Chapter V Symbolical Decoration
The Egyptian who expressed all his thoughts by a symbolical writing, full of determinatives, was naturally much given to symbolism in his decoration. Not, however, that all his decoration was symbolic in a recondite sense; the ever-present lotus ornament was merely a thing of beauty; the lotus was not a sacred plant, it is not associated with any divinity in particular, and only in one unusual instance does it ever occur in the hieroglyphs. The fanciful habit of Europe, in seeing a hidden sense in every flower, was not akin to the simple and elementary mind of the Egyptian. But certain striking emblems he used continually; and one of the earliest of these is the uraeus snake, or cobra in his wrath, reared up with expanded body ready to strike. The dignity and power of the animal made it to be an emblem of the king, or rather perhaps of the royal power of death. That capital punishment was used in Egypt is seen in the Westcar Tales, which probably date from the Old Kingdom, where a condemned malefactor is ordered to be brought forth for a magician to try his power in bringing him to life when slain. The king, as having the power of death, bore the uraeus always on his head-dress; and from the earliest days (at Medum) the royal court of justice was adorned with a cornice of uraei, implying that there resided the royal right of judgment and of condemnation. This cornice seems, however, to have been regarded as merely royal in later times, and was freely used to adorn any royal structure, even a wooden summer-house (Amenhotep II.); or the uraei formed a band around columns (Akhenaten), or appear as supporters of the royal cartouche (P. 72), either plain (Ramessu II.) or winged (Horemheb L.D. III. 122).
A symbolism closely connected with this is that of the globe and wings. This certainly dates to the beginning of the monumental age, as it is seen above the figure of Khufu seated on an amulet. In that instance it is on too small a scale to show the details; but in the next dynasty it appears above Unas at Elephantine, with the globe flanked by two uraei and two wings. What the symbolism of it was we have no direct information. But when we consider that the wings are those of the vulture spread out, as it appears on the roofs of the passages as a protecting and preserving maternal emblem, and the uraeus is associated with it, we can hardly view it as other than the same idea of the power of life and death, of preservation and destruction. But in this emblem it is not the king who wields these powers, but Ra the Sun, whose disc appears in the midst. That the wings have thus the meaning of protection is shown by the globe with drooping wings embracing the royal name, expressing the protection given by Ra to the king, without associating the deadly or punitive power of the uraeus. A curious form of this emblem which was common in the early part of the XVIIIth dynasty is with only one wing.
One of the most perfect and beautiful examples of the winged disc is on the temple of Tahutmes III., but it continued to be used down to the latest times of Egyptian architecture as a lintel decoration.
In the XIXth dynasty an addition to the symbolism appears; the horns of a ram are added to the wings; sometimes without the uraei (Ramessu I., L.D. III. 131), sometimes with the uraei (Ramessu II., L.D. III. 204). These rams’ horns can hardly be other than those of the ram-headed god Khnum, “the maker” or “modeller” of men. The idea then of the wings and horns is that Ra makes as well as protects; and where the uraeus is added it implies that Ra is creator, preserver, and destroyer.
The vulture alone as the emblem of protection is frequently figured with outstretched wings across the ceilings of the passages, particularly those of the royal tombs of the XIXth dynasty. There is perhaps no sight in the animal world more imposing than one of these birds, stretched out with a span of some nine or ten feet, hanging in the air close overhead; it is natural that it should have excited the admiration of man, and not being hurtful it readily came to be honoured as a type of maternal care.
The scarab was another such typical animal, rolling the pellet containing an egg to a safe place where it buries it. Though very common as an amulet for the living and the dead, yet it is not often seen in symbolical or decorative use otherwise. With what idea the amulet was used we do not know for certain. The scarab itself is often figured as holding the disc of the sun between its claws: and it is at least possible that the symbolic idea of the scarab as the maker or creator arose from the burial of its ball being an emblem of the setting of the sun, from which new life will arise in due course. It occurs with the wings extended and the disc between the claws as a centre figure in the space of a ceiling pattern (Neferhotep, XVIIIth dynasty), and on the border of the covering of a shrine under Ramessu X., and is occasionally met with later in decoration.
The lion as a noble and royal animal frequently figures in the XVIIIth dynasty. The Egyptians, with their marvellous instinct for taming every animal they could find, actually trained lions or leopards to live as domesticated animals, with the same sort of allowed wildness as modern hunting dogs. The lion accompanied the king in battle; but in camp it lay down as peaceably as an ox. It was frequently carved on the sides of the thrones of the XVIIIth-XXth dynasties, and also seated in pairs, facing or backing, on the temple walls, a usage reminding us of the lion gate of Mykenae of the same age.
Some of the Egyptian divinities also appear as symbolic ornaments. The figures of the goddess Maat with spread wings adorned the ark of Amen-ra under Tahutimes II.; and in earlier times similar cherubic figures stand guarding the name of Antef V. on a scarab.
Hathor also appears on various objects. A mirror handle carved in wood during the XIIth dynasty has the head of Hathor (P. 1. xiii.); columns with heads of Hathor, crowned with a shrine occupied by a uraeus, are found introduced by Amenhotep III. in his temples at El Kab and Sedeinga, and were copied by Ramessu II. at Abu Simbel. The similar head of Hathor was frequently made in glazed pottery as a pendant in the time of Akhenaten. And in later times these Hathor headed capitals became usual under the Ptolemies, as in the well-known case of the portico of the great temple at Dendera.
Bes was one of the favourite popular deities of the Egyptians; restricted to no place in particular, every votary of music and the dance patronised Bes. The little statuette of a dancing girl with a Bes mask on, besides an actual mask in cartonnage, found at Kahun, show the popularity of the god in the XIIth dynasty. In later times his figure is frequently seen. At Tell el Amarna ornaments for necklaces made in glazed pottery followed two types of Bes, the god dancing with the tambourine seen in side view, and the earlier grotesque front view, with arms akimbo. These familiar little figures continued to be made till late times; and in the Roman age Bes was elevated to architectural dignity on the dies above the columns at Dendereh in the small temple of the Mammeisi.
Another and more artificial mode of symbolical decoration was by means of the hieroglyphic signs. Having a mode of writing in which a single mark could express an abstract idea, it was possible to adapt writing to a purely decorative design. Even with alphabetic characters this has been done, as in the elaborate crossing patterns of the earlier Arab period in Egypt, in which no untrained eye would see anything but a complex ornament.
Four of the hieroglyphs most usually worked into ornamental designs are the ankh, a girdle, or symbol of life; the thet, another form of girdle, with longer bow-tie in front, which, as always identified with Isis, may have been a primitive feminine girdle, the ankh being masculine; the uas, a stick of authority, or symbol of power; and the dad, a row of columns, or symbol of stability.
As early as the Old Kingdom we find wooden framings, or lattices, ornamented with dad signs; and this continued at least as late as Amenhotep II. The dad also appears in what is probably copied from pierced woodwork, in a relief at Qurneh of Ramessu I.
The combination of thet dad uas, and of ankh dad uas, is found in the XIIth dynasty at Benihasan, apparently carved in relief, on the wooden panels of a litter (R.C. xciii.). The same occur similarly carved on the ebony doors of Hatshepsut at Deir el Bahri. The group begins to appear as an architectural design early in the XVIIIth dynasty, and continues down to Roman times, especially on bases of scenes and groups, thus forming a continuous border of good wishes. The hieroglyphs, ankh, dad, and uas, are all found on pendants for necklaces, in the blue glazed pottery of the XVIIIth dynasty, and also combined in one as a ring bezil. And the thet girdle tie of Isis appears repeated as a pattern, probably of pierced woodwork, along the sides of a shrine of Tahutimes III. at Semneh, and on the base of a couch in the birth scene of Amenhotep III. (R.S. xxxviii.). As funeral amulets the thet, dad, and ankh occur commonly, but that branch is outside of the subject of decoration.
Another hieroglyph often appearing as an ornament is the sam, or symbol of union. The origin of it is yet unexplained. It certainly is a column of some kind; it has a well-marked capital and an abacus. The capital is formed much like the palm-leaf capital; and the stem is clearly bound round, and must therefore be composite. This suggests that it might be a column of palm-sticks bound together, with some tops left projecting for ornament. Such might well be more conventionalised at the beginning of Egyptian sculpture in the IVth dynasty than the other kinds of capitals; and the immigrant race came from the region of the palm, while the lotus and papyrus only were reached by them in Egypt itself. The base is a main difficulty to explain. It might be conventionalised clods of earth, with two curled-over side branches of the palm; but it has been so modified that we must await more evidence. In any case the stem is formed of several parts bound together, and hence it was very naturally adopted as a symbol of union. It was further grouped with two plants, the stalks of which were linked around it. It is always supposed that these symbolise northern and southern Egypt, and that the group means the union of all the land. Still it is yet uncertain what plants are intended to be represented, though on the throne of Tahutimes IV. they are clearly lotus and papyrus; but the evidence is too late to be of much value. This group was a favourite decoration from beginning to end of Egyptian history. At the beginning of the XIIth dynasty an addition was made by placing a figure of Hapi or the Nile on each side of the group (Tanis i. I.), each figure holding one of the two plants. As these figures were crowned, one with the sign of south the other of north, they point to the plants being emblems of the south and north also. This group with the figures is found as late as the XXth dynasty (L.D. III. 237). Another design came into fashion during the great foreign wars of the XVIIIth dynasty, representing two captives, one negro, one Syrian, bound back to back against the sam; thus it symbolised not only the union of upper and lower Egypt, but also of the northern and southern races outside of Egypt. Later on, four or even six such racial types are figured as bound together.