amenhotep. The artist showed great interest in the outward features of the inhabitants of Kush, who seemed to be well known to him. In the drawings, huge noses, thick lips, black eyes, and disheveled hair decorated with feathers were clearly expressed. Local people have ivory earrings on their ears, and stone necklaces on their necks. All this leaves no doubt about the African roots of the Kush population. Interestingly, the drawings accurately illustrate the difference in skin color: some have black skin, and some have brown skin. This indicates that the inhabitants of the Wawat were lighter-skinned than the inhabitants of southern Kush (here I am referring to the current difference between the complexion of the Mahs in the north and the Danglas to the south).
Among the objects of tribute are depicted shields and magnificent folding seats (Figure 2). In the opinion of Desroches-Noblecourt, these folding chairs were later taken to the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun C.Desroches-Noblecourt 1964:199. But he doesn't mention anything about armor. It seems to me that the armor also found its way to the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun (**). In the latter's tomb, eight shields were discovered: four of them, apparently, combat, and four ceremonial. Two battle shields were made of light wood covered with tittleskin; In the center of each shield is a cartouche bearing the name of the pharaoh. The other two shields, also made of light wood and bearing the same decoration, are stitched with the skin of a wild North African leopard. The wool in these skins and in the drawing is well preserved. The maximum size of combat armor is 72 x 51 cm. Ceremonial shields are slightly larger. It is decorated with a golden inscription engraved in wood with shield shapes. In one of them, the Pharaoh was depicted in the form of a lion, under which he trampled the two enemies of Egypt - a Negro and an Asian. In the end, the Pharaoh himself was depicted in the form of a fighter slaughtering his enemy depicted in the form of a lion with a double sword. In the rest of the shields, the Pharaoh was depicted sitting on the throne during his life and after his death, in the afterlife. History 1959:246. Г. Картер 1959:246
Comparing the shields depicted on the walls of the tomb of Khoy-Amenhotep with the shields discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun, it will not be difficult to notice the following: 1) Eight shields were discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun. In the tomb of Khoy-Amenhotep, after drawing the three shields comes the symbol that indicates abundance. Also, the fact that eight shields were discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun, while only three were discovered in the tomb of Khoy, is not sufficient evidence to confirm that they are different shields. 2) Shield No. Б Картер 1959, Tabl.145) The shield В, which was depicted in the tomb of Khoy-Amenhotep, bears two cartouches in its middle - and it is clear from the drawing in the tomb of Khoy that the shield is made of the skin of a leopard; 3) Shield A Г. Картер 1959,Tabl,145 And the shield Б is from the drawings of the tomb of Khoy-Amenhotep, where the pharaoh was depicted in the form of a lion trampling on the two enemies of Egypt - a Negro and an Asian, who do not differ in any of the details; 4) Shield B Картер 1959, Tabl.145 and Shield A from the tomb of Khoy-Amenhotep differ only in some details. The Pharaoh was depicted in the two shields in the form of a warrior slaughtering an enemy. In the first, the enemy was depicted in the form of a lion, and in the second - in the form of a human. In the first, the pharaoh slaughters the enemy with a curved sword, and in the second, with a spear. It seems to me that this difference is not fundamental. Lepsius, while redrawing the shields from the tomb of Khoy-Amenhotep in the nineteenth century, made a mistake in the drawings they bore. The ancient Egyptian artist, who painted the shields on the walls of the tomb of Khoy-Amenhotep in the fourteenth century BC, did not have those shields under his sight, but rather he painted them mostly from memory, since those shields in that period must have been transferred a long time ago to the treasures of Tutankhamun.
The three armor mentioned are very distinct. It is not a coincidence that the artist drew these shields specifically, leaving behind the symbol that indicates abundance, which indicates that the rest of the shields are similar to those three drawn. It is possible that Carter, who excavated Tutankhamun's tomb, shared the vision of the ancient Egyptian artist and thus, in his book (Plate 145), depicted these same three shields.
N.de Garis-Davies and A.Gardiner, 1926: The Tomb of Huy Vice-roy of Nubia in the Reign of Tutanakhamun, London.
И.А.Стучевский, 1967: Колониальная политика Египта в эпоху XVIII династии,Москва.
Б.Б.Пиотовский, 1964: Страницы истории Северной Нубии, сб. "Древня Нубия" Мосва: 5-31.
* This title is preserved more fully in Faras - ami ra ka.w.n.mn m ta bm.n. K(A)sh "the chief of the cattle of Amun in this land of Kush."
C.Desroches-Noblecourt, 1964: Life and Death of Pharaon Tutankhamun, London.
** Academician Paris Barisovich Piatrovsky put forward this hypothesis during a lecture “On Nubian-Egyptian Relations” that he presented to us as students at the Faculty of Oriental Studies at Leningrad University in 1968, and he urged me to research the topic. Hence, it must be noted.
Г.Картер, 1959: Гробница ТУтанхамона (в тексте статьи Картер), Москва.
K.Sethe and W.Helck: Urkunden der 18 Dynastie, Lepzig-Berlin
B Б A
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