A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire, 2 Volume Set. Группа авторов. Читать онлайн. Newlib. NEWLIB.NET

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From Karnak; Wasmuth 2017a: p. 248 Abb. 54a.

Schematic illustration of temple front of Hibis avoiding the emblematic slaying of the foes scene.

      Source: Hibis, in situ; Wasmuth 2017a: p. 248 Abb. 54b.

      Apart from these sources of mixed influences, sources within the Egyptian cultural tradition are known (cf. Bresciani 1958; Posener 1936; Willeitner 2003; Curtis and Tallis 2005: pp. 172–173; the series Excavations at North Saqqâra of the Egypt Exploration Society, London): for example, parts of Achaemenid Hibis and Ghueita temple decorations (both Charga oasis), evidence for building activities in several temples in the Nile Valley and Delta (Busiris, Karnak, Elkab), the religious epitaphs for Apis (Memphis), the stelae from the Serapeum (Saqqara), the mummies from the animal necropolis at Saqqara‐North, and cultic objects such as naoi (Tuna el‐Gebel), handles of sistra, vessels (Tanis, Tell Muqdam/Leontopolis, Memphis, Fayyum, Karnak). The only Persian aspect of these instances is a Persian royal name.

      Meanwhile, objects of a predominantly Persian character are rare in Egypt. The few examples that point to a Persian background are hard to verify due to a lack of similar corpora of sources from the Persian heartland. Most small‐scale objects inscribed in Persian, namely an alabastron, a door socket, and a metal shoe of a carrying pole (Michaélidis 1943), are open to discussion regarding their genuineness due to their unknown provenance and the absence of comparable finds. Yet, there is evidence for Achaemenid metal vessels in the Tell el‐Maskhuta Hoard (for similar finds see, for example, Figures 95.2 and 95.3), some jewelry and lion vessels from Tell Muqdam/Leontopolis, and the fire altars in the canal region (see above and Cooney 1965).

      Surprisingly, there is no stratigraphic evidence in Egypt for a certain type of Achaemenid vessels usually associated with Egypt: vessels made of calcit alabaster inscribed with a royal label (see Posener 1936: pp. 137–151; Westenholz and Stolper 2002; Schmitt 2001). During the reign of Darius I and in the early years of Xerxes I, the inscriptions follow the Egyptian phraseology: “King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Lord of the Two Lands, royal name, he may live eternally; year X.” A different contemporary version adds the cuneiform inscription “royal name, the king” in Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian. During the reigns of Xerxes I to Artaxerxes III, the Egyptian phraseology is replaced by rendering the cuneiform formula into Egyptian, either as pr‐‘3 p3‐‘3 or only pr‐‘3, thereby transforming the Egyptian vessels into a Persian one with a “royal tag” in four official languages. In comparison with the evidence from the canal stelae and the headless statue of Darius, it is to be postulated that p3‐‘3 is the Egyptian rendering of the Persian title “Great King,” therefore labeling the king either as “(Egyptian) Pharaoh and (Persian) Great King” or solely as “Pharaoh” (Wasmuth 2015 : pp. 218–224; Wasmuth 2017a: pp. 207–214).

Schematic illustration of the statue of Ptahhotep displaying Egyptian and Persian gold of honor.

      The amount and state of sources available for determining how the Persian population was represented or presented itself leave much to be desired. Though completely un‐Egyptian representations in the round featuring Mesopotamian/Persian elements are preserved, their exact provenance is unknown. Among these are a man carved in ivory, a woman in high relief made of terracotta, and several heads of stone (Traunecker 1995; Vittmann 2003: pp. 151–152). Whether they are to be interpreted as divine, royal or non‐royal representations is still a matter of contention. Similar questions surround the terracotta heads from Memphis that feature characteristics of foreigners and probably date from the Achaemenid period (Scheurleer 1974: pp. 83–84).